CONGRATULATIONS : Dr. Ronki Ram

AS IT COMES

I stared writing in this blog about the contemporary heroes but somehow could not pursue it further due one reason or the other. Today I read the congratulatory message to Dr. Ronki Ram in the Ambedkar Times on some more feathers in the cap of Dr. Ronki Ram. Though I have had no chance to meet Dr. Ronki Ram personally yet I have read about him and his intellectual inputs to the dalits and other related matters which have been received well and appreciated in India and abroad. I join the Ambedkar Times in congratulating Dr. Ronki Ram on getting the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Professorship at the Political Science Department of the Punjab University and the Head of the Chair of Contemporary Indian Studies of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) - a cultural and educational arm of the Ministry of External affairs (MEA) ( not long before I was a humble cadre of the MEA) at the prestigious Leident University of the Netherlands. I wish Dr. Ronki Ram all success and prosperity at his new assignments in the years to come.

I tried my hand at the Google search to know something more about Dr. Ronki Ram but could not succeed. I know from my basic information and knowledge that Dr. Ronki Ram is one of the worthy alumni of the Jawaharlal University for his doctorate. He remained a fellow at the prestigious Upsala University in Sweden in 1993 for a Diploma in Conflict Resolution ( I myself was posted in Embassy of India Stockholm from 1991 to 94 and visited the Upsala University a number of times but did not meet Dr. Ronki Ram). Currently, Dr. Ronki Ram is the Head of the Department of Political Science of the Punjab University, Chandigarh which is the proud Alma mata of Dr. Ram for his Masters degree.

As regards his positive contribution to the community and the country, he has done a seminal work on the matters related to the dalits, Dera Sachkhand Balan of Jalandhar, Babu Mangoo Ram of the Ad-dharam movement and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the founding father of the Indian constitution and the saviour of the dalits. The dalits and the community at large particularly the intellectual segments of the educational faculty shall be grateful and appreciative of Dr. Ronki Ram.