Dr AMBEDKAR: The Man Who Shaped India’s Democratic Republic

By Narendra Jadhav

This book chronicles India’s journey to becoming a sovereign democratic Republic, coming out of the yoke of foreign rule spanning nearly 200 years in history.

It analyses the entire process of Constitutional reforms initiated through milestones such as the Government of India Act, 1919, the Southborough Committee, the Simon Commission, the Motilal Nehru Committee, the Round Table Conferences, the Government of India Act, 1935, proposals for creating a Federation of India, the Cripps Mission, Sapru’s Swaraj Constitution and finally, the Constituent Assembly.

Contrary to popular belief, it was not Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru or Sardar Patel who played a comprehensive and decisive role throughout this long-drawn process; it was one and the only Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.

Parts I and II of the book provide, as a backdrop, the evolution of Dr Ambedkar as a scholar and social reformer, and his practice of Liberal Republicanism.

Part III discusses the analytics of Constitutional reforms in India in two parallel tracks: one, by the then British government and, the second one, initiated by Indian leaders, including Dr Ambedkar. Despite occasional conflicts, these parallel tracks ultimately synergized, as demonstrated in Part IV, culminating in the creation of India's robust Constitution and its emergence as a democratic Republic.

Throughout this narrative, the one person who singularly contributed to almost every stage of the process was Dr Ambedkar.

Dr Ambedkar, therefore, rightly deserves the distinctive honour as the person who shaped the Republic of India.

Dr Narendra Jadhav is a multi-faceted professional, renowned as an Economist, Educationist, Academic, Administrator and Author (in English, Marathi and Hindi). And now, he has also taken on the roles of a web series anchor and producer, and a podcaster. Until April 2022, Dr Jadhav served as a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha (nominated by the President of India).

Currently, Dr Jadhav is producing a comprehensive web series on the Indian Constitution, spanning nearly 60 hours and featuring insights from 35 MPs, 20 Judges (Supreme Court and High Court) and other top legal luminaries. He also hosts an audio visual podcast series titled ‘Bhim Bhashya’, focusing on Dr Ambedkar, on his YouTube channel ‘Dr Narendra Jadhav World’.

With a PhD in Economics from Indiana University, USA, Dr Jadhav has had an illustrious career spanning nearly five decades in public service. Some of the distinguished positions held by him include Member–Planning Commission; Member, National Advisory Council (NAC); Vice-Chancellor of Savitribai Phule Pune University; Adviser, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and Chief Economist, Reserve Bank of India (and also for Afghanistan and Ethiopia).

Dr Jadhav is a prolific writer. He has authored or edited 44 books: 22 in English, 14 in Marathi and 8 in Hindi, in addition to 32 official reports on various public policy issues and around 200 research papers and articles. He is recipient of 73 national and international awards.

You can order the book on Amazon India