Question

Explain the efforts made by dr.B.R.Ambedhkar for political empowerment of dalit or depressed class

Answer 1

Born into a poor, low Mahar caste family on April 14, 1891, in Mhow, in the Central Provinces, now Madhya Pradesh, Babasaheb Ambedkar had a tough childhood. His family was treated as untouchables and was subjected to socio-economic discrimination
Hailing from the 'untouchable' caste of Mahars in Maharashtra, Ambedkar was a social outcast in his early days. Even in his school, he was treated as an 'untouchable'. His schoolmates would not eat beside him, his teachers did not touch his copies as he came from a family that was considered 'unclean' by the orthodox Hindus
Later in life, Ambedkar became the spokesperson of the backward classes and castes in India. Much like African-American reformers such as Martin Luther King Jr and Frederick Douglas in the United States, Ambedkar expounded the importance of a social reform that would abolish caste discrimination and the concept of untouchability in India
He also joined hands with Gandhi in the Harijan movement, which protested against the social injustices faced by people belonging to backward castes in India. Babasaheb also pointed out that the principal problem of the Indian society was the perennial fight between Buddhism and Brahmanism
Babasaheb Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi were two of the most prominent personalities who protested against the untouchability in India. Gandhi had published three journals to support the underprivileged class, namely Harijan in English, Harijan Bandu in Gujarati and Harijan Sevak in Hindi
This led to the Harijan Movement in India.
Gandhi primarily concentrated on the social and economic stability of people belonging to the untouchable groups and reformed the society's outlook towards them. But all went in vain!Unfortunately, even after about 70 years of Independence, India is still trapped under the claws of class and caste discrimination.



On the 126th birth anniversary of Babasaheb Ambedkar, we bring to you some alarming facts about the problem of untouchability in India:
Who are the untouchables? Where did it all start?

The Varna or caste division propounded in the Rig Veda describes the society as a four-varna or caste system. The supreme varna is Brahman, the second is Kshatriya, the third is Vaishya and the last is Sudra. This idea of social stratification was further developed in the Laws of Manu, written in Manu Smriti.No mention of the untouchable class can be found here as the Varna division system excluded the untouchables altogether. They have been identified as Ati Sudra or inferior to the Sudras. Later, in the fourth century, they came to be known as Avarnas or the people with no caste.

The untouchables or chandalas are also mentioned in the Upanishads and Buddhist texts as the 'fifth caste' or Panchama, which spawned from the contact between Sudra men and Brahman women.


Dalit woman works as manual scavenger (Image source: Borgen Project)

Untouchability in India
Untouchability is the Achilles' heel of the Indian society. Many leaders have tried to eradicate the untouchable issue from this country but failed.Even today, there are separate crematoria for Brahmans and non-Brahmans at Radhanagar in Hooghly district, West Bengal, which the birthplace of 'the father of modern India' Raja Ram Mohan Roy.In India, terms such as 'untouchable' or 'harijan' were replaced by the word 'Dalit' since the 1970s. The new term was earlier used by Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar. At present, issues related to the Dalits have become a political leitmotif and the people are used as vote banks.

According to the 2011 census, the Dalits or the Scheduled Castes (16.6) and Scheduled Tribes (8.6) comprise over 25 percent of India's population.