[Reader-list] Navayana-Sarai Talk-2, Bhagwan Das on 11 Dec

[Navayana Publishing]

Navayana-Sarai Lecture # 2
Bhagwan Das
will  speak on
Ambedkar, Gandhi and Today's Dalit Movement
11 Dec, 3.30 p.m. at Seminar Room, Sarai-CSDS

Bhagwan Das, 81, worked as a research associate with Dr B.R. Ambedkar in
1956. In the 1960s, two decades before the Maharashtra government began to
publish the writings and speeches of Ambedkar, Das edited, compiled and
produced the four-volume Thus Spoke Ambedkar series under the imprint of
Bhimpatrika Publications, Jullunder. Born in Jutogh, Shimla, in 1927, Das
joined Ambedkar's Scheduled Caste Federation at the age of 16. Working for
the Royal Indian Air Force as a radio officer during World War II, he dreamt
of becoming a pilot but could not muster the Rs 5,000 that was required for
training in London. Das then worked in the Labour Department following a
chance meeting with Ambedkar in Shimla in 1943 when the latter was Labour
Member of the Viceroy's Executive Council. After his marriage, Das resumed
his education, did an MA in History from Punjab University and LLB from
Delhi University. He then practised as an advocate in the Supreme Court. In
1970, he attended the World Conference on Religion for Peace held in Kyoto
as a Buddhist delegate. In August 1983, supported by a coalition of dalit
organisations, Bhagwan Das gave a testimony on untouchability before the UN
subcommission on human rights in Geneva. He subsequently addressed the 1984
World Conference on Religion and Peace at Nairobi, Kenya, much against the
wishes of the official Indian delegation at the conference.

Das' first article appeared in Kranti, an Urdu newspaper from Lahore edited
by Sant Ram of the Jat Pat Todak Mandal, in the 1940s. Das has since
published in various journals including in the Economic and Political Weekly
("Moments in a History of Reservations", 28 Oct 2000). Some of Bhagwan Das'
many books include:

Ambedkar on Gandhi and Gandhism. (Ed.)
Main Bhangi Hoon (Hindi)
Untouchables in the Indian Army
Mandal Commission and the Future of Backward Classes
Ravidasis and Balmikis of North India

Navayana is currently making a documentary film on this pioneering activist,
publisher and scholar. A 15-minute excerpt from the film, where Das dwells
on Ambedkar and Gandhi, will be screened ahead of Das' talk.
www.navayana.org
Sarai-CSDS, 29 Rajpur Road, Civil Lines, Delhi 110054

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