thesis of dr br ambedkar

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BR Ambedkar in London: A thesis completed, a treaty concluded, a ‘bible’ of India promised

An excerpt from ‘indians in london: from the birth of the east indian company to independent india’, by arup k chatterjee..

About two decades ago, when [Subhash Chandra] Bose was still at Cambridge, a letter dated September 23, 1920 arrived at Professor Herbert Foxwell’s office at the London School of Economics. It was written by Edwin R Seligman, an economist from Columbia University, introducing an exceedingly talented scholar – Mr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar. Two months later, Foxwell wrote to the secretary of the School that there was no more intellect that the Columbia graduate could conquer in London.

The first Dalit to study at Bombay’s Elphinstone College, Ambedkar, was awarded a Baroda State Scholarship that took him to Columbia University in 1913. Three years later, he found his way to London, desirous of becoming a barrister as well as finishing a doctoral dissertation on the history of the rupee. Ambedkar enrolled at Gray’s Inn, and attended courses on geography, political ideas, social evolution and social theory at London School of Economics, at a course fee of £10.10s.

In 1917, Ambedkar was invited to join as Military Secretary in Baroda, earning at the same time a leave of absence of up to four years from the London School of Economics. Back in India, he taught for a while as a professor in Sydenham College in Bombay, while also being one of the key intelligencers on the condition of “untouchables” in India for the government, during the drafting of the Government of India Act of 1919.

In late 1920, Ambedkar was to return to London, determined more than ever before, not to spare a farthing beyond his breathing means on the city’s allurements. Each day, the aspiring barrister woke up at the stroke of six. After a morning’s morsel, he moseyed into the crowd of London to find his way into the British Museum.

At dusk, he would leave his seat reluctantly – after being made to scurry out by the librarian and the guards – his pockets sagging under the notes that would finally become his thesis, The Problem of the Rupee , some of whose guineas would eventually find their home in the Constitution of India that he was going to author about three decades later. Back at his lodging at King Henry’s Road in Primrose Hill, mostly on foot, Ambedkar would live on sparsely whitened tea and poppadum late into the night.

It was here that the daughter of Ambedkar’s landlady, Fanny Fitzgerald, a war widow, found her affections strangely swayed by the Indian scholar. Fitzgerald was a typist at the House of Commons. She lent him money in difficult circumstances and volunteered to introduce him to people in governance, with whom he could discuss the Dalit question that was raging in India.

An apocryphal story goes that Miss Fitzgerald once gave Ambedkar a copy of the Bible. On receiving it, the future Father of the Indian Constitution promised to dedicate a bible to her of his own authoring. True to his commitment, he would fondly dedicate his book What Congress and Gandhi Have Done to the Untouchables (1945) to “F”. The incident, when that promise was exchanged, occurred after Ambedkar was called to the Bar in 1923.

In March that year, his doctoral thesis ran into trouble possibly because of its radical approach to the history of Indian economy under the British administration. He might have taken the subtle hint that passages in his work needed tempering – a notion that a man of his vision was likely to have quietly pocketed more as a compliment than an insult.

Ambedkar would have been happy to chisel the nose from his David for the show, like Michelangelo had four centuries ago in order to appease the connoisseur-like pretense of Piero Soderini, who had quipped, “Isn’t the nose a little too thick?” That done, Ambedkar resubmitted his thesis in August. It was approved two months later and published almost immediately thereafter. He expressed gratitude to his professor, Edwin Cannan, who, in turn, wrote the preface to his thesis, before Ambedkar travelled to Bonn for further studies.

Babasaheb, as he was now beginning to be called, was to return to London for each of the three Round Table Conferences held between 1930 and 1932. Two months before the Third Round Table Conference – in which both Labour and the Congress were absentees – Ambedkar and Gandhi reached a historic settlement in the Poona Pact. In September 1932, from the Yerwada prison near Bombay, Gandhi began a fast unto death protesting against the Ramsay MacDonald administration that was determined to divide India into provincial electorates on the basis of caste and social stratification.

In the pact signed with Madan Mohan Malviya, Ambedkar settled for 147 seats for the depressed classes. But the pact to which he was forsworn – tacitly made in London with Fanny Fitzgerald – that of writing the bible of modern India, was brewing like a storm that would take the form of an open battle between him and Gandhi, in the years of the Second World War.

Despite the strong network of Indians at the London School of Economics, Ambedkar chose not to hobnob with India League members. What might have been a sort of marriage-made-in-heaven between him and [VK Krishna] Menon was forestalled. If Menon was Nehru’s alter ego, he would also be instrumental in shaping the early career of the man to become an alter ego – principal secretary –to Indira Gandhi.

In the winter of 1935, a twenty-something Parmeshwar Narain Haksar arrived in London, enrolled as a student at the University College. The following year, he made an unsuccessful attempt for the civil services. In 1937, Haksar became a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute, a distinction conferred on him with support from noted anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski.

Although Haksar also studied at the London School of Economics, it probably never became public knowledge if he had acquired formal degrees from either university. Whether or not he did, as a scholar he commanded great attention from British intellectuals, especially in his arguments on the crisis of education in India, which he reckoned had been tailored to perpetuate British imperial interests and low levels of literacy in the colony.

Haksar was to be called to Bar at the Lincoln’s Inn, but, at the beckoning of Nehru, he would join the Indian Foreign Service in 1948. His red days in London were to yield him lifelong companions. In the 1930s, the Comintern came up with the policy of hatching popular fronts all across Europe with which to counter the growing threat of Nazism and Fascism. It was a phase in European ideologies that strongly affected British politics, and popular movements led by Labour leaders and student communists in London – a cosmopolitan and unswervingly left-leaning outlook that shaped much of the administration and policies of independent India until the years of the Emergency.

A socialist himself, Haksar held an influential position in the Federation of Indian Societies in UK and Ireland besides becoming the editor of its magazine, The Indian Student . His links with the Communist Party of Great Britain, Rajani Palme Dutt and the Soviet undercover agent at Cambridge, James Klugman – indeed with almost anyone of some consequence who supported the cause of Indian liberation – was more than enough for Scotland Yard to keep him closely watched in London.

In September 1941, when the India League organised a commemoration at the Conway Hall in Red Lion Square for the late Rabindranath Tagore a few months after his demise, Scotland Yard obliged by adding a leaf to their surveillance files. Inaugurated by M Maisky, a Russian ambassador, it was just one in a sea of events concerning India that the Yard and other intelligencers of His Majesty’s Government would tolerate during the interwar years. Almost all such gatherings featured subversive pamphlets and books published by the League and similar organisations that were openly lauded by Soviets and Soviet sympathisers.

It was just as well that Nehru also had to tolerate that under the shield of Haksar’s own watch a new romantic plot thickened around Primrose Hill, that of his daughter Indira and future son-in-law, Feroze. Feroze had his flat at Abbey Road and Haksar lived half a mile away, at Abercorn Place. Haksar was befriended by the Gandhis – Indira and Feroze – who introduced him to Sasadhar Sinha of the Bibliophile Bookshop. That, besides the India League and Allahabad connection, not to mention Haksar’s enviable culinary skills, ensured that he was soldered to the future of the Gandhis.

The future of the man who had leant the family his coveted surname would also take a blow on the burning issue of caste. Gandhi was not to be remembered as the sole nemesis of the British Empire. In an interview given to the BBC in 1955, Babasaheb indicated that one of the biggest reasons behind Clement Attlee handing over the reins of the Indian administration so suddenly was the persistent fear of a massive armed uprising in the colony.

He implied that the road to independence had already been paved by the Azad Hind Fauj brigadiered by Netaji. Bose had departed from London during Ambedkar’s days in the London School of Economics. But, he would return in Haksar’s time.

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Why publication of b.r. ambedkar’s thesis a century later will be significant, a contemporary relevance of the thesis, written as part of ambedkar’s msc degree at the london school of economics, is that it argues for massive expenditure on heads like defence to be diverted to the social sector.

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Now, over a century after it was written, Ambedkar’s hitherto unpublished thesis on the provincial decentralisation of imperial finance in colonial times will finally see the light of the day. The Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Source Material Publication Committee of the Maharashtra government plans to publish the thesis that was written by Ambedkar as part of his MSc degree from the London School of Economics (LSE). The thesis, ‘Provincial Decentralisation of Imperial Finance in British India’, will be part of the 23rd volume of Ambedkar’s works to be published by the committee and will give a glimpse into the works of Ambedkar, the economist. Notably, the dissertation argues for expenditure on heads like defence to be diverted for social goods like education and public health.

The source material committee, which was set up in 1978, has published 22 volumes on Ambedkar’s writings since April 1979. “This volume will have two parts. One will contain the MSc thesis and the other will have communication and documents related to his MA, MSc, PhD and bar-at-law degrees,” confirmed Pradeep Aglave, member secretary of the committee. He added that the MSc thesis had been submitted to the LSE in 1921. Veteran Ambedkarite and founder of the Dalit Panthers, J.V. Pawar, who is a member of the committee, said it was significant that the thesis was being published over a century after it was written. Pawar played a pivotal role in ensuring that the committee was set up.

“This work deals with taxation and expenditure. The contemporary relevance of this thesis is that it seeks a progressive taxation based on income levels. Ambedkar argued that expenditure on heads like defence was huge and this needed to be diverted to social needs like education, public health, and water supply,” said Sukhadeo Thorat, economist and former chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC). Thorat was among those instrumental in the source material committee getting a copy of the thesis from London.

“The sixth volume (1989), published by the source material committee, contains Ambedkar’s writings on economics. This includes his works like ‘Administration and Finance of the East India Company’ (1915) and the ‘Problem of the Rupee: Its Origin and Its Solution’ (1923). However, this MSc thesis on provincial finance could not be included in it because it was not available then,” said Thorat.

J. Krishnamurty, a Geneva-based labour economist located the MSc thesis in the Senate House Library in London and approached Thorat who, in turn, communicated with Gautam Chakravarti of the Ambedkar International Mission in London. Santosh Das, another Ambedkarite from London, paid the fees for permission to reproduce the work in copyright. The soft copy of the thesis was sent to the source material committee on November 18, 2021.

In addition to the MSc thesis, the communication and letters related to his academics, such as the MA, PhD, MSc and DSc and bar-at-law including LLD (an honorary degree that was awarded to Ambedkar by the Columbia University in 1952after he finished drafting the Constitution of India, which remains one of his most significant contributions to modern India), were also arranged and compiled by Krishnamurty, Thorat and Aglave. This also includes the courses done by Ambedkar for his MA and pre-PHD at the Columbia University. These details are being published for the first time.

Ambedkar’s biographer Changdev Bhavanrao Khairmode, writes how Ambedkar worked untiringly in London for his MSc. Ambedkar secured admission for his MSc in the LSE on September 30, 1920 by paying a fee of 11 pounds and 11 shillings. He was given a student pass with the number 11038.

Ambedkar had prepared for his MSc in Mumbai, yet he began studying books and reports from four libraries in London, namely the London University’s general library, Goldsmiths' Library of Economic Literature and the libraries in the British Museum and India Office. In London, Ambedkar would wake up at 6 am, have the breakfast served by his landlady and rush to the library for his studies. Around 1 pm, he would take a short break for a meagre lunch or have just a cup of tea and then return to the library to study till it closed for the day.

“He would sleep for a few hours. He would stand at the doors of the library before it opened and before others came there,” says Khairmode in the first volume of his magisterial work on Ambedkar (Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, Volume I) that was first published in 1952. The library staff in the British Museum would tell Ambedkar that they had not seen a student like him who was immersed in his books and they also doubted if they would get to see one like him in the future!

The volume also contains a letter written by Ambedkar in German on February 25, 1921 to the University of Bonn seeking admission. Ambedkar wanted to study Sanskrit language and German philosophy in the varsity’s department of Indology. In school, Ambedkar was discriminated against on grounds of caste and not allowed to learn Sanskrit. He had to learn Persian instead. Ambedkar secured admission to Bonn University but had to return to London three months later to revise and complete his DSc thesis.

Ambedkar completed his DSc in 1923 under the guidance of Professor Edwin Cannan of the LSE on the problem of the rupee, which is described as a “remarkable piece of research on Indian currency, and probably the first detailed empirical account of the currency and monetary policy during the period”.

Ambedkar was among the first from India to pursue doctoral studies in economics abroad. He specialised in finance and currency. His ‘The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India: A Study in the Provincial Decentralisation of Imperial Finance (1925)’, carried a foreword by Edwin R.A. Seligman, Professor of Economics, Columbia University, New York. Ambedkar also played a pivotal role in the conceptualisation and establishment of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 1935.

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Ambedkar Research Scholars

The sac encourages research scholars to engage with dr b r ambedkar's history, from his time at the lse and beyound..

Dr B R Ambedkar is one of the most important alumnus of LSE, from where he was awarded his MA and PhD. His doctoral thesis on ‘The Indian Rupee’, written in 1922-23, was later published as  The Problem of the Rupee: Its Origin and Its Solution  (London: P S King & Son, Ltd, 1923). Ambedkar was a Social Reformer, Economist, Parliamentarian, Jurist, and the Principal Architect of the Constitution of India.

A short biography can be found on the LSE History blog, along with a description of his time at the LSE.

2015 Scholars Visits

As part of the 125th Birth Anniversary Celebrations of Dr B R Ambedkar, the SAC hosted two delegations of research scholars and government officials for week-long visits on 24-31 October 2015 and 21-28 November 2015, in collaboration with the High Commission of India in London and the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India.

With two tours of 25 students & three officers each, the objectives of these trips were i) to show how HE institutions function in the UK, ii) the academic and educational facilities available that are relevant to theirresearch interests at LSE, iii) the rare archival collections relevant to India in museums and collections in London, iv) the multiculturallie in London and v) to introduce students to issues of social inequality, injustice and empowerment affecting contemporary Britain. 

Whilst here, two students were interviewed by Rozelle Laha from the Hindustan Times , culminating in an article published in the Delhi edition (in page 19) on Wednesday, 2 December 2015. 

Columbia University Libraries

Dr. ambedkar and columbia university: a legacy to celebrate.

For those of you who may not know, Dr. Ambedkar is a Dalit, an Indian jurist, economist, politician, activist and social reformer, who systematically campaigned against social discrimination towards women, workers, but most notably, towards the Dalits, and forcefully argued against the caste system in Hindu society. Dr. Ambedkar was the main architect of the Constitution of India, and served as the first law and justice minister of the Republic of India, and is considered by many one of the foremost global critical thinkers of the 20 th c., and a founder of the Dalit Buddhist movement. Ambedkar’s fight for social justice for Dalits, as well as women, and workers consumed his life’s activities: in 1950 he resigned from his position as the country’s first minister of law when Nehru’s cabinet refused to pass the Women’s Rights Bill. His feud with Mahatma Gandhi over Dalit political representation and suffrage in the newly independent State of India is by now famous, or I should say notorious, and it is Dr. Ambedkar who comes out on the right side of history.

The bronze bust, sculpted by Vinay Brahmesh Wagh of Bombay, was presented by the Federation of Ambedkarite and Buddhist Organizations, UK to the Southern Asian Institute of Columbia University on October 24, 1991, and then the wooden pedestal on which the statue now rests was donated by the Society of the Ambedkarites of New York and New Jersey, and placed in Lehman Library in 1995. The bust is the only site in the city where Dr. Ambedkar is honored, and is one of the most popular sites in enclosed spaces on campus that I have seen (you have to walk past the library entrance to get to it). 

Every year, on April 14 th, Ambedkar’s birthday, Ambedkar Jayanti or Bhim Jayanti, is celebrated in India (as an official holiday since 2015), at the UN (since 2016), and around the world. On this day, many visitors flock to Lehman Library, to pay tribute to Baba Saheb and place garlands on the bust. The sight of the visitors– many of whom come to Columbia just to see the bust and pay homage to the man who changed Indian society, brings home the significance of recognizing our critical thinkers, across cultures, eras, languages, divisions and types of social injustice, in the public fora of libraries. It is a powerful reminder that it is through scholarship and indeed through libraries and learning that human differences and injustices can be better understood, addressed and perhaps overcome.  

Years later, Dr. Ambedkar writes: ‘The best friends I have had in life were some of my classmates at Columbia and my great professors, John Dewey , James Shotwell, Edwin Seligman , and James Harvey Robinson.'” (Source: “‘Untouchables’ Represented by Ambedkar, ’15AM, ’28PhD,” Columbia Alumni News, Dec. 19, 1930, page 12.)

Ambedkar majored in Economics, and took many courses in sociology, history, philosophy, as well as anthropology.

In 1915, he submitted an M. A. thesis entitled: The Administration and Finance of the East India Company . (He is believed to have begun an M. A. thesis entitled  Ancient Indian Commerce earlier. That thesis is unavailable at the RBML but it is reprinted in volume 12 of Ambedkar’s collected writings). By the time he left Columbia in 1916 Ambedkar had begun research for his doctoral thesis entitled: “National Dividend of India–A Historic and Analytical Study. About this thesis, Ambedkar writes to his mentor Prof. Seligman, with whom he forged a long and friendly correspondence, even after he left Columbia:  “My dear Prof. Seligman, Having lost my manuscript of the original thesis when the steamer was torpedoed on my way back to India in 1917 I have written out a new thesis… [ …from the letter of Feb. 16, 1922, Seligman papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University ” cited in Dr. Frances Pritchard’s excellent  online website about Ambedkar ]. In 1920, Ambedkar writes: “My dear Prof. Seligman, You will probably be surprised to see me back in London. I am on my way to New York but I am halting in London for about two years to finish a piece or two of research work which I have undertaken. Of course I long to be with you again for it was when I was thrown into academic life by reason of my being a professor at the Sydenham College of Commerce & Economics in Bombay, that I realized the huge debt of gratitude I owe to the Political Science Faculty of the Columbia University in general and to you in particular.” B. R. Ambedkar, London, 3/8/20” , (Source: letter of August 3, 1920, Seligman papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University, cited in Pritchard’s website ).  Ambedkar would join the London School of Economics for a few years and submit a thesis there, but then, he would eventually come back to Columbia, to submit a Ph.D. thesis in Economics , in 1925 under the mentorship of his dear friend Prof. Seligman, entitled: The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India: A  Study in the Provincial Decentralization of Imperial Finance .  (It should be noted here that the thesis was first published in 1923 and again in 1925, this time with a Foreword by Edwin Seligman, by the publishers P. S. King and Son).

If it is Seligman he stayed in touch with and corresponded throughout, the person who most influenced his thought and shaped his political, philosophical and ethical outlook, was Dewey. For many thinkers, the links between Dewey and  Ambedkar’s ethical and philosophical thinking are obvious.  Ambedkar deeply admired Dewey and repeatedly acknowledged his debt to Dewey, calling him “his teacher”.  Ambedkar’s thought was deeply etched by John Dewey’s ideas of education as linked to experience, as practical and contextual, and the ideas of freedom and equality as essentially tied with the ideals of justice and of fraternity, a concept he would go on to apply to the Indian context, and to his pointed criticism of the caste system. Echoing many ideas propagated by Dewey, Ambedkar writes in the Annhilation of Caste : “Reason and morality are the two most powerful weapons in the armoury of a reformer. To deprive him of the use of these weapons is to disable him for action. How are you going to break up Caste, if people are not free to consider whether it accords with reason? How are you going to break up Caste, if people are not free to consider whether it accords with morality?” 

Having sat in several classes given by Dewey, and as early as 1916, Ambedkar would go on to address, at a Columbia University Seminar taught by the anthropologist Prof. Alexander Goldenweiser (1880-1940), his colleagues and friends with many of the ideas he later developed in his famous book: the Annihilation of Caste. The paper “ Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis, and Development ” contains many similarities to the Annihilation of Caste, and some of the books’ essential tenets., as acknowledged by Ambedkar himself ( Preface to the 3rd edition, Annihilation of Caste ).

The Columbia University Archives and the Columbia University Libraries hold many resources related to Dr. Ambedkar and to the Dalit movement and Dalit literature. For any inquiries regarding relevant resources, please do not hesitate to contact us: Gary Hausman : South and Southeast Asian Librarian , Global Studies; Rare Book and Manuscript Library: RBML Archivists

Happy Baba Saheb Ambedkar Juyanti!

Kaoukab Chebaro , Global Studies, Head

Today, for the first time studying for Civil Services I got to know about this great man. I think that in the galaxy of freedom fighters which India have produced he was the one we can truly say as the ‘Pole Star’. A true leader who walked the talk, he fought not only for country but also for the rights of the minority who were being annihilated for centuries. We should take cue from this man and try to go for equality, and that equality should be of thoughts, feelings and desires. It’s not at all wrong to aspire for greatness in life but to stifle a man’s path with the chains of societal norms is a sin in my sense. I hope to imbibe some of his qualities in my life. Let long live his legacy.

Thus my goodDr.BR. Ambedkar

Indeed Great emancipator of millions marginalised people, architect of Indian constitution, philosopher, economist, social reformer, jurist, astute politician no lastly father of modern India !! Jaibhim !!

What a great man. Wonderful article.

If it wasn’t for Dr.Ambedkar I wouldn’t be here in this country and have a life that I do now. I will forever be indebted to this Great Man’s courage in the face of adversity. Words cannot describe the gratitude I have for this man Thank you

Excellent effort to make this blog more wonderful and attractive.

Dr. Ambedkar was a great man.

Wonderful Article and an excellent blog. Greetings. Llorenç

Baba Saheb Dr. B R Ambedkar is alive in his works for humanity. Study Social Science or Law, or Education, or about farmers, or Dams and irrigation, or planning commission and budget or journalism, or human rights ……. on most of the subjects and disciplines, his live seen in his works and writtings. By reading him; his life, and his works, he inspires others by his works for the betterment of the society and a world, as a whole.

• Pingback: Ambedkar and the Study of Religion at Columbia University

Every breathe I take today is because of your struggle to give us an equal and fair society. It could not be possible to imagine even a single day without understanding your life and struggles. Each and every aspect of my existence is because of you Babasaheb. However, the current state of Dalit society pains me.

Such a great personality, tried hard to improvise the system in the country but had to face too much opposition and hatred. Salute to his strength and beliefs that he continued his fight for social justice despite such circumstances.

He was a great man, I considered India’s progress because of his work for the emancipation of millions of marginalized people in India

Is Columbia University conducting a Post Graduate course or PHD on Dr. Ambedkar thought?

Baba sahab Was great human Baba sahab is great human Baba sahab will great human .

Baba sahab god gifted and human for students, politicians, poor humans and all leaders ❤❤

I am thankful to Babasaheb Ambedkar for the beautiful living given to me by his at most efforts to eradicate the caste system through out India and to uplift the standard of living of the downtrodden of this country. He was a great man who fought for the rights and upliftment of the downtrodden and the dignity of women of this nation. A true Indian and a great patriot of the nation. I salute him for his work and knowledge.

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Sue Donnelly

January 29th, 2016, “no more worlds here for him to conquer” – dr b r ambedkar at lse.

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Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Dr B R Ambedkar first visited LSE in 1916, returned in 1921 and submitted his doctoral thesis in 1923. LSE Archivist Sue Donnelly investigates Dr B R Ambedkar’s life at LSE.

In 1920 the economist Edwin R Seligman wrote from Columbia University to Professor Herbert Foxwell, teaching at LSE recommending a former student, Bhimrao Ramji (B R) Ambedkar, and asking Foxwell to help him in his research. In November 1920 Foxwell wrote to the School Secretary, Mrs Mair:

I find he has already taken his doctor’s degree & has only come here to finish a research. I had forgotten this. I am sorry we cannot identify him with the School but there are no more worlds here for him to conquer.

Despite this B R Ambedkar registered for a master’s degree and completed a PhD thesis on his second attempt to study at LSE. 2016 marks the 125 th anniversary of B R Ambedkar’s birth in 1891 and the centenary of his first visit to LSE in 1916. Ambedkar was born into a family from a so-called “untouchable” caste. Ambedkar became a social reformer and architect of the Indian constitution.

After studying at Elphinstone High School in Bombay he was the first Dalit to enrol at Elphinstone College and the University of Bombay taking a degree in economics and political science. In 1913 he was awarded a Baroda State Scholarship and moved to Columbia University, New York, completing a masters in 1913 and a thesis, National Dividend of India-A Historic and Analytical Study in 1916. A desire to undertake research into the history of Indian finance and currency led Ambedkar to study in London where a wider range of research sources would be available.

In 1916 he registered at LSE for a master’s degree and took courses in Geography with Halford Mackinder, and Political Ideas with G Lowes Dickinson , alongside Social Evolution and Social Theory with Professor L T Hobhouse.  The fees for the course were £10 10s. At the same time Ambedkar enrolled for the bar course at Gray’s Inn.

In 1916 LSE was only 21 years old but with a high reputation in the social sciences and for its international student body, in 1913-1914 142 students had come from outside of the Britain. The outbreak of the First World War had impacted on the work of the School and student numbers had fallen by almost half to around 800. Ambedkar’s studies were interrupted as he was recalled to India to serve as Military Secretary in Baroda and in July 1917 the University of London gave him leave of absence of up to four years.

In 1920 Ambedkar returned to LSE after working as professor of political economy at Sydenham College in Mumbai and giving evidence to the Scarborough Committee preparing the 1919 Government of India Act on the position and representation of “untouchable” communities. Initially he applied to complete his masters degree and write a thesis on The Provincial Decentralisation of Imperial Finance in India. His fees had gone up by a guinea to £11 11s. There was a slight glitch in his LSE career in April 1921 when he failed to send in his form for the summer examinations and the School Secretary, Mrs Mair, had to write to University of London’s Academic Registrar for permission to submit the form late.

In economics Ambedkar’s tutors included Professor Edwin Cannan and Professor Herbert Foxwell both of whom had taught at the School since its opening in 1895. He would also have met Theodore Gregory who began as an assistant in economics but became Cassell Reader in International Trade in 1920. Gregory became an economic advisor in India from 1938-1946.

Ambedkar finally submitted his doctoral thesis, The Problem of the Rupee , in March 1923 but it was not recommended for acceptance. Reports claim that the thesis was too revolutionary and anti-British for the examiners. However there is no indication of this in Ambedkar’s student file. The thesis was resubmitted in August 1923 and accepted in November 1923. It was published almost immediately and in the preface Ambedkar noted “my deep sense of gratitude to my teacher, Professor Edwin Cannan “noting that Cannan’s “severe examination of my theoretical discussions has saved me from many an error”. Cannan repaid the complement by writing the Foreword to the thesis in which he found “a stimulating freshness” even if he disagreed with some of the arguments.

After his success Ambedkar returned to India where he was prominent in the campaign for Indian independence and opposing discrimination for Dalit communities. In 1947 he became the first Law Minister of independent India and was Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee. LSE continued to take an interest in his career and  in 1932 the Director, William Beveridge, wrote to Professor Cannan that Ambedkar had been invited to the School by John Coatman, Professor of Imperial Economic Relations, formerly director of public information for the Indian Police Service and the British government in India, to meet Professor Gregory while attending the roundtable discussions on the Indian constitution.

In 1973 a portrait of B R Ambedkar was unveiled in the lobby to Clement House. A bust unveiled in 1994 is currently displayed in the Atrium Gallery of the Old Building.

To find out about LSE’s South Asia collections head to the LSE Library’s  Traces of South Asia  webpage.

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About the author

Sue Donnelly is formerly LSE's Archivist, where she specialised in the history of the School.

29 Comments

Marvelous, Kudos to Baba Saheb Dr. B. R. Ambedkar

He was great humen Being

Just amazing so talented and a great person belongs to the whole world that is Dr.BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR

Dr. Ambedkar was great revolutionary Student who oppose wrong policies of British Government in student life.

Ambedkar finally submitted his doctoral thesis, The Problem of the Rupee , in March 1923 but it was not recommended for acceptance. Reports claim that the thesis was too revolutionary and anti-British for the examiners.

You wrote – Ambedkar was later to popularise the use of the term Dalit meaning ‘oppressed’

Dr. Ambedkar didn’t popularise the term Dalit. He hardly used term Dalit instead he preferred Scheduled castes or Untouchable. Dalit term became famous in early 70s with the rise of Dalit Panthers movement in India.

The title of this piece speak the lot… ‘No More Worlds Here for Him to Conquer’ – Dr BR Ambedkar at LSE.

Unfortunately, the “Savarnas Academia” tried their level best to boycott the scholarship of “BabaShaheb Ambedkar”, but “the power” of his scholarship now turning the table

Great man!!!!!!!!!!!! Jai Bhim

A phenomenally inspiring individual who achieved so much for so many.

“Not only very able but exceedingly pleasant fellow” to a foreigner beyond all kinds oppression he underwent in his home country. A genious and revolutionary thinker much ahead of his time. History will remember him for long.

Dr. babasaheb Ambedkar was Ultimate man for India. I Read “The problem of Rupees”. sir im saluting you. i got many good knowledge from this book. Sagar Jagtap B.Sc., MBA- Finance

Thank you for the information but it was not Dr. Ambedkar who popularise the term Dalit. Dalit term became the household name after Dalit Panthers in 1970s.

Baba saheb ambedkar is the most intellectual person and he design the society of human how to live on earth with equality fraternity and freedom. And he give the new ideas to society of the world, to creat something new for benefits of the human and for their betterment.

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar was and is the voice of voice less. I adore him for his interpretation of Freedom and justice. He can be compared to himself and none.

Respected sir/Madam, I like to know whether anybody conducted research on “Library use study of Dr B R Ambedkar” at university library. Can I will know library records, entry records of Students, their usage, timing most brobaly about Dr B R Ambedkar

Dr BR AMBEDKAR was a person who had proved that one untouchable can write thesis of PhD from prestigious university LSE at the time when India was under British ruling.Even some people who believe in casteisms are not appreciate his work..

Dr BR AMBEDKAR was a person who had proved that one untouchable can write thesis of PhD from prestigious university LSE …

A great son of India. I think he should have become the 1st Prime Minister of India.

Thanks to LSE for remembering and keeping the memory of Dr. B R Ambedkar afresh for young generations. It is indeed a great tribute to the scholar of par excellence in several fields of humanities. The appreciation of Professor Edwin R Seligman and Professor and Professor Edwin Cannan about Dr B R Ambedkar proves his intellectual ability and his academic ideas impart “a stimulating freshness”. The world remembers his instinct fight for human entitlements, human rights, human freedom and equality of opportunities to downtrodden. His struggles and hard works are inspirational to students. Many generations are benefited from his teachings and works which helped transforming India as “the world’s largest democracy”. Dr B R Ambedkar always lives in the hearts of Indians and inspires billions of Indians and the world community at large for centuries.

Professor Krishna Raj, Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bengaluru

Br ambedkar was the greatest in the world because he changed the history of india by providing equal rights to dalit(untouchables) in india and constitution of india made by br ambedkar

I grateful to LSE for sharing such a awesome and wonderful document of the man behind the creator of Indian constitution and his contribution to Indian economy. His contribution from making constitution to establishing Indian rupee, balancing the social equality is unforgettable.

he is great man .i salute him from my bottom of my heart. jai bhim ! namo buddha.

I reached a great message after a long time. It’s my good luck may be bad luck. Doctor AMBEDKAR is the father of modern india. He turned it’s direction in to a new path towards liberty, equality, and fraternity. India can became developed country by his thoughts

Dr B R Ambedkar was great philosopher of India and the father of Indian constitution all Indian people proud feeling and respectful towards D R ambedkar

First of all Jai Bhim and thank you for providing this. He is not the constitution maker of India ,but also a greatest economist , world’s greatest lawyer and social reformer. I salute you sir .

Great man Architecture of Indian Constitution and unveil Buddhisum of India again for untouchables which gives teaching of Equality, love and compassion.

He was also a mahanatma…….jai hind jai bharat🙏

As one coming from poor besides untouchable family also as its first learner from a village, I can imagine the burden of social oppression and indignity any one in his position had to undergo. Away from his native land, he, fortunately, spent rest of his educational career after graduation from Sydenham College, Bombay in the world of light, where he was marked for his merit not by his caste. He continues to be measured and viewed first as a dalit by his countrymen at home as well as abroad. In 2004, Prof. Valentine Danial, Prof. Anthropology in Columbia University wanted to create a Chair in honour of Dr. Ambedkar, one of its outstanding alumni. But the upper caste members in the Faculty, Prof. Danial was quoted by The New York Times, October 24, 2004, resisted the proposal. In 2011 ultimately the Chair was set up after, of course, creating first two Scholarships in the name of a professor, favourite of the ruling dispensation in India. Everyday the stature of Dr. Ambedkar is growing taller across the globe for his selfless service to humanity, the cause he pursued all his life and relentless fight for dignity of the voiceless and oppressed in a unequal society. I salute to him.

• Pingback: Many Indians, in addition to Ambedkar and Narayanan, have received the Doctor of Science degree - FACTLY

London school of economics has given gems to humanity. Surely DR. B.R.AMBEDKAR was one of them. He has done so much good in so little time. Changing the foundational structure within a hindu religion it may seem like easy but it’s close to impossible thing to achieve but with his intellect dr. B.R. Ambedkar has done that.

“The man who defeated the religion is the DR. B.R.Ambedkar”

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Educate, Agitate, Organise - a short biography of Dr B R Ambedkar April 26th, 2016

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A scholar, a lawyer and an educator – portraits of Dr B R Ambedkar at LSE

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Chronicling BR Ambedkar’s life in London

The time he spent in london earning his law and second doctorate degrees was among the most important part of the polymath’s life. the interrupted stint shaped his worldview and philosophy, introduced him to new and exacting teachers, and sharpened his legal skills.

When BR Ambedkar stepped off the boat in London in the summer of 1916, he was already an accomplished man. The 25-year-old had a PhD degree in economics from Columbia University and his dissertation Castes in India: Their mechanism, genesis and development was making waves for its theoretical underpinnings of endogamy.

But he was worried. He was dependent on an endowment from the Gaekwads of Baroda and was likely to be called back soon; World War I had thrown the western world into uncertainty — a ship carrying Ambedkar’s luggage was sunk by Axis torpedoes in the Mediterranean a few months on; his finances were dwindling and friends were back in New York.

Despite the challenges, the time he spent in London earning his law and second doctorate degrees was among the most important part of the polymath’s life. The interrupted stint – he was in London between 1916 and 1917, and again between 1920 and 1923 – shaped his worldview and philosophy, introduced him to new and exacting teachers, and sharpened his legal skills.

Most pivotally, it threw in sharp relief the young Ambedkar’s caste-blighted life in India with his student years abroad. “My five years of staying in Europe and America had completely wiped out of my mind any consciousness that I was an untouchable, and that an untouchable wherever he went in India was a problem to himself and to others,” he later wrote in Waiting for a Visa, narrating how no one would rent him a hotel room when he returned because he was considered untouchable.

A new online exhibition at the London School of Economics (LSE) aims to explore these formative years for Ambedkar through physical papers and records available at the institution.

“Our archives consist of the personal papers of individuals or of organisations. We don’t have the archives of Ambedkar …However, we do have a collection of student files, which record the interactions students have with the LSE during their period of study here. And there is a student file of Ambedkar, which is composed of thing such as his application forms and letters to the secretary. This is what the exhibition is based on,” said Daniel Payne, Curator for Politics and International Relations at the LSE library.

The bulk of the exhibition is an annotated history of Ambedkar’s life and works, with additions on prominent LSE teachers at the time and Indian alumni. The exhibition doesn’t have much on his time at LSE except somewhat charming pieces of university bureaucracy – a misfiled form, handfilled applications for degrees and a partially filled attendance sheet. All of these can be downloaded by the user and hold importance, given that Ambedkar filled most of them himself.

“The principal motivation behind curating this online exhibition is that the several radical (in his time and ours) thoughts and ideas Dr B R Ambedkar — who is by any measure the most famous Indian alumnus of LSE — have remained remarkably unknown to the international academic community,” said Nilanjan Sarkar, deputy director of the LSE South Asia Centre. “Through our limited archival collection in LSE Library, we have tried to highlight this potential for the international community — in short, to globalise the energy and force of Dr Ambedkar’s thought, and to underline its continuing relevance for our times.”

Ambedkar, the economist

Ambedkar’s evolution as an economist occupies a central place in the exhibition.

During his time at LSE, Ambedkar submitted two thesis – one called The evolution of provincial finance in British India : A study in the provincial decentralization of imperial finance for his master’s degree in 1921 and the other, more famous, The Problem of the Rupee, that later influenced the setting up of the Reserve Bank of India, in 1922.

LSE records say that his thesis was not accepted at first, and later notes add that the colonial examiners found his work too “revolutionary”. Ambedkar later revised the work, and successfully obtained a doctorate.

Another important piece of work by him was the 1918 paper Small Holdings In India And Their Remedies where he explored India’s fragmented holdings and called for industrialisation of agriculture to absorb the surplus labour.

Niranjan Rajadhyaksha noted in a 2015 Mint column that Ambedkar’s thesis came at a time when there was a clash between the colonial administration and Indian business interests on the value of the rupee. In his work, Ambedkar argued in favour of a gold standard as opposed to the suggestion by John Maynard Keynes that India should embrace a gold exchange standard.

From the late 1920s, Ambedkar largely moved away from economics as he devoted his energies to social and legal reform, but his later stint as the labour minister in the Viceroy’s executive council between 1942-46 was deeply impactful.

“He worked on a diverse set of topics - water policy, electric power planning, labor laws, maternity rights for female factory workers…Babasaheb set up the first employees’ state insurance, a social security and health insurance scheme for workers, in South Asia,” said Aditi Priya, a research associate at Krea University and founder of Bahujan Economics.

In a 1998 publication, Ambedkar’s Role In Economic Planning, Water And Power Policy, Sukhadeo Thorat traces the impact of Ambedkar’s ideas around state planning on post-independence concepts like the adoption of river valley authorities and hydropower development.

“The importance of maternity entitlements has been discussed in both econ and policy circles in improving the welfare of pregnant and lactating women and improving the labor force participation. Babasaheb was the first advocate of the maternity bill. He passed a range of laws protecting female workers including the Women and Child Labour Protection Act, the Maternity Benefits Act, the Mines Maternity Benefits Act, and created the Women Labour Welfare Fund, which was used to safeguard health and safety of working women,” Priya added.

Ambedkar scholars agree that his primary thrust in later life was on social welfare and benefits to marginalised groups – without being an outright socialist.

“For him the idea was that the welfare of the people should primarily be the job of the government. He was a strong advocate of the role of the state in inclusive economic growth and development and at the same time he was also in the favor of industrialization and urbanization. But he was also aware of the ills of capitalism,” said Priya.

Ambedkar, the student

There are two things the exhibition does very well.

One is underlining Ambedkar’s relations with his teachers and the impression he had on them. Plenty has been written on the influence of Edwin Seligman at Columbia University and the writings of John Stuart Mill.

The LSE exhibition shows Ambedkar enrolled in Geography with Halford Mackinder, Political Ideas with G Lowes Dickinson, and Social Evolution and Social Theory with LT Hobhouse. At the time, the fees were £10 10s which increased to £11 11s when he returned in 1920. His attendance records indicate he was not too interested in the political ideas class, which he skipped on all but two occasions during a term.

The exhibition also spotlights Ambedkar’s relationship with Edwin Cannan, the liberal economist whose lectures are said to have laid the foundation of the LSE Economics course and Herbert Foxwell, who taught at LSE since it started in 1895, and famously said about Ambedkar in London, “There are no more worlds for him to conquer.”

Cannaan guided Ambedkar through the tense submission and re-submission of his doctoral thesis and the young scholar dedicated the work to his professor. The papers have little on their interaction but it appears that the two kept in touch, especially when Ambedkar came back to London for the Round Table Conferences in the early 1930s.

Ambedkar’s student file also contains a letter from Cannan to William Beveridge (then director of the LSE) to encourage him to entertain Ambedkar. “I always said he was by far the ablest Indian we ever had in my time,” Cannan says of Ambedkar.

The letter also references the bitter tussle between Ambedkar and Gandhi over the issue of separate electorates – Gandhi wanted to keep Dalits within the Hindu fold and refused to allow them separate franchise, while Ambedkar believed that caste Hindus would thwart Dalit representatives in a joint electorate.

“When I read in the papers that the Brahmins were hoping to persuade, or that Gandhi was…Dr Ambedkar to modify his demands, I chuckled, remembering the obstinacy with which he used to hold out even when quite wrong,” Cannan noted.

Ambedkar, the political thinker

The second is highlighting the evolution of political thought in Ambedkar – from his days at LSE to when he returned to London for the Round Table Conferences.

To my mind, the most important documents in the entire exhibition are two sets of papers that have nothing to do with LSE.

One is a missive by Ambedkar to George Lansbury, the then leader of the Labour Party, in 1935. At the time, a British joint parliamentary select committee, chaired by Lord Linlithgow, had tabled its recommendations – which would eventually lead to the Government of India Act, 1935.

Ambedkar expressed dissatisfaction in his letter to Lansbury, especially objecting to the proposal for setting up upper houses in provincial assemblies over fears that upper-castes will dominate these chambers and wield influence in governance.

The second is the submission by Ambedkar and Tamil politician Rettamalai Srinivasan – the two depressed class delegates – to the First Round Table Conference, laying out a political and electoral roadmap for Dalit representation in power-sharing.

A Scheme of Political Safeguards for the Protection of the Depressed Classes in the Future Constitution of a self-governing India puts forth a series of conditions for Dalits to agree to majority rule in India – each of which acts as a precursor for rights and provisions that eventually found their way into the Constitution.

Ambedkar and Srinivasan said Dalits needed equal citizenship, fundamental rights, free enjoyment of equal rights, protection from social boycott and other discrimination, adequate representation in services, departments and the Cabinet. The kernel of the landmark abolition of untouchability, affirmative action and fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution are evident in this short 13-page submission. Also evident is the tension between historical inequality and the democratic project – key to understanding the country celebrating 75 years of freedom.

In the words of Ambedkar, “The depressed classes cannot consent to subject themselves to majority rule in their present state of hereditary bondsmen. Before majority rule is established, their emancipation from the system of untouchability must be an accomplished fact. It must not be left to the will of the majority.”

And what we don’t know

Yet, there is so much that’s missing from the exhibition on Ambedkar’s life at London or LSE. We don’t know what sort of a student he was, how his time at London was spent or how a young Dalit scholar enjoyed the first years of freedom from the sub-continental shackles of caste.

Other than the passing references in Ambedkar’s biography by Dhananjay Keer, we don’t know anything about his roommate Asnodkar, his friend Naval who’d send him money or his stern landlady who’d make him subsist on toast.

We don’t know how he navigated the metropolis, who his British friends were and the stories of the Indian acquaintances who supplied him with papad to eat at night.

Did Asnodkar and Ambedkar talk during the latter’s frequent all-nighters? Did Ambedkar make any friends during his hours-long visits to the British Library? Who took care of him when he fell ill in 1922? We don’t know.

Coming in the 75th year of India’s independence, this is both unfortunate and predictable.

The domination of upper-castes in history, historical research and archiving meant that even otherwise commonplace tasks like publishing Ambedkar’s complete works happened decades after his death, after struggle by anti-caste groups. Dalit writers and intellectuals continue to be marginalised and typecast.

Even in the UK, Ambedkarites have worked for years to establish Ambedkar as a leading figure. “When we started working in 1985, not many knew of Ambedkar; during his birth centenary celebrations (in 1991), we organised events across Europe to highlight his contribution to democracy and human rights,” said Arun Kumar, general secretary of the Federation of Ambedkarite & Buddhist Organisations. Busts donated by the body stand today at LSE and Columbia University.

The exhibition’s organisers are aware of the challenges.

“Even though there is quite a bit in the student file, not much is revealed about Ambedkar’s experiences at LSE,” said Payne.

Sarkar said that the principal motivation behind the exhibition was that the several radical thoughts and ideas of Ambedkar remained remarkably unknown to the international academic community.

“Even though Dr. Ambedkar is one of the most significant alumnus of LSE, and Dr Ambedkar’s scholarship and campaigns are of paramount importance to understand India and beyond, despite the presence of large number of Indian students as well as some faculty research on India, it is almost invisible in this institution,” said Jayaraj Sunderasan, one of the organisers of the event.

Following Babasaheb’s footsteps

A marked void in the exhibition is the absence of any other Dalit names – students, leaders, LSE alumni – or anti-caste work emerging from the institution. I suspect this is the reflection of a broader pattern that excludes marginalised students from pursuing education abroad, struggling for finances, recommendations and survival outside traditional caste networks.

Satish Athawale is one of them. The 24-year-old student is hoping to go the UK this year to secure a master’s degree in engineering after surviving three harrowing years. His parents, Ashok and Rama Athawale, were among the victims of the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence. Rioters torched their shop and home and beat Ashok to an inch of his life – jolting the young Athawale to the realities of caste-based hatred.

The family escaped to Pune where they have been trying to make ends meet since. Athawale hopes to pull the family out of poverty and secure a job after his education, if only he can secure the resources to make good on his admission offers. “Despite the hardships of our family, I want to go abroad and study to secure a better future for us. I hope to follow in the path of Ambedkar.”

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Dhrubo works as an edit resource and writes at the intersection of caste, gender, sexuality and politics. Formerly trained in Physics, abandoned a study of the stars for the glitter of journalism. Fish out of digital water. ...view detail

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The journey of Baba Saheb Ambedkar –  Life, History & Works

• Baba Saheb Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar was born on April 14, 1891, he was the 14 th and last child of his parents.
• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar was the son of Subedar Ramji Maloji Sakpal. He was Subedar in British Army. Babasaheb’s father was a follower of Sant Kabir and was also a well-read person.
• Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was hardly two years old when his father retired from service. His mother died when he was only about six. Babasaheb got his early education in Bombay. Since his school days he realized with intense shock what it was to be an untouchable in India.
• Dr. Ambedkar was taking his school education in Satara. Unfortunately, Dr. Ambedkar lost his mother. His aunt looked after him. Afterwards, they shifted to Bombay. Throughout his school education, he suffered from the curse of untouchability. His marriage took place after his matriculation in 1907 in an open shed of a market.
• Dr. Ambedkar completed his graduation at Elphinston College, Bombay, for which he was getting a scholarship from His Highness Sayajirao Gaikwad of Baroda. After his graduation, he had to join Baroda Sansthan according to the bond. He lost his father when he was in Baroda, 1913 is the year when Dr. Ambedkar was selected as a scholar to go to U.S.A, for the higher studies. This was the turning point of his educational career.
• He got his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University in 1915 and 1916 respectively. He then left for London for further studies. He was admitted there to the Gray’s Inn for Law and also allowed to prepare for the D. Sc. at the London School of Economics and Political Science. But he was called back to India by the Dewan of Baroda. Later, he got his Bar-at-Law and D.Sc. degree also. He studied for some time at Bonn University in Germany.
• In 1916 he read an essay on ‘Castes in India — their Mechanism, Genesis, and Development’. In 1916, he wrote his thesis ‘National dividend for India — A Historic and Analytical Study’ and got his Ph.D. Degree. This was published after eight years   under the title — “Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India.” Then after getting this highest degree, he returned to India and was appointed a Military Secretary to the Maharaja of Baroda with a view to groom him as the finance minister in the long run.
• Babasaheb returned to the city in September, 1917 as his scholarship tenure ended and joined the service. But after a brief stay in the city till November, 1917, he left for Mumbai. The maltreatment he faced on grounds of untouchability had forced him to leave the service.
• Dr. Ambedkar returned to Bombay and joined Sydenham College as a Professor of Political Economy. As he was well read, he was very popular among the students. But he resigned his post, to resume his studies in Law and Economics in London. Maharaja of Kolhapur gave him the financial help. In 1921 , he wrote his thesis. “Provincial Decentralization of Imperial Finance in British India,’ and got his M.Sc. Degree from the London University. Then he spent some period in Bonn University in Germany. In 1923 , he submitted his thesis — “Problem of Rupee its Origin and Solution”, for the D.Sc. Degree. He was called to Bar in 1923 .
• After coming back from England in 1924 he started an Association for the welfare of the depressed classes, with Sir Chimanlal Setalvad as the President and Dr. Ambedkar as the Chairman. To spread education, improve economic conditions and represent the grievances of depressed classes were the immediate objects of the Association.
• The Bahiskrit Bharat , newspaper was started in April 3, 1927 to address the cause of the depressed classes in view of the new reform.
• In 1928, he became a Professor in Government Law College, Bombay and on June 1, 1935 he became the Principal of the same college and remained in that position till his resignation in 1938.
• On October 13, 1935, a provincial conference of the depressed classes was held a Yeola in Nasik District. In this conference, he gave the shock to the Hindus by announcing. “I was born in Hinduism but I will not die as a Hindu” Thousands of his followers supported his decision. In 1936 he addressed the Bombay Presidency Mahar Conference and advocated the renunciation of Hinduism.
• On August 15, 1936, he formed Independent Labour Party to safeguard the interest of the depressed classes, which mostly formed the labour population.
• In 1938, Congress introduced a bill making change in the name of untouchables. Dr. Ambedkar criticized it. In his point of view changing the name is not the solution of the problem.
• In 1942, he was appointed to the Executive Council of the Governor General of India as a Labour member, in 1946, he was elected to the Constituent Assembly from Bengal. At the same time he published his book, Who were Shudras?
• After Independence, in 1947, he was appointed as a Minister of Law and Justice in Nehru’s first cabinet. But in 1951, he resigned his ministership, expressing his differences on the Kashmir issue, India’s Foreign Policy and Nehru’s Policy towards the Hindu Code Bill.
• In 1952, Columbia University conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. in recognition of the work done by him in connection with the drafting of India’s Constitution. In 1955, he published his book titled Thoughts on Linguistic States .
• Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was awarded a Doctorate on January 12, 1953, from Osmania University. Ultimately after 21 years, he proved true, what he had announced in Yeola in 1935 , that “I will not die as a Hindu”. On 14th Oct. 1956, he embraced Buddhism in a historic ceremony in Nagpur and died on 6th Dec. 1956.
• Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar was conferred with the title of “Bodhisattva” by the Buddhist monks at “Jagatik Buddhism Council” in 1954 in Kathmandu, Nepal. The special thing is that Dr Ambedkar was conferred with the title of Bodhisattva while he was alive.
• He also contributed to India’s Independence struggle and in its reforms post-independence. Apart from this, Babasaheb played a significant role in the formation of the Reserve Bank of India. The Central bank was formed on the concept presented by Babasaheb to the Hilton Young Commission.
• This sparkling life history of Dr. Ambedkar shows that he was a man of study and action. Firstly, he acquired sound knowledge of Economics Politics, Law, Philosophy  and Sociology, in pursuing his studies; he had to face many social odds. But he did not spend all his life in reading and studying and in the libraries. He refused the higher posts with attractive salaries because he never forgot his brothers in the depressed class. He dedicated the rest of his life for equality, brotherhood and humanity. He tried his best for the upliftment of the depressed classes.
• After having gone through his life history it is necessary and proper to study and analyze his main contribution and their relevance. According to one opinion there are three points which are more important even today. Today also Indian Economy and Indian Society is facing many economic, and social problems. Dr. Ambedkar’s thoughts and actions may guide us for the solution of these problems.
• Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s death anniversary is observed as Mahaparinirvan Diwas across the country.

​ All About Ambedkar  

Issn 2582-9785, a journal on theory and praxis, on economics, banking and trades: a critical overview of ambedkar's “the problem of the rupee”.

Janardan Das

The Problem of Rupee is 257-page long paper written by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar that he presented as his Doctoral thesis at the London School of Economics (LSE) in March 1923. In it, Ambedkar tried to explain the troubles that were associated with the national currency of India - the Rupee. He argued against the British ploy to keep the exchange rate too high to facilitate the trade of their factory products.

In this article, I have tried to summarize the aforesaid book by Dr. Ambedkar. I have also tried to focus on how he advances his speech depicting the ups and downs of the Indian economy and currency. He introduces us to the characteristics of trade and business in our country even from the time when it was divided into several monarchical regions. He proclaims that in our country, the trade of any product had been conducted through the exchanges of money and those particular products. So evidently our merchant society is typically crowned as a pecuniary society that only runs on money.

Quoting W. C. Mitchell, Ambedkar reiterates that economists say money is pivotal to every individual in a society. And without the use of money, the distribution of anything can be a matter of disagreement and disturbance. In the next few lines of his speech, in the first chapter, he describes how the standards and currency were in the time of the Mughal empire and he certainly mentioned that the economic condition of the country was far better than that of today's, because it had a world-wide boundary of trade and free use of gold mohur and the silver rupee . Actually, before the administrative and financial invasion of British, Gold and silver were the inevitable parts of the medium of exchange without any fixed ratio. Hindu emperors and the Muslim emperors had some similarity in their trading features- both of them had a permissible use of metal coin in their empire but in the Mughal empire silver coins were at the center of currency, and later gold coins took that place in the Hindi empires. Mohur and rupee were similar in size, weight and composition. But the silver currency was unknown or more precisely unpopular to the southern part of the great Indian sub-continent because of the failure of Mughal administration. Instead of such coins, they normalised pagoda , the ancient gold coin traditioned from the time of Hindu kings. Mughals made allowances to recuperate the problems regarding faulty technology of the mints. Dr. Ambedkar observes that Mughals had initiated a system of provincial mints that had been maintained or ruled by a single unit or division. That made it easy to examine the issues related to monetary funds or mints. But later, these issues continued to be grow larger and made the poor and ignorant people suffer. He also tried to conjugate the great re-coinage of 1996 (?) . In the last half of the chapter, Ambedkar compared the coins as well as the rupee in every possible way.

Our country was divided into three presidencies during the British rule. So the British government set their target to change the parallel standard popular in Mughal times into a double standard by establishing an authorised ratio of exchange between pagoda , rupee , and mohur . But somewhere their effort partially went in vain. He gave a pictorial glimpse of how Bengal took this effort and tried to fix that ratio. Mainly, these types of attempts were taken and recommended by the Court of directors. But these steps were left to carry out by many of the provincial governments of India. In the first chapter of the problem of the rupee, Dr. Ambedkar explained how silver standards had been established through the vanishing of gold currency and how it had been supplemented by the paper currency. He also retorted how the Act XXIII of 1870 actually introduced nothing new - neither the number of the coins authorised by the mints nor its tender-powers. Rather, it helped just to make some improvements in monetary laws. Since the invention of coinage people always thought that the actual value of the coin can be exact with the price of the coin legalised by the mint. So according to him, the exact value of the coin can’t however always be the same as the certified value. That’s why in foreign countries, coins will not be legal tender if they vary from their legal standards beyond a certain limit. So, making coins legal tender without defining a certain limit to its toleration certainly makes way to cheat. Convincingly, the Act set a certain legal limit to the coins of its tolerance. The act also made an improvement that was to recognise the principle of free coinage. But we can not say that this principle of free coinage was perfect in every possible way as Ambedkar himself once said in this chapter that the principle had not been paid that much attention it deserved. Though it was the very basis of well-established currency in that it has an important bearing on the cardinal question of the amount of currency inevitable for the transactions of the people. According to Ambedkar, to solve this problem, two ways can be very useful to regulate such a huge quantity of transactions. One possible way is to close the mints and to leave it to the judgment of the government to handle the currency to suit our needs. The other way is to keep the mint as it is and to leave it to the self-interest of individuals to determine the amount of currency they need. Ambedkar aptly indicated both of the similarities and contradictions of the above-mentioned Act with the other ones where surely, he finds its incapability to regulate such a large quantity of currency.

In the introduction to the third chapter, Ambedkar was concerned about the economic results of the disturbance of the ‘par’ of exchange and he narrates it as the most “far-reaching character”. Our economic world can be sectioned into two neatly defined groups of people. These two categorised community had learned to use gold and silver and their standard money or purchasing standards. By giving a reference to 1873, he said that when a large amount of gold becomes equal to a large amount of silver, it barely matters for international transactions. It doesn’t make so much difference in which of the two currencies its obligations were stipulated and realized. But due to the dislocation of the fixed ratio or par, it becomes hard to indicate particularly how much silver is equal to how much of gold from one year to another, even from month to month. This exactitude of value which is the pivotal potential of monetary exchange, makes space for ambiguities of gambling. So, flatly all countries weren’t drawn to this center of perplexities in the same degree and the same extent; but yet it’s impossible for a nation which is a part of the international commercial world to escape from being dragged into it. This was true of our country as it was of no other country. India was a silver-standard country bound to a gold-standard country, so that her economic and financial picture was at “the mercy of blind forces operating upon the relative values of gold and silver which governed the rupee-sterling exchange.” Later in the discussion, Ambedkar pointed out the burdens of Indian economy and introduced us to an index [Table-XI] chart regarding the rupee cost of gold payments which showed data from year to year. If we give pay attention to the points figured out by Ambedkar, we can see that these burdens never stop, rather it’s been increasing day by day. Gradually, it caused various policies of high taxations and rigidity in Indian finance. Dr. Ambedkar brilliantly analysed Indian budgets between 1872-1882 and he proved that hardly a year passed without making an addition to the everlasting impositions on the country. He also analysed the information found in Malwa Opium Trade and was able to find errors in the economic policies of the Indian government. The taxes that the government standardized in these trades probably help the Indian economy to feel secure around the end of 1882. The government started exercising the virtue of economy along with the increment of resources. They found cheap agency of native Indians instead of employing imported Englishmen. And it was easy to use native intellect because the Educational Reforms of 1853 clearly says about the access of natives in Indian Civil Service. Thus, he finds the British try to set up a strong economy in India under the British Raj.

In the fourth chapter of the book, Ambedkar focuses on how the establishment of a stable economic system was dependent upon the re-establishment of a common standard of value. As it was the purpose just to normalise a common standard of value, its fulfillment was by no means an easy matter. The government found mostly two ways to make an experiment or practice. First thing was to declare any of the common metal as the standard currency and the second was to let gold and silver standard countries keep to these metal currencies and to establish a fixed ratio of exchange as to turn these to metal into a common standard of value. The first idea of normalising metal currency other than gold and silver was to make other countries leave their standards in favour of gold. If we look back at the history of movements for the reform of the Indian currency, we will mainly find two movements. The movement that led to introduce a gold standard first occupies this field. Dragging a reference to a ‘Report of the Indian Currency Committee’ of 1898, Dr. Ambedkar said that the notification of 1868 had bluntly failed and this failure doesn’t affect the history because the movement had already started earlier in the sixties and the movement had still life in it. Clearly, it is shown by the fact that it was revived four years later by Sir R. Temple, when he became the Finance Minister of India, in a memorandum dated May 15, 1872.

In the next few lines, Dr. Ambedkar talks about the second movement for the introduction of the gold standard that was conducted by Colonel J. T. Smith, the able Mint Master of India. Frankly, Dr. Ambedkar mentioned that his plan was a redress for the falling exchange. In this topic, he quoted the actual speech of Smith that was published in 1876 in London. Depicting the whole principle behind the presentation of J. T. Smith, Baba Saheb found it was considerably supported by the fall of silver in British India.

Now in the fifth chapter, we come to know that once somewhere Indian economic system felt that the problem of an erosive rupee was favourably dissolved. The long-lasting concerns and niceties that lingered over a long period even for a quarter of the century could not but have been successfully compensated by the adoption of a redress like the one mentioned in the fourth chapter. But unfortunately, the system originally planned, failed to be designed into reality. In its place, a system of currency in India grew up which was the very reverse or contradictory of it. A few years later when the legislative sanction had been shown the recommendations and suggestions of the Fowler committee, the Chamberlain Commission on Indian Finance and Currency said that the government contemplated to adopt the recommendations made by the committee of 1898, but the contemporary system utterly differs from the plan and had some common feature with the theory and suggestions made by Mr. A. M. Lindsay.

According to Mr. Lindsay’s scheme, he emphasised on how to turn the entire Indian currency to a rupee currency; the government was to give rupees in almost every case in return for gold, whereas gold for rupees only in foreign dispatch of money. The project was to be implicated through the assistance in between of two offices, one was in London and the other located in here, India. The first was to sell drafts on the latter when rupees were wanted and the latter was to sell drafts on the former when gold was wanted. Unbelievably, the same or similar system prevailed in our country. It was rejected in 1898. Then gradually paper currency came up to the Indian economic realm and two reserves one of gold and other of currencies left other than gold. Ambedkar had lengthened his discussion over Indian currencies after these events.

In the sixth chapter of the book, Dr. Ambedkar said about a memorable thing that was to remind the time when all the Indian Mints were shut down to the free coinage of silver. and the economic world in India was surely divided into two parties, one in favour of the step and the other stood in opposition to the closure of the mints. Being placed in an embarrassing and contradictory position by the fall of the rupee, the British Government of the time felt anxiety to close the Mints and increase its value with a conception to sigh in relief from the burden of its gold payments. Whereas it was requested, to produce an increment of interest of the country, that such accretion in the exchange value of the rupee would cause a disaster to the entire Indian trade and industry. One of the reasons, it was argued, why the Indian industry had advanced by such leaps and bounds as it did from 1873 to 1893 was to be found in the bounty given to the Indian export trade by the falling exchange. If the fall of the rupee was discovered by the Mint closure, everyone feared that such an event was certainly bound to cut Indian trade both ways. It would give the silver-using countries a bounty as over against India and would deprive India of the bounty which is obtained from the falling exchange as over against gold-using countries.

However, in the seventh as well as the last chapter of the book, Ambedkar examined the system of the economy that was advancing towards the changes of the exchange standard in the light of the claim made on behalf of it. Though it is very much a matter of uncertainty and hard to explain the history of Indian banking, but sure if being followed, it will be easy to interpret the market, values of products. Unmistakably, the works of Ambedkar led the nation towards the development and advancement of its economics and international banking and trades.

Works Cited

Ambedkar, B. R. History of Indian Currency and Banking. Butler & Tanner Ltd.

______________. The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India. P. S. King & Son Ltd., 1925.

______________. The Problem of the Rupee. P. S. King & Son Ltd., 1923.

Author Information

Janardan Das studies English literature at Presidency University, Kolkata.

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• Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Essay

Essay on Dr. B. R. Ambedkar

Dr B. R. Ambedkar is looked up to as a symbol of equality. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar played an important role in framing the constitution of our country. He outlawed the discrimination against lower castes or untouchables and wanted to establish equality among our countrymen. He said that he believed in a society where friendship, equality, and brotherhood exist. However, a man who did so much for our country had suffered many atrocities about his caste in the initial days.

Below is the detailed journey of our legend Bhim Rao Ambedkar that has been set by Vedantu experts after deep research and several quality checks.

Bhim Rao Ambedkar was a person with multiple talents as he was an educationist, jurist, and worked as a socio-political reformer. In free India, his contribution is precious in varied arenas and the list of his achievements is long. Therefore, while writing an essay about Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, it is a wise step to include the content from all the avenues based on his experiences and life so that total justice can be made by those who attempt to write an informational essay about this legendary figure. Here you go:

History Facts about Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

Born on 14 April 1891 in a village named Mhow in the Indore district of Madhya Pradesh, Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was also known as Babasaheb Ambedkar. His father Ramji Sakpal, was in the Indian Army, serving the country. With his good work, he was ranked as Subedar in the army. His mother's name was Bhima bai. From the beginning, Ramji encouraged his children to study and to work hard, due to which Bhimrao Ambedkar was fond of studies since childhood. However, he belonged to the Mahar caste, and people belonging to this caste were also called untouchables at that time. The meaning of untouchable was that if any belonging of the upper castes was touched by the people of the lower caste, it was considered impure and the people of the upper caste would not use those things.

Even the children belonging to the lower caste could not go to school for studies due to the poor thinking of the society. Fortunately, the government ran a special school for the children of all the employees working in the army, so B. R. Ambedkar's early education could be possible. Despite being good at studies, he along with all the lower caste children accompanying him were seated outside the class or in the corner of the class. The teachers there also paid little attention to them. These children were not allowed to even touch the tap to drink water. The peon of the school used to pour water on his hands from afar and then they used to get water to drink. When the peon was not there, they had to study and go without water, despite being thirsty.

After Ramji Sakpal retired in 1894, his entire family moved to a place called Satara in Maharashtra, but only after 2 years, Ambedkar's mother died. After this, his aunt took care of him in difficult circumstances. Ramji Sakpal and his wife had 14 children, out of which only three sons and three daughters survived the difficult conditions. And among his brothers and sisters, Bhimrao Ambedkar was the only one who succeeded in ignoring the social discrimination to continue further education, in 1897.

Education of Dr Ambedkar

Ambedkar took admission to Mumbai's high school, and he was the first lower-caste student to get admission in that school. In 1907, Ambedkar passed his high school examination. This success triggered a wave of happiness among the people of his caste because it was a big thing to pass high school at that time and it was amazing to have someone from their community to achieve it.

After that Bhimrao Ambedkar obtained degrees in Economics and Political Science in 1912, breaking all records in the field of studies. In 1913, he went to America for post-graduation and there in 1915 from Columbia University, he did M.A. He was awarded a PhD for one of his researches in the following year. In 1916, he published the book Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India. B.R. Ambedkar went to London in 1916 with his doctoral degree, where he studied law at the London School of Economics and enrolled in the degree for Doctorate in Economics.

However, in the next year, after the scholarship money ran out, he had to leave his studies in the middle and return to India. After that, he came to India and did a lot of other jobs like clerical jobs and the job of an accountant. He completed his research by going back to London in 1923 with the help of his remaining money. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science by the University. Since then, he spent the rest of his life in the service of society. He participated in many campaigns for the independence of India, wrote many books for the social freedom of Dalits, and made India an independent nation. In 1926 he became a member of the Mumbai Legislative Council. On 13 October 1935, Ambedkar was made the Principal of the Government Law College and worked on this post for 2 years.

Emerging as a Politician

In 1936, Ambedkar founded the Independent Labour Party which later contested the Central Assembly elections and won 15 seats. Between 1941 and 1945 he published several books, like ‘Thoughts in Pakistan’. In this book, the demand for creating a separate country for Muslims was strongly opposed. Ambedkar's vision of India was different. He wanted to see the whole country without falling apart, which is why he strongly criticized the policies of the leaders who wanted to divide ​​India. After India's independence on 15 August 1947, Ambedkar became the first law minister and despite his deteriorating health, he gave a strong law to India. Then his written constitution came into force on 26 January 1950, and in addition to this, the Reserve Bank of India was established with the views of Bhimrao Ambedkar. After all, while struggling with political issues, Bhimrao Ambedkar's health deteriorated day by day, and then on 6 December 1956, he passed away. He had changed the thinking of the society to a great extent, he ensured that Dalits and women get their rights.

Some Interesting Facts About Dr B.R. Ambedkar

In an essay about Dr B. R. Ambedkar, it will be interesting to include the fact that Ambedkar Jayanti is the biggest Jayanti observed as an annual festival in the world.

He is known as the number 1 scholar in the world and he is also the first person from the South Asia region to pursue PhD in Economics subject.

His slogan “life should be great rather than long” showed the right path to many people globally.

Dr B. R. Ambedkar is famous as the symbol of knowledge in the world as he completed different higher degrees, like MSc, M.A., PhD, and many more.

Dr B. R. Ambedkar is also knowns as Babasaheb Ambedkar, he was a great politician and jurist. He struggled a lot throughout his life, he implied laws for the lower caste people and he was the only chief architect of the Indian constitution. To date, he is remembered for his good deeds and welfare.

FAQs on Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Essay

What are the Achievements of B.R. Ambedkar?

After India's independence on 15 August 1947, Ambedkar became the first law minister and despite deteriorating health, he gave a strong law to India. Then his written constitution came into force on 26 January 1950 and in addition to this, the Reserve Bank of India was established with the help of the views of Bhimrao Ambedkar. The achievements of this legend cannot be conveyed in just a few lines, so it is required to write an essay compiling the historical background with other events.

What made Bhim Rao Ambedkar so famous in India?

It was Ambedkar's legacy that made him a superhero among the general public of India. Being a socio-political reformer, he made a deep mark on the public of modern India. Having gained a repute as a scholar in India, he was chosen to be appointed as the first law minister in free India. He also became the chairman of the constitution drafting committee. He was a believer in freedom and firmly criticized a caste-based society. So, these are a few facts that make him famous. 

What slogan did B.R. Ambedkar give that gained so much popularity?

B. R. Ambedkar gave many slogans like “life should be great rather than short”, “if I find the constitution misused, I will be the first to burn it”, and more. But, his slogan life is great rather than shortly gained popularity not only in India but also on a global scale. The reason is quite simple that people from everywhere can relate to this slogan. And, this slogan inspires everyone to enhance the quality of their life instead of counting the number of years to live.

What made Dr Bimrao Ramji Ambedkar number 1 scholar?

Dr B. R. Ambedkar is known as the number 1 scholar as he had done so much in education. The legend completed his masters in 64 subjects. Plus, he was the first Indian to have completed his doctorate. And, his knowledge was not confined to one or two languages as he was versed with 9 different languages. He received the Indian first civilian award the Bharat Ratna after his death. There are innumerable contributions that make him great in different areas.