Dr. Nandkumar M. Kamat
On April 14 every year, India pays tribute to one of its most visionary leaders, Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar.
Revered as the chief architect of the Indian Constitution and a tireless champion of social justice, Dr. Ambedkar was much more than a jurist and reformer. He was a far-sighted thinker who believed that science, technology, engineering, and infrastructure development were essential pillars for building a modern, progressive, and self-reliant India. His vision went beyond legal reform to embrace the scientific transformation of Indian society.
Students and young citizens of India need to understand Dr. Ambedkar’s rational and futuristic thinking, which remains deeply relevant to the challenges of our own time. Dr. Ambedkar was convinced that science and reason should guide public policy and individual behaviour. He rejected superstition, ritualism, and blind faith. He believed that scientific temper, objective analysis, and rational debate were essential not just for scientific progress but also for building an equitable and democratic society. His intellectual foundation was shaped by the Enlightenment ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity, which he interpreted through the lens of logic and empirical inquiry. Throughout his life, he emphasised that science is not just a profession or field of knowledge but a way of thinking and living that questions prejudice and promotes human dignity.
After India gained Independence in 1947, Dr. Ambedkar was appointed the first law minister in the Union Cabinet under Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. While he is widely remembered for leading the drafting of the Constitution, his contributions to national development in the fields of water management, electricity, industrialisation, economic planning, and infrastructure are equally significant. As minister of law and justice, and through his active involvement in other policy domains, Ambedkar pushed for the scientific organisation of India’s natural resources and economic potential. One of his visionary contributions was in water resource management. Dr. Ambedkar served as the chairman of the Policy Committee for the Damodar Valley Project in 1945, modelled on the Tennessee Valley Authority of the United States. He championed the idea of large multi-purpose river valley projects that could provide flood control, irrigation, power generation, and navigation. This approach not only addressed ecological and agricultural needs but also supported industrial development.
As a key figure in shaping early national policy on water, he also played an important role in initiating projects like the Hirakud Dam in Odisha and the Bhakra-Nangal Dam in Punjab, which became symbols of India’s engineering capabilities and self-reliance. Dr. Ambedkar also advocated for the creation of a centralised authority to coordinate and plan water use across river basins. This vision contributed to the formation of the Central Water Commission, which continues to play a key role in India’s water management. He even proposed the interlinking of rivers to ensure equitable distribution of water across regions, an idea that remains part of national discourse even today. For Ambedkar, water was more than a resource—it was wealth that needed to be conserved, developed, and distributed with scientific precision and social justice.
Equally important was his focus on energy and electrification. Ambedkar believed that access to affordable electricity was crucial for economic modernisation. He argued that without adequate power, neither agriculture nor industry could flourish. He encouraged investment in hydroelectric projects and supported the integration of electricity into national development plans. He was instrumental in ensuring that electricity generation and transmission were treated as vital components of national infrastructure during the initial years of policy planning. His clear message was that modern power infrastructure was not a luxury, but a necessity for empowering India’s villages, factories, and urban centres.
Industrialisation was central to Dr. Ambedkar’s vision for India’s economic future. He believed that excessive dependence on agriculture had kept India poor and stagnant. Only rapid industrial development, based on science and engineering, could create jobs, reduce poverty, and dismantle caste-based occupational rigidities. He supported the development of machine-building industries and advocated for a strong public sector that could lead industrial growth in strategic sectors.
Long before independent India adopted planned economic development, Ambedkar proposed the formation of a National Planning Council in 1934. This later evolved into the Planning Commission of India. He also proposed state ownership and management of basic industries like coal, iron, and electricity, anticipating the importance of state-led
infrastructure growth.
In the education field, Dr. Ambedkar argued for expanding access to science and technology. He believed that without technical education, India would remain dependent and backward. He promoted the establishment of technical institutes, vocational schools, and polytechnics to train engineers, technicians, and skilled workers. He insisted that modern India would need scientists, inventors, and engineers who could use knowledge to solve the country’s practical problems. He was also among those saw the need for institutions like the Indian Institutes of Technology, although these were established after his time. For Ambedkar, education was the master key, and scientific education was its sharpest tool.
Another important but less discussed aspect of Ambedkar’s legacy is his deep love for books, reading, and libraries. From his early childhood, he had a passion for learning and reading that only grew stronger with time. Despite social discrimination and financial hardship, he managed to study at some of the best universities in the world, including Columbia University and the London School of Economics. At Columbia, he spent countless hours in the library, reading on a wide range of subjects from economics and philosophy to law and sociology. He would often skip meals to buy books.
During his years in London, he acquired thousands of books, and his personal library eventually grew to over 50,000 volumes, making it one of the largest private libraries in the world at that time. Dr. Ambedkar’s library was called “Rajgraha” and it was not merely a collection of texts—it was a symbol of intellectual self-respect and resistance. He viewed books as powerful instruments of change and enlightenment. “I like the religion that teaches liberty, equality and fraternity,” he once said, but for him, books were his true temple. He believed that no real social revolution was possible without the revolution of the mind, and the mind could only be liberated through study and critical reflection. His own life was a testament to the transformative power of reading.
Ambedkar also wanted others, especially young people and members of marginalised communities, to access the world of ideas through libraries and reading rooms. He promoted the setting up of public libraries and believed that every town and village should have access to free books and study material. He saw libraries as democratic spaces—places where knowledge could be shared equally, regardless of caste or class.
Dr. Ambedkar’s life continues to offer powerful lessons to the youth. His message was clear: knowledge is power, and scientific knowledge is the path to true empowerment. He urged the youth to cultivate discipline, logic, evidence-based reasoning, and social responsibility. He was never content with rhetoric; he believed in planning, precision, and professionalism. He respected the scientific method because it respected facts. In his view, modern India could not be built on rituals and traditions alone; it needed steel, cement, electricity, education, and rational governance.
As India aspires to become a global power in the 21st century, with ambitions in space exploration, artificial intelligence, clean energy, and sustainable development, Dr. Ambedkar’s vision becomes more relevant
than ever.
