#JaiBhim
Today, we have a thread (🧵) on the genius that is Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
As a member in the viceroy’s council from 1942 to 1946, Dr Ambedkar was instrumental in bringing about several labour reforms.
He changed working hours from 12 to 8 in 1942.
He also introduced DA, medical leaves & periodic revision of pay.
📸 @ROUNDTABLEIND
Babasaheb studied for two PhDs in his career in addition to his qualification as a lawyer 🤯
His PhD dissertation in Economics at @LSEnews was titled ‘The Indian Rupee’.
A few years ago, @stefeich unearthed a first edition of this work with Ambedkar’s original dedication!
The good archivists @LSEnews have maintained a copy of Babasaheb's application to the school from 1916!
Between 1920-23, Ambedkar's academic achievements are nothing short of EXTRAORDINARY. - - MSc & DSc in Econ from London
- Published books on monetary policy & fiscal policy.
- Completed the book that gave him his PhD @Columbia
- Was admitted to the bar ... (contd)
When he was in @Columbia he took 60 courses in 3 years!!! 29-econ, 11-history, 6-sociology, 5-philosophy, 4-anthropology, 3-politics, 1 each in elementary French & German! Goto columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pri…… to see the full list
When asked about the the reason for such determination, Babasaheb reportedly said "poverty and want of time required him to finish his studies as early as possible and hence the dogged and ceaseless persistence" 🫡🫡🫡
Another fascinating and a painful story in all of this is that Dr. Ambedkar lost a manuscript of his original thesis due to the ship being torpedoed when it was returning to India!
So, he prepared a fresh draft! 👇👇
Babasaheb was a prolific scholar (Duh!).
His complete works are collected into 40 volumes, yes 40 volumes!! You can find ALL of it here: 👇drambedkarwritings.gov.in/content/index.…
Throughout his writings he quoted several people in the epigraph (or otherwise). Here is a selection of some these quotes.
"Know Truth as Truth and Untruth as Untruth” - Buddha (Writings & Speeches Vol. 1, pp.23)
“He that WILL NOT reason is a bigot
He that CANNOT reason is a fool
He that DARE NOT reason is a slave”
-- H. Drummond (Writings & Speeches Vol. 1, pp.23. "Annihilation of Caste with Reply to Mahatma Gandhi")
"The distance you have gone is less important than
the direction in which you are going today.”
— Tolstoy
(Writings & Speeches Vol. 1, pp.279, "Federation versus Freedom, Kale Memorial Lecture")
“More brain, O Lord, more brain! or we shall mar, Utterly this fair garden we might win”
(Writings & Speeches Vol. 8, From the title page of “Thoughts on Pakistan”)
“It may be your interest to be our
masters, but how can it be ours to be
your slaves ?”
— Thucydides
(Writings & Speeches Vol. 9, From the title page of " What Congress and Gandhi Have Done to The Untouchables")
(Writings & Speeches Vol. 9, pp. 433)
Babasaheb's was a fierce opponent of the caste system. In fact, he converted to Buddhism in 1956 & did so in Nagpur at a place now called Deekshabhoomi.
The city of Nagpur commemorated this event by unveiling a stupa in 2001.
The train connecting Nagpur to Gaya (where Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment) is hence called the Deekshabhoomi Express.
Babasaheb's fiery work "Annihilation of Caste" was written for a 1936 meeting of "Jat Pat Todak Mandal" a group Hindu caste-reformers.
However, the group withdrew their invitation after seeing the contents of this work! Consequently, Ambedkar published the work himself!
Babasaheb represented social reformer Raghunath Dhondo Karve when the latter was accused of obscenity.
Obscenity charges were based on the fact that his monthly magazine Samaj Swasthya covered topics such as sex education
This is what Babasaheb had to say about an ideal society in the Annihilation of Caste👇👇👇
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In his will, Independent India's first Prime Minister, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, expressed his wish to be cremated and have his ashes scattered across India "so that they might mingle with the dust and soil of India and become an indistinguishable part of India."
A thread 🧵
On 27 May, 1964 Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru breathed his last while on a break at Dehradun's Circuit House.
📹 @BritishPathe
Nehru wished for a handful of his ashes to be thrown into the Ganga at Allahabad. He didn't want to attach religious significance to this, he said "I have been attached to the Ganga & Jamuna rivers in Allahabad ever since my childhood &, as I have grown older, this attachment has also grown.
Did you know that a dentist from Karnataka became the face of the abortion rights movement in Ireland?
In a landmark case, Savita Halappanavar’s tragic story sparked nationwide protests and played a pivotal role in reshaping Ireland’s abortion laws.
A thread 🧵
Abortion had been illegal in Ireland since the birth of the state. In 1983, an amendment to the law made the status of the unborn child as equal to that of the mother.
It was made following a referendum in which over two-thirds supported it, though on a turnout of 53%.
For years, well-off women in Ireland who needed abortions would travel to England to undergo the procedure.
The phrase "She Got the Boat" became a discreet way of indicating that someone had made the journey across the Irish Sea to obtain an abortion.
On the occasion of @anilkumble1074's 54th birthday - a little known story of how a very much vegetarian Kumble ate 2 bears for lunch.
Setting the stage - 1995, hot and dry summer in the county championships in England. Kumble is playing for Northamptonshire.
They were second in the table going to take on the first placed team Warwickshire.
Warwickshire, though without Brian Lara, were defending champions and were leading the table at that time.
Few years later, Kumble would dismiss Lara looking like this.
22 years later still goosebumps.
Allan Lamb won the toss for Northamptonshire and decided to bat first. They were skittled out for 152 with only David Capel managing to get to a half century.
David Capel then proceeded to take a 7fer to restrict Warwickshire to 224 - 140 of them came from Roger Twose.
Tomorrow India takes on New Zealand in a test match at the M Chinnaswamy stadium. It is an iconic venue - A stadium located in the heart of Bangalore.
It is celebrating its 50th year as an international venue. Here's a thread to celebrate the venue. 👇
The stadium is named after the man who was instrumental in building it. A lawyer by profession, M Chinnaswamy was an altogether atypical cricket administrator. He was utterly devoted to the game of cricket and to the cause of Karnataka cricket in particular.
From the early 1960s, Karnataka, then known as Mysore, began sending a steady stream of cricketers to the Indian team. The state side had no ground it could call its own, playing its home matches in Bangalore’s Central College.
Chinnaswamy, helped by other eminent people, was instrumental in prevailing upon the Government of Karnataka to allot the ground for cricket in the prime MG Road area in 1969. It was taken on lease for 99 years from the Indian Army.
The paperwork for the lease completed, the Association hired an architect and a contractor, who, working under the secretary’s supervision, built the stadium. Because of him, no bribes were given or taken.
Back in 1971 when the nation was formed, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, considered the leader of the freedom movement, was not in the country - he was in jail in Pakistan.
And it was a former lover of Bhutto who was able to secure his release.
A love story 🧵
In 1971 Pakistan's armed forces laid down their arms at a ceremony in Dhaka before the joint command of the Indian armed forces and Bangladesh's Mukti Bahini.
As the two armed forces were celebrating their victory, Mrs Indira Gandhi had other things to worry about.
1. The enormous cost of the war 2. The cost of dealing with over 10M refugees 3. The un-budgeted responsibility of having to look after the 93,000 Pakistani soldiers taken as POWs.
India wanted to keep the POW's in conditions that went above and beyond Geneva norms.
A school-going kid once visited the Congress party office, where Tamil lyricist Kavirajar Kannadasan asked, "Would you like to work in films, child?" The kid said, "Ask my father."
This child was destined to become one of India's greatest superstars!
A thread on Sridevi! 🧵
It is said that when Sridevi was born, there was a bright red mark on her forehead, and hence people started that a devi had born in the house.
Thus she was named Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapan.
Before ruling the box office as a leading star, Sridevi was a phenomenally accomplished child artist.
Here she is, sharing the screen with MG Ramachandran, playing his nephew in a film that also starred J. Jayalalitha!