title of thesis by ambedkar 1923

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100 Years of the Problem of Rupee: Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's Historic Thesis Shapes India's Economic Future

Lucknow - What was the title of the thesis that Dr. B. R. Ambedkar submitted to the London School of Economics, for which he was awarded his doctorate in 1923? This might appear to be quite an easy question for most Ambedkarites, but Himani Bundela, a native of Jhansi, who breezed through the 15 questions of Kaun Banega Crorepati to win Rs 1 crore, couldn’t answer this question and deprived herself of the chance to win Rs 7 crore, the prize money for this question. The answer to this question – "The Problem of Rupee-its Origin and Solution" – is not an esoteric knowledge among Ambedkarites today. As the thesis completed 100 years in 2023, we take a look at the thesis that surpassed the boundaries of a research paper.

On this day, 15th December 1926, Dr. Ambedkar presented evidence before the Royal Commission on Indian Currency and Finance on his thesis - "The Problem of Rupee." It is said that each member of this commission held a copy of Dr. Ambedkar’s 257-page paper. It is noteworthy that the paper completed 100 years this year, as it was presented and published in 1923 as the thesis for his doctoral research at the prestigious London School of Economics (LSE).

The Doctoral Thesis that Laid the Foundation of the Indian Banking System

Dr. Ambedkar postulated the need, working style, and outlook of the Royal Commission, also known as the Hilton Young Commission. The Commission duly incorporated the guidelines presented by Ambedkar in 1926, and later the legislative assembly passed the recommendations in the name of the RBI Act 1934. Consequently, the Reserve Bank of India was established on 1st April 1935.

During British rule, the Indian currency was pegged to the British pound, and the exchange rate was fixed at a rate that favored British interests. The British Indian government had absolute control over the issuance of currency, and they used this power to manipulate the value of the rupee to their advantage.

In his thesis, he exposed the strategy of the British to keep the exchange rate inordinately high, which tipped the balance in favor of their factory products.

One of the major issues was the constant devaluation of the Indian rupee by the British government. The value of the rupee was artificially lowered to benefit British exporters and to finance the expenses of the colonial administration. This devaluation had severe economic consequences for the Indian population, leading to inflation and a decline in the standard of living.

Gold Exchange Standard

He argued that the gold exchange standard does not have stability, and developing countries like India cannot afford gold exchange standards as they are prone to inflationary pressures. He buttressed his claims with statistical figures. The thesis also advocated the regulation of government deficits and the circular flow of money. The book comprises seven chapters.

In the first three chapters of the book, he touches upon the deficiencies associated with silver currency. In the first chapter of the book known as “From a Double Standard to the Silver Standard,” he has touched upon the economic contours of the Mughal Empire and mentioned that the economic condition during the Mughal era was much better than that in the English Empire. Dr. Ambedkar explained how silver standards had been established through the waning of gold currency and how it had been supplemented by paper currency. He pointed out that Act XXIII of 1870 did nothing new - neither the number of the coins authorized by the mints nor its tender-powers. Rather, it helped make some improvements in monetary laws. Since the invention of coinage, people always thought that the actual value of the coin can be exact with the price of the coin legalized by the mint. So according to him, the exact value of the coin can’t, however, always be the same as the certified value.

In the second half of the chapters, Ambedkar draws a comparison between the rupee and coins. The second chapter is "The Silver Standard and the Dislocation of its Parity." In the introduction to the third chapter, “The Silver Standard and the Evils of its Instability,” Ambedkar was concerned about the economic results of the disruption of the ‘par’ of exchange, and he describes it as the most “far-reaching character.”

In the fourth chapter of the book, titled “Towards the Gold Standard,” Ambedkar focuses on how the establishment of a stable economic system was contingent upon the re-establishment of a common standard of value. In the seventh as well as the last chapter of the book titled “A Return to the Gold Standard,” Ambedkar examined the system of the economy that was moving towards the changes made in the exchange standards.

The Thesis that Left its Imprint on Economy and History

Only a few research papers and theses have left their imprint on the economic structure of an economy as "The Problem of Rupee-its Origin and its Solutions" has. The fact that the Reserve Bank of India, the central bank of the country, was formed based on the guidelines made in the research paper proves the acumen of Dr. Ambedkar as an economist.

The research paper was published in 1923 by P. S. King and Sons and had the foreword by Edward Kennan, who grossly disagreed with the assertion of Ambedkar in his thesis. The Thesis is also published by the Dr. Ambedkar Foundation as a part of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar's writings and speeches.

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Why publication of b.r. ambedkar's thesis a century later will be significant, a contemporary relevance of the thesis, written as part of ambedkar's msc degree at the london school of economics, is that it argues for massive expenditure on heads like defence to be diverted to the social sector.

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Now, over a century after it was written, Ambedkar’s hitherto unpublished thesis on the provincial decentralisation of imperial finance in colonial times will finally see the light of the day. The Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Source Material Publication Committee of the Maharashtra government plans to publish the thesis that was written by Ambedkar as part of his MSc degree from the London School of Economics (LSE). The thesis, ‘Provincial Decentralisation of Imperial Finance in British India’, will be part of the 23rd volume of Ambedkar’s works to be published by the committee and will give a glimpse into the works of Ambedkar, the economist. Notably, the dissertation argues for expenditure on heads like defence to be diverted for social goods like education and public health.

The source material committee, which was set up in 1978, has published 22 volumes on Ambedkar’s writings since April 1979. “This volume will have two parts. One will contain the MSc thesis and the other will have communication and documents related to his MA, MSc, PhD and bar-at-law degrees,” confirmed Pradeep Aglave, member secretary of the committee. He added that the MSc thesis had been submitted to the LSE in 1921. Veteran Ambedkarite and founder of the Dalit Panthers, J.V. Pawar, who is a member of the committee, said it was significant that the thesis was being published over a century after it was written. Pawar played a pivotal role in ensuring that the committee was set up.

“This work deals with taxation and expenditure. The contemporary relevance of this thesis is that it seeks a progressive taxation based on income levels. Ambedkar argued that expenditure on heads like defence was huge and this needed to be diverted to social needs like education, public health, and water supply,” said Sukhadeo Thorat, economist and former chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC). Thorat was among those instrumental in the source material committee getting a copy of the thesis from London.

“The sixth volume (1989), published by the source material committee, contains Ambedkar’s writings on economics. This includes his works like ‘Administration and Finance of the East India Company’ (1915) and the ‘Problem of the Rupee: Its Origin and Its Solution’ (1923). However, this MSc thesis on provincial finance could not be included in it because it was not available then,” said Thorat.

J. Krishnamurty, a Geneva-based labour economist located the MSc thesis in the Senate House Library in London and approached Thorat who, in turn, communicated with Gautam Chakravarti of the Ambedkar International Mission in London. Santosh Das, another Ambedkarite from London, paid the fees for permission to reproduce the work in copyright. The soft copy of the thesis was sent to the source material committee on November 18, 2021.

In addition to the MSc thesis, the communication and letters related to his academics, such as the MA, PhD, MSc and DSc and bar-at-law including LLD (an honorary degree that was awarded to Ambedkar by the Columbia University in 1952after he finished drafting the Constitution of India, which remains one of his most significant contributions to modern India), were also arranged and compiled by Krishnamurty, Thorat and Aglave. This also includes the courses done by Ambedkar for his MA and pre-PHD at the Columbia University. These details are being published for the first time.

Ambedkar’s biographer Changdev Bhavanrao Khairmode, writes how Ambedkar worked untiringly in London for his MSc. Ambedkar secured admission for his MSc in the LSE on September 30, 1920 by paying a fee of 11 pounds and 11 shillings. He was given a student pass with the number 11038.

Ambedkar had prepared for his MSc in Mumbai, yet he began studying books and reports from four libraries in London, namely the London University’s general library, Goldsmiths' Library of Economic Literature and the libraries in the British Museum and India Office. In London, Ambedkar would wake up at 6 am, have the breakfast served by his landlady and rush to the library for his studies. Around 1 pm, he would take a short break for a meagre lunch or have just a cup of tea and then return to the library to study till it closed for the day.

“He would sleep for a few hours. He would stand at the doors of the library before it opened and before others came there,” says Khairmode in the first volume of his magisterial work on Ambedkar (Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, Volume I) that was first published in 1952. The library staff in the British Museum would tell Ambedkar that they had not seen a student like him who was immersed in his books and they also doubted if they would get to see one like him in the future!

The volume also contains a letter written by Ambedkar in German on February 25, 1921 to the University of Bonn seeking admission. Ambedkar wanted to study Sanskrit language and German philosophy in the varsity’s department of Indology. In school, Ambedkar was discriminated against on grounds of caste and not allowed to learn Sanskrit. He had to learn Persian instead. Ambedkar secured admission to Bonn University but had to return to London three months later to revise and complete his DSc thesis.

Ambedkar completed his DSc in 1923 under the guidance of Professor Edwin Cannan of the LSE on the problem of the rupee, which is described as a “remarkable piece of research on Indian currency, and probably the first detailed empirical account of the currency and monetary policy during the period”.

Ambedkar was among the first from India to pursue doctoral studies in economics abroad. He specialised in finance and currency. His ‘The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India: A Study in the Provincial Decentralisation of Imperial Finance (1925)’, carried a foreword by Edwin R.A. Seligman, Professor of Economics, Columbia University, New York. Ambedkar also played a pivotal role in the conceptualisation and establishment of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 1935.

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​ All About Ambedkar  

Issn 2582-9785, a journal on theory and praxis, on economics, banking and trades: a critical overview of ambedkar's “the problem of the rupee”.

Janardan Das

The Problem of Rupee is 257-page long paper written by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar that he presented as his Doctoral thesis at the London School of Economics (LSE) in March 1923. In it, Ambedkar tried to explain the troubles that were associated with the national currency of India - the Rupee. He argued against the British ploy to keep the exchange rate too high to facilitate the trade of their factory products.

In this article, I have tried to summarize the aforesaid book by Dr. Ambedkar. I have also tried to focus on how he advances his speech depicting the ups and downs of the Indian economy and currency. He introduces us to the characteristics of trade and business in our country even from the time when it was divided into several monarchical regions. He proclaims that in our country, the trade of any product had been conducted through the exchanges of money and those particular products. So evidently our merchant society is typically crowned as a pecuniary society that only runs on money.

Quoting W. C. Mitchell, Ambedkar reiterates that economists say money is pivotal to every individual in a society. And without the use of money, the distribution of anything can be a matter of disagreement and disturbance. In the next few lines of his speech, in the first chapter, he describes how the standards and currency were in the time of the Mughal empire and he certainly mentioned that the economic condition of the country was far better than that of today's, because it had a world-wide boundary of trade and free use of gold mohur and the silver rupee . Actually, before the administrative and financial invasion of British, Gold and silver were the inevitable parts of the medium of exchange without any fixed ratio. Hindu emperors and the Muslim emperors had some similarity in their trading features- both of them had a permissible use of metal coin in their empire but in the Mughal empire silver coins were at the center of currency, and later gold coins took that place in the Hindi empires. Mohur and rupee were similar in size, weight and composition. But the silver currency was unknown or more precisely unpopular to the southern part of the great Indian sub-continent because of the failure of Mughal administration. Instead of such coins, they normalised pagoda , the ancient gold coin traditioned from the time of Hindu kings. Mughals made allowances to recuperate the problems regarding faulty technology of the mints. Dr. Ambedkar observes that Mughals had initiated a system of provincial mints that had been maintained or ruled by a single unit or division. That made it easy to examine the issues related to monetary funds or mints. But later, these issues continued to be grow larger and made the poor and ignorant people suffer. He also tried to conjugate the great re-coinage of 1996 (?) . In the last half of the chapter, Ambedkar compared the coins as well as the rupee in every possible way.

Our country was divided into three presidencies during the British rule. So the British government set their target to change the parallel standard popular in Mughal times into a double standard by establishing an authorised ratio of exchange between pagoda , rupee , and mohur . But somewhere their effort partially went in vain. He gave a pictorial glimpse of how Bengal took this effort and tried to fix that ratio. Mainly, these types of attempts were taken and recommended by the Court of directors. But these steps were left to carry out by many of the provincial governments of India. In the first chapter of the problem of the rupee, Dr. Ambedkar explained how silver standards had been established through the vanishing of gold currency and how it had been supplemented by the paper currency. He also retorted how the Act XXIII of 1870 actually introduced nothing new - neither the number of the coins authorised by the mints nor its tender-powers. Rather, it helped just to make some improvements in monetary laws. Since the invention of coinage people always thought that the actual value of the coin can be exact with the price of the coin legalised by the mint. So according to him, the exact value of the coin can’t however always be the same as the certified value. That’s why in foreign countries, coins will not be legal tender if they vary from their legal standards beyond a certain limit. So, making coins legal tender without defining a certain limit to its toleration certainly makes way to cheat. Convincingly, the Act set a certain legal limit to the coins of its tolerance. The act also made an improvement that was to recognise the principle of free coinage. But we can not say that this principle of free coinage was perfect in every possible way as Ambedkar himself once said in this chapter that the principle had not been paid that much attention it deserved. Though it was the very basis of well-established currency in that it has an important bearing on the cardinal question of the amount of currency inevitable for the transactions of the people. According to Ambedkar, to solve this problem, two ways can be very useful to regulate such a huge quantity of transactions. One possible way is to close the mints and to leave it to the judgment of the government to handle the currency to suit our needs. The other way is to keep the mint as it is and to leave it to the self-interest of individuals to determine the amount of currency they need. Ambedkar aptly indicated both of the similarities and contradictions of the above-mentioned Act with the other ones where surely, he finds its incapability to regulate such a large quantity of currency.

In the introduction to the third chapter, Ambedkar was concerned about the economic results of the disturbance of the ‘par’ of exchange and he narrates it as the most “far-reaching character”. Our economic world can be sectioned into two neatly defined groups of people. These two categorised community had learned to use gold and silver and their standard money or purchasing standards. By giving a reference to 1873, he said that when a large amount of gold becomes equal to a large amount of silver, it barely matters for international transactions. It doesn’t make so much difference in which of the two currencies its obligations were stipulated and realized. But due to the dislocation of the fixed ratio or par, it becomes hard to indicate particularly how much silver is equal to how much of gold from one year to another, even from month to month. This exactitude of value which is the pivotal potential of monetary exchange, makes space for ambiguities of gambling. So, flatly all countries weren’t drawn to this center of perplexities in the same degree and the same extent; but yet it’s impossible for a nation which is a part of the international commercial world to escape from being dragged into it. This was true of our country as it was of no other country. India was a silver-standard country bound to a gold-standard country, so that her economic and financial picture was at “the mercy of blind forces operating upon the relative values of gold and silver which governed the rupee-sterling exchange.” Later in the discussion, Ambedkar pointed out the burdens of Indian economy and introduced us to an index [Table-XI] chart regarding the rupee cost of gold payments which showed data from year to year. If we give pay attention to the points figured out by Ambedkar, we can see that these burdens never stop, rather it’s been increasing day by day. Gradually, it caused various policies of high taxations and rigidity in Indian finance. Dr. Ambedkar brilliantly analysed Indian budgets between 1872-1882 and he proved that hardly a year passed without making an addition to the everlasting impositions on the country. He also analysed the information found in Malwa Opium Trade and was able to find errors in the economic policies of the Indian government. The taxes that the government standardized in these trades probably help the Indian economy to feel secure around the end of 1882. The government started exercising the virtue of economy along with the increment of resources. They found cheap agency of native Indians instead of employing imported Englishmen. And it was easy to use native intellect because the Educational Reforms of 1853 clearly says about the access of natives in Indian Civil Service. Thus, he finds the British try to set up a strong economy in India under the British Raj.

In the fourth chapter of the book, Ambedkar focuses on how the establishment of a stable economic system was dependent upon the re-establishment of a common standard of value. As it was the purpose just to normalise a common standard of value, its fulfillment was by no means an easy matter. The government found mostly two ways to make an experiment or practice. First thing was to declare any of the common metal as the standard currency and the second was to let gold and silver standard countries keep to these metal currencies and to establish a fixed ratio of exchange as to turn these to metal into a common standard of value. The first idea of normalising metal currency other than gold and silver was to make other countries leave their standards in favour of gold. If we look back at the history of movements for the reform of the Indian currency, we will mainly find two movements. The movement that led to introduce a gold standard first occupies this field. Dragging a reference to a ‘Report of the Indian Currency Committee’ of 1898, Dr. Ambedkar said that the notification of 1868 had bluntly failed and this failure doesn’t affect the history because the movement had already started earlier in the sixties and the movement had still life in it. Clearly, it is shown by the fact that it was revived four years later by Sir R. Temple, when he became the Finance Minister of India, in a memorandum dated May 15, 1872.

In the next few lines, Dr. Ambedkar talks about the second movement for the introduction of the gold standard that was conducted by Colonel J. T. Smith, the able Mint Master of India. Frankly, Dr. Ambedkar mentioned that his plan was a redress for the falling exchange. In this topic, he quoted the actual speech of Smith that was published in 1876 in London. Depicting the whole principle behind the presentation of J. T. Smith, Baba Saheb found it was considerably supported by the fall of silver in British India.

Now in the fifth chapter, we come to know that once somewhere Indian economic system felt that the problem of an erosive rupee was favourably dissolved. The long-lasting concerns and niceties that lingered over a long period even for a quarter of the century could not but have been successfully compensated by the adoption of a redress like the one mentioned in the fourth chapter. But unfortunately, the system originally planned, failed to be designed into reality. In its place, a system of currency in India grew up which was the very reverse or contradictory of it. A few years later when the legislative sanction had been shown the recommendations and suggestions of the Fowler committee, the Chamberlain Commission on Indian Finance and Currency said that the government contemplated to adopt the recommendations made by the committee of 1898, but the contemporary system utterly differs from the plan and had some common feature with the theory and suggestions made by Mr. A. M. Lindsay.

According to Mr. Lindsay’s scheme, he emphasised on how to turn the entire Indian currency to a rupee currency; the government was to give rupees in almost every case in return for gold, whereas gold for rupees only in foreign dispatch of money. The project was to be implicated through the assistance in between of two offices, one was in London and the other located in here, India. The first was to sell drafts on the latter when rupees were wanted and the latter was to sell drafts on the former when gold was wanted. Unbelievably, the same or similar system prevailed in our country. It was rejected in 1898. Then gradually paper currency came up to the Indian economic realm and two reserves one of gold and other of currencies left other than gold. Ambedkar had lengthened his discussion over Indian currencies after these events.

In the sixth chapter of the book, Dr. Ambedkar said about a memorable thing that was to remind the time when all the Indian Mints were shut down to the free coinage of silver. and the economic world in India was surely divided into two parties, one in favour of the step and the other stood in opposition to the closure of the mints. Being placed in an embarrassing and contradictory position by the fall of the rupee, the British Government of the time felt anxiety to close the Mints and increase its value with a conception to sigh in relief from the burden of its gold payments. Whereas it was requested, to produce an increment of interest of the country, that such accretion in the exchange value of the rupee would cause a disaster to the entire Indian trade and industry. One of the reasons, it was argued, why the Indian industry had advanced by such leaps and bounds as it did from 1873 to 1893 was to be found in the bounty given to the Indian export trade by the falling exchange. If the fall of the rupee was discovered by the Mint closure, everyone feared that such an event was certainly bound to cut Indian trade both ways. It would give the silver-using countries a bounty as over against India and would deprive India of the bounty which is obtained from the falling exchange as over against gold-using countries.

However, in the seventh as well as the last chapter of the book, Ambedkar examined the system of the economy that was advancing towards the changes of the exchange standard in the light of the claim made on behalf of it. Though it is very much a matter of uncertainty and hard to explain the history of Indian banking, but sure if being followed, it will be easy to interpret the market, values of products. Unmistakably, the works of Ambedkar led the nation towards the development and advancement of its economics and international banking and trades.

Works Cited

Ambedkar, B. R. History of Indian Currency and Banking. Butler & Tanner Ltd.

______________. The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India. P. S. King & Son Ltd., 1925.

______________. The Problem of the Rupee. P. S. King & Son Ltd., 1923.

Author Information

Janardan Das studies English literature at Presidency University, Kolkata.

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An excerpt from ‘indians in london: from the birth of the east indian company to independent india’, by arup k chatterjee..

About two decades ago, when [Subhash Chandra] Bose was still at Cambridge, a letter dated September 23, 1920 arrived at Professor Herbert Foxwell’s office at the London School of Economics. It was written by Edwin R Seligman, an economist from Columbia University, introducing an exceedingly talented scholar – Mr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar. Two months later, Foxwell wrote to the secretary of the School that there was no more intellect that the Columbia graduate could conquer in London.

The first Dalit to study at Bombay’s Elphinstone College, Ambedkar, was awarded a Baroda State Scholarship that took him to Columbia University in 1913. Three years later, he found his way to London, desirous of becoming a barrister as well as finishing a doctoral dissertation on the history of the rupee. Ambedkar enrolled at Gray’s Inn, and attended courses on geography, political ideas, social evolution and social theory at London School of Economics, at a course fee of £10.10s.

In 1917, Ambedkar was invited to join as Military Secretary in Baroda, earning at the same time a leave of absence of up to four years from the London School of Economics. Back in India, he taught for a while as a professor in Sydenham College in Bombay, while also being one of the key intelligencers on the condition of “untouchables” in India for the government, during the drafting of the Government of India Act of 1919.

In late 1920, Ambedkar was to return to London, determined more than ever before, not to spare a farthing beyond his breathing means on the city’s allurements. Each day, the aspiring barrister woke up at the stroke of six. After a morning’s morsel, he moseyed into the crowd of London to find his way into the British Museum.

At dusk, he would leave his seat reluctantly – after being made to scurry out by the librarian and the guards – his pockets sagging under the notes that would finally become his thesis, The Problem of the Rupee , some of whose guineas would eventually find their home in the Constitution of India that he was going to author about three decades later. Back at his lodging at King Henry’s Road in Primrose Hill, mostly on foot, Ambedkar would live on sparsely whitened tea and poppadum late into the night.

It was here that the daughter of Ambedkar’s landlady, Fanny Fitzgerald, a war widow, found her affections strangely swayed by the Indian scholar. Fitzgerald was a typist at the House of Commons. She lent him money in difficult circumstances and volunteered to introduce him to people in governance, with whom he could discuss the Dalit question that was raging in India.

An apocryphal story goes that Miss Fitzgerald once gave Ambedkar a copy of the Bible. On receiving it, the future Father of the Indian Constitution promised to dedicate a bible to her of his own authoring. True to his commitment, he would fondly dedicate his book What Congress and Gandhi Have Done to the Untouchables (1945) to “F”. The incident, when that promise was exchanged, occurred after Ambedkar was called to the Bar in 1923.

In March that year, his doctoral thesis ran into trouble possibly because of its radical approach to the history of Indian economy under the British administration. He might have taken the subtle hint that passages in his work needed tempering – a notion that a man of his vision was likely to have quietly pocketed more as a compliment than an insult.

Ambedkar would have been happy to chisel the nose from his David for the show, like Michelangelo had four centuries ago in order to appease the connoisseur-like pretense of Piero Soderini, who had quipped, “Isn’t the nose a little too thick?” That done, Ambedkar resubmitted his thesis in August. It was approved two months later and published almost immediately thereafter. He expressed gratitude to his professor, Edwin Cannan, who, in turn, wrote the preface to his thesis, before Ambedkar travelled to Bonn for further studies.

Babasaheb, as he was now beginning to be called, was to return to London for each of the three Round Table Conferences held between 1930 and 1932. Two months before the Third Round Table Conference – in which both Labour and the Congress were absentees – Ambedkar and Gandhi reached a historic settlement in the Poona Pact. In September 1932, from the Yerwada prison near Bombay, Gandhi began a fast unto death protesting against the Ramsay MacDonald administration that was determined to divide India into provincial electorates on the basis of caste and social stratification.

In the pact signed with Madan Mohan Malviya, Ambedkar settled for 147 seats for the depressed classes. But the pact to which he was forsworn – tacitly made in London with Fanny Fitzgerald – that of writing the bible of modern India, was brewing like a storm that would take the form of an open battle between him and Gandhi, in the years of the Second World War.

Despite the strong network of Indians at the London School of Economics, Ambedkar chose not to hobnob with India League members. What might have been a sort of marriage-made-in-heaven between him and [VK Krishna] Menon was forestalled. If Menon was Nehru’s alter ego, he would also be instrumental in shaping the early career of the man to become an alter ego – principal secretary –to Indira Gandhi.

In the winter of 1935, a twenty-something Parmeshwar Narain Haksar arrived in London, enrolled as a student at the University College. The following year, he made an unsuccessful attempt for the civil services. In 1937, Haksar became a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute, a distinction conferred on him with support from noted anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski.

Although Haksar also studied at the London School of Economics, it probably never became public knowledge if he had acquired formal degrees from either university. Whether or not he did, as a scholar he commanded great attention from British intellectuals, especially in his arguments on the crisis of education in India, which he reckoned had been tailored to perpetuate British imperial interests and low levels of literacy in the colony.

Haksar was to be called to Bar at the Lincoln’s Inn, but, at the beckoning of Nehru, he would join the Indian Foreign Service in 1948. His red days in London were to yield him lifelong companions. In the 1930s, the Comintern came up with the policy of hatching popular fronts all across Europe with which to counter the growing threat of Nazism and Fascism. It was a phase in European ideologies that strongly affected British politics, and popular movements led by Labour leaders and student communists in London – a cosmopolitan and unswervingly left-leaning outlook that shaped much of the administration and policies of independent India until the years of the Emergency.

A socialist himself, Haksar held an influential position in the Federation of Indian Societies in UK and Ireland besides becoming the editor of its magazine, The Indian Student . His links with the Communist Party of Great Britain, Rajani Palme Dutt and the Soviet undercover agent at Cambridge, James Klugman – indeed with almost anyone of some consequence who supported the cause of Indian liberation – was more than enough for Scotland Yard to keep him closely watched in London.

In September 1941, when the India League organised a commemoration at the Conway Hall in Red Lion Square for the late Rabindranath Tagore a few months after his demise, Scotland Yard obliged by adding a leaf to their surveillance files. Inaugurated by M Maisky, a Russian ambassador, it was just one in a sea of events concerning India that the Yard and other intelligencers of His Majesty’s Government would tolerate during the interwar years. Almost all such gatherings featured subversive pamphlets and books published by the League and similar organisations that were openly lauded by Soviets and Soviet sympathisers.

It was just as well that Nehru also had to tolerate that under the shield of Haksar’s own watch a new romantic plot thickened around Primrose Hill, that of his daughter Indira and future son-in-law, Feroze. Feroze had his flat at Abbey Road and Haksar lived half a mile away, at Abercorn Place. Haksar was befriended by the Gandhis – Indira and Feroze – who introduced him to Sasadhar Sinha of the Bibliophile Bookshop. That, besides the India League and Allahabad connection, not to mention Haksar’s enviable culinary skills, ensured that he was soldered to the future of the Gandhis.

The future of the man who had leant the family his coveted surname would also take a blow on the burning issue of caste. Gandhi was not to be remembered as the sole nemesis of the British Empire. In an interview given to the BBC in 1955, Babasaheb indicated that one of the biggest reasons behind Clement Attlee handing over the reins of the Indian administration so suddenly was the persistent fear of a massive armed uprising in the colony.

He implied that the road to independence had already been paved by the Azad Hind Fauj brigadiered by Netaji. Bose had departed from London during Ambedkar’s days in the London School of Economics. But, he would return in Haksar’s time.

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Philosophy World Democracy

 the grace of jean-luc nancy ,  the other beginning of philosophy , b. r. ambedkar.

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891 - 1956) was a political philosopher, philosopher of jurisprudence, philosopher of religion, economist, and politician. Ambedkar obtained his Masters’ degree in economics from Columbia University, with the thesis “Administration and finance of the East-India Company” in 1915, followed by a second Masters’ degree . Ambedkar began his studies in Law at Gray’s Inn in 1916. In 1920 he founded the periodical Mooknayak. In 1921 he received an MSc degree from London School of Economics with the thesis “Provincial decentralisation of imperial finance in India”, which was published as The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India . In 1923 Ambedkar was awarded D. Sc. from London School of Economics. The thesis was published as The Problem of the Rupee: Its Origin and Solution. In 1927 Ambedkar obtained doctoral degree from Columbia University. In the same year he burned the Manusmriti (The Law Book of Manu) in public. Ambedkar was the chairman of the drafting committee of the constitution of independent India. He was prolific author. His works include Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Ancient India, Buddha or Karl Marx, Annihilation of Caste, What Congress and Gandhi Have Done to the Untouchables, Who Were the Shudras , and The Buddha and his Dhamma.

Gandhism – The Doom of the Untouchables

14 April 2023

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The Problem Of The Rupee Its Origin And Its Solution

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Book Source: Digital Library of India Item 2015.84521

dc.contributor.author: Dr. Ambedkar. B. R dc.date.accessioned: 2015-06-30T18:53:40Z dc.date.available: 2015-06-30T18:53:40Z dc.date.digitalpublicationdate: 2005-03-30 dc.date.citation: 1923 dc.identifier.barcode: 2030020001032 dc.identifier.origpath: /data7/upload/0169/009 dc.identifier.copyno: 1 dc.identifier.uri: http://www.new.dli.ernet.in/handle/2015/84521 dc.description.scannerno: 1 dc.description.scanningcentre: RMSC, IIIT-H dc.description.main: 1 dc.description.tagged: 0 dc.description.totalpages: 348 dc.format.mimetype: application/pdf dc.language.iso: English dc.publisher.digitalrepublisher: Digital Library Of India dc.publisher: P.s. King And Son, Limited dc.rights: Not Available dc.source.library: Osmania University dc.subject.classification: Social Sciences dc.subject.classification: Economics dc.subject.classification: Finance dc.title: The Problem Of The Rupee Its Origin And Its Solution

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Archives released by LSE reveal BR Ambedkar’s time as a scholar

Archival documents released by the london school of economics (lse) cast new light on the iconic leader’s student days here..

That BR Ambedkar was a bright student is known, but what did American and British academics say about his credentials? Archival documents released by the London School of Economics (LSE) cast new light on the iconic leader’s student days here.

After completing a doctorate at Columbia University, Ambedkar wanted to research and study in Britain. His professor, Edwin R Seligman from Columbia, wrote to economist Herbert Foxwell at LSE on September 23, 1920, recommending his star student.

“He writes me that he is desirous of utilising certain research facilities in both London and in Edinburgh and has asked for a letter of introduction to you. This I am very glad to give him, as he is not only a very able, but an exceedingly pleasant fellow, and I am sure that you will do for him what you can,” Seligman wrote.

Foxwell wrote to LSE’s secretary, Mair, in November 1920, “I find he (Ambedkar) has already taken his doctor’s degree & has only come here to finish a research. I had forgotten this. I am sorry we cannot identify him with the School but there are no more worlds here for him to conquer.”

This was Ambedkar’s second attempt to study at LSE after having enrolled for a Masters degree in 1916, when he took courses in geography with Halford Mackinder, political ideas with G Lowes Dickinson, and social evolution and social theory with LT Hobhouse.

The fee for the course was £10 and 10 shillings. At the same time, Ambedkar enrolled for the bar course at Gray’s Inn. His 1916 application form in his handwriting has also been released by LSE, which mentions his permanent address as ‘Bombay, India’.

Ambedkar’s studies at LSE were interrupted as he was recalled to India to serve as a military secretary in Baroda, but in July 1917 the University of London gave him leave of absence of up to four years.

In 1920, Ambedkar returned to LSE after working as a professor of political economy at Sydenham College in Mumbai and giving evidence to the Scarborough Committee preparing the 1919 Government of India Act on the position and representation of “untouchable” communities.

Initially, he applied to complete his masters degree and write a thesis on ‘The Provincial Decentralisation of Imperial Finance in India’. His fees had gone up by a guinea, to £11 pounds and 11 shillings.

College archives show there was a slight glitch in his LSE career in April 1921 when he failed to send in his form for the summer examinations. The school secretary, Mair, had to write to University of London’s Academic Registrar for permission to submit the form late.

In economics, Ambedkar’s tutors included Edwin Cannan and Foxwell. Ambedkar submitted his doctoral thesis, ‘The Problem of the Rupee’, in March 1923 but it was not recommended for acceptance. There were reports the thesis was too revolutionary and anti-British for the examiners. However, there is no indication of this in Ambedkar’s student file. The thesis was resubmitted in August 1923 and accepted in November 1923.

It was published almost immediately and in the preface Ambedkar noted “my deep sense of gratitude to my teacher, Cannan “noting that Cannan’s “severe examination of my theoretical discussions has saved me from many an error”.

Cannan repaid the complement by writing the Foreword to the thesis in which he found “a stimulating freshness” even if he disagreed with some of the arguments.

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Columbia University Libraries

Dr. ambedkar and columbia university: a legacy to celebrate.

For those of you who may not know, Dr. Ambedkar is a Dalit, an Indian jurist, economist, politician, activist and social reformer, who systematically campaigned against social discrimination towards women, workers, but most notably, towards the Dalits, and forcefully argued against the caste system in Hindu society. Dr. Ambedkar was the main architect of the Constitution of India, and served as the first law and justice minister of the Republic of India, and is considered by many one of the foremost global critical thinkers of the 20 th c., and a founder of the Dalit Buddhist movement. Ambedkar’s fight for social justice for Dalits, as well as women, and workers consumed his life’s activities: in 1950 he resigned from his position as the country’s first minister of law when Nehru’s cabinet refused to pass the Women’s Rights Bill. His feud with Mahatma Gandhi over Dalit political representation and suffrage in the newly independent State of India is by now famous, or I should say notorious, and it is Dr. Ambedkar who comes out on the right side of history.

The bronze bust, sculpted by Vinay Brahmesh Wagh of Bombay, was presented by the Federation of Ambedkarite and Buddhist Organizations, UK to the Southern Asian Institute of Columbia University on October 24, 1991, and then the wooden pedestal on which the statue now rests was donated by the Society of the Ambedkarites of New York and New Jersey, and placed in Lehman Library in 1995. The bust is the only site in the city where Dr. Ambedkar is honored, and is one of the most popular sites in enclosed spaces on campus that I have seen (you have to walk past the library entrance to get to it). 

Every year, on April 14 th, Ambedkar’s birthday, Ambedkar Jayanti or Bhim Jayanti, is celebrated in India (as an official holiday since 2015), at the UN (since 2016), and around the world. On this day, many visitors flock to Lehman Library, to pay tribute to Baba Saheb and place garlands on the bust. The sight of the visitors– many of whom come to Columbia just to see the bust and pay homage to the man who changed Indian society, brings home the significance of recognizing our critical thinkers, across cultures, eras, languages, divisions and types of social injustice, in the public fora of libraries. It is a powerful reminder that it is through scholarship and indeed through libraries and learning that human differences and injustices can be better understood, addressed and perhaps overcome.  

Years later, Dr. Ambedkar writes: ‘The best friends I have had in life were some of my classmates at Columbia and my great professors, John Dewey , James Shotwell, Edwin Seligman , and James Harvey Robinson.'” (Source: “‘Untouchables’ Represented by Ambedkar, ’15AM, ’28PhD,” Columbia Alumni News, Dec. 19, 1930, page 12.)

Ambedkar majored in Economics, and took many courses in sociology, history, philosophy, as well as anthropology.

In 1915, he submitted an M. A. thesis entitled: The Administration and Finance of the East India Company . (He is believed to have begun an M. A. thesis entitled  Ancient Indian Commerce earlier. That thesis is unavailable at the RBML but it is reprinted in volume 12 of Ambedkar’s collected writings). By the time he left Columbia in 1916 Ambedkar had begun research for his doctoral thesis entitled: “National Dividend of India–A Historic and Analytical Study. About this thesis, Ambedkar writes to his mentor Prof. Seligman, with whom he forged a long and friendly correspondence, even after he left Columbia:  “My dear Prof. Seligman, Having lost my manuscript of the original thesis when the steamer was torpedoed on my way back to India in 1917 I have written out a new thesis… [ …from the letter of Feb. 16, 1922, Seligman papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University ” cited in Dr. Frances Pritchard’s excellent  online website about Ambedkar ]. In 1920, Ambedkar writes: “My dear Prof. Seligman, You will probably be surprised to see me back in London. I am on my way to New York but I am halting in London for about two years to finish a piece or two of research work which I have undertaken. Of course I long to be with you again for it was when I was thrown into academic life by reason of my being a professor at the Sydenham College of Commerce & Economics in Bombay, that I realized the huge debt of gratitude I owe to the Political Science Faculty of the Columbia University in general and to you in particular.” B. R. Ambedkar, London, 3/8/20” , (Source: letter of August 3, 1920, Seligman papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University, cited in Pritchard’s website ).  Ambedkar would join the London School of Economics for a few years and submit a thesis there, but then, he would eventually come back to Columbia, to submit a Ph.D. thesis in Economics , in 1925 under the mentorship of his dear friend Prof. Seligman, entitled: The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India: A  Study in the Provincial Decentralization of Imperial Finance .  (It should be noted here that the thesis was first published in 1923 and again in 1925, this time with a Foreword by Edwin Seligman, by the publishers P. S. King and Son).

If it is Seligman he stayed in touch with and corresponded throughout, the person who most influenced his thought and shaped his political, philosophical and ethical outlook, was Dewey. For many thinkers, the links between Dewey and  Ambedkar’s ethical and philosophical thinking are obvious.  Ambedkar deeply admired Dewey and repeatedly acknowledged his debt to Dewey, calling him “his teacher”.  Ambedkar’s thought was deeply etched by John Dewey’s ideas of education as linked to experience, as practical and contextual, and the ideas of freedom and equality as essentially tied with the ideals of justice and of fraternity, a concept he would go on to apply to the Indian context, and to his pointed criticism of the caste system. Echoing many ideas propagated by Dewey, Ambedkar writes in the Annhilation of Caste : “Reason and morality are the two most powerful weapons in the armoury of a reformer. To deprive him of the use of these weapons is to disable him for action. How are you going to break up Caste, if people are not free to consider whether it accords with reason? How are you going to break up Caste, if people are not free to consider whether it accords with morality?” 

Having sat in several classes given by Dewey, and as early as 1916, Ambedkar would go on to address, at a Columbia University Seminar taught by the anthropologist Prof. Alexander Goldenweiser (1880-1940), his colleagues and friends with many of the ideas he later developed in his famous book: the Annihilation of Caste. The paper “ Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis, and Development ” contains many similarities to the Annihilation of Caste, and some of the books’ essential tenets., as acknowledged by Ambedkar himself ( Preface to the 3rd edition, Annihilation of Caste ).

The Columbia University Archives and the Columbia University Libraries hold many resources related to Dr. Ambedkar and to the Dalit movement and Dalit literature. For any inquiries regarding relevant resources, please do not hesitate to contact us: Gary Hausman : South and Southeast Asian Librarian , Global Studies; Rare Book and Manuscript Library: RBML Archivists

Happy Baba Saheb Ambedkar Juyanti!

Kaoukab Chebaro , Global Studies, Head

Today, for the first time studying for Civil Services I got to know about this great man. I think that in the galaxy of freedom fighters which India have produced he was the one we can truly say as the ‘Pole Star’. A true leader who walked the talk, he fought not only for country but also for the rights of the minority who were being annihilated for centuries. We should take cue from this man and try to go for equality, and that equality should be of thoughts, feelings and desires. It’s not at all wrong to aspire for greatness in life but to stifle a man’s path with the chains of societal norms is a sin in my sense. I hope to imbibe some of his qualities in my life. Let long live his legacy.

Thus my goodDr.BR. Ambedkar

Indeed Great emancipator of millions marginalised people, architect of Indian constitution, philosopher, economist, social reformer, jurist, astute politician no lastly father of modern India !! Jaibhim !!

What a great man. Wonderful article.

If it wasn’t for Dr.Ambedkar I wouldn’t be here in this country and have a life that I do now. I will forever be indebted to this Great Man’s courage in the face of adversity. Words cannot describe the gratitude I have for this man Thank you

Excellent effort to make this blog more wonderful and attractive.

Dr. Ambedkar was a great man.

Wonderful Article and an excellent blog. Greetings. Llorenç

Baba Saheb Dr. B R Ambedkar is alive in his works for humanity. Study Social Science or Law, or Education, or about farmers, or Dams and irrigation, or planning commission and budget or journalism, or human rights ……. on most of the subjects and disciplines, his live seen in his works and writtings. By reading him; his life, and his works, he inspires others by his works for the betterment of the society and a world, as a whole.

• Pingback: Ambedkar and the Study of Religion at Columbia University

Every breathe I take today is because of your struggle to give us an equal and fair society. It could not be possible to imagine even a single day without understanding your life and struggles. Each and every aspect of my existence is because of you Babasaheb. However, the current state of Dalit society pains me.

Such a great personality, tried hard to improvise the system in the country but had to face too much opposition and hatred. Salute to his strength and beliefs that he continued his fight for social justice despite such circumstances.

He was a great man, I considered India’s progress because of his work for the emancipation of millions of marginalized people in India

Is Columbia University conducting a Post Graduate course or PHD on Dr. Ambedkar thought?

Baba sahab Was great human Baba sahab is great human Baba sahab will great human .

Baba sahab god gifted and human for students, politicians, poor humans and all leaders ❤❤

I am thankful to Babasaheb Ambedkar for the beautiful living given to me by his at most efforts to eradicate the caste system through out India and to uplift the standard of living of the downtrodden of this country. He was a great man who fought for the rights and upliftment of the downtrodden and the dignity of women of this nation. A true Indian and a great patriot of the nation. I salute him for his work and knowledge.

Amazing article for some history info please read https://knowledgekart.in/blog/the-complete-history-of-modern-india-for-upsc-ias/

A Bengali Chandal, who, according to Manu Code, later redesignated as Namasudra, I am grateful, over head and ears, to the teachings and thoughts of Dr. Babasaheb B. R. Ambedkar who inspired with dreams and shaped my life and achievement. Lost my parents by two and half years, I was brought up by my two elder elder brothers, both illiterate under care of my father’s childless sister, who took full charge of me. A family of poor agriculturist, my eldest brother was just literate but the second elder brother was totally illiterate. They were, nonetheless, all supportive of my education. Not only my family was illiterate but the whole village as well as the locality comprising hundreds and thousands of people, men and women, were illiterate. I had none to help me in my village for studies. My village boasted of a primary school, established 10 years before my joining the same . ****The village school was upgraded class by class till 10th standard by 1962. But before that I had to migrate elsewhere for Matriculation Examinations which I cleared with FIRST DIVISION—none did this before me around. I went for studies up to B. A. (Hons. in Economics). Then I sat for IAS Exams and was declared I qualified against a reserved candidate by the UPSC. One of my assignments IN 33 YEARS career was as Vice-Chancellor, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University, Muzaffarpur, Bihar. The original name of the University was Bihar University, which, as a homage to the great son in the year of his centenary was rechristened as Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University. It was my pleasant duty to change the name of the university in accordance with the mandate of the law as passed by Bihar State Legislature. Maharashtra fought for 20 years to implement the legislative mandate. There was widespread violence and mayhem in Marathwada over the change of name of Marathwada University. I changed the name the day I joined the university as Vice-Chancellor without anybody even knowing how did I do it. No force was used or no violence occurred. This is my most adorable, nay proud, moment in my career. **** I am an author and have published innumerable articles carried by many leading English journals and dailies over last three decades. ****I prosecuted studies as a private candidate and passed MA. I also did my dissertation for Ph. D. All these I did when government assigned light duty to me. ****In three decades, one highly reputed Delhi English Weekly alone carried about four hundred thousand (400,000) words having great bearing social significance. I am a researcher. Babasaheb is my ideal and my beacon light. I am grateful to him.**** I prosecuted my studies with Welfare Scholarships of Government of India without which I could not have done what I have did. *****I have suffered hatred, discrimination, bias and injustice in various spheres. By the way, I have also been topper in my class irrespective of students belonging to different castes. English is my forte. I write in Bengali too.

Because of Dr. BR Ambedkar i am alive today, he is my past, present and my future, my heart, my soul. Thank you for saving my life and many generations.

Amazing Article. No words to explain how I felt touched being a follower of Dr. Ambedkar

He is my inspiration❤️ Babasaheb

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Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

Msc 1921 & phd 1923.

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891-1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader. Perhaps best known as the principal architect of the Indian Constitution and a staunch champion of Dalit rights (or “Untouchables” as they were referred to in colonial India), Ambedkar completed a Masters in 1921 and a PhD in 1923, at LSE.  

Ambedkar played a key role in the discussions leading up to Indian independence, for example as one of the two Untouchable delegates chosen by the British to attend the Round Table conferences on India’s constitutional status in the early 1930s. He also served as the first Minister of Law and Justice in post-colonial India between 1947 and 1951. 

Despite his lowly caste, known as Mahar – a group which was viewed by the British as “inferior village servants”, Ambedkar’s father had become an officer in the Indian Army and was able to insist that his sons should be educated so Ambedkar was allowed to attend school. Ambedkar was the first in his community to graduate High School and went on to study for a BA in Economics and Politics at Bombay University, where he met Sayaji Rao III, the Maharajah of the princely state of Baroda.  

The Maharajah was an active advocate of social reforms, including the removal of untouchability. He sponsored Ambedkar’s further education abroad, first at Columbia University in New York where he completed a Masters and a PhD, and later at LSE. During this period Ambedkar studied economics, history and political science, and wrote on a wide range of topics, including the history of caste in India. There is also evidence in his letters at this time of his belief in education as a path to progress, with a particular emphasis on female education. 

Over the next twenty years, he played a key role in organising the Untouchables. He created Dalit newspapers, social and cultural institutions, attended more conferences of the Depressed Classes, initiated protests against discrimination in temple entry and access to water, and passionately promoted Dalit access to education. 

Despite Ambedkar’s differences with Congress, when India became independent in August 1947, Prime Minister Nehru invited him to be the first Minister of Law and Justice. Shortly after, the Constituent Assembly appointed Ambedkar as Chair of the Drafting Committee for the new Constitution.

Ambedkar’s influence can be seen in many aspects of the resulting Indian Constitution such as the strong emphasis on liberal democracy, the federal structure, and the provisions and safeguards for minorities alongside the emphatic abolition of Untouchability. 

Source:  LSE History Blog  

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October 25th, 2023, the life and thought of dr b r ambedkar in london.

1 comment | 6 shares

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

The editors and authors of the recently published book, Ambedkar in London, spoke at a book launch in front of an audience in LSE’s Sheikh Zayed Theatre. LSE alumnus Dr Bhimrao R Ambedkar (1891-1956) was one of India’s greatest intellectuals and social reformers; his political ideas continue to inspire and mobilise some of the world’s poorest and most socially disadvantaged, in India and the global Indian diaspora. Ambedkar’s thought on labour, legal rights, women’s rights, education, caste, political representation and the economy are international in importance.

Ambedkar in London explores his lesser-known period of London-based study and publication during the early 1920s, presenting that experience as a lens for thinking about B R Ambedkar’s global intellectual significance . Some of his later canon on caste, and Dalit rights and representation, was rooted in and shaped by his earlier work around the economy, governance, labour and representation during his time as a law student and as a doctoral candidate at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Ambedkar at LSE

Speaking specifically about Ambedkar’s time as a student at LSE , former LSE archivist Sue Donnelly began with an introduction to the world Ambedkar inhabited when he was here. What we now know as the Old Building was still new. LSE was small, specialist, young, and – for the time – it had a strong and unique focus on research.

Indian students at LSE in the 1920s found a supporter in academic Vera Anstey  who had returned to LSE after a spell in India with husband Percy, Principal at Sydenham College , Mumbai. LSE itself was a very international environment to be in. Between 1845 and 1932 there were 130 students from the Indian subcontinent and there were 44 other Indian students while Ambedkar was at LSE. In 1912 the Students’ Union had its first Indian Chair and in 1920, student Mithan Tata was chosen to take part in the ceremony for the foundation stone of the Old Building .

Ambedkar arrived at LSE in 1916 from New York. He attended four taught courses but according to his student files didn’t always turn up. He was keenest on the lesson taught by L T Hobhouse  and possibly wanted to develop his broader thinking on sociology and anthropology. He returned in 1920 and was awarded his MSc in 1921, beginning work on his DSc thesis. This was conferred in November 1923. It was initially rejected – we only have the records from his student file, and the correspondence within doesn’t confirm or deny whether this was because of his anti-imperial stance.

Why choose LSE? It had a focus on economics and research and was open to Indian students. Postgraduate students undertaking research was a very recent concept. PhDs had only been introduced in 1919 and DScs in the 1860s. Ambedkar finished his thesis within two years which, coupled with the fact that he is not featured in any surviving student photographs or in the student magazine, suggests he focused on his research. His supervisor was Professor Edwin Cannan , known for his part in choosing LSE’s coat of arms , and also the University of London’s first Professor of Political Economy. Cannan noted that Ambedkar was an exceptional student.

This public event was co-hosted by LSE Library, Department of Anthropology and International Inequalities Institute. It was held in the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, Cheng Kin Ku Building, on Wednesday 11 October 2023. The introduction and first 10 minutes of the programme are cut out due to technical issues.

The event was chaired by Tarun Khaitan, Professor (Chair) of Public Law at LSE Law School and Honorary Professorial Fellow at Melbourne Law School. The speakers were: Santosh Dass, Chair of the Anti Caste Discrimination Alliance, and President of the Federation of Ambedkarite and Buddhist Organisations UK; Sue Donnelly, former LSE archivist with responsibility for the development of LSE’s institutional archive and raising awareness of the School’s unique and fascinating history; William Gould, Professor of Indian History at the University of Leeds; Christophe Jaffrelot, Avantha Chair and Professor of Indian Politics and Sociology at the King’s India Institute.

Visit our collection of blogs on B R Ambedkar and LSE .

To view Ambedkar’s student file and other related material, head to the LSE Library’s Traces of South Asia webpage.

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J Bhim, Very pleased to read your piece about your journey to LSE. We accommodated you all at our annual event at the High Commission of India on 14th April at the very short notice. Due to shortage of time, we could not talk to you personally. Please keep in touch. C Gautam Joint Secretary Federation of Ambedkarite and Buddhist Organisations UK E: [email protected]

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"No More Worlds Here for Him to Conquer" – Dr B R Ambedkar at LSE January 29th, 2016

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The journey of Baba Saheb Ambedkar –  Life, History & Works

• Baba Saheb Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar was born on April 14, 1891, he was the 14 th and last child of his parents.
• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar was the son of Subedar Ramji Maloji Sakpal. He was Subedar in British Army. Babasaheb’s father was a follower of Sant Kabir and was also a well-read person.
• Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was hardly two years old when his father retired from service. His mother died when he was only about six. Babasaheb got his early education in Bombay. Since his school days he realized with intense shock what it was to be an untouchable in India.
• Dr. Ambedkar was taking his school education in Satara. Unfortunately, Dr. Ambedkar lost his mother. His aunt looked after him. Afterwards, they shifted to Bombay. Throughout his school education, he suffered from the curse of untouchability. His marriage took place after his matriculation in 1907 in an open shed of a market.
• Dr. Ambedkar completed his graduation at Elphinston College, Bombay, for which he was getting a scholarship from His Highness Sayajirao Gaikwad of Baroda. After his graduation, he had to join Baroda Sansthan according to the bond. He lost his father when he was in Baroda, 1913 is the year when Dr. Ambedkar was selected as a scholar to go to U.S.A, for the higher studies. This was the turning point of his educational career.
• He got his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University in 1915 and 1916 respectively. He then left for London for further studies. He was admitted there to the Gray’s Inn for Law and also allowed to prepare for the D. Sc. at the London School of Economics and Political Science. But he was called back to India by the Dewan of Baroda. Later, he got his Bar-at-Law and D.Sc. degree also. He studied for some time at Bonn University in Germany.
• In 1916 he read an essay on ‘Castes in India — their Mechanism, Genesis, and Development’. In 1916, he wrote his thesis ‘National dividend for India — A Historic and Analytical Study’ and got his Ph.D. Degree. This was published after eight years   under the title — “Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India.” Then after getting this highest degree, he returned to India and was appointed a Military Secretary to the Maharaja of Baroda with a view to groom him as the finance minister in the long run.
• Babasaheb returned to the city in September, 1917 as his scholarship tenure ended and joined the service. But after a brief stay in the city till November, 1917, he left for Mumbai. The maltreatment he faced on grounds of untouchability had forced him to leave the service.
• Dr. Ambedkar returned to Bombay and joined Sydenham College as a Professor of Political Economy. As he was well read, he was very popular among the students. But he resigned his post, to resume his studies in Law and Economics in London. Maharaja of Kolhapur gave him the financial help. In 1921 , he wrote his thesis. “Provincial Decentralization of Imperial Finance in British India,’ and got his M.Sc. Degree from the London University. Then he spent some period in Bonn University in Germany. In 1923 , he submitted his thesis — “Problem of Rupee its Origin and Solution”, for the D.Sc. Degree. He was called to Bar in 1923 .
• After coming back from England in 1924 he started an Association for the welfare of the depressed classes, with Sir Chimanlal Setalvad as the President and Dr. Ambedkar as the Chairman. To spread education, improve economic conditions and represent the grievances of depressed classes were the immediate objects of the Association.
• The Bahiskrit Bharat , newspaper was started in April 3, 1927 to address the cause of the depressed classes in view of the new reform.
• In 1928, he became a Professor in Government Law College, Bombay and on June 1, 1935 he became the Principal of the same college and remained in that position till his resignation in 1938.
• On October 13, 1935, a provincial conference of the depressed classes was held a Yeola in Nasik District. In this conference, he gave the shock to the Hindus by announcing. “I was born in Hinduism but I will not die as a Hindu” Thousands of his followers supported his decision. In 1936 he addressed the Bombay Presidency Mahar Conference and advocated the renunciation of Hinduism.
• On August 15, 1936, he formed Independent Labour Party to safeguard the interest of the depressed classes, which mostly formed the labour population.
• In 1938, Congress introduced a bill making change in the name of untouchables. Dr. Ambedkar criticized it. In his point of view changing the name is not the solution of the problem.
• In 1942, he was appointed to the Executive Council of the Governor General of India as a Labour member, in 1946, he was elected to the Constituent Assembly from Bengal. At the same time he published his book, Who were Shudras?
• After Independence, in 1947, he was appointed as a Minister of Law and Justice in Nehru’s first cabinet. But in 1951, he resigned his ministership, expressing his differences on the Kashmir issue, India’s Foreign Policy and Nehru’s Policy towards the Hindu Code Bill.
• In 1952, Columbia University conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. in recognition of the work done by him in connection with the drafting of India’s Constitution. In 1955, he published his book titled Thoughts on Linguistic States .
• Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was awarded a Doctorate on January 12, 1953, from Osmania University. Ultimately after 21 years, he proved true, what he had announced in Yeola in 1935 , that “I will not die as a Hindu”. On 14th Oct. 1956, he embraced Buddhism in a historic ceremony in Nagpur and died on 6th Dec. 1956.
• Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar was conferred with the title of “Bodhisattva” by the Buddhist monks at “Jagatik Buddhism Council” in 1954 in Kathmandu, Nepal. The special thing is that Dr Ambedkar was conferred with the title of Bodhisattva while he was alive.
• He also contributed to India’s Independence struggle and in its reforms post-independence. Apart from this, Babasaheb played a significant role in the formation of the Reserve Bank of India. The Central bank was formed on the concept presented by Babasaheb to the Hilton Young Commission.
• This sparkling life history of Dr. Ambedkar shows that he was a man of study and action. Firstly, he acquired sound knowledge of Economics Politics, Law, Philosophy  and Sociology, in pursuing his studies; he had to face many social odds. But he did not spend all his life in reading and studying and in the libraries. He refused the higher posts with attractive salaries because he never forgot his brothers in the depressed class. He dedicated the rest of his life for equality, brotherhood and humanity. He tried his best for the upliftment of the depressed classes.
• After having gone through his life history it is necessary and proper to study and analyze his main contribution and their relevance. According to one opinion there are three points which are more important even today. Today also Indian Economy and Indian Society is facing many economic, and social problems. Dr. Ambedkar’s thoughts and actions may guide us for the solution of these problems.
• Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s death anniversary is observed as Mahaparinirvan Diwas across the country.

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What was the title of the thesis that Dr B R Ambedkar submitted to the London School of Economics for which he was awarded his doctorate in 1923?

31st August 2021, Question for 7 Crore today's KBC Episode | Check the correct answer to the question - What was the title of the thesis that Dr B R Ambedkar submitted to the London School of Economics for which he was awarded his doctorate in 1923?

KBC question for 7 crores, 31st August 2021 | The options for the question – What was the title of the thesis that Dr B R Ambedkar submitted to the London School of Economics for which he was awarded his doctorate in 1923?

The wants and means of india, the problem of the rupee, national dividend of india, the law and lawyers, the correct answer is ‘the problem of the rupee’. ‘the problem of the rupee’ was the title of the thesis that dr b r ambedkar submitted to the london school of economics for which he was awarded his doctorate in 1923., related articles more from author, also explain any two points of importance of the function of management identified…, identify the function of management. quoting the lines from the above para, explain…, explain any four points of importance of the function identified in (a) above..

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