Dr. B.R. Ambedkar: A super human, still relevant in all aspects of society

 

Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar a personality truly stands separate among all the freedom fighters of India. By his futuristic vision about society, economy, politics and religion the world looked up to him not as a person, but a force. His impeccable hunger for knowledge to serve and uplift the underprivileged and discriminated people driven him to acquire greater qualifications. His vision is to build India socially, economically and politically strong.  Dr. Ambedkar's argument to uplift the discriminated people and society is relevant even now in the 21^st century. It is not only relevant to India, but the continents like Africa, Asia and America. The discrimination is still persistent in one or the other way across the world. The basic idea about nation of Dr. Ambedkar is the culmination of various socio-economic measures in building a great nation. Further taking his idea of a nation, we can understand that the nations are nothing but the human establishments through various societies, in fact it is not wrong to say that a nation is nothing but a huge society.  The nations prosper only when the societies prosper.  After all, the nations are formed to take care of the human beings belong to it. These ideas, thoughts and visions of Dr. Ambedkar inspire us, the ideas were such futuristic in the era where people could not even imagine and were suffering under the atrocities of other nations on them.  By these acts Dr B.R. Ambedkar stands tall as one of the eminent intellectual figures of modern India.

  

His quest for knowledge:

Ambedkar born in to a poor low (Dalit) caste family, who were treated as untouchables in India, they were subjected to socio-economic discrimination. Ambedkar, attended schooling with great difficulty as the social atmosphere was not so favouring for the lower caste people to educate themselves. He was the only person to complete higher secondary school in his community. In 1907 he passed matriculation and got the admission in Elphinstone College Mumbai.  Obtained the degree in economics and political science in 1912, from Bombay University. His quest for knowledge did not stop here, instead of taking up government job he decided to study further. In 1913 moved to United States to study further by the help of a scholarship. Acquired master’s degree in Economics, Sociology, anthropology, History and Philosophy from Columbia University, NY. Presented a theses on “Ancient Indian Commerce” and second theses “National Dividend of India” for another MA. In 1927 he was awarded PhD in Economics for the third theses.

The urge to acquire knowledge was so high that most of the eminent people of that era could not imagine what Dr. Ambedkar achieved. His vision was to serve the people of his country to help the underprivileged. His study and knowledge yielded and a better social structure was developed by him. He was the key scholar in building our nation socially and economically. Culminating all his knowledge in to building a democratic nation after independence, was a tremendous work.  His enormous contribution in drafting our constitution with vision of making India progressive was undisputed.  His constant efforts to acquire the knowledge was the force behind making him the legendary Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.

His envisioned social equality is as relevant even now as it was in 1950s, not only in India, across the world. His ideas are the pillars of Super power India. Today, if a tea seller become Prime Minister of India was the vision Dr. Ambedkar had.  Today, if a Dalit become President of India  was the vision Dr. Ambedkar had. That’s why I call

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, a Super Human.

Champion of social equality in India:

Ambedkar, as a child faced the social stigma, untouchability in every phase of his childhood, student life and even in early job as lecturer. Ambedkar opposed the social system which allowed untouchability. The era had social structure which alienated certain people socially based on the caste they belonged. India needed a champion like him to get rid of the evil tradition. He advocated, that if India needs to achieve higher goals then the system like untouchability in society to be eradicated. A society can only grow if the members of the society get accessibility to education, the society should not be deprived of the education on the basis of caste. Social equality plays a major role in nations' social and economic development, hence Dr. Ambedkar fought for the rights of the discriminated people of the society.

In Southborough Committee, which was preparing the Government of India Act 1919, Ambedkar argued for creating separate electorate and reservations for untouchables and other castes. He continued his social reformation activities, started a weekly “Mooknayak” (Leader of the silent) in Mumbai. His determination to uplift the discriminated was notable and appreciated across the world.  In 1927 he launched active movements against Untouchability. He began public movements and marches to open up public drinking water resources, which were accessible only to the upper caste people. Also right to enter the Hindu temples.

Started Satyagraha to allow the untouchables to draw water from the main tank of the town.

The result the strong movement by Dr. Ambedkar against the untouchability, the Poona Pact took place. M.R. Jayakar, Tej Bahadur Sapru and Ambedkar at Yerwada jail, in Poona, on 24 September 1932, the day the Poona Pact was signed. Instead of separate electorate announcement by British in 1932 for depressed classes; as a result of Mahatma Gandhi's reluctance to the division of people on the bases caste, the representation was given to the discriminated castes in the legislature. The “depressed class” to denote untouchables among Hindus referred by the British, later called “scheduled castes” and “scheduled tribes”.

The inclusive development of the society lead to a greater nation. Dr. Ambedkar's reformative measures are included in Indian Constitution. Reservation system in government jobs for the discriminated scheduled castes and scheduled tribes was the topic majorly discussed. Even now also the privileges given for SC/ST in government schemes and jobs are undisputed and contributing to the growth of India. However, we cannot deny that there are arguments in favour and against of the reservation system in jobs, it is debatable. 

Social Equality in modern India and its success story:

India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. It is the result of the well informed citizens of India. Buying capacity of the huge 130 crore people. Ability to interact with world and understand the economy. All these were possible because of the government measures of equality and accessibility of education and doctrine of Dr. Ambedkar's socio-economic equality among the discriminated societies.

Today, India is among the top performing country in IT/BPO/BT industries in the world. Entire India is contributing to the growth of the Indian success story. This all was possible because the movement of social equality in Indian continent. Dr. Ambedkar’s vision and his dream of great India is realised now and that's why he is seen as a Super Human, who could think a 100 years ahead.

Chairman of Constitution Drafting Committe:

Became first law minister of Independent India on 29^th August 1947.  He was appointed Chairman of Constitution Drafting Committee.  Was appointed by assembly to write India's new Constitution.

 

Members of the constitution Committee: Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar, N. Gopalaswami, B.R. Ambedkar, K.M Munshi, Mohammad Saadulla, B.L. Mitter and D.P. Khaitan.

Dr. B.R Ambedkar elected as Chairman of the Drafting Committee in its first meeting on 30th August 1947.

 

His work on Constitution was commendable and got appreciations from across the world for far versioned and inclusive constitution. The guarantees and protection from the Constitution for the citizens, wide range of civil liberties, freedom of religion, abolition of untouchability and discrimination on the bases of caste and creed, etc. The vision to provide economic and social freedom for women was revolutionary thought of the era where women coming out was seen as a stigma. Dr. Ambedkar made the Constitution an acclaimed master piece in the world by its unique, pro developmental and socio-economic clarity. Today, India is beaming with the success through the fundamental platform provided by the Constitution. Dr. B.R. Ambedakar's vision and clarity of though made India a possibility and a great nation.

Article 370: His Views:

In India, today the most discussed topic is abolition of Article 370, which had given a special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. It was NDA government abolished the same on 5^th August 2019 and integrated the state with the Nation.

While introducing article 370 in the Constitution of India, the nationalist Dr. B.R. Ambedkar opposed the same and that was included against his wish.

Ambedkar had clearly told the Kashmiri leader, Sheikh Abdullah: "You wish India should protect your borders, she should build roads in your area, she should supply you food grains, and Kashmir should get equal status as India. But Government of India should have only limited powers and Indian people should have no rights in Kashmir. To give consent to this proposal, would be a treacherous thing against the interests of India and I, as the Law Minister of India, will never do it."

 

The article came up for a discussion in the absence of Nehru, however Dr. Ambedkar did not reply to question on it. All arguments are done by Krishna Swami Ayyangar. By the above statement it was very clear that Dr. Ambedkar did not want to include article 370 which was a weak link to the sovereignty of India. His vision was so clear for Kashmir and opposed article 370. Whole world knows about the terrorism and atrocities on Kashmiri Hindus because of the article 370. Until 2019 Kashmir was a burning issue of India and was used as weapon against India by enemies. Finally his vision was realised by the NDA government through abrogation of article 370 on 5^th August 2019.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and Uniform Civil Code:

No doubt that a scholar who proved himself in academics in most acclaimed universities of the world. Be it Economics, Anthropology, Sociology, History, Philosophy, etc. He was a true son of India, always fought for betterment of India and her people. His vision for India was an unbiased society, economically strong and politically mature country. To reform Indian society he wanted to recommend adoption of Uniform Civil Code. However he could not succeed. He was very well aware of the future of India and he wanted a better solution for it through uniform civil code. It was the sad day that his recommendation was stalled and even now India is suffering because of the different law for each religion.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and his vision for India’s economy:

As an acclaimed economic scholar, Dr. Ambedkar served the nation to make it economically stronger. His fundamental argument to develop people and nation socio-economically was the strength in building independent India. He had presented several papers on economy and got doctorate from abroad. He advocated to invest in Agriculture as a primary industry of India. From thousands of years the agriculture is not only a primary source of economy but a religion for India. India has always been an agricultural land. Encashing the same, Dr. Ambedkar wanted to develop as an industry and be world leader in the food industry. Any one can imagine his vision which is still relevant, even now also India is majorly an agricultural land. Till today agriculture is a most neglected sector. He advocated the socio-economic development, public hygiene, community health, basic amenities to the citizens are still relevant to India even after 60 years. Establishing Finance Commission, income tax regulations, Land revenue tax, excise duty policies, etc., are the tremendous contribution to stabilise Indian economy. 

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, always remembered as a visionary, scholar, economist, social reformer, leader and a great nationalist. I salute to the great soul and submit this article as a tribute to the super human. Jai Hind.

By Vijay Guruswami Gaddigimath (Vijay Gadag)

References:

THE STRUGGLE FOR HUMAN DIGNITY: DR. B.R. AMBEDKAR’S PERSPECTIVE

By Jayadev Sahoo, Wikipedia,

https://www.constitutionofindia.net/constitution_making_process/drafting_commitee

HUMAN RESOURCE: A RATIONAL THOUGHT TO REDUCE PENDENCY IN INDIAN JUDICIARY

It has been a tremendous learning journey in judicial services as Court Manager since five years. Being a Human Resource expert my experience obligated me to think differently. This journey with judiciary influenced me to see the things in human resource perspective. Most of the issues in judiciary always compelled me to connect with human resource techniques in my thought process to find solutions to the issues regularly we face in administration.

We all know and heard about the growing pendency of cases in Indian Judiciary, roughly the record says 3.5 crore pendency of cases as on date. There is no doubt about the judicial officers and the judicial system putting tremendous efforts in delivering justice. However, the pendency is growing endlessly, there are several methods, techniques and plans being adopted regularly to reduce pendency at Hon'ble Supreme Court and High Courts. However, the result is not very impressive or not notable. After spending 5 years in judicial services and  being a Human Resource specialist, I have a different take on the existing problem in judiciary i.e., pendency of cases and trying to find solution for the same through proven and adopted human resource methods. 

The perspective of looking at any organisation or the system is different from person to person. Some may look at an organisation as a profit centre or Company, service center, an office to help others, a factory with machines etc. However; I look at any organisation in the perspective that more than anything else, first it is alive and not just a lifeless office, factory, Company etc. People are the nerves, blood, bones, spine, etc., of an organisation. It breaths, enjoys, falls sick, etc., through the people working in it. Without human beings it’s just a space with walls and machines. That’s why I advocate, that organisations are alive. When so much is connected with human beings, there should be something special about the human beings, and that's I believe is ABILITY! An organisation’s productivity can only be enhanced by motivating the employees through various human resource techniques. Therefore, we should be looking at the people working in the system in a special way rather than a conventional way. Salary and perks are the very basic necessity of any employment and only on that basis the organisation cannot be run efficiently. For soldiers, patriotism is a high priority and that sense drives them to fight against enemy. The same army system or example can-not be applied everywhere and ask the resources to work like a soldier. We should not forget that they are soldiers and are trained differently. 

The policies and processes are laid to ease the work of the people working in an organisation and do the work effectively. Policies help us to work with consistency and processes help to complete the work in a specified time efficiently. Organisations update the policies and processes time to time to overcome the redundant and irrelevant processes. Every organisation has its own policy and accordingly the system functions. However, organisations still fail, ineffective, suffer heavy attrition, incur loss, etc. When an organisation has everything in place, many of the times they fail. Even in the case of Judiciary, the system is set, every step has its own policy and processes, have judges, have courts across the country. But still there is so much of pendency. Since 2 to 3 decades the same issue is discussed again and again. Many measures are continuously experimented to reduce pendency. Time-to-time more and more judges' posts are created, new courts are sanctioned across the country. Some or the other measures are taken time and again. However, still the pendency question persists. It must be related to the spine of the organisation, Human Resource. There is a need to give a rational thought on enhancing human resource productivity to tackle pendency.

Judges are the backbone of the judicial system and they are the crucial resource for the supreme organisation. Looking at the huge pendency in judiciary, I would like to look into the issue in a different angle. When we say the organisation is alive through its employees, then the problems also may be related to human resource, why not? Why should we hesitate to look at the issue in this angle? The judicial system has strong financial support, strong policies in place, processes are in place, has quality human resource (Judges) and other required resources are in place. However, the system is not able to perform to its full potential.  We are not questioning about the judges performance, we are discussing the short comings in the whole system. For industries machine are the crucial part, for transport the vehicles and in the same way judges (Human Resources) are the crucial part of the judicial system. The focus of this study is on the human resource working in judicial system, there is a need to find solution to the heavy pendency of cases in Indian judicial system through human resource perspective and various human resource techniques like performance management, motivation, employee satisfaction, training, work-life balance, TQM, etc.

Any lawyer or employee in judicial department knows the hec-tic schedule of judges from lower court. Here in India the lower courts have on an average pendency of 2000 to 3000 cases in a fairly bigger city. And the same pendency goes up in metropolitan or tier-1 cities, and may be little lesser in small cities. To cope with this kind of cases pendency the judges work very hard, spend lot-of time in the court hall.

All these years I have been observing the working schedule of judges in lower court judiciary. Judges enter the office in the morning well before the time to adjust the schedule. Most of the time there will be dictations pertaining to the cases before heading to the court hall in the morning. There will also be urgent unavoidable activities like administrative, finance, infrastructure, directions from the higher courts, protocol, important signatures, etc.  Including court hall function, rest all of the administrative needs to be addressed during the lunch time and in the evening.

Judges have busy schedule in the court hall for the entire day. By the time they reach home after office hours, again they need to spend time to prepare for the next day. What I feel is a judge is working more than 8 to 9 hours a day, and that's hectic. And there is no time to rest on weekends also. Only one day i.e., Sunday is off for the judiciary in Karnataka and that day also there will be programmes, meetings, conferences, etc., most of the times. Every month 2^nd Saturday is given off and that is the only day given extra off in a month. However, there will be “Lok Adalat” conducted to provide an opportunity for early relief for the litigants through mediation. The whole day they work on this programme on second Saturday. Considering all the above, judges work way beyond 48 hour per week, which is way higher than a normal human being can work. 

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_time]

The industrial revolution made it possible for a larger segment of the population to work year-round, because this labour was not tied to the season and artificial lighting made it possible to work longer each day. Peasants and farm labourers moved from rural areas to work in urban factories, and working time during the year increased significantly.[9] Before collective bargaining and worker protection laws, there was a financial incentive for a company to maximize the return on expensive machinery by having long hours. Records indicate that work schedules as long as twelve to sixteen hours per day, six to seven days per week were practiced in some industrial sites. [Citation needed]

1906 – Strike for the 8 working hours per day in France

Over the 20th century, work hours shortened by almost half, mostly due to rising wages brought about by renewed economic growth, with a supporting role from trade unions, collective bargaining, and progressive legislation. The workweek, in most of the industrialized world, dropped steadily, to about 40 hours after World War II. The limitation of working hours is also proclaimed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, [10] International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, [11] and European Social Charter. [12] The decline continued at a faster pace in Europe: for example, France adopted a 35-hour workweek in 2000. In 1995, China adopted a 40-hour week, eliminating half-day work on Saturdays (though this is not widely practiced). Working hours in industrializing economies like South Korea, though still much higher than the leading industrial countries, are also declining steadily.

Technology has also continued to improve worker productivity, permitting standards of living to rise as hours decline.[13] In developed economies, as the time needed to manufacture goods has declined, more working hours have become available to provide services, resulting in a shift of much of the workforce between sectors.

Economic growth in monetary terms tends to be concentrated in health care, education, government, criminal justice, corrections, and other activities that are regarded as necessary for society rather than those that contribute directly to the production of material goods. [Citation needed]

In the mid-2000s, the Netherlands was the first country in the industrialized world where the overall average working week dropped to less than 30 hours. [14] 

BETTER WORKING ENVIRONMENT FOR SUPPORTING STAFF:

The role of supporting staff is an important aspect in successful court management. Judicial officers need better staff for better performance of judicial and non-judicial functions. The staff need facilities, motivation and better work environment. Some of the important points are discussed below.

• Ministerial staff is just not a supporting staff for judicial officers, but also back-bone of the back-end processes in judicial system. There should be a better harmony between judicial officers and ministerial staff. 
• Better working environment to be provided to the ministerial staff with hygienic and safe working space. 
• Better technology and equipment to be provided to manage daily tasks.
• Training on practical processes, modern technology, better working techniques to be provided timely.
• Appreciation from the higher authority in an effective way. 

 A COMPULSORY WEEKLY OFF:

 As discussed above to enhance the productivity of human beings is to provide rest to the mind and body.  One or two days weekly compulsory off to be given to all the judicial officers, strictly followed. No meetings or any official work should be assigned. 5 days’ work in a week, the discussion is going on in India now-a-days is because of the level of stress human resources are going through. The mental and physical stress may bring down the productivity of the human beings. Judicial officers should be given timely rest in a week along with the summer vacations already provided.

RECREATIONAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR JUDICIAL OFFICERS:

Indoor Sports breaks:

Indoor sports breaks for example Carrom, table tennis, Chess, Squash, etc., to work as stress buster after lunch for a short period of time to feel fresh and work again with enthusiasm. This is practiced already in private sectors and which has proved helpful for employees to be more productive. Many physical ailments like Blood Pressures, High blood Sugar count, heart ailments are because of the stress in the working environment. These above activities positively gives long term benefits to the human beings as well as the system.

Meditation Rooms:

A peaceful place for judges where they spend 10 to 15 minutes alone with no disturbance.      A meditation room which helps judges to rejuvenate and ready for work after lunch or break.

Unit wise family outings:

Families are integral part of our work culture, involving them in the get-together activities will enhance the one-ness in the organisation and which will act as a feel good factor for human beings and the result would be positive. The employees as well as family members would be stress free and relaxed. This would enhance the productivity once they return to the work again.

The idea of this article is to bring the focus on the judicial officers who are working hard in this country. The focus point is, if there can be any measures tried or experimented to motivate and increase productivity of judges. Increased productivity can bring in the tremendous result than increasing the unproductive lot of workers.

I request the judiciary to read this article as a new thought and nothing but a good intention.

-Vijay G
Court Manager
Bangalore