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File Information
| Document Information | Details |
|---|---|
| Title | DALIT MOVEMENTS IN INDIA: ROLE OF SOCIAL REFORMERS AND ITS EFFECTS |
| Article Credit | International Journal of Allied Practice, Research and Review, ISSN: 2350-1294, Vol.: II, Issue: IV, Year: 2015, (Pubd in: Academia.edu) |
| Author | BaijNath (Research Scholar, UGC-NET (Law), Department of Human Rights, SLS, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (A Central University), Lucknow) |
| Subject | A study of Dalit movements in India, their social reformers, and the constitutional and legal measures discussed as responses to caste oppression and untouchability. |
| Category | History |
| Institution | IJAPRR International Peer Reviewed Refereed Journal |
| Country of Publication | India |
| Main Topics | Dalit movements in India, social reformers and Dalit uplift, Jyotirao Phule, Dr B. R. Ambedkar, Kanshi Ram and Mayawati, constitutional safeguards for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, untouchability and caste discrimination, human rights violations against Dalits |
| Number of Pages | 15 |
| Language | English |
| File Type | |
| File Size | 872.2 KB |
Summary Note of this Document
DALIT MOVEMENTS IN INDIA: ROLE OF SOCIAL REFORMERS AND ITS EFFECTS
Dalit Movements in India: Role of Social Reformers and Its Effects examines the rise of Dalit assertion against caste oppression and untouchability in India. The document begins with Manu, the varna system, and the social exclusion of untouchables, then traces how protest developed through Bhakti traditions and modern reform movements. It gives substantial attention to Jyotirao Phule, Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj, Narayan Guru, Ramaswami Naiker, Gandhi, Vivekananda, and especially Dr B. R. Ambedkar, whose writings, agitations, political organisations, and constitutional role are presented as central to Dalit emancipation. The text also discusses Ambedkar’s stand on caste, land reforms, separate electorates, conversion, and his place in drafting the Constitution of India. Later sections move to Kanshi Ram, BAMCEF, DS4, the Bahujan Samaj Party, and Mayawati, showing how post-independence Dalit politics sought social and political power. The closing discussion links these movements to constitutional provisions, protective laws, media attention, NGO work, and continuing violence against Dalits. Throughout, the argument is that legal safeguards and reformist leadership have expanded rights, but caste discrimination remains deeply rooted in social practice.
Core Themes
- Anti-untouchability reform
- Dalit political mobilisation
- Ambedkarite social and constitutional struggle
- Reservations and legal protection
- Caste hierarchy and social exclusion
Keywords
About Dr. B. R. Ambedkar
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was born in 1891 as the fourteenth and youngest child of an army Subedar in Mhow. Born into the Mahar caste, which was considered untouchable, Bhimrao faced many hardships at school. He had to sit on a gunny sack that he brought from home. He was not allowed to touch the water vessel or cup, so he could drink water only when the school peon was present to pour it for him. He later described this experience with the words, “No peon, no water.” His mother died when he was very young, and he had a difficult childhood. However, he was the only one of his siblings to pass his examinations and continue to high school, becoming the first person from his community to attend Elphinstone College. With a scholarship from the Maharaja of Baroda, he went on to study at Columbia University and the London School of Economics. He earned doctorates in economics and trained as a barrister at Gray’s Inn. According to the account supplied for this biography, his books were lost when his ship was torpedoed during the First World War.
Despite his education, Ambedkar continued to face prejudice. When he returned to India, he was required to work in Baroda but had to leave the position because of discrimination. His business providing investment consultancy failed when clients learned that he belonged to a community considered untouchable. While working as a professor in Mumbai, his colleagues objected to the idea of him sharing a water jug with his students. These experiences helped spur his activism. He established newspapers to give a voice to marginalized people. He led the Mahad Satyagraha, asserting Dalits’ right to collect water from a public tank, and publicly burned the Manusmriti in 1927. In 1932, he negotiated the Poona Pact with Mahatma Gandhi. Although it involved a difficult compromise, the pact provided reserved seats in legislatures for the Depressed Classes. Ambedkar was outspoken in public life but private by nature. His wife Ramabai died in 1935, and he filled his home in Bombay with a large personal library reported to contain more than 50,000 books. He declared, “I am born a Hindu, but I will not die as one.”
During the period of Indian independence, Jawaharlal Nehru invited Ambedkar to become India’s first Law Minister. Ambedkar chaired the Drafting Committee that prepared the Constitution of India, which abolished the practice of untouchability and established civil liberties and constitutional safeguards, including reservations for historically oppressed communities. He acknowledged the contribution of other constitutional experts, including B. N. Rau, who had prepared an earlier draft. Because of his poor health, including diabetes, Ambedkar married Savita, a doctor who cared for him. In October 1956, he converted to Buddhism in Nagpur along with a vast gathering of followers, commonly estimated at around half a million. He died in his sleep just weeks later, shortly after completing his final major work, The Buddha and His Dhamma. He was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1990. His message, “Educate, agitate, organise,” continues to inspire people seeking equality and social justice.
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