BY A K VISWAS

The 119th birth anniversary of Dr Babasaheb Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar has been observed on April 14 this year. On this occasion we offer our sincere homage to that towering personality by publishing the following article and a piece that N.C. wrote on him in 1990 when the Bharat Ratna was posthumously conferred on Dr Ambedkar.

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(First published in INSIGHT blog)

He was born on 28 August 1863 in Travancore, Kerala. He was one of the seven children of Ayyan of Pulaya caste (agricultural labour). Ayyankali grew up to be a tall, well built and handsome young man. He was known for his physical prowess and proficiency in the martial arts.

One particular child hood incident made Ayyankali aware of the caste prejudices prevalent in Travancore society. While playing football with children of his age the ball kicked by Ayyankali fell on the roof of a Nair house. The Nair warned him not to play with diku young men. Deeply hurt, he took oath never to play with them.

Then he went into a period of deep thought. He came out of a month of contemplation, a la Buddha, with a secret agenda - civil liberties for the untouchables.

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 Iyothee Thass or Pandit C. Ayodhya Dasa (Tamil: ?????????) (May 20, 1845–1914) was a practitioner of Siddha medicine who is regarded as a pioneer of the Dravidian Movement.Born on 20 May 1845, Thass's original name was Kaathavarayan. His grandfather has served as a butler to Lord Arlington. Kaathavarayan gained expertise in Tamil literature, philosophy, Siddha and had good knowledge of English, Sanskrit and Pali. After organising the tribal people in the Nilgris in the 1870s, he established the Advaidananda Sabha in 1876. He launched a magazine called Dravida Pandian along with Rev.

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By Louis Antony

INTRODUCTION:A person, who has devoted his whole life to a particular cause, should have three special qualities in order to be successful in his work. Those qualities are absolute courage, self-sacrifice and a clear plan of action. To a large extend Periyar posses all  these three qualities.

The sharp and manifold increase in the caste and communal struggles of the recent past has made Phule's thought and action more relevant than ever before. A report on a seminar which evaluated his relevance in the present crisis.

Suzana Andrade International Education Researcher Columbia University, New York, Thom Wolf International President and Professor of Global Studies, University Institute, New DelhiYou owe her. But do you know her? Savitribai Phule, the Mother of modern Indian education. If you are an Indian woman who reads, you owe her. If you are an educated Indian woman, you owe her. If you are an Indian school girl reading this chapter in English, you owe her. If you are an educated international desi woman, you owe her.

Jyotirao Govindrao Phule (April 11, 1827 — November 28, 1890), also known as Mahatma Jyotiba Phule was an activist, thinker, social reformer and revolutionary from Maharashtra in the nineteenth century. His remarkable influence was apparent in fields like education, agriculture, caste system, women and widow upliftment and removal of untouchability.