Untouchables News.14.04.2024.by.Sivaji.ceo.chennai.26.
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Reporters Without Orders Ep 317: ANI’s business model, Dalit farmers’ electoral bonds ‘scam’
A reporters’ podcast about what made news and what shouldn’t have.
This week, host Tanishka Sodhi is joined by Shivnarayan Rajpurohit and The Quint’s Himanshi Dahiya.
Shivnarayan talks about his profile of ANI and how it became the Modi government’s favourite media outlet. But the story isn’t that simple, he explains, because beyond ANI’s dismal coverage of the opposition are a number of contracts that the agency has signed with state governments.
Himanshi reported on a Gujarat Dalit family that was “cheated” into giving a whopping Rs 11 crore in electoral bonds, of which Rs 10 crore was encashed by the BJP. She explains how the alleged scam took place and just how a company linked to the Adani group was involved.
Courtesy : News Laundry
Dalits Threaten To Boycott Polls Over Unfulfilled Demands
Mysore/Mysuru: The Pragatipara Dalit Okkoota has threatened to boycott Lok Sabha polls if parties and candidates do not assure of addressing issues such as land, housing and unemployment concerning Dalits and fulfillment of other just demands.
Addressing a press meet here recently, Okkoota District President M. Shivanna Kandegala said that influential land owners should distribute lands that they have usurped across the State, among the poor and the landless.
Wanting the Government to issue tilling rights to poor and marginal cultivators, Shivanna said that the authorities should also distribute houses to the shelterless and register a criminal case against those misusing and misappropriating funds meant for the welfare of SC/ST communities.
He also demanded filling up of 1.32 lakh backlog vacancies in the State, free education to poor children, job reservation in the private sector and annulment of false cases registered against progressive activists, among others. He reiterated that the Okkoota will be forced to boycott LS polls if the authorities, political parties and candidates do not give any assurances regarding reddressal of these demands.
Okkoota office-bearers Anusha, Basavaraju and Mahesh Gattuwadi were present at the press meet.
Courtesy : Star Of Mysore..
‘Caste first’ elections: Is it time to revisit Ambedkar’s idea of separate electorates for Dalits?
The ‘caste first’ story is repeating itself in the vast political battlefields of UP, MP, West Bengal, AP, TN, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat — states that command more than 300 of the 540 Lok Sabha seats.
Ranjit Bhushan
It is a cacophony of castes that’s leading the dance of political democracy in the campaigning for the 2024 general elections across the 29 states and eight Union territories.
In Bihar, for example, when the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) announced its list of Lok Sabha candidates it was simply a case of ‘caste first’: there were 10 candidates out of 17 belonging to the upper castes; Janata Dal (United) led by the mercurial Nitish Kumar had 16 candidates with his typical bouquet of caste-mix: Bhumihars, OBC, EBC (Economically Backward Class), Mahadalit and Muslim candidates. The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) has five seats carefully distributed among its own Paswan family and trusted loyal lieutenants as they vie for Dalit and Muslim votes.
The ‘caste first’ story is repeating itself in the vast political battlefields of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat — major states that command more than 300 of the 540 Lok Sabha seats.
Andhra Pradesh, for example, with 25 seats at stake has been the electoral playground of two powerful castes: the Kammas and Reddys. They have conveniently shared political power over the last five decades. Now when the Bahujan Samaj Party picks up the gauntlet to challenge the status quo, it seems like a voice in the wilderness. Undoubtedly, the Bahujans are in a majority; their population is higher in number but their representation in the legislatures is pathetically low. One leader quipped, “We witness democracy for the caste and by the caste!”
Tamil Nadu, the land of Periyar and social welfarism, has witnessed the empowerment of a sea of castes: the Vellalars, Chettiyars, Mudhaliyars, Naidus, Gounders, Nadars, Yadavas, Thevars and Vanniyars have organised themselves to assert their political strength.
The genius and curse of caste as Ambedkar saw it
As the nation commemorates the 133rd birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar, constantly hailing him as ‘Father of Indian Constitution’, his writings on ‘the curse of caste’ are relevant and important in today’s aspirational India.
Moreover, his stringent determined campaign for ‘separate electorates’ is worth revisiting now when the Muslims have been ‘invisibilised’ and the Dalits are little better than pawns in a complex chessboard of today’s political democracy.
“Caste can exist only in the plural number,” Ambedkar said, (Chapter 19, Volume 5 ‘Writings and Speeches, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’).
“Caste to be real can exist only by disintegrating a group. The genius of caste is to divide and to disintegrate. It is also the curse of caste. Few, however, realize how great this curse of caste is. It is therefore necessary to illustrate the vastness of this curse by reference to the disintegration brought about by caste,” he wrote, focusing on the example of Maharashtra Brahmins who are divided into 25 castes and further sub-castes.
Similar is the case with the Saraswata Brahmins, Kanyakubja Brahmins, Gauda Brahmins, Utkala Brahmins and the Maithila Brahmins. Through the enumeration, Ambedkar showed how the Brahmins themselves have been overwhelmed by “what I call the curse of caste”.
50 million Untouchables, yet a denial of their existence
With the might of the British Raj at its peak, Ambedkar began his quest for social democracy and ‘separate electorates’ when he posed a big and basic question.
“What is the total population of the Untouchables of India? For the Census of India taken in 1931 gives it as 50 million. That this is the population of the Untouchables had been found by the Census Commissioner of 1911 and confirmed by Census Commissioner of 1921 and by the Simon Commission in 1929. This fact was never challenged by any Hindu during the twenty years it stood on the record,” he wrote in From millions to fractions (in Book 3 of Volume 5 ‘Writings and Speeches, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’).
It was in 1932 when the political scene erupted over Untouchables, or the Depressed Classes as Ambedkar referred to them.
The Lothian Committee, appointed in consequence of the recommendations made by the Franchise Sub-Committee of the Indian Round Table Conference in 1931, came to India and began its investigation. The future architect of the Indian Constitution was a member of the Indian Franchise Committee, and he wrote, “the Hindus adopted a challenging mood and refused to accept this figure (of 50 million) as the correct one. In some provinces the Hindus went to the length of denying that there were any Untouchables there at all. This episode reveals the mentality of the Hindus and as such deserves to be told in some detail.”
Before accepting membership of the Indian Franchise Committee, Ambedkar had stipulated that the decision of the question – whether the Untouchables should have joint or separate electorates – should not form part of the terms of reference to the Committee. This was accepted and the question was excluded from the purview of the Indian Franchise Committee.
“I had therefore no fear of being out voted on this issue in the Committee — a strategy for which the Hindu Members of the Committee did not forgive me. But there arose another problem of which I had not the faintest idea. I mean the problem of numbers… Strange as it may appear the issue of numbers was fought out most bitterly and acrimoniously before the Indian Franchise Committee. Witness after witness came forward to deny the existence of the Untouchables. It was an astounding phenomenon with which I was confronted,” he revealed.
The demand for separate electorates
Ambedkar had demanded that his community (the Dalits) be treated as a distinct minority when he presented his evidence before the Simon Commission in 1928.
These were his exact words: “The first thing I would like to submit is that we claim that we must be treated as a distinct minority, separate from the Hindu community. Our minority character has been hitherto concealed by our inclusion in the Hindu community, but as a matter of fact there is really no link between the depressed classes and the Hindu community.”
“Secondly, I should like to submit that the depressed classes minority needs far greater political protection than any other minority in British India,” he explained, “for the simple reason that it is educationally very backward, that it is economically poor, socially enslaved, and suffers from certain grave political disabilities, from which no other community suffers. Then I would submit that, as a matter of demand for our political protection, we claim representation on the same basis as the Mahomedan minority. We claim reserved seats if accompanied by an adult franchise.”
Ambedkar was clear that he would ask for separate electorates if there was no adult franchise.
“Further, we would like to have certain safeguards either in the Constitution, if it is possible, or else in the way of advice in the instrument to the Governor regarding the education of the depressed classes and their entry into the public services,” said Babasaheb, with an eye on the future.
The 1932 Gandhi-Ambedkar standoff
Why did 1932 become a flashpoint between the Congress leaders and Ambedkar leading the charge of the Depressed Classes?
Ambedkar is forthright in his explanation: “Up to 1932, the Untouchables had no political importance. Although they were outside the pale of Hindu Society which recognizes only four classes namely Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras, yet for political purposes they were reckoned as part of the Hindu Society. So that for political purposes such as representation in the Legislature etc., the question of the population of the Untouchables was of no consequence.”
Moreover, the Minorities Sub-Committee of the Indian Round Table Conference had accepted the principle that under the new Constitution the depressed classes should be given representation in all Legislatures in proportion to their population. It is thus that the population of the Untouchables became a subject of importance.
Between Mahatma Gandhi and Ambedkar, the disagreements and arguments rose in tenor to become chargesheets and political statements publicly circulated in India and England.
Gandhiji had consistently said that he was opposing the claims of the Depressed Classes for separate representation for he did not want the Hindu Community to be subjected to vivisection or dissection.
In 1932, Gandhiji had to face an equally powerful counter-charge carried in Writing and Speeches, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar: “Attempts are being made to show that Gandhiji and the Congress alone represent the Depressed Classes by presenting addresses through a handful of hirelings and dupes. Is it not our duty to demonstrate the fact by coming out in thousands and proclaiming the truth? This is our chargesheet against Gandhiji and the Congress.”
Find echoes of it in the politics of today?
(Ranjit Bhushan is a senior journalist)
Courtesy : TNIE
KCR raises voice for Dalits; plans protest with 1.3 lakh Dalits
The Congress, which promised to scale up the Dalit Bandhu assistance from Rs.10 lakh to Rs.12 lakh, had however frozen the funds, proving that it had intended nothing but mere lip service.
Hyderabad: Continuing his fiery attack on the State government, listing out its follies and failures one by one, Leader of Opposition and Bharat Rashtra Samiti president K Chandrashekhar Rao on Saturday said the State had ended up in utter disarray in just four months of Congress rule.
Almost every section in the society were let down, he said, adding that it was more so with the Dalits, who were deprived of the Dalit Bandhu financial assistance.
The Congress, which promised to scale up the Dalit Bandhu assistance from Rs.10 lakh to Rs.12 lakh, had however frozen the funds, proving that it had intended nothing but mere lip service.
Addressing a well-attended public meeting at Chevella as part of launching his poll campaign ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Chandrashekhar Rao pointed out that the previous BRS government had introduced the Dalit Bandhu scheme covering over 1.30 lakh beneficiaries in the first phase.
They were all in for a rude shock now as they were left without the rightful assistance as the State government had opted for freezing the funds meant for the programme.
The proceedings issued by the previous government extending financial help to the beneficiaries were officially withdrawn, he said, calling it a brazen move to deprive the Dalits of their due.
The BRS would not sit silent, he said, stating that he would stage a massive protest in front of the Dr BR Ambedkar Secretariat on the issue soon.
“I will sit in protest along with all the 1.30 lakh Dalit Bandhu beneficiaries and fight the government for the benefits they were deprived of,” he said, appealing to intellectuals and youth from the Dalit communities to think over the great deprival they were subjected to. “Unless you come together to fight, it will be hard to expect the benefits of the scheme to come by,” he said, recalling that the BRS government had given precedence to the development of the Dalit communities who subjected to neglect for decades together.
The BRS government had installed the 125 feet statue of Ambedkar in the city and named the new Secretariat after the architect of the Constitution of India.
Treading the path of Ambedkar and Mahatma Phule, over 1,100 schools were established for Dalit students and later upgraded into junior colleges.
His government had also introduced the overseas scholarships enabling Dalit students to study abroad. Shockingly, not even a single student was given the overseas scholarship since the Congress came to power, he said.
The importance accorded to the Dalits, tribal communities, minorities and backward classes was on the wane under the Congress, while the status of all other welfare programmes implemented by the previous government was more or less the same.
Stating that any government should be a source of confidence to the people, Chandrashekhar Rao said the faith the people had reposed on the Congress enabling it to come to power was missing today, because of the party’s failure to utilise the facilities and infrastructure put in place by the previous government.
Courtesy : Telangana Today
Accused arrested for assaulting a Dalit in Bari: A case of assault and assault on the head of the household was registered, the police was searching for one and a half months.
Taking action in the case of assault and assault on the head of a Dalit family on February 27 in Basai Ka Pura village of Sadar police station area of Bari, the Sadar police station has arrested the accused youth after one and a half months. Now the Bari CO is interrogating the arrested accused regarding the above mentioned case of ST-SC Act.
Bari CO Narendra Kumar told that on February 27, the victim Narendra, son of Harisingh Jatav, resident of Pura village of Basai of Sadar police station area, was beaten up by Pradeep alias Abhay, son of Ramesh Lodha, resident of Adampur village and four to five other people over some matter. When the victim Narendra Jatav lodged a case in the Sadar police station regarding the incident of assault, the accused Pradeep alias Abhay Lodha along with four to five people reached his house the same night and beat him badly and insulted him with caste related words. The accused had also threatened the victim.
Sadar Police had handed over the investigation to him regarding the said case. In which Sadar Police has arrested the accused. Which was presented in the CO office today. In this action, there has been special support from Sadar Police along with Head Constable Bahadur Singh, Constable Gyanendra Kumar, Horilal of CO Office.
Dalit man dies in UP police custody, 2 cops suspended
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bareilly/dalit-man-dies-in-up-police-custody-2-cops-suspended/articleshow/109277728.cms
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https://timesofindia.onelink.me/mjFd/toisupershare
Rajesh Rajamani
Rajamani is a filmmaker and critic
First of all, let us acknowledge what we have to. Just so we play it safe. There is no denying that the initiatives around Dalit history month help throw light on the contribution of some Dalit leaders to anti-caste history. But at the same time, mimicking Black history month and force-fitting anti-caste narratives into a month-long ‘Dalit history’ recollection does more damage than good to anti-caste history.
When some self-declared wise men claim that caste is a western construct, we don’t have to take them seriously. But at least we can now be sure that ‘Dalit history month’ is sort of a western import. Let’s take a look at the strange and unusual things that happen throughout this month…
As Simon & Garfunkel’s song ‘April, come she will’ claimed, this is the month when media houses hunt every educated Dalit in the country and request them to write a sob story of their preference. While these writers are conveniently forgotten during the other months, in April, inclusion and diversity shall be at their peak.
During other months, young Dalit and OBC voices can be seen quarrelling perennially with each other on social media. If Dalits are abused as ‘blue sanghis’, OBCs are called out as ‘oppressors’, ‘shudras’, ‘dominant castes’ and whatnot. Even though they have issues with a dozen individuals from the SC or OBC group, they have chosen to abuse the 1,000-odd scheduled castes and close to 4,000 backward castes in the country. But amusingly, during Dalit history month, anti-caste icons from the OBC category will automatically be given a month-long Dalit certificate. The Phule couple will become Dalit, Phoolan Devi will also become Dalit and why, even Lord Buddha will become Dalit. And in some interesting cases, Malcolm X and Nelson Mandela also became honorary Dalits.
And because there is a pressing need to create a unified Dalit history, what better place to start than one’s plate? Every April, beef is declared the official Dalit diet. It doesn’t matter that several Dalit communities might never have eaten it. But this month, all Dalits from across the country are expected to eat beef for breakfast, lunch, evening snack and dinner. Beef pongal, beef dosa, beef idli, beef poriyal, beef kootu, beef rasam, beef chutney, beef sambar and — wait! I am sure you get the drift. As experts say, it is the time to beef it up.
In some ways, Dalit history month is also similar to Zara’s annual sale or what we call in Tamil as ‘Aadi discount sale’, where the works of Dalit writers are sold at an irresistible discount. Because we believe that the sales drive for social justice can never hurt anyone. One just has to look around and witness the multiple listicles titled ‘10 Dalit writers to follow on Instagram’ or the ‘5 Dalit women writers who smashed caste and patriarchy at Jaipur Literature Festival’ floating around the internet.
It has also become very important to add the prefix ‘Dalit’ to everything a Dalit individual does during this month. Because this helps in racialising the Dalit further. So, when a Dalit eats, it is ‘Dalit food’. When a Dalit drinks, it is a ‘Dalit drink’. Or if a Dalit speaks, then of course it is the ‘Dalit word’. But in a way, we are fortunate that such labelling has only been reserved for eating, drinking and the like. It might have been awkward if similar labelling had been forced on the contents reaching the other end of the digestive tract.
During this month, it is mandatory to evoke the memory of Rohith Vemula or Anitha, for a dead Dalit offers more opportunities for a romantic discourse than any useless living counterpart. It might be ironic that while such deep romanticism is devoted to dead Dalits, the living Dalit is only subjected to ridicule and abuse in our society. But as they say, better dead than alive.
It is also the time when Dalits are expected to claim they had a glorious past while convincingly narrating their victim story of 2,000-plus years. Also, while OBC bashing can continue in good faith, a friendly handshake with the friendly liberal Brahmin from your neighbourhood is always encouraged in this auspicious month. And importantly, we have to acknowledge that this month-long fanfare will involve the strengthening of narratives from those scheduled castes that are relatively larger in population and have had better access to opportunities through reservation. A Dalit community that plays a musical instrument or is involved in agriculture can proudly claim its history of being artists or agriculturists. But the same privilege is not available to those associated with stigmatised and dehumanising occupations. They are expected to just sit and stare. And their cooperation can be thanked later.
Ambedkar Jayanti: How Mahad Satyagraha Emerged as ‘Foundational Event’ of Dalit Movement
Describing Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar in a sentence or paragraph is not easy. His life is full of several milestones. He was the first Dalit student to attend Elphinstone College in Bombay. After receiving a Baroda State Scholarship, he attended Columbia University and then London School of Economics.
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He served as the first law minister of independent India and chaired the committee, which drafted the country’s constitution. He was a political philosopher, economist and lawyer who authored multiple books and delivered innumerable lectures.
However, Babasaheb’s greatest achievement was to energize the Dalit emancipation movement. He is recognized for having sparked the Dalit consciousness, which fueled the group’s ascent to political prominence. Under Ambedkar’s leadership, the Mahad Satyagraha of 1927 marked the beginning of a significant collective protest by the so-called “untouchables”.
As the nation remembers the father of the constitution on his 133rd anniversary, let’s revisit the Mahad Satyagraha — one of the turning points of his remarkable life.
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Background of the Satyagraha
August 1923 witnessed a series of incidents that led to the beginning of the Mahad Satyagraha. Social reformer Rao Bahadur S K Bole moved a resolution that was passed by the Bombay Legislative Council — demanding that “the untouchable classes be allowed to use public schools, courts, offices and dispensaries as well as public water sources, wells and dharamshalas which are built and maintained out of public funds or administered by bodies appointed by the government or created by statute”.
The decision was reluctantly adopted by the Bombay government the following month, and instructions were given for its execution. But in reality, things continued as they always had: Hindus of the higher castes would not permit their “lower” castes to use public water supplies.
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According to academic and civil rights activist Anand Teltumbde’s book titled ‘Mahad: The Making of the First Dalit Revolt’ (2016), Ramchandra Babaji More, a Dalit political leader from Mahad, then asked Ambedkar to preside over a conference of the untouchables in Konkan.
Ambedkar was assisting Dalits in their struggle against the social evil of untouchability at that time through the Bahishkrit Hitkarini Sabha, an organization he had established in 1924.
More’s proposal was accepted by Dr Ambedkar, who then got involved in organizing the conference’s arrangements. It was scheduled to take place on March 19 and 20, 1927, in Mahad town, Konkan (now in the Raigad district of Maharashtra).
He spoke to local Dalit leaders, emphasised the need to start “a wave of awakening” among Konkan’s “lower” castes and gave other organisers instructions on how to hold meetings in order to spread the word about the conference.
The volunteers collected wheat and rice to feed the attendees at Mahad, in addition to collecting Rs 3 from each of the 40 villages. Almost two months were spent in preparation for the conference.
Historian Swapna H. Samel wrote in her paper ‘Mahad Chavadar Tank Satyagraha of 1927: Beginning of Dalit Liberation Under B R Ambedkar’ that workers and leaders personally met with marginalised classes and explained to them the significance of the conference.
Approximately 2,500 delegates, workers and leaders of deprived communities from almost all the districts of Maharashtra and Gujarat, including boys of 15 to old men of 70 attended the Mahad Satyagraha, which Samel describes as a “conference” rather than a satyagraha. On the first day of the conference, progressive non-Dalit leaders also attended and spoke to the attendees, discussing the civil rights of the marginalised and promising to support them in their struggle.
“I feel that until we get to eat these pieces of stale bread, our condition may continue to remain the same,” Ambedkar said in his speech, adding, “no one will choose the new road as long as the old one remains. We have lost our dignity because we have stuck to the outdated route. You should consider how far you want to travel down that route”.
“I want to underline in particular that we all need to work toward awakening our people more quickly. This conference is taking place here only now. You should never let the fire of awakening douse.”
Following the day’s events, it was decided to put the resolution into effect the following morning by marching to the nearby Chavadar Tank, from where the untouchable communities were not permitted to draw water — though it wasn’t what the organizers had originally planned to do. Dr Ambedkar, the other organizers and the attendees walked and drew water from the tank.
On March 20, Teltumbde wrote, “They began chanting triumph to equality — ‘Shivaji Maharaj Ki Jai’ (victory to Shivaji Maharaj) and ‘Mahatma Gandhi Ki Jai’ (victory to Mahatma Gandhi) as they marched in a lengthy procession through the Mahad marketplace with the strictest discipline. When they came to a stop at the Chavadar Tank, they followed Dr Ambedkar inside, where he scooped up water with his cupped hands. ‘Har Har Mahadev’ (victory to Lord Mahadev), they all yelled, and they drank it.”
Shortly after the meeting ended, a local temple priest went around the town — accusing Dalits of attempting to enter the temple and requesting assistance from the people to stop them. This led to a brawl in which, according to Teltumbde, “20 people were seriously injured and 60-70 people, including three-four women”.
According to Teltumbde, “upper” caste Hindus purified the tank by “emptying out 108 earthen pots full of gomutra (cow’s urine) into it”.
Dr Ambedkar, however, was unfazed by the criticism. To demonstrate the resolve of the Dalit community, he announced another conference — this time on a much larger scale — to be held at the same location on December 26, 1927. He deliberately referred to it as a Satyagraha this time again.
On December 12, a few “upper” caste Hindus filed a lawsuit against Dr Ambedkar and his supporters — arguing that the tank belonged to a private individual. After two days, Babasaheb and the other Dalits were not allowed to go to the tank or take water from it until the court issued an interim injunction.
Mahad Satyagraha of December 1927
The participants and organizers were not deterred by the court’s injunction. “The villagers decided to attend the conference with the resolve of do or die. Nearly 4,000 satyagrahis from every hamlet gathered in Mahad,” according to Samel.
When Ambedkar arrived on December 24 to take part in the conference, the police informed him about the lawsuit and requested that he call off the satyagraha.
In the days that followed, discussions took place over whether or not to carry on with the satyagraha given the altered situation. On Dr Ambedkar’s recommendation, the satyagraha was put on hold — even though the majority of people wanted it to continue. In addition, no water was taken out of the Chavadar Tank, unlike the previous occasion.
According to Teltumbde, the fundamental contention presented by Babasaheb Ambedkar prior to the conference was that their fight was against the Hindu caste; the goal of showcasing their solidarity and resolve had been achieved; and if they pursued the satyagraha against the court’s order, they would be in direct conflict with the government — which they ill-finned, especially after the district magistrate had assured them of his support.
However, the satyagraha did not end in vain. Dr Ambedkar and his supporters burnt the Manusmriti. It was a symbolic gesture but a powerful repudiation of the caste system.
A copy of the Manusmriti was put on the pier in a specially dug trench in front of the pendal and ceremoniously burned by the “untouchable” hermits at 9 pm, wrote Samel. The Hindu community was rocked by the burning of the Manu rules, and the “untouchables” were overwhelmed.
Importance of the Mahad Satyagraha
The Mahad Satyagraha is regarded as the Dalit movement’s “foundational event”. For the first time, the community as a whole showed its determination to oppose the caste system and stand out for their human rights. Anti-caste demonstrations had occurred before to the satyagraha as well, but they were isolated and infrequent.
“They lacked elements of organization and the charismatic leadership of Dr Ambedkar, and it was the main difference between (the) Mahad (Satyagraha) and them,” wrote Teltumbde.
Future movements against the caste system and its practices were to be organised using the Mahad Satyagraha as a model. It was a turning event in Dr Ambedkar’s political career that propelled him to the forefront of the nation’s disadvantaged and impoverished sections.
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Indian Embassy organises an International Conference on Dr. B. R. Ambedkar`s contribution to making of Indian Constitution
The Embassy of India in Phnom Penh in association with Dr Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi, Preah Sihamoniraja Buddhist University, Preah Sihanouk Raja Buddhist University, Phnom Penh and Ministry of Culture and Religion, organised an International Conference on “Dr. B. R. Ambedkar`s Contribution to the Making of the Indian Constitution, Nation Building and His Thoughts on Buddhism.”
Held at the Conference Hall of Preah Sihamoniraja Buddhist University in Phnom Penh on April 10, the conference is aimed to educate and create awareness about the significant contributions made by Dr B.R. Ambedkar in various social and educational areas and to promote cooperation among the academicians from India and Cambodia, said a press release of the Indian Embassy released on April 12m 2024, adding that it also provided opportunities to Cambodian students to learn from Indian scholars, their perspective on Buddhism.
According to the same source, Babasaheb Dr. B. R. Ambedkar is one of the India’s greatest intellectuals, farsighted statesmen, humanist, economist, brilliant academician, splendid orator and writer.
He was a true legal luminary, a constitutional expert of exceptional democratic vision, and above all, a great nation-builder in Liberty, Equality, Fraternity and Social Justice. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar believed that the ideals of universal human rights, self-reliance, and non-violent struggle (expressed in the slogans “liberty, equality, fraternity” and “educate, agitate, organize”) are grounded in the Dhamma, the ancient teaching of the Buddha.
Gnoun Sdechpheakdey, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Cults and Religions as “Guest of Honor” lauded Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s Contributions of the Making of the Indian Constitution and Nation-Building, and His Thoughts on Buddhism. He also stated this conference will bring more collaborative Buddhist linkage between Cambodia and India.
Dr Devyani Khobragade, Ambassador of India welcomed all the guest speakers of the conference and discussed Dr. Ambedkar’s life journey and his philosophy in brief.
During the first session, Dr Arvind Kumar Singh, Assistant Professor, School of Buddhist Studies & Civilisation and Director of International Affairs, Gautam Buddha University, Uttar Pradesh delivered his speech on Babasahab Dr Ambedkar’s contribution to the making of the Indian Constitution.
Professor (Dr) Baidyanath Labh, Vice Chancellor of Sanchi University of Buddhist Indic Studies, India expressed his views on Dr Ambedkar’s thoughts on Buddha and Dhamma. Dhamma (Sanskrit Dharma) is the collective term.
Khy Sovanratana, Secretary of State at the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation presented the key note on Dr Ambedkar’s life and his thoughts. Lt. Col. Akash Patil, Director, Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi and underlined Dr. Ambedkar’s thoughts on education and women empowerment.
https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/how-far-right-is-india-from-ambedkar-s-vision-2976266
.Thank you for reading.
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