In this episode of pplpod, we explore the life of B. R. Ambedkar, the principal architect of India’s Constitution and one of the most important social reformers of the modern world. The episode begins with a striking contradiction: Ambedkar helped draft the legal framework of the Indian republic, yet only a few years later said he would be the first person to burn it if it failed to serve the people. That was not simple bitterness. It reflected his lifelong belief that political democracy means very little without social and economic democracy underneath it. Born in 1891 in Mhow into the Mahar caste, considered untouchable, Ambedkar grew up facing physical segregation, humiliation, and denial of basic dignity. As a child, he had to sit on a gunny sack at school and could not touch the water jug. If no higher-caste peon was available to pour water ...