B. R. Ambedkar

B. R. Ambedkar, born Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar on 14 April 1891 and living until 6 December 1956, was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and politician who chaired the committee that drafted the Constitution of India, working from the debates of the Constituent Assembly of India and an initial draft prepared by Benegal Narsing Rau. He served as Law and Justice minister in independent India's first cabinet under Jawaharlal Nehru, and late in life he renounced Hinduism and converted to Buddhism, a step that inspired the Dalit Buddhist movement. After graduating from Elphinstone College at the University of Bombay, Ambedkar studied economics at Columbia University and the London School of Economics, earning doctorates from both in 1927 and 1923 respectively, among only a handful of Indian students to do so at either institution in the 1920s, and while at Columbia he came under the influence of John Dewey's philosophy of pragmatism; he also trained in law at Gray's Inn in London. His early career was spent as an economist, professor and lawyer before his later years turned to political activity, including campaigning and negotiation around partition, publishing journals, and advocating political rights and social freedom for Dalits. In 1956 he led mass conversions of Dalits to Buddhism, and in 1990 he was posthumously awarded India's highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna; his followers greet each other with the salutation Jai Bhim in his honor and refer to him by the honorific Babasaheb, meaning respected father.