He was an ordinary boy from a Dalit household who later headed the committee drafting the Constitution of India. He was an economist and jurist from pre-independent India who served as the minister of Law and Justice in the first cabinet of Jawaharlal Nehru after India’s independence. He was a civil rights activist and a visionary. He was Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar.

Ambedkar was the last child of Ramji Maloji Sakpal, an army officer who held the rank of Subedar, and Bhimabai Sakpal. He was born into a Mahar (dalit) caste, who were treated as untouchables and subjected to socio-economic discrimination.

He became the first from his caste to complete matriculation examination at University of Bombay in 1907. After obtaining his degree in economics and political science from the university, he went to Columbia University in 1913 to complete his master’s degree. In 1916, he enrolled for the Bar course at Gray’s inn.

Commemorating Ambedkar on his 103^rd birth anniversary, here are some inspiring quotes by his:

• “Freedom of mind is the real freedom. A person whose mind is not free though he may not be in chains, is a slave, not a free man. One whose mind is not free, though he may not be in prison, is a prisoner and not a free man.One whose mind is not free though alive, is no better than dead. Freedom of mind is the proof of one's existence.”
• “Cultivation of mind should be the ultimate aim of human existence.”
• “Life should be great rather than long.”
• “Indifferentism is the worst kind of disease that can affect people.”
• “Humans are mortal. So are ideas. An idea needs propagation as much as a plant needs watering. Otherwise both will wither and die.”
• “A just society is that society in which ascending sense of reverence and descending sense of contempt is dissolved into the creation of a compassionate society”
• “Constitution is not a mere lawyers’ document, it is a vehicle of Life, and its spirit is always the spirit of Age.”
• A great man is different from an eminent one in that he is ready to be the servant of the society.
• I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved.
• Law and order are the medicine of the body politic and when the body politic gets sick, medicine must be administered.