Assignment Code: BABG-171/ASST/TMA/2022-23

Course Code: BABG-171

Assignment Name: Understanding B.R. Ambedkar

Year: 2022-2023

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

Total Marks: 100

There are three Sections in the Assignment. You have to answer all questions in the Sections.

Assignment-I

Answer the following in about 500 words each.

1. Discuss Ambedkar’s idea on citizenship. 20

Ans) Ambedkar believed that democracy implied a companion life. The endosmosis process was what connected the individuals to the groups. According to his opinion, democracy is a social structure in which there is both room for social change and a shared interest by all members of the group. The location of society becomes significant when the state assumes dominance and disregards it. Only a democratic society can uphold the rights to freedom and equal opportunity for all of its members and foster the personal growth of both the individual members and the entire society. Therefore, he saw democracy as more of a social structure than a form of government.

Ambedkar based his definition of citizenship on Dewey's theory of associated life. Ambedkar described the social endosmosis process as being blocked in Indian society due to caste-based divisions. He used the Deweyian term "social endosmosis" to describe this phenomenon. The varnashrama dharma, which was predetermined by birth, was followed by Indian society. Due to this, different castes became isolated from one another and were infected with an antisocial spirit, which had an adverse effect on the state's citizens' sense of fraternity.

Ambedkar asserts in Annihilation of Caste that merely coexisting in close proximity does not cause individuals to form a society. Caste kept people from assimilating into one cohesive society. The caste system, which was based on occupational stratification, determined membership by birth. Although the Brahmins, Vaishyas, Kshatriyas, and Shudras followed the same varna system, they were forbidden from intermarrying. These castes existed in watertight compartments.

The varna system was dominated by the Brahmins, who also practised untouchability and exclusivity. The Kshatriyas and the Vaishyas adopted a similar mindset. Shudras, on the other hand, were forced to live in seclusion. In this way, Ambedkar thought that despite sharing the same Varna system and belonging to the Hindu religion, the cats were isolated from one another and developed a unique group identity on their own, which limited their mobility and proximity to one another. Gandhi expressed this opinion at the Round Table Conference, saying that since the "untouchables" were a part of the Hindu community and lived nearby, there was no need for a separate electorate for them. Ambedkar, however, flatly rejected Gandhi and added that endosmosis was impossible because there was a conflict between like-minded groups.

Ambedkar thought that the Brahminic hegemony was so strong that the protection of each jati's unique customs, occupations, eating habits, and endogamy would create a barrier to the true integration of castes in a society based on fraternity. He highlighted caste's importance in the Southborough Committee on Franchise. He insisted that the freedom of a lower caste is compromised by the group interests of a higher caste. He therefore advocated for franchise in the interests of the lower classes in order to give everyone access to public facilities like wells, schools, and temples as well as to give everyone a sense of identity and recognition. He advocated for the global adult franchise.

2. What solutions does Ambedkar offer for a casteless society in India? Discuss. 20

Ans) According to Ambedkar, the impact of caste on Hindu ethics is abhorrent. According to him, caste has killed the public's spirit, charity, and opinion. Caste is a Hindu's public. He has only his caste to answer to. His caste is the only group to which he is loyal. Morality is now caste-bound, and virtue has become caste-bound. The deserving is not shown any compassion. There is no acknowledgement of merit. The needy receive no charity. Such suffering warrants no reaction. Although there is charity, it starts and ends with caste. For men from other castes, however, there is no sympathy. Only when the man is a fellow caste man is virtue appreciated.

Ambedkar made remarks about Hinduism as well. The Hindu religion, he claimed, is not a missionary religion. Why did Hinduism stop be a missionary religion is the real mystery. When the caste system developed among Hindus, the Hindu religion, in Ambedkar's opinion, ceased to be a missionary religion. Conversion is incompatible with caste. The issue is that it can be challenging for a convert to fit into their new caste and participate in community life. A caste's membership is exclusive, unlike that of a club. Caste law restricts membership to those who were born into the caste. There is no authority that can force a caste to accept a newcomer into its social life because castes are autonomous. Ambedkar explored various ways to abolish caste:

1. Ambedkar did not support this viewpoint because there is no assurance that the elimination of sub-castes will inevitably result in the elimination of castes, even if we assume the fusion of sub-castes is possible. On the other hand, it's possible that the process will come to an end once subcastes are abolished. If that is the case, eliminating subcastes will only serve to make castes stronger, more powerful, and ultimately more harmful.

2. Start Dining with other castes: Ambedkar thought this was insufficient because many castes permit it but that hasn't destroyed the spirit and consciousness of caste.

3. Encourage intermarriage: According to Ambedkar, the feeling of kinship can only be created by the fusion of blood, and unless this sense of kinship takes precedence, the alienation caused by caste will persist. Nothing else will be able to eliminate caste.

Ambedkar observed that it may take ages before a breach in casteism is made:

1. But regardless of how long it takes to carry out the deed or how quickly it can be completed, you must never forget that if you want to upset the system, you must apply dynamite to the Vedas and the Shastras, which reject morality and all forms of reason. The Shruti and Smriti religious system must be destroyed.

2. Ambedkar acknowledges the value of inter-caste unions in the abolition of caste. Despite taking place in India, they move very slowly. All castes and communities must advocate for, support, and encourage inter-caste unions on a personal, societal, and national level. The government might offer incentives for these unions.

Assignment-II

Answer the following questions in about 250 words each.

3. Discuss Ambedkar’s contribution towards gender equality in India. 10

Ans) Caste and gender were inseparable to Ambedkar. An important understanding of the problem of women's emancipation in the Indian context is provided by his interpretation of history and the place and role of marriage in social construction of graded inequality. Ambedkar emphasised that gendered violence was the root cause and means of perpetuating caste, and that caste is endogamy and endogamy is caste. He devoted his entire life to challenging long-standing customs and texts, and he wrote extensively about the ritual exclusion of women.

Ambedkar examined the shastras, or religious writings, of the Hindu religion to identify the causes of women's oppression in modern society. He examined the origins, mechanisms, and spread of the caste system in India as well as its effects on gender relations in Hindu society in a paper titled "Caste in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis, and Development" that was presented for Dr. A.A. Goldenweizer's anthropology seminar at Columbia University, USA, in May 1916.

In other words, the caste system was developed by forbidding inter-class marriage. In order to address the disparity between marriageable units of the sexes within a caste group (which resulted from the artificial segmentation of Hindu society), certain extremely repulsive and inhumane customs were observed, including Sati, or the burning of the widow on the funeral pyre of her deceased husband, forced widowhood, and child marriage. In turn, this caused the social status of women in Hindu society to decline. Ambedkar emphasised that the caste system and the associated customs were largely to blame for the devaluation of women in modern Indian society. Ambedkar compares Buddhist and Brahmanical texts in The Rise and Fall of Hindu Women, published in 1951, and makes the case that the Aryan civilisation was a barbarian period of Indian history that established the structures of women's subjugation, which were later challenged by Buddhism.

4. Analyse Ambedkar’s understanding of untouchability. 10

Ans) Untouchability is only something that one is born into and cannot escape in India. As it does in India, untouchability does not consign someone to menial and unhygienic jobs. The Dalits in India are the only group who experience untouchability. The requirement that untouchables live in ghettos outside of cities is a distinctive aspect of untouchability in India. In India, it's commonplace for Dalits to live in ghettos, and it's frequently required by law.

According to Ambedkar, Dalits have always lived on the periphery and their presence there has nothing to do with untouchability. There were nomadic herdsmen and members of settled tribes in prehistoric society. Cattle were the main source of wealth in ancient India. The roving herders would travel with their herds of cattle along a migratory grazing route. Those who settled could keep livestock and grow their own food. Because the tribes living in established villages typically had access to more food, the nomadic herdsman would raid them. India in the past was constantly at war.

Then, according to Ambedkar, those who severed ties with their original tribe would be left on their own to fend for themselves. They would move to a tribe that had already established itself, live outside the village, and serve as watch and ward. These men would be in the first line of defence in the event of an assault. Ambedkar refers to these former tribesmen as Broken Men. Ambedkar demonstrates how a comparable situation occurred in Europe to bolster his theory. Broken Men were wards and watchmen over settled estates in prehistoric Ireland and Wales. The original people's orphans were permitted to reside outside the village. But because of intermarriage, these people eventually assimilated into society in Ireland and Wales.

5. How gold exchange standard is different from gold standard? Discuss. 10

Ans)

Gold Exchange Standard

1. A stable exchange rate is used to convert one nation's money into bills of exchange from another nation whose money can be converted into gold.

2. Without holding any gold reserves, the nation maintains its currency's parity with gold. To keep the value of coinage equal to that of gold, the government manipulates it.

Gold Standard

1. A specific amount of gold serves as the standard unit of currency.

2. The nation keeps a gold reserve.

The issue with the rupee is directly related to the inflation issue. Real wages for workers in the earning class are decreased by an increase in inflation. As a result, the rupee should be stabilised, which can only be done when the rupee's purchasing power is stabilised because currency devaluation causes inflation and distributional effects. Only when automatic monetary policy is supported by financial management can the value of the rupee remain stable (AMP). Ambedkar supported it.

In his doctoral dissertation at the London School of Economics, he made the claim that India's gold exchange standard is unstable. India cannot afford a gold exchange standard, he emphasised, as it would raise inflation and lower real wages for the middle class. In his thesis, he used statistics to show that the Indian rupee had lost value and that this had reduced the rupee's purchasing power. He proposed that India have a controlled government deficit and a circular flow of money. Instead of focusing on exchange rate stability, more attention should be paid to price stability. The management of the exchange standard is necessary and can be done by either the government or a separate authority.

Assignment-III

Write a note on the following in about 100 words each.

6. Ambedkar’s economic analysis of the caste system 6

Ans) Ambedkar gave us an economic analysis of the caste system in addition to the social understanding of it. In his well-known and contentious 1936 article titled "Annihilation of Caste," he presented an economic analysis of caste. He claims that the caste system in Indian society serves a variety of economic purposes and is an economic institution. "Caste is nothing but an enclosed class," he claims. During his time, the Orientalist interpretation of caste predominated, and caste was understood as the antithesis of class rather than as a subset of it. In this regard, Karl Marx, who popularised the idea of class, believed that because of India's distinct mode of production and caste-based system of labour division, it has remained outside the ambit of capitalism.

7. State socialism 6

Ans) Ambedkar held that the economic structure of society, which was based on private property ownership, was the main contributor to poverty and the exploitation of the masses. People's desire for freedom and democracy gave rise to the socialist economy. The right to liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness was thought to be something that a parliamentary democracy would grant to its citizens.

Ambedkar believed that the wrong organisations and ideologies could be to blame for this failure. According to Ambedkar, the concept of "Freedom of contract" has prevented parliamentary democracy from realising its full potential.

8. Ambedkar’s view on social justice 6

Ans) Bergbon's definition of justice, which reads, "Justice has always evoked ideas of equality, of proportion of "compensation," was accepted by Ambedkar. Equity denotes equality in laws and regulations, while right and righteousness are focused on value equality. If all men are created equal, then they all share a common essence, which entitles them to the same basic freedoms. Ambedkar also held a very liberal view of justice, believing that it should be based on human values. Ambedkar believed that "justice" was simply another word for liberty, equality, and fraternity. According to Ambedkar, social democracy, which acknowledges equality, liberty, and fraternity as the guiding principles of life, must be the foundation of political democracy in order for it to endure.

9. Ambedkar’s view on parliamentary democracy 6

Ans) Ambedkar's writings and speeches also make it clear that he did not hold out much hope for the parliamentary system of democracy to protect the interests of labour. Ambedkar believed that while there were good reasons to have high expectations for a parliamentary democracy—one in which the judiciary controls both and keeps them within set parameters and the legislature and executive are subordinate to one another and bound to obey one another—the reality was quite the opposite. He argued that parliamentary democracy has never been a form of government that is run by, for, and by the people.

10. Watan System 6

Ans) The inferior watan holders were the Mahar’s of Maharashtra. The Watan Act defined watan holders as employees of the government. For all departments, they had to put in day and night hours. They received a plot of land as a reward for their labour as watan. The Mahar’s lost their self-respect as a result of this practise. Ambedkar spoke out against the watan system, which required the Mahar’s to perform menial labour and other miscellaneous tasks. He demanded that those who held watan positions receive watan lands with land revenue assessments and be released from performing menial labour.