Below are seach results from a google search on 'Ambedkar' on October 15th. You never know exactly how these things get picked up by the media, but the coverage sems to have started in the UK, and then spread to India and worldwide as people picked up the story. I like to think that the efforts of my UK friends and I may have helped this along.
The first major coverage came in The Guardian - I spoke to their International Newsdesk a few days previously and they forwarded the story to their Delhi correspondent. He was here in Hyderabad on the evening of 13th and filed his copy in advance. The BBC World Service people I have been working with are also in Hyderabad making a documentary, and in the afternoon Dan Isaacs, the reporter working on the documentary, started to get calls following their morning editorial meeting: having read the Guardian piece, they decided to carry it themselves. He was filing reports all day and my friend and companion here, Manidhamma (a dalit Buddhist from Nagpur, currently living in the UK) was interviewed for the news programe Newshour - which has an audience in the tens of milions.
The report also appeared on the bbbc.co.uk website and even now it is ranking as the fourth most read story. Along with guardian unlimited this is one of the most read English language news channels. Then it apeared on Reuters, and a flood of international coverage has followed. There's not much US coverage yet, that I can see: that may change.
Dalits change religion in caste system protestABC Online, Australia - 2 hours ago
Thousands of people have attended a ceremony in India at which hundreds of low-caste Hindus, known as Dalits, have converted to Buddhism and Christianity. ...
Dalits embrace Buddhism, ChristianityHindu, India - 7 hours agoNagpur: Hundreds of Dalits on Saturday embraced Buddhism and Christianity at a programme here, where copies of the Gujarat Government's anti-conversion Bill ...
Dalits' mass conversion held in NagpurNDTV.com, India - 11 hours agoHundreds of Dalits on Saturday embraced Buddhism and Christianity at a mass conversion programme in Nagpur, in which copies of Gujarat government's anti ...
Mass conversion to Buddhism in IndiaBangkok Post, Thailand - 15 hours agoNew Delhi (dpa) - The western Indian town of Nagpur was tense Saturday as hundreds of lower caste Hindus or Dalits attended a rally to protest new laws making ...
Low-caste Hindus adopt new faithBBC Bulgaria, Bulgaria - 15 hours agoThousands of people have been attending mass ceremonies in India at which hundreds of low-caste Hindus converted to Buddhism and Christianity. ...
Hindus set to convert to BuddhismBBC News, UK - 20 hours agoTens of thousands of people are due to attend a mass conversion ceremony in India at which large numbers of low-caste Hindus will become Buddhists. ...
Indian low-caste Hindus plan mass conversionsReuters AlertNet, UK - 21 hours agoBy Krittivas Mukherjee. NAGPUR, India, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Thousands of low-caste Hindus in India plan to covert to Buddhism and Christianity ...
Dalits to embrace Buddhism, ChristianityHindu, India - 13 Oct 2006Nagpur: The All-India Conference of SC/ST Organisations, Lord Buddha Club and the All-India Christian Council will organise mass conversions here on Saturday ...
Untouchables embrace Buddha to escape oppressionGuardian Unlimited, UK - 13 Oct 2006In the small one-room house on the edge of the rice bowl of India, Narasimha Cherlaguda explains why he is preparing to be reborn again as a Buddhist. ...
100,000 outcasts to change their faithUnison.ie, Ireland - 12 Oct 2006ABOUT 100,000 outcast Hindus are expected to attend a mass conversion ceremony in central India tomorrow to be freed from the social injustices of the caste ...
India's Untouchables turn to Buddhism in protest at discrimination ...Independent, UK - 12 Oct 2006By Justin Huggler in Delhi. Across India this month, thousands of Hindus from the former Untouchable castes are converting to Buddhism ...
Outcasts switch faith to gain freedomTimes Online, UK - 12 Oct 2006By Ashling O’Connor. ABOUT 100,000 outcast Hindus are expected to attend a mass conversion ceremony in central India tomorrow to ...
Dalits en masse change religion protesting casteIndian Catholic, India - 1 hour agoThe mass conversion ceremony in Ngapur was part of the programs to commemorate the 50th anniversary of neo-Buddhist movement, which began when B. R Ambedkar ...
Lower castes convert en massePeninsula On-line, Qatar - 3 hours agoNAGPUR • Thousands of low-caste Hindus converted to Buddhism and Christianity yesterday in protest against new laws in several states that make such changes ...
Hindus’ religious protestSunday Herald, UK - 6 hours agoThousands of low-caste Hindus converted to Buddhism and Christianity yesterday in protest against new laws in several Indian states that make such changes of ...
Low Caste Hindus Convert In Protestnewswire.co.nz, New Zealand - 8 hours agoThousands of people have attended a ceremony in central India at which hundreds of low caste Hindus converted to Buddhism and Christianity. ...
India's Dalits hold protest conversionsWashington Times, DC - 10 hours agoHundreds of Dalits, the group on the bottom of the Hindu caste structure, converted to Buddhism and Christianity on Saturday in India, the BBC reported. ...
Thousands Of India Dalits Abandon HinduismBosNewsLife (subscription), Hungary - 11 hours agoBy BosNewsLife News Center. The 'World Religious Freedom Day' took place in Nagpur, the largest city in central India in the western ...
Indian Hindus to Convert to BuddhismShortNews.com, Germany - 11 hours agoIn protest against the injustice of the Indian caste system, thousands of people will attend a mass conversion ceremony in the central city of Nagpur (India ...
Dalits' embrace Buddhism at a mass conversion programme :konkaniworld, United Arab Emirates - 12 hours agoHundreds of Dalits today embraced Buddhism and Christianity at a mass conversion programme here, in which copies of Gujarat government's anti-conversion bill ...
India Supreme Court Postpones Landmark Dalits HearingBosNewsLife (subscription), Hungary - 12 Oct 2006By BosNewsLife News Center. The government already deferred five previous scheduled hearings of the case related to the rights of ...
Low-caste Hindus adopt new faith
BBC News, UK - 2 hours agoThousands of people have been attending mass ceremonies in India at which hundreds of low-caste Hindus (Dalits) converted to Buddhism and Christianity. ...
Indian low-caste Hindus convert en masseSydney Morning Herald, Australia - 2 hours agoThousands of low-caste Hindus converted to Buddhism and Christianity in protest against new laws in several Indian states that make such changes of religion ...
Indian low-caste Hindus convert en masseNinemsn, Australia - 2 hours agoThousands of low-caste Hindus converted to Buddhism and Christianity in protest against new laws in several Indian states that make such changes of religion ...
Indian low-caste Hindus convert en masseThe Age, Australia - 2 hours agoThousands of low-caste Hindus converted to Buddhism and Christianity in protest against new laws in several Indian states that make such changes of religion ...
Indian low-caste Hindus convert en masseReuters.uk, UK - 14 hours agoBy Krittivas Mukherjee. NAGPUR, India (Reuters) - Thousands of low-caste Hindus converted to Buddhism and Christianity on Saturday ...
Indian low-caste Hindus convert en masseScotsman, United Kingdom - 14 hours agoBy Krittivas Mukherjee. NAGPUR, India (Reuters) - Thousands of low-caste Hindus converted to Buddhism and Christianity on Saturday ...
Low-caste Hindus convert en masseReuters India, India - 14 hours agoBy Krittivas Mukherjee. NAGPUR, India (Reuters) - Thousands of low-caste Hindus converted to Buddhism and Christianity on Saturday ...
Indian low-caste Hindus plan mass conversionsKhaleej Times, United Arab Emirates - 20 hours agoNAGPUR, India - Thousands of low-caste Hindus in India plan to covert to Buddhism and Christianity on Saturday to protest new laws in several states that make ...
Low-caste Hindus plan mass conversionsReuters India, India - 21 hours agoBy Krittivas Mukherjee. NAGPUR, India (Reuters) - Thousands of low-caste Hindus in India plan to covert to Buddhism and Christianity ...
