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Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar
Ambedkar delivering a speech to a rally at Yeola, Nashik, on 13 October 1935
Born	(1891-04-14)14 April 1891 Mhow, Central Provinces, British India (now in Madhya Pradesh)
Died	6 December 1956(1956-12-06) (aged 65) Delhi, India
Nationality	Indian
Other names	Baba, Baba Saheb, Bodhisatva, Bhima, Mooknayak, Adhunik Buddha
Alma mater	University of Mumbai Columbia University University of London London School of Economics
Organization	Samata Sainik Dal, Independent Labour Party, Scheduled Castes Federation
Title	1st Law Minister of India, Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee
Religion	Buddhism
Spouse	Ramabai Ambedkar (m. 1906) «start: (1906)»"Marriage: Ramabai to B. R. Ambedkar" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/B._R._Ambedkar)[1] Savita Ambedkar (m. 1948) «start: (1948-04-15)»"Marriage: Savita Ambedkar to B. R. Ambedkar" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/B._R._Ambedkar)[2]
Awards	Bharat Ratna

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar ([bʱiːmraːw raːmdʑiː aːmbeːɽkər]; 14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956), popularly also known as Babasaheb, was an Indian jurist, political leader, philosopher, anthropologist, historian, orator, economist, teacher, and editor. He was also the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of Indian Constitution.^[3] Born into a poor Mahar (considered an Untouchable caste) family, Ambedkar campaigned against social discrimination, the system of Chaturvarna – the categorization of Hindu society into four varnas – and the Hindu caste system. He converted to Buddhism and is also credited with providing a spark for the transformation of hundreds of thousands of Dalits or untouchables to Theravada Buddhism. Ambedkar was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, in 1990.

Overcoming numerous social and financial obstacles, Ambedkar became one of the first outcastes to obtain a college education in India. Eventually earning law degree and doctorates for his study and research in law, economics and political science from Columbia University and the London School of Economics, Ambedkar gained a reputation as a scholar and practiced law for a few years, later campaigning by publishing journals advocating political rights and social freedom for India's untouchables. He is regarded as a Bodhisattva by some Indian Buddhists, though he never claimed himself to be a Bodhisattva.^[4]

Early life and education[link]

Dr. ‎Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar seen as a young man^[5]

Ambedkar was born in the British-founded town and military cantonment of Mhow in the Central Provinces (now in Madhya Pradesh).^[6] He was the 14th and last child of Ramji Maloji Sakpal and Bhimabai.^[7] His family was of Marathi background from the town of Ambavade (Mandangad taluka) in the Ratnagiri district of modern-day Maharashtra. They belonged to the Mahar caste, who were treated as untouchables and subjected to socio-economic discrimination.^[8] Ambedkar's ancestors had for long been in the employment of the army of the British East India Company, and, his father served in the Indian Army at the Mhow cantonment. Having had little formal education in Marathi and English, but encouraging his children to learn and work hard at school.^[9]

Belonging to the Kabir Panth, Ramji Sakpal encouraged his children to read the Hindu classics. He used his position in the army to lobby for his children to study at the government school, as they faced resistance owing to their caste. Although able to attend school, Ambedkar and other untouchable children were segregated and given little attention or assistance by the teachers. They were not allowed to sit inside the class. Even if they needed to drink water somebody from a higher caste would have to pour that water from a height as they were not allowed to touch either the water or the vessel that contained it. This task was usually performed for the young Ambedkar by the school peon, and if the peon was not available then he had to go without water, Ambedkar states this situation as "No peon, No Water".^[10] Ramji Sakpal retired in 1894 and the family moved to Satara two years later. Shortly after their move, Ambedkar's mother died. The children were cared for by their paternal aunt, and lived in difficult circumstances. Only three sons – Balaram, Anandrao and Bhimrao – and two daughters – Manjula and Tulasa – of the Ambedkars would go on to survive them. Of his brothers and sisters, only Ambedkar succeeded in passing his examinations and graduating to a high school. Bhimrao Sakpal Ambavadekar the surname comes from his native village 'Ambavade' in Ratnagiri District.^[11] His Brahmin teacher, Mahadev Ambedkar, who was fond of him, changed his surname from 'Ambavadekar' to his own surname 'Ambedkar' in school records.^[11]

Higher education[link]

Ambedkar's family moved to Bombay in 1902 and he became the only untouchable enrolled at Elphinstone High School. In 1906 his marriage to a nine-year old girl, Ramabai, was arranged.^[1] In 1907, he passed his matriculation examination and in the following year he entered Elphinstone College, which was affiliated to the University of Bombay, becoming the first from his untouchable community to do so. This success provoked celebrations in his community and after a public ceremony he was presented with a biography of the Buddha by Dada Keluskar, the author and a family friend.^[1] By 1912, he obtained his degree in economics and political science from Bombay University, and prepared to take up employment with the Baroda state government. His wife, by then 19 years old gave birth to his first son, Yashwant, in the same year. Ambedkar had just moved his young family and started work, when he dashed back to Mumbai to see his ailing father, who died on 2 February 1913.^[12]

In 1913 he moved to the United States. He had been awarded a Baroda State Scholarship of £11.50 (Sterling) per month for three years under a scheme established by the Gaekwar of Baroda that was designed to provide opportunities for postgraduate education at Columbia University. Soon after arriving there he settled in rooms at Livingston Hall with Naval Bhathena, a Parsi who was to be a lifelong friend. He passed his MA exam in June 1915, majoring in Economics, with Sociology, History, Philosophy and Anthropology as other subjects of study; he presented a thesis, Ancient Indian Commerce. In 1916 he offered another MA thesis, National Dividend of India-A Historic and Analytical Study. On 9 May, he read his paper Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development before a seminar conducted by the anthropologist Alexander Goldenweiser. In October 1916 he studied for the Bar examination at Gray's Inn, and enrolled at the London School of Economics where he started work on a doctoral thesis. In June 1917 he was obliged to go back to India as the term of his scholarship from Baroda ended, however he was given permission to return and submit his thesis within four years. He travelled separately from his collection of books, which were lost when the ship on which they were despatched was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine.^[12]

Opposition to untouchability[link]

As Ambedkar was educated by the Baroda State, he was bound to serve that State. He was appointed as Military Secretary to the Gaikwar of Baroda but had to quit within a short time. He described the incident in his autobiography, Waiting for a Visa.^[10]

Thereafter he tried to find ways to make a living for his growing family. He worked as a private tutor, as an accountant, investment consulting business, but it failed when his clients learned that he was an untouchable.^{[citation needed]} In 1918 he became Professor of Political Economy in the Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics in Bombay. Even though he was successful with the students, other professors objected to his sharing the same drinking-water jug that they all used.^[13]

As a leading Indian scholar,^[14] Ambedkar had been invited to testify before the Southborough Committee, which was preparing the Government of India Act 1919. At this hearing, Ambedkar argued for creating separate electorates and reservations for untouchables and other religious communities. In 1920, he began the publication of the weekly Mooknayak (Leader of the Silent) in Mumbai with the help of Chatrapati Shahu Maharaj I (1884–1922), Maharaja of Kolhapur. Ambedkar used this journal to criticize orthodox Hindu politicians and a perceived reluctance of the Indian political community to fight caste discrimination. His speech at a Depressed Classes Conference in Kolhapur impressed the local state ruler Shahu IV, who described Ambedkar as the future national leader and shocked orthodox society by dining with Ambedkar. Having resigned from his teaching position, in July he returned to London, relying on his own savings, supplemented by loans from the Maharaja of Kolhapur and his friend Naval Bhathena. He returned to the London School of Economics, and to Gray's Inn to read for the Bar. He lived in poverty, and studied constantly in the British Museum. In 1922, through unremitting hard work, Ambedkar once again overfulfilled all expectations: he completed a thesis for a M.Sc. (Economics) degree at London School of Economics, and was called to the bar, and submitted a PhD thesis in economics to the University of London. Ambedkar established a successful legal practice. Early on his legal career, Ambedkar was engaged in a very important lawsuit which had been filed by some Brahmins against three non-Brahmin leaders: K.B. Bagde, Keshavrao Jedhe and Dinkarrao Javalkar. They were being prosecuted for writing a pamphlet stating that Brahmins had ruined India. On the prosecution side was L. B. Bhopatkar, a lawyer from Poona. Ambedkar argued his case very ably, put up a very eloquent defence and won the case in October 1926. The victory was resounding, both socially and individually for the clients.^[15]

Protests[link]

While practicing law in the Bombay High Court he tried to uplift the untouchables in order to educate them. His first organized attempt to achieve this was the Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha, which was intended to promote education and socio-economic improvement, as well as the welfare of "outcastes", at the time referred to as depressed classes.^[16]

By 1927 Ambedkar decided to launch active movements against untouchability. He began with public movements and marches to open up and share public drinking water resources, also he began a struggle for the right to enter Hindu temples. He led a satyagraha in Mahad to fight for the right of the untouchable community to draw water from the main water tank of the town.^[17]

He took part in an event in which casteist text Manu Smriti was burned by a Brahmin G.N. Sahasrabuddhe.^[18]

He was appointed to the Bombay Presidency Committee to work with the all-European Simon Commission in 1925.^[19] This commission had sparked great protests across India, and while its report was ignored by most Indians, Ambedkar himself wrote a separate set of recommendations for future constitutional recommendations.^[20]

Poona Pact[link]

Due to Ambedkar's prominence and popular support amongst the untouchable community, he was invited to attend the Second Round Table Conference in London in 1932.^[21] Gandhi fiercely opposed separate electorate for untouchables, saying he feared that separate electorates for untouchables would divide Hindu community into two groups.^[21]

When the British agreed with Ambedkar and announced the awarding of separate electorates, Gandhi began a fast while imprisoned in the Yerwada Central Jail of Pune in 1932 against the separate electorate for untouchables only. Gandhi's fast provoked huge civil unrest across India, and orthodox Hindu leaders, Congress politicians and activists such as Madan Mohan Malaviya and Palwankar Baloo organized joint meetings with Ambedkar and his supporters at Yerwada. Fearing a communal reprisal and genocide of untouchables, Ambedkar agreed under massive coercion from the supporters of Gandhi. This agreement, which saw Gandhi end his fast, was called the Poona Pact. As a result of the agreement, Ambedkar dropped the demand for separate electorates that was promised through the British Communal Award prior to Ambedkar's meeting with Gandhi. Instead, a certain number of seats were reserved specifically for untouchables (in the agreement, called the "Depressed Class").^[22]

Political career[link]

In 1935, Ambedkar was appointed principal of the Government Law College, Mumbai, a position he held for two years. Settling in Mumbai, Ambedkar oversaw the construction of a house, and stocked his personal library with more than 50,000 books.^[23] His wife Ramabai died after a long illness in the same year. It had been her long-standing wish to go on a pilgrimage to Pandharpur, but Ambedkar had refused to let her go, telling her that he would create a new Pandharpur for her instead of Hinduism's Pandharpur which treated them as untouchables. Speaking at the Yeola Conversion Conference on 13 October in Nasik, Ambedkar announced his intention to convert to a different religion and exhorted his followers to leave Hinduism.^[23] He would repeat his message at numerous public meetings across India.

In 1936, Ambedkar founded the Independent Labour Party, which won 15 seats in the 1937 elections to the Central Legislative Assembly. He published his book The Annihilation of Caste in the same year, based on the thesis he had written in New York. Attaining immense popular success, Ambedkar's work strongly criticized Hindu orthodox religious leaders and the caste system in general. Ambedkar served on the Defence Advisory Committee and the Viceroy's Executive Council as minister for labour.

In his work Who Were the Shudras?, Ambedkar attempted to explain the formation of Untouchables. He saw the Shudras, who form the lowest caste in the ritual hierarchy of the Hindu caste system, as being separate from Untouchables. Ambedkar oversaw the transformation of his political party into the Scheduled Castes Federation, although it performed poorly in the elections held in 1946 for the Constituent Assembly of India. In his 1948 sequel to Who Were the Shudras?, which he titled The Untouchables: A Thesis on the Origins of Untouchability, Ambedkar said that:

The Hindu Civilisation ... is a diabolical contrivance to suppress and enslave humanity. Its proper name would be infamy. What else can be said of a civilisation which has produced a mass of people ... who are treated as an entity beyond human intercourse and whose mere touch is enough to cause pollution?^[2]

Pakistan or the Partition of India[link]

In the above book Ambedkar wrote a sub-chapter titled If Muslims truly and deeply desire Pakistan, their choice ought to be accepted. He wrote that if the Muslims are bent on Pakistan, then it must be conceded to them. He asked whether Muslims in the army could be trusted to defend India. In the event of Muslims invading India or in the case of a Muslim rebellion, with whom would the Indian Muslims in the army side? He concluded that, in the interests of the safety of India, Pakistan should be acceded to, should the Muslims demand it. According to Ambedkar, the Hindu assumption that though Hindus and Muslims were two nations, they could live together under one state, was but an empty sermon, a mad project, to which no sane man would agree.^[24]

Ambedkar was also critical of Hindus treatment of Muslims. Ambedkar condemned the practice of child marriage, as well as the mistreatment of women in Hindu society.

I have no hesitation in saying that if the Mohammedan has been cruel the Hindu has been mean and meanness is worse than cruelty.^[24]

He criticized the discrimination against the Dalits classes among Hindus who were regarded as "degraded", as well as the oppression of women in Hindu society through the oppressive Ghunghat system. He alleged that while purdah was also practiced by Muslims, only Hindus used to suppress rights of women, for example burning of widows 'Sati (practice)' so as deny right in property. ^[24]

Role in drafting India's Constitution[link]

"Ambedkar at his desk" (an art piece) at Ambedkar Museum in Pune

Upon India's independence on 15 August 1947, the new Congress-led government invited Ambedkar to serve as the nation's first law minister, which he accepted. On 29 August, Ambedkar was appointed Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee, charged by the Assembly to write India's new Constitution.^[25]

Granville Austin has described the Indian Constitution drafted by Ambedkar as 'first and foremost a social document'. ... 'The majority of India's constitutional provisions are either directly arrived at furthering the aim of social revolution or attempt to foster this revolution by establishing conditions necessary for its achievement.'^[26]

The text prepared by Ambedkar provided constitutional guarantees and protections for a wide range of civil liberties for individual citizens, including freedom of religion, the abolition of untouchability and the outlawing of all forms of discrimination.^[27] Ambedkar argued for extensive economic and social rights for women, and also won the Assembly's support for introducing a system of reservations of jobs in the civil services, schools and colleges for members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, a system akin to affirmative action.^[28] India's lawmakers hoped to eradicate the socio-economic inequalities and lack of opportunities for India's depressed classes through these measures. The Constitution was adopted on 26 November 1949 by the Constituent Assembly.

Ambedkar resigned from the cabinet in 1951 following the stalling in parliament of his draft of the Hindu Code Bill, which sought to expound gender equality in the laws of inheritance, marriage and the economy. Although supported by Prime Minister Nehru, the cabinet and many other Congress leaders, it received criticism from a large number of members of parliament.^[why?] Ambedkar independently contested an election in 1952 to the lower house of parliament, the Lok Sabha, but was defeated. He was appointed to the upper house, of parliament, the Rajya Sabha in March 1952 and would remain as member till death.

Second Marriage[link]

After the completion of the drafting work of India's constitution, Ambedkar came to Bombay for his treatment. In the hospital where he was being treated, he came across a spinster Dr. Sharada Kabir, a high caste Hindu. He chose to marry Dr. Sharada Kabir a Saraswat Brahmin, on the morning of April 15, 1948, at his residence No. 1, Hardinge Avenue, New Delhi. The marriage was officiated under the Civil Marriages Act by the Deputy Commissioner of Delhi. The New York Times described the marriage as more significant than the wedding of a royalty to a commoner.^[29] She adopted the name Savita. She took care of him for the rest of his life.^[2]

Conversion to Buddhism[link]

Ambedkar believed that the Mahar people were an ancient Buddhist community of India who had been forced to live outside villages as outcasts because they refused to renounce their Buddhist practices. He considered this to be why they became untouchables and he wrote a book on this topic, entitled Who were the Shudras?.

Dikshabhumi, a stupa at the site in Nagpur, where Ambedkar embraced Buddhism along with many of his followers

Ambedkar studied Buddhism all his life, and around 1950s, Ambedkar turned his attention fully to Buddhism and travelled to Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) to attend a convention of Buddhist scholars and monks.^[30] While dedicating a new Buddhist vihara near Pune, Ambedkar announced that he was writing a book on Buddhism, and that as soon as it was finished, he planned to make a formal conversion back to Buddhism.^[31] Ambedkar twice visited Burma in 1954; the second time in order to attend the third conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists in Rangoon. In 1955, he founded the Bharatiya Bauddha Mahasabha, or the Buddhist Society of India. He completed his final work, The Buddha and His Dhamma, in 1956. It was published posthumously.

After meetings with the Sri Lankan Buddhist monk Hammalawa Saddhatissa,^[32] Ambedkar organised a formal public ceremony for himself and his supporters in Nagpur on 14 October 1956. Accepting the Three Refuges and Five Precepts from a Buddhist monk in the traditional manner, Ambedkar completed his own conversion, along with his wife Dr. Savita Ambedkar(née Sharada Kabir). He then proceeded to convert a large number (some 500,000) of his supporters who were gathered around him.^[31] He prescribed the 22 Vows for these converts, after the Three Jewels and Five Precepts. He then traveled to Kathmandu in Nepal to attend the Fourth World Buddhist Conference.^{[citation needed]} His work on The Buddha or Karl Marx and "Revolution and counter-revolution in ancient India" remained incomplete.^[33]

Death[link]

Annal Ambedkar Manimandapam, Chennai

Bust of Ambedkar at Ambedkar Museum in Pune

Since 1948, Ambedkar had been suffering from diabetes. He was bed-ridden from June to October in 1954 owing to diabetes and failing eyesight.^[31] He had been increasingly embittered by political issues, which took a toll on his health. His health worsened during 1955. Three days after completing his final manuscript The Buddha and His Dhamma, it is said that Ambedkar died in his sleep on 6 December 1956 at his home in Delhi.^[34]

A Buddhist-style cremation^[35] was organised for him at Dadar Chowpatty beach on 7 December, attended by hundreds of thousands of people.^[34] A conversion program was supposed to be organised on 16 December 1956.^[36] So, those who had attended the cremation were also converted to Buddhism at the same place.^[36]

Ambedkar was survived by his second wife Savita Ambedkar (née Sharda Kabir), who died in 2003.^[37] and his son Yashwant (known as Bhaiyasaheb Ambedkar).^[38] Ambedkar's grandson, Ambedkar Prakash Yashwant, is the chief-adviser of the Buddhist Society of India,^[39] leads the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh^[40] and has served in both houses of the Indian Parliament.^[40]

A number of unfinished typescripts and handwritten drafts were found among Ambedkar's notes and papers and gradually made available. Among these were Waiting for a Visa, which probably dates from 1935–36 and is an autobiographical work, and the Untouchables, or the Children of India's Ghetto, which refers to the census of 1951.^[31]

A memorial for Ambedkar was established in his Delhi house at 26 Alipur Road. His birthdate is celebrated as a public holiday known as Ambedkar Jayanti or Bhim Jayanti. He was posthumously awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1990.^[41] Many public institutions are named in his honour, such as the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University in Hyderabad; Dr BR Ambedkar University in Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh; B. R. Ambedkar Bihar University, Muzaffarpur; the Dr. B. R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar; the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport in Nagpur, otherwise known as Sonegaon Airport; the Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University in Tamil Nadu; DR. Ambedkar Law Collage in Nagpur and the Dr. Ambedkar Government Law College in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. A large official portrait of Ambedkar is on display in the Indian Parliament building.

On the anniversary of his birth (14 April) and death (6 December), and on Dhamma Chakra Pravartan Din (14 October) at Nagpur, at least half a million people gather to pay homage to him at his memorial in Mumbai.^[42] Thousands of bookshops are set up, and books are sold. His message to his followers was "Educate!, Organize!, Agitate!."^[43]

Writings and speeches[link]

The Education Department, Government of Maharashtra(Bombay) published the collection of Ambedkar's writings and speeches in different volumes.^[44]

  Dr. B. R. Ambedkar’s Speeches

Legacy[link]

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Ambedkar's legacy as a socio-political reformer, had a deep effect on modern India. In post-Independence India his socio-political thought has acquired respect across the political spectrum. His initiatives have influenced various spheres of life and transformed the way India today looks at socio-economic policies, education and affirmative action through socio-economic and legal incentives. His reputation as a scholar led to his appointment as free India's first law minister, and chairman of the committee responsible to draft a constitution. He passionately believed in the freedom of the individual and criticized equally both orthodox casteist Hindu society. His condemnation of Hinduism and its foundation of caste system, made him controversial and unpopular among the Hindu right. His conversion to Buddhism sparked a revival in interest in Buddhist philosophy in India and abroad.^[46]

Ambedkar's political philosophy has given rise to a large number of Dalit political parties, publications and workers' unions that remain active across India, especially in Maharashtra. His promotion of the Dalit Buddhist movement has rejuvenated interest in Buddhist philosophy in many parts of India. Mass conversion ceremonies have been organized by Dalit activists in modern times, emulating Ambedkar's Nagpur ceremony of 1956.^[47]

Outside India, at the end of the 1990s, some Hungarian Romani people drew parallels between their own situation and the situation of the Dalits in India. Inspired by Ambedkar's approach, they started to convert to Buddhism.^[48]

In popular culture[link]

Several movies, plays, and other works have been based on the life and thoughts of Ambedkar. These include:

• Jabbar Patel directed the English-language movie, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar,^[49] in 2000. This biographical depiction was sponsored by India's National Film Development Corporation and the Ministry of Social Justice. The film was released after a long and controversial gestation period.^{[citation needed]}
• David Blundell, professor of anthropology at UCLA and historical ethnographer, has established 'Arising Light' – a series of films and events that are intended to stimulate interest and knowledge about the social and welfare conditions in India. Arising Light is a film on the life on Dr B. R. Ambedkar and social welfare in India.
• The play 'Ambedkar Aur Gandhi', directed by Arvind Gaur and written by Rajesh Kumar, tracks two prominent personalities of history – Mahatma Gandhi and Bhimrao Ambedkar.^[50]
• A Vedic scholar from Pune, Prabhakar Joshi, began writing a biography of Ambedkar in Sanskrit in 2004. Joshi is a recipient of Maharashtra Government's 'Mahakavi Kalidas' award. The completed work, "Bhimayan", comprises 1577 Shlokas and is intended as an atonement for the injustice done to the young Bhimrao by some teachers.^[51]
• The Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Samajik Parivarthan Sthal has been constructed at Lucknow by the BSP leader Mayawati. The chaitya consists of monuments showing Ambedkar's biography and quotes

Notes and references[link]

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Further reading[link]

External links & writings[link]

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• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and His People
• Join Us: Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar collections of Photos, Videos, Writings and other information
• Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar – Writings in Tamil
• Symbiosis Ambedkar Memorial & Museum, Pune
• BAMCEF: The All India Backward (SC, ST, OBC) And Minority Communities Employees Federation
• Full Buddha And His Dhamma Book written by Dr. B R Ambedkar Online
• Dr. Ambedkar International Mission
• Bharat Ratna Baba Saheb
• Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar in Columbia University
• Ambedkar's statue at Columbia University
• University of Heidelberg
• "The Buddha and His Dhamma" with unpublished preface
• Article on Ambedkar's Neo-Buddhism by Edmund Weber www.marsinfotech.in *Short Movie on Life of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar
• Dr. AMBEDKAR AND THE JEWISH PEOPLE

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Barack Obama
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Preceded by	George W. Bush
United States Senator from Illinois
In office January 3, 2005 – November 16, 2008
Preceded by	Peter Fitzgerald
Succeeded by	Roland Burris
Member of the Illinois Senate from the 13th District
In office January 8, 1997 – November 4, 2004
Preceded by	Alice Palmer
Succeeded by	Kwame Raoul
Personal details
Born	Barack Hussein Obama II (1961-08-04) August 4, 1961 (age 50)[1] Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.[2]
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Michelle Robinson (1992–present)
Children	Malia (born 1998) Sasha (born 2001)
Residence	White House (Official) Chicago, Illinois (Private)
Alma mater	Occidental College Columbia University (B.A.) Harvard Law School (J.D.)
Profession	Community organizer Lawyer Constitutional law professor Author
Religion	Christianity[3]
Awards	Nobel Peace Prize
Signature
Website	barackobama.com

	This article is part of a series on Barack Obama
Background Illinois Senate US Senate Political positions Public image Family 2008 primaries Obama–Biden campaign Transition Inauguration Electoral history Presidency Timeline '09 '10 '11 '12 First 100 days Nobel Peace Prize Re-election campaign

Barack Hussein Obama II (ⁱ/bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. In January 2005, Obama was sworn in as a U.S. Senator in the state of Illinois. He would hold this office until November 2008, when he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004.