B. R. Ambedkar

B. R. Ambedkar
B. R. Ambedkar
	Ambedkar in the 1950s
1st Minister of Law and Justice
	In office; 15 August 1947 – 6 October 1951
Prime Minister	Jawaharlal Nehru
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Charu Chandra Biswas
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha; from Bombay State
	In office; 3 April 1952 – 6 December 1956
Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee
	In office; 29 August 1947 – 24 January 1950
Member of the Constituent Assembly of India
	In office; 9 December 1946 – 24 January 1950
Constituency	• Bengal Province (1946–47); • Bombay Province (1947–50)
Minister of Labour in Viceroy's Executive Council
	In office; 22 July 1942 – 20 October 1946
Governors General	The Marquess of Linlithgow; The Viscount Wavell
Preceded by	Feroz Khan Noon
Constituency
Legislative positions
Leader of the Opposition in the Bombay Legislative Assembly
	In office; 1937–1942
Member of the Bombay Legislative Assembly
	In office; 1937–1942
Constituency	Bombay City (Byculla and Parel) General Urban
Member of the Bombay Legislative Council
	In office; 1926–1937
Personal details
Born	Bhiva Ramji Sakpal; 14 April 1891; Mhow, Central India Agency, British India
Died	6 December 1956 (aged 65); New Delhi, India
Resting place	Chaitya Bhoomi; 19°01′30″N 72°50′02″E / 19.02500°N 72.83389°E
Political party	Independent Labour Party; Scheduled Castes Federation
Other political; affiliations	Republican Party of India
Spouses	Ramabai Ambedkar (m. 1906; died 1935); Savita Ambedkar (m. 1948);
Children	Yashwant
Relatives	Ambedkar family
Education	University of Mumbai (BA, MA); Columbia University (MA, PhD); London School of Economics (MSc, DSc)
Profession	Jurist; economist; politician; social reformer; writer;
Awards	Bharat Ratna; (1990, posthumous)
Signature
Nickname	Babasaheb

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (Bhīmrāo Rāmjī Āmbēḍkar; 14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian economist, jurist, social reformer and political leader who chaired the committee that drafted the Constitution of India based on the debates of the Constituent Assembly of India and the first draft of Sir Benegal Narsing Rau.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] Ambedkar served as Law and Justice minister in the first cabinet of Jawaharlal Nehru. He later converted to Buddhism and inspired the Dalit Buddhist movement after renouncing Hinduism.^[6]

After graduating from Elphinstone College, University of Bombay, Ambedkar studied economics at Columbia University and the London School of Economics, receiving doctorates in 1927 and 1923, respectively, and was among a handful of Indian students to have done so at either institution in the 1920s.^[7] He also trained in the law at Gray's Inn, London. In his early career, he was an economist, professor, and lawyer. His later life was marked by his political activities; he became involved in campaigning and negotiations for partition, publishing journals, advocating political rights and social freedom for Dalits, and contributing to the establishment of the state of India. In 1956, he converted to Buddhism, initiating mass conversions of Dalits.^[8]

In 1990, the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, was posthumously conferred on Ambedkar. The salutation Jai Bhim (lit. "Hail Bhim") used by followers honours him. He is also referred to by the honorific Babasaheb (BAH-bə SAH-hayb), meaning "Respected Father".

^ Duara, Juliette G. (2018). Gender Justice and Proportionality in India: Comparative Perspectives. Routledge Advances in South Asian Studies. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-70669-9. As the Constitutional Advisor to the Constituent Assembly, B.N. Rau was the principal author of the first draft of India's Constitution based on the deliberations of that Assembly and its various subcommittees. In all subsequent deliberations of the drafting committee "this draft constituted the basic document and its working paper". B.N. Rau's work as principal drafter placed him in a good position to address his concerns about the need for "special protection" for women. Thus, it is in the Text of the Draft Constitution dated October 1947 that the phrase about "special provision for women and children" makes its first appearance.
^ Elangovan, Arvind (2019). Norms and Politics: Sir Benegal Narsing Rau in the Making of the Indian Constitution, 1935–1950. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 22–23. ISBN 978-0-19-949144-5. In his role as Constitutional Adviser, Rau's contributions consisted of not only advising the Constituent Assembly but also members of the Indian National Congress, and the All-India Muslim League. In the Constituent Assembly itself, Rau's influence was substantive. Significantly, Rau produced the draft constitution, which the drafting committee chaired by B. R. Ambedkar went on to deliberate. Subsequently, Rau was involved in evaluating the comments received on the draft constitution and incorporating them before it was submitted to the Constituent Assembly in late 1948.
^ Ewing, Cindy (2020). "Codifying Minority Rights: Postcolonial Constitutionalism in Burma, Ceylon, and India". In Moses, A. Dirk; Duranti, Marco; Burke, Roland (eds.). Decolonization, Self-Determination, and the rise of Global Human Rights Politics. Cambridge University Press. pp. 179–206. ISBN 978-1-108-47935-6. (p. 190) In order to protect both individual and group rights, India's constitutional adviser B. N. Rau prepared a key brief that changed how nights were expressed and enumerated in the constitution. His September 1946 note on fundamental rights expounded on justiciability and the need to identify which rights would be enforceable in court. Justiciability thus became a way to bridge the gap between committee members who wanted to write in as many rights as possible and those who wanted a more narrow set of rights. Rau laid out a scheme to divide fundamental rights into two categories: legally enforceable and not enforceable, pointing to the Irish constitution as a model for framing "a distinction between two broad classes of rights," referring to "certain rights which require positive action by the State and which can be guaranteed only so far as such action is practicable, while others merely require that the State shall abstain from prejudicial action." The fundamental rights subcommittee debated Rau's proposal in February 1947, with committee members K. M. Munshi and B. R. Ambedkar initially opposing splitting these rights. ... (p. 191) In March 1947, after the subcommittee concluded debate, the assembly agreed to the expansive bill of rights and divided fundamental rights into two sections based on Rau's original proposal. ... (pp. 192–193) In early April 1947, Rau completed the fundamental rights report. The constituent assembly convened for its third session later that month and each subcommittee presented its findings over a series of raucous debates. Patel presented the new draft bill of rights, which was adopted by the assembly on August 28, 1947. Observing these sessions at Constitution House was Chan Htoon, the Burmese constitutional adviser. Aung San tasked Chan Htoon with studying the constitutions of different countries and developing relationships with members of the Indian legal academy. Having developed a friendship with Rau, Chan Htoon discussed the draft constitution with Rau in the setting of the constituent assembly. The cross-border consultations between India and Burma led to the intertwining of their constitutional ideas, best exemplified by their provisions on individual rights and state duties.
^ Prasse-Freeman, Elliott (2023). Rights Refused: Grassroots Activism and State Violence in Myanmar. Stanford University Press. ISBN 9781503634725. Cindy Ewing reveals that the statements in Burma's constitution about citizen rights were imported wholesale from other sources—either India or Ireland (2020, 193). The section on fundamental rights copies word for word from the Advisory Committee of the Indian Constituent Assembly. This mimicry was not coincidental. Chan Htoon, the author of Burma's constitution, "developed a friendship with [B. N.] Rau," the author of India's constitution, when visiting New Delhi "to observe [India's] constitutional debates." While there, "Rau reviewed Chan Htoon's draft constitution and assisted in collecting materials for the Burmese constituent assembly. Rau ensured significant areas of commonality between the two constitutions" (Ewing 2020, 193).
^ "Sir Benegal Narsing Rau Indian jurist". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Sir Benegal Narsing Rau (born February 26, 1887, Karkala or Mangalore, Mysore [now Karnataka], India—died November 30, 1953, Zürich, Switzerland) was one of the foremost Indian jurists of his time. He helped draft the constitutions of Burma (Myanmar) in 1947 and India in 1950
^ "B. R. Ambedkar Indian Political Leader". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (born April 14, 1891, Mhow, India—died December 6, 1956, New Delhi) was a leader of the Dalits (Scheduled Castes; formerly called untouchables) and law minister of the government of India (1947–51). In 1947 Ambedkar became the law minister of the government of India. He took a leading part in the framing of the Indian constitution, outlawing discrimination against untouchables, and skillfully helped to steer it through the assembly; the adoption of the constitution on January 26, 1950, is today celebrated as Republic Day, a national holiday. He resigned in 1951, disappointed at his lack of influence in the government. In October 1956, in despair because of the perpetuation of untouchability in Hindu doctrine, he renounced Hinduism and became a Buddhist, together with about 200,000 fellow Dalits, at a ceremony in Nagpur.
^ Krishnamurty, J. (2020), "Ambedkar's Educational Odyssey, 1913–1927", Journal of Social Inclusion Studies, 5 (2), SAGE: 1–11, doi:10.1177/2394481119900074, ISSN 2394-4811, S2CID 212824611, (p. 2) Ambedkar obtained his London DSc degree in 1923 for his thesis 'Problem of the Rupee' (University of London, 1926). However, he was not the first Indian to achieve this feat. Records of the London University clearly show that John Matthai and Pramathanath Bandyopadhyay (more popularly known as Pramathanath Banerjea) obtained their DSc degrees from the university in 1916. ... (p. 3) Turning to US doctorates, while Ambedkar was one of the early Indians to work for a PhD in the USA, he was awarded his degree by Columbia University only in 1927. The first Indian PhD in Economics in the USA was probably Rajani Kanta Das, a labour economist, who worked with Professor John Commons and was awarded the PhD degree by the University of Wisconsin in 1917.
^ Buswell, Robert Jr; Lopez, Donald S. Jr., eds. (2013). Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-0691157863.

[duara-rau-2018-lead-1] Duara, Juliette G. (2018). Gender Justice and Proportionality in India: Comparative Perspectives. Routledge Advances in South Asian Studies. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-70669-9. As the Constitutional Advisor to the Constituent Assembly, B.N. Rau was the principal author of the first draft of India's Constitution based on the deliberations of that Assembly and its various subcommittees. In all subsequent deliberations of the drafting committee "this draft constituted the basic document and its working paper". B.N. Rau's work as principal drafter placed him in a good position to address his concerns about the need for "special protection" for women. Thus, it is in the Text of the Draft Constitution dated October 1947 that the phrase about "special provision for women and children" makes its first appearance.

[elangovan_bnrau-2] Elangovan, Arvind (2019). Norms and Politics: Sir Benegal Narsing Rau in the Making of the Indian Constitution, 1935–1950. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 22–23. ISBN 978-0-19-949144-5. In his role as Constitutional Adviser, Rau's contributions consisted of not only advising the Constituent Assembly but also members of the Indian National Congress, and the All-India Muslim League. In the Constituent Assembly itself, Rau's influence was substantive. Significantly, Rau produced the draft constitution, which the drafting committee chaired by B. R. Ambedkar went on to deliberate. Subsequently, Rau was involved in evaluating the comments received on the draft constitution and incorporating them before it was submitted to the Constituent Assembly in late 1948.

[cewing-rau-rights-2020-lead1-3] Ewing, Cindy (2020). "Codifying Minority Rights: Postcolonial Constitutionalism in Burma, Ceylon, and India". In Moses, A. Dirk; Duranti, Marco; Burke, Roland (eds.). Decolonization, Self-Determination, and the rise of Global Human Rights Politics. Cambridge University Press. pp. 179–206. ISBN 978-1-108-47935-6. (p. 190) In order to protect both individual and group rights, India's constitutional adviser B. N. Rau prepared a key brief that changed how nights were expressed and enumerated in the constitution. His September 1946 note on fundamental rights expounded on justiciability and the need to identify which rights would be enforceable in court. Justiciability thus became a way to bridge the gap between committee members who wanted to write in as many rights as possible and those who wanted a more narrow set of rights. Rau laid out a scheme to divide fundamental rights into two categories: legally enforceable and not enforceable, pointing to the Irish constitution as a model for framing "a distinction between two broad classes of rights," referring to "certain rights which require positive action by the State and which can be guaranteed only so far as such action is practicable, while others merely require that the State shall abstain from prejudicial action." The fundamental rights subcommittee debated Rau's proposal in February 1947, with committee members K. M. Munshi and B. R. Ambedkar initially opposing splitting these rights. ... (p. 191) In March 1947, after the subcommittee concluded debate, the assembly agreed to the expansive bill of rights and divided fundamental rights into two sections based on Rau's original proposal. ... (pp. 192–193) In early April 1947, Rau completed the fundamental rights report. The constituent assembly convened for its third session later that month and each subcommittee presented its findings over a series of raucous debates. Patel presented the new draft bill of rights, which was adopted by the assembly on August 28, 1947. Observing these sessions at Constitution House was Chan Htoon, the Burmese constitutional adviser. Aung San tasked Chan Htoon with studying the constitutions of different countries and developing relationships with members of the Indian legal academy. Having developed a friendship with Rau, Chan Htoon discussed the draft constitution with Rau in the setting of the constituent assembly. The cross-border consultations between India and Burma led to the intertwining of their constitutional ideas, best exemplified by their provisions on individual rights and state duties.

[prasse-freeman-2023-lead-4] Prasse-Freeman, Elliott (2023). Rights Refused: Grassroots Activism and State Violence in Myanmar. Stanford University Press. ISBN 9781503634725. Cindy Ewing reveals that the statements in Burma's constitution about citizen rights were imported wholesale from other sources—either India or Ireland (2020, 193). The section on fundamental rights copies word for word from the Advisory Committee of the Indian Constituent Assembly. This mimicry was not coincidental. Chan Htoon, the author of Burma's constitution, "developed a friendship with [B. N.] Rau," the author of India's constitution, when visiting New Delhi "to observe [India's] constitutional debates." While there, "Rau reviewed Chan Htoon's draft constitution and assisted in collecting materials for the Burmese constituent assembly. Rau ensured significant areas of commonality between the two constitutions" (Ewing 2020, 193).

[britannica-bnrau-5] "Sir Benegal Narsing Rau Indian jurist". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Sir Benegal Narsing Rau (born February 26, 1887, Karkala or Mangalore, Mysore [now Karnataka], India—died November 30, 1953, Zürich, Switzerland) was one of the foremost Indian jurists of his time. He helped draft the constitutions of Burma (Myanmar) in 1947 and India in 1950

[britannica-ambedkar-6] "B. R. Ambedkar Indian Political Leader". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (born April 14, 1891, Mhow, India—died December 6, 1956, New Delhi) was a leader of the Dalits (Scheduled Castes; formerly called untouchables) and law minister of the government of India (1947–51). In 1947 Ambedkar became the law minister of the government of India. He took a leading part in the framing of the Indian constitution, outlawing discrimination against untouchables, and skillfully helped to steer it through the assembly; the adoption of the constitution on January 26, 1950, is today celebrated as Republic Day, a national holiday. He resigned in 1951, disappointed at his lack of influence in the government. In October 1956, in despair because of the perpetuation of untouchability in Hindu doctrine, he renounced Hinduism and became a Buddhist, together with about 200,000 fellow Dalits, at a ceremony in Nagpur.

[krishnamurty-ambedkar-education-7] Krishnamurty, J. (2020), "Ambedkar's Educational Odyssey, 1913–1927", Journal of Social Inclusion Studies, 5 (2), SAGE: 1–11, doi:10.1177/2394481119900074, ISSN 2394-4811, S2CID 212824611, (p. 2) Ambedkar obtained his London DSc degree in 1923 for his thesis 'Problem of the Rupee' (University of London, 1926). However, he was not the first Indian to achieve this feat. Records of the London University clearly show that John Matthai and Pramathanath Bandyopadhyay (more popularly known as Pramathanath Banerjea) obtained their DSc degrees from the university in 1916. ... (p. 3) Turning to US doctorates, while Ambedkar was one of the early Indians to work for a PhD in the USA, he was awarded his degree by Columbia University only in 1927. The first Indian PhD in Economics in the USA was probably Rajani Kanta Das, a labour economist, who worked with Professor John Commons and was awarded the PhD degree by the University of Wisconsin in 1917.

[8] Buswell, Robert Jr; Lopez, Donald S. Jr., eds. (2013). Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-0691157863.

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