Born: 14 April 1891
Died: 6 December 1956
Shri. Bhimrao Ambedkar was born on 14 April 1891, Madhya Pradesh to Ramji who was a Subedar in the Indian Army and was the fourteenth child of his parents. Ambedkar had to face discrimination from every corner of the society as his parents belonged to the Hindu Mahar caste who were considered as “untouchables” and lower class.
The discrimination and embarrassment followed him everywhere and haunted Ambedkar even at the Army school, which was run by the British government. In 1908, Ambedkar went to Mumbai to study at the Elphinstone College where he obtained a scholarship from the Gayakwad ruler of Baroda, which was twenty-five rupees per month.
In 1912, he completed his graduation in Economics and Political Science from Bombay University, then moved to the USA for higher studies. Ambedkar was assigned as the Defence secretary to the King of Baroda, after coming back from the US, and even there he had to face the humiliation for being an ‘Untouchable’. In 1920, Ambedkar went to England for further studies at his own expense. On 8 June 1927, he obtained his Doctorate from the University of Columbia.
Coming back to India, Bhimrao Ambedkar observed that cast discrimination was just about to shatter the Nation and soon he decided to fight against it. He strongly favoured the concept of granting reservations to Dalits and other communities. Alongside reached to the people to make them understood the drawbacks of the prevailing social evils, besides this, he launched a newspaper called “Mooknayaka” which means leader of the silent. Once an influential ruler of Kolhapur (Shahu IV) heard his speech at a rally, tucked with him and this incident created a huge chaos in the socio-political state of the country. Soon Dr. B.R. Ambedkar popularly became known as Babasaheb Ambedkar.
He was one of the architects of the Indian Constitution, political leader, economist, historian and Buddhism activist. Dr. Ambedkar fought to eliminate the socio-economic problems such as untouchability and for the rights of the Dalits and others. Dr B. R. Ambedkar was appointed as India’s first Law Minister in the Cabinet of Jawaharlal Nehru. In 1990, he was posthumously honoured by India’s highest civilian honour the Bharat Ratna.
Babasaheb Ambedkar strongly believed that education should be provided equally to all sectors of society. Jabbar Patel a well-known director directed an English movie on Babasaheb Ambedkar’s life and teachings, which was later dubbed in Hindi and several other Indian languages.
During 1954-55, Babasaheb suffered from serious health problems such as diabetes, weak eyesight, etc. On 6 December 1956, he took his last breath in Delhi at his home. On his birth anniversary, Swami Vivekanand Subharti University remembers Dr. B. R. Ambedkar as his name remains in our hearts like a sign of victory of the enslaved and long-exploited.
