Cultivation of mind should be ultimate aim of human existence,
rightly said by the great Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar. Most of people know him just as father of Indian Constitution. He was born on 14 April 1981 in the town and military cantonment of Mhow in Madhya Pradesh. Ambedkar was a lawyer, economist, social reformer, Law minister, cahirman of Constituent Assembly. He was the first Dalit student to study in Elphinston College, Bombay. He is the first Indian to get directorate degree from a foreign University, London School of Economics. In 1990, the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award was posthumously conferred upon him.
He fought against caste discrimination, and this issue still prevailing in our society as we can see recent examples like Saharanpur, Una, Bhima- Koregaon etc. Ambedkar viewed Shudras as Aryans and adamantly rejected Aryan invasion theory, describing is as "so absurd that it ought to have been dead long ago" in his 1946 book, Who Were Shudras.
As Ambedkar was educated by the Princely State of Baroda, he was bound to serve it. He was appointed Military Secretary to Gaiwkwad but had to quit in short time. He described this incident in his autoboigraphy, Waiting For Viasa. Thereafter, he tried to find ways to make a living for his growing family. He worked as a private tutor, as an accountant, and established an investment consulting business, but it failed when his clients learned that he was untouchable. In 19718, he became professor of Political Economy in the Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics in Bombay. Although, he was success among students, other professors objected to his sharing a drinking-water and jug with them.
History has been unkind to Ambedkar. First it contained him, and then it glorified him. It has made him India’s Leader of the Untouchables, the King of the Ghetto. It has hidden away his writings. It has stripped away the radical intellect and the searing insolence.
In 1931, when Ambedkar met Gandhi for the first time, Gandhi questioned him about his sharp criticism of the Congress (which, it was assumed, was tantamount to criticising the struggle for the Homeland). “Gandhiji, I have no Homeland,” was Ambedkar’s famous reply. “No Untouchable worth the name will be proud of this land.”
While practicing law in the Bombay High Court, he tried to promote education to untouchables and uplift them. His first organised attempt was his establishment of the central institution Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha, intended to promote education and socio-economic improvement, as well as the welfare of "outcastes", at the time referred to as depressed classes. For the defense of Dalit rights, he started many periodicals like Mook Nayak, Bahishkrit Bharat, and Equality Janta.
He was appointed to the Bombay Presidency Committee to work with the all-European Simon Commission in 1925. This commission had sparked great protests across India, and while its report was ignored by most Indians, Ambedkar himself wrote a separate set of recommendations for the future Constitution of India. By 1927, Ambedkar had decided to launch active movements against untouchability. He began with public movements and marches to open up public drinking water resources. He also began a struggle for the right to enter Hindu temples. He led a satyagraha in Mahad to fight for the right of the untouchable community to draw water from the main water tank of the town.[41] In a conference in late 1927, Ambedkar publicly condemned the classic Hindu text, the Manusmriti (Laws of Manu), for ideologically justifying caste discrimination and "untouchability", and he ceremonially burned copies of the ancient text. On 25 December 1927, he led thousands of followers to burn copies of Manusmrti. Thus annually 25 December is celebrated as Manusmriti Dahan Din (Manusmriti Burning Day) by Ambedkarites and Dalits.
Upon India's independence on 15 August 1947, the new Congress-led government invited Ambedkar to serve as the nation's first Law Minister, which he accepted. On 29 August, he was appointed Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee, and was appointed by the Assembly to write India's new Constitution.
Ambedkar opposed Article 370 of the Constitution of India, which granted a special status to the State of Jammu and Kashmir, and which was included against his wishes. Balraj Madhok reportedly said, Ambedkar had clearly told the Kashmiri leader, Sheikh Abdullah: "You wish India should protect your borders, she should build roads in your area, she should supply you food grains, and Kashmir should get equal status as India. But Government of India should have only limited powers and Indian people should have no rights in Kashmir. To give consent to this proposal, would be a treacherous thing against the interests of India and I, as the Law Minister of India, will never do it." Then Abdullah approached Nehru, who directed him to Gopal Swami Ayyangar, who in turn approached Sardar Patel, saying Nehru had promised Abdullah the special status. Patel got the Article passed while Nehru was on a foreign tour. On the day the article came up for discussion, Ambedkar did not reply to questions on it but did participate on other articles. All arguments were done by Krishna Swami Ayyangar.
During the debates in the Constituent Assembly, Ambedkar demonstrated his will to reform Indian society by recommending the adoption of a Uniform Civil Code. Ambedkar resigned from the cabinet in 1951, when parliament stalled his draft of the Hindu Code Bill, which sought to enshrine gender equality in the laws of inheritance and marriage. Ambedkar independently contested an election in 1952 to the lower house of parliament, the Lok Sabha, but was defeated in the Bombay (North Central) constituency by a little-known Narayan Sadoba Kajrolkar, who polled 138,137 votes compared to Ambedkar's 123,576. He was appointed to the upper house, of parliament, the Rajya Sabha in March 1952 and would remain as member till death.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), was based on the ideas that Ambedkar presented to the Hilton Young Commission.
Ambedkar organised a formal public ceremony for himself and his supporters in Nagpur on 14 October 1956. Accepting the Three Refuges and Five Precepts from a Buddhist monk in the traditional manner, Ambedkar completed his own conversion, along with his wife. He then proceeded to convert some 500,000 of his supporters who were gathered around him. He prescribed the 22 Vows for these converts, after the Three Jewels and Five Precepts. He then traveled to Kathmandu, Nepal to attend the Fourth World Buddhist Conference. His work on The Buddha or Karl Marx and "Revolution and counter-revolution in ancient India" remained incomplete.
Since 1948, Ambedkar suffered from diabetes. He was bed-ridden from June to October in 1954 due to medication side-effects and poor eyesight. He had been increasingly embittered by political issues, which took a toll on his health. His health worsened during 1955. Three days after completing his final manuscript The Buddha and His Dhamma, Ambedkar died in his sleep on 6 December 1956 at his home in Delhi.
Today, all political parties claim that they believe in Ambedkar and at the same time they do against what Ambedkar had said and wishe for India. Ambedkar wished for an egalitarian society, but according to Oxfam's latest report, richest one (1) percent cornered 73 percent wealth generated in India. India was ranked 100 among 119 countries on Global Hunger Index (2017 report). India was ranked low at 108 positions out of 144 countries in Global Gender Gap Index. Political class must walk their talk.
Political and citizens of India must remember of of the greatest quotes of Ambedkar, " I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved.
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