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Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s wide-ranging scholarship and deep engagement with different disciplines should inspire students, said Vikram Visaji of the Department of Kannada, Central University of Karnataka.
He was delivering a special lecture at the inauguration of the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Vichara Vedike and a welcome programme for first-year BA and BCom students at Dr. B.R. Ambedkar College, run by the Karnataka People’s Education Society (KPE Society), in Kalaburagi.
Prof. Visaji said Ambedkar studied sociology and economics at Columbia University in the United States to understand and formulate a blueprint for the advancement of oppressed sections of society. A scholar with expertise across several disciplines, Ambedkar was also a voracious reader who drew on the works of thinkers from around the world.
He said Ambedkar’s writings and scholarship were attracting increasing global attention and that his intellectual pursuits and reading habits should serve as a model for students.
Inaugurating the programme, Gulbarga University Registrar Prof. Ramesh Landankar said Dr. B.R. Ambedkar College occupied an important place in Kalaburagi by providing educational opportunities to students from economically and socially disadvantaged sections of society. He expressed the hope that students of the college would grow into thinkers capable of contributing to social reform.
KPE Society secretary Shantappa Suran, who presided over the programme, said students should imbibe Ambedkar’s discipline, thirst for knowledge and determination to achieve their goals.
Books were presented as prizes to winners of various student competitions. Ajay Bhimrao, a college student who won a gold medal in a 5,000-metre marathon, and Abhishek, a second-year M.Com. student at the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Postgraduate Centre who cleared the UGC-NET examination, were also felicitated. Gandhiji Molekar, coordinator of the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Vichara Vedike, outlined the activities of the forum.
KPE Society administrator Chandrashekhar Sheelavantar, college principal Siddappa S. Kanth, faculty members Nirmala Shirgapur, Prof. Datturaya Shivaraya and Vasant V. Nashi, and IQAC director Siddharth Madanakar were present.
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