Dr. B. R. Ambedkar

Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was born on 14th April, 1891, Mhow, Indore, Madhya Pradesh. He was the 14th child of Subedar Ramji Maloji Sakpal and Bhimabai Sakpal. Ambedkar’s family was of Marathi origin from the town of Ambadawe in Ratnagiri district of current Maharashtra state. He was an Indian political leader who played a pivotal role in drafting the Constitution of India. For this reason, Ambedkar is commonly known as the “Father of the Indian Constitution.” He was the first Union law minister of the Government of India from 1947 to 1951.

Ambedkar was born into a Mahar - a Dalit caste, who were discriminated as untouchables and subjected to socio-economic isolation. Although they attended school, Ambedkar and other untouchable children were separated and given little care or help by teachers. In 1897, Ambedkar's family moved to Mumbai where Ambedkar was the only untouchable enrolled at Elphinstone High School. At the age of 15, in 1906, he married a nine-year-old girl, Ramabai. Ambedkar passed his matriculation examination in 1907 and in the following year he entered Elphinstone College, which was affiliated to the University of Bombay. The people of his community wanted to celebrate when Ambedkar passed his English fourth standard examinations because they considered that he had reached "great heights". A public ceremony was arranged, to celebrate his success, by the community, and during this meeting he was presented with a biography of the Buddha by Dada Keluskar, the author and a family friend. In the year 1912, Ambedkar obtained his degree in economics and political science from the University of Bombay, and prepared to take up employment with the Baroda state government.

At the age of 22 in 1913, Ambedkar received a Scholarship of £11.50 (Sterling) per month for three years under a scheme established by Gaekwad of Baroda which was designed to support postgraduate education at Columbia University in New York City. Ambedkar passed his M.A. Economics exam in June 1915 and in 1916, he completed his second master's degree. Ambedkar received his Ph.D. degree in economics at Columbia in 1927. Ambedkar soon became a Dalit leader, took several initiative for Dalits and led several protests against the social exclusions followed by the Hindu caste system. Ambedkar agitated for increased acceptability of Dalits in public life, and was successful in obtaining special representation for them in the legislative councils of the government. In 1947 Ambedkar became the law minister in the union cabinet under the leadership of first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. He was elected to the Constituent Assembly, a body that was formed to develop constitution of independent India. He took a leading part in the formation of the constitution, wiping out discrimination against untouchables. The Indian constitution came into effect on January 26, 1950, which is celebrated as Republic Day, a national holiday in India. In October 1956, Ambedkar along with 200000 fellow Dalits refused Hinduism and embraced Buddhism, at a ceremony in Nagpur. Since 1948, Ambedkar was diagnosed with Diabetes mellitus (commonly known as diabetes). He remained in bed from June to October in 1954 due to medication side-effects and poor eyesight. His health declined during 1955. Three days after completing his final manuscript The Buddha and His Dhamma, on 6th December 1956, Ambedkar died in his sleep at his home in Delhi. A Buddhist cremation was organised at Dadar Chowpatty beach on 7 December, attended by five lakhs grieving people. A conversion program was organised on 16 December 1956, so that cremation attendees were also converted to Buddhism at the same place. In 1990, Ambedkar was awarded India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna and his birthday, April 14, is declared as a national holiday.