Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Memorial and Cultural Centre

In News

The President of India laid the Foundation stone of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Memorial and Cultural centre in Lucknow.

About

• It is a commendable initiative of the Uttar Pradesh government. 
• On the completion of construction, this cultural centre would play an effective role in educating all the citizens, especially the younger generation, with the ideals and objectives of Dr Ambedkar.

About BR Ambedkar

• Ambedkar was born on 14 April 1891 in the town and military cantonment of Mhow (now officially known as Dr Ambedkar Nagar) in the Central Provinces (now in Madhya Pradesh).
• Lord Buddha’s message of compassion and harmony was the basis of his life and politics.
• The nation is celebrating the 130th birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar. 

Role

• His role as a social reformer, chairman of the draft committee of the Indian Constitution, and first law minister of the country is well-known.
• He was an educationist, economist, jurist, politician, journalist, sociologist and social reformer and worked in the fields of culture, religion and spirituality.

Contributions

• Babasaheb always advocated for providing equal rights to women. Women have been given the same fundamental right to Equality as men in the Constitution drafted by him. 
• Ambedkar was the voice of the Depressed Classes on every platform. As their representative at the Round Table Conference, he championed the cause of labour improving the condition of peasants. 
• During the Bombay Assembly’s Poona session in 1937, he introduced a Bill to abolish the Khoti system of land tenure in Konkan. 
• He was the first legislator in the country to introduce a Bill for abolishing the serfdom of agricultural tenants. 
• His essay titled ‘Small Holdings in India and their Remedies’ (1918) proposed industrialisation as the answer to India’s agricultural problem and is still relevant to contemporary debates.
• The Reserve Bank of India was conceptualised from the Hilton Young Commission’s recommendation, which considered Ambedkar’s guidelines laid out in The Problem of the Rupee: Its Origin and Its Solution. 
• As a member of the Bombay Assembly, he opposed the introduction of the Industrial Disputes Bill, 1937, as it removed workers’ right to strike. He advocated for “fair condition of life of labour” instead of securing “fair condition of work” and laid out the basic structure of the government’s labour policy. 
• Ambedkar outrightly opposed the communist labour movements, their extraterritorial loyalties and their Marxian approach of controlling all means of production.
• As chairman of the Constitution’s drafting committee, he took meticulous measures to build a just society through liberty, equality and fraternity. 
• Morality, Equality, Self-respect and Indianness were the four most important ideals of Babasaheb’s vision. 
• Lord Buddha’s message of compassion and harmony was the basis of his life and politics.
• Babasaheb stressed the need for politics based on the cultural values of morality and harmony. 

Government Initiatives

• The development of Panchtirth is a step towards ensuring an appropriate legacy for Ambedkar, the nationalist reformer. 
  • Janam Bhumi (Mhow), 
  • Shiksha Bhumi (London), 
  • Chaitya Bhumi (Mumbai), 
  • Diksha Bhumi (Nagpur), 
  • Mahaparinirvan Bhumi (Delhi) — 
• The successful implementation of:
  • the Mudra Scheme for availing loans, 
  • Stand-up India for promoting entrepreneurship in the SC and ST community, 
  • the expansion of the merit-cum-means scholarship, 
  • the Ayushman Bharat scheme, 
  • PM Awas Yojana, 
  • Ujjwala Yojana, 
  • Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojna, 
  • Saubhagya Yojana, 
  • the simplification of labour laws 

Conclusion

• Today our legal system is progressing on the path suggested by him on many issues like property rights for women. 
• This shows that Babasaheb’s visionary thinking was far ahead of his time.
• Ambedkar’s thinking and legacy are reflected in the pro-people, pro-poor welfare policies and programmes of the government.  

Source: PIB