Question

Who founded Depressed classes association in 1930?

Answer 1

Hint: He was an Indian lawyer, economist, politician, and social reformer who helped to found the Dalit Buddhist movement and campaigned against social injustice against untouchables. Numerous memorials and representations in popular culture bear his name.

Complete answer:
Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar founded the Depressed classes association in 1930.
Ambedkar served as British India's Minister of Labour in the Viceroy's Executive Council, as Chairman of the Constituent Drafting Committee, and as independent India's first Minister of Law and Justice. He is widely regarded as the chief architect of the Indian Constitution. Ambedkar was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, in 1990.

At the second Round Table Conference, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, who organised the dalits into the Depressed Classes Association in 1930, clashed with Mahatma Gandhi by seeking separate electorates for dalits. Gandhiji started a death fast after the British government agreed to Ambedkar's demand. Separate electorates for dalits, he claimed, would hinder the process of their incorporation into society.

The Poona Pact of September 1932 was the result of Ambedkar accepting Gandhijis stance. It had reserved seats in provincial and central legislative councils for the Depressed Classes (later known as the Schedule Castes), but they had to be elected by the general electorate. The dalit movement, on the other hand, remained wary of the Congress-led national movement.

Note: Some of the key goals and of the Depressed Classes Association was:
- To achieve social equality.
- To allow the oppressed classes to gain political power.
- Depressed groups have a reservation in educational institutions.