The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday (February 12, 2022) visited the Ambadawe, the ancestral village of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra.
Speaking on the occasion, the President stressed the importance of self-employment and entrepreneurship by noting that even Babasaheb advocated self-employment.
“He set up a firm to do business as a consultant in the trading of stocks and shares. He submitted a memorandum to Viceroy Linlithgow in 1942, demanding the participation of the underprivileged in the tenders of CPWD”, the President said.
However, Babasaheb could not give time to his entrepreneurial side, due to his extensive social and political responsibilities, the President told the audience.
Appreciating the various initiatives of the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) to make Ambadawe village self-reliant, the President stressed the importance of development and self-reliance in other parts of rural India.
“When our villages would be self-reliant, then only the resolve to build a self-reliant India would be fulfilled in the true sense, the president added.
He expressed confidence that a collective effort to make people self-reliant by promoting small enterprises in the villages would prove to be transformative and there would be a substantial change in the lives of the villagers.