Ambedkar's Vision of Economic Development for India

This book discusses Ambedkar’s engagements with the issues of social justice, economic development and caste enclosures. It highlights his significant contributions in the field of trade, public finance and monetary economics, Indian agriculture, education, among others, and examines their relevance in contemporary India.

The volume analyses the basic theoretical conceptions in Ambedkar’s writings which attributed a key role to industrialisation, favoured economic planning and progressive labour laws. It reaffirms these theories and illustrates that focus on social and economic democracy promotes productivity, equitable distribution of wealth and an inclusive society. Through an analysis of Ambedkar’s interdisciplinary works, the book discusses issues of rural poverty, lagging infrastructure growth, the persistence of an exploitative ruling class and the economic and social marginalisation of the downtrodden which are still relevant today. Further, it offers solutions for a restructuring of the society under democratic principles which would recognise the basic right of all to social dignity, and devise means to insure against social and economic insecurity.

Insightful and authoritative, this volume will be of great interest to students and researchers of economics, sociology, development studies and social exclusion.

Gummadi Sridevi is an Associate Professor at School of Economics, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad. She has completed collaborative research projects supported by ICSSR on climate change, food security and education. She’s currently working on a collaborative ICSSR-IMPRESS major research project on Commons. Her research areas cover a wide range of issues relating to food security, health, gender, climate change and economics of discrimination. She has published articles in various journals and edited volumes. She has 13 years of teaching experience at the University of Hyderabad. She has been teaching courses such as economics of discrimination, international trade and payments, microeconomics and mathematical economics.