General Body

1. Dr BR Ambedkar
Born of a Dalit Mahar family of western India, he was as a boy
humiliated by his high-caste schoolfellows. His father was an officer
in the Indian army. Awarded a scholarship by the Gaekwar (ruler) of
Baroda (now Vadodara), he studied at universities in the United
States, Britain, and Germany. He entered the Baroda Public Service
at the Gaekwar’s request, but again ill-treated by his high-caste
colleagues, he turned to legal practice and to teaching. He soon
established his leadership among Dalits, founded several journals on
their behalf, and succeeded in obtaining special representation for
them in the legislative councils of the government. Contesting
Mahatma Gandhi’s claim to speak for Dalits (or Harijans, as Gandhi
called them), he wrote “What Congress and Gandhi Have Done to
the Untouchables” in the year 1945.
Dr Ambedkar became an unquestioned leader of the weaker sections
of the society. His qualities as a leader of the downtrodden were
clearly expressed in his speech at Nagpur on 20th July 1942 where he
said “You have less need of an assurance from me that I will fight for
the ideal. I stand in greater need of an assurance of other kind. It is
an assurance of strength, unity, and determination to stand for our
rights, fight for our rights and never return back until we win our
rights. You promise to do your part. With justice on our side, I do not
see how we can lose this battle. It is a matter of joy to fight this
battle. The battle is in the fullest sense spiritual. There is nothing
material or sordid in it. For our struggle is for our freedom. It is a
battle for the reclamation of human personality which has been
suppressed and mutilated if in the political struggle, the Hindus win
and we lose. My final words of advice to you are, Educate, Organise
and Agitate, have faith in yourselves and never lose hope. I shall
always be with you as I know you will be with me.”
Ambedkar’s Idea of Social Justice:
Concept of social justice
Social justice implies that all benefits and privileges in the society
should be shared by all its members. If there is any structural
inequality towards any particular section, the government should
take affirmative action in eliminating such inequalities. In simple
terms it is related to the idea of positive liberalism and with the
concept of welfare state. It stands for that kind of state whose
functions are not limited to law and order but are extended to take
care of the people who are not in a position to help themselves.
According to Ambedkar, his social justice is based on moral values
and self -respect. Justice situates through social, political and
economic justices regulated by constitution.

Ambedkar's reflection on Hindu social system vis a vis untouchability

Ambedkar wanted to reorganise the society on equality and
rationality, therefore opposed the caste based on social structure
which he thought, was characterised by graded inequalities.
According to Ambedkar, the Hindu Society, in common was
composed of four classes namely, Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishya and
Shudras. These classes became an enclosed unit called caste and
brought with it unequal distribution of benefits and privileges. He
was a staunch believer that in order to make a society based on
equality and fraternity, the caste system must abolish, so being the
victim of such discrimination, he decided to give his life to fight battle
against this system. Caste implies a system in which status and
occupation are hereditary and descend from father to son. With the
development of caste, all the requirements of just social order were
lost. With the fixation of individuals into castes and sub-caste, their
status and occupation were fixed by birth. The individual was not a
free human to choose his course of action. Such system of regarding
the status of individual by birth lead to disorganisation of Hindu
society. The Shudras became the worst sufferers as their position
was worse than slaves, they were denied basic access to water,
wells, temple was out of reach and they were forced to live in dirty
places in the outskirts of villages. Their touch shadow or mere voice
was enough to pollute the caste Hindus. Ambedkar himself probed
the caste system. His three tracts are annihilation of caste, who were
Shudras? and the untouchables. His findings were as follows. Initially
Varna's were based on worth but in the course of time worth was
replaced to birth and the four Varna's were regarded as castes. The
principle of graded inequality fixed the contact between castes.
There was according to Ambedkar a close relation between caste
system and untouchability. It was therefore not possible to abolish
the one without abolishing the other. There can be no severance
between the two as untouchability is the extension of caste system.
he opined that the two stand together and fall together. He
therefore favoured abolition of caste system and reorganisation of
society on the basis on equality, liberty and fraternity only then
social justice could be achieved. After several movements and
struggles of Ambedkar to abolish the evil of untouchability, laws
were incorporated in the Indian Constitution to commemorate the
great oppression faced by the untouchables. Article 17 of the Indian
Constitution abolished untouchability and declared it as a punishable
act. According to this, no one can restrict the Dalit's or Harijans from
entering temples, streets, buses, etc. the constitution also provides
reservation to these class by virtue of article 15(4) and 29(2) read
with article 341 of the Indian constitution.
Ambedkar and state socialism'
The theory of state socialism in India has developed by Dr Ambedkar.
He submitted a memorandum entitled as State and Minorities in the
constituent assembly on behalf of all India schedule caste federation
in the year 1946. In his memorandum he opined that any privilege or
extra privilege arising out of any rank, birth, caste or sub-caste
should be abolished in order to achieve social democracy.
Ambedkar’s concept of State Socialism is based on the following
points:
1. State ownership of agriculture and key industries to meet the
demand of poorer strata of society.
2. Maintenance of productive resources by state.
3. A just distribution of common produce among the different
people without any distinction within caste or creed.
The aims and objectives of his state socialism are to remove the
extreme inequalities and evil caste system from the society. The
concept of state socialism is based on principles on justice. To him,
men are different from each other by virtue of their birth, mental
ability, faculty, hereditary and social atmosphere but they should
enjoy equal opportunities for their upliftment. The state socialism
does not want to abolish the state but stands for removing the evil of
capitalist discrimination, Ambedkar believed that state alone can
remove exploitation and can promote collective welfare. The means
of production must be nationalised. At the round table conference Dr
Ambedkar argued with the soul of social justice and the indictment
not merely of caste system but also of stratified classes of injustice
everywhere. To strengthen the position of depressed classes and
tribal, he demanded special reservation for them in legislature and
public services. These productive measures were desideratum
because he knew the social position would not change even if
country is free from foreign rule. He also championed for the cause
of women progress through various movements and legislations as
well. He called upon to abolish the Devadasi system and advocated
to women's right to education, property and divorce through the
Hindu Code Bill (1951). He also propounded the labour charter which
has been the guidelines for labour welfare in the independent India.
He also advocated the holiday benefits, maternity benefit, health and
sanitation and social security for the welfare of labours. So, to
establish a state control society based on liberty, equality, morality
and fraternity, it is needed to apply all kinds of equalities to all the
fields of social, economic, political.

Ambedkar’s take on Mahatma Gandhi

After thoroughly interrogating the social and economic foundations
of Gandhian philosophy, Ambedkar diagnosed Gandhism as a
dangerous doctrine. The economic ideal of the Gandhian model was
equally revolting for Ambedkar’s modernist sensibilities.
Firstly, Gandhi was against machinery and modern civilisation. In
contrast, Ambedkar argues that modern machinery enables humans
to have leisure. And leisure, in turn, is the primary precondition for
culture and civilisation to thrive, which make human life worthy of its
existence.
Secondly, the Gandhian idea of ‘trusteeship’ is ostensibly geared
towards the elimination of class struggle in the relationship between
employers and employees and between landlords and tenants.
Ambedkar, being a trained economist, was highly sceptical of the rich
protecting the interests of the poor. Ambedkar warned about
Gandhism as ‘conservatism in excelsis’ that ‘helps those who have, to
keep what they have and to prevent those who have not from
getting what they have a right to get’. Ambedkar declared Gandhian
philosophy to be suited only for the privileged leisure class, which is
vindicated by the class status of the present torch-bearers of
Gandhism. Ambedkar dissects and concludes that the ideals of
Gandhi are ill-suited for the aspirations of a democratic society.
Ambedkar, from his unique vantage point of being an ‘untouchable’
and a philosopher, indicts the highly Brahminised status-quoist
formulations of Gandhi. The foundational conflict between
Ambedkar and Gandhi are not merely personal, but rather they
epitomise the fault lines of caste that run wide and deep across the
social fabric of India.
His contributions to Dalit empowerment
Along with forming many organizations for the empowerment of the
Dalit Ambedkar also put emphasis on:
Education: He said that “It is the education which is the right weapon
to cut the social slavery and it is the education which will enlighten
the downtrodden masses to come up and gain social status,
economic betterment and political freedom” In 1923 Baba Saheb
founded ‘Bahishkrit Hitkarni Sabha to spread education among
marginalized and to improve their economic conditions. He gave the
slogan: “Educate-Agitate-Organize”.
Changing hierarchical structures of Indian society: Dr. Ambedkar
devoted his whole life to fight for the annihilation of caste by
proliferating a movement against the evils of the caste system. Being
himself a Dalit, he made all his efforts to change the hierarchical
structures of Indian society and restoration of equal rights/justice to
the marginalized and abolition of Untochability. He stood for a
complete reorganization and reconstruction of the Hindu society on
the principle of equality free from castism. He advocated equality of
opportunity. He opted for peaceful and constitutional methods for
the sake of resolution of the social problems.
He advocated a society based on three fundamental principles of
liberty, equality, and fraternity: Dr. Ambedkar was a remarkable
liberal crusader who realized the ideological hollowness of the Dalit
Movement and provided necessary ideology to it. He created
awareness among depressed classes to have a graceful life.
Political party: He formed three political parties, viz. Independent
Labor Party, the Republican Party of India and All India Scheduled
Caste Federation which were instrumental in organizing Dalit
community and raising voice in favour of Dalit community.
Reservation in the election: He represented the untouchables in the
Round Table Conference in 1930. Due to his consistent ceaseless
efforts, the Harijans were granted reservation of seat in the
elections.
Bringing Untouchables to the mainstream of Indian society: His
programs were focused on mainstreaming the Untouchables into
Indian society. He fought not only for equal status of Varna but for
social, economic and political equality as well as equal opportunity to
all. His ideas & programs set forth concrete proposals for the
removal of untouchability and the empowerment of the
downtrodden. Dr. Ambedkar demanded justice to untouchables and
other weaker sections of the society via making provisions in the
Indian Constitution.
His role in framing Constitution
In framing the constitution of independent India, he played a leading
role. He was appointed as the Chairman of the constitution drafting
committee in 1947.Ambedkar was a wise constitutional expert, he
had studied the constitutions of about 60 countries. Ambedkar is
recognized as the “Father of the Constitution of India”The text
prepared by Ambedkar provided constitutional guarantees and
protections to individual citizens for a wide range of civil liberties,
including freedom of religion, the abolition of untouchability, and the
outlawing of all forms of discrimination. Ambedkar advocated
extensive economic and social rights for women and won the
support of the Assembly to introduce a system of reservations for
members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and Other
Backward Class in the civil services, schools, and colleges. He laid
emphasis on religious, gender and caste equality. Even Ambedkar
recommended the adoption of Uniform Civil code to bring reform in
the Indian society.

Savitribai Phule
Savitribai Jyotirao Phule was a prominent Indian social reformer,
educationist and poet who played an instrumental role in women
education and empowerment during the nineteenth century.
Counted among few literate women of those times, Savitribai is
credited for founding the first girl’s school in Pune in Bhide Wada
with her husband Jyotirao Phule. She took great effort towards
educating and emancipating child widows, campaigned against child
marriage and sati pratha, and advocated for widow remarriage. A
leading figure of Maharashtra’s social reform movement, she is
considered an icon of Dalit Mang caste along with likes of B. R.
Ambedkar and Annabhau Sathe. She campaigned against
untouchability and worked actively in abolishing caste and gender
based discrimination.
Early life
Savitribai was born on January 3, 1831, in Naigaon (presently in
Satara district) in British India in a farming family to Khandoji
Neveshe Patil and Lakshmi as their eldest daughter. Girls in those
days were married off early, so following the prevalent customs, the
nine year old Savitribai was wedded to 12 years old Jyotirao Phule in
1840. Jyotirao went on to become a thinker, writer, social activist
and anti-caste social reformer. He is counted among the leading
figures of Maharashtra’s social reform movement. Savitribai’s
education started after her marriage. It was her husband who taught
her to read and write after he saw her eagerness to learn and
educate herself. She cleared third and fourth year examination from
a normal school and became passionate about teaching. She took
training at Ms Farar’s Institution in Ahmednagar. Jyotirao stood
firmly by the side of Savitribai in all her social endeavours.

Role in Women Education and Empowerment

The first indigenously-run school for girls in Pune (at that time
Poona) was started by Jyotirao and Savitribai in 1848 when the latter
was still in her teens. Although they were ostracized by both family
and community for this step, the resolute couple was given shelter
by a friend Usman Sheikh and his sister Fatima Sheikh, who also gave
the Phule couple place in their premises to start the school. Savitribai
became the first teacher of the school. Jyotirao and Savitribai later
started schools for children from the Mang and Mahar castes, who
were regarded as untouchables. Three Phule schools were in
operation in 1852. On November 16 that year, the British
government honoured the Phule family for their contributions in the
field of education while Savitribai was named the best teacher. That
year she also started the Mahila Seva Mandal with the objective of
creating awareness among women regarding their rights, dignity and
other social issues. She was successful in organising a barbers strike
in Mumbai and Pune to oppose the prevailing custom of shaving
heads of widows. All the three schools run by the Phules were closed
by 1858. There were many reasons for this, including drying up of
private European donations post the Indian Rebellion of 1857,
resignation of Jyotirao from the school management committee due
to difference of opinion on curriculum, and withdrawal of support
from the government. Undeterred by the circumstances Jyotirao and
Savitribai along with Fatima Sheikh, took charge of educating people
from the oppressed communities as well. Over the years, Savitribai
opened 18 schools and taught children from different castes.
Savitribai and Fatima Sheikh began teaching women as well as other
people from downtrodden castes. This was not taken well by many,
particularly the upper caste of Pune, who were against Dalits
education. Savitribai and Fatima Sheikh were threatened by the
locals and were also harassed and humiliated socially. Cow dung,
mud and stones were thrown at Savitribai when she walked towards
the school. However, such atrocities could not discourage the
determined Savitribai from her goal and she would carry two saris.
Savitribai and Fatima Sheikh were later joined by Saguna Bai who
also eventually became a leader in the education movement.
Meanwhile, a night school was also opened by the Phule couple in
1855 for agriculturist and labourers so that they can work in daytime
and attend school at night. To check the school dropout rate,
Savitribai started the practice of giving stipends to children for
attending school. She remained an inspiration for the young girls she
taught. She encouraged them to take up activities like writing and
painting. One of the essays written by a student of Savitribai called
Mukta Salve became the face of Dalit feminism and literature during
that period. She conducted parent-teacher meetings at regular
intervals to create awareness among parents on the significance of
education so that they send their children to school regularly. In
1863, Jyotirao and Savitribai also started a care center called
‘Balhatya Pratibandhak Griha,’ possibly the first ever infanticide
prohibition home founded in India. It was set up so that pregnant
Brahmin widows and rape victims can deliver their children in a safe
and secure place thus preventing the killing of widows as well as
reducing the rate of infanticide. In 1874, Jyotirao and Savitribai, who
were otherwise issueless, went on to adopt a child from a Brahmin
widow called Kashibai thus sending a strong message to the
progressive people of the society. The adopted son, Yashavantrao,
grew up to become a doctor. While Jyotirao advocated widow
remarriage, Savitribai worked tirelessly against social evils like child
marriage and sati pratha, two of the most sensitive social issues that
were gradually weakening the very existence of women. She also
made effort in bringing the child widows into mainstream by
educating and empowering them and advocated for their re
marriage. Such pursuits also met with strong resistance from the
conservative upper caste society.

Other Endeavours
She worked in tandem with her husband in the latter’s efforts in
eradicating the custom of untouchability and the caste system,
garnering equal rights for people of lower castes, and reform of the
Hindu family life. The couple opened a well in their house for the
untouchables during an era when the shadow of an untouchable was
regarded as impure and people were reluctant to even offer water to
the thirsty untouchables. She was also associated with a social
reform society called ‘Satyashodhak Samaj’ founded by Jyotirao on
September 24, 1873 in Pune. The objective of the samaj, which
included Muslims, Non-Brahman, Brahmans, and government
officials as members, was to free women, Shudra, Dalit and other
less privileged ones from getting oppressed and exploited. The
couple arranged minimum cost marriages in the samaj sans any
priest or any dowry. Both brides and grooms took pledges in such
marriages that amounted to their wedding vows. Savitribai worked
as head of its women’s section and following the demise of her
husband on November 28, 1890, she became the chairperson of the
samaj. Savitribai carried forward the work of her husband through
the samaj leading it till her last breath. She and her husband worked
dauntlessly during the famines starting from 1876. They not only
distributed free food in different areas but also launched 52 free
food hostels in Maharashtra. Savitribai also persuaded the British
government to initiate relief work during the 1897 draught. The
educationist and social activist also raised her voice against caste and
gender discrimination. Kavya Phule (1934) and Bavan Kashi Subodh
Ratnakar (1982) are compilation books of her poems.