B.R. Ambedkar on Inequality

This chapter offers a reading of B. R. Ambedkar’s understanding of inequality, as it is obtained in the Indian context, especially his critique of the Hindu caste order and untouchability. It adopts a historical approach in mapping his key ideas, and simultaneously undertakes a conceptual appraisal of his arguments, to mark the crisscrossing influences that shaped their making as well as their startling novelty. Further, it suggests how his critical vocabulary may be drawn upon, in order to enrich the semantics of inequality as it exists in different societies and cultures.