Our nation is privileged to have been graced by the presence of many great men. Babasaheb Dr. B R Ambedkar stands tall as one of the greatest and most influential leaders.
Babasaheb Dr. Amebdkar devoted his life and efforts towards bringing a positive difference in the lives of the poor, marginalised and lesser privileged.
To understand the enormity of his contribution and influence on our nation, in sheer numbers, perhaps no single action in history lifted up the lives of so many poor and marginalised people as Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar’s Constitution did. It is a demonstration of his greatness that he gave us one of the most comprehensive constitutions in the world.
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the NDA government is continuously fulfilling the vision of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. This is seen through the consistent devising of people friendly policies and effective implementing of programmes that are based on his ideas of socio-economic empowerment of the marginalised and his vision of a developed and inclusive India.
Babasaheb’s empowerment of the powerless was exemplary. His stress on inclusion for the poor and marginalised is an inspiration to us.
Jan Dhan Yojana, for example, takes banking to the unbanked. The government’s road to enabling the poor to win against poverty begins with the access to formal financial institutions and instruments. Once financial inclusion is achieved, the government can deploy a range of measures to address poverty.
From Jan Dhan we have moved the focus to the next step – Jan Suraksha. The government provides inexpensive accident and life insurance to protect the socio-economic security of the poor under the Suraksha Bima Yojana and Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana. Cumulatively over 13 crore people have benefited from these schemes.
Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar was a leader who always stood up for the interests of the labourers.
From increasing the minimum wages of workers to enhancing the eligibility limit for availing bonuses, from the Universal Account Number for EPF to enabling employers to pay employees through banks, we have taken decisions that will positively impact the lives of crores of workers and safeguard their interests. Under our Shrameva Jayate initiative many reforms such as Labour Identification Numbers to labour units, Shram Suvidha Portal for ease of compliance for industries, transparent labour inspections, Apprentice Protsahan Yojana to support apprentices have been ushered in.
Dr. Ambedkar’s ideas teach us that economic empowerment and enterprise go a long way in bringing about socio-economic empowerment.
Lack of access to formal capital and credit systems has long been a problem for the poor. Our Stand Up India scheme aims to promote entrepreneurship among women, SCs and STs. The scheme facilitates loans to beneficiaries and aims to empower their creative energy in forging a brave new future for themselves.
The MUDRA scheme is also a key player in the promotion of entrepreneurship. The lack of a collateral is no more an obstacle for the aspirational class. To free the poor from the clutches of private moneylenders, the MUDRA scheme facilitates collateral-free bank financing for small businesses that form a crucial part of our economy. Crores of small entrepreneurs, especially SCs, STs, OBCs and women have benefited from this.
Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar firmly believed in the empowerment of women.
On this front, our government has taken inspiration from his words and translated it into reality. The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao awareness drive has now become a people’s movement in itself and is positively impacting gender equality. A large chunk of beneficiaries of schemes like MUDRA and Stand Up India are women. Ujjwala Yojana has helped free crores of women from the shackles of smoke-filled kitchens by providing deposit-free LPG connections at a rapid pace and raised their quality of life.
As an economist of great repute, Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar always stood for an economically strong India. He believed that industrialization was the best way to fight poverty.
The Make In India programme to encourage manufacturing in India relentlessly focuses on bringing more and more investment into India to enhance manufacturing capacity which leads to economic growth. At a time when the global growth has been slow, India has been a bright spot due to fiscally responsible and growth-stimulating policies.
Farsighted infrastructure initiatives like Sagarmala that will create crores of direct and indirect jobs as well as spur economic activity through infrastructure creation will go a long way in making the lives of our poor better.
Multi-faceted and multi-talented that he was, Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar left his mark on various domains through his intellectual rigor and deep insight. In all spheres, his views remain a source of motivation and propel us to do more for socio-economic empowerment and take our nation to greater heights.
None would be prouder of a strong, inclusive and developed India than Babasaheb. Creating an India that he would be proud of is our aim.
