Today is the birth anniversary of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar who was a leader of the depressed classes throughout his life. He worked for the moral and material progress of the untouchables.

Ambedkar was born on 14 April 1891 in Mhow (now officially known as Dr Ambedkar Nagar) in Madhya Pradesh. 

B. R. Ambedkar belonged to the untouchable Mahar caste.

In 1924 he founded the Depressed Classes Institute (Bahishkrit Hitkarni Sabha) in Bombay. Three years later in 1927 he established the Samaj Samta Sangh to propagate the gospel of social equality between caste Hindus and worked for the uplift of the untouchables.

Ambedkar was a great scholar who studied economics at Columbia University and the London School of Economics. 

In December 1927, he led a satyagraha in Mahad to fight for the rights of the untouchables to draw water from public wells and tanks.

In 1928 he organized temple entry movement named  Parvati temple satyagraha. He started Kalasam temple satyagraha during 1930 and 1935. 

In 1936, Ambedkar founded the Independent Labour Party for protecting the interest of the labour classes. In 1942 he founded Scheduled Castes Federation to campaign for the rights of the Dalit community.

Key Takeaway

• Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti is popularly known as Ambedkar Jayanti or Bhim Jayanti.
• Dr B R Ambedkar is known as the ‘Father of the Indian Constitution’
• He was born in a Mahr Dalit family on April 14, 1891 in Madhya Pradesh’s town Mhow. 
• His seminal work Annihilation of Caste strongly criticizes the caste system.