Historical figure · Pearson Edexcel International GCSE revision on Incandio

B. R. Ambedkar

He Wanted A Guarantee, Not A Promise · Jurist & Leader of the Depressed Classes · 1891–1956

The jurist who represented the Depressed Classes at the Round Table Conferences, won separate electorates in 1932 and surrendered them under a fast, and chaired the drafting of India's constitution.

Defend these ideas against Ambedkar

Incandio is a free revision platform for the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE, and on it a topic counts as mastered only once you have learned it, proved it in questions, taught it back and defended it against the person with the strongest claim on it. B. R. Ambedkar is that person for one topic on the course:

• Congress and its constituencies: Muslims and 'untouchables' — History · Colonial rule and the nationalist challenge in India, 1919–47

Who was Ambedkar?

Born in 1891 into a Mahar family, Ambedkar was made to sit apart on the floor at school and refused water by the teacher. He took doctorates at Columbia and the London School of Economics and was called to the bar at Gray's Inn. He represented the Depressed Classes at the Round Table Conferences from 1930 and won separate electorates in the Communal Award of August 1932; he gave them up under the Poona Pact of September 1932 after Gandhi began a fast unto death against them, and never accepted that this had been a free negotiation. He wrote Annihilation of Caste in 1936, chaired the drafting committee of the Indian constitution, served as independent India's first Law Minister, and converted to Buddhism with hundreds of thousands of followers weeks before his death.

Major achievements

• Won separate electorates for the Depressed Classes in the Communal Award of 1932
• Chaired the drafting committee of the Constitution of India
• Wrote Annihilation of Caste (1936), the most sustained attack on caste from within India
• Led the Buddhist conversion movement of October 1956

Life in brief

• 1891 — Born in Mhow: Into a Mahar family; made to sit apart at school.
• 1927 — The Mahad satyagraha: Leads a march to drink from a public tank.
• 1932 — The Communal Award and the Poona Pact: Separate electorates won in August and surrendered in September.
• 1936 — Annihilation of Caste: An undelivered address, published in full.
• 1947 — Chairs the drafting committee: And becomes independent India's first Law Minister.
• 1956 — The Buddhist conversion: Weeks before his death, with hundreds of thousands of followers.

Explore the life of Ambedkar — five chapters

1. The Sack Outside the Classroom — Educated and untouchable at the same time
2. Columbia and London — More degrees than anybody else in Indian politics
3. The Poona Pact — A fast, and an agreement made under it
4. The Constitution — The longest written constitution in the world, and who drafted it
5. Nagpur — Leaving the religion, twenty-one years after announcing he would

Read the five-chapter life of B. R. Ambedkar →

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• Explore the life of Ambedkar — five chapters
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