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Ambedkar Jayanti 2019 – Birth Anniversary of Dr. BR Ambedkar
Ambedkar Jayanti 2019
Ambedkar Jayanti 2019 was celebrated by the people all over India on Sunday, 14th of April.
President Ram Nath Kovind along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar at the Parliament House on the occasion of 128th Ambedkar Jayanti. Members of all political party also paid homage to the ‘Architect of Indian Constitution’ on his birth anniversary and remembered his great thoughts and ideology.
Ambedkar Janmotsav Samiti celebrated the birth anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar with various processions and ‘shobhayatra’ across the country. This year it also included floats from different villages which showed their unique culture. The ‘shobhayatra’ focused on women rights, superstitions and save daughter issues.
In Solapur, the occasion was celebrated by distributing books to the school children as Dr. Ambedkar always believed that education is very important for overall development. The books were distributed by Srimantyogi Pratishthan. The organisation also appealed to others to take up the same initiative and spread the light of education.
In Chittorgarh, Ambedkar Jayanti was observed by organizing a rally which passed through various places of the city. An award ceremony was also organised where people from all walks of life were rewarded for their contribution in their respective fields.
People across the country also organised various programmes on the occasion and celebrated the occasion with great zeal and enthusiasm. Ambedkar’s statues were garlanded and people vowed to follow the teachings professed by him.
Ambedkar Jayanti / Birth Anniversary of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar
Ambedkar Jayanti is celebrated every year by the people with great enthusiasm more than like a festival on 14th of April in order to commemorate the birthday of Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar and his contributions for the people of India. It would be 127th birthday anniversary celebration in the year 2018 to commemorate his memories. It was a big moment for the people of India when he was born in the year 1891.
The day has been declared as a public holiday all over the India. Like ever before a respectful homage is paid by the President and Prime Minister (including other political parties leaders) of India every year to his statue at the Parliament, New Delhi. Indian people worship him like a God by keeping his statue in their home. At this day people make a parade by keeping his statue in front, they also enjoy dancing using dhol.
Why Ambedkar Jayanti is celebrated
Ambedkar Jayanti is celebrated by the people of India very happily to remember his immense contributions for the poor people of India. Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar is the father of Indian Constitution who had drafted the Constitution of India. He was the great human rights activists who born on 14th of April in 1891.
He had established the “Bahishkrit Hitkarini Sabha” in the year 1923 in India aiming to spread the necessity of education as well as enhancing the economic status of the low group people of India. He run a social movement for people using slogan “Educate-Agitate-Organize” aiming to eradicate the casteism in India as well as rebuilding the Indian Society by following the rule of equality of human beings.
A march was also led by him in the year 1927 at Mahad, Maharashtra for establishing the equal rights for untouchable people who were not allowed to even touch or taste the water of “Public Chawdar Lake”. He has been marked in the Indian history for starting the social movements like anti-caste, anti-priest movement and temple entry movement.
He led the temple entry movement in the year 1930 at Kalaram Temple, Nashik, Maharashtra for real human rights and political justice. He said that political power is not the only way to solve all the problems of depressed class people, they should get equal rights in the society in every field. He was deeply involved in making legal changes in order to protect the low class people rights during his Membership of Viceroy’s Executive Council in 1942.
He paid his major contribution by protecting the Fundamental Rights (for the social freedom, equality and eradication of untouchability for low group people) and Directive Principles (enhancing the living status by securing the fair distribution of wealth) of State Policy in the Indian Constitution. He continued his social revolution till the end of his life through the Buddhism. He has been honored with the Bharat Ratna in the month of April in 1990 for his big contributions towards the Indian society.
How Ambedkar Jayanti is celebrated
Ambedkar Jayanti is celebrated with great passion all over the India including Varanasi, Delhi and other big cities. In Varanasi the event for the birthday anniversary celebration of Dr. Ambedkar is organized by the Dr. Ambedkar Jayanti Samaroh Samiti in Kutchehri areas.
They organize variety of events like painting, general knowledge quiz competition, debate, dance, essay writing, symposium, sports competition and drama to which many people participate including students from nearby schools. In order to celebrate this occasion, a big seminar is organized yearly by the Bhartiya Journalists Welfare Association, Lucknow.
Three days long festival (from 15th of April to 17th of April) is held at the Baba Mahashamshan Nath temple at Manikarnika ghat Varanasi where various cultural programs of dance and music are organized. Students from junior high school and primary schools make a prabhat pheri in morning and secondary school students take part in the rally at this day. At many places, free health check up camps are also organized in order to provide free of charge check up and medicines to the poor group people.
Contributions of B. R. Ambedkar
> He worked to eliminate the social belief of untouchability for the lower group of people. He protested to uplift the untouchables in the society to enhance their social status during law practice in the Bombay High Court. He had organized an event called Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha to encourage the education among untouchables for their socio-economic improvement and welfare of the outcastes people of depressed classes. He also protected the Dalit rights by organizing various programs like “Mook Nayak, Bahishkrit Bharat and Equality Janta”.
> He had started an active public movements and marches in 1927 against untouchability to remove the untouchability for water resources as well as enter to the Hindu temples (Kalaram Temple movement in 1930). He has demanded for the separate electorate through the Poona Pact to reserve seats for untouchable people of depressed class.
> He was invited by the Congress government to serve as a first Law Minister after the independence of India on 15th of August in 1947 and appointed as a “Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee” on 29th of August in 1947 where he drafted the new Constitution of India which was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26th of November in 1949.
> He had played his great role in establishing the Reserve Bank of India as he was a professional economist. He became successful in forming the Reserve Bank of India in 1934 after giving his ideas to the Hilton Young Commission through his three successful scholarly books on economics such as “Administration and Finance of the East India Company, The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India, and The Problem of the Rupee: Its Origin and Its Solution”.
> He also played his role in planning the Indian economic as he got his Economics doctorate degree from abroad. He encouraged people for the growth and development of the industrialization and agricultural industry to enhance the economy of country. He had given ideas to the government for accomplishing the food security goal. He encouraged people for good education, hygiene and community health as their basic requirement. He had established the Finance Commission of India.
> He had opposed the Article 370 in the Constitution of India in order to provide the special status to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, India.
Quotes by Ambedkar
- “I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved”.
- “History shows that where ethics and economics come in conflict, victory is always with economics”. Vested interests have never been known to have willingly divested themselves unless there was sufficient force to compel them”.
- “Knowledge is the foundation of a man’s life”.
- “A people and their religion must be judged by social standards based on social ethics. No other standard would have any meaning if religion is held to be necessary good for the well-being of the people”.
- “Every man who repeats the dogma of Mill that one country is no fit to rule another country must admit that one class is not fit to rule another class”.
- “Life should be great rather than long”.
- “Every man who repeats the dogma of Mill that one country is no fit to rule another country must admit that one class is not fit to rule another class”.
- “Cultivation of mind should be the ultimate aim of human existence”.
- “Humans are mortal. So are ideas. An idea needs propagation as much as a plant needs watering. Otherwise both will wither and die”.
- “One whose mind is not free though alive, is no better than dead”.
- “Life should be great rather than long”.
- “The teachings of Buddha are eternal, but even then Buddha did not proclaim them to be infallible”.
- “Unlike a drop of water which loses its identity when it joins the ocean, man does not lose his being in the society in which he lives. Man’s life is independent. He is born not for the development of the society alone, but for the development of his self”.
- “Freedom of mind is the proof of one’s existence”.
- “Freedom of mind is the real freedom”.
- “I like the religion that teaches liberty, equality and fraternity”.
- “Religion is for man and not man for religion”.
- “Religion must mainly be a matter of principles only. It cannot be a matter of rules. The moment it degenerates into rules, it ceases to be a religion, as it kills responsibility which is an essence of the true religious act”.
- “The basic idea underlying religion is to create an atmosphere for the spiritual development of the individual”.
- “If you study carefully, you will see that Buddhism is based on reason. There is an element of flexibility inherent in it, which is not found in any other religion”.
- “A great man is different from an eminent one in that he is ready to be the servant of the society”.
- “In Hinduism, conscience, reason and independent thinking have no scope for development”.
- “The relationship between husband and wife should be one of closest friends”.
- “One cannot have any respect or regard for men who take the position of the reformer and then refuse to see the logical consequences of that position, let alone following them out in action”.
- “A bitter thing cannot be made sweet. The taste of anything can be changed. But poison cannot be changed into nectar”.
- “For a successful revolution it is not enough that there is discontent. What is required is a profound and thorough conviction of the justice, necessity and importance of political and social rights”.
- “So long as you do not achieve social liberty, whatever freedom is provided by the law is of no avail to you”.
- “I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved”.
- “Unlike a drop of water which loses its identity when it joins the ocean, man does not lose his being in the society in which he lives”.
Facts
As per the media:
> There is news that Maharashtra government will buy a big bungalow in the London worth Rs. 35 to 40 crore in order to make it an international memorial of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. It is considered that, at the house (located at 10, King Henry Road, NW3) where Dr. B. R. Ambedkar was stayed once in London while pursuing higher studies, is being auctioned by the owner of house. It has been declared by the Maharashtra government that this house would be inaugurated as an international memorial of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar on his birth anniversary.
> There is also a master plan by the state government of Mangaluru to construct an Ambedkar Bhavan in the city in order to fulfill the long standing demand of Dalit’s community of the district. It has been decided to construct an Ambedkar Bhavan over 1.61 acres of land.
About Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar
Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was born on 14th of April in the year 1891 to the Ramji Maloji Sakpal and Bhimabai in a poor Mahar family in Mhow, Central Provinces, British India (Madhya Pradesh). He died on 6th of December in 1956 at the age of 65 in Delhi, India. He was popular among public by the name Babasaheb because of his great contributions towards the Indian society. He served in India throughout his life as a jurist, philosopher, social activist, politician, historian, anthropologist and economist as well as revivalist for the Buddhism in India to bring Modern Buddhist movement. He became the first law minister of the Independent India and drafted the Constitution of India.
Early Life
He struggled throughout his life for the campaign of eradicating the casteism and social discrimination in India. He own converted to the Buddhism to inspire the lower group people for which he was addressed as a Bodhisattva by the Indian Buddhists. He faced the social discrimination from his childhood when he joined the government school. He and his other colleagues were isolated by other high group students and paid little attention by the teachers. Even, they were not permitted to sit in class and touch the water. They were provided water by the person of higher caste from a distance.
Education
In his early life his surname was Ambavadekar, got from his village “Ambavade” in Ratnagiri District, which was later changed to Ambedkar by his Brahmin teacher, Mahadev Ambedkar. He joined the Elphinstone High School, Bombay as an only untouchable in 1897. He got married to the nine-year old Ramabai in 1906. After passing his matriculation examination in 1907 he successfully succeeded to other exams.
He got his economics and political science degree in 1912 from the Bombay University. He went to the United States 1913 to complete his postgraduate education at the Columbia University in New York City after getting awarded with the Baroda State Scholarship of £11.50 every month for 3 years. He completed his M.A. exam in 1915 and Ph.D. degree in Economics in 1917. He again completed his Master’s degree from the London School of Economics in 1921 and D.Sc. in Economics in 1923.
