Did you know: Dr Ambedkar had a role in RBI's conceptualisation?

People scatter rose petals in front of a portrait of Dr. Ambedkar, the author of the Indian constitution, in Allahabad

The nation on Wednesday is paying homage to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar on the occasion of his 61st death anniversary which is observed as Mahaparinirvan Din. People across Maharashtra and various parts of the country congregate at Chaitya Bhoomi in Dadar to pay tributes to their national hero.

Dr Ambedkar was an economist, politician, and social reformer who was known for his campaigns against social discrimination against Dalits, women and labour.

Here are some of the interesting lesser-known facts about Dr Ambedkar.

He was the first untouchable to pass matriculation and become first Indian to pursue an Economic doctorate degree abroad.

The Reserve Bank of India was conceptualised in accordance with the guidelines presented by Dr Ambedkar to the Hilton Young Commission (also known as Royal Commission on Indian Currency and Finance) based on his book, The Problem of the Rupee – Its Origin and Its Solution.

He is known to champion several reforms in labour such as changing working hours from 12 hours to 8 hours and introduced measures like dearness allowance, leave benefit, employee insurance, medical leave, equal pay equal work, minimum wages and timely revision of scale of pay.

Dr Ambedkar founded Independent Labour Party in 1936, which was changed to All India Scheduled Castes Federation in 1942 and later renamed as Republican Party of India by his followers after his death.

He was first to suggest splitting the states of Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

In a poll conducted by History TV and CNN-News18 (formerly CNN IBN) in 2012 Dr Ambedkar was voted as ‘the Greatest Indian’.

(With inputs from various agencies)