Ambedkar’s 1931 memorandum founded India’s reservation system and criminalized social boycotts.

Evidence

The memorandum went on to delineate what would constitute Fundamental Rights and how they were to be protected. It gave Untouchables the right to access all public places. It dwelt at length on social boycotts and suggested they be declared a criminal offence. It prescribed a series of measures by which Untouchables would be protected from social boycotts and caste Hindus punished for instigating and promoting them. Condition No. 5 asked that a Public Service Commission be set up to ensure Untouchables “Adequate Representation in the Services”. This is what has eventually evolved into the system of reservation in educational institutions and government jobs, against which privileged castes in recent times have militantly agitated. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 377

Categorization

• XREF: Directly connects the reader’s core interest: how Ambedkar’s ideas scaled into the 1947 Constitution and today’s reservation system.