dr ambedkar thesis 1923

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Why publication of b.r. ambedkar’s thesis a century later will be significant, a contemporary relevance of the thesis, written as part of ambedkar’s msc degree at the london school of economics, is that it argues for massive expenditure on heads like defence to be diverted to the social sector.

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Now, over a century after it was written, Ambedkar’s hitherto unpublished thesis on the provincial decentralisation of imperial finance in colonial times will finally see the light of the day. The Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Source Material Publication Committee of the Maharashtra government plans to publish the thesis that was written by Ambedkar as part of his MSc degree from the London School of Economics (LSE). The thesis, ‘Provincial Decentralisation of Imperial Finance in British India’, will be part of the 23rd volume of Ambedkar’s works to be published by the committee and will give a glimpse into the works of Ambedkar, the economist. Notably, the dissertation argues for expenditure on heads like defence to be diverted for social goods like education and public health.

The source material committee, which was set up in 1978, has published 22 volumes on Ambedkar’s writings since April 1979. “This volume will have two parts. One will contain the MSc thesis and the other will have communication and documents related to his MA, MSc, PhD and bar-at-law degrees,” confirmed Pradeep Aglave, member secretary of the committee. He added that the MSc thesis had been submitted to the LSE in 1921. Veteran Ambedkarite and founder of the Dalit Panthers, J.V. Pawar, who is a member of the committee, said it was significant that the thesis was being published over a century after it was written. Pawar played a pivotal role in ensuring that the committee was set up.

“This work deals with taxation and expenditure. The contemporary relevance of this thesis is that it seeks a progressive taxation based on income levels. Ambedkar argued that expenditure on heads like defence was huge and this needed to be diverted to social needs like education, public health, and water supply,” said Sukhadeo Thorat, economist and former chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC). Thorat was among those instrumental in the source material committee getting a copy of the thesis from London.

“The sixth volume (1989), published by the source material committee, contains Ambedkar’s writings on economics. This includes his works like ‘Administration and Finance of the East India Company’ (1915) and the ‘Problem of the Rupee: Its Origin and Its Solution’ (1923). However, this MSc thesis on provincial finance could not be included in it because it was not available then,” said Thorat.

J. Krishnamurty, a Geneva-based labour economist located the MSc thesis in the Senate House Library in London and approached Thorat who, in turn, communicated with Gautam Chakravarti of the Ambedkar International Mission in London. Santosh Das, another Ambedkarite from London, paid the fees for permission to reproduce the work in copyright. The soft copy of the thesis was sent to the source material committee on November 18, 2021.

In addition to the MSc thesis, the communication and letters related to his academics, such as the MA, PhD, MSc and DSc and bar-at-law including LLD (an honorary degree that was awarded to Ambedkar by the Columbia University in 1952after he finished drafting the Constitution of India, which remains one of his most significant contributions to modern India), were also arranged and compiled by Krishnamurty, Thorat and Aglave. This also includes the courses done by Ambedkar for his MA and pre-PHD at the Columbia University. These details are being published for the first time.

Ambedkar’s biographer Changdev Bhavanrao Khairmode, writes how Ambedkar worked untiringly in London for his MSc. Ambedkar secured admission for his MSc in the LSE on September 30, 1920 by paying a fee of 11 pounds and 11 shillings. He was given a student pass with the number 11038.

Ambedkar had prepared for his MSc in Mumbai, yet he began studying books and reports from four libraries in London, namely the London University’s general library, Goldsmiths' Library of Economic Literature and the libraries in the British Museum and India Office. In London, Ambedkar would wake up at 6 am, have the breakfast served by his landlady and rush to the library for his studies. Around 1 pm, he would take a short break for a meagre lunch or have just a cup of tea and then return to the library to study till it closed for the day.

“He would sleep for a few hours. He would stand at the doors of the library before it opened and before others came there,” says Khairmode in the first volume of his magisterial work on Ambedkar (Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, Volume I) that was first published in 1952. The library staff in the British Museum would tell Ambedkar that they had not seen a student like him who was immersed in his books and they also doubted if they would get to see one like him in the future!

The volume also contains a letter written by Ambedkar in German on February 25, 1921 to the University of Bonn seeking admission. Ambedkar wanted to study Sanskrit language and German philosophy in the varsity’s department of Indology. In school, Ambedkar was discriminated against on grounds of caste and not allowed to learn Sanskrit. He had to learn Persian instead. Ambedkar secured admission to Bonn University but had to return to London three months later to revise and complete his DSc thesis.

Ambedkar completed his DSc in 1923 under the guidance of Professor Edwin Cannan of the LSE on the problem of the rupee, which is described as a “remarkable piece of research on Indian currency, and probably the first detailed empirical account of the currency and monetary policy during the period”.

Ambedkar was among the first from India to pursue doctoral studies in economics abroad. He specialised in finance and currency. His ‘The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India: A Study in the Provincial Decentralisation of Imperial Finance (1925)’, carried a foreword by Edwin R.A. Seligman, Professor of Economics, Columbia University, New York. Ambedkar also played a pivotal role in the conceptualisation and establishment of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 1935.

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BR Ambedkar in London: A thesis completed, a treaty concluded, a ‘bible’ of India promised

An excerpt from ‘indians in london: from the birth of the east indian company to independent india’, by arup k chatterjee..

About two decades ago, when [Subhash Chandra] Bose was still at Cambridge, a letter dated September 23, 1920 arrived at Professor Herbert Foxwell’s office at the London School of Economics. It was written by Edwin R Seligman, an economist from Columbia University, introducing an exceedingly talented scholar – Mr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar. Two months later, Foxwell wrote to the secretary of the School that there was no more intellect that the Columbia graduate could conquer in London.

The first Dalit to study at Bombay’s Elphinstone College, Ambedkar, was awarded a Baroda State Scholarship that took him to Columbia University in 1913. Three years later, he found his way to London, desirous of becoming a barrister as well as finishing a doctoral dissertation on the history of the rupee. Ambedkar enrolled at Gray’s Inn, and attended courses on geography, political ideas, social evolution and social theory at London School of Economics, at a course fee of £10.10s.

In 1917, Ambedkar was invited to join as Military Secretary in Baroda, earning at the same time a leave of absence of up to four years from the London School of Economics. Back in India, he taught for a while as a professor in Sydenham College in Bombay, while also being one of the key intelligencers on the condition of “untouchables” in India for the government, during the drafting of the Government of India Act of 1919.

In late 1920, Ambedkar was to return to London, determined more than ever before, not to spare a farthing beyond his breathing means on the city’s allurements. Each day, the aspiring barrister woke up at the stroke of six. After a morning’s morsel, he moseyed into the crowd of London to find his way into the British Museum.

At dusk, he would leave his seat reluctantly – after being made to scurry out by the librarian and the guards – his pockets sagging under the notes that would finally become his thesis, The Problem of the Rupee , some of whose guineas would eventually find their home in the Constitution of India that he was going to author about three decades later. Back at his lodging at King Henry’s Road in Primrose Hill, mostly on foot, Ambedkar would live on sparsely whitened tea and poppadum late into the night.

It was here that the daughter of Ambedkar’s landlady, Fanny Fitzgerald, a war widow, found her affections strangely swayed by the Indian scholar. Fitzgerald was a typist at the House of Commons. She lent him money in difficult circumstances and volunteered to introduce him to people in governance, with whom he could discuss the Dalit question that was raging in India.

An apocryphal story goes that Miss Fitzgerald once gave Ambedkar a copy of the Bible. On receiving it, the future Father of the Indian Constitution promised to dedicate a bible to her of his own authoring. True to his commitment, he would fondly dedicate his book What Congress and Gandhi Have Done to the Untouchables (1945) to “F”. The incident, when that promise was exchanged, occurred after Ambedkar was called to the Bar in 1923.

In March that year, his doctoral thesis ran into trouble possibly because of its radical approach to the history of Indian economy under the British administration. He might have taken the subtle hint that passages in his work needed tempering – a notion that a man of his vision was likely to have quietly pocketed more as a compliment than an insult.

Ambedkar would have been happy to chisel the nose from his David for the show, like Michelangelo had four centuries ago in order to appease the connoisseur-like pretense of Piero Soderini, who had quipped, “Isn’t the nose a little too thick?” That done, Ambedkar resubmitted his thesis in August. It was approved two months later and published almost immediately thereafter. He expressed gratitude to his professor, Edwin Cannan, who, in turn, wrote the preface to his thesis, before Ambedkar travelled to Bonn for further studies.

Babasaheb, as he was now beginning to be called, was to return to London for each of the three Round Table Conferences held between 1930 and 1932. Two months before the Third Round Table Conference – in which both Labour and the Congress were absentees – Ambedkar and Gandhi reached a historic settlement in the Poona Pact. In September 1932, from the Yerwada prison near Bombay, Gandhi began a fast unto death protesting against the Ramsay MacDonald administration that was determined to divide India into provincial electorates on the basis of caste and social stratification.

In the pact signed with Madan Mohan Malviya, Ambedkar settled for 147 seats for the depressed classes. But the pact to which he was forsworn – tacitly made in London with Fanny Fitzgerald – that of writing the bible of modern India, was brewing like a storm that would take the form of an open battle between him and Gandhi, in the years of the Second World War.

Despite the strong network of Indians at the London School of Economics, Ambedkar chose not to hobnob with India League members. What might have been a sort of marriage-made-in-heaven between him and [VK Krishna] Menon was forestalled. If Menon was Nehru’s alter ego, he would also be instrumental in shaping the early career of the man to become an alter ego – principal secretary –to Indira Gandhi.

In the winter of 1935, a twenty-something Parmeshwar Narain Haksar arrived in London, enrolled as a student at the University College. The following year, he made an unsuccessful attempt for the civil services. In 1937, Haksar became a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute, a distinction conferred on him with support from noted anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski.

Although Haksar also studied at the London School of Economics, it probably never became public knowledge if he had acquired formal degrees from either university. Whether or not he did, as a scholar he commanded great attention from British intellectuals, especially in his arguments on the crisis of education in India, which he reckoned had been tailored to perpetuate British imperial interests and low levels of literacy in the colony.

Haksar was to be called to Bar at the Lincoln’s Inn, but, at the beckoning of Nehru, he would join the Indian Foreign Service in 1948. His red days in London were to yield him lifelong companions. In the 1930s, the Comintern came up with the policy of hatching popular fronts all across Europe with which to counter the growing threat of Nazism and Fascism. It was a phase in European ideologies that strongly affected British politics, and popular movements led by Labour leaders and student communists in London – a cosmopolitan and unswervingly left-leaning outlook that shaped much of the administration and policies of independent India until the years of the Emergency.

A socialist himself, Haksar held an influential position in the Federation of Indian Societies in UK and Ireland besides becoming the editor of its magazine, The Indian Student . His links with the Communist Party of Great Britain, Rajani Palme Dutt and the Soviet undercover agent at Cambridge, James Klugman – indeed with almost anyone of some consequence who supported the cause of Indian liberation – was more than enough for Scotland Yard to keep him closely watched in London.

In September 1941, when the India League organised a commemoration at the Conway Hall in Red Lion Square for the late Rabindranath Tagore a few months after his demise, Scotland Yard obliged by adding a leaf to their surveillance files. Inaugurated by M Maisky, a Russian ambassador, it was just one in a sea of events concerning India that the Yard and other intelligencers of His Majesty’s Government would tolerate during the interwar years. Almost all such gatherings featured subversive pamphlets and books published by the League and similar organisations that were openly lauded by Soviets and Soviet sympathisers.

It was just as well that Nehru also had to tolerate that under the shield of Haksar’s own watch a new romantic plot thickened around Primrose Hill, that of his daughter Indira and future son-in-law, Feroze. Feroze had his flat at Abbey Road and Haksar lived half a mile away, at Abercorn Place. Haksar was befriended by the Gandhis – Indira and Feroze – who introduced him to Sasadhar Sinha of the Bibliophile Bookshop. That, besides the India League and Allahabad connection, not to mention Haksar’s enviable culinary skills, ensured that he was soldered to the future of the Gandhis.

The future of the man who had leant the family his coveted surname would also take a blow on the burning issue of caste. Gandhi was not to be remembered as the sole nemesis of the British Empire. In an interview given to the BBC in 1955, Babasaheb indicated that one of the biggest reasons behind Clement Attlee handing over the reins of the Indian administration so suddenly was the persistent fear of a massive armed uprising in the colony.

He implied that the road to independence had already been paved by the Azad Hind Fauj brigadiered by Netaji. Bose had departed from London during Ambedkar’s days in the London School of Economics. But, he would return in Haksar’s time.

For those of you who may not know, Dr. Ambedkar is a Dalit, an Indian jurist, economist, politician, activist and social reformer, who systematically campaigned against social discrimination towards women, workers, but most notably, towards the Dalits, and forcefully argued against the caste system in Hindu society. Dr. Ambedkar was the main architect of the Constitution of India, and served as the first law and justice minister of the Republic of India, and is considered by many one of the foremost global critical thinkers of the 20 th c., and a founder of the Dalit Buddhist movement. Ambedkar’s fight for social justice for Dalits, as well as women, and workers consumed his life’s activities: in 1950 he resigned from his position as the country’s first minister of law when Nehru’s cabinet refused to pass the Women’s Rights Bill. His feud with Mahatma Gandhi over Dalit political representation and suffrage in the newly independent State of India is by now famous, or I should say notorious, and it is Dr. Ambedkar who comes out on the right side of history.

The bronze bust, sculpted by Vinay Brahmesh Wagh of Bombay, was presented by the Federation of Ambedkarite and Buddhist Organizations, UK to the Southern Asian Institute of Columbia University on October 24, 1991, and then the wooden pedestal on which the statue now rests was donated by the Society of the Ambedkarites of New York and New Jersey, and placed in Lehman Library in 1995. The bust is the only site in the city where Dr. Ambedkar is honored, and is one of the most popular sites in enclosed spaces on campus that I have seen (you have to walk past the library entrance to get to it). 

Every year, on April 14 th, Ambedkar’s birthday, Ambedkar Jayanti or Bhim Jayanti, is celebrated in India (as an official holiday since 2015), at the UN (since 2016), and around the world. On this day, many visitors flock to Lehman Library, to pay tribute to Baba Saheb and place garlands on the bust. The sight of the visitors– many of whom come to Columbia just to see the bust and pay homage to the man who changed Indian society, brings home the significance of recognizing our critical thinkers, across cultures, eras, languages, divisions and types of social injustice, in the public fora of libraries. It is a powerful reminder that it is through scholarship and indeed through libraries and learning that human differences and injustices can be better understood, addressed and perhaps overcome.  

Years later, Dr. Ambedkar writes: ‘The best friends I have had in life were some of my classmates at Columbia and my great professors, John Dewey , James Shotwell, Edwin Seligman , and James Harvey Robinson.'” (Source: “‘Untouchables’ Represented by Ambedkar, ’15AM, ’28PhD,” Columbia Alumni News, Dec. 19, 1930, page 12.)

Ambedkar majored in Economics, and took many courses in sociology, history, philosophy, as well as anthropology.

In 1915, he submitted an M. A. thesis entitled: The Administration and Finance of the East India Company . (He is believed to have begun an M. A. thesis entitled  Ancient Indian Commerce earlier. That thesis is unavailable at the RBML but it is reprinted in volume 12 of Ambedkar’s collected writings). By the time he left Columbia in 1916 Ambedkar had begun research for his doctoral thesis entitled: “National Dividend of India–A Historic and Analytical Study. About this thesis, Ambedkar writes to his mentor Prof. Seligman, with whom he forged a long and friendly correspondence, even after he left Columbia:  “My dear Prof. Seligman, Having lost my manuscript of the original thesis when the steamer was torpedoed on my way back to India in 1917 I have written out a new thesis… [ …from the letter of Feb. 16, 1922, Seligman papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University ” cited in Dr. Frances Pritchard’s excellent  online website about Ambedkar ]. In 1920, Ambedkar writes: “My dear Prof. Seligman, You will probably be surprised to see me back in London. I am on my way to New York but I am halting in London for about two years to finish a piece or two of research work which I have undertaken. Of course I long to be with you again for it was when I was thrown into academic life by reason of my being a professor at the Sydenham College of Commerce & Economics in Bombay, that I realized the huge debt of gratitude I owe to the Political Science Faculty of the Columbia University in general and to you in particular.” B. R. Ambedkar, London, 3/8/20” , (Source: letter of August 3, 1920, Seligman papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University, cited in Pritchard’s website ).  Ambedkar would join the London School of Economics for a few years and submit a thesis there, but then, he would eventually come back to Columbia, to submit a Ph.D. thesis in Economics , in 1925 under the mentorship of his dear friend Prof. Seligman, entitled: The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India: A  Study in the Provincial Decentralization of Imperial Finance .  (It should be noted here that the thesis was first published in 1923 and again in 1925, this time with a Foreword by Edwin Seligman, by the publishers P. S. King and Son).

If it is Seligman he stayed in touch with and corresponded throughout, the person who most influenced his thought and shaped his political, philosophical and ethical outlook, was Dewey. For many thinkers, the links between Dewey and  Ambedkar’s ethical and philosophical thinking are obvious.  Ambedkar deeply admired Dewey and repeatedly acknowledged his debt to Dewey, calling him “his teacher”.  Ambedkar’s thought was deeply etched by John Dewey’s ideas of education as linked to experience, as practical and contextual, and the ideas of freedom and equality as essentially tied with the ideals of justice and of fraternity, a concept he would go on to apply to the Indian context, and to his pointed criticism of the caste system. Echoing many ideas propagated by Dewey, Ambedkar writes in the Annhilation of Caste : “Reason and morality are the two most powerful weapons in the armoury of a reformer. To deprive him of the use of these weapons is to disable him for action. How are you going to break up Caste, if people are not free to consider whether it accords with reason? How are you going to break up Caste, if people are not free to consider whether it accords with morality?” 

Having sat in several classes given by Dewey, and as early as 1916, Ambedkar would go on to address, at a Columbia University Seminar taught by the anthropologist Prof. Alexander Goldenweiser (1880-1940), his colleagues and friends with many of the ideas he later developed in his famous book: the Annihilation of Caste. The paper “ Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis, and Development ” contains many similarities to the Annihilation of Caste, and some of the books’ essential tenets., as acknowledged by Ambedkar himself ( Preface to the 3rd edition, Annihilation of Caste ).

The Columbia University Archives and the Columbia University Libraries hold many resources related to Dr. Ambedkar and to the Dalit movement and Dalit literature. For any inquiries regarding relevant resources, please do not hesitate to contact us: Gary Hausman : South and Southeast Asian Librarian , Global Studies; Rare Book and Manuscript Library: RBML Archivists

Happy Baba Saheb Ambedkar Juyanti!

Kaoukab Chebaro , Global Studies, Head

Today, for the first time studying for Civil Services I got to know about this great man. I think that in the galaxy of freedom fighters which India have produced he was the one we can truly say as the ‘Pole Star’. A true leader who walked the talk, he fought not only for country but also for the rights of the minority who were being annihilated for centuries. We should take cue from this man and try to go for equality, and that equality should be of thoughts, feelings and desires. It’s not at all wrong to aspire for greatness in life but to stifle a man’s path with the chains of societal norms is a sin in my sense. I hope to imbibe some of his qualities in my life. Let long live his legacy.

Thus my goodDr.BR. Ambedkar

Indeed Great emancipator of millions marginalised people, architect of Indian constitution, philosopher, economist, social reformer, jurist, astute politician no lastly father of modern India !! Jaibhim !!

What a great man. Wonderful article.

If it wasn’t for Dr.Ambedkar I wouldn’t be here in this country and have a life that I do now. I will forever be indebted to this Great Man’s courage in the face of adversity. Words cannot describe the gratitude I have for this man Thank you

Excellent effort to make this blog more wonderful and attractive.

Dr. Ambedkar was a great man.

Wonderful Article and an excellent blog. Greetings. Llorenç

Baba Saheb Dr. B R Ambedkar is alive in his works for humanity. Study Social Science or Law, or Education, or about farmers, or Dams and irrigation, or planning commission and budget or journalism, or human rights ……. on most of the subjects and disciplines, his live seen in his works and writtings. By reading him; his life, and his works, he inspires others by his works for the betterment of the society and a world, as a whole.

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Every breathe I take today is because of your struggle to give us an equal and fair society. It could not be possible to imagine even a single day without understanding your life and struggles. Each and every aspect of my existence is because of you Babasaheb. However, the current state of Dalit society pains me.

Such a great personality, tried hard to improvise the system in the country but had to face too much opposition and hatred. Salute to his strength and beliefs that he continued his fight for social justice despite such circumstances.

He was a great man, I considered India’s progress because of his work for the emancipation of millions of marginalized people in India

Is Columbia University conducting a Post Graduate course or PHD on Dr. Ambedkar thought?

Baba sahab Was great human Baba sahab is great human Baba sahab will great human .

Baba sahab god gifted and human for students, politicians, poor humans and all leaders ❤❤

I am thankful to Babasaheb Ambedkar for the beautiful living given to me by his at most efforts to eradicate the caste system through out India and to uplift the standard of living of the downtrodden of this country. He was a great man who fought for the rights and upliftment of the downtrodden and the dignity of women of this nation. A true Indian and a great patriot of the nation. I salute him for his work and knowledge.

Amazing article for some history info please read https://knowledgekart.in/blog/the-complete-history-of-modern-india-for-upsc-ias/

A Bengali Chandal, who, according to Manu Code, later redesignated as Namasudra, I am grateful, over head and ears, to the teachings and thoughts of Dr. Babasaheb B. R. Ambedkar who inspired with dreams and shaped my life and achievement. Lost my parents by two and half years, I was brought up by my two elder elder brothers, both illiterate under care of my father’s childless sister, who took full charge of me. A family of poor agriculturist, my eldest brother was just literate but the second elder brother was totally illiterate. They were, nonetheless, all supportive of my education. Not only my family was illiterate but the whole village as well as the locality comprising hundreds and thousands of people, men and women, were illiterate. I had none to help me in my village for studies. My village boasted of a primary school, established 10 years before my joining the same . ****The village school was upgraded class by class till 10th standard by 1962. But before that I had to migrate elsewhere for Matriculation Examinations which I cleared with FIRST DIVISION—none did this before me around. I went for studies up to B. A. (Hons. in Economics). Then I sat for IAS Exams and was declared I qualified against a reserved candidate by the UPSC. One of my assignments IN 33 YEARS career was as Vice-Chancellor, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University, Muzaffarpur, Bihar. The original name of the University was Bihar University, which, as a homage to the great son in the year of his centenary was rechristened as Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University. It was my pleasant duty to change the name of the university in accordance with the mandate of the law as passed by Bihar State Legislature. Maharashtra fought for 20 years to implement the legislative mandate. There was widespread violence and mayhem in Marathwada over the change of name of Marathwada University. I changed the name the day I joined the university as Vice-Chancellor without anybody even knowing how did I do it. No force was used or no violence occurred. This is my most adorable, nay proud, moment in my career. **** I am an author and have published innumerable articles carried by many leading English journals and dailies over last three decades. ****I prosecuted studies as a private candidate and passed MA. I also did my dissertation for Ph. D. All these I did when government assigned light duty to me. ****In three decades, one highly reputed Delhi English Weekly alone carried about four hundred thousand (400,000) words having great bearing social significance. I am a researcher. Babasaheb is my ideal and my beacon light. I am grateful to him.**** I prosecuted my studies with Welfare Scholarships of Government of India without which I could not have done what I have did. *****I have suffered hatred, discrimination, bias and injustice in various spheres. By the way, I have also been topper in my class irrespective of students belonging to different castes. English is my forte. I write in Bengali too.

Because of Dr. BR Ambedkar i am alive today, he is my past, present and my future, my heart, my soul. Thank you for saving my life and many generations.

Amazing Article. No words to explain how I felt touched being a follower of Dr. Ambedkar

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Issn 2582-9785, a journal on theory and praxis, on economics, banking and trades: a critical overview of ambedkar's “the problem of the rupee”.

Janardan Das

The Problem of Rupee is 257-page long paper written by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar that he presented as his Doctoral thesis at the London School of Economics (LSE) in March 1923. In it, Ambedkar tried to explain the troubles that were associated with the national currency of India - the Rupee. He argued against the British ploy to keep the exchange rate too high to facilitate the trade of their factory products.

In this article, I have tried to summarize the aforesaid book by Dr. Ambedkar. I have also tried to focus on how he advances his speech depicting the ups and downs of the Indian economy and currency. He introduces us to the characteristics of trade and business in our country even from the time when it was divided into several monarchical regions. He proclaims that in our country, the trade of any product had been conducted through the exchanges of money and those particular products. So evidently our merchant society is typically crowned as a pecuniary society that only runs on money.

Quoting W. C. Mitchell, Ambedkar reiterates that economists say money is pivotal to every individual in a society. And without the use of money, the distribution of anything can be a matter of disagreement and disturbance. In the next few lines of his speech, in the first chapter, he describes how the standards and currency were in the time of the Mughal empire and he certainly mentioned that the economic condition of the country was far better than that of today's, because it had a world-wide boundary of trade and free use of gold mohur and the silver rupee . Actually, before the administrative and financial invasion of British, Gold and silver were the inevitable parts of the medium of exchange without any fixed ratio. Hindu emperors and the Muslim emperors had some similarity in their trading features- both of them had a permissible use of metal coin in their empire but in the Mughal empire silver coins were at the center of currency, and later gold coins took that place in the Hindi empires. Mohur and rupee were similar in size, weight and composition. But the silver currency was unknown or more precisely unpopular to the southern part of the great Indian sub-continent because of the failure of Mughal administration. Instead of such coins, they normalised pagoda , the ancient gold coin traditioned from the time of Hindu kings. Mughals made allowances to recuperate the problems regarding faulty technology of the mints. Dr. Ambedkar observes that Mughals had initiated a system of provincial mints that had been maintained or ruled by a single unit or division. That made it easy to examine the issues related to monetary funds or mints. But later, these issues continued to be grow larger and made the poor and ignorant people suffer. He also tried to conjugate the great re-coinage of 1996 (?) . In the last half of the chapter, Ambedkar compared the coins as well as the rupee in every possible way.

Our country was divided into three presidencies during the British rule. So the British government set their target to change the parallel standard popular in Mughal times into a double standard by establishing an authorised ratio of exchange between pagoda , rupee , and mohur . But somewhere their effort partially went in vain. He gave a pictorial glimpse of how Bengal took this effort and tried to fix that ratio. Mainly, these types of attempts were taken and recommended by the Court of directors. But these steps were left to carry out by many of the provincial governments of India. In the first chapter of the problem of the rupee, Dr. Ambedkar explained how silver standards had been established through the vanishing of gold currency and how it had been supplemented by the paper currency. He also retorted how the Act XXIII of 1870 actually introduced nothing new - neither the number of the coins authorised by the mints nor its tender-powers. Rather, it helped just to make some improvements in monetary laws. Since the invention of coinage people always thought that the actual value of the coin can be exact with the price of the coin legalised by the mint. So according to him, the exact value of the coin can’t however always be the same as the certified value. That’s why in foreign countries, coins will not be legal tender if they vary from their legal standards beyond a certain limit. So, making coins legal tender without defining a certain limit to its toleration certainly makes way to cheat. Convincingly, the Act set a certain legal limit to the coins of its tolerance. The act also made an improvement that was to recognise the principle of free coinage. But we can not say that this principle of free coinage was perfect in every possible way as Ambedkar himself once said in this chapter that the principle had not been paid that much attention it deserved. Though it was the very basis of well-established currency in that it has an important bearing on the cardinal question of the amount of currency inevitable for the transactions of the people. According to Ambedkar, to solve this problem, two ways can be very useful to regulate such a huge quantity of transactions. One possible way is to close the mints and to leave it to the judgment of the government to handle the currency to suit our needs. The other way is to keep the mint as it is and to leave it to the self-interest of individuals to determine the amount of currency they need. Ambedkar aptly indicated both of the similarities and contradictions of the above-mentioned Act with the other ones where surely, he finds its incapability to regulate such a large quantity of currency.

In the introduction to the third chapter, Ambedkar was concerned about the economic results of the disturbance of the ‘par’ of exchange and he narrates it as the most “far-reaching character”. Our economic world can be sectioned into two neatly defined groups of people. These two categorised community had learned to use gold and silver and their standard money or purchasing standards. By giving a reference to 1873, he said that when a large amount of gold becomes equal to a large amount of silver, it barely matters for international transactions. It doesn’t make so much difference in which of the two currencies its obligations were stipulated and realized. But due to the dislocation of the fixed ratio or par, it becomes hard to indicate particularly how much silver is equal to how much of gold from one year to another, even from month to month. This exactitude of value which is the pivotal potential of monetary exchange, makes space for ambiguities of gambling. So, flatly all countries weren’t drawn to this center of perplexities in the same degree and the same extent; but yet it’s impossible for a nation which is a part of the international commercial world to escape from being dragged into it. This was true of our country as it was of no other country. India was a silver-standard country bound to a gold-standard country, so that her economic and financial picture was at “the mercy of blind forces operating upon the relative values of gold and silver which governed the rupee-sterling exchange.” Later in the discussion, Ambedkar pointed out the burdens of Indian economy and introduced us to an index [Table-XI] chart regarding the rupee cost of gold payments which showed data from year to year. If we give pay attention to the points figured out by Ambedkar, we can see that these burdens never stop, rather it’s been increasing day by day. Gradually, it caused various policies of high taxations and rigidity in Indian finance. Dr. Ambedkar brilliantly analysed Indian budgets between 1872-1882 and he proved that hardly a year passed without making an addition to the everlasting impositions on the country. He also analysed the information found in Malwa Opium Trade and was able to find errors in the economic policies of the Indian government. The taxes that the government standardized in these trades probably help the Indian economy to feel secure around the end of 1882. The government started exercising the virtue of economy along with the increment of resources. They found cheap agency of native Indians instead of employing imported Englishmen. And it was easy to use native intellect because the Educational Reforms of 1853 clearly says about the access of natives in Indian Civil Service. Thus, he finds the British try to set up a strong economy in India under the British Raj.

In the fourth chapter of the book, Ambedkar focuses on how the establishment of a stable economic system was dependent upon the re-establishment of a common standard of value. As it was the purpose just to normalise a common standard of value, its fulfillment was by no means an easy matter. The government found mostly two ways to make an experiment or practice. First thing was to declare any of the common metal as the standard currency and the second was to let gold and silver standard countries keep to these metal currencies and to establish a fixed ratio of exchange as to turn these to metal into a common standard of value. The first idea of normalising metal currency other than gold and silver was to make other countries leave their standards in favour of gold. If we look back at the history of movements for the reform of the Indian currency, we will mainly find two movements. The movement that led to introduce a gold standard first occupies this field. Dragging a reference to a ‘Report of the Indian Currency Committee’ of 1898, Dr. Ambedkar said that the notification of 1868 had bluntly failed and this failure doesn’t affect the history because the movement had already started earlier in the sixties and the movement had still life in it. Clearly, it is shown by the fact that it was revived four years later by Sir R. Temple, when he became the Finance Minister of India, in a memorandum dated May 15, 1872.

In the next few lines, Dr. Ambedkar talks about the second movement for the introduction of the gold standard that was conducted by Colonel J. T. Smith, the able Mint Master of India. Frankly, Dr. Ambedkar mentioned that his plan was a redress for the falling exchange. In this topic, he quoted the actual speech of Smith that was published in 1876 in London. Depicting the whole principle behind the presentation of J. T. Smith, Baba Saheb found it was considerably supported by the fall of silver in British India.

Now in the fifth chapter, we come to know that once somewhere Indian economic system felt that the problem of an erosive rupee was favourably dissolved. The long-lasting concerns and niceties that lingered over a long period even for a quarter of the century could not but have been successfully compensated by the adoption of a redress like the one mentioned in the fourth chapter. But unfortunately, the system originally planned, failed to be designed into reality. In its place, a system of currency in India grew up which was the very reverse or contradictory of it. A few years later when the legislative sanction had been shown the recommendations and suggestions of the Fowler committee, the Chamberlain Commission on Indian Finance and Currency said that the government contemplated to adopt the recommendations made by the committee of 1898, but the contemporary system utterly differs from the plan and had some common feature with the theory and suggestions made by Mr. A. M. Lindsay.

According to Mr. Lindsay’s scheme, he emphasised on how to turn the entire Indian currency to a rupee currency; the government was to give rupees in almost every case in return for gold, whereas gold for rupees only in foreign dispatch of money. The project was to be implicated through the assistance in between of two offices, one was in London and the other located in here, India. The first was to sell drafts on the latter when rupees were wanted and the latter was to sell drafts on the former when gold was wanted. Unbelievably, the same or similar system prevailed in our country. It was rejected in 1898. Then gradually paper currency came up to the Indian economic realm and two reserves one of gold and other of currencies left other than gold. Ambedkar had lengthened his discussion over Indian currencies after these events.

In the sixth chapter of the book, Dr. Ambedkar said about a memorable thing that was to remind the time when all the Indian Mints were shut down to the free coinage of silver. and the economic world in India was surely divided into two parties, one in favour of the step and the other stood in opposition to the closure of the mints. Being placed in an embarrassing and contradictory position by the fall of the rupee, the British Government of the time felt anxiety to close the Mints and increase its value with a conception to sigh in relief from the burden of its gold payments. Whereas it was requested, to produce an increment of interest of the country, that such accretion in the exchange value of the rupee would cause a disaster to the entire Indian trade and industry. One of the reasons, it was argued, why the Indian industry had advanced by such leaps and bounds as it did from 1873 to 1893 was to be found in the bounty given to the Indian export trade by the falling exchange. If the fall of the rupee was discovered by the Mint closure, everyone feared that such an event was certainly bound to cut Indian trade both ways. It would give the silver-using countries a bounty as over against India and would deprive India of the bounty which is obtained from the falling exchange as over against gold-using countries.

However, in the seventh as well as the last chapter of the book, Ambedkar examined the system of the economy that was advancing towards the changes of the exchange standard in the light of the claim made on behalf of it. Though it is very much a matter of uncertainty and hard to explain the history of Indian banking, but sure if being followed, it will be easy to interpret the market, values of products. Unmistakably, the works of Ambedkar led the nation towards the development and advancement of its economics and international banking and trades.

Works Cited

Ambedkar, B. R. History of Indian Currency and Banking. Butler & Tanner Ltd.

______________. The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India. P. S. King & Son Ltd., 1925.

______________. The Problem of the Rupee. P. S. King & Son Ltd., 1923.

Author Information

Janardan Das studies English literature at Presidency University, Kolkata.

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• Collaborations

Ambedkar Research Scholars

The sac encourages research scholars to engage with dr b r ambedkar's history, from his time at the lse and beyound..

Dr B R Ambedkar is one of the most important alumnus of LSE, from where he was awarded his MA and PhD. His doctoral thesis on ‘The Indian Rupee’, written in 1922-23, was later published as  The Problem of the Rupee: Its Origin and Its Solution  (London: P S King & Son, Ltd, 1923). Ambedkar was a Social Reformer, Economist, Parliamentarian, Jurist, and the Principal Architect of the Constitution of India.

A short biography can be found on the LSE History blog, along with a description of his time at the LSE.

2015 Scholars Visits

As part of the 125th Birth Anniversary Celebrations of Dr B R Ambedkar, the SAC hosted two delegations of research scholars and government officials for week-long visits on 24-31 October 2015 and 21-28 November 2015, in collaboration with the High Commission of India in London and the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India.

With two tours of 25 students & three officers each, the objectives of these trips were i) to show how HE institutions function in the UK, ii) the academic and educational facilities available that are relevant to theirresearch interests at LSE, iii) the rare archival collections relevant to India in museums and collections in London, iv) the multiculturallie in London and v) to introduce students to issues of social inequality, injustice and empowerment affecting contemporary Britain. 

Whilst here, two students were interviewed by Rozelle Laha from the Hindustan Times , culminating in an article published in the Delhi edition (in page 19) on Wednesday, 2 December 2015. 

The journey of Baba Saheb Ambedkar –  Life, History & Works

• Baba Saheb Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar was born on April 14, 1891, he was the 14 th and last child of his parents.
• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar was the son of Subedar Ramji Maloji Sakpal. He was Subedar in British Army. Babasaheb’s father was a follower of Sant Kabir and was also a well-read person.
• Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was hardly two years old when his father retired from service. His mother died when he was only about six. Babasaheb got his early education in Bombay. Since his school days he realized with intense shock what it was to be an untouchable in India.
• Dr. Ambedkar was taking his school education in Satara. Unfortunately, Dr. Ambedkar lost his mother. His aunt looked after him. Afterwards, they shifted to Bombay. Throughout his school education, he suffered from the curse of untouchability. His marriage took place after his matriculation in 1907 in an open shed of a market.
• Dr. Ambedkar completed his graduation at Elphinston College, Bombay, for which he was getting a scholarship from His Highness Sayajirao Gaikwad of Baroda. After his graduation, he had to join Baroda Sansthan according to the bond. He lost his father when he was in Baroda, 1913 is the year when Dr. Ambedkar was selected as a scholar to go to U.S.A, for the higher studies. This was the turning point of his educational career.
• He got his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University in 1915 and 1916 respectively. He then left for London for further studies. He was admitted there to the Gray’s Inn for Law and also allowed to prepare for the D. Sc. at the London School of Economics and Political Science. But he was called back to India by the Dewan of Baroda. Later, he got his Bar-at-Law and D.Sc. degree also. He studied for some time at Bonn University in Germany.
• In 1916 he read an essay on ‘Castes in India — their Mechanism, Genesis, and Development’. In 1916, he wrote his thesis ‘National dividend for India — A Historic and Analytical Study’ and got his Ph.D. Degree. This was published after eight years   under the title — “Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India.” Then after getting this highest degree, he returned to India and was appointed a Military Secretary to the Maharaja of Baroda with a view to groom him as the finance minister in the long run.
• Babasaheb returned to the city in September, 1917 as his scholarship tenure ended and joined the service. But after a brief stay in the city till November, 1917, he left for Mumbai. The maltreatment he faced on grounds of untouchability had forced him to leave the service.
• Dr. Ambedkar returned to Bombay and joined Sydenham College as a Professor of Political Economy. As he was well read, he was very popular among the students. But he resigned his post, to resume his studies in Law and Economics in London. Maharaja of Kolhapur gave him the financial help. In 1921 , he wrote his thesis. “Provincial Decentralization of Imperial Finance in British India,’ and got his M.Sc. Degree from the London University. Then he spent some period in Bonn University in Germany. In 1923 , he submitted his thesis — “Problem of Rupee its Origin and Solution”, for the D.Sc. Degree. He was called to Bar in 1923 .
• After coming back from England in 1924 he started an Association for the welfare of the depressed classes, with Sir Chimanlal Setalvad as the President and Dr. Ambedkar as the Chairman. To spread education, improve economic conditions and represent the grievances of depressed classes were the immediate objects of the Association.
• The Bahiskrit Bharat , newspaper was started in April 3, 1927 to address the cause of the depressed classes in view of the new reform.
• In 1928, he became a Professor in Government Law College, Bombay and on June 1, 1935 he became the Principal of the same college and remained in that position till his resignation in 1938.
• On October 13, 1935, a provincial conference of the depressed classes was held a Yeola in Nasik District. In this conference, he gave the shock to the Hindus by announcing. “I was born in Hinduism but I will not die as a Hindu” Thousands of his followers supported his decision. In 1936 he addressed the Bombay Presidency Mahar Conference and advocated the renunciation of Hinduism.
• On August 15, 1936, he formed Independent Labour Party to safeguard the interest of the depressed classes, which mostly formed the labour population.
• In 1938, Congress introduced a bill making change in the name of untouchables. Dr. Ambedkar criticized it. In his point of view changing the name is not the solution of the problem.
• In 1942, he was appointed to the Executive Council of the Governor General of India as a Labour member, in 1946, he was elected to the Constituent Assembly from Bengal. At the same time he published his book, Who were Shudras?
• After Independence, in 1947, he was appointed as a Minister of Law and Justice in Nehru’s first cabinet. But in 1951, he resigned his ministership, expressing his differences on the Kashmir issue, India’s Foreign Policy and Nehru’s Policy towards the Hindu Code Bill.
• In 1952, Columbia University conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. in recognition of the work done by him in connection with the drafting of India’s Constitution. In 1955, he published his book titled Thoughts on Linguistic States .
• Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was awarded a Doctorate on January 12, 1953, from Osmania University. Ultimately after 21 years, he proved true, what he had announced in Yeola in 1935 , that “I will not die as a Hindu”. On 14th Oct. 1956, he embraced Buddhism in a historic ceremony in Nagpur and died on 6th Dec. 1956.
• Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar was conferred with the title of “Bodhisattva” by the Buddhist monks at “Jagatik Buddhism Council” in 1954 in Kathmandu, Nepal. The special thing is that Dr Ambedkar was conferred with the title of Bodhisattva while he was alive.
• He also contributed to India’s Independence struggle and in its reforms post-independence. Apart from this, Babasaheb played a significant role in the formation of the Reserve Bank of India. The Central bank was formed on the concept presented by Babasaheb to the Hilton Young Commission.
• This sparkling life history of Dr. Ambedkar shows that he was a man of study and action. Firstly, he acquired sound knowledge of Economics Politics, Law, Philosophy  and Sociology, in pursuing his studies; he had to face many social odds. But he did not spend all his life in reading and studying and in the libraries. He refused the higher posts with attractive salaries because he never forgot his brothers in the depressed class. He dedicated the rest of his life for equality, brotherhood and humanity. He tried his best for the upliftment of the depressed classes.
• After having gone through his life history it is necessary and proper to study and analyze his main contribution and their relevance. According to one opinion there are three points which are more important even today. Today also Indian Economy and Indian Society is facing many economic, and social problems. Dr. Ambedkar’s thoughts and actions may guide us for the solution of these problems.
• Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s death anniversary is observed as Mahaparinirvan Diwas across the country.

Eurasia Review

A Journal of Analysis and News

India's Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar "Baba Saheb". Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: His Vision For India Of 21st Century – OpEd

By Dr. Bawa Singh

Popularly known as Baba Saheb, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (April 14, 1891-December 6, 1956), was born in an untouchable Mahar caste. On his birth anniversary, rich tributes have been paid to Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar on his 129th birth anniversary by the Indian and state governments.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on behalf of all countrymen paid rich tribute Dr B R Ambedjkar by recalling his legacy through a tweet video, “A humble tribute to Babasaheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar on his birth anniversary from all the countrymen.” The Indian President Ram Nath Kovind tweeted by saying, “Tributes to Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar on his birth anniversary. Our nation’s icon and Chief Architect of the Constitution, he strived for a society based on justice and equity. Let us all take inspiration from his vision and values, and resolve to imbibe his ideals in our lives.” 

Given Baba Saheb’s contribution in many fields such politics, society, economy, education, law, administration, nation-building, planning etc., he was one of scintillating personalities. But on the contrary, he was also one of the people, who was the most misunderstood one. Most of the people confined Dr. Ambedkar to only the SCs and STs messiah. But he had worked and contributed not only towards the upliftment only of these people, rather gave his exceptional contributions to the politics, sociology, and economics etc.

Remembering the role of Ambedkar in economics, Nobel laureate Dr. Amartya Sen paid generous tribute  to him as,  “Ambedkar is my father in economics. He is a truly celebrated champion of the underprivileged. He deserves more than what he has achieved today. However, he was a highly controversial figure in his home country, though it was not the reality. His… contribution in the field of economics is marvellous and will be remembered forever..!” These words of Amartya Sen proved that Dr. Ambedkar was not only a true champion of the downtrodden people rather proved himself exceptionally well in many academic areas including the economics one. 

Legacy and Contribution of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar

The legacy and contribution of Dr. Ambedkar could be seen in many fields. The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, while delivering his speech on 04-September-2014, has argued that the Ph. D thesis of Dr. Ambedkar entitled, “The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India ” (1923), had provided the academic basis for the establishment of the Finance Commission to get rid of the problems of imbalances in finances. The Reserve Bank of India was conceived by the ideas presented by Dr. Ambedkar to the “Royal Commission on Indian Currency & Finance” in 1925. Notwithstanding all the odds like poverty, caste prejudices, lack of opportunities, discriminations, humiliations  etc, he made a respectable place for himself in all fields. By dint of his hard work, he  got reputation as an economist, philosopher, thinker, secular, socialist, democrat, intellectual,  parliamentarian, statesman, constitutionalist, social reformer, champion of national unity, the nation builder, strong supporter of women’s rights, equality and freedom, and the Messiah of workers, peasants, poor and Dalits.

He made significant contributions working day long and night for the Dalits. Through his speech, The Annihilation of Caste, written for a reformist social organisation, Jat Pat Todak Mandal (Lahore), in 1936, he raised many critical questions on the caste system prevailing in the Indian society. He put forward strong arguments for the annihilation  of the caste system and caste based division of labour. According to Ambedkar, the caste system has destroyed the concept of ethics and morality. All human beings are equal and by dehumanization of the downtrodden people could not be accepted. 

Ghose (1991: 236) argued that due to Ambedkar’s sharp critique of the existing social order through ‘The Annihilation of Caste System’, Mahatma Gandhi described Baba Saheb as a “challenge to Hinduism”. Dr. B.R Ambedkar was of the firm conviction that political empowerment was only the key to the socio-economic development of Dalits. Against this background, he enthusiastically urged for a separate electorate for these people in the Second Round Table Conference in 1932. But this was not acceptable to Mahatma Gandhi, and he launched fast unto death in the Yerawada jail. Being under a lot of pressure from political and social quarters due to the health issue of Mahatma Gandhi, Ambedkar had to relinquish the demand for the separate electorate. A Joint Electorate Formula with reserved seats in legislatures for untouchables under the Poona Pact, was accepted by both the sides. 

Dr. Ambedkar was an eminent jurist and for his seminal role in the making of the constitution by which he earned the title of chief architect of the Indian Constitution.  The constitution was the outcome of combined efforts of a galaxy of great legal luminaries like Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Patel, B.N. Rao, Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar along with Dr. Ambedkar in the Constituent Assembly. Dr. Ambedkar was appointed as the Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee. He used his vast experience and knowledge in  making of  the Indian Constitution. 

In capacity as Chairman of the Drafting Committee, he drafted a comprehensive, acceptable and workable constitution to all members of the committee. To make India social, secular, democratic, and republic through the legal framework, Dr. Ambedkar’s role has been significant, substantial, and spectacular (Jatava, 2001).  His role mainly related to the provisions of constitutional remedies, protections of civil liberties of the citizens,  freedom of religion, the abolition of untouchability and outlawing all forms of discrimination were remarkable. He played a distinctive role in the provision of reservations of jobs for members of the SC and ST. Being a great champion of women, he argued for a broad array of economic and social rights for women.  He played a prominent role in making the preamble of the Constitution, which according to him is the ‘Horoscope of the Indian Constitution. The Preamble of the Constitution ensured all types of justice like social, economic and political, along with liberty, equality and fraternity for the citizens of India. Dr. Ambedkar vehemently opposed the most controversial article 370 of the Indian Constitution at that point of time, under which a special status to the State of Jammu and Kashmir was granted.

His role in the uplift of the Indian economy has remained as monumental. He strongly advocated for the introduction of industrialization. He was of the firm conviction that agricultural growth along with heavy industrialization only could develop the Indian economy. Indian economy was based on agriculture as about 75 % of the Indian GDP was contributed by agriculture only. Given this, agriculture was the backbone of the Indian economy. Thus, Dr. Ambedkar was of the firm conviction that until heavy investments in the agricultural sector as the primary industry is not made, Indian economy would not achieve its optimum potential. He had played a significant role not only in land reforms, land revenue tax and excise duty policies to stabilise the economy but strongly opposed the income tax for the low income earning people. He was an active supporter of the free economy with a stable currency. The agriculture was  very close to his heart and for the development of the same, he conceived some projects like Damodar Valley, Hirakud, and  Sone river project, etc.

As Labour Minister in the Viceroy’s Council, Dr. Ambedkar got the chance to work for the labourers. He launched and led a struggle (1942), for the reduction of working hours of the workers from 12 to 8 hours in a day. The setting up of Employment Exchanges in India was indebted to him. Above and all, population control is the dire need for the development of the economy. Thus, he became a strong advocate of birth control to develop the Indian economy. Later on, this has been put in practice by the Indian government as national policy for family planning.  

Baba Saheb had played a significant role in the establishment of the Finance Commission of India in 1951. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), was established, which was based on this idea presented to the Hilton Young Commission. For the establishment of the Central Technical Power Board, the National Power Grid System and the Central Water Irrigation and Navigation Commission, his role had remained pivotal one.  

A voracious reader, Dr. Ambedkar believed that it was only education which could become a tool for the emancipation of socio-economically backward people from illiteracy, ignorance, and superstitions and clutches of slavery. For promoting the educational interests of weaker sections of society, he established the People’s Education Society in 1945. He urged the socio-economic disadvantaged people to ‘educate, agitate and organise.’ 

Vision for India

Throughout of his life, Dr B. R. Ambedkar dreamt of India, wherein the vast multitude of people of India could enjoy liberty, equality, fraternity and freedom  along with the equality of opportunities. He stood for the casteless and classless society. When India got independence, the literacy rate was at the lowest ebb. As an avid and voracious reader, he believed that only education could emancipate the people from the social evils and superstitions. India ought to be a modern and developed country. He wanted to reform the social system through radical change but believed that it should not come through the violence and bloodshed. He dreamt of a India, where social justice should prevail. There should not be a place for economic exploitation in India. 

For him, the ideal political system where social democracy should precede the political democracy. His philosophy was preoccupied with social improvement, political illumination, and spiritual awakening. The economic well-being of the downtrodden people is the only way to achieve all these attributes. He had envisioned an India where as a citizen,  s(h)e could enjoy human rights, gender equality, the dignity of the individual, socio-economic justice, the promotion of social progress and better standards of life in peace and security in all spheres of human life. 

Being a philanthropic, kind and generous social reformer, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar,  was much pained to see the disgraceful and tragic condition and low status of women in society. He was a torch bearer in the direction of social uplift of women in general and Hindu women in particular. He wanted to see a social reform approach in the context of the status of women. According to him, the progress of society is measured by the status and progress of women. In this respect, he said, “let each girl who marries stand up to her husband claim to be her husband’s friend and refuse to be his slave.” 

Dr. B R Ambedkar’s Relevance in the Present Context 

Today is the age of liberalization, privatization, and globalization.  On account of the free market, the downtrodden people have become more vulnerable to social and economic exploitation. The economic disparity has been increasing exponentially. The job opportunities in the government sectors have been diminishing. Due to privatization, opportunities for getting an education for the poor people are becoming daydream. The exploitation of the labourers has become the order of the day by the private sectors. The social security of the elderly, poor, and women are becoming critical. The availability of basic necessities of life, food, drinkable water, health facility, and many more for the vulnerable people are precarious. At the last, it can be concluded that it would be a real honour in letter and spirit to Dr. B. R. Ambedkar if the present governments would make efforts to realize India, dreamt by Baba Sahab. Efforts have to be made to achieve social and economic democracy, social security, casteless, and classless society. Education and health for all are to be made available. Liberty, equality, and fraternity are to be maintained. Gender equality, human rights for all and in all spheres are to be protected and provided. That social, economic and political system is believed to be best in which the last individual standing in the queue would get his/her due share. Sincere efforts in this direction would be true honour and commemoration for Dr. B. R. Ambedkar.

* Dr. Bawa Singh  is teaching at the Centre for South and Central Asian Studies, School of Global Relations, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, India.  

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Dr. Bawa Singh

Dr. Bawa Singh is an Associate Professor, Department of South and Central Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, India

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1930 - 1940

Conflict, controversy, and congress.

Dr. Ambedkar was now in the midst of his career; this was the central and perhaps most controversy-filled decade of his whole complex life. He was often at odds with Congress, and was attacked by the nationalist press as a traitor. But as always, through all difficulties and frustrations, he persevered.

1930: On Aug. 8, Dr. Ambedkar presides over the Depressed Classes Congress at Nagpur, and made a major speech: he endorsed Dominion status, and criticizes Gandhi's Salt March and civil disobedience movement as inopportune; but he also criticized British colonial misgovernment, with its famines and immiseration. He argues that the "safety of the Depressed Classes" hinged on their "being independent of the Government and the Congress" both: "We must shape our course ourselves and by ourselves." His conclusion emphasized self-help: "Political power cannot be a panacea for the ills of the Depressed Classes. Their salvation lies in their social elevation. They must cleanse their evil habits. They must improve their bad ways of living....They must be educated....There is a great necessity to disturb their pathetic contentment and to instil into them that divine discontent which is the spring of all elevation." (--slightly edited from Dhananjay Keer, Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission , Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1971 [1954], pp. 141-143; Dr. Ambedkar contributed extensively to this biography.)

1930: Dr. Ambedkar was invited by the Viceroy to be a delegate to the Round Table Conference, and left for London in October. He participated extensively in the work of the Round Table Conference, often submitting written statements of his views . His views at the time are described in an unpublished manuscript later found among his papers: " The Untouchables and the Pax Britannica ."

1930: "PRINCE AND OUTCAST AT DINNER IN LONDON END AGE-OLD BARRIER: Gaekwar of Baroda is Host to 'Untouchable' and Knight of High Hindu Caste..." [ ...from an article in the New York Times, Nov. 30, 1930 ].

1932: The All-Indian Depressed Classes Conference, held at Kamtee near Nagpur on May 6th, backed Dr. Ambedkar's demand for separate electorates, rejecting compromises proposed by others.

1932: Gandhi, in Yeravda jail, started a fast to the death against the separate electorates granted to the Depressed Classes by Ramsay MacDonald's Communal Award. By September 23, a very reluctant Dr. Ambedkar was obliged by the pressure of this moral blackmail to accept representation through joint electorates instead. The result was the Poona Pact . In 1933, Gandhi replaced his journal "Young India" with a new one called "Harijan," and undertook a 21-day "self-purification fast" against untouchability [ Gandhi timeline ].

1933: Dr. Ambedkar participated in the work of the Joint Committee on Indian Legislative Reform , examining a number of significant witnesses.

1935: Dr. Ambedkar was appointed Principal of the Government Law College, and became a professor there as well; he held these positions for two years. (K. N. Kadam, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and the Significance of his Movement: A Chronology , Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1991, p. 106.)

1935: In May, Dr. Ambedkar's wife Ramabai died after a long illness. Her great wish had been to make a pilgrimage to Pandharpur, but since as an untouchable she would not have been allowed to enter the temple, her husband had never allowed her to go.

1935: On Oct. 13th, Dr. Ambedkar presided over the Yeola Conversion Conference, held in Yeola, in Nasikh District [ Imperial Gazetteer ] [ Imperial Gazetteer map ]. He advised the Depressed Classes to abandon all agitation for temple-entry privileges; instead, they should leave Hinduism entirely and embrace another religion. He vowed, "I solemnly assure you that I will not die as a Hindu." (--Dhananjay Keer, Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission , Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1971 [1954], p. 253.)

c.1935 The struggle for social justice began to receive increasing attention and support from progressive writers. Mulk Raj Anand's powerful novel "Untouchable" (1935) was followed by "Coolie" (1936), with a foreword by E. M. Forster; both works called international attention to caste and class injustices [ K. Satchidanandan ] [ Andrew M. Stracuzzi ]. In Hindi, there was the work of Premchand [ Premchand ].

1935: In December, Dr. Ambedkar was invited by the Jat-Pat-Todak Mandal of Lahore [ Imperial Gazetteer ] [ Imperial Gazetteer map ], a caste-reform organization, to preside over its annual conference in the spring of 1936.

1935/6: He composed (or began to compose?), but did not publish, a brief, moving, and largely autobiographical memoir called, " Waiting for a Visa ."

1936: On April 13-14th, he addressed the Sikh Mission Conference in Amritsar [ Imperial Gazetteer ] [ Imperial Gazetteer map ], and reiterated his intention of renouncing Hinduism.

1936: In late April, the Jat-Pat-Todak Mandal realized the radical nature of its guest's planned speech, and withdraws its earlier invitation. On May 15th, Dr. Ambedkar published the speech he would have given, with an introductory account of the whole controversy. The result, a slim little book called The Annihilation of Caste , becomes (in)famous at once.

1936: On May 31st, Dr. Ambedkar addressed the Mumbai Elaka Mahar Parishad (Bombay Mahar Society), during a meeting at Naigaum (Dadar), in Bombay. He speaks in Marathi, to his own people, with vividness and poignancy: " What Path to Salvation? ". This was the only time he addressed an audience expresly limited to Mahars. [--Eleanor Zelliot, personal communication, Jan. 2005]

1936: In August, he founded his first political party, the Independent Labour Party, which contested 17 seats in the 1937 General Elections, and won 15. (K.N. Kadam, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and the Significance of his Movement: A Chronology , Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1991, pp. 109-10.)

1936: The Maharaja of Travancore [ Imperial Gazetteer ] [ Imperial Gazetteer map ] issued a proclamation allowing temple entry to the Depressed Classes; this was the first such event in modern India. (K.N. Kadam, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and the Significance of his Movement: A Chronology , Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1991, p. 110.)

1937: Dr. Ambedkar published the second edition of The Annihilation of Caste , adding a concluding appendix that featured a debate with Gandhi over the speech. This work remained a bestseller, going through many editions in the coming years--and exciting much controversy. "It was logic on fire, pinching and pungent, piercing and fiery, provocative and explosive." (--Dhananjay Keer, Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission , Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1971 [1954], p. 269.)

1938: Over Dr. Ambedkar's vigorous protests, in January Congress adopted Gandhi's own term "Harijans" ("Children of God") as the official name for the "scheduled castes." In protest against a term that he considered condescending and meaningless, Dr. Ambedkar and his party staged a walkout from the Bombay Legislative Assembly. Dr. Ambedkar made a number of significant speeches to the Assembly, 1938-1939 . (--K.N. Kadam, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and the Significance of his Movement: A Chronology , Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1991, p. 111.)

1939: In January, he delivered to the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics a lecture called " Federation versus Freedom ."

1939: During the debate over Congress's plan to leave the government in protest at not having been consulted about the declaration of war on Germany, Dr. Ambedkar made his own loyalties very clear: "Wherever there is any conflict of interests between the country and the Untouchables, so far as I am concerned, the Untouchables' interests will take precedence over the interests of the country. I am not going to support a tyrannising majority simply because it happens to speak in the name of the country....As between the country and myself, the country will have precedence; as between the country and the Depressed Classes, the Depressed Classes will have precedence." (--Dhananjay Keer, Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission , Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1971 [1954], p. 329.)

1939: In November, Congress left the government. Jinnah arranged the celebration of a "Day of Deliverance," and Dr. Ambedkar enthusiastically joined him. Dr. Ambedkar was careful to emphasize, however, that this was an anti-Congress rather than an anti-Hindu move; if Congress interpreted it as anti-Hindu, the reason could only be, he says, that Congress was a Hindu body after all. (--Dhananjay Keer, Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission , Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1971 [1954], p. 330.)

Ambedkar’s Solution Against Communal Majority

• First Online: 14 October 2022

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Unlike many societies, the Indian society is characterized by a large multiplicity in the population, in term of ethnic, caste and religious composition of society. Practically, all religions in the world are present in the India. As a consequence, the population is divided into majority and minority groups. The Hindus constitute the majority population, while Buddhist, Sikhs, Jains, Christians, Muslims, and others are in minority.

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Ambedkar, B. R. (1945). Communal deadlock and a way to solve it, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and speeches , Department of Education, Government of Maharashtra, 1979, reprint by Dr Ambedkar Foundation, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, Delhi, 2014.

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Ambedkar, B. R. (1947). State and minorities: What are their rights and how to secure them in the constitution of free India, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and speeches , Department of Education, Government of Maharashtra, 1979, reprint by Dr Ambedkar Foundation, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, Delhi, 2014.

Jaffrelot, Christophe, and Kumar, Narendra. (2018). Dr Ambedkar and democracy , Oxford University Press, Delhi.

Kothari, Rajni (ed.). (1970). Caste in Indian politics , Orient Longmann, Hyderabad.

Thorat, Sukhadeo, and Kumar, Narendra. (2009). Ambedkar on social exclusion and inclusive policy , Oxford University Press, Delhi.

Vundru, Raja Sekhar (2017) Ambedkar, Gandhi and Patel: Making of India’s electoral system , Bloomsbury, Delhi

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Thorat, S. (2022). Ambedkar’s Solution Against Communal Majority. In: Pai, S., Thorat, S. (eds) Politics of Representation. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1544-4_4

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Dr. B.R Ambedkar: The conscience keeper of modern India

Last updated on December 1, 2022 by ClearIAS Team

Nation pays homage to Baba Saheb Dr. B. R Ambedkar on his 132nd Birth Anniversary. Read here to know more about his life.

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956), popularly known as Babasaheb, was an Indian jurist, economist, politician, and social reformer who Chaired the Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly and was India’s First Minister for Law and Justice.

He is known as the maker and conscience keeper of modern India. He was also the chairman of the drafting committee of the constitution of India.

A pioneering social reformer, jurist, economist, author, polyglot orator, a scholar of comparative religions, and thinker Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, the principal architect of the Indian Constitution and independent India’s first law minister, was a multi-faceted man who remapped the frontiers of human achievement by his sheer tenacity, perseverance and the will to excel against all odds.

Table of Contents

The early life of B.R Ambedkar

Born into the Hindu Mahar caste, which was scorned as “untouchable” by the upper class of the time, Babasaheb did not allow the limitations of his background to come in the way of acquiring first-rate education and pushing the bar for academic excellence. He earned a law degree from Lincoln’s Inn and doctorates from Columbia University in the US and the London School of Economics, carving a place of eminence as a scholar extraordinaire for his research in law, economics, and political science. His early career saw him donning many hats: economist, professor, and lawyer.

Ambedkar was born on 14 April 1891 in the town and military cantonment of Mhow (now officially known as Dr Ambedkar Nagar) (now in Madhya Pradesh).

Ambedkar’s ancestors had long worked for the army of the British East India Company, and his father served in the  British Indian Army  at the Mhow cantonment.

He faced casteism as a child during his school years- he and other such children weren’t allowed to sit inside the class.

Ambedkar was a bright child and excelled in his studies. In 1907, he passed his matriculation examination and in the following year, he entered Elphinstone College, which was affiliated with the University of Bombay, becoming, according to him, the first from his Mahar caste to do so.

By 1912, he obtained his degree in economics and political science from Bombay University and was prepared to take up employment with the Baroda state government.

In 1913, at the age of 22, Ambedkar was awarded a Baroda State Scholarship for three years under a scheme established by Sayajirao Gaekwad III (Gaekwad of Baroda) that was designed to provide opportunities for postgraduate education at Columbia University in New York City.

In 1916, he passed his second M.A and later completed his Ph.D. in economics from Columbia in 1927.

Even after being highly educated, the issue of untouchability issues his life in India after his return. He was unsuccessful at various jobs, even as a professor due to others objecting to his lower caste.

Ambedkar’s fight against untouchability

In the next stage, he emerged as a national leader with a pan-India vision of modernity underpinned by the ideals of social justice and equality. As India’s freedom movement gained traction, he harnessed his formidable intellectual energies to script an anthem of an inclusive India and strove tirelessly for political rights and social freedom for Dalits and marginalized groups.

In 1923, he set up the’Bahishkrit Hitkarini Sabha (Outcastes Welfare Association)’, which was devoted to spreading education and culture amongst the downtrodden.

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.

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.

Poona Pact, 1932:

In 1932, the British colonial government announced the formation of a separate electorate for “Depressed Classes” in the Communal Award.  Mahatma Gandhi  fiercely opposed a separate electorate for untouchables, saying he feared that such an arrangement would divide the Hindu community.

Gandhi protested by fasting while imprisoned in the Yerwada Central Jail of Poona. Following the fast, congressional politicians organized joint meetings with Ambedkar and his supporters at Yerwada.

On 25 September 1932, the agreement, known as the Poona Pact was signed between Ambedkar (on behalf of the depressed classes among Hindus) and Madan Mohan Malaviya (on behalf of the other Hindus).

The agreement gave reserved seats for the depressed classes in the Provisional legislatures within the general electorate.

The text used the term “Depressed Classes” to denote Untouchables among Hindus who were later called Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes under the India Act 1935 and the later Indian Constitution of 1950.

Ambedkar’s political journey

In 1936, Ambedkar founded the Independent Labour Party, which contested the 1937 Bombay election to the Central Legislative Assembly for the 13 reserved and 4 general seats, and secured 11 and 3 seats respectively.

Ambedkar published his book  Annihilation of Caste on 15 May 1936. It strongly criticized Hindu orthodox religious leaders and the caste system in general and included “a rebuke of Gandhi” on the subject.

In 1937, Ambedkar tabled a bill in the Bombay Legislative Assembly aimed at abolishing the  khoti  system by creating a direct relationship between government and farmers.

Ambedkar served on the Defence Advisory Committee and the Viceroy’s Executive Council as minister for labour.

After the  Lahore resolution (1940) of the Muslim League demanding Pakistan, Ambedkar wrote a 400-page tract titled  Thoughts on Pakistan , which analyzed the concept of “Pakistan” in all its aspects.

• Ambedkar argued that the Hindus should concede Pakistan to the Muslims. Ambedkar also criticized Islamic practice in South Asia. While justifying the Partition of India , he condemned child marriage and the mistreatment of women in Muslim society.

Maker and conscience-keeper of modern India

Babasaheb, as he was fondly called by friends, admirers, and followers, braved the walls of prejudice and caste discrimination in early 20th century India to emerge as an exemplar and an unflinching crusader against the inequities of the caste system and socio-economic deprivation that afflicted millions of Indians.

His life is an inspirational story of achievements despite trying circumstances and the indomitable will to move beyond individual strife for the larger cause of social justice and national renaissance.

The drafting of India’s constitution:

India’s tryst with destiny, as India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru spoke eloquently about at the fateful hour of India’s independence, saw Dr. Ambedkar being entrusted with a monumental responsibility: he was appointed Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee on August 29, 1947.

He fashioned a pluralistic and inclusive Constitution that guides and animates India to this day, guaranteeing equal opportunity and freedom of expression and faith for all citizens in a secular democracy.

Famous scholar Granville Austin has evoked the revolutionary spirit of Dr. Ambdekar that is reflected in the Indian Constitution. “The majority of India’s constitutional provisions are either directly arrived at furthering the aim of social revolution or attempt to foster this revolution by establishing conditions necessary for its achievement,” wrote Austin.

The Constitution, drafted under Dr. Ambedkar’s leadership, abolished untouchability and outlawed all forms of discrimination.

An ardent proponent of the rights of women, minorities, and the socially underprivileged, he argued eloquently and won the Constituent Assembly’s support for introducing a system of reservations of jobs in the civil services, schools, and colleges for members of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Class.

This was later reflected in the policies of affirmative action adopted by the Indian government.

An erudite economist and institution-builder, Dr. Ambedkar authored many scholarly treatises on economics and was the driving force behind the establishment of the Finance Commission of India . His ideas also laid the foundation for the setting up of India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India .

While Dr. Ambedkar’s achievements were manifold and straddled a wide spectrum, his inner life was richer and marked by spiritual vitality. In 1956, he converted to Buddhism .

He died in 1956 in New Delhi while working on “The Buddha and his Dhamma”, which was published posthumously.

The popularity and esteem he enjoyed among all lovers of social justice were seen at his funeral at Dadar Chowpatty beach on December 7, 1956, which was thronged by at least half a million mourners.

Legacy of Babasaheb Ambedkar

Babasaheb’s myriad contributions to the forging of a modern inclusive India were recognized posthumously through the Bharat Ratna in 1990.

Dr. Ambedkar’s ideals of social inequality redesigned the contours of Indian politics. His surging popularity was reflected in scholarly biographies, numerous statues, and memorials across the country.

Today, Ambedkar is revered nationally, and figures in the national pantheon as one of the makers of modern India, along with Gandhi, Nehru, and Tagore .

His birthday, April 14, has been christened ‘Ambedkar Jayanti’ or ‘Bhim Jayanti’ and is celebrated as a public holiday.

As India celebrates the birth anniversary of this national icon, Babasaheb remains an inspiration for millions of Indians and proponents of equality and social justice across the globe.

Fittingly, although it’s a matter of coincidence, one can see the trace of Babasaheb’s radiant vision in the “ Sustainable Development Goals ” that are set to be formally adopted by the UN General Assembly to eliminate poverty, hunger, and socio-economic inequality by 2030.

Books by Ambedkar

• The Problem of the Rupee – Its origin and its solution
• The Untouchables, Who are they?
• Who were the Shudra?
• States and Minorities
• Emancipation of the Untouchables

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