39 Facts About Babasaheb Ambedkar

1. Babasaheb Ambedkar had written the most among his contemporary politicians.

2. Babasaheb Ambedkar are found throughout the world, most notably in India.

3. Babasaheb Ambedkar passionately believed in individual freedom and criticised caste society.

4. Babasaheb Ambedkar was survived by his second wife, who died in 2003, and his son Yashwant Ambedkar.

5. Babasaheb Ambedkar was bed-ridden from June to October in 1954 due to medication side-effects and poor eyesight.

6. Babasaheb Ambedkar had called for the Dalits of Nepal to start their struggle to get their rights.

7. Babasaheb Ambedkar completed his final work, The Buddha and His Dhamma, in 1956 which was published posthumously.

8. Babasaheb Ambedkar considered converting to Sikhism, which encouraged opposition to oppression and so appealed to leaders of scheduled castes.

9. Babasaheb Ambedkar went to Bombay for treatment, and there met Dr Sharada Kabir, a Saraswat Brahmin, whom he married on 15 April 1948, at his home in New Delhi.

10. Babasaheb Ambedkar calculated the loss of development caused by British rule.

11. Babasaheb Ambedkar stressed investment in agriculture as the primary industry of India.

12. Babasaheb Ambedkar was the first Indian to pursue a doctorate in economics abroad.

13. Babasaheb Ambedkar resigned from the cabinet in 1951, when parliament stalled his draft of the Hindu Code Bill, which sought to enshrine gender equality in the laws of inheritance and marriage.

14. Babasaheb Ambedkar opposed Article 370 of the Constitution of India, which granted a special status to the State of Jammu and Kashmir, and which was included against his wishes.

15. Babasaheb Ambedkar disputed various hypotheses of the Aryan homeland being outside India, and concluded the Aryan homeland was India itself.

16. Babasaheb Ambedkar viewed Shudras as originally being "part of the Kshatriya Varna in the Indo-Aryan society", but became socially degraded after they inflicted many tyrannies on Brahmins.

17. Babasaheb Ambedkar tried to enter Lok Sabha again in the by-election of 1954 from Bhandara, but he placed third.

18. Babasaheb Ambedkar contested for Lok Sabha in the Bombay North constituency in the first Indian General Election of 1952, but lost to his former assistant and Congress Party candidate Narayan Kajrolkar.

19. Babasaheb Ambedkar sought Gandhi's help to get a berth in Nehru's cabinet in independent India.

20. Babasaheb Ambedkar thought the Muslims could have no objection to redrawing provincial boundaries.

21. Babasaheb Ambedkar proposed that the provincial boundaries of Punjab and Bengal should be redrawn to separate the Muslim and non-Muslim majority parts.

22. Babasaheb Ambedkar served on the Defence Advisory Committee and the Viceroy's Executive Council as minister for labour.

23. Babasaheb Ambedkar published his book Annihilation of Caste on 15 May 1936.

24. Babasaheb Ambedkar would repeat his message at many public meetings across India.

25. In 1935, Babasaheb Ambedkar was appointed principal of the Government Law College, Bombay, a position he held for two years.

26. In 1930, Babasaheb Ambedkar launched Kalaram Temple movement after three months of preparation.

27. Babasaheb Ambedkar began a struggle for the right to enter Hindu temples.

28. Babasaheb Ambedkar was appointed to the Bombay Presidency Committee to work with the all-European Simon Commission in 1925.

29. At this hearing, Babasaheb Ambedkar argued for creating separate electorates and reservations for untouchables and other religious communities.

30. Babasaheb Ambedkar was appointed Military Secretary to the Gaikwad but had to quit in a short time.

31. Babasaheb Ambedkar returned at the first opportunity, and completed a master's degree in 1921.

32. Babasaheb Ambedkar got permission to return to London to submit his thesis within four years.

33. Babasaheb Ambedkar was influenced by John Dewey and his work on democracy.

34. In 1913, Babasaheb Ambedkar moved to the United States at the age of 22.

35. Babasaheb Ambedkar was born into a poor low Mahar caste, who were treated as untouchables and subjected to socio-economic discrimination.

36. Babasaheb Ambedkar was the 14th and last child of Ramji Maloji Sakpal, an army officer who held the rank of Subedar, and Bhimabai Sakpal, daughter of Laxman Murbadkar.

37. Babasaheb Ambedkar was born on 14 April 1891 in the town and military cantonment of Mhow in the Central Provinces (now in Madhya Pradesh).

38. Babasaheb Ambedkar was a prolific student earning doctorates in economics from both Columbia University and the London School of Economics and gained a reputation as a scholar for his research in law, economics, and political science.

39. Babasaheb Ambedkar was independent India's first law and justice minister, the principal architect of the Constitution of India, and a founding father of the Republic of India.