Minor Dalit Rape: Govt Questioning Girl’s Character to Dilute Case, Alleges Pilot – Out look
http://www.outlookindia.com/newswire/story/minor-dalit-rape-govt-questioning-girls-character-to-dilute-case-alleges-pilot/936974
Abused Dalit Tenant Seeks Police Action – The news Indian express
http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil_nadu/Abused-Dalit-Tenant-Seeks-Police-Action/2016/04/17/article3384248.ece
Ambedkar would be deeply ashamed of the way India has turned out despite his fine Constitution – The nidian express
http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/fifth-column-ugly-truths-2756818/
Why is there no reservation for Dalit Muslims, Christians, wonders US State Dept’s India Human Rights report – Counterview
http://www.counterview.net/2016/04/why-is-there-no-reservation-for-dalit.html
Economic empowerment of SCs to get boost, a number of measures initiated – Business standard
http://www.business-standard.com/article/government-press-release/economic-empowerment-of-scs-to-get-boost-a-number-of-measures-116041600439_1.html
Chandrababu Naidu, KCR’s fancy projects devour Telangana, Andhra Pradesh funds – F .india
http://www.firstpost.com/politics/chandrababu-naidu-kcrs-fancy-projects-devour-telangana-andhra-pradesh-funds-2732858.html
Saluting India’s legal & economic guru – Dr Ambedkar – E- pao
http://e-pao.net/epSubPageExtractor.asp?src=education.Human_Rights_Legal.Saluting_India_legal_economic_guru_Dr_Ambedkar_By_Jayadeba_Sahoo
Note: Please find attachment for DMW Hindi (PDF)
Out look
Minor Dalit Rape: Govt Questioning Girl’s Character to Dilute Case, Alleges Pilot
http://www.outlookindia.com/newswire/story/minor-dalit-rape-govt-questioning-girls-character-to-dilute-case-alleges-pilot/936974
PCC President Sachin Pilot today accused the Rajasthan government of questioning the character of a dalit girl, who was allegedly raped and found dead under mysterious circumstances, to shield the accused.
“It is surprising that the chief minister is saying that if the family of the girl demands, the government would consider referring the case to CBI as it is demanding the same since beginning,” Pilot said.
The Congress leader said her family members have already forwarded letters to the President, Governor and Chief Minister seeking a CBI inquiry and the government has earlier rejected the demand.
Pilot alleged that the government is questioning the girl’s character to dilute the case and shield the accused.
He said due to the “irresponsible behaviour of the state government, criminals are moving scot free and carrying out their activities.”
The 17-year-old girl, who was pursuing a teacher training course, was found dead in a water tank on March 30 in the college premises in Bikaner.
On the intervening night of March 28-29, she was found in the room of the college’s physical trainer Vijendra Singh by the hostel warden.
Singh was arrested after the girl was found dead. The hostel warden and principal were also arrested for not informing the police when she was found in the instructor’s room.
The news Indian express
Abused Dalit Tenant Seeks Police Action
http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil_nadu/Abused-Dalit-Tenant-Seeks-Police-Action/2016/04/17/article3384248.ece
VILLUPURAM: A Dalit man, who was repeatedly abused by his landlord and later beaten up by the Thiruvennainallur police, lodged a complaint with the Villupuram DIG office on Saturday, demanding action.
According to sources, Ravichandran (46), a Dalit farm labourer, is living with his wife Vijayakumari (40) and two daughters Ranjana Devi (22) and Abinaya (19) in a rented tile-roof house.They had paid an advance of Rs 25,000 with an agreement of paying Rs 1,500 each month as rent.
House-owner Gandhiraj (70), is a caste Hindu retired teacher.
During the floods, the family was unable to pay their rent for two months. Though they began paying the rent as usual from January, they were unable to pay the two-month arrears.
On February 14, Ravichandran was hauled up by the Thiruvennainallur police on a false complaint saying they hadn’t paid rent for a year, pegging arrears at Rs 15,000.
The station SSI Kolangiappan, allegedly a close friend of Gandhiraj, brutally beat him up and obtained signatures on blank papers.
Humiliated by this, the couple decided to vacate the house and asked the landlord to give back the advance after deducting the arrears.
Gandhiraj then showed them papers with Ravichandran’s signature, which stated that the rent arrear was Rs 15,000, and said that he would only give back Rs 10,000. He further said he would deduct money for repairing the house, from the remaining Rs 10,000.
Acting on the complaint, DIG Anusiya Hussain appointed a special team to investigate the matter.
The nidian express
Ambedkar would be deeply ashamed of the way India has turned out despite his fine Constitution
http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/fifth-column-ugly-truths-2756818/
It was with sadness and cynicism that I watched the unprecedented outpouring of paeans to Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar on his 125th birth anniversary last week. Sadness because I believe that a country as young as India needs new heroes who come from public service and not just cinema or cricket, and these paeans reminded me of how few there have been since 1947. Cynicism because when I listened to political leaders fall over themselves trying to claim Ambedkar’s legacy, I saw shameless hypocrisy.
As someone who is sickened to the core that a job like manual scavenging continues to exist in India, I found myself wondering why the leaders who sang praises to Ambedkar last week did not show the political will to end this awful practice decades ago. Ambedkar’s home state Maharashtra is ironically the biggest culprit. The Census of 2011 found 794,000 cases of manual scavenging, of which 63,713 were in Maharashtra. Other states also allow the prevalence of this most repugnant of jobs, including Uttar Pradesh, that has been ruled for more than one term by a Dalit woman chief minister. The majority of manual scavengers are women and there could be more than a million of them since the Indian Railways spreads human excrement across the length and breadth of India. Now what is the point in singing praises to India’s most famous Dalit leader if we cannot stop the Railways from enforced manual scavenging?
This column has few heroes but Ambedkar is one of them. I admire him for his ability to have been able to see India’s warts and sores and evil practices at a time when every other political leader was wrapping himself up in the national flag. When Gandhiji saw rural India as idyllic and innocent, Ambedkar pointed out that India’s villages were ‘cesspools’ of superstition and casteism. He is right to this day. When every other leader of the freedom movement recommended socialism as the economic path forward, Ambedkar talked of capitalism. He was right. And today the most ardent supporters of economic reform are Dalit entrepreneurs who say openly that free enterprise is the biggest weapon against casteism.
Since this system was unable to create wealth or even begin to lift the poor (mostly low-caste) out of poverty, we had affirmative action in the form of reserved government jobs and admission to educational institutions. Is it not time to ask whether reservations have worked? Powerful rural caste groups these days have taken to burning public property and, in the case of Haryana, whole cities in their passion for reservations. When they take time off from violent protests, they say that all reservations should be ended if they cannot be included. It could be time to take them up on this. Reserved government jobs and reserved seats in schools and colleges have become the excuse for governments to absolve themselves of their responsibility to build enough schools and colleges and an economy that creates real jobs. If there was not a permanent shortage of these most vital things, there would be no need for reservations. In schools and colleges reservations now come in so many categories that about the only children who find it hard to find admission are upper-caste Hindus. During the 2014 election campaign, I spent some time talking to students in Banaras Hindu University, who said they were voting for Narendra Modi because they believed he was the only political leader who had the courage to end reservations. At the other end of the scale we have the sort of discrimination that forced Rohith Vemula to commit suicide. The ugly truth is that our institutions of learning have been turned into battlefields in which casteism has become a weapon to be used in different ways. The ugly truth also is that if Ambedkar were alive today, he would be deeply ashamed of the way that India has turned out despite his fine Constitution. This is why the word ‘parivartan’ had such resonance in the last general election. We need new heroes, new ideas, new jobs, new institutions of learning and above all a new dream because the old one has been poisoned by cynical leaders who could not care less if young Dalit girls spent their whole lives cleaning uppercaste excrement. So the real tribute to Ambedkar would be not to build more memorials but to build millions more schools in which instead of reserved seats, discrimination against Dalit children would become a criminal offence. This is most important in rural schools because Indian villages continue to be ‘cesspools’. ‘Parivartan’ is more needed here than anywhere else.
Counterview
Why is there no reservation for Dalit Muslims, Christians, wonders US State Dept’s India Human Rights report
http://www.counterview.net/2016/04/why-is-there-no-reservation-for-dalit.html
By Our Representative
Ignoring Government of India taking strongexception to a United Nations (UN) special rapporteur (SR) report on caste-based discrimination, the United States (US) State Department’s “India 2015 Human Rights Report” has gone ahead and noted “significant discrimination against Dalits in access to services, such as health care, education, temple attendance, and marriage.”
Released two days ago, even as referring to numerous cases of caste-based violence against Dalits in India, the US report has pointed towards a new discrimination: It says, though “some Christians and Muslims were identified as Dalits”, the Government of India has preferred to limit “reservations for Dalits to Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains.”
India’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, Ajit Kumar had reportedly described the UN special rapporteur’s report “a breach of the SR’s mandate”. Rita Izsák-Ndiaye’s report came as a surprise to Government of India: It was released amidst heightened political tension over the suicide of Hyderabad University Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula.
Kumar especially said that the justification of “minority-like characteristics” in SR’s report was not convincing, as it could cover almost every group in society.
The new US report says, although the law protects Dalits, those among them “who asserted their rights were often victims of attacks, especially in rural areas”, adding, “Most bonded laborers were Dalits. Dalits reportedly often worked without monetary remuneration.”
Referring to “systematic abuse of Dalits, including extrajudicial killings and sexual violence against Dalit women”, the report says, “Crimes committed against Dalits often went unpunished, either because authorities failed to prosecute perpetrators or because victims did not report crimes due to fear of retaliation.”
It refers to what it calls “widespread discrimination, including prohibiting Dalits from walking on public pathways, wearing footwear, accessing water from public taps in upper-caste neighborhoods, participating in some temple festivals, bathing in public pools, or using certain cremation grounds.”
It says, “Dalit students were sometimes denied admission to certain schools because of their… There were reports that school officials barred Dalit children from morning prayers, asked Dalit children to sit in the back of the class, or forced them to clean school toilets while denying them access to the same facilities.”
“There were also reports that teachers refused to correct the homework of Dalit children, refused to provide midday meals to Dalit children, and asked Dalit children to sit separately from children of upper-caste families”, the US report adds.
Especially referring to manual scavenging forced upon Valmiki Dalits, the report states, “The removal of animal or human waste by Dalits continued in spite of its legal prohibition” continues. It adds “Elected village councils employed a majority of manual scavengers and belonged to Other Backward Classes and Dalit populations.”
“The law prohibits the employment of scavengers or the construction of dry (nonflush) latrines, and penalties range from imprisonment for up to one year, a fine of 2,000 rupees ($30), or both. Nonetheless, Indian Railways often violated the laws without consequence”, the report points out.
“Maharashtra led the country with 63,713 households engaged in manual scavenging, based on Socio-Economic Caste Census data”, the report says, adding, despite the Supreme Court order to enforcement of the 2013 law banning manual scavenging, the authorities “rarely implemented” it, adding, there were “at least 700 deaths in manholes across the country every year.”
“National crime statistics indicated that, compared with other caste affiliations, assailants most often perpetrated rape against Dalit women”, the report says, adding, “lower caste” women were “reportedly pressured to have hysterectomies or other forms of sterilization because of the payment structures for health workers and insurance payments for private facilities.”
“Discrimination based on caste remained prevalent particularly in rural areas”, referring to the Indian National Council of Applied Economic Research survey which said that “27 percent of Indian households practice caste-based untouchability, with the highest untouchability practices found in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh.
Business standard
Economic empowerment of SCs to get boost, a number of measures initiated
http://www.business-standard.com/article/government-press-release/economic-empowerment-of-scs-to-get-boost-a-number-of-measures-116041600439_1.html
The Government has decided to commemorate the current financial year as the Year of Economic Empowerment for SC/ST entrepreneurs. In order to promote entrepreneurship among SC/ST and women, Rs. 500 crore has been allotted in the budget under Stand Up India scheme. This is in line with the Prime Ministers call for promoting entrepreneurship among SC/ST to become job providers rather than job seekers. This Scheme will facilitate at least two such projects per bank branch, one for each category of entrepreneur. This will benefit at least 2.5 lakh entrepreneurs.
The Government has also proposed to constitute a National Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Hub, in the MSME sector in partnership with industry associations for building an entrepreneurship eco- system among Dalits. This Hub will provide professional support to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe entrepreneurs to fulfil the obligations under the Central Government procurement policy, adopt global best practices and leverage the Stand Up India initiative.
In the budget 2016-17 significant increase has also been made in the allocation of SC Sub Plan. Rs. 38,832 crore has been allocated under this head, while in the last budget this allocation was only Rs. 30,000 crore. These measures show that welfare of the vulnerable sections of the society, including SC / ST is in the top of the agenda of the Government.
The rehabilitation all the scavengers will be achieved very soon as a time bound action plan with the help of State Governments is in pipeline. The Ministry has also provided 250 women from the family of Safai Karamcharis with commercial motor driving skills and some of them are driving their own commercial vehicles after funding from National Safai Karamchari Finance Development Corporation.
F .india
Chandrababu Naidu, KCR’s fancy projects devour Telangana, Andhra Pradesh funds
http://www.firstpost.com/politics/chandrababu-naidu-kcrs-fancy-projects-devour-telangana-andhra-pradesh-funds-2732858.html
Hyderabad: Caring little for the stressed exchequers of their respective states, the governments of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have carved a spendthrift path for themselves splurging public money on sappy projects. The 125th birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar has offered another opportunity for extravagance as both the chief ministers have decided to install 125-foot-tall bronze statues of the father of the Indian Constitution. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu was the first to announce that the state would install a 125-foot Ambedkar statue, a Buddhist centre and an Ambedkar museum and library on the banks of the Krishna. The project is estimated to cost around Rs 250 crore, according to Minister Ravella Kishore Babu.
Naidu’s Telangana counterpart Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao went a step ahead and laid the foundation stone on 14 April on the banks of the Hussain Sagar Lake at Hill Rock in the NTR Memorial Garden, besides Prasad’s iMax theatre. This will be in line with the 75-foot-tall monolithic Buddha statue on the Gibraltar Rock amid Hussain Sagar Lake. The cost of the statue project is not revealed, though sources indicated that it could be around Rs 30 crore (just the statue).
Rao also promised a 15-storeyed Ambedkar Towers (cost not estimated as yet) and a Centre for Dalit Studies. KCR announced that the project would be complete within one year – by next birth anniversary of Ambedkar at an outlay of Rs 10 crore.
Naidu on Thursday unveiled the plan at convention centre in Vijayawada on the occasion of Ambedkar’s birth anniversary.
The competition between the two states occasionally come across as cut-throat when it comes to seeking funds and projects from the Centre.
Telangana has taken up the development of Yadadri (formerly known as Yadagirigutta)by creating a Temple Development Authority on par with Tirumala spending huge amounts, including the extension of Rs 330 crore MMTS railway line mentioned in the recent Railway Budget, and the allocation of Rs 200 crore grant.
Similarly, Andhra Pradesh has taken up the development of Vontimitta Kodandarama temple in Kadapa district competing with Bhadrachalam Sri Sitaramachandra Swamy temple in Telangana with a two-pronged plan – short-term and long-term. The State Government is proposing a Vedic University there. The Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) has also pitched in to fund the project. However, the authorities are yet to arrive at a ballpark figure.
On Friday, KCR, after participating in the Sri Sitarama Kalyanam ritual at Bhadrachalam on the occasion of Srirama Navami, announced that Bhadrachalam temple would be developed at an outlay of Rs 100 crore.
In fact, soon after the bifurcation of the states in 2014, Telangana raised the salaries of its staff by 43 percent, forcing the Andhra Pradesh government to follow suit. Ditto with the revision of pay for Road Transportation Corporation staff.
Although the opposition parties in both the states are seeking a check on the spending spree, the governments have simply bulldozed their objections, thanks to their massive majority in their respective Assemblies. Among the projects that have earned the opposition ire are the Telangana government’s plan to redesign massive irrigation projects while the Andhra Pradesh government’s extravagance on the capital region is under the opposition scanner.
Frequent foreign jaunts including that of the chief minister and the profligacy of the state in Godavari and Krishna pushakarams are facing coming under severe criticism of the Opposition parties.
Following is the list of five issues raised by Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, working president of Telangana Congress Committee and MLA and Buggana Rajendranath Reddy, chairman of Public Accounts Committee in Andhra Pradesh Assembly and YSR Congress MLA in their respective states.
Telangana
Vikramarka laced his criticism of KCR government with an attack that it did not have any respect for the Constitution. He pooh-poohed the government for attempting to take cover under the shadow of 125-foot-tall Ambedkar statue for all its follies.
The total expenditure proposed on the irrigation projects alone works out to Rs 2 lakh crore. This includes the new projects envisaged by the TRS government and the redesigning of projects that will cast a heavy burden on the exchequer, only to quench the rapacious thirst of contractors.
The government is redesigning Pranahita-Chevella irrigation project, which was originally an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Project given on a turn-key basis to contractors for Rs 36,000 crore of which work costing Rs 8,000 crore was already completed, leading to escalation of the estimates to Rs 83,000 crore. Similarly, Dummugudem-Rajiv Sagar and Dummugudem-Indira Sagar projects, estimated to cost Rs 2,500 crore originally, will now cost Rs 8,000 crore with the altered plan and abandoning of some of the works. As it is half the work was completed.
The Rs 25,000-crore ‘Mission Kakatiya’ – dredging and deepening of 45,000 tanks in 459 mandals – and aligning them with major irrigation projects might leave the Rs 42,000 crore ‘Mission Bhageeratha’ – creating a raw water pipeline grid — redundant. Vikramarka was at his derisive best when he sought to know if each mandal (with 30-35 villages) would have 100 tanks.
On the move to construct a cluster of residential villas for the officials of the Chief Minister’s Office with huge expenditure, Chief Secretary and the DGP and other important functionaries of the State Administration behind the Chief Minister’s residence, Bhatti Vikramarka said that KCR was following the monarchic style of administration akin to Nizams and Kakatiyas.
Suggesting that KCR had scant respect for democracy, the Congress leader was of the view: “KCR, who took oath of office and secrecy under the Third Schedule of the Constitution, doesn’t respect the 10th schedule in which Anti-defection Law is enshrined. He has usurped the MLAs of other parties.” Would the 125-ft Ambedkar statue ward off his “disrespect for the Constitution?” he asked.
Andhra Pradesh
Rajendranath Reddy has come down heavily on the Chandrababu Naidu government saying that it is indulging in either wastage or injudicious spending of funds. The extravagance is taxing the fund-starved truncated state that inherited huge revenue deficit of over Rs 15,000 crore on account of bifurcation. He points out major realms of extravagance or misuse of funds.
The expenditure on Pattiseema Lift Irrigation project is a case in point for its injudicious spending of money. He pointed out that the Rs 1,600 crore spent on the project that would serve its purpose was nothing but irresponsibility. Because, the government wanted to shift the pumps elsewhere after two years. The entire spend on the work would go to waste. It’s still being debated whether the Lift Irrigation Projects were viable at all. And, Pattiseema meant for just two years is part of Polavaram Major Irrigation project.
A large section of population is devout. And, we respect the religious sentiments of every person. However, how wise is it on the part of the state government to have spent Rs 1,600 crore on Godavari Pushkarams. Have they really spent so much, and if so on, what remains still a moot question. Now the AP government is planning to spend Rs 1,000 crore for Krishna Pushkarams. Is the government going to create any tangible and sustainable asset with that kind of a spend? A government that’s citing paucity of funds for drinking water and sinking borewells is ready to spend any amount on luxuries. Isn’t this an attempt to “satisfy” the pleonectic urge of vested interests?
Take the expenditure of the chief minister: He has spent tens of crores of rupees for refurbishing his offices at Secretariat in Hyderabad twice, guesthouse, camp offices in Hyderabad, temporary offices in Vijayawada. And, it is not stopping. The new full-fledged secretariat, CMO and CM’s residence would all be built in the new capital. Nobody is questioning their construction. Why should he indulge in lavish expenditure on temporary refurbishments is what bothers people. All this aggregates to around Rs 250 crore to Rs 300 crore.
The Andhra Praesh government has 10 years of time to stay in Hyderabad and use it as common Capital. Even the secretariat is divided between the states. So, the development activity could have been staggered to 10 years with perfect plan. But, the spendthrift administration is splashing around money to create temporary structures. The temporary secretariat coming up at Velagapudi is estimated to cost Rs 300 crore. What were the plans of the government for its reuse was not known. Another Rs 300 crore is paid to consultants for the construction of the Capital city so far. Why should he hire Singapore and Japan companies. Aren’t Indian infrastructure majors capable?
Chandrababu Naidu travels everywhere by chartered flights. Look at the way the government itself has admitted to having spent a bomb. He could have travelled business class, or first class. Naidu’s visit to a place in Kadapa district would typically go this way: A chartered flight to Tirupati, a helicopter from there to Kadapa and returning the same way. Why does he need to take an entourage along with him wherever he goes? Even Defence MinisterManohar Parrikar travels by commercial aircraft.
The profligacy of the governments came under sharp criticism by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India too.
E- pao
Saluting India’s legal & economic guru – Dr Ambedkar
http://e-pao.net/epSubPageExtractor.asp?src=education.Human_Rights_Legal.Saluting_India_legal_economic_guru_Dr_Ambedkar_By_Jayadeba_Sahoo
The 19th century India produced a galaxy of great men who have enriched our national life by their talent and personality. Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was one of them. Ambedkar Jayanti is celebrated every year by the people of India with great zeal and enthusiasm like festival on 14th of April in order to commemorate the birthday of Dr BR Ambedkar and his immense contributions for the people of India. It would be 125th birthday anniversary celebration in the year 2016 to commemorate his memories.
About Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar
Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar is the father of Indian Constitution who had drafted the Constitution of India. He was the great human rights activists who was born on 14th of April in the year 1891 to the Ramji Maloji Sakpal and Bhimabai in a poor Mahar family in Mhow, Central Provinces, British India (Madhya Pradesh). He died on 6th of December in 1956 at the age of 65 in Delhi, India. He was popular among public by the name Babasaheb because of his great contributions towards the Indian society. He served in India throughout his life as a jurist, philosopher, social activist, politician, historian, anthropologist and economist as well as revivalist for the Buddhism in India to bring Modern Buddhist movement. He became the first law minister of the Independent India and drafted the Constitution of India.
Early Life
He struggled throughout his life for the campaign of eradicating the casteism and social discrimination in India. He own converted to the Buddhism to inspire the lower group people for which he was addressed as a Bodhisattva by the Indian Buddhists. He faced the social discrimination from his childhood when he joined the government school. He and his other colleagues were isolated by other high group students and paid little attention by the teachers. Even, they were not permitted to sit in class and touch the water. They were provided water by the person of higher caste from a distance.
Education
Dr Ambedkar got MA (Columbia University), MSc (London School of Economics), PhD (Columbia University), Doctor of Science (DSc) ( London School of Economics), Doctor of Laws (LLD) (Columbia University), DLitt (Osmania University). Barrister-at-Law (Gray’s Inn, London). The person who sat outside the class, to whom drinking water was denied in school became the most educated Indian scholar.
His Contributions
He worked to eliminate the social belief of untouchability for the lower group of people. He protested to uplift the untouchables in the society to enhance their social status during law practice in the Bombay High Court. He had organized an event called “Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha” in the year 1923 in India to encourage the education among untouchables for their socio-economic improvement and welfare of the outcastes people of depressed classes. He also protected the Dalit rights by organizing various programs like “Mook Nayak, Bahishkrit Bharat and Equality Janta”.
Ambedkar held that emancipation of Dalits in India was possible only through the three-pronged approach of “education, agitation and organization” and run a social movement for people using slogan “Educate-Agitate-Organize” aiming to eradicate the casteism in India as well as rebuilding the Indian Society by following the rule of equality of human beings. His works are deeply embedded in a secular and modern understanding of human society. Moreover, they are also impressed by a strong sense of humanism and a belief in human dignity and worth.
Why Ambedkar Jayanti is celebrated
A march was also led by him in the year 1927 at Mahad, Maharashtra for establishing the equal rights for untouchable people who were not allowed to even touch or taste the water of “Public Chawdar Lake”. He has been marked in the Indian history for starting the social movements like anti-caste, anti-priest movement and temple entry movement. He led the temple entry movement in the year 1930 at Kalaram Temple, Nashik, Maharashtra for real human rights and political justice. He said that political power is not the only way to solve all the problems of depressed class people, they should get equal rights in the society in every field. He was deeply involved in making legal changes in order to protect the low class people rights during his Membership of Viceroy’s Executive Council in 1942.
He had played his great role in establishing the Reserve Bank of India as he was a professional economist. He became successful in forming the Reserve Bank of India in 1934 after giving his ideas to the Hilton Young Commission through his three successful scholarly books on economics such as “Administration and Finance of the East India Company, The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India, and The Problem of the Rupee: Its Origin and Its Solution”.
He also played his role in planning the Indian economic as he got his Economics doctorate degree from abroad. He encouraged people for the growth and development of the industrialization and agricultural industry to enhance the economy of country. He had given ideas to the government for accomplishing the food security goal. He encouraged people for good education, hygiene and community health as their basic requirement. He had established the Finance Commission of India.
He was invited by the Congress government to serve as a first Law Minister after the independence of India on 15th of August in 1947 and appointed as a “Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee” on 29th of August in 1947 where he drafted the new Constitution of India which was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26th of November in 1949.
He paid his major contribution by protecting the Fundamental Rights (for the social freedom, equality and eradication of untouchability for low group people) and Directive Principles (enhancing the living status by securing the fair distribution of wealth) of State Policy in the Indian Constitution.
He had opposed the Article 370 in the Constitution of India in order to provide the special status to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Dr BR Ambedkar left an indelible mark on Indian polity, society and economy with a broad range of scholarly work and rigorous political activism. While much is known, heard and written about his political, social and economic writings, there has been relatively less of an attempt at understanding the philosophical underpinnings and theoretical origins of his worldview.
Ambedkar was both a prolific writer and an avid reader and it was the ideas of Buddha, Saint Kabir, Jyoitba Phule and John Dewey that deeply influenced his thinking. “My social philosophy may be said to be enshrined in three words: liberty, equality and fraternity. My philosophy has roots in religion and not in political science. I have derived them from the teachings of my master, the Buddha,” said Dr BR Ambedkar.
He continued his social revolution till the end of his life through the Buddhism. He has been honored with the Bharat Ratna in the month of April in 1990 for his big contributions towards the Indian society. He emphasised as “Knowledge is the foundation of a man’s life”. “I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved”.
“I like the religion that teaches liberty, equality and fraternity”. “Religion is for man and not man for religion”. “The basic idea underlying religion is to create an atmosphere for the spiritual development of the individual”.
His final words of advice were ‘educate, agitate and organize’; have faith in yourself. With justice on our side I do not see how we can lose our battle. The battle to me is a matter of joy. The battle is in the fullest sense spiritual. There is nothing material or social in it. It is battle for freedom. It is the battle of reclamation of human personality.
News monitored by AMRESH & AJEET
