Gerald D'Cunha

“I f you believe in living a respectable life,” said, Dr. B.R.Ambedkar, “you believe in self-help which is the best help.” The words to underline here are ‘Living a respectable life’. Ambedkar himself is the epitome of such a life… Though he is worshiped as a Messiah and hope of the underprivileged and the oppressed people, he never became a man of such prominence and respect because of quotas and doles… He did it on merit, through dreaming and hard work… He did it by self-help. While it is important to give a hungry man some food, it is more important to ignite in his belly the fire to grow in life. Reservations and doles, which we get to hear from the Political class these days, in my view, will not help the poor and the oppressed people to come out of their condition. In fact, it will only make them remain in that state, fooled, brainwashed and blinded. W hen I was small, back home in my native village, the houses had hay roof and mud walls… T...