The issue of the caste system's prevalence is a long-standing problem in India wherein various movements address social issues such as the environment, tribalism, and gender. In line with the Dalit History Month, it is essential to recognize Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's significant contributions in raising awareness on caste discrimination among the downtrodden and oppressed groups, which gave rise to caste movements.

Dr. Ambedkar's outstanding efforts on the support of the rights of Dalits and untouchables have resulted in Dalit consciousness in India. Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, also known as Babasaheb Ambedkar, was a lawyer, politician, and social reformer. The Indian Constitution's Father is another name for him.

His attempts to remove social ills like untouchability and caste limitations were impressive as a well-known politician and respected jurist. Caste prejudice affected Ambedkar all throughout his early life. His family was considered "untouchable" since they were members of the Hindu Mahar caste.

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar developed the oppressed classes' consciousness in the 20th century and prepared them to play a significant role in the modern political system. He is regarded as the father of Dalit Consciousness due to his enormous political and literary contributions to the awakening of the Dalit consciousness. He not only provided the voiceless Indians a voice, but he also gave them a political identity.

Baba Saheb: Spearheading the Dalit Rights Movement

In the 1930s, Ambedkar started formal Dalit rights activities. He requested the right for all castes to enter temples as well as access to public drinking water supplies. He organized symbolic protests to enter the Kalaram Temple in Nashik and outright denounced Hindu Texts that support prejudice.

He used a variety of strategies to protect Dalit rights. Through his works in many periodicals, including Mooknayak, Bahishkrit Bharat, and Equality Janta, which he founded for the defense of Dalit rights, Ambedkar established a movement against Dalit prejudice.

Ambedkar had been actively engaged in the fight for strong legislative protection for members of the Scheduled Caste. He requested a separate electorate for Dalits while a delegate to the Round Table Conference in London.

Dr. Ambedkar and Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya formed the Poona Pact in 1932 to ensure that seats for members of the untouchable class would be reserved in provincial legislatures among the general voters. Scheduled Classes and Scheduled Tribes were subsequent names for these groups.

What was the Poona Pact?

On September 24, 1932, M K Gandhi and B R Ambedkar signed the Poona Pact in the Yerwada Central Prison in Poona on behalf of the oppressed class to secure voting rights in the legislature of the British government.

The document was signed by Ambedkar on behalf of the oppressed classes, Madan Mohan Malviya on behalf of Hindus and Gandhi, and it was intended to put an end to the fast that Gandhi was keeping while imprisoned in protest of British prime minister Ramsay MacDonald decision to grant the oppressed classes separate electorates for the election of representatives to provincial legislative assemblies in British India.

This Agreement put a stop to Gandhi's fast, which he had started while imprisoned in protest of British Prime Minister Ramsay Macdonald's decision to grant the Depressed Classes a distinct electorate.

In the First Round Table Conference, Dr. Ambedkar set forward his support for a distinct electorate for the Depressed Classes. Throughout the conference, he was speaking on behalf of the Depressed Classes.

Gandhi opposed this proposal, and when imprisoned in Poona, he began a fast when PM Macdonald intended to provide communal rewards to minorities and the Depressed Classes.

The Poona Pact, which Dr. Ambedkar and Gandhi created in response to popular demand to stop the death-defying fast, established reserved seats for the Depressed Classes in provincial legislatures, for which elections would be held by joint electorates. Because he did not want to see the untouchables as being outside of Hinduism, Gandhi was opposed to this idea.

There would be seats set aside for members of the Depressed Classes in the provincial legislatures. Based on the overall size of the Provincial Councils, the number of seats was determined. Thirty seats were set aside for Madras, eight for Punjab, fourteen for Bombay and Sindh, twenty for the Central Provinces, eighteen for Bihar and Orissa, thirty for Bengal, seven for Assam, and twenty for the United Provinces. There were 147 reserved seats altogether.

The Depressed Classes' eligible voters would constitute an electoral college for each of these seats. Four candidates from the Depressed Classes would be chosen by this Electoral College. On the basis of one vote, these candidates would be chosen.

The four candidates with the most votes would be elected. The general electorate would then vote for these four candidates and the general candidates in the election for the assembly. As a result of being able to vote under both the general electorate and the Depressed Classes, these individuals received a "double vote."

The shared electorate and reserved seats were to be adhered to even in the Central Legislature. 19% of the seats in the Central Legislature would be set aside for members of the Depressed Classes. Unless both parties choose to end it earlier, this system would last for ten years.

Caste would not be a factor in any discrimination when it came to local body elections or hiring for public positions. The Depressed Classes' education would get a specific amount from the educational grant in each province.

First Round Table Conference demands put by Dr. Ambedkar

The Prime Minister presided over the First Round Table Conference, which George V formally inaugurated on November 12, 1930, in the Royal Gallery of the House of Lords in London. Malcolm Macdonald served as the family's representative to Lord Sankey's constitutional committee while his father Ramsay MacDonald served as head of a subcommittee on minority participation.

Dr. Ambedkar portrayed India's society as being divided into three separate groups during his speech at the 1931 Round Table Conference: Hindus, Muslims, and the Downtrodden Classes. He continued by saying that only if these classes choose their own representatives to participate in the political process will India genuinely be independent.

As a result, Dr. Ambedkar contrasted the idea of class with the separation of caste in India and widely defined SC/ST as the "depressed class" because nearly everyone in this group shares the same economic and social circumstances.

Hence, in the 1930s, He demanded and obtained a separate electorate for the lower classes. Regrettably, the Indian constitution could not be amended to include a separate electorate. Given the partition of the nation and the fact that he had previously signed the Poona Pact under duress.

Dr. Ambedkar, who served as chairman of the constitution-drafting committee, was unable to demand a separate electorate once more. Due to this usual historical circumstance, the now discredited and totally useless idea of reserved constituencies was used to try to represent SC/ST.

Despite the challenges Dr. Ambedkar faced in securing political representation for the Depressed Classes, his contributions to India's Constitution and the establishment of reserved seats have been crucial in ensuring their inclusion in the political system. His advocacy for the rights of marginalized communities continues to influence Indian society and politics today, and he remains a symbol of hope and empowerment for the Dalit community in India.