Ambedkar

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar’s contribution

in the Making of the Indian Constitution
 Born on 14 April 1891
 ◦Popularly known as Babasaheb
 ◦Was an-
 ◦Indian jurist,
 ◦Economist,
 ◦Politician and
 ◦Social Reformer
 Campaigned against social discrimination against
Untouchables (Dalits),
 Also supported rights of women and labour.
 He was Independent India's first Law Minister and the
 Principal Architect of the Constitution of India.
 Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar born to Ramji Maloji Sakpal and
Bhimabai.
 His father served in the Indian army. He was the 14th child of
them.
 Being a Mahar caste - considered untouchables – his family
suffered from socio-economic discrimination.
 However - special privileges rendered to army children - he
secured good education.
 Young Ambedkar surfaced – problems – while academically
training himself but – surpassed all of them.
 In 1897 – their family moved to Bombay - enrolled at the
 Elphinstone High School – to become the first ever untouchable
to attain higher education

Childhood - caste discrimination
 One summer day when he and his elder brother went
to meet their father at a distant village named
Gorgaon, Satara, the cart man in which they were
travelling threw them out of his cart in anger as he felt
that his cart had got polluted.
 In another incident when Dr. Ambedkar in his
childhood was thirsty and was drinking water from a
public water course. The upper caste people saw this,
and felt that he has polluted their drinking water and
he was beaten brutally by them
 After Matriculation degree in 1907 - he admitted
himself to Elphinstone College in 1908 – created
history by becoming the first untouchable to enter
university.
 He graduated from the same in 1912 with a degree in
Economics and Political Science.
 He was awarded a Baroda State Scholarship by Raja
Sayajirao Gaikwad Maharaja – to get PG education at
Columbia University in New York City.
 He completed his MA in June 1915, majoring in-
 ◦Economics, Sociology, History, Philosophy and
Anthropology as other subjects of study.
 Two years after he gained a PhD in Economics.
 Meanwhile, in 1916 - enrolled for a bar course at Gray’s
Inn London.
 However, due to the termination of the scholarship, he
had to return to India.
 Dr. Ambedkar started a weekly paper ‘Mooknayak’
(Leader of the Dumb) to Champion the cause of the
Depressed Classes in India.
 He again went back to London and In 1920 – he got
qualified as a barrister from the Glay’s inn at London.
 In 1921, the University of London accepted his thesis
on ‘Provincial De-Centralization of Imperial Nuance in
British India.
 In March, 1923, he submitted his thesis: ‘The Problem
of the Rupee – Its Origin and Its Solution’, for the
degree of D.Sc. (Economics).
 The University of Columbia awarded Dr. B.R.
Ambedkar the honorary degree of LL.D. in the New
 York city of America on 5th June, 1942.
 In India also the University of Osmania had honoured
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, in Hyderabad by awarding the
highest degree of D.Litt. on the 12th January, 1953
 In 1923 he had decided to do his might for the upliftment of
the down-trodden.
 He formed a “Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha” (Outcastes
 Welfare Association).
 He believed in the Oneness of all as the Children of the
God and that all human beings are equal.
 He later joined the Indian Freedom Movement under
Mahatma Gandhi’s leadership and attended the Round
Table Conference in 1932.
 There he succeeded in securing separate Constituencies for
the untouchables.
 He was thus successful in bringing to the notice of the
world the plight of the untouchables.
 On 29th August, 1947 the Constitutent Assembly
appointed the ‘Drafting Committee” consisting of seven
member by its resolution.
 The task – Committee to draft the Constitution of the
 independent India.
 Initially -by Pandit Nehruji and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
decided to invite Sir Guor Jennings, the then
internationally known constitutional expert.
 But Mahatma Gandhi advised them not to do so instead he
told them to invite Dr. Ambedkar who was an outstanding
legal and constitutional expert within India and Dr.
Ambedkar was rightly deserved it due to his-
 ◦deep and vast study, ◦tremendous knowledge,
 ◦amazing command over English language, ◦expertness in
explaining the subject and ideal patriotism
 Abolishment of Untouchability:
 ◦20th June 1947 – Dr. Ambedkar – Question fate about the of the
untouchables – Sardar
 Patel brought introduced bill on 29th April, 1947 – in Constituent
Assembly which was passed – declaring untouchability as punishable
offence.
 Fundamental Rights: Dr. Ambedkar was a champion of Fundamental
Rights.
 Parliamentary Democracy: Dr. Ambedkar was in favour of
Parliamentary
 Protective Discrimination/Reservation: reservations for SCs and STs
and the OBCs.
 Democracy right from the inception of Govt. of India Act, 1935. The
preamble echoes this principle.
 Concept of Federalism: State – neutral in normal circumstances and
Unitary in during emergency.
 State Socialism: He proposed state ownership of
 agriculture with a collectivised method of cultivation
 and a modified form of state socialism in the field of
 industry.
 But due to strong opposition in the Constitution
 Assembly, he could not incorporate his scheme of state
socialism under the fundamental rights as a part of the
Constitution.
 Directive Principles of State Policy: Positive obligations of
 State towards its citizens.
 National Integration: He proposed a strong Centre at
 times when maintenance of territorial and administrative
discipline is needed
 When Nehru directed Sheikh Abdullah to consult
Ambedkar (then Law Minister) to prepare the draft of a
suitable article to be included in the Constitution,
 Ambedkar refused to oblige.
 His words on the occasion :
 ◦“You want India to defend Kashmir, feed its people,
undertake its all-round development and give Kashmiris
equal rights all over the country. But you do not want the
rest of India and Indians (to have) equal rights in Kashmir.
I am (the) Law Minister of India, I cannot betray my
country.”
 Article 370 was drafted by Gopalaswami Iyengar, a State
Minister.
 Under Article 370 the Indian Parliament cannot increase or
reduce the borders of the state.

 Dr. Ambedkar became the first Law Minister in free
India.
 Confusion as to how to plan the future.
 Britishers never accepted that India had the right or
might to frame a constitution for them.
 They therefore appointed the Simon Commission to
find a modus operandi to find a solution and the result
was the formation of the Nehru Committee headed by
Motilal Nehru and the Nehru
 Report was the first frame-work in this direction.
 Dr Rajendra Prasad, praised the services rendered by
Dr Ambedkar in the making of the Constitution and
said:
“I have carefully watched the day-to-day activities from
the presidential seat. Therefore, I appreciate more
than others with how much dedication and vitality
this task has been carried out by the Drafting
Committee and by its chairman Dr. Bhim Rao
Ambedkar in particular. We never did a better thing
than having Dr Ambedkar on the Drafting Committee
and selecting him as its chairman.”
 The Columbia University at its Special convocation
on June 5, 1952 conferred the LL.D. degree
(Doctor of Laws) (Honoris Causa) on Dr.
Ambedkar in recognition of his drafting the
Constitution of India.
The citation read: The degree is being conferred in
recognition of the work done by him in connection with
the drafting of India’s Constitution.
The University hailed him as “one of India’s leading
citizens, a great social reformer and valiant upholder of
Human rights”
 Babasaheb Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar’s speech in
 the Assembly on 25th November, 1949 is
 “The constitution, I offered may be good or bad, it will
depend on how the men in office use it”.
 It means, “However good a Constitution may be, if the
 executors fail to deliver, it may prove to be a bad one,
and if the executors are good enough, however bad the
 constitution may be, it will definitely prove to be
good.”
 Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was conceptualized by
 the guidelines from his book "Problem of Rupee; its
 origin and its solutions''.
 Established finance commission of India.
 To empower women at that time, he presented Hindu
 Code Bill –
 ◦If it was allowed to be passed, it would have ended
Saiti
 Pratha, Dowry system in 1951 only.
 He successfully led the struggle for reduction of work from 12 hours a day to 8
hours in 1942.
 He contributed the idea of setting up of Employment Exchanges in India.
 He was responsible for establishing the-
 ◦Central Technical Power Board,
 ◦the National Power Grid System and
 ◦the Central Water Irrigation and Navigation Commission.
 He played an important role in the establishment of the
 ◦Damodar Valley project,
 ◦Hirakud project and
 ◦Sone river project.
 Dr Ambedkar’s – Constitution - enabled the abolition of untouchability
and the outlawing of all forms of discriminations.
 Due to all these outstanding contributions Dr Ambedkar can be rightly
called the architect of the Indian Constitution.
 However, Dr Ambedkar’s dream of the creation of an egalitarian social
order still remains unfulfilled despite the extended period of
 reservation for SCs and STs.
 He gave a shape to our country of a complete Sovereign, Democratic
and Republic based on adult franchise.
 Indian Constitution is undoubtedly of the highest order. Indeed he
deserved to be called the “father or the Chief Architect” of the Indian
Constitution