DR. B.R. AMBEDKAR'S ECONOMIC VISION AND ITS RELEVANCE TO CONTEMPORARY ECONOMIC INEQUALITY IN INDIA

Abstract

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's economic vision offers one of the most rigorous Indian frameworks for understanding inequality as a social, political and economic problem. This paper analyses Ambedkar's economic thought and evaluates its relevance to contemporary economic inequality in India. It argues that Ambedkar did not treat poverty as a temporary failure of income generation alone; he located it in the deeper structure of caste hierarchy, unequal access to land and productive assets, exclusion from education, labour market discrimination and the absence of social democracy. The study is analytical and descriptive in design. It uses secondary data from official sources such as the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey, the Periodic Labour Force Survey and the All India Survey on Higher Education, alongside recent inequality estimates from the World Inequality Lab and World Bank. The paper reviews literature on Ambedkar as an economist, caste and economic exclusion, state socialism, labour rights, education and social justice. The data analysis shows that contemporary India combines poverty reduction and rising consumption with persistent structural inequality, including wealth concentration, rural-urban gaps, labour market segmentation and unequal access to higher education. The central finding is that Ambedkar's vision remains relevant because it links economic growth to social justice, institutional safeguards, redistribution, public education and democratic control over economic power. The paper concludes that India cannot address inequality through growth alone; it requires an Ambedkarian model of economic democracy that expands capabilities, protects marginalised groups and reduces inherited social disadvantage.