Ambedkar Jayanti Celebrations in IIT Bombay

April 14th marked the birth anniversary of Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, who is popularly known as the chief architect of the Indian constitution. Moreover, he was also the flag bearer of the Dalit rights movement in India and spent his whole life fighting for the rights of Dalits and other marginalized communities. The 131st birth anniversary of the great social reformer was commemorated by several events on campus.

Talk on ‘Meritocracy and Democracy’ organized by the SC-ST cell

The SC-ST Students’ Cell of IIT Bombay organized a seminar titled ‘Meritocracy and Democracy: The Social Life of Caste in India’ on the eve of Ambedkar Jayanti. The chief speaker, Dr. Ajantha Subramanian, who is a Professor of Anthropology and South Asian Studies at Harvard University, connected online with the audience who had gathered at LA-001.

The talk was based on her book “The Caste of Merit: Engineering Education in India”, which tracks the relationship between meritocracy and democracy in India. Dr. Subramanian talked about the production of merit as a form of caste property, with special emphasis on engineering education – especially at the Indian Institutes of Technology. The major themes covered in the session included caste stratification in engineering education from pre-Independence, merit, and caste within reservation policies, arguments for merit within the IITs, and the role of merit within anti-reservation politics.

Here is a brief about the session from the speaker herself:

“Merit has never been simply a measure of talent and hard work. It has always been a product of inherited privilege, and claims to merit have also been claims to protect those forms of privilege. The language of merit has been used to justify social inequality in the name of democratic equality. This is because meritocracy is commonly thought of as an important democratic principle that marks a break with older forms of hierarchy and exclusion. Because merit seems to refer to notions of individual worth and innate ability that have nothing to do with inherited privilege, the language of merit hides the very forms of social inequality in which it is grounded. It is only when political challenges to these dominant conceptions of merit arise – such as in the demands of reservations – are we able to see how the collective inheritances of caste lie behind these claims to merit.”

The talk was attended by students and faculty across various departments. According to the organizers, this was the first time such a programme was conducted by the SC-ST Students’ Cell of IIT Bombay. The session, which was live-streamed through the official YouTube channel of IIT Bombay, can be watched here.

Ambedkar Pooja and Jayanti March

The Buddhist Cultural Association of IIT Bombay celebrated the birth anniversary of Dr. Ambedkar by paying homage to his statue and holding a march on campus. The homage took place in front of the main building which was decorated with lights, and rangoli. The participants gathered after midnight and garlanded the statue of Dr. Ambedkar. Attendees were all in a celebratory mood, and there were speeches from representatives of various organizations, prayers, and songs. The speakers emphasized the importance of celebrating Ambedkar and his idea of emancipation through education.

The same group also held a march inside the campus on the evening of the Jayanti, which commenced near the water tank and ended near the lake gate. A brightly lit and well-decorated chariot carried an idol of the social reformer, and hundreds danced to the rhythmic drum beats accompanied by music. Kids could be seen waving blue flags with ‘Jai Bhim’ written on them. The crowd consisted of the staff of IIT, students, and some faculty.

Babasaheb helped frame our country’s constitution with the hopes of providing social justice, the dignity of life, and equality to every citizen in the country, irrespective of caste, gender, race, or language. We are at a crossroads where the ethos of the constitution is being vitally challenged, and hate seems to be winning over. It is of extreme importance, now more than ever, to hold high the values that Dr. Ambedkar had upheld.