Dakshayani was born in 1912 on a small island off the coast of Cochin in an agrestic slave caste, Pulayas. She was a child of social change. The early 1900s saw the early struggles for equality and recognition across Kerala. Ayyankali (1863-1941) led the anti-caste struggles for democratising public spaces and for the rights of workers, a precursor to the formation of rural labour and working-class organisations in Kerala.
There were many firsts in Dakshayani’s life. As the first Dalit woman graduate in India, Dakshayani wrote about her higher education at Maharajas College in Ernakulam, Kochi: “I was the only girl student for B.Sc Chemistry or for any science subjects in the college. It was ‘sheer luck’ to get higher education… (In the laboratory) an upper caste teacher did not show me experiments — I learnt things by looking from a distance and graduated with high second class in 1935… In July 1935, I was posted as an L2 teacher in the High School Peringothikara in the Trichur District….”
Titling her political journey as ‘Down memory lane of politics’, she called her Cochin Legislative Council nomination (1945) and Constituent Assembly election (1946) as “interesting and historical”. On August 2, 1945, Dakshayani spoke for the first time in the Cochin Legislative Council, in English. Pointing out that funds for the depressed classes were dwindling, she called for proportional reservation in panchayats and municipalities. Dakshayani also said that as long as untouchability remained, the word Harijan was meaningless, it was like calling dogs Napoleon.
There were just 15 women in the 389-member Constituent Assembly. She was the lone Dalit woman and at 34 years old, perhaps among the youngest. On her first speech in the Constituent Assembly (December 19, 1946) she wrote: “I spoke against separate electorates, against slave labour and (said) untouchability should be banned by an ordinance. I was asked by the party — Indian National Congress — to withdraw it as it was going to be one of the articles of the Constitution soon.”
She also suggested that the final draft of the Constitution be adopted following a ratification through a general election. She again intervened during a discussion on draft Article 11 (Art 17 of the Constitution) which aimed at abolishing discrimination based on caste and making it punishable by law. She said, “We cannot expect a Constitution without a clause relating to untouchability.”
In her speech she held that the Constituent Assembly should go beyond framing a Constitution and “give people a new framework for life”, use the opportunity to make untouchability illegal, and ensure “moral safeguard that gives real protection to the underdogs of India” (CA Debates, 151-152). Her idea of moral safeguards rested on the idea that only an independent socialist republic could uplift, remove social disabilities.
Significance of marking the unmarked contributions
The absence of remembrance and commemoration of leaders like Dakshayani Velayudhan is not unusual these days. Dakshayani, who passed away on July 20, 1978, was the only Dalit woman member of the Constituent Assembly of India.
The life and times of Dakshayani need to be studied to generate intellectual curiosity towards the struggles and rise of Dalit women. The Dalit movement today is ill-advisedly stuck in the past. With the Constitution as a fundamental document, Dalits across the country must have a sense of ownership not only because of Ambedkar, but also because of leaders like Dakshayani, Babu Jagjivan Ram and many other leaders who ensured a safe, secure and a sustainable future for the subalterns.
Dignity, respect and equality in everyday interaction are what the new-age Dalit women and men like me aspire for. The civil society, political class and the academic establishments must realise this and be willing to share positions for the socially-marginalised and historically oppressed people in the structures of power and privilege.
Scope and Objectives
DV Archive creates audio, video, graphic and text documentation material on gender specific legislative processes in Kerala and India. The documentation involves collection and documentation of texts, photographs and sound clips and preparation of texts in various forms about the documented materials. The work includes transcription, translation and transliteration of legislative process and literary works being disseminated in oral and written forms. The collected materials and recorded sound clips were used for setting up a digital archive at the School of Indian Legal Thought.
The digital archive focuses on foregrounding constitutionalism , rights, rightslessness, and other vulnerabilities in understanding, critiquing, and reforming laws, legal institutions, and modes of governance, so that they reflect the constitutional ideals of social justice and gender justice.
Procure and archive documents with the following purposes:
1. To archive constitutional theory and its practical application in framing law and policy in order to realize the constitutional vision of a rights-based just legal order.
2. To document empirical and other studies on the working of the legal system and its interactions with social norms and structures, in order to engage in justice oriented law, policy and gender justice
3. To focus heavily, though not exclusively, on courts as institutions that are mandated to realize the constitutional vision of social justice and gender justice
4. To map in action-oriented research for rights-based law and governance reform including through interventions in various fora such as governmental and judicial institutions.
5. To create and disseminate knowledge about constitutional law, gender justice , policy and governance through publications, class-room teaching and other allied activities, including focusing on clinical legal education on issues of access to justice.
6. To identify and document all questions from a comparative perspective in order to place Indian constitutional praxis in context and understand and evaluate options and alternatives for policy and law reform.
Facilities
1. Audio-Visual Documentation Unit
2. Digital Archives and Preservation of Rare Documents
1. Audio-Visual Documentation Unit
Activities
– Creation and dissemination of audio, video, graphic and text documentation material covering various activities and events related to the history of legislating process in Kerala and India on gender rights
– Creation of integrated Database with the purpose of information sharing among the scholars of Legal Studies
2. Digital Archives and Preservation of Rare Documents
Activities
a) Digitization and preservation of rare print documents in digital format.
b) Building up collection of films, documentaries, video footages related to the history of legislative process on gender rights with respect to constitutionalism and gender rights
c) Preparation of e-books using digitized rare materials on gender rights and constitutionalism
d) Library with digitized versions of rare print materials on gender rights and constitutionalism