Father of Dr. Surname name changed to Ambedkar later. The family belonged to the untouchable caste of Mahars known for their valor. After retirement from the Army, Ramji Sakpal settled at Satara. Soon, he shifted to Koregaon, where he got a job as a cashier, while keeping his family in Satara.
At the age of six, Bhim lost his mother. His aunt started living with the family to take care of young Bhim, his elder brother and two sons of his eldest sister, who had also died. Bhim and his elder brother started their schooling at Satara. At school, they suffered untold humiliations due to the stigma attached to their caste. They would be made to sit in the corner of the classroom on a gunny bag which they had to take back home every day because the school peon would not touch it.
When thirsty, they could not just go to tap quench their thirst like other children because they were not allowed to touch the tap. When thirsty, school peon would pour water into their upturned mouths from atop, making sure that the water pot would not touch their unholy bodies! Nobody else in the school would perform even this mundane act for the boys. Once when Bhim was found stealthily drinking water from a public tap he was roundly thrashed.
However, not everyone in the school was unkind to Bhim. He was a pet student of one Brahmin teacher by the name Mahadev Ambedkar.
Sir Mahadev would even share his lunch with him. He liked Bhim so much that in school records he changed the surname of the boy from Ambavadekar to Ambedkar. Early in his school days, Bhim was carefree, fearless and hardly serious about his studies. His interest was in gardening, tending to cattle and rearing goats.
In , Ramji Sakpal invited his two sons and a grandson to spend their summer vacation with him at Koregaon. From Satara, they had to travel by train up to Masur from where Koregaon was 10 miles away. This was a very exciting proposition for the young boys as they had never travelled by train before. Gandhiji wanted to defeat this design and went on a fast unto death to oppose it. On 24th September , Dr. Ambedkar and Gandhiji reached an understanding, which became the famous Poona Pact.
According to this Pact, in addition to the agreement on electoral constituencies, reservations were provided for untouchables in Government jobs and legislative assemblies. The provision of separate electorate was dispensed with. The Pact carved out a clear and definite position for the downtrodden on the political scene of the country.
It opened up opportunities of education and government service for them and also gave them a right to vote. Ambedkar attended all the three Round Table Conferences in London and each time, forcefully projected his views in the interest of the 'untouchable'. He exhorted the downtrodden sections to raise their living standards and to acquire as much political power as possible.
After a while Dr. Ambedkar, organised the Independent Labour Party, participated in the provincial elections and was elected to the Bombay Legislative Assembly. During these days he stressed the need for abolition of the 'Jagirdari' system, pleaded for workers Fight to strike and addressed a large number of meetings and conferences in Bombay Presidency.
In , during the Second World War, he called upon Indians to join the Army in large numbers to defeat Nazism, which he said, was another name for Fascism.
Ambedkar had differences of opinion with the Government over the Hindu Code Bill, which led to his resignation as Law Minister. The Constituent Assembly entrusted the job of drafting the Constitution to a committee and Dr. Ambedkar was elected as Chairman of the Drafting Committee.
While he was busy with drafting the Constitution, India faced several crises. In the beginning of , Dr. Ambedkar completed the draft of the Constitution and presented it in the Constituent Assembly. In November , this draft was adopted with very few amendments. Many provisions have been made in the Constitution to ensure social justice for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and backward classes.
Ambedkar was of the opinion that traditional religious values should be given up and new ideas adopted. He laid special emphasis on dignity, unity, freedom and rights for all citizens as enshrined in the Constitution. Ambedkar advocated democracy in every field: Social, Economic and Political. For him Social Justice meant maximum happiness to the maximum number of people.
On October 14, he embraced Buddhism along with many of his followers. The same year he completed his last writing 'Buddha and His Dharma'. The University Library has a total of 17 titles authored by Ambedkar. Currently, the library has two titles in Marathi, the official language of the Indian state Maharashtra. Here are some of his critical works:. We have this title in English and Tamil. This is a visually captivating resource that is great for adults and children to learn about the life of Ambedkar.
Ambedkar, B. Motyl Ed. Moore Ed. Rodrigues, V. In Encyclopedia of Race and Racism. Farmington, MI: Gale. It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge.
If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results. Ambedkar Search this Guide. Dalits: Dr.
Gandhi which led to the Poona Pact. The Poona Pact gave separate electoral representation to the scheduled castes. Ambedkar was one of the chief authors of the Indian Constitution after independence and the Hindu Code Bill, but he resigned from government in In he converted to Buddhism, and he died later that year. Making Britain Discover how South Asians shaped the nation, Search Search. Other names:.
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