• Regarded as the architect of Indian Constitution, Ambedkar Jayanti — as the name suggests — is a day dedicated to Dr B R Ambedkar, who was a polymath and a civil rights activist.

• The year 2021 marks his 130th birthday celebration.

• The day is also known as ‘Bhim Jayanti’, and it is annually observed on April 14.

• Dr B R Ambedkar was born in the year 1891, and dedicated his life fighting caste oppression and discrimination, making the Indian society more conscious about the evils of the caste system, and working towards making it more inclusive, tenets of which are explained in detail in the Constitution.

• While the day is observed not just in India but also around the world, it is considered to be an official public holiday in the country.

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Significance

• The leader stood for equality all his life, and even pushed for the treatment of every Indian citizen as equal in the eyes of the law.

• Throughout his life, he made efforts to uplift the untouchables, women and labourers.

• The plight of Dalits in India, in particular, had a strong impact on Ambedkar since his childhood, and it is said that it was one of the reasons that drew him in the fight for their cause, and for equality.

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More information

• Babasaheb Ambedkar’s first birthday was publicly celebrated in 1928 in Pune, by one Janardan Sadashiv Ranapisay, an ‘Ambedkarite’ and a social activist.

• In 1956, Dr Ambedkar had steered a socio-political movement called the Dalit Buddhist Movement in India, which saw the participation of half a million members of the community.

• The movement later got converted to ‘Navayana Buddhism’ or ‘Neo-Buddhism’, which is considered a re-interpretation of Buddhism.