Dr. BhimRao Ambedkar's speeches are replete with stimulating economic thoughts. He is probably the first thinker to analyse ancient Indian commerce and economic dimensions of social maladies in India. Pl see his economic views in this downloadable PPT

1. Economic Thoughts
of Ambedkar
Dr. Varadraj Bapat
IIT Mumbai

2. Education
• Columbia University
• M.A., 1915, Ancient Indian
Commerce.
• MA, 1916, National Dividend of
India-A Historic and Analytical Study
• PhD, 1917, "The Evolution of
Provincial Finance in British India",

3. Education
• London School of Economics
• DSc, 1927, "The Problem of the Rupee:
Its Origin and Its Solution", (is a magnum
opus and seen as a major contribution to
the field of monetary economics)
• http://www.ambedkar.org/ambcd/28H.%20Problem%20of%
20Rupee%20CHAPTER%20VIl.htm
• recommended that the Indian currency
should be replaced every 10 years to end
the menace of hoarding of rupees and
checking inflation.

4. • His speeches are replete with
stimulating economic thoughts. He is
probably the first thinker to analyse
ancient Indian commerce and
economic dimensions of social
maladies in India.

5. • Ambedkar presented a perceptive
critique of Marxism in his essay,
"Buddha or Karl Marx” 1956
• http://www.ambedkar.org/ambcd/20.Buddha%20or%2
0Karl%20Marx.htm
The Russians are proud of their Communism. But
they forget that the wonder of all wonders is that
the Buddha established Communism so far as
the Sangh was concerned without dictatorship. It
may be that it was a communism on a very small
scale but it was communism without dictatorship a
miracle which Lenin failed to do.

6. The Buddha's method was different. His
method was to change the mind of man: to alter
his disposition: so that whatever man does, he
does it voluntarily without the use of force or
compulsion. His main means to alter the
disposition of men was his Dhamma and the
constant preaching of his Dhamma.
The Buddhas way was not to force people to do
what they did not like to do although it was
good for them. His way was to alter the
disposition of men so that they would do
voluntarily what they would not otherwise to do.

7. It has been claimed that the Communist Dictatorship in
Russia has wonderful achievements to its credit. There
can be no denial of it. That is why I say that a Russian
Dictatorship would be good for all backward countries.
But this is no argument for permanent Dictatorship.
Humanity does not only want economic values, it also
wants spiritual values to be retained. Permanent
Dictatorship has paid no attention to spiritual values
and does not seem to intend to. For man needs
material comforts But the Communist Philosophy
seems to be equally wrong for the aim of their
philosophy seems to be fatten pigs as though men are
no better than pigs. Man must grow materially as well
as spiritually.

8. Buddha or Karl Marx
• Such is the gospel the Buddha enunciated as
a result of his enlightenment to end the
sorrow and misery in the world.
• It is clear that the means adopted by the
Buddha were to convert a man by changing
his moral disposition to follow the path
voluntarily.
• The means adopted by the Communists are
equally clear, short and swift. They are (1)
Violence and (2) Dictatorship of the
Proletariat.

9. "Buddha or Karl Marx“.
• Society has been aiming to lay a new foundation
was summarised by the French Revolution in
three words, Fraternity, Liberty and Equality. The
French Revolution was welcomed because of this
slogan. It failed to produce equality. We welcome
the Russian Revolution because it aims to
produce equality. But it cannot be too much
emphasised that in producing equality society
cannot afford to sacrifice fraternity or liberty.
Equality will be of no value without fraternity or
liberty. It seems that the three can coexist only if
one follows the way of the Buddha. Communism
can give one but not all.

10. Commercial Relations Of
India In The Middle Ages
• Or The Rise Of Islam And The
Expansion Of Western Europe
• http://www.ambedkar.org/ambcd/47.Commercial%20Relation
s%20of%20India%20in%20the%20Middle%20Ages.htm
• The birth of Islam is synchronous with the
consolidation of Papal power in Rome under
Gregory the Great. It was the era of theocracies
and the east was once more spreading a wave
of religion that had almost succeeded
in Mohomedanizing the entire continent of
Europe. Not to speak of Africa and Asia and like
many big things ;

11. Commercial Relations Of
India In The Middle Ages
• Islam had hemmed Christendom on every side.
On the East as on the
South, the Crescentraised a barrier against the
advance of the Cross. But in this mighty struggle
of the Crescent and the Cross, commerce
suffered immensely. The Ottoman seizure or
obstruction of the Indian trade routes brought
disaster not alone to the Mediterranean
republics, but it sent a shock through the whole
system of European commerce.

12. Commercial Relations Of
India In The Middle Ages
• From very early times, Germany and the
north Italian upland were dependent on the
Republic (Venice) for the products of the
east. The Indian trade formed an important
contributory to this Hanseatic commerce.
When the eastern traffic began to dry up, its
European emporiums declined. In this
blockade of old trade routes lies
the expansion of Western Europe and later
discovery of America.

13. ANCIENT INDIAN COMMERCE
• http://www.ambedkar.org/ambcd/46.%20A
ncient%20Indian%20Commerce.htm
• In Europe, whatever light or civilization
there was, was confined to the Eastern
basin of the Mediterranean [being
constantly fed by the Orient] barring which
the entire continent of Europe was in
barbarism till very late

14. • The civilization of India is one of the oldest
but like all of them has come to a dead
stop : but it has lived to revive and we may
hope never to die again.
• All these factors have from time
immemorial combined to bestow upon her
the economic self-sufficiency which has
been the privilege of a few nations on the
face of this planet today.

15. • The India of antiquity within the span of
time in which he held the undisputed
possession of the country accomplished
much more than could be expected of
primitive. We have scanty records of his
deeds but what little we have and as will
be seen from the following narrative,
speaks volumes.

16. • Of the multifarious achievements of the
ancient Indians, important as they are, we
are not concerned. We have to center our
attend on their economic activity alone.

17. • 1. Agricultural Organisation:
• Very early we find the ancient Hindoos
living a village life : Agriculture is known
as the highest occupation and the Indian
proverb puts the merchantman second to
the farmer and the soldier occupies the
last place in social gradation.

18. • Independent landholder was regarded
respectfully but work on the farm of a
capitalist was greatly disapproved. There
is no evidence to definite say whether or
not there was feudalism in village
community.
• There was a great deal of co-operation
among villagers for building and repairing
roads and tanks and municipal buildings

19. • The Hindoo devotion to the Cow has been
an enigma to most of the foreigners and
above all has been an efficient lore in the
hands of those half-baked theological
failures who go to India to conduct their
missionary propaganda for
blackmailing the Hindoo.

20. • The cow and for that matter all draft
animals, is the soul of the farmers. The
cow gives birth to oxen which are
absolutely necessary to the cultivation of
the farm. If we kill the cow for meat, we
jeopardize our agricultural prosperity. With
full foresight, the ancient Hindoos tabooed
cow-flesh and thus prevented cow killing.

21. • II. Organisation of Labour, Industry and
Commerce:
• Be it said to the credit of the Hindoos
that slavery paid a very little role in their
economic life. Capture, judicial
punishment, voluntary self-degradation
and debt were the four principal causes by
which individuals become slaves.

22. • But there is considerable evidence to
show that kindly treatment was the rule
and manumission was always possible.
• From among the industrial classes the
following are mentioned :—
• (a) The vaddhaki is an embodiment of a
carpenter, ship-builder, cart-maker and an
architect.

23. • (b) The Kammara is a generic term for a
metal craftsman producing "iron
implement, from a ploughshare or an axe
or for that matter, an iron house, down to a
razor, or the finest of needles, capable of
floating in water, or again, statues of gold
or silver work."

24. • (c) The Pasanakottaka is a generic term
for a mason " not only quarrying and
shaping stones. .. .. but as capable of
hallowing a cavity in a crystal, a matter
probably of requiring superior tools."

25. • " A considerable degree of Organisation
characterized all the trading industries.
Certain trades were localised in special
villages, either suburban and ancillary to
the large cities, or themselves forming
centres of traffic with surrounding villages

26. • e. g. the wood-work and metal work
industries and pottery............ within the
cities trades appear to have been localized
in special streets e. g. those of ivory
workers and of dyers."

27. • The trades were well regulated and were
superintended by one or two headmen
who were the chiefs or syndics of
municipal and industrial Organisation of
the cities.
• There were numerous guilds
(Seniyo) under the headship of a
President (Pramukha) or elder or older
man (Jethaka).

28. • Carpenters, smiths, leather workers,
painters, and experts in various arts had
their grids. Even the sea-men garland-
makers and caravan traders.
• There was a tendency towards
hereditary occupation. But the caste
system in all its hideous rigorousness
was not present and even Brahmins were
often occupied in low professions.

29. • The industrial centres were connected by
good roads which greatly facilitated traffic.
The Ramayana refers to a road starting
out from Ayodhya the capital of
King Dasharatha, to Rajagriha the capital
of Kekayas in the vicinity of the Himalaya
mountains situated on the River Bias
passed through Hastinapur the capital of
the Kurus.

30. We glean from this source that a road ran
from Penkelaotis (Pushkalavati) near the
modern Attock passed on
through Takshila to Patalipura (Pata)after
crossing the river Bias.

31. Another road joined Pushkalavathi
and Indra-prastha (Delhi) and after
connecting Ujjayini (Ujain) descended down
theVindhya range, went into
the Deckan through Pratisthana after
crossing the Nerbuda and the Tapty. There
were the internal highways of traffic and it
was carried on by Uday of the Caravans.

32. • Early in India the external and internal
commerce had assumed such importance
that we find mention in Buddha Jataka a
league of caravan leaders.

33. • Trade in early India was not entirely
individualistic. There is enough evidence
to show the corporate commercial activity
and partnership in Trade were occasional,
if not general.

34. • the use of money in India was early known
for the whole of the Buddhist literature
testifies to the fact that the ancient
systems of simple barter as well as of
reckoning value of cows, or rice measures
had for the most part been replaced by the
use of metal currency, carrying well
understood and generally accepted
exchange value .

35. • Currency counted of coins but was not
regulated by Royal authority. There was
gold coinage for the most part and all
marketable commodities and services had
a value expressible in terms of cash.
• there was no taboo on loaning of money

36. • Along this thoroughfare Indian traders and
priests carried the elements of Indian
civilization to the easternmost Sundaisles;
and oriental wares, sciences and religions
moved westward to the margin of Europe
and Africa.

37. • The Indian ocean produced a civilization of
its own, with which it coloured a vast semi-
circle of land reaching from Java to
Abyssinia, and more faintly, owing to the
wider divergence of race, the further
stretch from Abyssinia to Mozambique

38. • The Hindus became the dominant
commercial nation of the Indian ocean
long before the great development of
Arabian sea power, and later shared the
trade of the East African coast with the
merchants of Oman and Yemen. Today
they form a considerable mercantile class
in the ports of Mascat, Aden,
Zanzibar, Pemba and Natal.

39. • From the very earliest ages the refined
civilization of Egypt and Syria sought with
avidity the spices, the aromatics, the
metals, the precious and scented woods,
the gems, the ivory in a kind, all the
valuable merchandise which the rich soil
of India supplied in abundance.

40. • The trade between India and Judea does
not date with Soloman: it enjoys
considerable antiquity; mentions
of Qphir are to be found long before the
time of Soloman in the I Chronicles XXIX,
4, I kings XXII 48, and in Isaiah, XIII 12.

41. • These Biblical evidences may be
supplemented by linguistic evidences,
such as the Hebrew word tuki which is but
a little changed form of the poetical
word Tokei i. e. the Tamil-
malayalam language for peacock or the
Hebrew word Ahalim or Aholoth—* aloes.
*—a corruption of the Tamil-malayalam
word, Aghil.[f34]

42. • The Periplus mentions the following as
articles of export :
• (1) Spikenard, (2) Cortus,(3)Bdellium, (4)
Ivory, (5)Qugate, (6) Lycircm,(7) Cotton
cloth of all kinds, (8) Silk cloth, (9) Mallow-
cloth, (10) Yarn, (II) Long pepper, (12)
Diamonds, (13) Sapphiris, (14) Tortoise
shell, (15)Transperent stones of all kinds,
(16) Pearls, (17) Malabathrum (18)
Incense, (19) Indigo.

43. • Certain of the Tamil poets have beautifully
described some of the commercial ports
and towns in southern India. One of them
says, " The thriving town of Muchiri, where
the beautiful large ships of
the Yavans,bringing gold, the gold
received from ships, in exchange for
articles sold, is brought to shore in barges
at Muchiri,

44. WHO WERE THE SHUDRAS ?
• The Shudras were one of the Aryan
communities of the Solar race.
• The Shudras did not form a
separate Varna. They ranked as part
of the Kshatriya Varna in the Indo-
Aryan society.
• http://www.ambedkar.org/ambcd/38A.%20Who%20
were%20the%20Shudras%20Preface.htm

45. Economics that hurt the moral
well-being of an individual or a
nation are immoral and therefore
sinful.
MM-263
That economics is untrue which
ignores or disregards moral
values.
XXV-475
1940s

46. Our object in framing the
Constitution is rally two-fold: (1) To
lay down the form of political
democracy, and (2) To lay down that
our ideal is economic democracy
and also to prescribe that every
Government whatever is in power
shall strive to bring about economic
democracy. The directive principles
have a great value, for they lay
down that our ideal is economic
democracy. 1950s

47. Deendayal Upadhyay “I visualize for
India a decentralized polity and self-reliant
economy with the village as the base. We
cannot rely upon superficial Western
concepts like individualism, socialism,
communism, capitalism and need to be
rooted in the timeless traditions of our
ancient culture. He was of the view that
the Indian intellect was getting suffocated
by Western theories and ideologies and
consequently there was a big roadblock
on the growth and expansion of original
Bharatiya thought. (1960s)

48. According to Upadhyaya, the primary concern
in India must be to develop an indigenous
economic model that puts the human being at
center stage.
It is opposed to both western capitalist
individualism and Marxist socialism, though
welcoming to western science. It seeks a
middle ground between capitalism and
socialism, evaluating both systems on their
respective merits, while being critical of their
excesses.

49. Humankind, according to Upadhyaya, had four
hierarchically organized attributes of body, mind,
intellect and soul which corresponded to four
universal objectives, kama (desire or
satisfaction), artha (wealth), dharma (moral
duties) and moksha (total liberation or 'salvation').
While none could be ignored, dharma is the
'basic', and moksha the 'ultimate' objective of
humankind and society. He claimed that the
problem with both capitalist and socialist
ideologies is that they only consider the needs of
body and mind, and were hence based on the
materialist objectives of desire and wealth

50. • Maharishi Aurobindo said:
“India shall arise upon the ruins
of the west” He said by the
year 2011 the western
countries will fall and India will
rise.