Day: April 13, 2022

Dr B.R. Ambedkar/Babasaheb: Birthday Tribute to the Legendary Personality of India

While discussing the contribution of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar saheb (popularly known as Dr B.R. Ambedkar/Babasaheb) volumes are required to write as his massive contribution in all fields are assets to Indians. I wish to quote a line that has greatly motivated me. “Life should be great rather than long”, said Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, who flagged the ‘Constitution of India’.
Born on 14 April 1891, Dr. Ambedkar showed the path of Dalits on how to lead a venerable life. Interestingly, his date of birth i.e. 14 April has coincided ( sometimes one-day variation) with great celebration in Assam, Bengal, Punjab, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu as generally this date is celebrated as New Year in the respective state. In Assam, a week-long celebration is known as ‘Rongali Bihu’, in Bengali ‘Subha nabarsha’, Vishu in Kerala, Vaishakhi in Punjab, and Puthandu in Tamil. All these evince that he was born on an auspicious date and month. Dr. Ambedkar saheb passed away on 6 December 1956 but undoubtedly ‘his life was great rather than long’.
Hailing from the socially most backward class, he has shown everyone particularly in the lower echelons of the society, mainly Dalits how to survive with dignity. It may be mentioned that Dalit communities are found not only in India but also in Bangladesh, even among the Muslims of Bangladesh. Dalit in Bangladesh is a recent adoption earlier they were called indigenous or antaz but in recent times, Dalit is used. The data reveals that around 30 Dalit communities live in the South-west part of Bangladesh. Socially and economically they are backward, poor, and vulnerable. Bhumija Foundation of Bangladesh identified nine Dalit communities in the South-western region of Bangladesh based on their occupation and distinct culture.
Anyway, in his childhood, Babasaheb never felt the brunt of the caste politics or ‘Untouchability syndrome’ as he was born at Mhow, Indore present Madhya Pradesh in an army family of Army cantonment. In his own words “……my father was employed in the Army. He held the rank of Subedar at that time. Since we lived in the cantonment, we had little to do with the world outside the military area. I had no experience of Untouchability”. But after his father’s retirement, the situation totally changed. His father shifted to Satara and he felt the brunt of untouchability as even no barber was prepared to cut their hair as sequel Dr. Ambedkar’s elder sister used to cut his hair. Like this, he had to face many social issues in those days because of his caste (Mahar). Anyway, while Dr. Ambedkar ji served in the Baroda state he was denied accommodation on rent both by Hindu or Muslim house owners as a sequel he had to live in a Parsi Dharmasala, and there also he had to face serious problems because of caste.
Dr. Ambedkar was a man of vision and had a strong desire for the development of human beings. In his words, “I believe that the world can be conquered by intelligence”. Further, he felt “without social efficiency no permanent progress in other fields of activity was possible”. And that is why he emphasized self-respect, “Self-respect is the most vital factor in life, without it man is a cipher.” He considered education as the most powerful catalyst for bringing about the changes in the society. It is believed that he used to study even for 18 hours every day in his school days. Dr. Ambedkar was in favour of birth control and he was of the opinion that with a huge population India would face severe problems on many fronts. He may be quoted here, “the educated class has, by this time, fully realized the necessity of birth-control and fortunately, the leaders in our country also are unanimous on this point. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sir Rabindranath Tagore, and Mrs. Sarojini Naidu know very well the importance and the urgency of the movement for birth control and are in favour of contraceptives”. He had also stated that “Population in India grows decade by decade in geometrical progression. As against this unlimited growth of population what is available for cultivation is not merely a limited amount of land but a limited amount of land whose fertility is diminishing year by year. India is caught between two sides of a pincer, the one side of which is a progressive increase in population and production is increasing to an alarming degree, leaving India with the inheritance of poverty, more poverty, and chronic poverty.”. His theory of population growth in the context of India matches with Malthusian theory of population and our policymakers should look into this issue.

Babasaheb’s feelings toward women and their empowerment can be understood in his writing. “I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved.” Dr. Ambedkar’s contribution to the economic development of India was enormous as already mentioned volumes are required to write.
In 1990, Dr. Ambedkar saheb was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award. Although Babasaheb passed away on 6 December 1956, through his activities and contribution he will be in the hearts of millions of Indians.
On the occasion of his happy birthday on 14 April 2022, I extend my Pronam to the great soul.

The Global Image of Women Empowerment

Credit: Leverage Edu

Introduction

The empowerment and autonomy of women and improving their political, social, economic, and health status is a highly important end. In addition, it is essential for the achievement of sustainable development. The full participation and partnership of both women and men are required in productive and reproductive life, including shared responsibilities for the care and nurturing of children and maintenance of the household. In all parts of the world, women are facing threats to their lives, health, and well-being due to being overburdened with work and their lack of power and influence. In most regions of the world, women receive less formal education than men, and at the same time, women’s own knowledge, abilities, and coping mechanisms often go unrecognized. The power relations that impede women’s attainment of healthy and fulfilling lives operate at many levels of society, from the most personal to the highly public.

What is Women’s Empowerment?

Women’s empowerment can be defined as promoting women’s sense of self-worth, their ability to determine their own choices, and their right to influence social change for themselves and others. It is closely aligned with female empowerment – a fundamental human right that’s also key to achieving a more peaceful, prosperous world. Women’s empowerment and promotion of women’s rights have emerged as a part of a major global movement and are continuing to break new ground in recent years. Days like International Women’s Empowerment Day are also gaining momentum. But despite a great deal of progress, women and girls continue to face discrimination and violence in every part of the world.

Why Empowerment is important?

Empowering women is essential to the health and social development of families, communities, and countries. When women are living safe, fulfilled, and productive lives, they can reach their full potential. contributing their skills to the workforce and can raise happier and healthier children. They are also able to help fuel sustainable economies and benefit societies and humanity at large. A key part of this empowerment is through education. Girls who are educated can pursue meaningful work and contribute to their country’s economy later in life. They are also four times less likely to get married young when they have eight years of education, meaning that they and their families are healthier.

How World Vision is helping Empower Women?

When women and girls are supported, they gain opportunities to speak up for their rights, and also to advocate for their communities. They are also able to rise in social standing, and they can feed this into future generations. This means women’s organizations, women’s empowerment policies, and women’s charities can gain momentum and contribute to a stronger world.

World Vision supports women and girls by:

  • Our sponsorship program. When you sponsor a girl, you not only help give a girl opportunities she may have been denied – but our community-focused approach means that her whole community benefits, too.
  • Helping girls and women learn advocacy skills at all stages of life so that they can use their voices effectively for their own rights.
  • Partnering with communities, faith leaders, and governments to challenge and correct harmful social norms that keep women and girls from their potential.
  • Raising awareness around the causes of poor health and wellbeing that are related to gender.
  • Empowering women and girls through water, sanitation, and hygiene; health and nutrition; livelihoods training; and education programs to increase their opportunities and ability to reach their full potential.

Conclusion

Achieving change requires policy and programme actions that will improve women’s access to secure livelihoods and economic resources, alleviate their extreme responsibilities about housework, remove legal impediments to their participation in public life, and raise social awareness through effective programmes of education and mass communication. In addition, improving the status of women also enhances their decision-making capacity at all levels in all spheres of life, especially in the area of sexuality and reproduction. This, in turn, is essential for the long-term success of population programmes. Experience shows that population and development programmes are most effective when steps have simultaneously been taken to improve the status of women.

References