Gandhi Journal Article-II ( JUNE 2017 ) - Gandhi, Ambedkar, and the Eradication of Untouchability

Gandhi Journal Article-II ( JUNE 2017 )

Gandhi, Ambedkar, and the Eradication of Untouchability

By Sudarshan Kapur 

Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948) and Bhimjirao Ambedkar (1891-1956) are among the major makers of modern India. Their public careers began early Gandhi's in South Africa in the mid-1890s and Ambedkar's in western India in the early 1920s. They built on the work of nineteenth century and early twentieth century religious and social reformers such as Ram Mohun Roy (1772-1833), Mahadev Govind Ranade (1842-1901), Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), Gopal Krishna Gokhale (1866-1915), Swami Dayananda (1824-1883), and Jotiba Phule (1827-1890). Each fought with rare persistence and exceptional vigor to rid India of oppression from within and without. Once they entered the public arena, there was no turning back for either of them. They maintained the momentum in their struggles for justice and equality until the very end of their lives. Gandhi and Ambedkar offered specific goals for and pathways to the creation of a just social order in India. They differed over objectives as well as the methods for achieving their ends. In their long public careers, both of them addressed a number of crucial social and political issues. How best to remove untouchability was a major issue over which the two had fundamental differences from late 1920s onward. 

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Gandhi Journal Article-I (March 2016): Gandhi Journal Article-I (March 2016) Gandhi and Ambedkar on Human Dignity

Gandhi Journal Article-I (March 2016)

Gandhi and Ambedkar on Human Dignity

By Ravi Ranjan 

There are many ways in which we can understand the contemporary crisis of global India; some are external but majority of the problems are internal, few are legal but many are socio-political, and most of them are ethical and moral. Escalating violent conflicts, oppression, marginalization and exclusion has been producing and reproducing humiliation which dehumanizes the human 'self.' The relation of self to other self, hegemonic self to the oppressed self and individual self with the shared self embarks on the idea of equality and hence tries to eradicate untouchability and ensures dignity. In the Indian context the notion of equality still has to reach its constitutional commitment to be a righteous republic.¹ Therefore, it is required to deliberate on ideas of Gandhi and Ambedkar that are constantly argued for dignified and harmonious human existence.

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