Chapter
21.
Social
Justice.
21 Social
Justice and the Marginalized A democratic form of government presupposes a
democratic form of society. The formal
framework of democracy is of no value and would indeed be a misfit if there was
no social democracy. Dr. B.R.
Ambedkar India opted for a sovereign and secular democracy after
attaining independence. The Indian
Constitution gave equal rights to every citizen and also recognized the need of
safeguarding the interests of those who had suffered at the hands of so - called
'higher castes' or the 'rich'. The
shameful concept of castes was done away.
The policies of the government, laws and other administrative measures
aim to uplift the condition of the downtrodden / the marginalized sections of
society to achieve the ideal of social justice, as laid down in our
Constitution. You have read in Chapter
16 that the Preamble, the spirit of the Constitution, clearly mentions ...
JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; ........ FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of
the individual ........ (le is true that social justice, individual rights,
equality of opportunity and public participation in decision - making, make a
successful democracy. But even after
over 70 years of attaining independence, we have not achieved the goals of
social and economic justice and are still working towards creating an
environment where everyone can live with dignity and honor. Majority of the
people in India are still backward - socially, economically and educationally. These victims
of backwardness compose the present Scheduled Castes (SCS) Scheduled Tribes
(STS) and other Backward Classes (OBCs). Many minority groups also suffer from
backwardness. They are called marginalized groups. Marginalised groups are
those sections of the society which has
remained ignored in the past due to several social and economic situations. The
marginalized groups were forced to live on the fringe of society or were exclude d from it.
These groups suffer from isolation and social discrimination Let us now
study about these marginalized groups in detail. 243
SCHEDULED
CASTES AND SCHEDULED TRIBES The castes of Dalits and Adivasis (tribals) which
are listed in the Constitution of India are known as Scheduled Castes (SCS) and
Scheduled Tribes (STS) respectively. Our
Constitution framers realized that the development of India was possible only
if all sections of society were uplifted.
Economically and socially disadvantaged communities of India, called
Dalits, Harijans or so - called untouchables are knownas Scheduled Do You
Know? Castes. They include people who were 26 Mahatma
Gandhi called the leather - workers, scavengers, tanners, flayers dalits as
Harijans or God's own cobblers, agricultural labourers, drumbeaters, people to
secure them a rightful folk musicians, street handicraft persons, etc. and respectable place in the They were
discriminated and exploited by the society.
so - called higher castes on one hand and by the colonial powers on the
other due to their monopoly over the resources.
Adivasis or natives of the land (Adi = origin, Vasi = dweller) were
traditionally dependent on forests for food, fodder, housing, cattle and craft. Look at the picture of Adivasis. Do you also associate adivasis with colorful
headgears, decorated with horns and feathers, chunky jewellery, dances and
drums? Most people do! Our knowledge about the Adivasis is very
limited. We are stillignorant about
their life, their suffering and their contribution in enriching India's diverse
culture and heritage. Gradually, the
Adivasis are losing their identity, traditional occupations and way of life in
the name of development. The end of
their traditional lifestyle had resulted in their marginalization and adivasis
exploitation. It forces them to live in
abject poverty. & Adivasi groups
have always been discriminated in the pre and post independence era. The forests in which the Adivasis lived were
taken away from them in the name of development during the British period. As a result, they became landless and
homeless. Many protests and revolts
occurred during colonial era against the exploitation. But they were quickly suppressed by the
British in a merciless manner to discourage any future revolts. Even in the post independence era, Adivasi
groups faced discrimination at the hands of the government, the industrialists
and many other powerful forces. The
forests in which they lived were EE 244
cleared
gradually for timber, agriculture, mining projects or for wildlife sanctuaries,
national parks, etc. This has resulted
in problems, such as poverty, illiteracy, indebtedness, bondage, exploitation,
disease and unemployment, etc. , among
the tribals) 22 Do You Know? Jyotiba
Phule (1827-90) was born in a Mali (gardner) family of Poona and belonged to
Shudra varna. He was educated at a
mission school and began his work as a social reformer to educate untouchable
boys and girls. He trained his wife to
teach the girls. He is associated with
Satya Shodhak Samaj that organized the lower castes against the Hindu varna
system. He wrote about slavery of lower
castes and exploitation by the Brahmin priests.
The rich culture of Adivasis is an important part of India's
heritage. Let us take the example of the
Bishnois, a tribal community of Rajasthan.
The preservation of animals and vegetation has been a religion to them
since the fifteenth century. His
spiritual mentor, Jambeshwarji formulated 29 tenets - Bis (twenty) + noi
(nine). This is the origin of their
name. The tenets are related to personal
hygiene, taking good basic health, healthy social behavior and worship of
God. Eight tenets direct them to
preserve bio - diversity and encourage good animal husbandry. Their religion bans animal killing, felling
green trees and directs them to protect life in all forms. The Bishnoi conservationists take care of
nature and live in harmony with it, instead of exploiting it. They have contributed more to environment and
wildlife protection than the entire country put together. Bishnois looking after animals like the
Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes have also been subjected to social and
economic injustice. The government has
launched many schemes for their welfare but they are disenchanted with them as
the schemes have provided more money making opportunities to the rich and highe
castes and the adivasis have mostly been given the option of manual labor
only. 245
As a
result of the exploitation, many a times, the resentment has surfaced in the
form of protests or revolts against higher castes, landlords and the colonial
power. But they were quickly suppressed
in merciless manner to teach others not to raise their heads against the
tyranny of the powerful classes ever again.
Some brave men still had the courage to stand against the system to
improve the lot of people like them. 2
Do You Know? As per the survey conducted
in May 2013 there are over 50 million Adivasis constituting 7.5% of the Indian
population thus, making it the largest population in the world. In all, 705 Scheduled Tribes exist in India
at present. A Report of Social Justice
and Development in India Lush forests and gurgling streams surrounding the
village fall to hide the misery and poverty of the Adivasis, in Kirbiri in
Odisha, where 300 families were forced to 'shift' from their village by forests
rangers. This ended their traditional
lifestyle as well as occupation. His
Chieftain says, Val, jungle aur zameen hamare liye jeevan hain. Inke bina hamara astitva nahin hai '(Water,
forests and land are our life. Without them, we have no existence.) Nd TO but
the efforts of a few reformers and governmental agencies have failed to make
much difference and the exploitation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes continues. The plans of development and progress of SCs
and STs have not given the desired results due to failure of proper
implementation of the policies and lack of coordination among different
agencies. 7 Reservation even during the
national movement, the plight of the backward sections of the society was a
matter of great concern. Therefore, the
Constitution framers included the provision of reservation to uplift
historically oppressed and marginalized sections of society, who were denied
respect and equality. The under -
privileged and the under - represented needed equal opportunity in nation
building activities. Hence, the
affirmative action of reservation was introduced. Under it, a to percentage of seats are
reserved in the public sector units, union and state civil services, union and
state departments and in all public and private educational institutions for
the socially and economically backward classes, listed as Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes in the Indian
Constitution. The Government of India
has taken concrete steps to provide social justice to all and to end
inequalities in our society. One such
measure is the reservation policy under this policy, seats are se reserved for
SC / ST / OBCs in the legislatures, government service, schools, colleges,
etc. They are 246)
also
given relaxation in upper age limit for applying to certain jobs. These special rights aim to bring them at par
with the so - called 'forward castes' and ensure a rightful place for them in
the society. The idea behind the
reservation in the educational institutions is to increase the diversity of
representation and to bring about social equality in India. However, minority institutions that are run
by religious bodies are exempted from this rule. Do you know?
Article 334 of the Indian Constitution lays down the provision of
reservations as a way to realize social equality by reserving seats in the Lok
Sabha and in the State Legislative Assemblies for the Scheduled Castes and the
Scheduled Tribes. As a political
safeguard, seats in the Lok Sabha, State Assemblies, Panchayats and
Municipalities are reserved for the Do You Know? Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Lack
of training education and proportion to their population. Provision has un - employment, has kept the
hereditary also been made in our Constitution to give nature of many lowly
occupations alive representation to the Anglo - Indian minority community also,
if otherwise not adequately represented.
ZSION OF ERC DRY OTHER BACKWARD CLASSES Along with SCs and STs, some
other sections OR of society, also remained deprived of the VETY benefits of
development and continue to suffer INDE due to social and educational
backwardness, YOGRE They were listed as Other Backward Classes on the recommendation of the Second Backward
Classes Commission under Chairman B.P.
Mandal in 1978. The communities under OBCs mainly comprise of small
cultivators, agricultural labourers, artisans, people engaged protests against
reservation in weaving, fishing, construction work, etc. They constitute a majority of poor and and
backward population that have been producing a variety of goods and services,
but continue to suffer due to unfair terms and conditions imposed on them. 247)
Do you
know? Our Constitution had planned
reservation for the SCS / ST's only for a period of 10 years. However, successive governments encouraged by
political parties, have been extending the deadline for reservations and
expanding the list also. MINORITY GOUPS
Along with safeguarding the interests of SCs / STs / OBCs, the Constitution of
India also safeguards the interest of the Minorities like Muslims, Christians,
Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, Anglo Indians, etc. On the basis of race, religion or language,
their number is much less than the majority community and hence, they are known
as minority communities. Muslims are the
largest single minority community in India.
93 The backwardness among Muslims in the country is evident. They lag behind the majority community, both
educationally and economically. A large
part of Muslim population suffers from backwardness due to abstaining from the
mainstream education and opting for traditional education, which is primarily
religious. Many Muslim parents still
prefer to send their children to a traditional Islamic educational institution,
called madarsa, and not for modern education.
But things are changing now. The
enlightened Muslims are opting for modern education and are becoming a part of
mainstream. Do you know? A minority community in one state may have
majority in another or the other way round.
For example, the Muslims are the largest majority community in Kashmir
but they are in minority in Punjab.
Minorities of India 248)
ndia. Look at the given table and note the number
and the percentage of religious population in * Religious Communities of India
(2011) Religious Groups Hindus Population 96.62 crores Total% Muslims 79.80
17.22 crores 14.23 Christians 2.78 crores 2.30 5 Sikhs Buddhists 2.08 crores
1.72 Y 84.43 lakhs 0.70 Jains e 44.52
lakhs 0.37 Others 79.38 lakhs 0.66 ys al a S It gives you an insight into the
need for all minorities to have a rightful share in the benefits of
development. They cannot be isolated and
forced to live on the fringes. On the
other hand, minorities must cooperate and live in harmony. They need to emphasize that they are a part
of the whole. This will strengthen the
composite culture of India. The benefits
of progress must be distributed in such a way that neither the Creamy Layer
among the SCs, STs and OBCs nor the other communities monopolize the national
resources. They should be listributed
equally for the development of a just and equitable society. The term 'Creamy Layer' is used for the
relatively wealthier and better - educated members a They should not of the
Backward Classes, it is largued that they should not continue to avail the
benefits of reservation, The minorities have to be provided their rightful
place .
They have to be protected from being dominated as well as
discriminated. Sometimes a minority
community may feel threatened by the majority community, which gives rise to
insecurity and disharmony. The minority
communities also ave to keep in mind that the development can continue only
when each and every Indian joins ands and the national interest wins over individual
interest. Ministry of Minority Affairs
has launched several schemes for the welfare of the minorities and safeguards
their rights. Despite being a minority
group, Sikhs have played an exemplary role in the development of the
nation. They are the fourth largest
religious group in India, accounting for about 2% of the multi-religious, muti
- ethnic population of 1.25 billion.
Inspite of its small size, the Sikh ommunity has played a pioneering
role in fields as diverse as defense, politics, business and ports. Source of data: www.censusindia.gov.in 249)
Page 250
India is
a secular country. The provisions in the
Constitution and laws of the government safeguard the interest of all by
providing equal opportunities to all in all the fields. In Class VII, you studied about gender
discrimination, illiteracy and malnutrition among children. It is true that equality is a necessary
condition for democracy. But has
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity been able to restore the dignity of Scs /
ST / OBCs / Minorities / women and children?
Each and every Indian needs to work together to end the suffering caused
by discrimination, deprivation and lack of social and economic justice. It is the prime duty of a democratic
government to ensure the progress of all sections of society. Measures must be taken for the upliftment of
those who are not able to enjoy the benefits of EQUALITY development. All inequalities must be removed to establish
an egalitarian society. The progress
made in the last decades for the upliftment of the downtrodden and women,
socially, economically and educationally backward, is impressive. But it has not yet reached each and every
Indian. The legislature and judiciary
should work in cooperation for the benefit of the entire population rather than
for a particular group. Hopefully, the
changes that are initiated will continue to give an impetus to efforts towards
social justice and equal opportunities for all.
Let us remember that no section of society can remain backward if opportunities
and facilities are provided to them that are at par with others. Do you know?
The existence and expression of social diversity is quite desirable in a
democracy but sometimes the social differences like gender, religion and caste
can take the form of social divisions and inequalities. Keywords bondage: the state of being a slave
or owned by someone. deprivation: denial
of something considered to be a necessity, egalitarian: based on the principle
that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities
indebtedness: the condition of owing money due to debts / loans. madarsa: an institution for Islamic
instruction. underprivileged those who
do not enjoy the same standard of living or rights as the majority of people in
a society. 250
Comments
Post a Comment