social justice. It was due to his efforts that provisions were included in the Constitution aimed at establishing a social system based on political, economic, and social justice for all. The objectives of the Constitution, of which Dr. Ambedkar was the architect, are an extremely important document encompassing all these freedoms.
Dr. Ambedkar had a deep understanding of economic principles. He supported rapid industrialization
but was a harsh critic of Gandhian ideas like village industries and the Khadi movement. While emphasizing industrialization, he also said that agriculture should not be neglected, as it was the source for food and raw materials necessary for industries. He believed that agriculture would be the foundation on which modern India ' s building would stand when the country rapidly industrializes. For this, he advocated for revolutionary steps to reorganize the agricultural sector. He was in favor of the nationalization of agricultural land but clarified that he was not talking about confiscating the land of farmers. Instead, he suggested that agricultural land be nationalized, and proportional value bonds be issued to landowners in exchange for their land.
According to Dr. Ambedkar, small landholdings were a problem not because they were small, but because they did not meet the economic needs of society. The only solution to the fragmentation of landholdings into smaller pieces was land consolidation. On March 15, 1928, Dr. Ambedkar presented the ' Watan Bill ' in the Bombay Legislative Assembly. Due to the small ' endowment lands ' inherited by the Watan-dar Mahars, their economic condition had become miserable. This bill remained pending for years and was eventually passed as the Bombay Inferior Village Servants Act in 1939. On September 7, 1937, Dr. Ambedkar presented a bill in the Bombay Legislative Assembly for the abolition of the ' Khoti system.' Through this bill, he aimed to give land ownership to the tenants and replace the Khoti system with the Rayatwari system. Dr. Ambedkar was the first leader in India to introduce a bill to free agricultural tenants from slavery. According to Dr. Ambedkar, all workers, whether industrial or agricultural, should be provided with equal facilities, including provident funds, employer responsibility, compensation, health insurance, and pensions.
Dr. Ambedkar believed that caste also had an economic aspect, and to abolish casteism, it was necessary to restructure the economic system of Indian villages. Around 70 percent of India ' s population is dependent on agriculture and lives in rural areas, where casteism and communalism are rampant. Therefore, while addressing the Constituent Assembly, he said that he believed rural republics would destroy India. Villages are nothing but cesspools of localism, ignorance, narrow-mindedness, and communalism. He was pleased that in the draft of the Constitution, the individual, rather than the village, was made the unit. He believed that for villages to be freed from their evils, modern changes had to be introduced in agriculture. He argued that the current village system not only perpetuated casteism but also hindered the development of agriculture. Thus, nationalization of agricultural land would break the backbone of casteism and promote agricultural production, making surplus goods available for industries. Dr. Ambedkar also believed that rapid industrialization was necessary to promote intellectual and cultural life.
In India, the ' downtrodden classes ' lacked economic freedom. They had no land, social status, business ownership, or representation in government jobs. Therefore, Ambedkar advocated for ' state socialism ' in the industrial sector and stressed state ownership of agricultural land and collective farming. He firmly believed that the problem of landless laborers would not be solved merely by land consolidation or giving
April 2025 | Dalit Andolan Patrika 23