Chetna Association of Canada in association with Consulate General of India celebrated the 128th birth anniversary of Baba Saheb Dr. B R Ambedkar at the Consulate General of India Vancouver on April 15, 2019.

For more information and photos of the event, click here....

Surinder Ranga ji, President of Chetna Association, Bill Basra ji, President of Guru Ravidass Sabha, Param Kainth ji of Ambedkarite International Coordination Society, representatives from  Sant Sarwan Das Charitable Trust, Distinguished guests, colleagues and friends,

It is a great honour to welcome you all to the 128th birth anniversary celebration of Dr B R Ambedkar, known as Ambedkar Jayanti or Bhim Jayanti.

Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was born on 14 April 1891 and was popularly known as Babasaheb.  He is most well-known and remembered as   the principal architect of the Indian Constitution being the Chairman of the Drafting Committee. He was independent India's first law minister, a social reformer, jurist, economist, author and a scholar of comparative religions. He campaigned for the rights of the downtrodden and the underprivileged, while also supporting the rights of women and labour. He was a scholar par excellence, a philosopher and a true nationalist.

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Chetna Association of Canada is a community-based society registered under the Societies Act of BC. It was established in 1999 with a  primary objective of raising awareness about the caste-based issues globally. Chetna regularly promotes the benefits of creating casteless, respectful and inclusive communities through dialogues, discussions, presentations and seminars.

The members of Chetna take inspiration from Baba Saheb Dr. B R Ambedkar, the champion of human rights in India. Chetna currently has a strong partnership with Dr. Hari Sharma foundation, Institute for the Humanities at Simon Fraser University (SFU), and various departments of University of British Columbia (UBC). The partnership has planned and delivered Dr. Ambedkar Memorial Lectures since 2016.

Chetna also has a strong partnership with Indo-Canadian Times Newspaper and boasts Dr. Ambedkar Chetna Awards annually. Categories for these awards include:

S. Tara Singh Hayer Journalism Award

Dr. Ambedkar Arts & Literature Award

Dr. Ambedkar Lifetime Achievement Award

Dr. Ambedkar Social Justice Award

What are inclusive communities?

An inclusive community values all its members and helps them to meet their basic needs so that they can live with dignity, engage actively, and contribute to their community. Read more................

Dear Friends,

As you may know, we are soliciting feedback on what the role and purpose of Chetna should be (Chetna.ca). The themes that are emerging so far are as follows:

• Involving youth with addressing concerns of caste as it impacts them.
• Integration of all diverse communities, particularly between and among people of scheduled castes.
• Doing research on Ambedkar and highlighting his relevance in Canada.
• Forging alliance with other movements in Canada- while ensuring caste based discrimination is also denounced.
• Continue to identify and honor change champions whose actions are aligned with  the philosophy of Dr. Ambedkar.