Ambedkar Centenary : Social justice and the undone vast.

[3:26 pm, 13/02/2022] Govind Sahu: This book a literary miscellany - is a collection of writings and lectures on the contribution of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar delivered on various occasions by the author prior to the centenary year and also contains, as a fitting finale, a chap ter on Centenary Year Reflections. As in any collection of different addresses at different times but on one topic, the quotations are repeated and drive home, as a book, the quintessence of Ambedkar.

The author delivered in 1976 the first Ambedkar norial Lecture under the auspices of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, literally resurrecting Am bedkar, after a long lull since the latter's passing away, during which time Am bedkar, alas, had been almost forgotten. That lecture is a separate publication of 1976, not part of this book.

A divine diktat heralded the advent of Ambedkar in soshist garb; the strug gling soul showed how to shatter the shackles and endeavour excellence in erudition; and as the inevitable Chair man of the Constitution Drafting Committee, herald a Constitution for the fortunate and the unfortunate too among the citizenry balancing their aspirations and needs of the future. If successive central governments have failed in this essential project, it is not the Mahar Manu's fault. Krishna Iyer has projected the perspectives clearly and, should the governments of the fu ture at the centre and the states care, the hopes of Ambedkar will be more than fulfilled and the tears of every downtrodden eye in cry literally wiped,

as the Father of the Nation wished. Dear reader, read and re-read the repetitive chapters and don't stop with merely shedding a tear!