Bhim Rao Ambedkar Jayanti

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Every year, 14th April is observed as Ambedkar Jayanti to celebrate Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar’s birthday.

• The year 2021 marks his 130th birth anniversary.

About Dr BR Ambedkar

• Birth: In a Dalit (Hindu Mahar) family on 14th April 1891 in a small town at Mhow Cantt in erstwhile Central Provinces (now Madhya Pradesh).
• Often termed as the ‘Father of the Indian Constitution’, he always worked for the welfare of the poor, Dalits and deprived sections.
  • He was a social reformer, jurist, economist, author, scholar and thinker.
  • He envisioned a better and just society and fought for it throughout his life and wanted to create a modern India where there would be no prejudice based on caste or any other reason, where women and communities subjected to backwardness for centuries would enjoy equity of economic and social rights.
  • He considered the Right to Constitutional Remedy (Article 32)  as the soul of the constitution.
• Major Contributions
  • 1920: Started a fortnightly newspaper, the ‘Mooknayak’ (Dumb Hero), with the support of Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur.
  • 1924: Founded the Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha also known as Outcastes Welfare Association, with an aim to spread education and awareness among the dalits.
  • 1927: Led the Mahad Satyagraha in Maharashtra to challenge the regressive customs of the Hindu.
  • 1929: Decided to cooperate with the British Simon Commission, which drew sharp criticism from Congress.
  • 1930: Started Kalaram Satyagraha in Nashik, which was a temple entry movement for the untouchables.
  •  1932: He, on behalf of untouchables, signed the Poona Pact with Mahatma Gandhi, who was representing Congress.
    • The pact provided the provisions for reserved seats for the depressed class instead of separate electorate in the regional legislative assemblies and Central Council of States.
    • He participated in all the three Round Table Conferences in 1930, 1931 and 1932, voicing for untouchables and the depressed class.
  • 1936: Formed the Independent Labor Party, which was later transformed into the Scheduled Castes Federation.
  • 1937: Contested for the Central Legislative Assembly from Bombay.
  • 1939: During the Second World War, he called upon Indians to join the Army in large numbers to defeat Nazism, which in his opinion, was another form of Fascism.
  • 1942-46: Worked as Minister of Labour in the Viceroy’s Executive Council.
  • 1947: Worked as the first Law Minister of India in Jawahar Lal Nehru’s cabinet and was also made the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of Constitution.
  • 1955: Founded the Bharatiya Bauddha Mahasabha.
  • 1956: Embraced Buddhism along with many of his followers in a public ceremony in Nagpur.
• Major Literary Works
  • The Untouchables: Who Were they and why they Became Untouchables?
  • Who were the Shudra?
  • Mr. Gandhi and the Emancipation of the Untouchables
  • Annihilation of Caste
  • Pakistan or the Partition of India
  • The Buddha and His Dhamma
  • What Congress and Gandhi Have Done to the Untouchables
• Death: In New Delhi on 6th December 1956.
  • In 1990, he was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna (highest civilian honour of India).

Source: IE