Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891-1956 C.E.) popularly known as Babasaheb, was an Indian lawyer, politician and academic. As independent India’s first law minister, he was the principal architect of the Constitution of India. He was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honor, in 1990.

Bhimrao Ambedkar was born to Bhimabai and Ramji on 14 April 1891 in Mhow Army Cantonment, Central Provinces (Madhya Pradesh). Ambedkar’s father was a Subedar in the Indian Army and after his retirement in 1894, the family moved to Satara, also in Central Provinces. Shortly after this, Bhimrao’s mother passed away. Four years later, his father remarried and the family shifted to Bombay. In 1906, 15 year old Bhimrao married Ramabai, a 9 year old girl. His father Ramji Sakpal died in Bombay, in 1912.

He cleared his matriculation in 1908 from Elphinstone High School. In 1908, Ambedkar got the opportunity to study at the Elphinstone College and obtained his graduate degree in Economics and Political Science in the year 1912 from Bombay University. Besides clearing all the exams successfully Ambedkar also obtained a scholarship of twenty five rupees a month from the Gaekwad ruler of Baroda, Sahyaji Rao III. Ambedkar decided to use the money for higher studies in the USA. He enrolled in the Columbia University in New York City to study Economics. He completed his Master’s degree in June 1915 after successfully completing his thesis titled ‘Ancient Indian Commerce’.

After returning to India in 1924, Dr Ambedkar decided to launch an active movement against untouchability. In 1924, he founded the Bahishkrut Hitkaraini Sabha, aimed at uprooting caste system in India. The organisation ran free schools and libraries for all age groups. Dr Ambedkar took the grievances of the Dalits to court, and brought them justice. Over the following years, Dr Ambedkar organised marches demanding Dalit’s rights to drinking water from public resources, and their right to enter temples.

Post-independence, Dr Ambedkar was invited by Congress to serve as the nation’s first Law Minister, which he accepted. He was soon appointed the Chairman of the Drafting Committee formed to write India’s new Constitution. He brought the reservation law in India for the lower caste communities.

During the fifties, Dr Ambedkar drifted away from politics. His writings at this stage seem to be addressing the moral void Mahatma’s assassination had created in the Indian politics. A believer of non-violence, satyagraha, and dhamma, Dr Ambedkar was deeply moved by the ideas of Buddhism. He travelled to Sri Lanka and Rangoon to attend conferences of the World Fellowship of Buddhists. He finished his final book The Buddha and His Dhamma (1956), which was published posthumously. As promised, he converted to Buddhism after writing the book. He died in his sleep on December 6, 1956 at his home in Delhi.