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CONTENT:
SOCIAL CHANGE AND MOVEMENTS ..............................................................................................................................5

SOCIAL STRUCTURE .........................................................................................................................................................5
SOCIAL CHANGE .............................................................................................................................................................8
THEORIES OF SOCIAL CHANGE....................................................................................................................................9
SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS ............................................................................................................. 14
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN INDIA ................................................................................................................................. 19
DIRECTED SOCIAL CHANGE .............................................................................................................................................. 21
SOCIAL CHANGE AND MODERNIZATION......................................................................................................................24

ROLE CONFLICT ............................................................................................................................................................ 24
PROBLEMS OF ROLE CONFLICT ......................................................................................................................................... 27
YOUTH UNREST ............................................................................................................................................................ 31
COMMERCIALIZATION OF EDUCATION ................................................................................................................................ 34
EMERGENCE OF INDIA AS EDUCATIONAL FORCE .................................................................................................................... 38
NEW EDUCATION POLICY: HIGHLIGHTS .............................................................................................................................. 41
CHANGING STATUS OF WOMEN ........................................................................................................................................ 44
INDUSTRIALIZATION ...................................................................................................................................................... 54
URBANIZATION ............................................................................................................................................................ 58
PRESSURE GROUPS ....................................................................................................................................................... 66
SANSKRITIZATION ......................................................................................................................................................... 70
WESTERNIZATION ........................................................................................................................................................ 73
MODERNIZATION ......................................................................................................................................................... 75
MODERNISM VERSUS TRADITIONALISM .............................................................................................................................. 77
CURRENT SOCIAL EVILS ...............................................................................................................................................79
FUNDAMENTALISM ....................................................................................................................................................... 79
TERRORISM ................................................................................................................................................................ 81
NAXALISM .................................................................................................................................................................. 84
NEPOTISM .................................................................................................................................................................. 87
CORRUPTION .............................................................................................................................................................. 90
BLACK MONEY ............................................................................................................................................................. 92
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL SYSTEM ......................................................................................................................97
CASTE, RELIGION AND ETHNICITY IN INDIAN POLITICS ............................................................................................................ 98
POLITICAL PARTY AND THEIR SOCIAL COMPOSITION ............................................................................................................. 104
DECENTRALISATION OF POWER ................................................................................................................................ 107
REGIONALISM IN INDIA ................................................................................................................................................ 107
LINGUISM ................................................................................................................................................................ 111
COMMUNALISM ........................................................................................................................................................ 118
SECULARISM ............................................................................................................................................................. 121
NATIONAL INTEGRATION .............................................................................................................................................. 125
VOTE-BANK POLITICS .................................................................................................................................................. 129
CRIMINALISATION OF POLITICS: ...................................................................................................................................... 130
SOCIO ECONOMIC SYSTEM ........................................................................................................................................ 132
JAJMANI SYSTEM........................................................................................................................................................ 132
MARKET ECONOMY AND ITS SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES ........................................................................................................... 136
OCCUPATIONAL DIVERSIFICATION AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE .................................................................................................... 138
PROFESSION AND PROFESSIONALIZATION .......................................................................................................................... 140
ROLE OF TRADE UNIONS ............................................................................................................................................... 142
SOCIAL DETERMINANTS AND CONSEQUENCE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ............................................................................... 149
GLOBALISATION AND ITS SOCIAL IMPACT .......................................................................................................................... 151
SCHEDULED CASTE AND THEIR WELFARE................................................................................................................... 153
THE PROBLEMS FACED BY SCHEDULED CASTE ARE AS FOLLOWS ............................................................................................... 153
MEASURES FOR SC PROTECTION AND UPLIFTMENT ............................................................................................................. 156
SCHEMES AND PROGRAMMES ........................................................................................................................................ 159
“OTHER BACKWARD CLASSES” .................................................................................................................................. 162
MINORITIES IN INDIA ................................................................................................................................................ 165

Social Change And Movements

Social structure
The word structure meant originally, the construction of a building. Gradually, structure began to

imply inter-relations between the parts of any whole. It also began to be used in anatomical studies.
The concept of social structure became popular amongst the sociologists and social anthropologists,
in the decade following World
War II. During that period it
became so fashionable to use this
term that it came to be applied to
“almost any ordered
arrangement of social
phenomenon
Social structure, in sociology, the

distinctive, stable arrangement
of institutions whereby human
beings in a society interact and
live together. Social structure is
often treated together with the
concept of social change, which
deals with the forces that change
the social structure and the
organization of society.
Social structure, in all societies and at all times, experiences change. Change is an essential aspect
of all societies, and it is brought about by the process of social evolution, in all societies.
Definition:
Social structure is the patterned social arrangements in society that are both emergent from
and determinant of the actions of individuals. Likewise, society is believed to be grouped into
structurally-related groups or sets of roles, with different functions, meanings, or purposes.
Examples of social structure include family, religion, law, economy, and class.
A social institution consists of a group of people who have come together for a common purpose.
These institutions are a part of the social order of society and they govern behavior and
expectations of individuals.
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Social structure of India on the basis of caste:
Caste has for long been viewed as a distinctive feature of the

Indian society. It is not merely an institution that characterizes
the structure of social stratification in India.
"Caste" has often been seen to represent the core of India. It

has been viewed both as an institution as well as an ideology.
Institutionally, "caste" provided a framework for arranging
and organizing social groups in terms of their statuses and
positions in the social and economic system. It fixed
individuals into the structure of social hierarchy on the basis
of their birth.
As an ideology, caste was a system of values and ideas that
legitimized and reinforced the existing structure of social
inequality. It also provided a worldview around which a typical Hindu organized hisfher life.
Apart from being an institution that distinguished India from other societies, caste was also an
epitome of the traditional society, a "closed system", where generation after generation individuals
aid similar kinds of work and lived more or less similar kinds of lives.
Features of Caste System:
G.S Ghurye, a famous sociologist, identified six different features of the Hindu caste system.
1. Segmental division of society: Castes were groups with well-developed life-styles of their
own. The membership of the groups was determined by birth and not by choice. The status
of a person depended not on the amount of wealth he possessed but on the rank that his
caste enjoyed in the Hindu society.
2. Hierarchy:There was definite scheme of social precedence among castes. Each group was
given a specific status in the overall framework of hierarchy.
3. Restrictions on feeding and social intercourse: There were minute rules as to what sort of
food or drink can be accepted by a person and from what caste.
4. Civil and religious disabilities and privileges of different sections: Segregation of individual
castes or groups of castes in the village was the most obvious mark of civil privileges and
disabilities. Certain sacraments could not be performed by any caste other than the
Brahmins. Similarly, shudras and other lower castes were not allowed to read or learn the
sacred scriptures.
5. Lack of unrestricted choice of occupation: Generally each caste considered a particular
occupation as its legitimate calling. To abandon the hereditary occupation in pursuit of
another, even it was more lucrative. was not considered right.
6. Restrictions on marriage: Caste groups obsewed strict endogamy. Members of a caste group
married only within their castes. However, there were a few exceptions. In some regions of
India, the upper caste man could n w r y a lower caste woman. This kind of marriage alliance
is known as hypergamy.

Social Differentiation in Societies
There have been many ways in which social thinkers have explained social differentiation in
societies. Social differentiation means the process in which the various parts; i.e., social groups and
institutions of society become more complex, and each of them performs some specialised tasks.
Some of these thinkers are:
1. Henry Maine has made a distinction between the societies based on social status and those

based on social contract. According to him traditional societies, like Indian society, were based
on the relations of social status, where the prestige and ascriptive criteria, determine the status
of the person in society. The caste system, especially the jajmani system, found within the caste
system in India, depicts the relations of social status.
• Jajmani system in India was based on the patron-client relationship, where each caste had
certain rights and obligations towards the other. In this relationship prestige element, and a
sense of obligation of the patron to protect his clients; formed a significant feature. It was
above all an economic system which took care of the distribution of agricultural and material
goods produced within the society and exchange of services rendered.
• In contrast to this society, the society having social contract type of relationship, gives,
importance to the role of the individual. Here achievement is more important than ascriptive
criteria. All exchanges of goods and services are based on rational grounds of profit. Social
values of prestige, of obligations, etc. do not count in this type of relationship. This type of
relationship is found in modern, complex societies where all formal exchange are
contractual.
2. Emile Durkheim (1964) has described the nature of social solidarity in two types of societies,
depending on the division of labour present in it. Thus, he says that mechanical solidarity is
found in pre-industrial societies.
• Division of labour in these societies is based on criteria of age, sex, etc. rather than
specialized skills. Here solidarity is based on similarities between the members of society.
They have more scope for face-to-face contact and share values, beliefs and social
norms. Even the roles performed within the society are shared to a great degree. In these
societies the “collective conscience” which includes the moral values and belief aspect of
society is very strong. Therefore, in these societies, according to Durkheim laws of repressive
kind are practiced which are based on the idea of punishing the criminal for hurting the
“collective conscience”.
• In the industrial societies based on organic solidarity society is based on differences. All the
parts of the society performs a different function which contributes to the life of the total

society. Thus, division of labour in these societies is more complicated.
Social change
Change is natural for every society and even if any society makes any attempt to stall social change
that shall be an impossible task.
According to Jones, “Social change is a term used to describe variations or modifications of any
aspect of social processes, social patterns, social interactions or social organisation.”
According to Gillin and Gillin, “Social changes are variations from the accepted modes of life;
whether due to alterations in geographical conditions, in cultural equipment, composition of the
population or ideologies and whether brought about by diffusion or invention within the group”.
Maclver has given a very simple definition of the term by saying that “Social change is change in
social relationship”.
Characteristics of Social change

• Social change is universal or it is an essential law.
• Change with difference in speed & form simple society … change was slower.
• Change is unpredictable in general Revolution is a process of social change. What speed &
in what form the change takes place is not easily predictable.
• Social change is change in community
Three Aspects of Social Change
1. Social change is essentially a process of alteration with no reference to the quality of change.
2. Changes is society are related/linked to changes in culture, so that it would be sometimes
useful to talk about ‘socio-cultural change.
• Social change is defined as alterations in the social structure, (including the changes in
the size of society) or in particular social institutions, or in the relationship between
institutions. They feel that social change refers mainly to actual human behaviour.
Cultural change, on the other hand, refers to variation in cultural phenomena such as
knowledge and ideas, art, religion moral doctrines, values, beliefs, symbol systems and
so on.
3. Social change can vary in its scope and in speed
• Changes can take a cyclical pattern, e.g. when there is the recurrence of centralisation
and decentralisation in administrative organisations. It can also be revolutionary.
Revolutionary change can be seen when there is an overthrow of government in a
particular nation. Change can also include short term changes (e.g. in migration rates) as
well as long term changes in economic structures.

THEORIES OF SOCIAL CHANGE
Theories of social change can be divided into two groups:
(1) Theories relating to the direction of social change:

Various types of evolutionary theories, and cyclical theory.
(2) Theories relating to causation of change:
(a) Those explaining change in terms of endogamous factors or processes

(b) Those emphasising exogamous factors such as economic, cultural or historical.
1. EVOLUTIONARY THEORY:
• The notion of social evolution was taken from the theories of biological evolution.
Spencer propounded an analogy between social and organic growth and between
society and an organisation. The theories of social evolution are composed of one or
more of the following principles−change, order, direction, progress and perfectibility.
The principle of change states that the present system is the outcome, of more or less
continuous modification from its original state. Some evolutionists add to the principles
of change the notion that change must have an order.
• The evolutionary process of change implies, that every society goes through distinctive
and successive states of existence and orientation. Comte, for instance, proposed a
directional theory of society. He suggested that a society evolves from a theological
orientation, to a metaphysical orientation to a positivistic orientation.
• Durkheim classified societies into simple societies united by similarity of their members,
(what he called mechanical solidarity) and complex societies based on specialisation and
functional interdependence of members (what he called organic solidarity). This also
suggests a directional evolutionary pattern.
Types of Evolutionary Theory:
There are three main types of evolutionary theory:
(1) Theory of Unilinear Evolution:
• It postulates the straight-line, ordered or progressive nature of social change. According
to this theory, change always proceeds toward a predestined goal in a unilinear fashion.
There is no place of repetition of the same stage in this theory.
• Followers of this pattern of change argue that society gradually moves to an even higher
state of civilization which advances in a linear
fashion and in the direction of improvement.
• The pace of this change may be swift or slow.
• In brief, linear hypothesis states that all
aspects of society change continually in a
certain direction, never faltering, never
repeating themselves.
(2) Universal Theory of Evolution:
• It is a little bit variant form of unilinear evolution which states that every society does
not necessarily go through the same fixed stages of development. It argues, rather, that
the culture of mankind, taken as a whole, has followed a definite line of evolution.
• Spencer’s views can be categorized under this perspective who said that mankind had
progressed from small groups to large and from simple to compound and in more general
terms, from homogenous to the heterogeneous.
• The anthropologist Leslie White has been a leading exponent of this conception.
(3) Multilinear Theory of Evolution:

• This brand of evolutionism has more recently developed and is more realistic than the
unilinear and universal brand of evolutionary change.
• Multilinear evolution is a concept, which attempts to account for diversity.
• It essentially means identification of different sequential patterns for different culture
or types of cultures.

• This theory holds that change can occur in several ways and that it does not inevitably
lead in the same direction.
Criticism of Evolutionary Theory:

• It was criticized heavily on many grounds but mainly for its sweeping or over-
generalization about historical sequences, uniform stages of development and
evolutionary rate of change. The biological evolution, from which the main ideas of social
evolution were borrowed, provided somewhat clumsy and unsatisfactory answers.
• The easy assumption that societies evolved from simple to complex forms, was mainly
based on a scale of predominant productive technology turned out to be unwarranted.
• The doctrine of ‘cultural relativity’ inhibited even static or cross-sectional generalisation,
provided a new basis for satisfying the common features of societies.
• The evolutionary scheme also failed to specify the systematic characteristics of evolving
societies or institutions and also the mechanisms and processes of change through which
the transition from one stage to another was effected.
• Most of the classical evolutionary schools tended to point out general causes of change
(economic, technological or spiritual etc.) or some general trend to complexity inherent
in the development of societies.
Modern sociology has tended to neglect or even to reject this theory, mainly because it was too
uncritically applied by an earlier generation of sociologists. In spite of its all weaknesses, it has a

very significant place in the inter-pretation of social change. The recent tentative revival in an
evolutionary perspective is closely related to growing interest in historical and comparative studies.
2. CYCLICAL THEORY:
• The basic premise of the cyclical theories is: cultures and civilisations pass through stages of
change, starting and often ending with the same stage. This passing through stages is called
a cycle. The cycle when completed, repeats itself over and over again. The ancient
civilisations in Greece, China and India for instance, can be explained by the principle of

cycles.
• Cyclical change is a variation on unilinear theory which was developed by Oswald Spengler
(Decline of the West, 1918) and Arnold J. Toynbee (A Study of History, 1956). They argued
that societies and civilisations change according to cycles of rise, decline and fall just as
individual persons are born, mature, grow old, and die.
• According to German thinker Spengler, every society has a predetermined life cycle—birth,
growth, maturity and decline. Society, after passing through all these stages of life cycle,
returns to the original stage and thus the cycle begins again. According to him, The Roman
Empire rose to power and then gradually collapsed. The British Empire grew strong, and then
deteriorated. Spengler believed that social change may take the form of progress or of
decay, but that no society lives for ever
• A variant of cyclical process is the theory of a well-known American sociologist P.A. Sorokin
(Social and Cultural Dynamics, 1941), which is known as ‘pendular theory of social change’.
He considers the course of history to be continuous, though irregular, fluctuating between
two basic kinds of cultures: the ‘sensate’ and the ‘ideational’ through the ‘idealistic’.
According to him, culture oscil-lates like the pendulum of a clock between two points.
• The pendulum of a clock swings with the passage of time, but ultimately it comes to its
original position and re-proceeds to its previous journey. Thus, it is just like a cyclical process
but oscillating in character. A sensate culture is one that appeals to the senses and sensual
desires.
• Vilfredo Pareto’s (1963) theory of ‘Circulation of Elites’ is also essentially of this variety.
According to this theory, major social change in society occurs when one elite replaces
another, a process Pareto calls it ‘circulation of elites’. All elites tend to become decadent in
the course of time. They ‘decay in quality’ and lose their ‘vigour’. According to Marx, history
ultimately leads to and ends with the communist Utopia, whereas history to Pareto is a
never-ending circu-lation of elites. He said that societies pass through the periods of political
vigour and decline which repeat themselves in a cyclical fashion.
3. ECONOMIC (MANDAN) THEORY OF SOCIAL CHANGE:

• Owing largely to the influence of Marx and Marxism, the economic theory of change is also
known as the Marxian theory of change.
• The Marxian theory rests on this funda-mental assumption that changes in the economic
‘infra-structure’ of society are the prime movers of social change. For Marx, society consists
of two structures—’infra-structure’ and ‘super-structure’. The ‘infra-structure’ consists of
the ‘forces of production’ and ‘relations of production’.
• The ‘super-structure’ consists of those features of the social system, such as legal,
ideological, political and religious insti-tutions, which serve to maintain the ‘infra-structure’,
and which are moulded by it. To be clearer, according to Marx, productive forces constitute
‘means of production’ (natural resources, land, labour, raw material, machines, tools and
other instruments of production) and ‘mode of production’ (techniques of production,

mental and moral habits of human beings) both and their level of development
deter-mines the social relation of production, i.e., production relations.
• These production relations (class relations) constitute the economic structure of society—
the totality of production relations. Thus, the socio-economic structure of society is basically
determined by the state of productive forces. For Marx, the contradiction between the
constantly changing and developing ‘productive forces’ and the stable ‘production relations’
is the demiurage of all social development or social change.
Critique:

• Few deny that economic factor influences social conditions of life. Its influence is certainly
powerful and penetrating. But, it cannot be regarded as a sole factor affecting social change.
There are other causes also which are as important as the economic factor.
• To say that the super-structure of society is determined by its infra-structure, i.e., production
system (economic system) of a society is going too far. The link between the social change
and the economic process is far less direct and simple and sufficient than the Marxian
psychology admits.
• Moreover, Marx oversimplified the class structure of society and its dynamics of social
change in the form of class struggle.
4. CONFLICT THEORY:
• Social theorists in the nineteenth and early twentieth century’s were concerned with conflict
in society.
• Conflict theorists do not believe that societies smoothly evolve to higher level. Instead, they
believe that conflicting groups struggle to ensure progress (Coser, 1956). Conflict theorists
assert that conflict is a necessary condition for change. It must be the cause of change. There
is no society, changing or unchanging, which does not have conflict of some kind or another.
Thus, conflict is associated with all types of social change in some way or other.
• The modem conflict theory is heavily influenced by the ideas of karl Marx. It may be regarded
as the offshoot of his economic theory of social change which states that economic change
only occurs and produces other change through the mechanism of intensified conflict
between social groups and between different parts of the social system. Conflict would
ultimately transform society.
5. TECHNOLOGICAL THEORY:
• When the average person speaks of the changes brought about by ‘science’, he is generally
thinking of ‘technology’ and the manifold wonders wrought thereby. The ‘technology’ refers
to the application of knowledge to the making of tools and the utilisation of natural
resources (Schaefer and Lamm, 1992). It involves the creation of material instruments (such
as machines) used in human interaction with nature.
• Social change takes place due to the working of many factors. Technology is not only one of
them but an important factor of social change. When it is said that almost whole of human
civilisation is the product of technological development, it only means that any change in
technology would initiate a corresponding change in the arrangement of social relationships.
• It is believed that Marx has attached great importance to technology in his scheme of mode
of production, which forms the main basis for the change in society. For Marx, the stage of
technological development determines the mode of production and the relationships and
the institutions that constitute the economic system. This set of relationships is in turn the
chief determinant of the whole social order.

Critique:
• The goals and consequences of technology and the production of material goods are being
seriously questioned today.
• the rapidly changing technology is the cause of our all types of environmental degradation,
pollution, health and social problems
• Modern technology (science) is responsible for moral degradation of our society. Medical
advances that prolong life, for example, may surpass our ability for elderly or an honorable
life for them. Technical advances have often been portrayed as routes to heaven or hell—a

source of deliverance of damnation.
• The wealth-bringing technology brought also ugliness, shoddiness, and haste
standardization. It brought new hazards, new diseases and fatigue. That was not the fault of
the technology (machines). It was due to the ruthlessness and greed of those who controlled
these great inventions.
NOTES

Social disorganization and social movements
Social disorganisation is the process opposed to social organisation. Emile Durkheim defined social
disorganisation as “a state of disequilibrium and a lack of social solidarity or consensus among
the members of a society.”
W.I. Thomas and Florien Znaniecki conceived of social disorganisation as “a decrease of the
influence of existing rules of behaviour upon individual members of the groups.”

• Just as social organisation provides the means by which a society maintains its unity and
cohesion through effective control of its members, and, hence, functions smoothly; social
disorganisation causes a weakening of group solidarity, loss of control over its members,
and, therefore, conflict and disintegration.
• Social disorganisation refers to serious mal-adjustments rather than un-adjustments in
society so that they fail to satisfy the needs of the individuals satisfactorily. Society, as we
know, is the web of social relationships. In an organised society social relations have some
patterns and mechanisms. When the relations become disordered or disintegrated there is
social disorganisation.
Characteristics of Social Disorganisation:
(i) Conflict of Mores and of Institutions:

• Every society has its mores and institutions which regulate the life of its members. With the
passage of time, these mores and institution become obsolete. New ideals arise and new
institutions are formed. The existing mores come into conflict with new mores.
• Some people want to replace them by new ones. This destroys consensus in society. With
the destruction of consensus, social organisation breaks up and social disorganization
ensues.
• If, on the one hand, there are critics of caste system, on the other hand there are its staunch
supporters. There is a strong difference of opinion on a number of other issues like divorce,
family planning, untouchability, love-marriage, joint family system, women education,
widow remarriage, education etc.
• On the one hand, we denounce caste system while on the other we apply casteism in the
selection of candidates for political offices, recruitment to public services and admission to
educational institutions. There is much confusion of mores in our society and so we are
passing through a state of social disorganisation.
(ii) Transfer of Functions from one Group to Another:
• In an organised society the functions of different groups are defined and predetermined. But
as society is dynamic, the functions of one group are transferred to another.
• Thus most of the functions once performed by the family stand transferred today to
nurseries, schools and clubs. This has caused family disorganisation.
• Thus transfer of functions from one group to another is characteristic of social
disorganisation.
(iii) Individuation:
• Man today thinks in terms of self. The functions of different groups are determined in purely
individualistic terms. Under the impact of individualism every person thinks upon all the
important matters of life from his individual viewpoint.

• The young men and women want to take decisions on such important matters as
marriage, occupation, recreation and morality in accordance with their individual prejudices,
interests and attitudes. This trend has set in a dangerous process of social disorganisation.
(iv) Change in the Role and Status of the Individuals:
• In an organised society the roles and status of people are defined and fixed. Their functions
are well defined and they carry on the tasks allotted to them. They enjoy the status in
accordance with their role in society. A primitive society suffers less from disorganisation
because it is stable and its members follow the professions allocated to them.

• But in course of time our norms change which also brings a change in the roles and statuses
of the people. They no longer are treated as fixed and the people begin to choose from
amongst the different role which causes disequilibrium. Thus the women are no longer
confined to homes. They work in offices. This change in the roles of women has caused family
disorganisation. The Government of India is making efforts to raise the status of the lower
classes which has led to disorganisation in the caste system.
Symptoms of Social Disorganisation:
Social disorganisation is an indication of the existence of diseased or disruptive elements in society.

Just as a disease is known by its symptoms, so social disorganization may be known by its symptoms.
• Mabel, A. Elliot and Francis E. Merrill have pointed out that social disorganisation may be
of three types i.e., disorganisation of the individual, the family, and community.
• Among the symptoms of personal disorganisation they included juvenile delinquency,
various types of crime, insanity, drunkenness, suicide and prostitution.
• Among the symptoms of family disorganisation they included divorce, illegitimate births,
desertion and venereal disease.
• Among the symptoms of community disorganisation they included poverty, unemployment,
crime and political corruption
Causes of Social Disorganisation
(i) Division of Labour:

• According to Emile Durkheim, extreme division of labour is the cause of social
disorganization. Division of labour is generally productive of social solidarity; but when it
becomes excessive and complex then solidarity diminishes or disappears and social
equilibrium is disturbed.
• Extreme division of labour gives rise to economic crises of all kinds, class struggles, and
industrial strife, and leads to the demoralization of individuals, the family, and the
community.
(ii) Violation of Social Rules:
• According to W.I. Thomas and Znaniecki, when the rules and regulations of society fail to
keep individuals under control, social disorganisation sets in. In society there are always
individuals who violate social rules. This has a disorganizing effect upon social institutions,
and unless the violations are checked; they may eventually lead to the death of institutions.
• The changes in social values come into conflict with old values. The new values take time to
adjust themselves in society. In the meantime social disorganisation spreads.
• The Traditional social values in Indian society have undergone a major change.

(iii) Industrialization:
• Industrialization creates conditions leading to social disorganisation. The effects of
industrialization on family structure and relationships. Industrialization as seen in system
had led to capitalism, exploitation and class conflicts.
• It has also contributed to unemployment, crime, immorality, family disorganisation,
urbanisation and its evils.
(iv) Cultural Lag:
• Ogburn maintained in Social Change that disorganisation is caused primarily by the unequal

rates of change in the different parts of culture, resulting in a conflict between them.
• The disproportionate rates of change in various elements of the functionally interdependent
component system of a changing social structure produce a condition of disequilibrium.
• This uneven change is due to the fact that inventions and discoveries are made more
frequently in certain parts of culture, usually the material parts, than in others.
(v) Natural Catastrophes:
• Ecological disturbances, i.e., disturbances in the relationship of man to his environment,
including such natural phenomena as disease, earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions and
various other catastrophic phenomena of nature, may also have a disorganizing effect on
society.
(vi) War:
• While war is the result of social disorganisation, it is also its cause.
• War disturbs the economy of a country and introduces confusion and disorder in society.
War leads to scarcity. There is economic crisis during the war period.
• It inflates the prices and the people resort to hoarding and black-marketing.
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS Social Change Vs Social Movements

• We often assume that the rights we Social change is continuous and ongoing. The
enjoy just happened to exist. It is broad historical processes of social change are the
important to recall the struggles of sum total of countless individual and collective
the past, which made these rights actions gathered across time and space. Social
possible. You have read about the movements are directed towards some specific
19th-century social reform goals. It involves long and continuous social effort
movements, of the struggles and action by people.
against caste and gender
discrimination and of the
nationalist movement in India that brought us independence from colonial rule in 1947.
• The socialist movements world over, the civil rights movement in the United States in the
1950s and 1960s that fought for equal rights for Blacks, the anti-apartheid struggle in South
Africa have all changed the world in fundamental ways. Social movements not only change
societies. They also inspire other social movements.
Features of a Social Movement
• A social movement requires sustained collective action over time. Such action is often
directed against the state and takes the form of demanding changes in state policy or
practice.
• Spontaneous, disorganised protest cannot be called a social movement either. Collective
action must be marked by some degree of organisation. This organisation may include
leadership and a structure that defines how members relate to each other, make
decisions, and carry them out.
• Those participating in a social
movement also have shared WHAT ARE COUNTER MOVEMENTS?
objectives and ideologies. A
social movement has a general While social movements seek to bring in social
orientation or way of change, counter-movements sometimes arise in
approaching to bring about (or defence of the status quo. There are many

to prevent) change. These instances of such counter-movements. When Raja
defining features are not Ram Mohan Roy campaigned against sati and
constant. They may change over formed the Brahmo Samaj, defenders of sati
the course of a social formed Dharma Sabha and petitioned the British
movement’s life. not to legislate against sati. When reformers
• Social movements often arise demanded education for girls, many protested that
with the aim of bringing about this would be disastrous for society. When
changes on a public issue, such reformers campaigned for widow remarriage, they
as ensuring the right of the were socially boycotted. When the so-called ‘lower
tribal population to use the caste’ children enrolled in schools, some so-called
forests or the right of displaced ‘upper caste’ children were withdrawn from the
people to settlement and schools by their families.
compensation.
• While the protest is the most Peasant movements have often been brutally
visible form of collective action, suppressed. More recently the social movements of
a social movement also acts in erstwhile excluded groups like the Dalits have often
other, equally important, ways. invoked retaliatory action. Likewise proposals for
Social movement activists hold extending reservations in educational institutions
meetings to mobilise people have led to counter-movements opposing them.
around the issues that concern Social movements cannot change society easily.
them. Such activities help Since it goes against both entrenched interests and
shared understanding and also values, there is bound to be opposition and
prepare for a feeling of resistance. But over a period of time changes do
agreement or consensus about take place.
how to pursue the collective
agenda.
• Social movements also chart
out campaigns that include
lobbying with the
government, media, and other
important makers of public
opinion.
• Social movements also develop
distinct modes of protest. This
could be candle and torchlight
processions, use of black cloth,
street theatres, songs, poetry.
Gandhi adopted novel ways such as ahimsa, satyagraha, and his use of the charkha in
the freedom movement. Recall the innovative modes of protest such as picketing and
the defying of the colonial ban on producing salt.

Types of Social Movements

There are different kinds of social movements.
They can be classified as:
(i) Redemptive or transformatory
(ii) Reformist
(iii) Revolutionary
• Redemptive or transformatory: A
redemptive social movement aims to

bring about a change in the personal
consciousness and actions of its
individual members. For instance,
people in the Ezhava community in
Kerala were led by Narayana Guru to
change their social practices.
• Reformist social movements strive to
change the existing social and political arrangements through gradual, incremental
steps. The 1960s movement for the reorganisation of Indian states on the basis of
language and the recent Right to Information campaign are examples of reformist
movements.
• Revolutionary social movements attempt to radically transform social relations, often
by capturing state power. The Bolshevik revolution in Russia that deposed the Tsar to
create a communist state and the Naxalite movement in India that seeks to remove
oppressive landlords and state officials can be described as revolutionary movements.
Another Way of Classifying: Old and New
Old Movement New Movement

Most have links with political parties and Do not have links to political parties. May
they were very important. eg:freedom sometimes oppose the practices of government.
struggle -> INC e.g workers’ movement.
Main aim -> saw the reorganization of Main aim-> address social issues, no change in
power relationships. power relationships.
Usually to do with economic inequality. It involves economic, social, political, and cultural
inequality.
Usually concerned with the lower or To do with all classes and all castes e.g workers
depressed class like women and Dalits e.g movement, Tribal movement.
Arya Samaj

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN INDIA
Ecological Movements
• For much of the modern period the greatest emphasis has been laid on development. Over
the decades there has been a great deal of concern about the unchecked use of natural
resources and a model of development that creates new needs that further demands greater
exploitation of the already depleted natural resources.
• This model of development has also been critiqued for assuming that all sections of people

will be beneficiaries of development. Thus big dams displace people from their homes and
sources of livelihood. Industries displace agriculturalists from their homes and livelihood.
The impact of industrial pollution is yet another story.
• The Chipko movement, an example of the ecological movement, in the Himalayan foothills
is a good example of such intermingled interests and ideologies.
Class-Based Movements
Peasant Movements
• Peasant movements or agrarian struggles have taken place from pre-colonial days. The
movements in the period between 1858 and 1914 tended to remain localized, disjointed,
and confined to particular grievances. Well-known are the Bengal revolt of 1859-62 against
the indigo plantation system and the ‘Deccan riots’ of 1857 against moneylenders. Some of
these issues continued into the following period, and under the leadership of Mahatma
Gandhi became partially linked to the Independence movement.
• Some of these issues continued into the following period, and under the leadership of
Mahatma Gandhi became partially linked to the Independence movement. For instance, the
Bardoli Satyagraha (1928, Surat District) a ‘non-tax’ campaign as part of the nationwide
noncooperative movement, a campaign of refusal to pay land revenue and the Champaran
Satyagraha (1917-18) directed against indigo plantations. In the 1920s, protest movements
against the forest policies of the British government and local rulers arose in certain regions.
Worker’s Movements
• Factory production began in India in the early part of the 1860s. The general pattern of trade
set up by the colonial regime was one under which raw materials were procured from India
and goods manufactured in the United Kingdom were marketed in the colony. These
factories were, thus established in the port towns of Calcutta (Kolkata) and Bombay
(Mumbai). Later factories were also set up in Madras (Chennai). Tea plantations in Assam
were established as early as 1839.
• In the early stages of colonialism, labour was very cheap as the colonial government did not
regulate either wages or working conditions. Though trade unions emerged later, workers
did protest. Their actions then were, however, more spontaneous than sustained. Some of
the nationalist leaders also drew in the workers into the anti-colonial movement. The war
led to the expansion of industries in the country but it also brought a great deal of misery to
the poor. There were a food shortage and a sharp increase in prices. There were waves of
strikes in the textile mills in Bombay.
• The first trade union was established in April 1918 in Madras by B.P. Wadia, a social worker
and member of the Theosophical Society. During the same year, Mahatma Gandhi founded
the Textile Labour Association (TLA). In 1920 the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) was
formed in Bombay. The AITUC was a broad-based organisation involving diverse ideologies.
The main ideological groups were the communists led by S.A. Dange and M.N. Roy, the
moderates led by M. Joshi and V.V. Giri and the nationalists which involved people like Lala
Lajpat Rai and Jawaharlal Nehru.

Caste Based Movements

Dalit Movement
• They are different from other movements as they were fighting for self-respect and dignity.
• They wanted to be touched. It was not only Dalits fighting but also some Brahmins and
Gandhiji.
• It was a struggle against discrimination. The concept of untouchability was to be abolished.
• Dalit movement took place all over India and each Dalit movement had a different
issue/agenda (wages/ employment) but they all fought for dignity and self-respect.

• Not only started by Dalits but other castes also (Sri Narayan Guru).
o Satnami Movement – Chhattisgarh
o Mahar Movement – Maharashtra
o Adi Dharma Movement – Punjab
o Anti Brahman Movement – Punjab
o Dalit Panther Movement.
• Dalit literature became popular because it was poems, drams, songs, stories about their lives
and sufferings, etc.
• This led to the change in the mindset of people and emphasized the fighting for self-dignity
by Dalits and to bring about change in all aspects of life.
• Reservations are a result of the Dalit movement.
Other Backward Class Movement
• The term ‘Backward Classes’ has been in use in different parts of the country since the late
19th Century.
• It began to be used more widely in Madras presidency since 1872, in the princely state of
Mysore since 1918, and in Bombay presidency since 1925.
• From the 1920s, a number of organizations united around the issue of caste sprang up in
different parts of the country.
• These included the United Provinces Hindu Backward Classes League, All-India Backward
Classes Federation, All India Backward Classes League. In 1954, 88 organizations were
counted working for the Backward Classes.
THE TRIBAL MOVEMENTS
• Different tribal groups spread across the country may share common issues. But the
distinctions between them are equally significant. Many of the tribal movements have been
largely located in the so called ‘tribal belt’ in middle India, such as the Santhals, Hos, Oraons,
Mundas in Chota Nagpur and the Santhal Parganas. The region constitutes the main part of
what has come to be called Jharkhand.
• The social movement for Jharkhand had a charismatic leader in Birsa Munda, an adivasi who
led a major uprising against the British. After his death, Birsa became an important icon of
the movement.
• Within south Bihar, adivasis shared a common hatred of dikus – migrant traders and money-
lenders who had settled in the area and grabbed its wealth, impoverishing the original
residents.
• Most of the benefits from the mining and industrial projects in this mineral-rich region had
gone to dikus even as adivasi lands had been alienated.
• Adivasi experiences of marginalisation and their sense of injustice were mobilised to create
a shared Jharkhandi identity and inspire collective action that eventually led to the formation
of a separate state.
• The issues against which the leaders of the movement in Jharkand agitated were:
o acquisition of land for large irrigation projects and firing ranges;

o survey and settlement operations, which were held up, camps closed down,
etc.
o collection of loans, rent and cooperative dues, which were resisted;
o nationalisation of forest produce which they boycotted
THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT
• The early 20th century saw the growth of women’s organisations at a national and local
level. The Women’s India Association (WIA) (1917) All India Women’s Conference
(AIWC) (1926), National Council for Women in India (NCWI) (1925) are ready names

that we can mention. While many of them began with a limited focus, their scope
extended over time. For instance, the AIWC began with the idea that ‘women’s welfare’
and ‘politics’ were mutually exclusive.
• Women participated along with men in struggles and revolts originating in tribal and
rural areas in the colonial period. The Tebhaga movement in Bengal, the Telangana
arms struggle from the erstwhile Nizam’s rule, and the Warli tribal’s revolt against
bondage in Maharashtra are some examples.
• In the mid-1970s there was a renewal of the women’s movement in India. Some call it
the second phase of the Indian women’s movement. There was the growth of what is
termed as the autonomous women’s movements. The term ‘autonomy’ referred to the
fact that they were ‘autonomous’ or independent from political parties as distinct from
those women’s organisations that had links with political parties. It was felt that political
parties tended to marginalise issues of women
• Apart from organisational changes, there were new issues that were focussed upon. For
instance, violence against women. Over the years there have been numerous campaigns
that have been taken up. important legal changes have taken place thanks to the
campaign by the women’s movement. Issues of land rights, employment have been
fought alongside rights against sexual harassment and dowry
Directed social change

• Change is a characteristic feature of all societies though the rate and direction of change
may vary. Directed social change is change in the social system in which the structure,
functions, social relationships, institutions and values undergo planned change.
• It leads to massive socio economic reconstruction
• Example: employment generation programme, poverty alleviation programmes, social
legislation, policy of protective discrimination
Need and rationale for directed social change
• The long standing colonial rule
• Deep divisions in the society: disparity in standard of living, caste , class etc
• Resistance to change and unwillingness
• Lack of resources
• Ability of the political executives
Features of directed social change
• It is state led
• Planned by political executive, implemented by bureaucracy
• Great part of it is economic in nature
• Meant for poor and underprivileged
• New dimensions such as public private partnership, corporate social responsibility are added

Problems of directed social change

• Nexus between legislation, executive and bureaucracy
• Middlemen
• Corruption
• Competition between caste, class etc
• Disparities or widening of gap: north south divide
• Work responsibility and performance are diffuse and not specific. The market for services
cannot be measured in purely economic terms as occupational roles cannot be divorced of

their social context.
• The demographic burden
• The absence of functional literacy
Measures taken to overcome these problems

• Programmes included in the Plan for social services are directly linked with economic
development such as scientific research, technical education and the training of craftsmen,
family planning, and the provision for housing and urban development.
• For accelerating the pace of social change, public co-operation by way of voluntary service
has been harnessed for construction of roads, school buildings and community centres and
for digging wells and tanks and other local works. Lok Karya Kshetras were organised to
enthuse people about the plan, develop village leadership and implement schemes based
chiefly on local resources and voluntary labour.
• Through Shramdan (voluntary labour), bhoodan (voluntary donation of land) and gramdan
(voluntary donation of villages) people have participated in the tasks of national
development
• The panchayati raj structure ensured participation and involvement of people in the villages
for bettering their lives, thus giving vitality and strength to the whole process of democratic
planning.
• The cooperation of local non-official organisations has been obtained; they have also been
helped to grow and develop through financial and technical assistance. The pioneering work
of voluntary organisations in several fields like family planning, social welfare and tribal
welfare has produced significant results.
• Cooperative institutions have been evolved to perform a variety of functions ranging from
production to distribution of goods and services
• Social legislation has been effective in curbing restrictive and undesirable practices,
reducing inequalities, securing social justice and providing the motivating force for social
change. Thus Hindu Marriage Act, the Hindu Succession Act, Special Marriage Act, Children's
Act, and Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act, Prohibition of manual
scavengers act are some of the important pieces of social legislation which have brought
about social change.
• In the case of tribal communities, particular care has been taken to see that their social and
economic organisation does not disintegrate as a result of culture contact. For the
rehabilitation of denotified communities, who in the past, led a life of crime and anti-social
activities, a combined correctional and welfare approach has been followed with success.
• Since successful implementation of programmes depends on the extent to which people are
informed, sustained efforts have been made to educate the people about the different
programmes. For instance, for raising the standards of environmental health and hygiene,
health education has been given great stress covering personal hygiene, environmental

sanitation, prevention of communicable disease, nutrition, child care- pre-natal and

post-natal care, etc.
• Audio-visual media and periodical visits by medical and para-medical personnel have
imparted knowledge of elementary rules of health and hygiene to the villagers. Similarly, for
improving nutrition, measures to educate the public on conserving nutritive elements in
food and avoiding wastage have been undertaken through regular use of demonstration,
audio-visual media, printed media and work of voluntary organisations and mahila mandals
(women's organisations).

• In the family planning programme systematic efforts have been made to educate couples
about family planning methods.
• Social education programmes have also been organised and the vast communication
network has been harnessed for imparting knowledge on different aspects.
NOTE

Social change and modernization

Role conflict
Conflict is a perennial feature of social life, and that as a result societies are in a state of constant
change. They see conflicts involving a broad range of interests and groups. The interests are

economic, political, legal, religious, social and moral. The groups involved are young against old,
male against female, one ethnic group against another, one caste against another, one religious
group against another, workers against employers and so on.
PERSPECTIVES:
Karl Marx’s (1818-1883)
• Karl Marx’s contribution to the area of social conflict is of immense importance. Social
conflict, he believed, was the source of all social change. He saw conflict as a social
relationship between two classes having opposing economic interests. These two classes in
capitalist society are the bourgeoisie, (or owners or the “haves” who own the means of
production). The economic power of the “haves”, gives them power in other spheres too
like political and social. The acquisition of power by one class is according to Marx, always
at the cost of the other class.
• The resulting new social order (where there would be no classes) is an improvement on the
old one. In this sense, social conflict can be seen as a vehicle of social progress. Thus, Marx
looked at social conflicts essentially within the sphere of economic life. His analysis
concentrated primarily on the analysis of class conflicts in the capitalist society
Max Weber
Max Weber (1864-1920) too insisted that social conflict cannot be excluded from social life. He
pointed out that conflict is a social relationship which has its own characteristics. The important
characteristics are:
1. The action within the relationship is oriented intentionally, to carry out the will of the actors
or groups against another actor or group.
2. The effort to carry out one’s will against the other, stimulates a resistance from the other
against this imposition. So Weber insists that for a relationship to be called a “conflict
relationship”, there must be the following elements:
a) Power, and exercise of the power intentionally.
b) Resistance from the group or individual facing this imposition.
• Weber did not see conflict as being confined to the economic sphere alone. He held that
conflict arises over the scarcity of such resources, like prestige and power, as well as property
and other forms of material wealth. He observed that conflict can emerge in organisations
and bureaucracies too
• Leaders who manage the resources of large scale industrial, government, religious
organisations have a great deal of power. They can assert and have asserted their will,
against the will of other groups in society and even outside the society (e.g. multinational
corporations).

Nature of social conflict

1. Conflict is a struggle over values. It may occur as a struggle over claims to status, power
and other scarce resources.
2. At least two parties are involved in the conflict relationships, to gain these desired
values or things.
3. The conflicting parties often aim to neutralise, injure or eliminate their rivals.
4. Conflicts can occur within a groups or between groups. v) conflicts have persisted

through time, and they are a perennial feature of social life
ELEMENTS OF SOCIAL CONFLICT

• In social conflict, the focus is essentially on the opposition between two or more social
categories. It may be a social group such as a trade union, political party, professional
organisation, family etc. It could also be a class such as the working class, capitalist class,
lower class, upper class, and middle class. For social conflict to emerge, there must be at
least two social categories which are not only related to one another, but also opposing one
another.
• All situations of conflict involve the element of power.
• Conflict may involve hostile sentiments and attitudes.
• It is important to differentiate between objective bases of conflict, and its subjective bases
• The interests that we focus upon in conflict could be of several kinds. they may be economic
i.e., involving control over the resources and benefits available in society. They can be social
involving prestige or polities i.e., who will lay a claim to legitimate authority. They may be
religious i.e., whose interpretation regarding the supraempirical world is to be accepted as
valid. Whichever be the interest or interests, conflict is present when two or more parties
have opposing interests.
• The conflict relationship often involves two positions − for and against the powerful and the
powerless; the exploiter and the exploited; the one who (which) has authority to control and
the one who (which) has not.
• Conflicts may be confined to small groups, or it can encompass the whole world (as
exemplified by the World Wars. Conflicts may vary in intensity according to the importance
of the issue involved.
• Conflicts may occur between societies (e.g. wars between nations) or it may occur within a
society between groups.
• The conflict interaction might take myriad courses. It is possible that it may be nipped in the
bud by the powerful group, or that it may extend over a long period of time. It may involve
varying degrees of violence. Violent conflicts between groups often involve the use of force.
Positive Consequences of Conflict

• By conflicting with another group, the social solidarity of a given group is increased within.
There is a better coordination, and a better structural arrangement inside the group
• Whenever our country has faced external aggression, the whole nation has stood together
as one, after eliminating all internal dissension.

• Conflict may bring together two hitherto unrelated groups in coalition, thereby
increasing the scope of co-operative interaction.
• conflict may give rise to some unchartered areas of co-operation between parties, for
example the emergence of the Red Cross during World War-I.
• Conflict interaction might clarify the issues which might have been clouded earlier, thereby
improving the understanding of the opponent, and creating new avenues of interaction.

Dysfunctions of conflict
• Numerous dysfunction’s of social conflict such as increasing differences in a group resulting,
in extreme cases, in the break-up of the group. Civil war may result in the emergence of one
of the parts as an independent state. Apart from this, the cost of conflict, in terms of loss of
human life and property are well-known.
• It is also possible that the conflicting groups may develop deep-seated suspicions and
animosities within the respective groups, which may prolong over time, resulting in
continued instability of the group. It is only in extreme cases of complete annihilation of one
group by the other that the seeds of conflict once sown may not sprout again.
TYPES OF SOCIAL CONFLICT

Four major kinds of conflicts which are seen to occur in almost all societies.
1. Class conflicts which are based on the system of stratification existing in a society.
2. Political conflicts which are based on the acquisition of, and competition for political
power.
3. Communal/ethnic conflicts, which are mainly based on considerations of maintenance
of the group.
4. Factional conflicts−which occur among small group, claiming position of power within
small communities.
Violent conflicts like wars, conquests, revolutions, have contributed to the emergence of large
social units. New forms of stratification, and new kind of relationships between groups within a
society and between societies, may also result from conflicts.
CONFLICT AS A CONDITION OF SOCIAL CHANGE

• In a society social order is necessary and order is the outcome of a complex interaction
between force of inter-dependence, cooperation, conflict alliance, and cleavages between
people. Some people and groups have more power than other people and groups in
acquiring control over resources.
• Sources of power are not available to everyone equally. Social conflict can be seen as the
outcome of this uneven distribution of power. People with the greatest power are able to
realise their will and interests at the cost of those who have less power. Also in modern
societies, people often have interests that are irreconcilable. This often leads to social
conflict.
• This does not mean that conflict can be looked only as a dividing factor in social life.
Sociologists point out that conflict can be integrative. On the other hand cooperation and

harmony may increase within a group which faces external threat. Issues get clarified,
and settlement of disputes may satisfy everyone involved in the conflict, so that they may
come together as friends.
• Conflicts may lead to consolidation of units. They may also lead to new forms of social
stratification or reinforce existing patterns of stratification in new ways. Inventories may be
introduced as a result of conflict. For instance conflict between workers and
owners/controllers of production, led to the social invention of trade union. Wars between

societies led to the development of new techniques of warfare. It was the same
phenomenon of war that led to the social invention regarding peace keeping institutions,
namely United Nations.
• The phenomenon of social conflict is closely interlinked with the phenomenon of Social
Conflict social change, social order and social control. The conflict theorists insist that society
can be best understood and analysed in terms of struggles and strife that occur over the
control and acquisition of power, authority, wealth, prestige and other scarce and desirable
resources in society.
Problems of role conflict
INTER-GENERATIONAL GAP
• A generation gap refers to the chasm that separates the thoughts expressed by members of
two different generations. More specifically, a generation gap can be used to describe the
differences in actions, beliefs, and tastes exhibited by members of younger generations,
versus older ones.
• The term "generation gap" was first used in the 1960s. During that time, the younger
generation in question—commonly referred to as “baby boomers”—showed a significant
difference in their beliefs and opinions, compared to that of their parents' generation.
• Sociologists use nomenclature to refer to different generational segments.
• For example, millennials, which are those individuals born between 1982 and 2002, are
called “technology natives” because they have lived with digital technology their entire lives,
and this is all they’ve ever known.
• By contrast, older generational members, known as “digital immigrants,” tend to be less
comfortable with personal usage of technology.
• A generation gap can be used to distinguish the view of both actions and beliefs.
• The current living generations have been divided into the following four major groups:
o Traditionals
o Baby boomers
o Generation X-ers
o Millennials
• Each generation has its own characteristics regarding vernacular, technological influences,
workplace attitudes, general consciousness and ways of life.

Traditionals
• As Great Depression survivors, they were instrumental in shaping the United States into
an economic and military power.
• This group is defined by Patriotism, teamwork, and drive. Traditionals tend to obey rules
and respect authority.
Baby Boomers
• They witnessed increasing social and economic equality and came of age as the country
was split by differing views on politics, war, and social justice.

• The Boomers participated in some of the greatest social changes in the country’s history,
during the 1960s and 1970s, with the Civil Rights Movement and the Women’s
Movement.
Generation X
• Born between 1960 and 1980, Gen-Xers grew up with emerging technologies and political
and institutional incompetence. They witnessed Watergate, Three Mile Island, and the
Iranian hostage crisis. But they also observed major technological advancements.
• Mimeograph machines evolved into high-speed copiers, fax machines gave way to email.
Heavy adding machines were replaced by handheld calculators, and computers shrank in
size and processing speed.
Millennials
• Born between 1980 and 2000, millennials have always known cable TV, pagers, answering
machines, laptop computers, and video games. Technological advancements in real-time
media and communication have driven their expectation for immediacy. But they have
also seen untold tragedy, with events like the Columbine High School shootings of 1999
and the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
• Millennials are often defined by a concept known as "emerging adulthood,” meaning that
between the ages 18 and 25, they’re no longer fully dependent but have yet to achieve
complete self-sufficiency. This developmental period is characterized by self-exploration
and experimentation.

Generation Gap – Impact on Relations

• Generally, a generation gap is mostly seen between parents and kids. It shows that parents
fail to understand their kids and vice versa. The parents usually follow the traditions and
norms.
• Likewise, they expect their children to conform to the societal norms as they have. But the
kids are of the modern age with a broad outlook. They refuse to accept these traditional
ways.

• This is one of the main reasons why the conflict begins. They do not reach a solution and
thus distance themselves because of misunderstandings. This is a mistake at both ends. The
parents must try not to impose the same expectations which their parents had from them.
Similarly, the kids must not outright wrong their parents but try to understand where this is
coming from.
How to Bridge the Gap?

• There must be a friendly relationship between parents and kids. The kids must be given
the space to express themselves freely without the fear of traditional thinking. Likewise,
the children must trust their parents enough to indulge them in their lives.
• Most importantly, there is a need to set boundaries between the two parties. Instead of
debating, it is better to understand the point of view. This will result in great
communication and both will be happy irrespective of the generation gap.
• In short, a generation gap happens due to the constant changes in the world. While we
may not stop the evolvement of the world, we can strengthen the bond and bridge the
gap it creates. Each person must respect everyone for their individuality rather than
fitting them into a box they believe to be right.
Current updates:
MAINTENANCE AND WELFARE OF PARENTS AND SENIOR CITIZENS (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2019
Key features
• Definition of children: In the Act, the term ‘children’ refers to children and grandchildren,
excluding minors. The amended Act adds stepchildren, adoptive children, children-in laws,
and the legal guardian of minors to the definition.
• Definition of relatives: The Act defines a relative as the heir of a childless senior citizen,
excluding minors, who possess or would inherit his property after death. The amended Act
amends this to include minors represented by their legal guardians.
• Definition of parents: The Act defines parents to include biological, adoptive, and step-
parents. The amended Act expands this definition to include both parents-in-law and
grandparents.
• Other definitions: Under the Act, maintenance includes the provision of food, residence,
and medical attendance, this bill adds healthcare, safety, and security for parents and senior
citizens to lead a life of dignity to it. Welfare includes the provision of food, healthcare, and
other amenities necessary for senior citizens, this bill addshousing, clothing, safety, and
other amenities necessary for the well-being of a senior citizen or parent to the list.

• Maintenance fee: Under the Act, state governments constitute maintenance Tribunals
which may direct children and relatives to pay a monthly maintenance fee of up to Rs 10,000
to parents and senior citizens. The amended Act removes the upper limit on the
maintenance fee.
• Appeals: The Act provides for senior citizens or parents to appeal the decisions of the
maintenance Tribunal. The amended Act allows children and relatives also to appeal
decisions of the Tribunal.

• Maintenance officer: The Act provides for a maintenance officer to represent a parent
during proceedings of the Tribunal. The amended Act requires maintenance officers to
ensure compliance with orders on maintenance payments, and act as a liaison for parents
or senior citizens.
• Establishment of care-homes: Under the Act, state governments may set up old age homes.
The amended Act removes this and provides for senior citizen care homes which may be set
up by the government or private organizations. These homes must be registered under the
state government. The central government will prescribe minimum standards for these
homes, such as food, infrastructure, and medical facilities.
• Healthcare: The Act provides for certain facilities (such as separate queues, beds, and
facilities for geriatric patients) for senior citizens in government hospitals. The amended Act
requires all hospitals, including private organisations, to provide these facilities for senior
citizens. Further, home care facilities will be provided for senior citizens with disabilities.
• Protection and welfare measures: The amended Act requires every police station to have
at least one officer, not below the rank of Assistant Sub-Inspector, to deal with issues related
to parents and senior citizens. State governments must constitute a special police unit for
senior citizens in every district which will be headed by a police officer, not below the rank
of Deputy Superintendent of Police.
• Offences and penalties: The amended Act increases the penalty for the abandonment of a
senior citizen or parent from the imprisonment of up to three months to imprisonment
between three and six months, and fine of up to Rs 5,000, to Rs 10,000. The amended Act
also provides that failure to comply with the maintenance order by children or relatives may
lead to imprisonment up to one month, or until the payment is made.

Youth unrest
Youth unrest may be defined as the “manifestation of collective frustration of the youth in the
society”. It is manifested when the existing norms in the society are perceived by the youth as
ineffec-tive or harmful to the extent that they offend them, and they feel so disillusioned and
disgusted that they recognize the need for changing these norms.
Characteristics of Youth Unrest:

(i) Collective discontent,
(ii) Dysfunctional conditions
(iii) Public concern
(iv) The need for change in the existing norms
Youth unrest may be viewed with three perspectives:
(1) Unrest among youth
(2) Unrest due to the youth
(3) Social unrest in the country and its effect on the youth
The UGC Committee of 1960 pointed out the following reasons for student agitations:
(1) Economic causes, like demands for reducing fees, increasing scholarship,
(2) Demands for changes in existing norms per-taining to admissions, examinations, and teaching,
(3) Poor functioning of colleges/universities with non-purchase of chemicals and instruments for
laboratories, or books and journals for libraries,
(4) Conflicting relations between students and teachers (teachers being accused of frequently
cutting classes and remaining non-committed to teaching,
(5) Inadequate facilities in the campus, like inadequate hostels, poor food in hostels, lack of
canteens and poor drinking water facilities, and
(6) Leaders being instigated by politicians.
Types of Youth Agitations in India

Youth agitations are not always violent or coercive. Many a time they use persuasive technique too.
(1) Persuasive agitations:
• In these agitations, the youth attempt to change the attitude of the powers that be by
discussing their problems with them across a table and making them accept their viewpoint.
These agitations range from the relatively trivial issues (postponing the exami-nations,
extending the admission date) to significant issues (increasing the number of seats) to realty
serious issues (giving representation in academic bodies, associating students with decision
making processes).
• Protest demonstrations, shouting of slogans, persuading the power hold-ers to meet the
representatives of the students/youth to try and understand their views and demands are
some of the methods used in this kind of agitation. The anger and injustice expressed
through this method not only serves to arouse and mobilize popular support of pas-sive
students/youth but also helps drain off discontent into ‘harmless’ emotional outlets.

(2) Resistance agitations:

• The main object in these types of agitation is to keep the power-holders in their place.
• Many changes intended to be introduced by the authorities appear to be disturbing to
students/youth who feel that either their precious years are being wasted or that legitimate
opportunities are being denied to them or their careers are going to be adversely affected.
(3) Revolutionary agitations:
• These agitations aim at bringing sudden sweeping changes in the educational or the social

systems. For example, forcing the authorities to decide that no student will be declared as
failed but will be promoted to higher class and given the opportunity, to appear in the failed
paper/subject till he clears it. Revolutionary leaders see basic change as possible only after
the existing sys-tem is overthrown and a new system is introduced in one go.
• Instances of revolutionary agitation can be illustrated by the youth agitation in China in 1987,
the AASU agitation in Assam in 1984, Uttarakhand agi-tation in Uttar Pradesh in 1994, and
Bodo agitation in Assam during 1989-96.
• The last agitation is characterized by a growing discontent, in-creasing disorder, an attempt
to overthrow the government, militant activities of the extremists, a reign of terror, and an
attempt to smuggle weapons from abroad.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF STUDENT PROTESTS IN INDIA

• The roots of a student movement in India could be traced back to nearly 200 years ago with
the formation of the Academic Association in undivided Bengal’s Hindu College under the
guidance of Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, a teacher there and a reformer, in 1828. His
disciples, who formed the Young India group of free thinkers, played a part in the Bengal
Renaissance of the 19th century.
• In 1905, students of Eden College in Calcutta (now Kolkata) burned down the then viceroy
Lord Curzon’s effigy to protest the partition of Bengal, one of the first documented instances
of students’ protest.
• The first students’ strike in undivided India took place in 1920 in King Edward Medical
College, Lahore, against academic discrimination between Indian and English pupils.
Anti-Hindi movement in Tamil Nadu, 1965

• Although the protest against Hindi had been going on for decades in Tamil Nadu, it became
a flashpoint when a large number of students across the state launched a stir against the
Official Languages Act of 1963, which made Hindi an official language along with English.
• Despite protests by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Parliament, the law was
passed. But then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru assured that English will continue to be
official language.
• After Nehru’s death in 1964, the Congress government in the state introduced a three-
language formula in the state assembly, leading to students taking to the streets.
• There were self-immolations by several students, and about 70 people died in the ensuing
violence.

Nav Nirman Andolan (Reconstruction Movement), 1974

• On December 20, 1973, students of an engineering college in Ahmedabad launched an
agitation against 20% fee hike in hostel food.
• A similar strike on January 3, 1974, at Gujarat University saw clashes between the police and
students.
Bihar student movement, 1974 (also called JP movement)
• The Chatra Sangarsh Samiti led by Jai Prakash Narayan focused on corruption, nepotism,

electoral reforms, subsidised food and education reforms. It was a non-violent protest,
which started from Patna University and spread to several other educational institutes in
Hindi-speaking states of northern India.
• Nitish Kumar, now the Bihar chief minister; Lalu Prasad, a former Bihar CM; and Mulayam
Singh Yadav, a former UP CM, were some of the prominent youth leaders who participated
in the JP movement that promoted the idea of socialism.
Student movement in Emergency, 1975

• In several universities and academic institutions across India, students and faculty members
organised underground protests, using pamphlets and leaflets to protest against the
imposition of Emergency.
• Over 300 student union leaders, including then Delhi University Students Union president
Arun Jaitley and Jai Prakash Narayan, who headed the Chatra Sangarsh Samiti, were sent to
jail.
Assam Agitation (1979 to 1985)
• The agitation in Assam against illegal migrants was launched by the All Assam Students
Union, which is now spearheading protests against the amended citizenship act.
• It was an agitation to protect the identity of Assamese people in wake of influx of people
from Bangladesh following 1971’s War of Liberation. People from different walks of life
joined the students’ protests, and it ended in 1985 with the signing of the Assam Accord.
Anti-Mandal agitation, 1990
• On August 1990, students from across India started a protest against the introduction of 27%
reservation in government jobs for people from the Other Backward Classes.
• The government, led by VP Singh, implemented the Mandal Commission recommendations
submitted to the government in 1980. Although the protest began in Delhi University, it
spread to several educational institutes across the country, leading to violent protests in
many parts of the country.
• Students in several places boycotted exams.
Anti-reservation protests, 2006
• It was a second major protest against the reservation system. In 2006, widespread protests
took place in educational institutes oppose the decision of Congress-led United Progressive
Allianace government to implement reservations for OBCs in both central and private higher
education institutes.
• Students and doctors belonging to upper castes called the move discriminatory. There were
counter-protests in favour of the decision by OBC student groups.

FTII agitation, 2015

• In July 2015, the students of Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, launched a stir
against the nomination of actor Gajendra Chauhan as the chairman of the prestigious
institute.
• In the 140-day protest, students boycotted classes and refused to take exams, claiming
Chauhan was not eligible to head FTII. Symbolic protests were held in several other places
in solidarity with FTII students.

Protest over Rohith Vemula’s death, 2016
• The suicide of a Dalit scholar of Hyderabad University, Rohith Vermula, triggered a
nationwide outrage against the university administration over alleged failure to prevent his
suicide.
• The suicide took place days after the university’s executive council expelled five Dalit
students, including Vemula, from the hostel and limited their access to the campus for
allegedly assaulting an ABVP student leader.
• Hundreds of students from universities across India participated in protest rallies.
JNU protest, 2016
• On February 9, 2016, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) erupted in protests over the 2013
execution of Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri separatist convicted of conspiring in an attack on
Parliament 16 years ago. Many human rights groups felt was flawed.
• The a demonstration witnessed clashes between different student groups. Four days after
the event, then JNU students’ uniomn president Kahhaiya Kumar was arrested by Delhi
Police and booked for sedition.
• Two other students, including Umar Khalid, were arrested later. JNU authorities conducted
an inquiry and took action against 21 students. The action ranged from rustication to fines.
In response, students went on an indefinite strike.
• The Delhi High Court suspended the university action on the condition that students end
their strike.
Commercialization of education
• The commercialization of education has been fairly a recent trend in India that stems from
the educational reform in the country over the last two decades. It mainly materializes itself
in mushrooming private schools, public schools and private universities and at the high
education level.
• In a sense; it has added a financial element to the qualification of attending private schools
and public and private universities. Undoubtedly, it affects million families. As a result, it also
changes the traditional concepts of education in Indian society including the student teacher
relationship, education and attitude towards gaining knowledge.
• Commercialization of education is trend of decreasing emphasis on the humanities and
increasing attention to the demand of the students. It is a tendency which gives emphasis
on to make education profitable as well as business oriented.

• On the other way commercialization of education means that schools are competing
more than ever for whole can provide quality education at a reasonable price. Like any other
market, this healthy competition is benefit to the buyer or in this case the student.
MERITS OF COMMERCIALIZATION OF EDUCATION:
1. Employment opportunity: Commercialization of education provides employment opportunity. It

provides job opportunity as well as hundred percent job guarantees to the students. Many private
institutions offer various job oriented job oriented courses, various degrees, diplomas, certificate
course etc. Which help the students to engage in job. Due to the presence of commercialization of
education various organization such as GATS (General Agreement on Trade in services), the students
gets the opportunity to doing professional course at the local branch Campuses of foreign
institutions. Like that the teachers, lectures also engaged in the job in foreign countries. This also
reduces the unemployment problem of the country.
2. Economic Development: Commercialization of education helps in the process of economic
development. Commercialization in education helps in increasing the rate of literacy, Gross
Domestic Product, Gross national Income, per capital income, provide the job opportunity etc.
Which is the major indicator of economic development of a country. This indicator also helps in the
human resource development. So commercialization of education contributes in the economic
development of a country.
3. To Face the Global Challenges: Commercialization of education helps to face the global
challenges of the world. The global challenges are as modernization, industrialization, privatization,
globalization, information and communication Technology, Emergence of International knowledge
Network, Role of English language etc. Commercialization of education helps the students in
acquiring appropriate knowledge about the advantages in technology. Emergence of International
knowledge Network, Role of English language etc. Commercialization of education helps the
acquiring appropriate knowledge about the advantages in technology. The challenges, how to adopt
it, how help etc. and it also provide demand for training that can be applied in the real word. For
this number of institutions of education system have transformed this structures and curriculum to
meet the new global challenges.
4. Personality development: commercialization of education helps in the personality development
of the students. The commercialization of education provides formal education to students. For the
personality development of the students they provide moral education which included the
development commercialization skill, soft skill, how to maintain their physical health, to how face
interview, how to with entrance examination how to adjust with the society etc. In the school
syllabus the subject of moral science are included. This is helpful for the students in the entire life.
5. Quality of education: Commercialization of education give emphasis on quality education. The
concept of quality education is broader term which indicates the quality of the learner, quality of
the learning environment, quality content, quality process and quality outcomes. The
commercialization of education makes effort to provide quality education to the students and also
offer more demanding courses in the modern society.

6. Increased private Institutions: Due to the presence of commercialization of education a

number of private institutions were increased in various region. When the private institutions
increased day by day the tendency of commercialization also increased, commercialization can’t
take place without privatization. The various private institutions provide technical, medical,
professional courses for the benefit of the students, along with the institution also provide proper
infrastructure facility. So it helps the student in facing an international plate from. Incensement of
private institutions increased the job opportunity and both the qualitative and quantitative

development of education. So commercialization of education helps in this process.
7. Social development: Commercialization of education give emphasis on the social development.
For the development of the nation, social development is very necessary. In the private institution
the students were provide the social education how to adjust with the society, knowledge of the
various culture, knowledge about social interaction, provide knowledge to the students to preserve
their culture, knowledge of the norms, social customs etc. So the commercialization’s in education
provide appropriate opportunity to the students to establish a relationship with the culture
traditions, norms etc. of the society. Through the education it is helpful for the child to develop the
innate social qualities including socialization, social interaction, take participate in the program of
the school etc. So commercialization of education help in the social development and it also provide
education according to needs of the society.
8. Fulfilment of expectation of parents: Commercialization of education helps in fulfilment of
expectation of parents by providing education in the private institutions. Every parents tries their
level best to provide quality education to his ward and to fulfill their dreams, they spend a lump
sum amount of money so that their ward is able to study in the best educational institution. This
institution makes efforts to fulfill the dreams of the student
9.Development of professional efficiency of teachers: Commercialization of education helps give
attention on the development of professional efficiency of teachers. In the private institutions they
appointed highly qualified teachers, smart teachers, and also provide proper training to the teachers
for their professional development. So that the students of different parts came to the institution
to education. The institution provide opportunity to develop to their professional efficiency through
seminars, workshop, study circle, conference etc.
10. Professional and vocational development of learners: commercialization of education gives
very much emphasis on professional as well as vocational development of the students. The
advertisement made by the school and colleges such as coaching, diploma degree, vocational
training, various professional and skill development courses etc. which help the student to get a
background about these courses, and provide opportunity to develop their academic career.
DEMERITS OF COMMERCIALIZATION OF EDUCATION:

1. More emphasis on marks: commercialization of education give more emphasis on marks. It
does not try to fulfill all round development of students.
2. Unable to maintain the principle of equality: Commercialization of education is unable to
maintain the principle of equality. In the society there are three types of people were lived
– upper class people, middle class people and lower people. The impact of
commercialization of education system affects the poor people as well as the weaker section

of the society as they will not be able to get education due to high rate of fees in
admitting the students.
3. Profit oriented: Commercialization of education always give emphasis on profit. It makes
education as a business. In many schools for the commercial benefit there have soda
machines, candy machines, fast food canteens, café teria in the boundary of the school or
college campus; it is an example of commercialization. From these sources they earn money
from the students only for their benefit.

4. Costly: The impact of commercialization in education which make education very costlier.
5. Materialistic outlook: Commercialization of education develops the materialistic outlook
among the students. The student have the attitude that to take proper education and to get
a good job. They pay money and take education. The student only thinks of himself and not
for the development of his region, society and for the nation.it makes the student self –
centered.
6. Over burden of Teachers: The impact of commercialization on education also related with
the over burden of the teachers. In the private institutions, for the commercial benefit they
put pressure on the teachers and give over burden of work for the whole day.
7. Mechanical Process:
Commercialization of
education make the
education process as
mechanical. It does not
follow the psychological
principle.
8. Less salary to teachers
9. Over burden curriculum
From the above discussion it is

clear that commercialization has
both the positive and negative
impact on education. Without
privatization commercialization
can’t take place. Education is to
bring out the potential in a learner
by providing the leaner the most
congenial physical and social
environment to help him realize
his fullest potential. Education on
the other hand is an industry and
its commercialization is here to
stay.

Emergence of India as educational force
• India has a rich tradition of imparting knowledge. The ‘gurukula’ was a type of education
system in ancient India with shishya (students) living with the guru in the same house.
Nalanda was the oldest university-system of education in the world. Students from across
the world were attracted to Indian knowledge systems. Many branches of knowledge system
had its origin in India. Education was considered at a higher virtue in ancient India.

• However, modern India failed to capitalize on its initial edge due to years of colonial rule,
financial constraints, and wrong policies.
• The British government had introduced modern education in India. From Macaulay minute
to Wood’s dispatch to several commissions like Sadler commission, 1904 Indian education
policy etc. build the foundation of the Indian education system during the colonial period.
Radhakrishnan committee
In the present times, where
• In 1948-49, the University Education Commission was
there are imminent threats of
constituted under Radhakrishnan. It moulded the
political ideologies hijacking the
education system based on the needs of independent
pedagogy of education and
India. Pre-Independent Indian education value system
commercialization of education
was catering to colonial masters. There was a need to
eroding value systems, it is
replace Macaulayism with the Indian value system.
appreciable to dust-off the
(Macaulayism is the policy of eliminating indigenous
values promulgated by the
culture through the planned substitution of the alien
commission. Recent
culture of a colonizing power via the education
controversial circular by the
system). Some of the values mentioned in the
Central University of Kerala
commission were:
(CUK), directing that research
o Wisdom and Knowledge
topic for PhD students must be in
o Aims of the Social Order: the desired social
accordance to ‘national
order for which youths are being educated.
priorities’, and research in
o Love for higher values of life
‘irrelevant topics’ and ‘privilege
o Training for Leadership
areas’ must be discouraged, is a
• Independent Indian education system developed
case in point.
along the lines of this value framework.
Kothari commission
It was Kothari commission who provided the basic framework of the same. The commission
provided for:
• Standardization of educational system on 10+2+3 pattern.
• Emphasized the need to make work experience and social/national service as an integral
part of education.
• Linking of colleges to several schools in the neighbourhood.
• Equalization of opportunities to all and to achieve social and national integration.

• Neighbourhood school system without social or religious segregation and a school

complex system integrating primary and secondary levels of education.
• Establishment of Indian Education Service.
• On the job training of the teaching staff and for efforts to raise the status of the teachers to
attract talents into the profession.
• To raise expenditure on education from 2.9% of the GDP to 6% by 1985.
This committee report paved the way for National Educational Policy 1968 which provided the base

and roadmap for further development of the education system in India.
National Educational Policy 1968

• The policy provided for “radical restructuring” and equalization of educational opportunities
to achieve national integration and greater cultural and economic development.
• Increase public expenditure of education to 6% of GDP.
• Provide for better training and qualification of teachers.
• Three-language formula: state governments should implement the study of a modern Indian
language, preferably one of the southern languages, apart from Hindi and English in the
Hindi-speaking states, and of Hindi along with the regional language and English in the non-
Hindi speaking states. Hindi was encouraged uniformly to promote a common language for
all Indians.
National Educational Policy 1985

• The policy aimed at the removal of disparities and to equalize educational opportunities,
especially for women, SC and ST.
• Launching of “Operation Blackboard” to improve primary schools nationwide.
• IGNOU, the Open University, was formed.
• Adoption of “rural university” model, based on the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi, to
promote economic and social development at the grassroots level in rural India.
T.S.R.Subramanium committee report

• Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) – children from four to five years of age – to be
declared as a fundamental right.
• ECCE is inconsistent across states. So all government schools should have facilities for pre-
primary education, which would facilitate pre-school education by the government instead
of the private sector.
• Exam reform: The policy of no detention should be upheld only till class five and not till class
eight.
• Teacher Management: There is a steep rise in a teacher shortage, absenteeism and
grievances.
o Need to constitute an Autonomous Teacher Recruitment Board.
o Four years integrated B.Ed. the course should be introduced.
• ICT in Education: There is an inadequate integration of information technology (IT) and the
education sector.
• Vocational education and training: National Skills Qualification Framework should be

scaled up. The choice of vocational courses should in line with local opportunities and
resources. Bringing formal certification for vocational education at par with conventional
education certificates.
• All India Education Service.
• National Higher Education Promotion and Management Act (NHEPMA): Existing separate
laws governing individual regulators in higher education should be replaced by the said act.

The role of existing regulatory bodies like UGC and AICTE should be revised.
• National Accreditation Board (NAB) subsuming the existing accreditation bodies.
Current update…
New National Education Policy (2020)
The government unveiled the new National Education Policy bringing a number of reforms almost
after 34 years.
• One of the salient features of the new education policy is replacing the 10+2 structure of
school curriculum with a 5+3+3+4 curriculum structure corresponding to age groups 3-8, 8-
11, 11-14, and 14-18 years respectively.
• The NEP committee under Dr Kasturirangan’s leadership recognises this fundamental
differentiator, and has laid out a far-reaching vision to create learning environments that are
multidisciplinary, that cater to a well-rounded education for all individuals, and has the
immense potential to transform India’s human capital development.

New Education Policy: Highlights
• All higher education institutions, except legal and medical colleges, to be governed by a
single regulator.
• Common norms to be in place for private and public higher education institutions.
• MPhil courses to be discontinued.
• Board exams to be based on knowledge application.

• Home language, mother tongue or regional language to be medium of instruction up to class
5.
• Common entrance exams to be held for admission to universities and higher education
institutions.
• School curriculum to be reduced to core concepts; integration of vocational education from
class 6.
• The NEP also renamed the HRD (human resource development) ministry as the education
ministry.
New National Education Policy with focus on multi-disciplinary learning:
• The focus will now be on the graded academic, administrative and financial autonomy of
institutions.
• The government said it plans to achieve a gross enrolment ratio of 50% by 2035 and promote
multi-disciplinary and inclusive education.
School learning reforms:
• The Centre said that the new education policy will focus on reducing the course burden on
school students to allow activity-based learning.
• It proposes that students be taught life skills along with their mandatory subjects. It will also
focus on increasing the use of technology for learning.
• It will break down school learning to the 5+3+3+4 format. The first five years in school will
be the foundation stage.
• The next three years will make up the preparatory stage (classes 3 to 5).
• Classes 6 to 8 will be the middle stage and 9 to 12 will be the secondary stage. Students will
be allowed to take up
courses across disciplines.
Equitable and Inclusive Education:
• NEP 2020 aims to ensure
that no child loses any
opportunity to learn and
excel because of the
circumstances of birth or
background.
• Special emphasis will be
given on socially and
Economically Disadvantaged

Groups (SEDGs) which include gender, socio-cultural, and geographical identities and
disabilities.
• This includes setting up of Gender Inclusion Fund and also Special Education Zones for
disadvantaged regions and groups.
• Children with disabilities will be enabled to fully participate in the regular schooling process
from the foundational stage to higher education, with support of educators with cross
disability training, resource centres, accommodations, assistive devices, appropriate

technology-based tools and other support mechanisms tailored to suit their needs.
• Every state/district will be encouraged to establish “Bal Bhavans” as a special daytime
boarding school, to participate in art-related, career-related, and play-related activities. Free
school infrastructure can be used as Samajik Chetna Kendras.
Robust Teacher Recruitment and Career Path:
• Teachers will be recruited through robust, transparent processes. Promotions will be merit-
based, with a mechanism for multi-source periodic performance appraisals and available
progression paths to become educational administrators or teacher educators.
• A common National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST) will be developed by the
National Council for Teacher Education by 2022, in consultation with NCERT, SCERTs,
teachers and expert organizations from across levels and regions.
Promotion of Indian languages:
• To ensure the preservation, growth, and vibrancy of all Indian languages, NEP recommends
setting an Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation (IITI), National Institute (or
Institutes) for Pali, Persian and Prakrit, strengthening of Sanskrit and all language
departments in HEIs, and use mother tongue/local language as a medium of instruction in
more HEI programmes.
• Internationalization of education will be facilitated through both institutional
collaborations, and student and faculty mobility and allowing entry of top world ranked
Universities to open campuses in our country.
Rationalised Institutional Architecture:
• Higher education institutions will be transformed into large, well resourced, vibrant
multidisciplinary institutions providing high quality teaching, research, and community
engagement.
• The definition of university will allow a spectrum of institutions that range from Research-
intensive Universities to Teaching-intensive Universities and Autonomous degree-granting
Colleges.
• Affiliation of colleges is to be phased out in 15 years and a stage-wise mechanism is to be
established for granting graded autonomy to colleges.
• Over a period of time, it is envisaged that every college would develop into either an
Autonomous degree-granting College, or a constituent college of a university.
Motivated, Energized, and Capable Faculty:
• NEP makes recommendations for motivating, energizing, and building capacity of faculty
through clearly defined, independent, transparent recruitment, freedom to design

curricula/pedagogy, incentivising excellence, movement into institutional leadership.

Faculty not delivering on basic norms will be held accountable.
Online Education and Digital Education:
• A comprehensive set of recommendations for promoting online education consequent to
the recent rise in epidemics and pandemics in order to ensure preparedness with alternative
modes of quality education whenever and wherever traditional and in-person modes of
education are not possible, has been covered.

• A dedicated unit for the purpose of orchestrating the building of digital infrastructure, digital
content and capacity building will be created in the MHRD to look after the e-education
needs of both school and higher education.
Issues:
• “The goals of 50% Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education and 100% in secondary
school are laudable. But is such targets realistic?
• The NEP should have offered more tangible &realisable targets for research. Total
investment on research & innovation in India declined from 0.84% of GDP in 2008 to 0.6%
in 2018. There are currently only 15 researchers in India per 100,000 of population,
compared with 111 in China.
• In the absence of a handholding mechanism for states to embark on the path-breaking
reforms mentioned in the policy and that too in a short time, will be too much to ask.
• Funding requirements and governance architecture pose major challenges in the
implementation of the policy. Political commitment is required to increase funding. RTE act
expansion to include pre-school should keep in mind the present infrastructure inadequacies
and teacher vacancies.
• Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog may face administrative problems and turf battles. Also, it will raise
questions on the role of new bodies like the National Medical Council.
• The recent controversy on 3 language formula shows the sensitivity of language education
in India and care should be taken to appreciate the emotional overtures while implementing
the same.
• Politically acceptability, socially desirability, technologically feasibility, financially viability,
administratively doability, judicially tenability are 6 pillars that will impact the
implementation of the policy.
Be that as it may, the new education policy aims to address the challenges of (i) access, (ii) equity,
(iii) quality, (iv) affordability, and (v) accountability faced by the current education system. It aims
to revitalize and equip the education system to meet the challenges of the 21st century and 4th
industrial revolution rather than catering to 19th and 20th century needs of industrialization. Also,
India is on the cusp of demographic dividend, rather entered into this phase. So the education
system catering to these needs is not a luxury that we hope for but rather a dire need of this moment
in Indian history.
These present wide-ranging reforms in the policy are aimed at making the Indian education system
more contemporary and skill-oriented. Proper implementation of the reforms and ideas envisioned
in the NEP 2020 will fundamentally transform India.
With the emphasis on knowledge-economy driven growth in the 21st century, this is precisely what
India needs to dominate in the future decades of growth and drive the education requirements of
our young population.
Changing status of women
The status of women—social, economic, political, and general—in India today is much higher than
in ancient and medieval periods. Women today enjoy many more rights—social and legal—and have
greater freedom and voice, and participate more freely in public affairs. But it is also true that they
are still discriminated, harassed, humiliated, dominated and even ex-ploited.
The women’s movements ideological and social content changed from time to time and continued

into our times. The movement in its entirety can be divided into three distinct phases.
• Phase I Social reform movement, national movement and social reform legislation in the
colonial period.
• Phase II Women’s movements in the post-colonial period
• Phase III Women’s movements in India since the 1970s
Position of women in India during Vedic period

• In ancient India (Vedic and Epic periods), women by and large were treated ‘equal to men’.
They were treated and honoured and considered to be ’embodiment of all divine virtues on
earth’. They were considered not only as pivots of domestic life but also of entire social
organisation. Of course, there are scholars who refer to several passages from religious
scriptures to point out that they enjoyed ‘low status’.
• In the social field, they never observed purdah, had freedom of mate selection, were not
denied education, and enjoyed freedom in the household as well as outside it. In the
economic field, they had limited rights of property succession as wives and mothers.
• Marriage was frequently a disguise for a political alliance and for those of lesser standing a
means of mobility for the family. The aristocratic woman led a well-protected and isolated
life.
• However, they did not serve and earn wages because it was not Did you know? Kautilya
necessary for them to do so. In the political field, their status has referred (in
depended upon the then existing political system. Since there Arthashastra) to women
were no elected governments, they had no voting rights or the soldiers armed with
opportunity of holding political posts. bows and arrows.
• They were not permitted entry in the sabhas (assemblies)
because these were used for gambling, drinking and such other purposes too. In the religious
field, they enjoyed full rights and regularly participated in religious ceremonies.
• Tribal women and women from the labouring castes and classes are rarely visible as they
represent those groups which did not have a literary culture and therefore did not leave
behind much evidence.
• According to ancient and later Brahmanical law books, for a woman her dharma was
stridharma, and her notion of dharma was not a self-definition but a world view thrust on
her with predominantly male interests.
• At the same time, we have examples of women who composed many hymns of the Rigveda.
Apala, Lopamudra, Gargi, Maitreyi, Ghosha were few of the women philosophers. There
were groups of women who studied throughout their lives and were known as

Brahmavadinis. Women also attended political assemblies and offered sacrifices along
with their husbands.
Medieval period
• In the Pauranic, Brahmanical and medieval periods, the status of women was lowered by
imposition of several restrictions.
• Pre-puberty marriages came to be practised, widow remarriage was prohibited, husband

was given the status of god for a woman, education was totally denied to her, custom of sati
was introduced, purdah system came into vogue, polygyny came to be tolerated and women
were forbidden to offer sacrifices and prayers and read religious books.
• In the Muslim period, more restrictions were imposed on them due to the rigidity of the
caste system and imposition of Brahmanical austerities on the entire society.
Colonial period
• However, situation did undergo some change owing to Bhakti movement which permitted
some social and religious freedom to women.
• In the British period, the status of women improved a little because of spread of education,
Christian missionaries’ interest in girls’ education, abolition of social customs like sati,
enacting of some legal measures (like Widow Remarriage Act, 1856, Special Marriage Act,
1872, Child Marriage Re-straint Act, 1929) and a few social movements initiated by
enlightened leaders like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Justice Ranade, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar,
Maharishi Karve, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Annie Beasant, Mahatma Gandhi, etc., and the
growth of women’s organisations like Banga Mahila Samaj, Bharat Mahila Parishad (1904),
Women’s’ Indian Association (1917), National Council of Women in India (1925), and All
India Women’s Conference (1927).
WOMEN’S MOVEMENTS IN THE COLONIAL PERIOD

The women’s movements in the colonial period are mainly of two different concerns:
(1) Social reform movements
(2) Nationalist movements
Social Reform Movements

• The women’s movements began as a social reform movement in the 19th century. The
British conquest and its rule over India brought about transformation in Indian economy as
well as in society.
• The reform movements were not homogeneous and varied a lot in terms of the ideas and
changes that was to be fostered. They did however share a common concern for rooting out
the social evils, partly in response to charges of barbarity from the colonial rulers. This was
a period of the hegemonic control and influence of colonial ideology. This was a time of
transition, one of the emerging bourgeois society and values of new modes of thought
• Spurred by new European ideas of rationalism and progress, the reformers tried to create a
new society, modern yet rooted in Indian tradition. They began a critical appraisal of Indian
society in an attempt to create a new ethos devoid of all overt social aberrations like
polytheism, polygamy, casteism, sati, child marriage, illiteracy etc. all of which they believed
were impediments to progress of women. All the social reformers shared a belief common
to many parts of the world in the 19th century that no society could progress if its women
were backward
• The social reform movement did not radically challenge the existing patriarchal structure of
society or question gender relation. They picked up for reform only those issues which the

British were pointing out as evidence of degeneration in the Indian society. Even the
women’s institutions and organisations that sprang up during this period do not reveal the
development of an independent view. As a result even when women were speaking for
themselves they were speaking only the language of the men, defined by male parameters.
• There were no attempts to alter the power structure and the men-women relation in the
society. This was but natural since the change in the status of women was being sought only
within questioning patriarchy itself. The attempt was to create a new Indian woman, truly
Indian and yet sufficiently educated and tutored in the 19th century values to suit the new
emerging society. Thus education for girls was not meant to equip them to be self-sufficient,
independent and emancipated and train them to follow some profession but to be good
housewives
• Women also joined in the struggle against colonialism, but while they were encouraged to
participate by leaders like Gandhi, their work in the struggles was just an extension of their
domestic work. Very few women were allowed to join the front ranks with men, and the
ones that did, spoke of the isolation they felt at times
• In spite of its limitations, it cannot be denied that the social reform movement did help in
removing prejudices against women’s education and provided a space for women in the
public realm. The reformers took up issues, such as, sati, female infanticide, polygamy, child
marriage, purdah, absence of education among women etc.
• There were two groups of social reformers:
1) Liberal Reformers
2) The Revivalists.
• Both the groups undoubtedly recognised the oppressive social institutions’ customs of India.
But the former group on the basis of liberal philosophy put forth their work for the cause of
women whereas the latter group’s work was based on a programme of the revival at the
Vedic society in modern India.
• The social reformers concentrated their attention on important aspects of women like sati,
age of marriage the sad plight of widows and their right to remarry. The social reformers
established a number of societies like Bramho Samaj, Ramakrishna Mission and others for
the cause of Indian women. The best exponent of liberalism was Raja Ram Mohan Roy who
was the first Indian to initiate a social reform movement and campaign for the cause of
women. He advocated equality between the two sexes and declared that women were not
inferior to men morally and intellectually.
• Raja Ram Mohan Roy also opposed other evils like early marriage, polygamy etc. He
supported female education and widow and inter-caste marriage. He wanted that women

should have the right of inheritance and property. Roy’s Brahmo Samaj played a
significant role in the reform activities concerning women
• Like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwara Chandra Vidya Sagar also helped women. He did so by
propagating widow remarriage. The child marriage evil resulted in large numbers of young
girls ending up as widows whose lives were miserable due to the severe restrictions imposed
on them. He argued in favour of widow remarriage and published his work on “Widow
Remarriage” in 1853.

• Arya Samaj was established by Dayanand Saraswathi in 1875. Dayanand Saraswathi
emphasised compulsory education of both boys and girls. A series of schools for women-
Arya Kanya Patasalas - were the first concerted effort of the Samaj to promote women’s
education in a systematic way. Prarthana Samaj founded by some Maharashtra Brahmins in
1867 had leaders like M. G. Ranade, N. G. Chandrasarkar and R. G. Bhandarkar. It
concentrated more on sponsoring education for women
• The efforts of Vidya Sagar, Keshub Chandra Sen and D. K. Karve resulted in the enactment of
widow remarriage act of 1856. In the South Kandukuri Veeresalingam led the widow
remarriage movement. In 1874 he performed 63 widow remarriages throughout the Madras
presidency and financially supported men who married widows by providing them houses
and other benefits.
• Due to the collective efforts of the reformers in 1891, the Bill known as the Age of Consent
was passed, which rose the marriageable age for girls to 12 years
• The social reform movement in its later phases resulted in producing women social
reformers who worked for their own cause. Pandita Ramabai started Sharda Sadan in
Bombay in 1889 to provide an ashram to destitute high caste widows. In 1912-1913 a
widow’s home was established by sister Subbulakshmi, another widow in Madras.
• Another important aspect of the social reform movement phase of women in India was that
of property rights for Hindu women. The existing practice was particularly harsh on the
Hindu widow who had no claim on her husband’s property except the right at maintenance
as a result of which she was at the mercy of her husband’s relatives. Raja Ram Mohan Roy
suggested that the government should enact and enforce laws to remove these disabilities
and bring economic freedom and self-reliance. As a result of such efforts, special marriage
act of 1872 with its provision for divorce and succession to property to women was passed.
• Swami Vivekananda, Swami Dayananda Saraswati and Annie Besant were the prominent
reformers of the revivalist group who also worked for the cause of Indian women. This group
believed in the revival of the Vedic society in modern India
• Muslim women in India made little progress in their position both in the preBritish period or
later British period. Western education, the major vehicle of progress during the British
period did not reach them, partly because of the existence of Purdah and seclusion of
women from external environment and partly, because education was considered
inessential for them.
• Thus the social reformers laid the foundation of the women’s movement in India. Social
reform movement was the first attempt to remove the obstacles in the life of women. It
created awareness among the people that women must be liberated and be made equal of
men

Nationalist Movements
• As a result of the social reform movement of the 19th century, the social evils were
eliminated and opportunities were provided to women for their education. The expansion
of women’s education and their admission to educational institutions had produced a sizable
number of English educated middle class women by the late 19th century and they made
their presence felt in political activities.
• The characteristics of the second phase of women’s movement i.e. the national movement

are: for the first time many women belonging to the middle class, started taking part in the
political activities. Till 1919, the national movement was limited to the urban upper class and
it was later with Gandhi’s entrance into the national movement, participation of the masses
began to take place. In this phase, political developments and women’s participation in the
National movement went hand in hand.
• The partition of Bengal in 1905 resulted in the launching of Swadeshi movement by the
nationalists. Though there was the absence of mass awakening amongst the women, but
meetings were arranged and khadi spinnings were taken up by women. Women contributed
their bangles, nose rings and bracelets to the national fund. In villages, women started
putting away a handful of grain daily for such purpose.
• The women of Bengal and Punjab took active part in the Swadeshi movement. The women
workers of the Arya Samaj were also responsible for arousing national spirit among the
people. Swarna Kumari, sister of Rabindranath Tagore and her daughter Sarala Devi were
strong supporters of the Swadeshi movement. Important women who participated in the
revolutionary activities were Mrs. Shyamji Krishna Varma, Ms. P. Nauroji, Ms. M.
Chettopadhya, and Madam Bhikaji Rustum, K. R. Kame, a regular among the Indian
revolutionaries based in Europe, coordinated to the activities of the revolutionaries. She also
raised issues of women’s equality at international socialist circles reflecting the Indian
reality.
• The period from 1911-18 is of great significance in the history of Indian national movement
because for the first time a woman Annie Besant led the national movement as president of
Indian National Congress. The setting up of Home Rule League and organisation of the Home
Rule agitation raised the tempo of the movement. It was due to women like Annie Besant
that organised movement for the emancipation of women took place and the demand for
political rights for women came to be firmly established on the political agenda. The
important achievement of the women’s movement in India during the second phase was the
founding of Women’s Indian Association (WIA).
• Pandita Rama Bai’s Sharda Sadan (1892) in Poona, Shri Mahipatram Rupram Anathashram
in Ahmedabad (1892), Shri Zorastrian Mandal in Bombay (1903), Maternity and Child
Welfare League in Baroda (1914) , Bhagini Samaj in Poona (1916) all were established and
worked with the particular objective of improving women’s lives. These regional
organisations were followed by national organisations like Women’s Indian Association
(1917) and The National Council of Women in India (1920).
• All India Women’s Conference (1926) went on to organise 12 women’s conferences till 1937
and Federation of University Women in India (1920) stimulated the interests of women in

civic and public life and concentrated on the removal of disabilities of women and
promoted social, civil, moral and educational welfare of women and children.
• From the beginning, the Indian women’s movement approached the suffrage campaign as a
measure to achieve social reform. The leaders believed that enfranchisement of women
would mean additional support for reform legislation.
• Gandhi launched an all India Satyagraha in 1919 against the provocative enactment of the
Rowlat Act. Women took out processions, propagated the use of Khadi and even courted

jail. Though a few number of women were arrested, yet a beginning was made. Though the
non-cooperation movement ended in failure, it awakened the women of all sections and
imparted first lessons in Satyagraha.
• After the struggle for franchise, for the first
Fact check:
time, Indian women exercised their vote in the
elections of 1926. The franchise granted to The first woman to stand for election
women was very restricted. A large number of was Kamala Devi Chattopadhaya.
women including Sarojini Naidu, actively took Madras was the first state which
part in the Dandi March. Women participated nominated a woman member, Dr.
by breaking salt laws, forest laws taking out Muttu Lakshmi Reddy to the
processions, picketing schools, colleges, legislative Council. She saw to the
legislative councils and clubs. enactment of the abolition of Devadasi
• In 1931 Sarojini Naidu attended the Second system and laws to close brothels and
Round Table Conference as an official protect the minor girls. She brought
representative of the women of India. During amendments to the children’s act and
the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930, worked for the creation of health
Kamala Devi Chattopadhyaya addressed schools.
meetings and picketed foreign cloth and liquor
shops. She was incharge of the women’s wing of the Hindustan Seva Dal
• The Quit India Movement which was the last in the series of the nationalist agitation was
launched by Gandhi in 1942 with a significant slogan “Do or Die”. Men leaders were arrested
in the first round up and in their absence women carried on the movement and bore the
burnt of the British wrath, the women not only led processions and held demonstrations but
also organised camps in which they were given training in civil duties and first aid and were
educated on democracy.
• Women organised political prisoners’ relief fund while some women went underground and
directed the movement secretly. In the Indian National Army of Subhash Chandra Bose,
Rani Jhansi Regiment was created for women. Women were trained in nursing, social
service and to use weapons. Thus women took part in various activities of the national
movement. The specific feature of this phase of women’s movement is the establishment of
several women’s organisations led by women themselves on an all India basis to enhance
their social, economic, cultural and political scene.
• It was primarily due to the efforts of women and their role in the freedom struggle that
women got the right to vote and complete equality in the constitution of India. However a
great gap arose between the theoretical status of women and their rights and what existed
in reality

WOMEN’S MOVEMENTS IN THE POST-COLONIAL PERIOD

Immediately after independence, India had to deal with a variety of problems. Years of colonial
domination had destroyed our indigenous crafts and depleted our natural resources.
Industrialisation, changing technologies illiteracy, lack of mobility all resulted in the inability of
women to cope with the new order.
During this period the social reformists tried to channelize the Indian society by introducing
constitutional and legal provisions and protecting the society and the women from discrimination

and by providing equality to all the citizens irrespective of caste, creed, race, religion and sex.
A few of the prominent movements are: Telangana Movement; Chipko Movement; Anti Arrack
Movement.
Telangana Movement
• The Telangana Movement began in 1946 and continued till 1951. It is one of the two major
post-war insurrectionary peasant struggles in India. The Telangana Movement (1946-51)
was a protest of the people who wanted both food and freedom from the oppressive regime
of the Nizam, the Patils and the Jagirdars in Hyderabad State.
• The peasants on the Nizam’s personal estate were bonded to the ruler. Under Jagirdari
system various illegal taxes and forced labour were extracted from peasants by the
landlords. Apart from this there were the Deshmukhs and Despandes (principal revenue
officers of a district who became land owners overtime) or tax collectors of the Nizam who
grabbed thousands of acres of land and made it their own property. Peasants thus became
tenants at will.
• Another system that prevailed was keeping of peasant girls as slaves in the landlord’s house.
When landlord’s daughters were married these with were often sent with them to serve as
concubines.
• Large number of women who were desperate because of extreme poverty, slavery and
sexual exploitation by the feudal lords fought courageously in this movement. In order to
mobilise and develop political acumen among women, the communist party formed a
women’s organisation which published a woman’s Journal Andhra Vanitha.
• Through this they campaigned against child marriage, widow remarriage, increased wages
etc. Crucially affected by the oppression of landlords and money lenders, women who were
a large section of the agricultural labour and tobacco leaf pickers became militant in the
struggle for land, better wages, fair, rent, reasonable interest on cash and grain loans.
• Among the bonded class, rape, becoming concubines to landlords’ married daughters etc.
were prevalent. The oppression of the upper class women was kept under wraps as the
violence they faced was not visible and structural purdah was strictly observed both by high
caste Hindu and Muslim women.
• Andhra Maha Sabha, which sprung up to assert the cultural identity of the people, added
women’s education to their agenda of constitutional reform and civil liberties. Thus many
women, who were drawn into the cultural movements, drew closer to the communist party
which was working through the Andhra Maha Sabha. When the Andhra Maha Sabha added

basic agrarian reforms to its programme of action these women also plunged into the
struggle.
• Women from all classes participated in the movement with energy and commitment where
both the urban middle class as well as the peasant sections of the population, drew their
support slowly but surely into the movement.
Chipko Movement

• Chipko Movement was born in a small hilly village, Advani The movement’s plan is a
in Tehri Garhwal district of Uttar Pradesh. The illiterate slogan to plant five F’s- food,
adivasi women led this movement in December 1972. It fodder, fuel, fiber and
challenged the old belief that forests mean only timber fertiliser to make
and emphasised their roles in making soil, water and pure communities self sufficient in
air as the basis of human life. This philosophy popularised all their basic needs
the movement in many countries.
• The women symbolically tied sacred threads around the trees, faced police firing in February
1978 and later courted arrest.
• This movement continued under the leadership of Sri Sunderlal Bahuguna in various villages.
• Women and children gather firewood for domestic consumption. They rely on the forestry
for combustible crop residues such as rice straw. This, however, is considered inferior to
fuel-wood. Therefore, forestry activities that increase the availability of fuel-wood and
development projects that promote improved stoves both release women’s labour from fuel
collection and permit its use in other productive activities, and improve the agricultural
environment by permitting crop residues to be better used for enriching depleted soil. The
movement points out the link between women’s burden as food providers and gatherers
and their militancy in protecting natural resources from violent devastation.
• The Chipko women believed that the trees were alive and could breathe like them. Thus
trees should be respected. Besides supporting agriculture and animal husbandary, the
forests grew medicinal herbs used for healing powers. The hill women used fruit, vegetables
or roots from it in times of scarcity. This dependency on forest resources was
institutionalised through some social and cultural mechanisms, like religion, folklore and oral
tradition
• On April 1974, these women whose annual per capita income was Rs.129 rose against tree -
felling. It is nationally and internationally discussed as the peoples’ ecological movement for
the protection of the natural environment. Men migrated to the plains and women were left
to cope with an impoverished existence and to provide for the old and the children. Women
repeatedly challenged administrators and politicians stating, planning without fodder, fuel
and water is one eyed planning.
• One of the women, Gaura Devi led 27 village women to prevent the contractors and forest
department personnel, about 60 men in all, from entering the Reni forest to cut 2,415 trees.
• In the course of this movement, Garhwal women successfully understood leadership roles
and questioned the right of the men to decide the fate of the forests or to enter into the
contracts without consulting them.

Anti-Arrack Movement
• The anti-arrack movement of women in Andhra Pradesh was one of most historic and
significant movements of the 1990s. The historic bangle waged by the women of Andhra
Pradesh against the social evil of alcohol drinking is a magnum war in Indian social history.
• Women have played a historic role in bringing about a ban on consumption and sale of
distilled liquor in Andhra Pradesh. The movement indeed was not just for elimination of
liquor but for the protection and survival of their lives and culture. The rural women in the

villages raised their voices against the degeneration of the progress of their families through
the damage caused by their men to their children and themselves.
• Anti-arrack movement though started as a spontaneous outburst of lower class and lower
caste women it soon became a rage through classes and castes against local arrack shops,
excise officials, liquor contractors and all the machineries of state involved in the trade.
• The anti-arrack agitation is a very good example of the articulation of a family violence in
public. It showed a feminist way of looking at issues, especially a private issue like family
violence and aligning it to a larger issue of state and society. It questioned the notion about
domestic violence being private and women not being able to do anything about it. This
movement gave tremendous self-confidence and sense of power to women, who realised
their strength and used it to their benefit. Women emerged out winners because they are
well aware of their strengths and ability to bring about change in society.
WOMEN’S MOVEMENTS IN INDIA SINCE THE 1970S
NGOs and other such organisations from the 70s started emphasising on women’s development
and provided women avenues of collectively voicing their concerns. These grass root organisations
have questioned the welfare approach to women and incorporated an empowerment participatory
approach. While questions about the success of these organisations are often raised, it is often seen
that women exposed to some amount of mobilisation show great potentialities, receptiveness and
defining capacities
The important characteristics of the 3rd phase of women’s movement i.e. from post-
independence era to 1985 are as follows:
• Till the 1970s a kind of passivity or accommodation due to the socio-economic circumstances
of free India influenced the women’s movement.
• The economic crisis of 1960s created an atmosphere in which issues concerning women are
more and in which women started taking place (1975-1985- International Women’s Decade)
saw the emergence of autonomous women’s movement in which autonomous women’s
groups and organisations started fighting for liberation.
• Women’s organisations such as Shramik Mahila Sangathana (the working women’s
organisation) took up the issue of rising prices of essential goods, adulteration etc. This saw
its culmination in the anti price movement of 1973 as a united front organisation of women
belonging to political parties such as CPI (M), Socialist Party, Congress and even non-political
women. The political parties mobilised women to achieve their own political gains. This
resulted in the establishment of National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) by the
Communist Party of India

• The government appointed the Committee on the Status of Indian Women (CSIW) in
1971 to examine the rights and status of Indian
women and to suggest certain measures to enable In 1975, March 8th was
women to play their proper role in the building up of celebrated as international
the nation. women’s day for the first time.
The women’s organisations that emerged during the Important features of the
autonomous movement period could be divided into six women’s autonomous

categories: movement are that women
1) Autonomous groups whose main propaganda is organised themselves and led
agitation and to raise consciousness. the movements and fought
2) Grass root or mass based organisations like trade against oppression, exploitation,
unions, agricultural labourers’ organisations, injustice and discrimination.
democratic groups, tribal organisations etc. in
which women’s issues like wife beating, sexual harassment by the landlords, alcoholism
of men have been taken up.
3) Groups that concentrate on providing services, shelter homes etc. to needy women.
4) Professional women’s organisations such as doctors, lawyers etc. that seek to agitate
against discrimination and more often create alternate channels for professional
activity.
5) Women’s wings or fronts of the political parties.
6) Groups involved in research and documentation on women’s issues
The autonomous movements besides
creating general consciousness among
women, exposed the conversation of the
judiciary as in the Mathura Rape case, by
removing the bill boards and stopping shows
where women have been shown or used as
sex symbols. These autonomous
movements have also given rise to special
interest groups involved in the anti-dowry
and anti-rape campaigns. More research is
being carried out on subjects related to
women. In the academic field, women’s
studies became an upcoming field to be
taken more seriously during the 1970s
As a result of the pressure created by the
women’s movements, amendments in the
laws regarding rape, dowry, marriage etc.
were made

Industrialization
Industrialization is the process by which an economy is transformed from primarily agricultural to
one based on the manufacturing of goods. Individual manual labour is often replaced by mechanized
mass production, and craftsmen are replaced by assembly lines.
Characteristics of industrialization include:
– economic growth
– more efficient division of labour

– the use of technological innovation to solve problems
Industrialization is a transformation away from an agricultural- or resource-based economy,
toward an economy based on mass manufacturing.
Industrialization is usually associated with increases in total income and living standards in a society.
Early industrialization occurred in Europe and North America during the 18th and 19th centuries,
and later in other parts of the world.
Numerous strategies for industrialization have been pursued in different countries over time, with
varying levels of success.
What is the Industrial Revolution?
• The Industrial Revolution, which took place from
the 18th to 19th centuries, was a period during An example from the textile industry:
which predominantly agrarian, rural societies in • In 1764, Englishman James
Europe and America became industrial and Hargreaves built a machine called the
urban. Spinning Jenny that enabled an
• Prior to the Industrial Revolution, which began in individual to produce multiple spools
Britain in the late 1700s, manufacturing was often of threads simultaneously. By the
done in people’s homes, using hand tools or basic time of Hargreaves’ death, there
machines. The whole process was largely were over 20,000 Spinning Jennys in
inefficient. use across Britain.
• Industrialization marked a shift to powered, • The spinning jenny was improved
special-purpose machinery, factories and mass upon by English inventor Samuel
production. The iron and textile industries Compton’s spinning mule.
became the mainstay of industrial revolution. • Another key innovation in textiles,
• The industrial revolution took place in the rest of the power loom, which mechanized
Europe after Britain. the process of weaving cloth, was
• The industrial revolution spread in all corners of developed in the 1780s by English
the British Empire and took roots in the United inventor Edmund Cartwright (1743-
States in the 1860s, after the American Civil War 1823).
(1861-65). This part of the revolution is called
the Second Industrial Revolution. This changed America from an agrarian society to an
industrial one.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

• The First Industrial Revolution used water and steam power to Some of the
mechanize production. It was the first instance where production innovations of the
shifted from cottage industry to large production houses or first industrial
factories. revolution:-
• The Second industrial revolution used electric power for mass • Steam engine
production. That is, large scale machines were brought into the • Flying shuttle

picture. Huge conveyor belts rolling products one after the other, • Spinning Jenny
automobiles and production of electricity, defined this phase. • Cotton Gin
• The third revolution: Started with the discovery of computers. • Telegraph
The third phase was the most important as the machines which • Cement
previously were electrically driven became electronically driven, • Modern roads
that is, it used electronics and information technology to • Bessemer process
automate production. This came around in the middle of the 20th • Power loom
century.
• The Fourth Industrial Revolution is building on the third
revolution, that is, the digital revolution that has been occurring since the middle of the last
century. It is characterized by a
fusion of technologies that is
blurring the lines between the
physical, digital, and biological
spheres.
It is seen that each revolution took about a
hundred years to establish and then give
way to the next revolution.
What is the Fourth Industrial Revolution?

• Building on the foundation given by the third
Industrial Revolution, the fourth Industrial
Revolution is moving from an electronic based
industry to a process which is the combination
of human beings and electronics.
• It includes cyber-physical systems, the
Internet of things, big data analytics, cloud
computing, cognitive computing, artificial
intelligence, 3-D printing, and autonomous
vehicles etc.
• The best example would be processed
artificial intelligence has broken the
distinction between the Man, The Machine
and Intelligence.
Impact of Industry 4.0
• Services and business models improvement
• Reliability and continuous productivity
• IT security and better resource utilization
• Machine safety and better working condition
INDIA AND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

• India was famous for her handicrafts from the pre-British times. In Mughal periods such as
the variety of handicrafts that it became famous in the global market.
• However, the Industrial Revolution came late to India. This was mainly because of India’s
complicated political and economic relations with Britain.
Destruction of Indian Industries by British:
o India dominated the cotton textile market in the 18th century. It took a severe hit when

the Industrial Revolution began in England around 1760s.
o The use of steam power in British mills reduced the cost of cotton by 85 %.
o In order to protect its domestic industry, it began to restrict textile imports from India.
On the other hand, it started to import textiles to India.
o British protectionist laws led to deindustrialization in India.
o The new colonial law forced the farmers to grow cash crops like cotton instead of food
crops, leading to famine and poverty.
o Introduction of machine made goods in the Indian subcontinent at a cheaper rate, led to
the destruction of the traditional textile industry of India.
o Tariff policy opted by the British led to the decay of the handicraft industry, the British
government started using preferential trade policies under which British goods were
entering in India duty free or no nominal duty payment while Indian exporters had to
pay high duty on export goods to British Mainland.
o Internal Causes, as there were no efforts made to explore products for the Indian
markets, the international trade market was in the control of international traders, the
manually skilled laborers and traders associated with it were at the pity of the
international trade merchants as far as supply or demand propagation in international
trade markets was concerned. The guilds or craftsmen organization was also definitely
very weak in India as compared to other nations.
o Changes in social conditions that resulted in consistent decline in manufacturing
employment that requires access to raw materials and natural resources.
o British rule establishment also resulted in the loss of powers of the craftsmen
organization and other bodies that used to supervise and regulate the trade, which
results in the fall down of raw materials as well as the skilled laborers which further
results in the decline of market value of the products
o The abolition of court culture and urban aristocrats resulted in decreased demand for
these handicrafts as product demand for these dried up.
Post independence: (Refer economic book for details of industrial policy)

• A large number of industries have been established in the post-independence India in private,
public and joint sectors.
• There are a lot of industrial resources and raw materials available in India. Bhilai, Bokaro,
Rourkela, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Renukoot, etc., emerged as major centres during the first one
and a half decades of independence.

• However, later on, industrialisation at medium and small scale was taken up in all the
states. The third Industrial Revolution started in India in 1980s. Advancement in this phase
encompasses the spread of personal computers, internet, and ICT.
• In 1948, it was decided to reserve right of control with the state over coal, steel, aviation,
petroleum industries, etc. All other industries were open to private enterprises.
• In 1956, a resolution was passed under which private capital was allowed to enter into the
reserved sectors of industry. A number of top-ranking industrialists were members of the

Central Advisory Council and Development Council.
• The state enterprises and public sector undertakings ran into heavy losses, and this put a
question mark on the capabilities of the Indian State and its approaches in managing its own
establishment. A debate started on private-public sector partnership and divide. The debated
tilted in favour of the private sector.
• Many of the government enterprises were handed over to private entrepreneurs and
industrialists. Privatisation has entered in a selected way in offices and transport sector,
including roads, railways and airways. ‘Contractualism’ became the new slogan.
• Large-scale industries started in the first fifteen years of planning in India. Rate of industrial
growth was fluctuating between 2 to 12 per cent.
• However, we have observed a steady industrial progress after 1967.
• The enduring factors which have contributed to the growth are vast natural resources, economic
surplus, large labour force, high urban concentration, concentration of surplus within a small
social group, availability of trained personnel, a stable political structure, powerful means of
state economic control, etc.
• Currently, the growth rate is around 8 per cent.
• Today, India is one of the top developing countries compared to the countries of Africa and
South America.
• However, production of luxury goods, control of monopolies, sluggish rate of agricultural
development, etc., have come as obstacles in industrial development. Despite these factors,
investments in private sector have been increasing.
• Collaborations with industrially advanced countries like the USA, UK, Russia, France, Germany,
Italy, Japan, etc., are a clear testimony of India’s
industrial progress. The main sectors of industrialisation
• A boost has been given to the development of small- today are electronics, transport and
scale industries too during various plans. telecommunication. Compared to
• Today India has entered the Industrial Revolution 4.0 advanced countries, there is very
- mainly based on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence. little industrialis-ation in India.
• Prime Minister gave an institutional shape to the About 10 per cent of the total
expression by launching the Centre for Fourth workers are employed in the
Industrial Revolution in India. organised industrial sector. Both
• It is an initiative of the World Economic Forum and, private and public sectors have
India becomes the fourth country to have such a grown side by side since
centre after US, Japan, and China. independence.

How can Industrial Revolution 4.0 help India?

• It can play a major role in alleviating poverty.
• Better and low-cost health care can be achieved through the implementation of AI-driven
diagnostics, personalized treatment, early identification of potential pandemics, and imaging
diagnostics, among others.
• Enhancing farmer’s income by providing them with the latest technologies, improvement in
crop yield through real-time advisory, advanced detection of pest attacks, and prediction of

crop prices to inform sowing practices.
• It will strengthen infrastructure and improve connectivity to the very last village.
• Artificial intelligence can be used to empower and enable specially-abled people.
• It will improve ease of living and ease of doing business using smart technologies.
• Recently, India has announced her drone policy, which will play an important role in security,
traffic and mapping.
Urbanization
Urbanisation in India is taking place at a faster rate with

over 34% of India’s current population living in urban
areas (UN World Urbanisation Prospects Report 2018).
It has expanded rapidly as an increasing number of
people migrate to towns and cities in search of
economic opportunity. Smart urbanisation involves
effective integration of physical, digital and human
systems in the built environment to deliver sustainable,
prosperous and inclusive future for its citizens.
The census of India, 2011 defines urban settlement as:-
• All the places which have municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town
area committee
• All the other places which satisfy following criteria:
a. A minimum population of 5000 persons;
b. At least 75 % of male main working population engaged in non-agricultural pursuits;
and
c. A density of population of at least 400 persons per square kilometer
History of Urbanization in India

• In 1687- 88, the first municipal corporation in India was set up at Madras.
• In 1726, Municipal Corporation were set up in Bombay and Calcutta.
• In 1882,a resolution was passed and according to which, panchayat were to be formed at village
level, district boards, taluq boards and municipalities also came into existence.
• At that time Lord Ripon was Viceroy of India, and for this Lord Ripon is known as father of local
self-government in India.

Urbanization since independence has been focused through respective five year plans as follows:
• First two plan focused on institution and organization building and same was instructed to the
states to do.
For ex. Delhi development Authority, Town and country planning organization came during
this period.
• Third plan (1961-66) was turning point in urban Did you know? The 2011 Census

planning history, as it emphasized on importance of was the first one that collected
towns and cities in balanced regional development. So, data on people living in slums that
it advised urban planning to adopt regional approach. It have become commonplace in a
also emphasized the need for urban land regulation, rapidly urbanizing India. It found
checking of urban land prices, preparation of master that around one out of every six
plan, etc. households in urban India (17.4%)
• Forth plan (1969-74), continued with the theme of third is in a slum, and that well over one-
plan and development plans for 72 urban areas were third of all slum households in the
undertaken. Regional studies in respect of metropolitan country (38%) are in cities with a
regions around Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta were population in excess of a million.
initiated.
• During fifth plan, urban land ceiling act was passed in 1976. It also advised the state
governments to create metropolitan planning regions to take care of the growing areas outside
administrative city limits. Mumbai metropolitan region development authority (MMRDA) in
1974 and Housing and urban development cooperation in 1975 were established. It also
emphasized the urban and industrial decentralization.
• The sixth five year (1978-83) plan stressed the need to develop small and medium sized towns
(less than 1 lakh), and a scheme of Integrated development of Small and Medium towns (IDSMT)
was launched in 1979 by central government.
• During the seventh plan, some important institutional developments were done, which shaped
the urban development policy and planning.
The National commission on urbanization submitted its report in 1988 and 65th
constitutional amendment was introduced in Lok Sabha in 1989, this was first attempt to
give urban local bodies a constitutional status with three tier federal structure. But it was
not passed and was finally passed in 1992 as 74th constitutional amendment act and came
into force in 1993.
• During Eighth plan, the Mega city scheme was introduced in 1993-94 covering five mega cities
of Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Also IDSMT scheme was revamped
through it infrastructural development programs for boosting employment generation for
diverting migration from big cities to the small and medium towns.
• The ninth plan, continued with the schemes of the eighth plan and also emphasized on
decentralization and financial autonomy of urban local bodies. A new program called Swarna
jayanti Shahari Rozgar yojna (SJSRY) in 1997 with two sub plan– 1. Urban self-employment
program and 2. Urban wage employment programme, i.e. targeting for urban poverty reduction

and employment. It was decided by central government to revamp SJSRY in 2013 as

National urban Livelihood Mission (NULM).
• The Tenth plan (2002-07) recognized the fact that urbanization played a key role in accelerating
the economic growth in 1980s and 1990s as a result of the economic liberalization and also
stressed that without strengthening the urban local bodies, the goal of urbanization cannot be
achieved.
• The eleventh plan (2007-2012) introduced some innovative changes through capacity building,

increasing the efficiency and productivity of the
• Focus of JNNURM was on
cities, dismantling the monopoly of public sector
provisions for urban poor, including
over urban infrastructure, using technology as a
housing, water supply and
tool for rapid urbanization. In this direction major
sanitation, urban transport, road
initiative launched by central government was
network, and the development of
JNNURM(Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban
inner/old city areas, etc. The earlier
renewal mission) in 2005 for focused and
programs, as mentioned above like
integrated development of the urban infrastructure
Mega city, IDSMT, etc. were
and services, initially for 63 cities. This program was
merged with it.
to be continued till 2012, but it has been extended,
• Under JNNURM it was made
covering more number of cities.
mandatory for each cities to
• Rajiv Awas Yojana, was launched in 2011 for
formulate City Development
creating “slum free India” as a pilot project for two
Plan(CDP) for long term vision of
years. But now it has been extended till 2022. It is
development. It also aimed to make
applicable to all slums in the city whether notified
private players part of urban
or non-notified. It is also applicable to urban
development through PPP(Public
homeless and pavement dwellers.
private partnership)
• The twelfth five year plan (2012-2017) proposed to
consolidate JNNURM and envisaged its wider role Issues with urban planning in India:
in urban reforms. During twelfth plan , the • Failure to mainstream the urban
components of JNNURM are :- planning
o Urban infrastructure governance(UIG) • Incomplete reform and slow
o Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) progress in project
o Slum rehabilitation in cities not covered under implementation
RAY • Delay in securing land for projects
o Capacity building • Delay in getting approval from
Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission various regulators
(JNNURM) was the recently concluded long-running
Urban Development Mission of the Government of India.
When it came to its closing stages, the Government of India launched 6 new missions.

The 6 new missions launched by the Government of India are

• Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT)
• Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) – Housing for all (Urban)
• Smart Cities Mission (SCM)
• Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)
• Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY)
• Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Urban Livelihood Mission (DAY-NULM)

Other Urban Development Projects
• Industrial Corridors
• Country-Specific Tie-ups
AMRUT mission
Focus areas 1. Basic services to households – water supply, sewerage, and
urban transport
2. Develop greenery, well-maintained open spaces in cities,
reduce pollution by increasing usage of public transport.
3. Storm water drains, parking spaces, recreation centers
Duration 5 years (From 2015-16 to 2019-20)
Number of cities covered 500
under this programme
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) – Housing for all (Urban)

Launched 2015
Focus Area Constructing more than 2 crore houses
The target group of the PMAY Women, Economically Weaker Section (EWS), ST, SC.
scheme
Mode of implementation 1. Rehabilitation of slum dwellers
2. Credit linked subsidy
3. Affordable housing through public or private partnership
4. Subsidy for beneficiary led individual house construction or
enhancement
Cities covered 1. Initial focus on 500 Tier I cities in 3 phases.
2. 4,041 statutory towns

Smart Cities Mission (SCM)

On September 7, 2019, Aurangabad Industrial City (AURIC), in Aurangabad, Maharashtra was
inaugurated as the 1st Greenfield industrial smart city of India. It covers an area of 10,000 acres.
The below table gives details on Smart Cities Mission (SCM)
Launched 2015
Number of cities 100
Objective Provide smart solutions to improve city infrastructure and services

Focus areas 1. Mobility and Energy efficiency
2. Electricity
3. Information and Communication Technology
4. Water Supply
5. Sanitation
6. Solid Waste Management
The following are the City identification criteria for the Smart Cities Mission (SCM)
1. One satellite city for cities with a population of 4 million or more (9 cities)
2. Most of the cities with a population of 1 Million – 4 Million (approx 35 out of 44 cities)
3. All states/UT capitals even if they have a population of less than 1 Million (17 cities)
4. Other cities that are important for tourism or religious or economic reasons (10 cities)
5. Cities with a population of 0.2 – 1.0 Million (25 cities)
Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)

Contamination of drinking water, bathing water, and open defecation have been a perpetual sanitary
problem in India. In the year 2014, India had the highest number of people practicing open
defecation.
Launched 2014
Objective of 1. Open Defecation Free by 2nd October 2019.
mission 2. Contribute to India reaching Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 6),
established by the UN in 2015
Funding 1. Rs 90 Billion allocated for the mission in the 2016 Union Budget.
2. World Bank provided the US $ 1.5 Billion loans and
$ 25 Million in technical assistance
Some of the features of the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)
1. Provision of public, household, and community toilets.
2. The central incentive of 4,000 INR per household for construction of household toilets, 40%
grant/VGF for each community toilet block.
3. Eradication of manual scavenging.

Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY)

This mission has been launched to provide better amenities in Heritage cities.
Launched 2015
Funding Rs 500 ( 100% funding by the Government of India)
Implementing Ministry of Urban Development
Ministry
Number of cities This mission is being implemented in 13 cities

covered
Objectives 1. Better infrastructure and services in Heritage cities like water, roads,
street lights, increase security with CCTV, toilets
2. Preserve, conserve, and revitalize Heritage cities.
Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Urban Livelihood Mission (DAY-NULM)

This scheme is aimed at addressing the livelihood concerns of the urban poor.
Preceded by Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRJ)
Launched 2013
Implementation Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation
Ministry
Funding 1. Centre (75%) and State (25%);
2. North East and Special Category States: Centre (90%), State (10%)
Target Group Urban Street Vendors
Objectives 1. Helping the urban poor in self-employment by providing skill
development and easy access to credit.
2. Provide shelter to the urban poor.
Issues associated with urbanisation in India:

• Urban sprawl or real expansion of the cities, both in terms of population and geographical
area, which has encroached upon the agricultural and forest lands.
• Overcrowding and haphazard development of urban areas which has led to annually
recurring instances of floods, diseases and fire in many cities.
• Rising demands for basic services such as clean water, public transportation, sewage
treatment and housing.
• The proliferation of slums due to policy, planning, and regulatory deficiencies.
• Huge quantities of garbage generated by the cities which are posing a serious health
problem.
• Environmental concerns such as urban areas becoming heat islands, rising air pollution,
groundwater pollution and persistent water crisis.
• Rising urban poverty, inequality and unemployment.
• Urban Crimes such as human trafficking, sexual assault, and child labour etc.
• Many urban local governments lack a modern planning framework which limits effective
land utilisation and cities’ abilities to grow in accordance with changing needs.

• 74th Amendment Act

has been implemented
half-heartedly by the
states, which have not
fully empowered the
Urban Local Bodies
(ULBs). ULBs need clear

delegation of functions,
functionaries and funds.
• The state governments
have not given enough
autonomy to ULBs to
generate revenues and
at the same time, the
ULBs have failed to utilize even those tax and fee powers that they have been vested with.
• On the ‘Smart City’ front, while over 90 ‘Smart Cities’ have identified 2,864 projects, India
lags on implementation, with about 148 projects completed and over 70% still at various
stages of preparation.
• Low level of urban infrastructure investment and capacity building
• Wide inter-state disparity in urbanization levels also poses a challenge to the urban
planners. An urban area that has an advanced model of technology but is badly planned,
with outdated legal frameworks or lacking a good financial model, will only aggravate the
dysfunction in the area.
Way Forward
• National urban policy framework 2018 seeks to rebuild Indian cities around clusters of
human capital, instead of considering them simply as an agglomeration of land use. It is a
welcome transition.
• It also focuses on land policy reforms, granting urban local bodies the freedom to raise
financing and enforce local land usage norms.
• Transportation planning plays a major role in ensuring sustainable and balanced regional
development through inter-city and rural-urban connectivity.
• The Regional Rapid Transit System planned for Delhi-NCR under the National Capital
Regional Transport Corporation (NRCT) that can immensely improve connectivity between
Delhi and far-flung areas such as Meerut, Alwar and Panipat, can spur economic growth in
the region.
• This transit-oriented development can lead not only to decongesting growth centres but also
strengthening labour markets and building rural-urban linkages.
• The “Ease of Living Index” launched in September 2018 has been a transformative initiative
of the urban ministry to help cities assess their liveability.
• India spends about $17 per capita annually on urban infrastructure projects, against a global
benchmark of $100 and China’s $116.
• For providing financial autonomy to the cities the potential of property tax must be utilized.

• Further Municipal bonds backed by sovereign guarantee must be floated by the large
cities.
• The Union Cabinet has approved the creation of Rs 60,000-crore National Urban Housing
Fund to finance the government’s Housing for All programme, which aims to build 12 million
affordable housing units in urban areas by 2022. This is a step in the right direction.
• The policy should be drafted that aims at tackling the rehabilitation and resettlement of
people living in slums.

• The National Green Tribunal direction for carrying out the capacity assessment of
ecologically sensitive and geologically fragile areas must be expedited.
• Need to frame a systemic policy to deal with urban migration.
India has been among the fastest-growing economies in the world for more than two decades. This
has brought about the structural transformation of the economy such that the share of agriculture
in GDP has declined to 14% and that of services has increased to 58%. But this structural
transformation must involve spatial transformation.
Urbanization has undermined old forms of political mobilization based on caste and religious
identities and favors local issues to be
resolved on right based approach.
Urbanisation has its impact on all aspects
of day-to-day life. Family structure has
also been influenced by urbanisation. In
the rural society the concept of family
living is different from that in the urban
society.
In the urban society usually the families
are nuclear, a very small percentage of
households’ have joint families, whereas
in rural society most of the households
have joint families. This change in family
structure is a direct result of urbanisation.
In urban areas, especially in the
metropolitan cities, people of extremely
divergent cultures live together. This has
a positive impact. People come to know about each other’s culture and they exchange their ideas,
breaking the barriers which earlier used to exist between them. This results in cultural hybridisation.
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Pressure groups
A pressure group is a group of people who are organised actively for promoting and defending
their common interest. It is called so, as it attempts to bring a change in public policy by exerting
pressure on the government. It acts as a liaison between the government and its members.
Features:

• The pressure groups are also called interest groups or vested groups. They are different from
the political parties, as they neither contest elections nor try to capture political power.
• They are concerned with specific programmes and issues and their activities are confined to
the protection and promotion of the interests of their members by influencing the
government.
• The pressure groups influence the policy-making and policy implementation in the
government through legal and legitimate methods like lobbying, correspondence, publicity,
propagandising, petitioning, public debating, maintaining contacts with their legislators and
so forth.
• Based on Certain Interests: Each pressure group organises itself keeping in view certain
interests and thus tries to adopt the structure of power in the political systems.
• Use of Modern as well as Traditional Means: They adopt techniques like financing of
political parties, sponsoring their close candidates at the time of elections and keeping the
bureaucracy also satisfied. Their traditional means include exploitation of caste, creed and
religious feelings to promote their interests.
Techniques Used By Pressure Groups
Pressure groups resort to three different techniques in securing their purposes.
• Electioneering: Placing in public office persons who are favourably disposed towards the
interests the concerned pressure group seeks to promote.
• Lobbying: Persuading public
officers, whether they are
initially favourably disposed
toward them or not, to adopt
and enforce the policies that
they think will prove most
beneficial to their interests.
• Propagandizing: Influencing
public opinion and thereby
gaining an indirect influence over
government, since the
government in a democracy is
substantially affected by public
opinion.

Reason for growth of pressure groups:

• Resulting out of Increasing Pressure and Demands on Resources: Scarcity of resources,
claims and counterclaims on the resources from different and competing sections of the
society leads to the rise of pressure groups.
• Inadequacies of Political Parties: Pressure groups are primarily a consequence of
inadequacies of the political parties.
• Represent Changing Consciousness: For instance the increase in the food production or

industrial goods does bring a change in the way individuals and groups look at the world.
The stagnation in production leads to fatalism but increase in production leads to demands,
protests and formation of new pressure groups.
Types of Pressure Groups

• Institutional Interest Groups: These groups are formally organised which consist of
professionally employed persons. They are a part of government machinery and try to exert
their influence.These groups include political parties, legislatures, armies, bureaucracies,
etc. Whenever such an association raises protest it does so by constitutional means and in
accordance with the rules and regulations.
o Example: IAS Association, IPS Association, State civil services association, etc.
• Associational Interest Groups: These are organised specialised groups formed for interest
articulation, but to pursue limited goals. These include trade unions, organisations of
businessmen and industrialists and civic groups.
o Some examples of Associational Interest Groups in India are Bengal Chamber of
Commerce and Industry, Indian Chamber of Commerce, Trade Unions such as AITUC
(All India Trade Union Congress), Teachers Associations, Students Associations such
as National Students Union of India (NSUI) etc.
• Anomic Interest Groups: By anomic pressure groups we mean more or less a spontaneous
breakthrough into the political system from the society such as riots, demonstrations,
assassinations and the like.
• Non-Associational Interest Groups: These are the kinship and lineage groups and ethnic,
regional, status and class groups that articulate interests on the basis of individuals, family
and religious heads. These groups have informal structure. These include caste groups,
language groups, etc.
Pressure Groups in India

• Business Groups – Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI),
Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), Federation of All India
Foodgrain Dealers Association (FAIFDA), etc
• Trade Unions – All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Indian National Trade Union
Congress (INTUC), Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS)
• Professional Groups – Indian Medical Association (IMA), Bar Council of India (BCI), All India
Federation of University and College Teachers (AIFUCT)
• Agrarian Groups- All India Kisan Sabha, Bharatiya Kisan Union, etc

• Student’s Organisations- Akhila Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), All India Students
Federation (AISF), National Students Union of India (NSUI)
• Religious Groups – Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS), Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP),
Jamaat-e-Islami, etc.
• Caste Groups – Harijan Sevak Sangh, Nadar Caste Association, etc
• Linguistic Groups – Tamil Sangh, Andhra Maha Sabha,kannada rakshana vedike etc
• Tribal Groups – National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), Tribal National Volunteers

(TNU) in Tripura, United Mizo federal org, Tribal League of Assam, etc.
• Ideology based Groups – Narmada Bachao Andolan, Chipko Movement, Women's Rights
Organisation, India Against Corruption etc.
• Anomic Groups - Naxalite Groups, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), United
Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), Dal Khalsa, etc.
Functions, Role & Importance of Pressure Groups

• Interest Articulation: Pressure Groups bring the demands and needs of the people to the
notice of the decision-makers. The process by which the claims of the people get crystallized
and articulated is called interest articulation.
• Agents of Political Socialisation: Pressure groups are agents of political socialisation in so
far as they influence the orientations of the people towards the political process. These
groups play a vital role as two-way communication links between the people and the
government.
• Pressure groups play a vital role in the legislative process, not only as important structures
of interest articulation, but also as active agencies engaged in lobbying with the legislators
for securing desired laws or amendments in laws and policies of the government.
o Right from the time of preparation of election manifestos of various political parties
to the passing of laws by the legislators, the pressure groups remain associated with
the process of rule-making.
• Pressure Groups and Administration: Pressure Groups are actively involved with the
process of administration. Through lobbying with the bureaucracy, the pressure groups are
usually in a position to influence the process of policy implementation.
• Role in Judicial Administration: Pressure Groups try to use the judicial system for securing
and safeguarding their interests. Interest groups often seek access to the court for redressal
of their grievances against the government as well as for getting declared a particular
decision or policy as unconstitutional.
• Pressure groups play a leading role in the formulation of public opinion. Each pressure
group is continuously engaged in evaluating all such laws, rules, decisions and policies which
have a direct or indirect bearing on the interests it represents. It always places the pros and
cons not only before its members but also before the general public for eliciting popular
support as well as for catching the attention of the government.
o They try to gain public support and sympathy for their goals and their activity by
carrying out information campaigns, organising meetings, file petitions, etc. Most of
these groups try to influence the media into giving attention to these issues.

• Pressure groups help in improving the quality of government. Consultation with

affected groups is the rational way to make decisions in a free society. It makes government
more efficient by enhancing the quality of the decision making process – the information
and advice provided by these groups helps to improve the quality of government policy and
legislation.
• Freely operating pressure groups are essential to the effective functioning of liberal
democracy.
• They serve as a vital intermediary institutions between government and society

• They assist in the dispersal of political power
• They provide important counterweights to balance the concentration of power.
• Pressure groups enable new concerns and issues to reach the political agenda, thereby
facilitating social progress and preventing social stagnation. For example, the women’s and
environmentalist movements.
• Pressure groups increase social cohesion and political stability by providing a ‘safety-valve’
outlet for individual and collective grievances and demands.
• Pressure groups complement the work of opposition political parties by exposing the bad
policies and wrongdoings of the government. Pressure groups thereby improve the
accountability of decision makers to electorates.
• Pressure groups help to educate people, compile data and provide specific information to
policy makers, thus they work as an informal source of information. Active constructive
participation of numerous groups in polity helps to reconcile general interest with individual
group interests.
Shortcomings of Pressure Groups

• Narrow selfish interests: Unlike the pressure groups in the developed countries of the West,
where these are invariably organised to safeguard economic, social, cultural interests, etc.
in India these groups are organised around religious, regional and ethnic issues. Many a time
factors of caste and religion eclipse the socioeconomic interests. The result is that instead of
serving a useful purpose in the political administrative process, they are reduced to work for
narrow selfish interests.
• Misuse of power: Instead of the pressure groups exerting influence on political process, they
become tools and implements to subserve political interests.
• Instability: Most pressure groups do not have autonomous existence; they are unstable and
lack commitment, their loyalties shift with political situations which threatens general
welfare. They many a times resort to unconstitutional means like violence. Naxalite
movement started in 1967 in West Bengal is one such example.
• Propagating extremism: Pressure groups can allow too much influence over the government
from unelected extremist minority groups, which in turn could lead to unpopular
consequences.
Pressure groups are now considered as an indispensable and helpful element of the democratic
process. The society has become highly complex and individuals cannot pursue their interests on
their own. They need the support of other fellow beings in order to gain greater bargaining power;
this gives rise to pressure groups based on common interests.
Democratic politics has to be politics through consultation, through negotiation and some amount
of bargaining is also involved. Thus, it is very essential for the government to consult these organised
groups at the time of policy formulation and implementation.

Models to understand social change

1. Sanskritization
2. Westernization
3. Modernisation
4. Secularisation
Sanskritization

The concept ‘Sanskritization’ was first introduced by Prof. M.N. Srinivas
the famous Indian sociologist. He explained the concept of sanskritization
in his book “Religion and society among the coorgs of South India” to
describe the cultural mobility in the traditional caste structure of Indian
society. In his study of the coorgs of Mysore, he came to know that the
lower castes were trying to raise their status in their caste hierarchy by
adopting some cultural ideals of the Brahmins. As a result they left some
of their ideals which are considered to be impure by the Brahmins. To
explain this process of mobility, Srinivas used the term
‘Brahminization’. Later on he called it ‘Sanskritization’ in a broad sense.
Sanskritization is a process by which scheduled castes, tribes and other low Hindu castes change
their way of life, customs and rituals in the direction of upper castes. It is followed by a claim to
a higher position in the caste hierarchy than traditionally concealed to the claimant caste by the
local community. Such claims are made over a period of time, sometimes a generation or two
before they are conceded.
Characteristics of Sanskritization:
1. Sanskritization is a process of imitation in Indian society, the social status of an individual is
fixed on the basis of caste hierarchy. There are many lower castes who suffer from economic,
religious or social disabilities. So in order to improve the status, the lower castes people
imitate the life style of the upper caste people.
2. Sanskritization is a process of cultural change towards twice-born castes. Sanskritization is a
process in which the lower castes adopt the cultural patterns of the higher castes, to raise
their status in the caste hierarchical order. In some societies the lower caste people followed
not only the customs of the Brahmins but also the customs of the locally dominant castes
like Kshatriyas and Vaisyas to raise their status.
3. Sanskritization is helpful in the social mobility of lower caste:
• In this process a caste is only trying to change the status and not the social structure.
4. Sanskritization process also followed by the tribal:
• Sanskritization process is not only confined to the caste people of Hindu society, it is also
found among the tribal society.
5. The concept of Sanskritization has also given rise to De-sanskritization. There are some
instances in modern times, some of the higher castes are imitating the behaviour pattern of
lower caste, and for example Brahmins have started taking meat and liquor. This process is
called De-sanskritization.

MODELS OF SANSKRITIZATION:
1. Cultural model
2. Varna Model
3. Local Model.
1. Cultural Model:
• Castes have been assigned high or low status according to cultural characteristics of

Hindus.
• The wearing of sacred thread, denying the use of meat and liquor, observing endogamy,
prohibition of widow remarriage, observing the restriction in caste system, worship
according to the modes and methods described in the religious text books, giving respect
to the religious and mythological stories etc. have been given sanctity in traditional
culture.
• They are considered to be the measuring standards of sacredness and purity.
• Accepting these behaviour and code of highness and purity as described in religious texts
in a form of Sanskritization.
2. Varna Model:
• In the Varna system the highest status is given to that of a Brahmin followed by Kshatriya,
Vaishya and Sudra.
• Antyaj or the lowest is the fifth Varna that is the lowest and untouchable one in the Varna
system.
• The lower castes coping the ideals and life style of the superior castes. Where the
Kshatriyas enjoy superiority, the lower castes followed their life style and ideals.
Simultaneously where the vaishyas enjoy superiority, the lower castes followed their life
style and ideals. Only the Antyaj or lower caste copy the Sudras.
• That is to say emulating the life style or ideals of a Varna on the basis of honour and
superiority enjoyed by that class is called Varna model or sanskritization.
3. Local Model:
• In every country, some castes are considered to be more respectful than others on
account of their economic power.
• This caste may be called the “master caste” or the “dominant caste”.
• So the lower caste copies the life style of the local dominant caste in order to improve
their status.
Dominant caste: “A caste may be said to be dominant when it preponderates numerically over other
castes and when it also wields preponderant economic and political power. A large and powerful caste
group can be more easily dominant if its position in the local caste hierarchy is not too low.” —M.N.
Srinivas
– It should own a sizable amount of the arable land locally available

– have strength of numbers
– occupy a high place in the local hierarchy

Effects of Sanskritization on society: Sanskritization has an influential effect on society in

many ways.
• More Equality and Liberty: Some scheduled castes adopted upper-caste names,
discovered myths about their origin and changed their traditional occupations. Now they
sit along with the higher caste on the cots without any fear or hesitation.
• Behavioural change: Lower caste adopted other castes living patterns which gave them
the liberty to sit and stand before other castes. For example, lower caste people were

not keen to keep a clean atmosphere but due to Sanskritization, they started maintaining
hygiene. They have left prohibited food. They also keep their houses clean and put on
dresses like higher castes.
• Value Transmission: It helped in socio-economic and cultural value transmission in
several groups of society.
• Exposure to New ideas: Sanskritisation is not just the adoption of new customs and
habits, but also includes exposure to new ideas and values appearing in Sanskrit
literature. Some of the most common Sanskritic theological ideas like Karma, dharma,
Paap, Maya, Samsara and Moksha, which become common in the talk of people who are
Sanskritised.
• Redefined Caste System: Sanskritisation challenged the then prevalent idea that caste
was a rigid and unchanging institution. The concept of Sanskritisation addressed the
actual complexity and fluidity of caste relations. It brought into academic focus the
dynamics of the renegotiation of status by various castes and communities in India.
• Societal Up-gradation of lower caste: The low caste individuals are inclined towards
Sanskritization because in that way they can elevate their social status and get higher
status in the caste hierarchy.
• Reduced Untouchability: Now the situation is that the untouchable practice is almost
abolished from society.
• Professional Changes: The lower caste people have given up un-cleaned occupation to
raise their economic status because clean trades are a symbol of social light.
Many scheduled castes and tribes changed their dressing style and eating habits in a similar way of
upper castes. But they had to face a lot of violence by upper castes for following their way of life.
Though the process is followed by many, only those that are politically or economically powerful
succeeded in the process.
Limitations of Sanskritisation:
1. It explains only socio-cultural mobility and that to in a very limited way.
2. Prof. Srinivas is not clear about the fact that whether a lower caste as a whole moves up to
a higher strata or only a group of Sanskritised families of a particular caste moves up leaving
behind the other families of the caste.
3. He is also not clear about the fact that when a caste moves up what happens to the vacant
place.
4. He remained silent about occupational mobility and division of labour. Whether the
sanskritised group adopts the occupation of the new place or follows the same traditional
occupation.

5. This is a process in which the lower caste people follow the customs, traditions and
practices of high caste people. But all these elements of high caste people are in diluted
condition, due to various forces like modernisation, westernisation, education etc. So, there
is confusion in imitating these elements.
6. Now-a-days the process of desanskritisation has also been started.
7. Dominant caste may not allow the lower caste groups to reach at their place.
8. It is a cultural change leaving little scope to raise the social status.

After the independence of the country, the issue of social mobility became more complex and cases
of Sanskritization, de-Sanskritization as well as re-Sanskritization were observed. Due to the policy
of positive discrimination adopted by the Indian government now an increasing number of groups
laid claim to backward status rather than high status. Some of them claim a backward status in state
matters and a forward status in society.
Westernization
According to M.N. Srinivas, “Westernisation” refers to “the changes brought about in the Indian
society and culture as a result of over 150 years of British rule and the term subsumes changes
occurring at different levels – technology, institutions, ideology and values.”
In simple terms, Westernization is a process of imitation of western countries by non-western
countries, whereby societies come under or adopt the western culture. Westernization is about the
adoption of “Western” values.
Westernization changed the society and culture of India significantly. It produced:
• Humanitarianism
• Secularism
• Equalitarianism
• Rationality
• Attack on untouchability
There were different Western influences on different people of India because different people in
India came in contact of different types of British people: administrators, army men, traders, and
Christian missionaries.
Srinivas also showed that the movement from tradition to Westernization was not linear:
Westernization also produced revivalism, nationalism, communalism, casteism (vertical and
horizontal solidarity), heightened linguistic consciousness, regionalism and passionate
xenophobia (among Muslims).
In some contexts Westernization led to rejection of the tradition while in others it led to mixing or
combination of traditions and Western influences.
Impact of Westernisation:-
• Opened up the doors of the knowledge – Modern education opened up the doors of the
knowledge flourished in Europe after Renaissance movement of Middle Ages. It had
widened the mental horizons of Indian intelligentsia.
• Education for all - During second half of the nineteenth century, British government in India
opened the doors of education to all the sections of Indian society, irrespective of caste or

creed. Still, very few amongst the general public could avail the advantages of formal
modern education. Education remained confined within a small section of society.
• Highlighted evil practices – Modern education had highlighted the evil practices and
weaknesses developed into the system like rigidity and harshness of many social customs
and practices prevalent at that time for the weaker sections of the society i.e. un-touch-
ability and inhuman treatment to women, Sati, Polygamy, child marriage etc. etc. prevalent
at that time.

• Attracted attention of social reformers – Modern education had attracted the attention of
intellectuals and social reformers towards real issues evils caused by ignorance, irrationality
of mumbo-jumbo of rituals and superstitions created by some selfish people to entangle the
ignorant and poor masses. They suggested remedies for social, political and economic ills of
the country. They took upon themselves the responsibility to build a modern, open, plural,
culturally rich, prosperous and powerful India out of a fragmented, poverty stricken,
superstitious, weak, indifferent, backward and inward looking society. As a result of such
efforts, it led to the abolition of Sati System and slavery. Female infanticide practice lowered
to a great extent.
• Realization of the worth of liberty and freedom – It equipped national leaders with
intellectuals tools with which they fought the oppressive British Raj. Indians realized the
worth of liberty and freedom. They got exposure to the philosophies of thinkers like Locke,
Mill, Roussseau, Voltaire, Spencer and Burke etc. They understood the reasons and impact
of English, French, American revolutions.
Changes due to westernization:
1. Introduction of industrialisation and urbanisation.
2. Introduction of new institutions like election system, Christian missions, etc.
3. Modification in the old institutions through reform movements. For example, putting an end
to some of the inequalities that were part of Hindus by introducing British Procedural law.
4. Introduction of new judicial system on the basis of principle of equality.
5. Importance was given to humanitarianism through the establishment of hospitals,
orphanages.
6. Changes are found in behavioural level like taking food by sitting on the floor to dining table.
7. Weakening of customary diet, from vegetarian to non-vegetarian among the Brahmins.
8. Introduction of new educational system which contains modern scientific world view.
9. Change of giving importance to ascribed status to achieved status.
10. Introduction of wider national network of transportation and communication.
11. Growth of nationalism through establishment of national congress.
12. Introduction of new ideas such as ‘welfare state’, ‘parliamentary democracy’.
During the British rule acceptance of western cultural element was not appreciated by Indians. But
social reformers and activists introduced radical changes in Indian society by adopting western ideas
and ideologies. Then, the building of railways, the growth of the press, and the spread of education
were added to it. After independence western cultural elements have gained social sanction and
western values are rapidly being absorbed into Indian culture and life style.

Criticisms of Westernisation:-
• The concepts of Sanskritisation and Westernisation primarily analyse social change in
“cultural” and not in “structural” terms. This denoted that these terms have limited range of
application and use.
• Srinivas’s model explains the process of social change only in India which is based on the
caste system. It is not useful for other societies.
• Though Srinivas claimed that the concept of Westernisation is “ethically neutral”, it is not

really so. The Western model which Srinivas has eulogised has its own contradiction.
Mention can be made of the facts of Western life such as racial prejudice, colour segregation
and exploitive nature of the Western economy, etc. These facts contradict humanitarian
ideals or rational outlook on life.
Difference between Sanskritisation and Westernisation:-

1. Sanskritisation process promoted the sacred outlook; while Westernisation process
promoted secular outlook.
2. Sanskritisation is a process of upward mobility by a process of imitation while Westernisation
is a process of upward mobility by a process of development.
3. Sanskritisation implies mobility within the framework of caste while Westernisation implies
mobility outside the framework of caste.
4. While Sanskritisation puts a taboo on meat-eating and consumption of alcohol,
Westernisation promoted meat-eating and consumption of alcohol.
Modernization
Modernity may be understood as the common behavioral system that is historically associated with
the urban, industrial, and literate and participant societies of Western Europe and North America.
It is characterised by a rational and scientific world-view, growth and the ever increasing application
of science and technology, which is coupled with the continuous adaptation of the institutions of
society to the imperatives of the world-view and the emerging technological ethos.
According to S.H. Alatas, “Modernisation is a process by which modern scientific knowledge is

introduced in the society with the ultimate purpose of achieving a better and more satisfactory life
in the broadest sense of the term accepted by the society concerned”.
Prof. Yogendra Singh says, “Modernisation symbolizes a rational attitude towards issues and their
evaluation but not from particularistic point of view”. He also says that modernisation is rooted in
the scientific world view and it has deeper and positive association with levels of diffusion of
scientific knowledge, technological skill and resources.
Modernisation, as a form of cultural response, involves attributes which are basically universalistic
and evolutionary; they are pan-humanistic, trans-ethnic and non-ideological
The essential attribute of modernisation is rationality. Rationality transforms thought processes at
the level of the individual and in the process permeates the entire institutional framework of society

Characteristics of the modernisation process.

• Modernisation, and by implication development, is a revolutionary process. Efforts are
made to transform rural agrarian cultures into urban industrial cultures
• The process of both modernisation and development are complex and multidimensional
with a series of cognitive, behavioral and institutional modifications and restructuring.
• Both are systemic processes since variation in one dimension produces important co-
variations in other dimensions.

• They are global processes.
• They are lengthy processes.
• Movement towards the goals of modernisation and development takes place through
identifiable phases and sub-phases.
• They are homogenising processes.
• Except temporary breakdowns, both are irreversible processes.
• They are progressive processes. In the long run they contribute to human well-being, both
culturally and materially
• It indicates scientific temper, rationality and secular attitude.
• It is a phased process.
• Modernized society is an open society.
• It is a progressive society.
• It is a critical process because it requires not only a relatively stable new structure but also
capable of adopting continuously changing conditions and problems.
• It is a centralized process.
ECONOMIC SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE CULTURAL SPHERE
1. Development in 1. Declining of traditional 1. Growing differentiation among the
technology. rulers. major elements of culture like
2. Specialization in 2. Formulation of religion, philosophy and science.
economic role. ideology for the rulers 2. Spread of literacy and secular
3. Scope for saving to handle the power. education.
and investment. 3. Decentralization of 3. Introduction of complex institutional
4. Expansion of power among the system for the advancement of
market (from members of the specialized roles.
local to society. Scope must be 4. Expansion of media communication.
international) provided to all to 5. Development of new cultural
participate in the elements based on:
decision making • Progress and
process. improvement.
• Expression on ability.
• Emphasis on dignity of the
individual and his
efficiency.

Modernisation in India:
Due to modernisation so many changes are found in India:
1) Introduction of new institutions like banking, mass media communication etc.
2) Introduction of new value systems such as equality, justice, individualism, secularism etc.
3) Acceptance of scientific innovation.
4) Increase in the standard of living.
5) Introduction of large scale industries.

6) Restructuring of political system, i.e., introduction of democracy.
7) Introduction of structural changes in social institutions like marriage, family, caste etc.
8) Emergence of the middle class.
9) There are some eliminative changes like disappearance of cultural traits, behaviour
pattern, values etc. Example, abolition of feudal power.
10) There is shifting of attitude from sacred to secular.
11) Emergence of new forms because of synthesis of old and new elements. For example,
nuclear family in structure but functioning as joint.
12) Adoption of new cultural traits such as new election system.
Modernism versus traditionalism

A society may be classified as traditional, modern, or post-modern. Tradi-tional society lays
emphasis on religion (and magic) in behavioural norms and values, implying continuity (deep links)
with a real or imagined past. It widely accepts rituals, sacrifices and holy feasts.
Broadly speaking, tradi-tional society is described as one in which:
1. Individual’s status is determined by his birth and he does not strive for social mobility
2. Individual’s behaviour is governed
by customs, traditions, norms and
values having deep links with the
past. The social practices of people
vary only slightly from generation
to generation
3. Social organisation (stable
pat-tern of social relationships of
individuals and sub-groups within
a society that provides regularity
and predictability in social
interaction) is based on hierarchy
4. Kinship relations predominate in
interaction and individual identifies himself with primary groups
5. Individual is given more importance in social relations than what his position actually
warrants
6. People are conservative
7. Economy is simple, i.e., tool economy (and not machine economy) prevails and is
conspicuous and economic produc-tivity above subsistence level is relatively low

8. Mythical thought (and not logical reasoning) predominates in society.

Modernity is substantial break with traditional society. Modern soci-ety focuses on science and
reason.
According to Stuart Hall (Hall and Gay, 1996; also see O’ Donnell, Mike, 1977:40), the six distinctive
characteristics of modern society (which also distinguish it from traditional society) are:
1. The decline of religion and rise of a secular materialistic culture (religious characteristic).
2. The replacing of feudal economy (getting services by the owner of land) by an economy in

which money system provides the medium for exchange (in trade) based on large-scale
production and consumption of commodities for the market, extensive ownership of private
property, and accumulation of capital on a long- term basis (economic characteristic).
3. The dominance of secular political authority over state and marginalisation of religious
influence from state/political matters (political characteristic).
4. The decline of social order based on simple division of labour and the development of new
di-vision of labour based on specialisation, the emergence of new classes, and changed
relations between men and women (social characteristic).
5. The forming of new nations (communities-ethnic or national) having their own identities and
traditions to suit their own purposes, e.g., rejection of aristocracy and monarchy by France,
Britain accepting monarchy only as a symbol, Egypt rejecting monarchy and accepting
democracy, and so on (cultural characteristic).
6. The rise of scientific, rationalist way of looking at the world (intellectual characteristic). Thus,
while the traditional society is characterised by ritual, custom, collectivity, community
ownership, status quo and continuity and simple division of labour, the modern society is
characterised by rise of science, emphasis on reason and rationality, belief in progress,
viewing government and the state as essential in bringing about progress, emphasis on
economic development and com-plex division of labour, perceiving human-beings as
capable of acquiring great control over nature and environment and seeing world in terms
of dualisms or opposites.
Post-modern society, or late modernity, concentrates on critical awareness and is concerned about
the damaging effects of applied science on
nature, environment and humanity. It points
out risks and unintended negative
consequences of the pursuit of progress.
From nationalism (emphasized in modern
society), it moves to the process of
globalisation. Instead of giving importance
to economic development (as in modern
society), it gives importance to culture.
Unlike modern society (which sees world in
terms of opposites or dualisms), post-
modern society views unities, similarities
and connections as important.

Current Social Evils

Fundamentalism
Fundamentalism refers to one’s unwavering belief in the infallibility of the religious /

philosophical scriptures in all matters of faith, religion and philosophy. The attachment or belief
is such strong that the believer takes a militant stand sometimes.

Its purpose is to reaffirm the key theological tenets of one’s religion and stress on inerrancy of every
word of his / her scriptures. Fundamentalism is generally understood to have religious connotation
but it can be non-religious also.
Religious Fundamentalism
• Religious fundamentalism is the
movement based on belief of a
community (or individuals) in
absolute authority of the sacred
texts of its own religion or faith.
• They believe that their own
religion is beyond any fault and
thus, should be forced on others.
• There is no scope for scrutiny or
even criticism of the scriptures on logical explanations and scientific evidences.
Fundamentalism in Various Religions
Christian Fundamentalism
• It is thought to have started in United States among the conservative Presbyterian
theologians in the late 19th century. It soon spread to the Baptists and other religious by
1920s.
• The key objective is this movement was to reaffirm five theological tenets including
infallibility of every word of the Bible; virgin birth of Jesus; bodily resurrection of Jesus,
that Jesus’s death was the atonement for sin and historical reality of Jesus’s miracles.
Those who subscribed to these five fundamentals were called Fundamentalists.
• Apart from the Five Fundamentals mentioned above, the Christian fundamentalists don’t
accept the theory of evolution and some of them believe in the so called premillennial
eschatology which says that world is doomed till Jesus returns and defeats the antichrist.
Jewish Fundamentalism
• This is prevalent in Israel.
• The Jewish fundamentalists make effort to establish strict adherence to orthodox Jewish
culture and Jewish Law (halacha) in all aspects of Israeli life.
Islamic Fundamentalism
• Islamic fundamentalists believe in literal interpretation of the Quran and Hadith and attempt
to enforce the Sharia law into every aspect of the Islamic Life.
• One of the early Islamic Fundamentalist was Ibn Taymiyyah (13th century) who not only
initiated a reform movement but also triggered a Jihad against Mongols.
• However, the modern Islamic fundamentalism originated in 19th century as an Arabian

(Wahabi Movement) fundamentalist movement and got nurtured with the overt and covert
support of western powers.
• The western powers (UK & US) nurtured them as potential hedge against expansion of Soviet
Union.
• Thus, Wahabi movement supported by Saudi Arabia is often described as being responsible
for the popularity of contemporary Islamic fundamentalism

Hindu Fundamentalism
• Unlike most other religions, Hindu Fundamentalism does not assign supreme authority to
one scripture, one god or Prophet or one belief.
• It is a complex set of multiple beliefs, attitudes, faiths, scripts, sects and sub-sects.
• This is one of the reasons that the Fundamentalism in Hinduism is more subdued that other
major religions though not fully non-existent.
Sikh Fundamentalism
• Sikhism is one of the youngest religions of the world and has been particular associated with
Hinduism.
• However, the Khalistan movement of late 1980s was seen as a Sikh Fundamentalist
Movement whose main aim was to achieve an independent Sikh homeland.
Buddhism and Jainism
• The followers of these religions exhibit little fundamentalism due to peace and non-violence
being their basic tenets.
• However, some sections such as Buddhists of Rakhine state in Myanmar, Buddhists of Sri
Lanka, Soka Gakkai sect of Nichiren Buddhism in Japan etc. have been labelled as being
fundamentalists due to variety of reasons.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FUNDAMENTALISM AND COMMUNALISM

Fundamentalism has gained wide currency in the contemporary world and it refers to a variety of
norms, values, attitudes which either judge the fundamentalists or condemn them outright. This
world is sometimes used in place of communalism. However, there is subtle difference between the
two in below aspects:
• While communalism is all about political or economic interests of a particular community,
fundamentalism is enforcement of sectarianism with all rigidity for political mobilisation of
a community for the power-goals of its elite.
• While communalism is the exploitation of sentiments of a religion-based community for a
secular goal (i.e. political power) fundamentalism is enforcing narrow sectarian practices for
strengthening religious orthodoxy as well as achieving political power.
Thus, there is a very thin line that differentiated the fundamentalism with communalism. However,
in today’s context, both are political instruments and try to mobilize people on religious grounds.

Causes of fundamentalism:
1. Unique text- It provides common ideology to people or believers. Emphasis is given on literal
meaning of text.
2. Common enemy- There is a tendency to evoke religious sentiments so as to unite people against
common enemy. It is relatively easier to unite people by using religion.
3. Modernisation- Fundamentalism is anti-science and denies the validity of human knowledge
which is outside the religious realm.

According to Almond and Appleby, various factors such as modern education, migration, modern
communication system etc are leading to increase in fundamentalism. For example- Communication
system has led to the spread of modern ideas. However, fundamentalists are also using it for
spreading their views. Social media platforms are used for radicalisation. In addition to it, the
conditions of poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and under development also provide a breeding
ground and tend to make people fall in the trap of fundamentalist ideology.
Terrorism
The term terrorism is very broad and there is no one definition of the term. Different people and
organisations have come up with their own definition of what constitutes terrorism.
The term terrorism indicates a criminal and violent activity performed by an individual or group
of individuals or an organisation in order to strike terror among the general public and send
messages to the public and governments, to fulfil a goal.
• Although the victims of the terror act maybe a few people (depending upon the event), the
intended target is usually larger than the number of victims alone.
• The terrorists’ purpose is to send a strong message to the larger public and the government.
They generally claim responsibility after conducting a violent act so as to let people know of
their power and capabilities and thus, inflict terror upon the people.
Some commonly-used definitions of terrorism are listed below:

UN Definition: Criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public,
a group of persons or particular persons for a particular purpose are in any circumstance
unjustifiable, whatever the considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic,
religious or any other nature that may be invoked to justify them.
US Department of State Definition: Terrorism means premeditated, politically motivated violence
perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents.
A definition according to the lapsed Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act is very
inclusive and exhaustive:
“Whoever with intent to overawe the Government as by law established or to strike terror in the
people or any section of the people or to alienate any section of the people or to adversely affect
the harmony amongst different sections of the people does any act or thing by using bombs,
dynamite or other explosive substances or inflammable substances or lethal weapons or poisons or
noxious gases or other chemicals or by any other substances (whether biological or otherwise) of a
hazardous nature in such a manner as to cause, or as is likely to cause, death of, or injuries to, any
person or persons or loss of, or damage to, or destruction of, property or disruption of any supplies
or services essential to the life of the community, or detains any person and threatens to kill
or injure such person in order to compel the Government or any other person to do or abstain from
doing any act, commits a terrorist act.”
In 2002, the European Union described terrorism as having the “aim of destabilising or destroying
the fundamental political, constitutional, economic or social structures of a country”.
Terrorist Activities

Terrorists indulge in a variety of activities for primarily three things:
• Generate fear among people.
• Create publicity for their goals/causes.
• Try to convince people that the government is powerless against them.
Terrorists and/or terror groups engage in random killings/assassinations, bomb blasts in public
places, suicide attacks, kidnappings, extortion, destroy
Terrorism: Origin of the term
public property/infrastructure, hijacking, cyber-attacks,
• The term ‘terrorism’ has been
etc. They also indulge in chemical, biological,
derived from the French
radiological and nuclear warfare. Many terror groups
‘terrorisme’, which is in turn, taken
also engage in an armed insurgency against
from the Latin word, ‘terreo’
governments.
meaning ‘I frighten’.
The aim of political terror groups varies from toppling
the established government of a country to having • The word was first used in the
better representation for a group of people, to seceding context of the French Revolution in
from a country and forming another country, to France, especially in reference to
acquiring a share in the government, etc. Many other the ‘Reign of Terror’.
groups of terror exist solely for making illicit money and • Many cite the Irish Republican
expanding their own illegal criminal empires. Many Brotherhood (1858 – 1924) as the
groups of organised crime are also labelled terrorist first organisation to use modern
groups. terrorist techniques.
Types of Terrorism
Although there are several types of terrorism, we can classify terrorism into the following broad
types:
• Dissent Terrorism: Groups that rebel against the government of a country. For example, the
LTTE in Sri Lanka.
• Left-wing/right-wing terrorism: Terror groups that adhere to ideological leanings on the
extreme end of the left-right political spectrum.
• Religious terrorism: Terror groups based on religious ideologies. For example, ISIS.
• Criminal terrorism: Terror groups engaged in terror acts for criminal profit.
• Terrorism can also be classified on the basis of the mode of operation such as cyber-
terrorism, bioterrorism, etc.
Cross-border Terrorism
Cross-border terrorism is when the soil of one country is used to create terror or engage in terrorism
against its neighbouring countries across the border. India is a victim of cross-border terrorism,
whose source is Pakistan.

Factors favouring cross-border terrorism

• Porous borders: These indicate borders which are not highly protected. India’s borders with
most of her neighbours cannot be physically sealed or wired due to difficult terrain, and
other factors. Terror groups take advantage of such porous borders and infiltrate into
another country.
• Support from non-state actors: India’s troubled relationship with Pakistan fuels the latter’s
support for secessionist groups, which are provided financial support, weapons and training

by the establishment in Pakistan.
• Internal support: Many times, terrorists find support from the local population due to
varying reasons like ideological or ethnic affinity, fear, monetary lure, etc.
• Corrupt officials: Unfortunately, many officials in the establishment of a country can abet
terrorists and allow their illegal entry for terrorist activities purely for financial benefits.
INDIA AND TERRORISM

• India faces terrorism from secessionists in Kashmir, the north-east and to an extent in
Punjab, from left-wing extremist groups in central, east-central and south-central India.
• India is one of the countries most affected by terrorism in the world. According to the
Institute for Economics and Peace, India was the seventh-most affected country in 2018.
• It reported that from 2001 till 2018, more than 8000 people have died in terror attacks in
India.
• The current law in India enacted to tackle terrorism of all kinds is the Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Amendment Act.
• Jammu & Kashmir is the region most affected by terrorist activities in the country.
• The Global Terrorism Index 2019 also places India on the 7th rank in terms of the most-
affected country by terrorism.
• It was after the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai by terrorist groups that the government formed
the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
• India is trying to push a global intergovernmental convention called the Comprehensive
Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) to counter-terrorism since the late 90s.
• India is also a member of the FATF (Financial Action Task Force), an organisation that works
towards establishing global standards for combating money laundering and terrorist
financing.
• India has a network of intelligence agencies such as the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW),
the Intelligence Bureau (IB), etc. which are involved in fighting terrorism emanating both
inside and outside the country.
• There is also a National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) that is an integrated intelligence
framework connecting the databases of security agencies of the Indian Government to
gather inclusive patterns of intelligence that can be accessed by intelligence agencies of
India.
• The National Security Guard (NSG) is a paramilitary force that is primarily responsible for
counterterrorism and anti-hijacking operations.

Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA)
§ UAPA was passed in 1967. It aims at effective prevention of unlawful activities associations
in India.
o Unlawful activity refers to any action taken by an individual or association intended to
disrupt the territorial integrity and sovereignty of India.
§ The Act assigns absolute power to the central government, by way of which if the Centre
deems an activity as unlawful then it may, by way of an Official Gazette, declare it so.

§ It has death penalty and life imprisonment as highest punishments.
§ Under UAPA, both Indian and foreign nationals can be charged. It will be applicable to the
offenders in the same manner, even if crime is committed on a foreign land, outside India.
§ Under the UAPA, the investigating agency can file a charge sheet in maximum 180 days
after the arrests and the duration can be extended further after intimating the court.
§ The 2004 amendment, added “terrorist act" to the list of offences to ban organisations for
terrorist activities, under which 34 outfits were banned.
o Till 2004, “unlawful" activities referred to actions related to secession and cession of
territory.
§ In August, Parliament cleared the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019 to
designate individuals as terrorists on certain grounds provided in the Act.
o The Act empowers the Director General of National Investigation Agency (NIA) to
grant approval of seizure or attachment of property when the case is investigated by
the said agency.
o The Act empowers the officers of the NIA, of the rank of Inspector or
above, to investigate cases of terrorism in addition to those conducted by the DSP or
ACP or above rank officer in the state.
Naxalism
•The term Naxalism derives its name from the village Naxalbari of West Bengal.
•It originated as rebellion against local landlords who bashed a peasant over a land dispute.
•The rebellion was initiated in 1967, with an objective of rightful redistribution of the land to
working peasants under the leadership of Kanu Sanyal and Jagan Santhal.
• Started in West Bengal, the movement has spread across the Eastern India; in less developed
areas of states such as Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
• It is considered that Naxals support Maoist political sentiments and ideology.
• Maoism is a form of communism developed by Mao Tse Tung. It is a doctrine to capture
State power through a combination of armed insurgency, mass mobilization and strategic
alliances.
Important Facts
• Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had categorized 126 districts in 10 states as Left Wing
Extremism affected.
• Over the last four years, there has been a substantial improvement in the LWE scenario.
Incidents of violence have seen a decline with a 34% reduction in related deaths in 2017 as
compared to 2013.

• Geographical spread of LWE violence has also shrunk from 76 districts in 2013 to 58
districts in 2017.
• Besides, just 30 of these districts account for 90% of the LWE violence in the country.
• ‘Incidents of violence’ is the primary criterion for removing the districts and including new
ones in the red corridor.
• The States of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and Bihar are considered severely affected.
The States of West Bengal, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh are considered partially

affected. The States of UP and MP are considered slightly affected.
• The CPI (Maoist) are making forays into Southern States of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu
and planning to link up the Western Ghats to the Eastern Ghats through these states.
Causes
• Tribal discontent: The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 deprives tribals, who depend on
forest produce for their living, from even cutting a bark.
o Massive displacement of tribal population in the naxalism-affected states due to
development projects, mining operations and other reasons.
• Easy Target for Maoists: Such people who do not have any source of living are taken into
naxalism by Maoists.
• Maoists provide arms and ammunitions and money to such people.
• Gaps in the socio-economic system of the country.
o Government measuring its success on the basis of number of violent attacks rather
than the development done in the naxal-affected areas.
o Absence of strong technical intelligence to fight with naxalites.
• No Follow-Up from administration: It is seen that even after police takes hold of a region,
administration fails to provide essential services to the people of that region.
• Confusion over tackling naxalism as a social issue or as a security threat.
• State governments considering naxalism as the central government’s issue and thus are not
taking any initiatives to fight it.
• The increase in the interregional and intraregional differences and inequalities led to
people choosing Naxalism. Naxal-groups mostly consist of the poor and the deprived like the
anglers, small farmers, daily labourers, etc. The government policies have failed to address
this issue.
• Lack of industrialisation, poor infrastructure growth and unemployment in rural areas led
to disparity among the people living in these areas. This has led to an anti-government
mindset among the locals in the isolated villages.
• The unemployed youth in India is one of the major supporters of the Naxalism movement.
This group mostly consists of medical and engineering graduates. The universities have
become one of the major breeding grounds for radical ideologies.

Steps taken by the Government

• Operation Green Hunt: It was started in 2010 and massive deployment of security forces
was done in the naxal-affected areas.
• From 223 districts that were affected due to naxalism in the year 2010, the number has come
down to 90 in nine years.
• The government even started ‘Relief and Rehabilitation Policy’ for bringing naxalites into
mainstream.

• Members of Central Committee Politburo of communist parties have either been killed or
arrested.
• Aspirational Districts Programme: Launched in 2018, it aims to rapidly transform the
districts that have shown relatively lesser progress in key social areas.
• Civic Action Programme (CAP) and Media Plan Scheme: to counter the Maoist propaganda
of misguiding and luring the innocent tribals/local population by their so called poor-friendly
revolution.
SAMADHAN:
• Launched in 2017, it stands for S – smart leadership, A – Aggressive strategy, M – Motivation
and training, A – Actionable intelligence, D – Dashboard Based KPIs (Key Performance
Indicators) and KRAs (Key Result Areas), H – Harnessing Technology, A – Action Plan for each
theatre and N – No access to financing.
• Its aim is to enhance the government’s anti-Maoist initiatives, even the basic components
of the counterinsurgency campaign.
• The Centre has expanded the realm of the existing provisions under the Explosives Act and
Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2017 to monitor the transportation of the explosive
substance and hinder the flow of finances of the insurgents.
• UAV and mini-UAV were introduced for each of the CAPF battalions deployed in the Maoist
hotbeds.
• Speedy infrastructure development with special focus on solar lights, mobile towers and
road-rail connectivity in inaccessible areas of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.
Continuous efforts of government have reduced the frequency of violent attacks in the naxalism-
affected regions.
Suggestions
• Government needs innovative solutions for locating armed groups in the thick forests of
the naxalism-affected regions.
• Local Police knows the language and topography of a region; it can fight naxalism better
than the armed forces.
o Andhra Police rose ‘Greyhounds’; special forces to deal with naxalism in the state.
• Government needs to ensure two things; security of the peace-loving people and the
development of the naxalism-affected regions.
• State governments need to understand that naxalism is their problem also and only they
can tackle it effectively. They can take help from central government if required.

Nepotism
Nepotism is an act of favoritism in appointing or giving an opportunity to work in various fields

of human endeavor including politics, economics, etc.
• Placing one’s own relatives or the persons with whom one has conflict of interest at positions
of power based on personal bias is nepotism
• The origin of the term “nepotism” can be traced to the Catholic bishops who would bequeath

wealth, property, and priesthood to their nephews. The nephews were usually their
illegitimate offspring, and this was a way by which the clergy could own property and retain
power within their families.
• Nepotism is as rampant as any other bad facet of the society but due to its covert nature
and as almost everybody engages in it, it is never talked about.
• India and other third world countries face the issue of nepotism in every field and it is a
major cause and effect of every other issue such as populism, corruption, etc.
TYPES OF NEPOTISM
Political Nepotism
• A politician promoting or placing his/her immediate and extended relatives in political posts.
Administrative nepotism
• A government employee/bureaucrat appointing his acquaintance/relative on government
jobs.
• Contractors related to public authorities/representatives of the people getting government
contracts.
Nepotism in Economic sectors
• A majority owner of a joint-stock company promoting his son/daughter for
ownership/highest decision-making positions.
Entertainment Industries
• In open professional communities like film industries, producers, directors, production
companies preferring industry kids over talented and hard-working outsiders.
The relation between nepotism and democracy

• Nepotism is at loggerheads with the concept of democracy. In countries all over the world,
the disease of nepotism is eating the legitimacy of democratic processes and institutions.
• In the developed democratic countries, political nepotism exists but is very limited. The more
developed civic culture there does not allow overt nepotism to thrive and it is defeated
democratically.
• But it is of no surprise that at a subtle level, nepotism exists there too through abuse of
power, money power, and heightened acceptability of family heritage among people.
• In the third world countries, the political nepotism exists and thrives with every passing
election.
• If we look at the former colonial countries in Asia and Africa, nepotism is going on with each
passing generation, often through democratic processes.
• There are many reasons for this phenomenon. Some of them are
o The hegemony of charismatic first-generation leadership which, in most cases,

played a huge role in the anti-colonial struggle.
o The paternalistic nature of government because of extreme poverty and divisions.
o Continued existence of feudal relations among society.
o Corporate backing to the ruling dynasties because of their acceptability among the
people and winnability in elections.
o Lack or low level of democratic culture among the citizenry.

o Vested interest of these dynasties in keeping the citizenry away from political
education in democratic values.
What are the ethical concerns around nepotism?

• The issue of nepotism comes with, among other downfalls, a degradation of the ethics and
moral degeneration of society and institutions.
• The more dangerous issue is that nepotism is often left out of ethics codes because it does
not seem unethical to the majority of the population. Another reason for leaving nepotism
out is that it very so common in every society.
• Nepotism leads to serious harm to the principle of equality of opportunity in every field it is
practiced.
• It leads to neglect of fairness as the principle of operation.
• In politics, there is a massive degradation of democracy and legitimacy of the rule of law to
produce desired results of redistributive justice.
• The highest form of nepotistic structure is a kind of crony capitalism where dynasties in
politics and the corporate world get together to appropriate resources and wealth that
should in reality belong to the people in the country.
• In administrative structure, it hampers commitment to the rule of law, disbanding of
integrity and impartiality.
• It creates a sense of despair in the victims of the nepotist system in politics, business, and
entertainment industry.
• The victims have to cope with the extreme stress of competition. They mostly either accept
the condition or get adjusted to it or very few cannot sustain the shattering of innocent
dreams and take the unfortunate route of suicide as in the case of Sushant Singh Rajput.
• Nepotism is harmful to the system itself, as devoid of quality and character in its flag bearers,
the structure cannot sustain itself for long. The dynastic parties become fetters on the new
movements and die soon, corporate offices bear losses, administration loses efficiency and
art does not satisfy the art-lovers: films don’t do well at the box office and so on.
Consequences of Nepotism
• Unfair Competition: Those with family connections don’t face the same level of competition
as outsiders, exactly as domestic companies face much less competition when there are
import barriers.
• Imposes Individual and wider social cost: Breaking in is much harder for an outsider and
those who have the talent may never get the opportunity to showcase it. Therefore, there

is a loss of potential output or value to society because of the resulting misallocation

of talent.
• Inefficiency: There is comprehensive evidence that family firms are often beset by
inefficiency, with bad management affecting the productivity of the entire organisation.
• Hinders Productivity: There are further indirect negative effects of nepotism on efficiency.
If it is known that rewards depend on connections and not on effort and initiative, it would
divert people’s efforts away from productive work to networking and lobbying.

• There is a loss of belief in democracy when the political spectrum is full of dynasts. It
degrades the democratic system and democracy itself faces legitimacy crises. The result is
extremist anti-state movements like Naxalite and Maoist movements.
• Corruption is a big fallout of nepotism. The symbiotic relationship of nepotism and
corruption can be seen in the corruption perception index where most of the third-world
countries with dynastic politics fare very badly.
• The nepotism also breaks the governance system as the dearth of quality administrators at
every stage of hierarchy makes good governance impossible. Quality of human resources is
the pre-condition of good governance.
• The economic development of a market dominated country suffers due to nepotism in
corporate structures of big and small business houses. The interconnected economic sectors
also suffer.
• Nepotism kills entrepreneurial zeal if the majority of investment is directed to create
monopolies and nurture nepotism. The thriving startups either cannot sustain the
competition or taken over by powerful conglomerates built on nepotism.
What are the existing checks to minimize nepotism?

• The preamble says that the people are the sovereign masters of India and it proclaims India
to be a republic. This negates dynastic rule.
• The constitution of India gives equality before the law (Article 14) that denies nepotism to
exist.
• The democratic elections put ultimate powers in the hand of voters to choose their
representatives.
• In administrative recruitments, bureaucracy at all levels is mostly recruited through
competitive exams.
• The open and online tender systems are progressively eliminating the nepotistic contract
rewards of the past.
• The Companies Act mandates at least one-third of the total number of directors should be
independent. This protects investors and shareholders from the concentration of power
within the promoter family.
Way forward
• As can be seen above, despite the constitutional and legal checks, nepotism thrives in formal
sectors of India. It is high time that we address the issue.
• Dynastic politics will only end with the proper political education which will instill democratic
values in common people.

• There is a possibility of having a stricter law/regulation that gives power to the Election
Commission or such other bodies (which can have representation from parties too) to
monitor intra-party democracy.
• Institutionalization of election debates like the US presidential election system can also be a
solution. It will bring out the real competency of the candidates and negate the hype of the
election campaign.
• The administrative nepotism must be tackled with giving the long-pending promotions

based on reservations.
• Digitization of administration will eventually eliminate discretion if carried to the logical
conclusion.
• The corporate laws must be implemented strictly and penalties may be increased to make
them follow the spirit of the law as that of independent directors.
• As far as the entertainment industry is considered, the change must come from within as
bringing a law is not desirable. The real change-makers here is the audience. In a world of
social media influence, the moral- wallet pressure of the public will make fairness a non-
negotiable term in the operation of the entertainment business.
Corruption
Corruption is the misuse of public power (by elected politician or appointed civil servant) for
private gain.
• Corruption in India is a consequence of the nexus between Bureaucracy, politics and
criminals.
• In order to ensure that not only public corruption but also private corruption between
individuals and businesses could be covered by the same simple definition
Causes of Corruption in India
• Low Pay Scales and Wages
• Lack of Strict and Fast Punishments
• Lack of Unity in Public
• Lack of Fundamental Rights Awareness in People of India
• Lack of Transparency in Deals and Affairs
• Lack of Independent detective agency
• Lack of enough powers to the judicial system in India
• Lack of Accountability
• Unhealthy Competition Encouragement in India
• Lack of Effective Management and Implementation
• Lack of Economic Stability In India
• Lack of Effective Leadership in India
• Lack of Autonomy
• Unemployment
• Poverty And Hunger
• Very Less Educational Institute and Medical Infrastructure.
• Vast Size of Population in India Is Biggest Cause of Corruption In India.

• Another Big Cause of Corruption in India Is nexus between political parties and Industrialist.
• Emergence of political elite who believe in interest-oriented rather than nation-oriented
programmes and policies is another Big reason of Corruption in India.
• Tolerance of People towards Corruption is another big reason for Corruption in India.
Consequences of Corruption
• Rise in Unemployment

• Rise in Hunger and poverty
• Loss of Indian Economy Wealth
• Fall in growth of Indian Economy
• Power and Authority in Wrong hands
• Brain Drain is Biggest Consequence for India
• Psychological And Social Disorder
How can We Cure Corruption in India
• Give Good salary to Government Employees
• Bring transparency In Indian Economic System
• Making Indian Society Cashless
• More Number of Online transactions and provide bill For Every transactions
• Set Eligibility For Indian Politician
• Increase in Digital and E Governance
• Transparent tax structure by clean and clear enforcement
• More Police reforms and Power Full Judiciary
• Blacklist Corrupt Businessmen
• Bring More Transparency in Govt Job Recruitment
• Keep Inflation low
• Speed up the judgement and increase the courts
• Citizenship cancellation could be a highest level of punishment if their crime score reaches
a certain extent.
• Disrespecting the dishonest
Steps taken by Indian government
• The biggest step is demonetization i.e. banning 500 and 1000 rs notes which is the route of
all evil, be it Corruption, Black Money, Terrorism.
• Under “Right to Information Act (RTI)“, citizens can now ask government about how out ta
money is spent.
• With “Jan Dhan yojana” & “Direct Benefit Transfer” schemes, bank accounts of millions of
people were opened so that they can get subsidies and benefits directly into their account.
• E-Auctions for spectrums and natural resources is a good step towards a corruption less
India.
• Government is focusing more on Digitizing, which will lead to more transparency in
functioning of government.
• Government introduced self-attestation of certificates and has removed interviews from
lower posts, so no one can bribe their way through interview to jobs.
• Another potent check on corruption is Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). It was setup by
the Government to advise and guide Central Government agencies in the areas of vigilance.

Black money
Black money is a term used in common parlance to refer to money that is not fully legitimate in
the hands of the owner
This could be for two possible reasons.
1. The money may have been generated through illegitimate activities not permissible under the
law, like crime, drug trade, terrorism, and corruption, all of which are punishable under the legal

framework of the state.
2. The wealth may have been generated and accumulated by failing to comply with the tax
requirements.
There have been several estimates regarding the extent of black money economy also called as
parallel economy. Some of the estimates suggest it to be as high as up to fifty to hundred percent.
Although black money in India is decades old problem, it has become real threat post liberalization.
Illegal activities such as crime and corruption, non-compliance with taxation requirements, complex
procedural regulations, cultural and social practices, globalization along with weak institutional,
policy, legal and implementation structures have further augmented the black money economy.
Sources of Black Money
In particular following are some of the mechanisms through which black money is circulated, utilized
and the profits earned are further invested in other sectors to generate further money.
• Real estate: Due to rising prices of real estate, the tax incidence applicable on real estate
transactions in the form of stamp duty and capital gains tax can create incentives for tax
evasion through under-reporting of transaction price.
• Bullion and jewellery market: The purchase allows the buyer the option of converting black
money into gold and bullion, while it gives the trader the option of keeping his unaccounted
wealth in the form of stock, not disclosed in the books or valued at less than market price.
• Financial markets transactions: IPO manipulations, rigging of market such as use of shell
companies.
• Public procurement: Public procurement has grown phenomenally over the years – in
volume, scale, and variety as well as complexity. The Competition Commission of India had
estimated total public procurement figure for India at around 10 to 11 lakh crore per year
and provides ample scope of corruption due to rigged procurement process.
• Non-profit organizations: Taxation laws allow certain privileges and incentives for
promoting charitable activities which are misused and manipulated. Highlighted by FATF as
well. Used to park funds of corrupt politicians and businessmen.
• Informal Sector and Cash Economy: Cash transactions, large un-banked and under-banked
areas contribute to the large cash economy in India.
• External trade and transfer pricing: Transfer profit/income to no tax or low tax jurisdictions
by MNCs. Developing countries may be losing over US$160billion of tax revenues a year,
primarily through transfer pricing strategies.
• Trade-based Money Laundering (TBML): Disguising the proceeds of crime and moving value
through the use of trade transactions in an attempt at legitimizing their illicit origins.

• Tax Havens: Tax havens are typically small countries/ jurisdictions, with low or nil
taxation for foreigners who decide to come and settle there. Strong confidentiality or
secrecy regarding wealth and accounts, very liberal regulatory environment and allow
opaque existence, where an entity can easily be set up without indulging in any meaningful
commercial activity and yet claim to be a genuine business unit, merely by getting itself
incorporated or registered in that jurisdiction. This makes them highly desirable locations
for multinational entities wishing to reduce their global tax liabilities. Multinational entities

consisting of a network of several corporate and non-corporate bodies set up conduit
companies in tax havens and artificially transfer their income to such conduit companies in
view of the low tax regime there.
• Offshore Financial Centres: Describe themselves as financial centres specializing in non-
residential financial transactions but are logical extensions of the traditional tax havens.
They have following characteristics: o Jurisdictions that have financial institutions engaged
primarily in business with non-residents.
o Financial systems with external assets and liabilities out of proportion to domestic
financial intermediation designed to finance domestic economic.
o Centers which provide some or all of the following opportunities: low or zero
taxation; moderate or light financial regulation; banking secrecy and anonymity.
• Hawala: It is an informal and cheap method of transferring money from one place without
using banks etc. It operates on codes and contacts and no paperwork and disclosure is
required.
• Investment through Innovative Derivative Instruments: Such as Participatory Notes.
Impact of Black money:

• There is a distortion in investment in economy. With black money the investment is made in
high end and luxury goods.
• Huge loss of taxes amounting to billions.
• Black money leads to further corruption by creating a vicious cycle.
• Generating black money means that quality is compromised in public sector projects where
black money is used to manipulate tenders and offer kickbacks.
• Investments that must have been made in the country giving the necessary boost to
economy are invested elsewhere.
• Since, RBI cannot control the black money cash flow in economy, it dilutes its policies
targeting inflation.
• High prices of real estate especially in big cities are due to deep pockets filled with black
money.
• Forward trading of goods by cash rich speculators cause fluctuation in prices due to
hoarding.
• National security is threatened because black money is used to finance criminal activities.
Black money generated from drugs and smuggling is being used to operate terror networks.
• Corruption – Black money is both cause and effect of corruption.

• Black money in itself is curse for economy and anti-state actors can attempt to
destabilize economy by pumping counterfeit currency in economy. Time and again it has
been revealed that terrorist groups are actively involved in this activity.
• Lack of innovation and research – When black economy is dominant there is less incentive
for R&D for industry. Most of their effort is toward getting favorable treatment in allocation
national resources.
• Capital Flight – in order to escape domestic rules and regulation scarce capital in India moves
out to Tax heavens. It stalls process of capital formation in the economy. Any black money

brought back to India shall be in foreign currency and will supplement Indian FOREX reserves.
Steps taken by government to curb black money generation and flow

• Tax Reforms:
o Rationalization of income tax with greater tax base and lower taxes.
o Tax deduction at source in which the tax is deducted from the payment itself by the
payee.
• Voluntary Disclosure Schemes: The government allows reporting black money generated
through tax evasion in a given time frame, as government has given in the Black Money Bill
passed this year.
• Removing currency after certain time: So that unaccounted wealth is either brought into
economy or becomes useless.
• Encouraging Cashless transactions: Government has recently announced tax benefits for
making online payments for amount greater than twenty thousand rupees.
• Legislative Framework:
o Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 Mutual Administrative
Assistance in Tax Matters
o Benami Transactions Prohibition Act, 1988
In response to the call by the
o Lokpal and Lokayukta Act o Prevention of G20 for a global instrument to
Corruption Act, 1988 fight international tax evasion
o The Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets and avoidance
(Imposition of Tax) act, 2015 Internationally agreed
standard on information
• International Cooperation: exchange for tax purposes, in
o Multilateral Convention on Mutual particular by requiring the
Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters exchange of bank
o Financial Action Task Force information on request.
o United Nations Convention against Corruption It facilitates serving of notices
issued by one tax
o United Nations Convention against
administration through
Transnational Organized Crime another tax administration.
o International Convention for the Suppression
of the Financing of Terrorism
o United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic
Substances
o Egmont Group for international intelligence gathering regarding money landing and
terrorism financing
o Cooperation through G20, Bilateral agreement

o Proactively engaging with foreign governments with a view to facilitate and

enhance the exchange of information under Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements
(DTAAs)/Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs)/Multilateral Conventions
o Proactively furthering global efforts to combat tax evasion/black money, inter alia,
by joining the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement in respect of Automatic
Exchange of Information (AEOI) and having information sharing arrangement with
USA under its Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA)

1. Renegotiation of DTAAs with other countries to bring the Article on Exchange of
Information to International Standards and expanding India’s treaty network by signing
new DTAAs and TIEAs with many jurisdictions to facilitate the exchange of information
and to bring transparency,
2. General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR)- This is to check aggressive tax planning and
flouting of income tax laws. It gives more power to Income Tax officials on how treat a
suspicious entry in books of accounts. Onus to prove that entry is bonafied is on assesse.
3. Improving Currency note – RBI continuously improves currency so that it will be difficult
to be duplicated. Currency has inbuilt feature which can distinguish genuine from fake
notes. RBI has plans to introduce ‘plastic notes’ which are even harder to counterfeit.
4. Special Investigation Team: Recently Indian Government constituted a Special
Investigation Team for Black money on directions by Supreme Court. It is headed by
Retired Chief Justice of India and is being assisted by the revenue secretary, directors of
CBI, IB, RAW and ED, the CBDT chairman and an RBI deputy governor. The SIT has been
charged with the responsibility and duties of investigation, initiation of proceedings and
prosecution in cases of Hasan Ali and other matters involving unaccounted money.This
body would report to the SC directly and no other agency will be involved in this.
5. Initiation of the information technology based ‘Project Insight’ for strengthening the non-
intrusive, information driven approach for improving tax compliance
6. Launching of ‘Operation Clean Money’ on 31st January 2017 for collection, collation and
analysis of information on cash transactions, extensive use of information technology and
data analytics tools for identification of high risk cases, expeditious e-verification of
suspect cases and enforcement actions in appropriate cases, which include searches,
surveys, enquiries, assessment of income, levy of taxes, penalties, etc. and filing of
prosecution complaints in criminal courts, wherever applicable.
BLACK MONEY (UNDISCLOSED FOREIGN INCOME AND ASSETS) AND IMPOSITION OF TAX
ACT, 2015
• It penalises the concealment of foreign income and provides for criminal liability for
attempting to evade tax in relation to foreign income.
• The Act gave a one-time opportunity to Indian residents to declare undisclosed foreign
income and assets.
• The concerned person had to pay tax at the rate of 30% and an equal amount by way of
penalty if found having undisclosed overseas wealth.
• However, in case of non-declaration, the provisions included slapping of tax at the rate of
30% along with a penalty equal to three times the amount of tax evaded or 90% of the
undisclosed income or the value of the asset.
• The Act provides for punishment of jail for 3-10 years for the wilful evasion.

BENAMI TRANSACTIONS (PROHIBITION) AMENDED ACT, 2016

• Though the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 has been on the statute book since
more than 28 years, the same could not be made operational because of certain inherent
defects.
• With a view to providing effective regime for prohibition of benami transactions, the said Act
was amended through the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amended Act, 2016.
• The amended law empowers the specified authorities to provisionally attach benami
properties which can eventually be confiscated.

• Besides, if a person is found guilty of offence of benami transaction by the competent court,
he shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term not less than one year but which
may extend to 7 years and
shall also be liable to fine
which may extend to 25% of
the fair market value of the
property.
• The Benami Transactions
(Prohibition) Amendment
Act, 2016 came into effect
from1st November, 2016.
• Several benami transactions
have been identified since the
coming into effect of the amended law
• The Government has put in place empowered institutions for efficient implementation of the
amended law.
Way Forward
The black money menace is still untamed and lot more needs to be done to tackle it. Some of the
strengthening steps that can be taken are:
• Appropriate legislative framework related to: Public Procurement, Prevention of Bribery of
foreign officials, citizens grievance redressal, whistle blower protection, UID Adhar.
• Setting up and strengthening institutions dealing with illicit money: Directorate of Criminal
Investigation Cell for Exchange of Information, Income Tax Overseas Units- ITOUs at
Mauritius and Singapore have been very useful, Strengthening the Foreign TAX, Tax
Research and Investigation Division of the CBDT.
• Developing systems for implementation: Integrated Taxpayer Data Management System
(ITDMS) and 360- degree profiling, Setting up of Cyber Forensic Labs and Work Stations,
implementation of Goods and Services Tax and Direct Tax Code.
• Imparting skills to personnel for effective action: Both domestic and international training
pertaining to the concerned area. For instance, the Financial Intelligence Unit-India makes
proactive efforts to regularly upgrade the skills of its employees by providing them
opportunities for training on anti-money laundering, terrorist financing, and related
economic issues.
• Electoral Reforms: Elections are one of the biggest channel to utilize the black money.
Appropriate reforms to reduce money power in elections.
Thus, a holistic and all round attack from within and outside the country is the need of the hour.
India should quickly take up appropriate reforms at home that will aid in curbing the black money
generation and circulation in the country along with the use of bilateral and multilateral
mechanisms to deal with round tripping and stashing of money outside the country.
Government and political system

Democratic political system in a traditional society
Traditional society refers to a society characterized by an orientation to the past, not the future,
with a predominant role for custom and habit. Such societies are marked by a lack of distinction
between family and business, with the division of labour influenced primarily by age, gender, and

status.
In terms of the nature of political institutions, primitive societies fall under two categories:
1. Those without a distinct and permanent political structure
2. Those with a distinct and permanent political structure, but strongly influenced by
kinship and religion.
Since the time of the ancient Greeks, both the theory and the practice of democracy have
undergone profound changes. Thus, for thousands of years the kind of association in which
democracy was practiced, the tribe or the city-state, was small enough to be suitable for some form
of democracy by assembly, or “direct democracy.” Much later, beginning in the 18th century, as the
typical association became the nation state or country, direct democracy gave way to
representative democracy.
Democracy in modern usage

Democracy in modern usage, is a system of government in which the citizens exercise power directly
or elect representatives from among themselves to form a governing body, such as a parliament.
Democracy is sometimes referred to as “rule of the majority”. Democracy is a system of processing
conflicts in which outcomes depend on what participants do, but no single force controls what
occurs and its outcomes.
Direct democracy
• Direct democracy, also called pure democracy, forms of direct participation of citizens in
democratic decision making, in contrast to indirect or representative democracy, based on
the sovereignty of the people. This can happen in the form of an assembly democracy or by
initiative and referendum with ballot voting, with direct voting on issues instead of for
candidates or parties.
• Sometimes the term is also used for electing representatives in a direct vote as opposed to
indirect elections (by voting for an electing body, electoral college, etc.) as well as for
recalling elected officeholders.
• Direct democracy may be understood as a full-scale system of political institutions, but in
modern times, it means most often specific decision-making institutions in the broader
system environment of representative democracy.
Indirect democracy
• Since the modern states are much larger in size and population, it is not possible for all the
citizens to participate directly in the affairs of the state; indirect democracy has been
established in almost all the modern states. Under this system, people elect their

representatives for a period who run the administration. People do not directly take
part in the affairs of the state. They elect their representatives who conduct the affairs of
the state.
• Advantages of representative democracy:
o People cannot be expected to have the time or interest to make important and
regular decisions- thus representative democracy is more practical
o Representatives can educate the public on political issues

o Representatives ensure the interests of all sections of society (including minorities)
are taken into account, and can be held accountable for their decisions.
o Representatives are able to ‘aggregate’ the differing demands of people into a more
coherent and politically logical programme.
• Disadvantages of representative democracies:
o Representatives may distort peoples’ demands to suit their political preferences
o May not make themselves accountable enough between elections
o Can only be removed by elections if they lose the respect of the people
o The electoral mandate representatives is flawed, as voters have to accept or reject a
whole manifesto, not being able to make clear which parts of it they oppose, and
there is more information in this day and age for people to be able to make better
decisions
o Representatives also have to decide whether to be ‘delegates’ for their constituents,
merely putting forward their view, or using their best judgement to ‘represent’ their
constituents (a concept called ‘Burkean representation’)
Caste, Religion and Ethnicity in Indian Politics
Politics as a notion generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs,
including behaviour within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special
interest groups such as the corporate, academic, and religious segments of society. It consists of
"social relations involving authority or power" and to the methods and tactics used to formulate
and apply policy. Modern political discourse focuses on democracy and the relationship between
people and politics. It is thought of as the way people choose government officials and make
decisions about public policy.
All over the world, the political processes have ascended out of social environment. Tribes, clans,
castes, classes have existed around a social organization. Economy, polity, religion, family and
kinship networks have operated under a social structure.
When elaborating the Indian society, it is multi-ethnic as well as multi-religious. Indian religions are
pantheistic in which the nature is visualized as a manifestation of theology. There is an immense
significance of Politics in India such as to run the country more efficiently, to manage the country
with good rules and norms, to look in the internal affairs about the development of the country, to
represent the country to the outside world, to issue different policies for the country.

Caste:
• In contemporary Indian scenario, caste mobilisation has become an important factor in
determining Indian politics.
• According to Risley Caste, is a collection of families bearing a common name, claiming a
common descent from a mythical ancestor, divine or human and professing to follow same
hereditary calling and regarded by those who are competent to give an opinion as forming
a single homogenous community.

• It is described caste as localized group having a traditional association based on one's birth
in a caste, though at times associated with particular occupation.
• Caste, through a joint effort of its members to assert themselves, has presently intervened
in both politics and administration mainly through franchise and institutions like Panchayati
Raj.
• Ideally, caste and democratic political system signify opposite value systems. Caste is
hierarchical. Status of an individual in caste-oriented social system is determined by birth. It
has religious sanction by various holy texts, reinforced by priests and rituals. Conventionally,
upper castes had been given certain privileges not only in religious area but also in economic,
education and political spheres. Customary laws differentiate individual by birth and sex.
'That is, certain rules are austerely to women and Shudras and soft to males and Brahmins.
• Conversely, democratic political system backs freedom to an individual and equality of
status. It stands for rule of Law. No one regardless of status is above law. Indian democratic
system under the Constitution stands for liberty, equality and fraternity among all citizens.
It struggles to build egalitarian social order.
• There are three consequences of such interaction between caste associations and political
parties.
o Caste members particularly poor and marginalized who were previously remained
untouched by the political processes got politicized and began to participate in
electoral politics with an expectation that their interests would be served.
o Caste members get split among various political parties weakening hold of the caste.
o Numerically large castes get representation in decision-making bodies and strength
of the traditionally dominant castes get weaken. This explains the rise of middle and
backward caste representations in most of the state assemblies.
• The basis of confrontational identity politics based on caste may be said to have its origin on
the issue of providing the oppressed caste groups with state support in the form of
protective discrimination. This group identity based on caste that has been reinforced by
the advent of political consciousness around caste identities is institutionalised by the caste-
based political parties that acknowledge to uphold and protect the interests of specific
identities including the castes.

Caste System and Panchayati Raj

One of the major objectives of the Panchayati Raj, as envisaged in the Constitution, is to use
these institutions for meting out social justice, a goal which has particular relevance for women,
and members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
It is evident that the upper castes who have been controlling the affairs of the village and the
community, and the rural economy cannot tolerate the changes that are being brought about by

the decentralised democratic institutions. Therefore, from the beginning of the implementation
of the panchayat system, tensions, violence and killings have taken place in order to resist the
transformation. The elections to the local government bodies have been the first and foremost
point of attack by the casteist groups. From the very first election under the new system, the
rights of the lower castes to participate in the democratic process and hold positions were
questioned by the upper castes.
Issues:
• It was observed that high caste groups have resorted to various measures to dilute or
sabotage the attempts to empower marginalised groups especially Dalits.
• There are instances where high caste groups challenge the reservation for scheduled
caste/scheduled tribes in the court of law, and when this attempt fails they announce a
boycott of elections.
• There are also numerous cases of violence against Dalits to prevent them from contesting
elections or to influence them to favour other interest groups.
In India, no attempt can claim to be appropriate unless it is geared to meet the exploitative relations
of semi-feudal agriculture, tenancy, landless labourers, famished peasantry and unemployment.
Village panchayats can succeed in their objectives only when they can function within a relatively
homogeneous social structure in which there will be a minimum (ideally none at all) differentiation
in regard to social relations. The nature of a society is reflected in the character of the state.
Although the Constitution of India has the ideal of equality and social justice enshrined in it, the
ground reality is altogether different.
The nature of the ruling party and the coalition also determine policies regarding decentralisation
and transfer of power to the people at the village level.
• The experience shows that the constitutional mandate is not implemented in letter and
spirit, especially regarding the panchayats and municipalities.
• The first instance is postponing panchayat elections on one pretext or the other.
• Several state governments have not taken the provision of the Constitution to hold elections
on the expiry of the five-year term of the panchayats seriously.
• It may be stated here that there are no consistent and systematic attempts with a political
will to combat casteism.
• The implementation of the legal provisions has been minimal and utterly insufficient and
often the violators go unpunished.

• The members of the Indian Parliament belonging to the scheduled castes publicly
acknowledged the government of India’s unwillingness to enforce legal sanctions against
casteism and the continued abuse of lower caste people.
• The fact remains that in spite of these issues, things to a large extent are moving in a more
or less progressive direction.
Religion:

Another type of identity politics is that produced through the development of a community on the
shared link of religion. Religions may also contain mythology. It can be used to enhance oneself
financially or spiritually. It can also be used to manipulate and control others for good or evil ends.
It has been used as an effective political and commercial tool as evidenced by the many historic
records of religious wars.
• Religion has great influence on political pattern in Indian society. Politicians use religion as
their loopholes. They hide their black money in the names of religion and trusts. Politician
use religion to gain success in politics.
• In India, Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism are major religions
practised by the people. Numerically, the Hindus have the majority, which stimulates many
Hindu loyalist groups like the RSS (Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh) or the Shiva Sena and
political parties like the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) or the Hindu Mahasabha to claim that
India is a Hindu State. These assertions create homogenising myths about India and its
history. These claims are contradicted by other religious groups who predict the likelihood
of losing sovereignty of practise of their religious and cultural life under such homogenising
claims. This initiates contestations that have often resulted in communal uprisings.
History of religion in politics:
• Religion in Indian politics can be linked to the country since pre-independence periods. It is
supposed that the British, who ruled India for more than 100 years around the 19th century,
pitched one community against the other to decline the freedom struggle. They especially
thrived in pervading a feeling of anxiety among sections of the Muslim community
concerning their wellbeing in a country that had a majority Hindu population and emerging
Hindu nationalist voices. As a result, the Muslims demanded reserved seats in the legislature
and a separate electorate. The British acceded to their demands through legislation, known
as the Act of 1909.
• In 1915, Hindu nationalists established the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha (All India Hindu
Assembly) to counter the Indian Muslim League (a political party) and the secular Indian
National Congress, a forum founded in 1885 that afterward became a political party. In 1923,
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (popularly known as Veer Savarkar), the Hindu Mahasabha
founder, coined the word 'Hindutva' (Hindu-ness) to define who is a Hindu. In 1925, KB
Hegdewar, the Hindu Mahasabha vice president, founded the RSS.
• The tensions between groups of the Hindu and Muslim societies resulted in the Indian
Muslim League demanding a separate nation for Muslims. When the British were to formally
depart the country in 1947, the British India was divided into the 'Hindu-majority' India and
the 'Muslim-majority' Pakistan. The Partition had dangerous consequences on both the

nations. It resulted in a mass migration of 14.5 million people from India to Pakistan
and vice versa, and the killing of around 1 million people related to religion of Hindu, Sikh
and Muslim in the violent clashes that followed.
• In 1951, the RSS began a political party, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh or BJS, under its leadership
and control. In 1980, the BJS was succeeded by the BJP.
It can be evaluated that In the Indian culture, religion has significant role. Political leaders realized
that to retain unity in India, there is a need to remain secular. Therefore, Gandhiji had been

preaching brotherhood among the different religious groups. Nehru was a strong supporter of
secularism. Their efforts could not separate religion from politics rather in politics the vested
interests started exploiting caste and religion to achieve political advantage. After independence,
religious places are used for political publicity and the religious sentiments of the people are excited
in order to gain political control of the State. This emergence of religion-political party has
endangered the secularism in India. It is dreaded that if it succeeds, there is a possibility that many
other political parties with caste and religion as the basis may come up.
Ethnicity:
Ethnicity refers to physical characteristics as well as social traits that are shared by a human
population. Some of the social traits often used for ethnic classification include:
- Nationality
- Tribe
- Religious faith
- Shared language
- Shared culture
- Shared traditions
• Ethnicity denotes to selected cultural and physical characteristics used to categorize people into
groups or categories considered to be significantly different from others. In some cases,
ethnicity involves merely a loose group identity with little or no cultural traditions in common.
In contrast, some ethnic groups are coherent subcultures with a shared language and body of
tradition.
• Ethnic groups may be either a minority or a majority in a populace. Whether a group is a minority
or a majority also is not an absolute fact but depends on the perspective.
• For many people, ethnic categorization implies a connection between biological inheritance and
culture. They believe that biological inheritance determines much of cultural identity.
• Several political scientist consider that political movement centred on ethnic identity. It is a
major source of discordant conflict in the world today. Some researchers argue that the world
is in the process of an ethnic revitalization that threatens to wrench apart established systems
of order. The apparent increase in ethnicity-based solidarity and political activity is most often
attributed to the opportunity presented by recent shifts in the nature of political, economic, and
moral authority.

Regionalism
Regionalism is a feeling or an ideology among a section of people residing in a particular
geographical space characterized by unique language, culture etc., that they are the sons of the soil
and every opportunity in their land must be given to them first but not to the outsiders. It is a sort
of Parochialism. In most of the cases it is raised for expedient political gains but not necessarily.
• Roots of regionalism is in India’s manifold diversity of languages, cultures, ethnic groups,
communities, religions and so on, and encouraged by the regional concentration of those
identity markers, and fueled by a sense of regional deprivation.

• For many centuries, India remained the land of many lands, regions, cultures and traditions.
• For instance, southern India (the home of Dravidian cultures), which is itself a region of
many regions, is evidently different from the north, the west, the central and the north-
east.
• Even the east of India is different from the North-East of India comprising today seven
constituent units of Indian federation with the largest concentration of tribal people.
Factors responsible for Regionalism: A host of factors ranging from Geographical, Historical,
Linguistic, Religious, political, Economic and Ethnic factors influence the Regionalism in India.
Impact
Positives:
• It implies an intense desire for concretizing an identity based on such interest as ethnic,
language, religion, etc. For example, the erstwhile Jharkhand movement- led to new state
carved out of the State of Bihar and it largely comprises forest group to protect and
promote their socio-economic and political interests. This process involves reaffirming
their identity as tribal groups.
• Safeguarding the regional interest
• Protecting the culture of different regions
Negatives:
• The feeling of regionalism – giving rise to separatism among the people living in different
parts of India.
• Violent movement
• Demand of states for more autonomy à Balkanisation of India
• Tension between centre and state
• Formation of regional parties à give priority to regional interests over the national
interests.
• Politics of movements against outsiders à theory of the sons of the soil: For example:
Maharashtra for Marathis, Bengal for Bengalis etc.
Measures needed:
• Efforts for the balance progress of different states
• Activities of the separatists should be dealt with strongly
• Establishment of Autonomous Commissions to settle Inter-State Disputes
• Balanced Division of Powers between Centre and the States
• Development of Secular Politics
• Redress of the grievance of the Minorities
• Need to review the Federal Structure
• More administrative and Financial Autonomy to States

Political party and their social composition
In the present day democratic countries, political parties are considered as essential components
for the formation and working of the government. Democracies function successfully in countries
which have competitive party systems. Political parties actually help the institutions and processes
of a government democratic. They enable people to participate in elections and other processes of
governance, educate them and facilitate them to make policy choices.

Meaning of a Political Party
A political party is generally described as an organized body of people who share common principles
and cherish certain common goals regarding the political system. A political party operates and
seeks political power through constitutional means to translate its policies into practice. It is a body
of like-minded people having similar views on matters of public concern.
Gilchrist defines a political party as “an organized group of citizens who profess or share the same
political views and who by acting as a political unit, try to control the government”.
Characteristics
From the above mentioned definitions of political parties, following can be identified as their main
characteristics:
• A political party is an organized group of people
• The organized group of people believe in common principles and common goals
• Its objectives revolve around seeking political power through collective efforts
• It employs constitutional and peaceful methods in seeking control over the government
through elections
• While in power, it translates its declared objectives into governmental policies.
POLITICAL PARTIES: FUNCTIONS AND ROLE

The functions performed by the political parties, especially in the context of India, are asunder:
• They nominate candidates during elections
• They campaign to obtain support for their candidates in the elections
• They place objectives and programmes before the voters through their manifestos
• Those securing the majority in elections form the government and enact and implement the
policies
• Those not in power form opposition and keep a constant check on the government
• They form opposition when they are in minority in the legislature and constantly put
pressure on the government for proper governance
• They educate people and help in formulating and shaping public opinion
• They articulate peoples’ demands and convey them to the government
• They provide a linkage between people and governmental institutions
In India political parties have been performing the above-mentioned functions quite effectively
since independence. They provide effective links between the citizens and the governments on the
one hand, and the electorates and their representatives on the other. They try to cater to people’s
demands on public matters, and mobilize political participation. Elections without parties would
have almost been impossible. In fact, democracy needs strong and sustainable political parties with

the capacity to represent citizens and provide policy choices that demonstrate their ability to
govern for the public good.
The experience of functioning of political parties in India during the last seven decades indicates
that by and large they have been instrumental in shaping public opinion, creating political
awareness, and imparting political education to the people. They successfully form the governments
where they receive the mandate of the people and implement their respective policies and
programmes both at the Centre and in the States. They have contributed towards making the

institutions and processes of government truly democratic. We can, therefore, say that democracy
in India has been strengthened by a competitive and multi-party system.
PARTY SYSTEMS IN INDIA: NATURE, TYPES, POLICIES

In general, the party system in India has not been a fixed one like a single party system or a dominant
one-party system or a two-party system or a multiparty system. The features found in any of the
above party systems may be found in India’s party system.
For many years now, the party system has not been a single-party dominant system as it used to be
the case till 1967. It is not now a one-party dominant system. The Indian party system is not a bi-
party system that existed for a short period between 1977 and 1980. It is more a less a multiparty
system because the national political parties depend largely on the support of regional political
parties to stay in power at the Centre as well as in some States. Various political parties join hands
to form coalition governments as single parties are finding difficult to get majorities by themselves.
INDIAN POLITICAL PARTIES: TYPES
Political parties in India are classified by the Election Commission for the allocation of symbols. The
Commission classifies parties into three main heads:
National Parties, State Parties, and Registered (unrecognized) Parties.
The Election Commission grants political parties the status of national parties on three grounds:
1. It should be a recognized political party in four or more states.
2. It should have won at least 4 per cent of the seats in the last Lok Sabha elections or 3.33 per cent
of the seats in the assembly elections from the state.
3. All the candidates put by the party should have polled at least 6 per cent of the total valid votes
in the elections
The election commission allots a symbol exclusively to every national political party, which is
reserved for the party to be used throughout the country. Likewise, every state political party is
allotted a symbol which is reserved for that party to be used throughout that state. These symbols
are known as reserved symbols, which cannot be used by any other candidate/party. Other
candidates can choose from the free symbols.
Conditions for Recognition as a National Party are:
• If it secures at least six per cent of the total valid votes from four or more states in Lok Sabha
elections or assembly elections and wins at least four seats in the Lok Sabha from any state
or states;
• If it wins two percent of the seats in the Lok Sabha and these candidates are from three
states;
• If it is recognized as state party in four states

• Examples of National Parties- Bahujan Samaj Party, Bhartiya Janta Party, Indian
Natioanl Congress, Communist Party of India, , Communist Party of India (Marxist), National
Congress Party.
Conditions for Recognition as a State Party are as Follows:
• If it secures at least six per cent of the total valid votes in an election to the Legislative
Assembly of a state and wins at least two seats in that state
• If it secures at least six per cent of the total valid votes in the state at a general election to

the Lok Sabha from the state concerned and wins at least one seat from the state concerned;
• If it wins three percent of seats in the legislative assembly at a general election to the
legislative of the state concerned or 3 seats in the assembly whichever is more;
• If it wins one seat in the Lok Sabha for every 25 seats or any fraction thereof allotted to the
state at a general election to the Lok Sabha from the state concerned.
• Examples of Regional Parties- JDS, AIDMK, All India Trinamool Congress, Asom Gana
Parishad etc.
In India regional parties are based on themes like– Identity, Statehood, Autonomy and
Development etc.
• Autonomy consists of demanding greater powers to the states (like the National Conference
in Jammu and Kashmir).
• Statehood consists of fighting for an independent state within the country (like the
Telangana Rastra Samiti demanded a separate state of Telangana).
• Identity consists of fighting for recognition of cultural rights of a group (like the Shiv Sena in
Maharashtra or the DMK fighting for the identity of the Dalits).
• Development consists of regional parties believing that only they can bring development to
the people of a particular region.
• Sometimes regional parties create these ‘cultural specificities’ for electoral gains.
PRESSURE GROUPS AND INTEREST GROUPS
Generally, interest groups and pressure groups are considered synonyms, but they are actually not.
Interest groups are organized groups of people which seek to promote their specific interests. Their
characteristics are: (a) they are well-organized, (b) they have certain common interests, (c) the
interest that unites the members is specific and particular, (d) the members of such organized
groups seek to attain, protect and promote their interests for which they are united. A pressure
group, on the other hand, is an interest group which exerts pressure on the government or the
decision-makers for the fulfillment of their interests.
Interest Group Pressure Group
Formally organized Strictly structured
Interest-oriented Pressure-focused
May or may not influence the policies of the Must influence the policies of
government government
Softer in outlook Harsher in attitude
More or less protective Protective and promotive

Decentralisation of power
Regionalism in India
• Regionalism is the expression of a common sense of identity and purpose by people within
a specific geographical region, united by its unique language, culture, language, etc.
• In a positive sense, it encourages people to develop a sense of brotherhood and oneness

which seeks to protect the interests of a particular region and promotes the welfare and
development of the state and its people.
• In the negative sense, it implies excessive attachment to one’s region which is a great threat
to the unity and integrity of the country.
• In the Indian context generally, the term 'regionalism' has been used in the negative sense.
• Roots of regionalism is in India’s manifold diversity of languages, cultures, ethnic groups,
communities, religions and so on, and encouraged by the regional concentration of those
identity markers, and fueled by a sense of regional deprivation. For many centuries, India
remained the land of many lands, regions, cultures and traditions.
• For instance, southern India (the home of Dravidian cultures), which is itself a region of many
regions, is evidently different from the north, the west, the central and the north-east. Even
the east of India is different from the North-East of India comprising today seven constituent
units of Indian federation with the largest concentration of tribal people.
History of regionalism
• Regionalism has remained perhaps the most potent force in Indian politics ever since
independence (1947), if not before. It has remained the main basis of many regional political
parties which have governed many states since the late 1960s. Three clear patterns can be
identified in the post-independence phases of accommodation of regional identity through
statehood.
• First, in the 1950s and 1960s, intense (ethnic) mass mobilisation, often taking on a violent
character, was the main force behind the state’s response with an institutional package for
statehood. Andhra Pradesh in India’s south showed the way. The fast unto death in 1952 of
the legendary (Telugu) leader Potti Sriramulu for a state for the Telegu-speakers out of the
composite Madras Presidency moved an otherwise reluctant Jawaharlal Nehru, a top
nationalist leader and it was followed by State reorganisation commission under Fazal Ali
paving way for State Reorganization Act, 1956.
• Second, in the 1970s and 1980s, the main focus of reorganization was India’s North-east.
The basis of reorganization was tribal insurgency for separation and statehood. The main
institutional response of the Union government was the North-eastern States
Reorganisation Act, 1971 which upgraded the Union Territories of Manipur and Tripura, and
the Sub-State of Meghalaya to full statehood, and Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh (then
Tribal Districts) to Union Territories. The latter became states in 1986. Goa (based on
Konkani language (8th Schedule)), which became a state in 1987, was the sole exception.

• Third, the movements for the three new states (created in 2000)—Chhattisgarh out of
Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand out of Bihar and Uttaranchal out of Uttar Pradesh— were long-
drawn but became vigorous in the 1990s. And the most recent one, we can see with the
division of Andhra Pradesh, giving a separate Telangana, which started in 1950s.
Reasons behind Growth of Regionalism in India

• Historical and geographical isolation

• Lop-sided development. Chota Nagpur plateau is an example of this type of
underdevelopment.
• Continuous neglect of a region
• Insider-outsider complex that nurturers nativism and son-of-the-soil ideology
• Internal colonialism, i.e., despite being rich in natural resources some regions remain
economically underdeveloped.
• Ill-conceived top-down approach
• Survival of one region at the cost of the other region.
• Political vested interests who exploit regional loyalties
• Reaction to an imposed ideology that can make its appearance as a reaction against the
perceived imposition of a particular ideology, language or cultural pattern on all people and
groups.
• Linguistic aspirations
• Expression of ethnicity
Why regional disparity still persists?

• Low rate of economic growth: The economic growth of India has been fluctuating since
independence. But with respect to High population growth, the economic growth has been
not enough to catch the development with full speed. In the last decade, the economic
growth were progressive, but now they are reeling under the influence of world economic
crisis and other bottlenecks at domestic level.
• Socio-economic and political organisation of states: The states have been unable to do the
adequate land reforms and the feudal mentality still persists. Bhoodan and Gramdaan
movements, after independence, were not enthusiastically carried and even land under land
Banks were not efficiently distributed. The political activities in the backward states were
limited to vote bank politics and scams.
• Lower level of infrastructural facilities in backward states: The level of infrastructural
development, such as- power distribution, irrigation facilities, roads, modern markets for
agricultural produce has been at back stage. All these are state list subjects.
• Low level of social expenditure by states on education, health and sanitation: These
subjects are core for human resource development. The sates which have invested heavily
on these subjects, fall under the developed and advanced states, for example Tamil Nadu,
where health care services in Primary health centre is bench mark for other states.
• Political and administration failure: This is source of tension and gives birth to sub-regional
movements for separate states. Jarkhand, Chattisgarh, Uttrakhand and recently Telangana
are result of these failure only. Many such demands are in pipeline such as- Vidarbha,
Saurashtra, Darjeeling and Bodoland, etc. These failures also weakens the confidence of
private players and do not attract investors in the states.
• “Son of the soil” doctrine explains a form of regionalism, which is in discussion since 1950.
According to it, a state specifically belongs to the main linguistic group inhabiting it or that
the state constitutes the exclusive homeland of its main language speakers, who are the
sons of the soil or local residents.

Impact of Regionalism in India
Positive
• Scholars believe that regionalism plays important role in building of the nation, if the
demands of the regions are accommodated by the political system of the country.
• Regional recognition in terms of state hood or state autonomy gives self-determination to
the people of that particular region and they feel empowered and happy. Internal self-
determination of community, whether linguistic, tribal, religious, regional, or their
combinations, has remained the predominant form in which regionalism in India has sought
to express itself, historically as well as at present time.
• Regional identities in India have not always defined themselves in opposition to and at the
expense of, the national identity, noticed a democratic effect of such process in that India’s
representative democracy has moved closed to the people who feel more involved and show
greater concern for institutions of local and regional governance.
• For example- Tripura Tribal Autonomous District Council (TTADC), formed in 1985, has
served to protect an otherwise endangered tribal identity in the state by providing a
democratic platform for former separatists to become a party of governance, and thereby
reduced significantly the bases of political extremism in the state.
• In such political setup, there always remains a scope of balanced regional development. The
socio-cultural diversity is given due respect and it helps the regional people to practise their
own culture too.
Negative
• Regionalism is often seen as a serious threat to the development, progress and unity of the
nation. It gives internal security challenges by the insurgent groups, who propagate the
feelings of regionalism against the mainstream politico-administrative setup of the country.
• Regionalism definitely impacts politics as days of collation government and alliances are
taking place. Regional demands become national demands, policies are launched to satisfy
regional demands and generally those are extended to all pockets of country, hence national
policies are now dominated by regional demands. E.g. MSP given to sugarcane, it was helpful
for farmers in Maharashtra but it was implemented across all states resulting agitations of
farmers belonging to UP, Punjab and Haryana. Meanwhile it sowed seed of defection among
ministers and targeting to corresponding minister.
• Some regional leaders play politics of vote bank based on language, culture, this is certainly
against healthy democratic procedures. This always leads to demand for separate state and
it has observed that after creating small states only few political leaders could run efficient

government else alliances run government which ultimately makes administration

machinery ineffective.
• Developmental plans are implemented unevenly focusing on regions to which heavy weight
leaders belongs are benefitted, hence unrest is generated among rest regions. Law and order
is disturbed, agitations with massive violence take place ultimately government is compelled
to take harsh steps; hence wrong signals are emitted about government authorities.
• Regionalism, also becomes hurdle in the international diplomacy, as in 2013 we saw how

Tamil Nadu regional parties were against the Prime Minister of India, attending the
Commonwealth heads meeting(CHOGM) in Sri Lanka. These actions have their direct
implication on the relation of India with Sri Lanka or other countries of the forums
• The regionalism induced violence disturbs the whole society, people are killed, students
cannot attend the schools & colleges, tourism cannot be promoted, etc. This impacts the
development of human resource, governments need to deploy extra forces to control the
situation and it has direct implication on the economy of the nation. Impacted societies
remain aloof from the mainstream development and then the regional variations and
backwardness is clearly reflected.
• On the broader front, it harms India’s status in global arena and becomes hurdle in becoming
global power or world leader.
Constitution of India under Article-
19, gives every citizen a fundamental
right to move around and settle down
peacefully any part of the country.
And, as citizen of India everyone
should respect this fundamental right
of every person, avoiding clashes
The need of the hour is to develop
each region of India, through
devolution of power to local
governments and empowering
people for their participation in
decision-making. The governments at
state level need to find out the
alternative resources of energy,
source of employment for local
people, use of technology in
governance, planning and for
agriculture development.

Linguism
UNESCO has recognized India as one of the most

linguistically diverse countries, having 22 scheduled
languages, hundreds of local languages and dialects.
Languages are not just a means of communication,
rather they are a symbol of India’s rich culture,

heritage and traditions.
India is one of the unique countries in the world that
has the legacy of diversity of languages. The
Constitution of India has recognised 22 official
languages under the 8th schedule. People in different parts of the country speak more than one
language since their birth. Though officially there are 122 languages, People’s Linguistic Survey of
India has identified 780 languages, of which 50 are extinct in the past five decades. Examples of such
languages are Wadari, Kolhati, Golla, Gisari.
LINGUISTIC CLASSIFICATION OF INDIA:
People of India speak a large number of languages which are broadly divided into the following four
families:
1. The Aryan Languages:
• This is the most important of all the families of languages and spoken by a little less than
three fourths of the Indian population.
• The Aryan languages are divided into following two main branches:
(i) The Dardic Aryan Languages
(ii) The Indo Aryan Languages
(i) The Dardic Aryan Languages:
• This group comprises a number of languages which are current among very small mountain
communities in Kashmir.
• Out of India, it is spoken by small communities living on the frontier between Pakistan and
Afghanistan.
• The Dardic languages fall into three branches: (a) Shina including Kashmiri, Shina proper and
Kohistani; (b) Khowar or Chatran or Chitrali and (c) Kafuistan (or Nuristani) dialects.
• In Kashmir, there is Shina and Kashmiri, and some dialects allied to Kashmiri. Kashmiri
appears to be in its bases a Dardic Aryan dialect. But it has been profoundly influenced by
Sanskrit and the Prakrits from the very early times. Many scholars are of the opinion that
Kashmiri is Indo-Aryan rather than Dardic.
• Most scholars consider Dardic to be just a branch of Indo-Aryan. These Dardic dialects are
largely on the way to extinct. Kashmiri, however, is one of the recognised national languages
of the Indian Union.
• Except Kashmiri, which is spoken by more than 20 lakh people, no other language of the
Dardic Aryan languages is spoken by more than 7 thousand people.

(ii) The Indo-Aryan Languages:

This is the second sub-group of the Aryan languages in which Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Rajasthani,
Gujarati, Sindhi, Kachchi, Marathi, Oriya, Sanskrit, Assamese and Urdu are included. Based upon the
regional distribution of the people speaking these languages, they are further grouped as under:
(a) Northern Aryan Languages:
Languages of this group belong to the dialects spoken by the hilly people in North India. They
include Nepali, Central Pahari and Western Pahari Aryan languages.

(b) North-Western Aryan Languages:
Khanda, Kachchi and Sindhi are the well-known Aryan languages which are spoken by the
people living in the north-western part of the country.
(c) Southern Aryan Languages:
Marathi and Konkani are the languages included in the Southern group of Aryan languages.
(d) Eastern Aryan Languages:
The region of these languages lies in the eastern parts of the country, Bihari, Oriya, Bengali
and Assamese languages constitute this group of Aryan languages.
(e) East Central Aryan Languages:
Avadh, Bundelkhand and Chhattisgarh regions include these languages as the languages of
the people living there. Avadhi, Bugheli and Chhattisgarhi are their languages.
(f) Central Aryan Languages:
The central region of India is the region of Central Aryan languages. The major languages of
this region are Hindi, Punjabi, Rajasthani and Alawari.
2. Dravidian Languages:
• Dravidian languages are older than the
Aryan languages.
• According to an estimate, Dravidians
entered India much before the
Aryans.
• Other estimates indicate that they are the
original inhabitants of the country,
who were driven away towards south by
the Aryans at a later stage.
• Today, the Dravidian languages form a
well knit family by themselves and
unlike the Aryan, the Austric and the
Sino- Tibetan speeches they have no
relations outside the Indian subcontinent. The Dravidian languages fall into Two major
groups are as under:
(i) The North Dravidian Languages:
• Telugu and a number of other languages such as various Gondi dialects, Kuruth or Oraon,
Maler or Malpahariya, Kui or Kandh, Parji, Kolami and a few others are included in this group.

• Telugu is numerically the most important of all the Dravidian languages and has a very
rich literature. This language has spread outside India also—in Myanmar, Indo-China and
South Africa.
• Its vocabulary is much influenced by Sanskrit.
(ii) South Dravidian Languages:

• This group of languages includes Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam. A number of speeches like

Tulu, Kota, Coorgi and Toda are also included in this group.
• Tamil is spoken in large parts of Tamil Nadu.
• Outside India, it is spoken by a large number of people in Sri Lanka.
• Tamil literature goes back to many centuries before Christ.
• Tamil presents certain new literary types which are not found in Sanskrit and other Aryan
languages.
• Malyalam is currently the language of Kerala and Lakshadweep. It had its origin in the old
Tamil about 1,500 years ago. The Old Tamil speech started showing simplifications as early
as 10th century A.D. Then it followed its own path away from its sister dialects. The speech
of Kerala developed independently and became transformed into Malyalam.
• Kannada is the main language of the present Karnataka state. The literary cultivation of this
language began from the middle of the first millennium A.D. Kannada has passed through
three stages: (a) Old Kannada upto 13th century (b) Medieval Kannada upto 16th century
and (c) Hosa Kannada which is the language of the present day.
Although in modern times speakers of the various Dravidian languages have mainly occupied the
southern portion of India, in earlier times they probably were spoken in a larger area. After the Indo-
Aryan migrations into north-western India, , a process of Sanskritisation started, which resulted in
a language shift in northern India. Southern India has remained majority Dravidian, but pockets of
Dravidian can be found in central India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. The Kurukh and Malto are
pockets of Dravidian languages in central India. The Brahui population of Pakistan's Balochistan
province.
3. Austric Languages:
The Austric languages of India belong to the Austro-Asiatic sub-family. This category is further sub-
divided into Munda and Mon-Khmer.
(i) Munda or Kol Languages:
Munda languages are the largest of the Austric group of languages. They consist of fourteen
tribal languages. The Kherwari is the major group, which is current in Eastern India (Chota
Nagpur, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal) and includes Santhali, Mundari, Ho, Birhor,
Bhumiej, Korwa and Korku (or Kurku). Santhali, Mundari, and Ho languages have a
noteworthy literature preserved orally, consisting of songs and mythological romantic
stories.
(ii) Mon-Khmer Languages:

Mon-Khmer group of Austric languages has two sub-groups— Khasi and Nicobari.
Khasi languages are spoken by Khasi tribal people of Meghalaya, while Nicobari languages
are the languages of the tribal people of the Nicobar Islands. Khasi used to be written in
Bengali-Assamese script about a century ago. Through the influence of Welsh Methodist
missionaries, the Roman alphabet has been adopted for Khasi and some literature has been
produced.
4. Sino-Tibetan Languages:

The Sino-Tibetan languages are spoken by a variety of people. Depending upon the region of
settlement, these languages are put into several groups and sub-groups. Sino-Tibetan languages
have three major sub-divisions:
(i) The Tibeto-Himalayan.
(ii) The North-Assam
(iii) The Assam-Myanmari (Burmese)
(i) The Tibeto-Himalayan Languages:
This sub-division of the Sino-Tibetan group of languages is further sub-divided as the Himalayan
group and the Bhutia group.
(a) The Himalayan Group:
The Himalayan group consists of 4 languages. They are Chamba, Lahauli, Kannauri and Lepcha.
Kannauri is the most widely spoken language of the Himalayan group.
(b) The Bhutia Group:
Tibetan, Balti, Ladakhi, Lahauli, Sherpa and Sikkim Bhutia are included in the Bhutia group of Sino-
Tibetan languages. Ladakhi has largest number of Bhutia speakers. It is followed by Sikkim Bhutia
and the Tibetan languages in that order.
(ii) North Assam Languages:
The North Assam branch of languages of the Sino-Tibetan group is also called the Arunachal branch.
It consists of six languages, such as Aka, Daflta, Abor, Miri, Mishnil and Mishing. Largest number of
people speaks Miri language.
(iii) The Assam Myanmari Languages:
This group of languages includes Boro or Bodo, Naga, Cochin, Kukichin and Myanmar groups. Naga
is the largest speaking language of this group.
Besides these, the Sino-Tibetan group of languages have some other important languages. They are
Manipuri, Garo, Tripuri, Mikir and Lusai. Lusai is also termed as Mizo.

Need and importance of preserving linguistic diversity in India:

• Cultural Identity: For individuals, language is constitutive of cultural identity. We are what
we speak. Any destruction to language impact identity of individuals leading to identity
crisis. This impact their ability to grow and develop as an individual.
• Cultural Diversity: Diversity in languages reflects and enhances cultural diversity. This in
turn enriches the world. Unwritten languages rich in oral traditions, stories, songs, poetry,
and ritual passed down through the generations constitute cultural diversity of a nation.

• Human rights: Since language is central to identity, one’s freedom to use one’s language is
seen as inherent in the dignity of the human person. Many people don’t know English and
thus fail to enjoy rights provided due to lack of understanding.
• A glimpse of our past:Languages provides a glimpse of our history. Once a language is lost
it is a loss of history and culture associated with that language. Many languages have not
been preserved and thus many traditions have lost due to this.
• Environment: Languages are closely connected to the environment they are spoken in, so
in such areas they contain rich, detailed and technical knowledge about the flora, fauna,
and habitat of that area. These languages are ecological encyclopaedias. The biological
diversity and linguistic diversity go hand in hand. If one is threatened, then so is the other.
• Cognitive abilities: Research has shown a strong correlation between improved cognitive
abilities in children when they are taught in their mother tongue in primary school. If a
child is not taught in the language that he or she uses at home, then he suffer poor
learning and critical abilities.
ISSUES:
• Increasing Regionalism and Parochialism: The people of different linguistic groups who are
concentrated in a state seem to think only in terms of interests of their own States. This
undermines consideration of national issues and causes parochial feelings.
• Formation of Regional Political Parties: Linguism has resulted in regionalism which has
ultimately led to the formation of regional political parties in some states. Some of these
regional political parties have also formed government. Such political parties in power often
complicate Centre-State relationship.
• Persecution of the Linguistic Minorities: The State Reorganization Commission had
provided for safeguard of linguistic minorities in States. But in reality the linguistic minorities
have been harassed in different States. As a result certain complications and disturbing
trends have developed which seem to have threatened the unity of the country.
• Demand for Separate States: Linguistic conflicts take place due to selfish motive of
politicians. These politicians instigate the linguistic minority to demand a partition of the
States along linguistic lines. The demand for a separate state creates problems for the
concerned state as well as the centre.
• Erosion of National Feeling: The national feeling is eroded due to linguistic and regional
loyalties. The erosion of national feeling threatens the sovereignty of the country.

• Inter-State Border Dispute: Language problems have created tensions in the border
which are bilingual. For example, the Goans are divided on the basis of Konkani and Marathi
languages.
Constitutional provisions related to languages:

– There is no national language as declared by the Constitution of India.
– The Constitution lists Hindi written in Devanagari script as well as English as the
official language to be used for official purposes such as parliamentary

proceedings, judiciary, communications between the Central Government and a
State Government.
– States within India have the liberty and powers to specify their own official
language(s) through legislation.
– The Constitution imposes a duty upon the Centre to promote the spread and
development of the Hindi language so that it may become the lingua franca of
the composite culture of India.
– The Eighth Schedule to the Indian Constitution contains a list of 22 scheduled
languages. The Government of India is under an obligation to take measures for
the development of these languages.
Few example of linguistic issues
Hindi as a lingua franca of India:

Arguments in favour:
• Unity and integrity of India: Hindi can serve as a link language to enhance people-to-people
contact in such a geographically diverse country.
• Maximum outreach: Hindi is spoken by maximum number of people in India and thus it is
sensible to choose it as a lingua franca of India.
• Boosting India’s soft power: Hindi can serve as a symbol of national identity and would help
showcase India’s rich civilizational values of multiculturalism, tolerance and pluralism at
global platforms.
• Availability of historic and traditional texts: Majority of ancient mythological texts like
Ramayana, Mahabharata, Upanishads, etc are available in Hindi or Sanskrit which are
necessary for preserving India’s rich history and culture.
Arguments against:
• Threat of cultural oppression: There is a north-south divide mainly due to attempts of
imposition of Hindi as the link-language of India. This has roots in anti-Brahmanism Dravidian
movements in South India which sees Hindi as a language that perpetuates a ‘backward’
culture of caste and gender oppression.
• Discrimination against regional languages: Masses speaking regional languages often face
discrimination in terms of sharing of political power, employment, economic status, etc.

• Ethnic clashes and violence emerge out of

Language of Draft EIA 2020
complexities of linguistic and ethnic politics,
• Two High Courts have asked the
thereby promoting regionalism. For ex: riots
government to publish the
in Assam in the early 1980s, Anti-Hindi riots
notification in all 22 languages
in southern India by ethnic Dravidians in
mentioned in Schedule VIII to the
1965, etc.
Constitution.
• Against constitutional principles: Imposition
• This debate has been litigation by

of Hindi is against the basic idea of federalism
citizens, who protested against
in India. Since India does not have any
the publication of the draft EIA
national language, States are free to decide
notification in only English and
their own official languages. Also, the idea of
Hindi.
‘one nation, one language’ is against the
philosophy of ‘unity in diversity’.
Way Forward
• Government should be sensitive towards the people’s aspirations. Any attempt of forceful
imposition of any one language on masses should be refrained.
• Rather efforts should be made to preserve and protect the languages under threat of
extinction. For ex: Advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence can be used to translate
and digitize ancient regional texts.
• Programmes like ‘Ek Bharat
Shreshtha Bharat’ are a step in
the right direction to promote
unity in diversity.
• The three-language formula
envisaged by Kothari
Commission should be
implemented in such a way that
the choice of language(s) must be
left with the citizens and not the
Government.
The need today is to respect, protect
and nurture the diversity of our
nation so that unity is ensured.
Multilingualism should be
acknowledged in education,
administrative systems, cultural
expression and even cyber space.
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Communalism
• Communalism, in a broad sense means a strong attachment to one’s own community. In

popular discourse in India, it is understood as unhealthy attachment to one’s own religion.
• It’s an ideology that, in order to unify the community, suppresses distinctions within the
community and emphasizes the essential unity of the community against other
communities.

• In this way it promotes belief in orthodox tenets and principles, intolerance and hatred of
other religions and thus, divides the society.
Positive aspect à Affinity of an individual towards his own community involving efforts for the
social and economic upliftment of his community.
Negative aspect à It is an ideology which emphasises the separate identity of a religious group in
relation to other groups with a tendency to promote its own interests at the expense of the others.
• Communalism as a political philosophy has its roots in the religious and cultural diversity of
India.
• It has been used as a political propaganda tool to create divide, differences and tensions
between the communities on the basis of religious and ethnic identity leading to communal
hatred and violence.
The issues attached to Communalism are:

• It is a threat to national integrity
• It is a catalyst to political and social tensions in the state
• It leads to divisions between the people, groups of communities or groups of states in the
country
• It is attached to the rivalry of one religion, beliefs, values etc. against another’s.
• Active hostility or opposition towards others’ religions and beliefs often lead to issues in
society
Types of Communalism
• Political Communalism: To survive in the sphere of politics, leaders tend to implicitly
promote the idea of divisions among the communities. This gives rise to political
communalism where different sets of people are divided into political lines and ideologies
• Social Communalism: When the societies’ beliefs divide these into different groups and lead
to rivalry among each other, it further leads to Social Communalism
• Economic Communalism: The difference in economic interests of the groups of people or
communities, leading to further clashes in the society, can be termed as Economic
Communalism
Reasons behind Communalism

The major factors that contributed towards the emergence and growth of communalism in modern
India involves:
• British Imperialism and their Policy of “Divide and Rule”.

• Disappointment and disaffection among young and aspiring middle class youth, caused
by stagnant agriculture, absence of modern industrial development and inadequate
employment opportunities, which is being exploited by political opportunists.
• Hindu and Muslim revivalist movements
• A communal and distorted view of Indian history, taught in school and colleges played a
major role in rise and growth of communal feelings among the masses.
• Separatism and isolation among Muslims.

• Rise of communal and fundamentalist parties.
• Divisive Politics – Communalism is often defined as a political doctrine that makes use of
religious and cultural differences in achieving political gains.
• Economic Causes – Uneven development, class divisions, poverty and unemployment
aggravates insecurity in the common men which make them vulnerable to political
manipulation.
• History of Communal Riots – Probability of recurrence of communal riots in a town where
communal riots have already taken place once or twice is stronger than in a town when such
riots have never occurred.
• Politics of Appeasement – Prompted by political considerations, and guided by their vested
interests, political parties take decisions which promote communal violence.
• Isolation and Economic Backwardness of Muslim Community – The failure to adopt the
scientific and technological education and thus, insufficient representation in the public
service, industry and trade etc has led to the feeling of relative deprivation among Muslims.
• The resurgence of Hindu-Muslim economic competition, especially among the lower and
middle class strata has fuelled the communal ideology.
• Administrative Failure – A weak law and order is one of the causes of communal violence.
• Psychological Factors – The lack of inter-personal trust and mutual understanding between
two communities often result in perception of threat, harassment, fear and danger in one
community against the members of the other community , which in turn leads to fight,
hatred and anger phobia.
• Role of Media – It is often accused of sensationalism and disseminates rumours as "news"
which sometimes resulted into further tension and riots between two rival religious groups.
• Social media has also emerged as a powerful medium to spread messages relating to
communal tension or riot in any part of the country.
Measures to Deal with Communalism

Short Term and Immediate Measures
• Establishment of Peace Committees: The government should immediately constitute a
peace committee in the riot-hit areas comprising of the respected people belonging to
different communities. These leaders can help in persuading the leaders of the fighting
communities and help in restoring peace.
• Supervision by Media: The media must be made to act with responsibility while publishing
reports about communal riots. Those media houses which spread rumours and instigate
violence must be strictly prosecuted. Similarly, the government should also keep a vigil over
the social media platforms like WhatsApp which tends to spread rumours and agitate
people.
• Law Enforcement: In communally sensitive areas, secular minded law enforcement officials
must be appointed. Similarly, Special Courts that deals with cases related to the communal
riots must be set up in communally sensitive states for speedy disposal of cases. Also,
immediate legal action should be taken against those who instigate communal violence.
• Abolition of Communal Political parties: The government and Election Commission should

use its authority to ban communal political organizations directly or indirectly indulging in
communal riots.
Long-Term Remedial Measures

• Promoting Healthy Public Opinion: The government should take steps to educate the
people so that they become free from communal frenzies and passions. Secular values
should be imbibed in textbooks of children so that they become responsible citizens in the
future. Additional care should be taken while teaching history to the students. Distorted
historical facts must be removed from the history text books. Also, the intellectuals, writers,
journalists, voluntary organizations, should be encouraged by the government to take a lead
in building up a healthy public opinion against communalism.
• Rethinking and Use of New Strategies: It is necessary for the government to rethink its
strategies to counter communalism. It is generally perceived that economic development
brings down instances of communalism. But this is not true. It has been found that economic
development alone cannot suppress communalism. In fact, communal riots have been
registered in more numbers from developed states like Maharashtra and Gujarat, and
developed cities like Mumbai, Ahmadabad, Jamshedpur and Kanpur. So, there is a need for
the use of new strategies and well-planned efforts to suppress communalism.
• Preventing Communalization of State: The government should take efforts to prosecute all
those leaders, bureaucrats who lend their helping hand to communalists and support
communal riots. It is very important for the political elites in power to have secular
credentials. In this regard, all those leaders who have committed communal crimes can be
debarred from contesting elections.
• Legislation against Forcible Conversions: Since forcible conversion of people from one
religion to another is one among the primary reasons for communal riots in India. It is
necessary for the government to ban forcible conversion activities and come up with a
legislation banning the same. In this regard, all states should follow Arunachal Pradesh,
Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Tamil Nadu Governments who have already legislated
legislations banning forcible conversion activities.

Secularism
Secularism in the West strictly means,
• Complete separation of state and religion.
• State and religion have totally different
spheres of influence. Religion is a strictly
private sphere and the State should worry
about the public sphere.

• Both should not interfere in each other’s
spheres.
• The state should not have an official religion. The state should allow all religions in the
private sphere and should not aid any religious activity from its coffers.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WESTERN-SECULARISM AND INDIAN-SECULARISM
Western-Secularism Indian-Secularism
In the West, the State is separate from the Secularism in India means that the state is
functioning of all religious institution and neutral to all religious groups but not
groups. necessarily separate
The state believes in total non-interference of In India, the concept is not restricted to the
religion. The state is allowed to curtail the question of how religious groups are to be
rights of citizens if the religion is causing treated. Instead, the essence of secularism lies
hindrance in the functioning of the state. in forging a positive relationship between the
state and religion.
The Western concept of Secularism does not In India, all expression of Religion is manifested
believe in an open display of religion with equally with support from the state.
except for places of worship.
The distinction between state and religion is There is no clear distinction between the state
clear and set in stone and religion in India.
The state treats all religions with equal The state gives financial aids to a religious
indifference. It does not aid any religious institution and taxes them as well
institutions through financial means or taxes
them.
A single uniform code of law is used to Although the law is the same for all citizens,
dispense justice regardless of religious certain personal laws with regards to marriage
background. and property rights are different for every
community. But they are all given equal
consideration under the Indian Penal Code

History of secularism in India

• India is a multi-religious society from time immemorial. India too has embraced Secularism
as its basic civilizational and constitutional ethos but in its own ways. We can trace back
secularism to ancient times.
• Secular traditions have very deep roots in India’s history though it was not specifically not
projected as such.
• The Upanishads famously say,” Ekam Sat Vipra Bahuda Vadanti” meaning there is only one

truth (one true god), sages interpret it in different ways. Vedic traditions were highly secular
and tolerant and always tried to incorporate different traditions in a common way of life.
• The great emperor Ashoka in his 12th Rock edict propagated religious toleration and mutual
respect among followers of all religions. Though being influenced by Buddhism, he did not
make it a state religion and treated every religion equally.
• The Bhakti and Sufi traditions are the epitome of religious harmony and secular
intellectualism. Teachings of Kabir, Baba Farid, Guru Nanak, Basavanna are a glorious proof
of the secular moorings of the common Indian masses.
• The Mughal Emperor Akbar also propagated religious toleration through his reign. He
abolished Jizya. He promulgated ‘Din-e-Ilahi’ or the divine faith which has elements of both
Hindu and Muslim faith. He emphasized ‘Sulh-i-kul’ i.e. peace and harmony among religions.
• The secular nature of Indian society faced its most serious challenge in British rule. The
British employed a divide and rule policy to maintain its rule. The following actions by the
British were responsible for religious hatred
o Distortion of History by portraying ancient times as the Hindu period and medieval
as Muslim period. They overemphasized the religious nature of Indian polity and the
different territorial and economic wars of kings.
o The strategic appeasement of first Hindus and then Muslims and other religious and
caste minorities.
o The Bengal partition in 1905.
o The Communal electorate of 1909 and further acts
o The communal award of 1932.
• These divisive policies of the British led to the formation of religious organizations’
supporting Two nation theory resulting in the Partition of the country.
• A bloody partition and ideas espoused in the freedom struggle made the founding fathers
of Modern India, the constitution-makers, decided that free India will be a secular
democracy with freedom of Religion and fraternity.
Secularism and Indian constitution

India has secular characteristics embedded in its constitution. India is a nation with no State religion
though Pakistan separated on the basis of religious identity. Constitution though originally did not
mention Secularism explicitly, it contained express provisions making India a modern and novel
secular democracy. Following Constitutional and legal provisions make India a secular nation
• Article 14 -grants equality before the law and equal protection of the laws to all.
• Article 15- prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.

• Article 16 (1)- equality of opportunity to all citizens in matters of public employment

and no discrimination on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth and
residence.
• Article 17- It bars the inhuman practice of Untouchability and makes it a punishable offence.
• Article 25- secures Freedom of Conscience, the right to freely profess, practice and
propagate religion.
• Article 26- every religious group or individual has the right to establish and maintain

institutions for religious and charitable purposes and to manage its own affairs in matters of
religion.
• Article 27- the state shall not compel any citizen to pay any taxes for the promotion or
maintenance of any particular religion or religious institution.
• Article 28- allows educational institutions maintained by different religious groups to impart
religious instruction. And bars it strictly in state institutions.
• Article 29 and Article 30 provides cultural and educational rights to the minorities.
• Article 32- Right to move the highest court for the protection and enforcement of the above
rights.
• Article 44 directs the state to secure a Uniform Civil Code throughout the country.
• Article 51A- obliges all the citizens to promote harmony and the spirit of common
brotherhood and to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture.
• The 42nd amendment to the constitution added the word ‘secular’ in the preamble making
the provision explicit.
The challenges to Secularism in India:

• Burdens of Legacy
o The bloodsheds of partition are still not forgotten by the sections who suffered losses
then.
o The dividing tendencies always try that the memories are not faded away for selfish
gains.
o The communal riots are always a possibility in a religiously charged pockets.
o Even national parties tend to engage in such activities in the name of social
engineering.
• Relative Economic backwardness of minority religions
o The Sachar committee reports suggest the relative backwardness of the minority
population in every aspect of income, education, health, the standard of living.
o The inability of successive governments to improve the situation has made the
situation even more complicated.
• Perception battles
o Though we are a multicultural society, there is an imbalance of population as the
Hindu community is almost 80%. In this scenario there always will be outnumbering
of other communities in every aspect.
o In a multicultural society, the burden is on the State to be extra vigilant and extra
honest in these matters.

o The majority cries appeasement and most of the minority population is left to
battle out for daily needs
o There can always be allegations of biases against one community or the other.
• Politicization of religion
o In a multiparty democracy like ours, the electoral calculations always hinge on
religion, caste-based mobilization.
o The first past the post system helps the balkanization of the society on these divisive

lines and vote bank politics flourishes.
o Religious riots are incited for political benefits.
• Weak Establishments
o Sometimes the power hungriness of the establishment does not allow unbiased
actions.
o The Shah Bano case and consequent Muslim Women Protection act, The inaction
during the Babri Masjid demolition, inability to contain religious conversions by
wrongful means, inability to take reform activities in minority religions for the fear of
losing vote banks and cases like those blow dents to the credibility of the
establishment to uphold secular nature of the country.
o The faulty implementation of reservation policy and its inability to tackle the sorry
state of the backward class has led to the perception of reverse discrimination in the
majority community.
o The threat of majoritarianism and reaction by the minorities
o The majority community and its perception of neglect by the ruling class is already a
threat as can be seen from instances of cow vigilantism, mob lynching, etc.
o The reaction to this by some selfish sections of the minority is of tit for tat. This
creates a chain reaction of fear-mongering and violence.
o The increasing radicalization in the youth of both the majority and minority
communities is alarming. The social media like WhatsApp, Facebook groups are
becoming echo chambers of radicalization.
• Legal issues
o The current churning over NRC and CAA is a classic case of communal issues and how
we deal with it.
o The fear-mongering and misunderstanding is based on the colorable amendment of
Citizenship act. The government’s stance of going forward anyway has been charging
up the atmosphere communally.
What is the role of the Judiciary in the strengthening of the idea of secularism?
• R. Bommai case: The Supreme court has ruled that secularism is a part of the basic structure
of the Indian Constitution. The president’s rule can be imposed for the want of secular
character in the state government.
• Abhiram Singh case: The Supreme court expanded the ambit of section 123(3) of the
Representation of the people’s Act, 1951. It deals with the canvassing for elections in the
name of voters and candidates’ religion.

• Ayodhya Case: The Supreme Court said that secularism is not easy to crush in India.
• Shayara Bano case (Triple talaq): The Supreme court held that the Triple Talaq is bad in
both law and theology.
Way forward
• There is a need to clear perceptions on both sides. Clear cut information dissemination can
battle the perceived alienation.

• More powers to Minority commission to deal with the minority issues.
• There should be a reorientation of the process of socialisation like the education system to
help to promote secularism.
• The education system must be overhauled to introduce courses in social sciences in technical
education also to make the youth aware of the philosophy of the constitution.
• The economic backwardness of the minority community must be seriously looked into.
• The governments need to act on wrongdoers otherwise the feeling of bias will strengthen.
• Uniform Civil Code only with the agreement of all stakeholders
• Mass media must be fully utilised to educate the people for Secularism
• Even the school curriculum can also be sensitized with the idea of secularism.
• The electoral offences relating to communalism must be dealt with swiftly.
• The composite culture must be celebrated in every aspect. All the stakeholders must be
engaged in the dissemination of the composite culture.
National Integration
Amidst socio-cultural, regional, religious, linguistic and economic diversities, national integration
aims at the process of uniting together various parts of the society into a “functions whole”, where
in there shall be “reduction of all barriers and tolerance of all differences unity, shared values and
consensus.”
National Integration, according to Myron Weiner again implies:
(a) A process of bringing together culturally and socially discreet groups into a single territorial
unit and establishment if a national identity
(b) The process of establishing a national authority over subordinate political units or regions,
with distinct cultural and social groups
(c) Forging a link between the ruling elite and the ruled or reducing the gulf between the elites
and masses in terms of aspiration and life-conditions
(d) Evolving a minimum value consensus necessary to maintain a social order
(e) Integrative behaviour which involves the capacity of the people in a society to organise for
some common purpose.
The foundations of National Integration include:
(1) A common citizenship
(2) Unity in diversity
(3) A feeling of loyalty to the Nation
(4) A sense of fraternity among all diverse communities

(5) Secularism
(6) Freedom of religion
(7) Socio economic and political justice
(8) Equality
Methods to achieve National Integration:

One is the process of ‘national assimilation’ and the other is the process of ‘Unity in diversity’. In

the national assimilation process, national culture is maintained through elimination of distinct
cultural traits among the minorities. There is also a third process through which majority groups
impose their culture on the minority and bring about national integration. The best example of such
type is Swiss Confederation.
Dimensions of National Integration:
National Integration has several dimensions:
(a) Political
(b) Economic
(c) Social
(d) Cultural
(e) Ethical and
(f) Psychological or Emotional
• Political integration involves territorial unity and integrity, political unity and a common
Government that can firmly bind together national unity.
• Economic integration takes care of the united fight against the hazards and poverty, hunger,
homelessness of the down trodden in the Society.
• Social Integration ensures disbursal of Social justice, social equality, liberty and fraternity
among the people without delay. It also fights agt. it any kind of disintegration, either
communal, Social or racial.
• Protection of distinct cultural identity in the spheres of language, consumes, belief and faith
is the basic objective of Cultural integration.
• Ethically, national integration suggests the sanctity of the changing value system of the
people of a country. Here is an example-Switching over to Democracy and representative
government for Authoritarianism and Dictatorship and taking decisions through consensus
is the outcome of the changing value system.
• Emotional or psychological integration à people are united together with their high-
emotions attached to their National Song, National Flag, National Anthem, National
Emblem, National Bird, National Animal and so on. Like-wise emotional attachment
promoted through the teachings of several Indian mythological epics, like the Ramayana,
the Mahabharata, the Ramacharit Manas, Shri Bhagavatam, Shri Bhagavad-Gita and the like
People, get emotionally attached to their country’s past glory and cultural unity.

How to Promote National Integration?

The Government of India in the Ministry of HRD have recommended four approaches to achieve
national integration in India: namely,
1. Gradual harmonious change
2. Mechanical Solidarity
3. Unity in Diversity and pluralist approach
4. Protective discrimination.

But, for proper implementation of these four approaches, the most important role has to be played
by the administrators at large. Law and order authorities must come up to a mark to identify
impartially and rationally the problems of mal-integration and to take adequate steps to solve it.
Role of National Integration Council: (NIC)
• The National Integration Conference held in October 1961 had agreed to set up a National
Integration Council (NIC) to review all matters related to National Integration and to suggest
measures to the Union Government. Besides the Prime Minister who chairs the NIC, the
other members included the Union Minister of Home Affairs Chief Ministers of all States,
Educationists, Chairman of UGC, Chairman of SC & ST Commission and a few eminent Party
leaders.
• It is hoped that the NIC meets frequently, deliberates issues affecting national integration
and works for harmonious interstate cooperation strengthening national integration. It is
further hoped that the National Commissions for women, for Minorities and for Human
Rights should also play a supporting role protects the genuine interest of various groups in
our society.
Role of Education in National Integration
• Education plays a key role as it changes our thoughts and ideas. Fortunately, in India, we
have had very good educationists both before and after independence. School teachers play
a great role in shaping the minds of young students in the country.
• Various characters in history such as Rani Laxmi Bai, Lal Bahadur Shastri, and famous slogans
such as ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ have permeated into our collective consciousness over many
years.
• Often students migrate to different parts within the country to pursue higher education at
different universities. This has helped young minds to think beyond their regions, caste, and
religion, Universities around the country, such as Delhi University, Jamia Millia Islamia,
Osmania University, to name a few, have students enrolled from around the country, who
within a short span, develop a pan-Indian sense that rises above any cultural or ethnic
differences.
Role of Cinema, Sports, and Literature
• Hindi and regional cinemas of the 1960s and 70s helped promote the idea of Indian
nationalism, and the idea of secularism. Scriptwriters and directors were conscious towards
promoting the idea of nationalism.
• Movies which showcased love transcended cultural, regional, linguistic barriers, and caste
barriers helped in shaping the idea of India. Movies also helped shape a secular India as

characters enacted included a broad spectrum of religions, regional backgrounds,

ethnicity, etc.
• It must also be remembered that just after independence, with scant entertainment options
around, cinema was a very important source of entertainment for a large section of society.
Thus, cinema which imbued the spirit of brotherhood, promoted unity, and the idea of
secularism, helped shape the idea of India.
• People from all sections of society stand united in support for the Indian cricket team in all

competitions and versions of the game, be it traditional test cricket, One-day Internationals,
or Twenty20.
• Literature has also played a leading role in promoting National Integration. Patriotic
literature by Rabindranath Tagore, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Prem Chand, Bharatendu
Harish Chandra, and many others during the freedom struggle helped deepen and spread
Indian Nationalism. Their renditions are still alive in the hearts and minds of people, and
reinvigorate the feeling of unity in diversity among the people of India, even in the present
day.
Role of the Press/Media/Multinational Companies, etc.
• Even before Independence, the press has been an active instrument in the formation of the
idea of a unified India. Since independence, due to the tools offered by the Constitution such
as freedom of speech and expression, the press and media have gained a substantial amount
of autonomy and have been strengthened as an institution.
• They have made an enormous contribution in building and sustaining the integration of India
as one unit in forms that are continuously evolving from printing press to radio to television
to social media which caters to the aspirations and views of each generation.
• Other factors that have been as important as the ones above are the establishments of
important institutions such as the State Bank of India, Postal services, Doordarshan, All India
Radio, etc. which were important tools of furthering inclusiveness but have subconsciously
also promoted and strengthened the idea of a unified India in the minds of our citizens.
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Vote-Bank Politics
The term ‘vote-bank politics’ was first used in a research paper in 1955 by noted sociologist MN
Srinivas. He used it in a very specific context to showcase the political influence exerted by a patron
over a client.
The term denotes voting on the basis of, among other things, caste, sect, language and religion.
It generally connotes a politics of appeasement and the term is usually used negatively. Just as a

market treats a person as a consumer, a political party or leader sees the masses merely as voters.
The discourse on the subject reduces the identity of a citizen to a vote-bank and thereby it has come
to assume a negative connotation. In vote-bank politics, a particular group is aligned on the basis of
caste, sect, religion, or language.
The Positive Side:

• Increases the individual and collective bargaining power of the people vis-a-vis those in
power.
• In effect, the chances of demands and aspirations getting fulfilled are much higher for a
group that is recognised as a vote bank.
• For instance, persons with disabilities are not considered as a vote bank despite being 40-60
million in number.
• So, mere numerical strength does not matter as much as the recognition of the group as a
vote bank by political parties.
• Similarly, women, despite accounting for almost half of the total population, are not
considered as a separate vote bank. This is because, over the years, political parties have
realised that women do not vote as a group or community for one single party.
• During elections, their identity as women takes a back seat while their identities of caste,
religion and sect gain prominence.
Should vote banks be promoted then?

• It is argued that political parties often try and ‘cultivate’ vote banks in order to secure more
votes. However, this is not always the case.
• If a political party or a politician appeals to one section of society in the name of a caste or
religion, it may not necessarily be bad unless the act of appealing to that single section of
society extends to polarizing that group against others or the rest of society.
• Once a group or community starts feeling that it can be recognised as a vote bank, their
collective strength increases manifold.
• Consequently, all political parties keep appeasing these groups to gain support and votes.
• In this way, vote banks serve the purpose of both the voters as well as political parties.
• Nevertheless, vote-bank politics is criticisable when it is misused to manipulate the demands
of one group/s to polarise the society.
• Given its potential for misuse, vote-bank politics should be seen as an instrument to be
deployed by citizens, and not by the political class for dissecting the society.

Issues with vote bank politics:

1) Vote bank politics lately has been used as a tool to invoke the regional and casteist
prejudices among the people of this country.
2) In India, the vote banks are divided only on the basis of their religion, caste, language or
place of living. In every manner, this criterion has damaged the unity and integrity of
India.
3) Babri Masjid demolition, exploitation of U.P.ites and Biharis in Mumbai, decision of

releasing the killers of Rajiv Gandhi or even the Gujarat riots- they are all a few examples
of the bad consequences of vote bank politics
4) Now a days, politicians are least concerned about the progress of their vote bank. When
elections are near, they appease their group either by provoking them against others or
by making false promises.
5) It is because of vote bank politics that corrupt leaders and bad administrators come to
power again and again.
6) In India, because of vote bank politics the real issues of the nation like Corruption,
Inflation, and women security never get the required attention.
7) India is a much divided nation. Dalits vote for BSP, Hindus for BJP, and Tamils for AIADMK
etc irrespective of the work done by those parties. This is because of vote bank
appeasement politics.
Criminalisation of politics:
The criminalisation of politics means the participation Nearly half of the newly-elected Lok
of criminals in politics which includes that criminals Sabha members have criminal charges
can contest in the elections and get elected as against them, a 26% increase as
members of the Parliament and the State legislature. compared to 2014, according to the
It takes place primarily due to the nexus between Association of Democratic Reforms
politicians and criminals. (ADR). Of the 539 winning candidates
Our election system is in a dire need of systematic and analysed by the ADR, as many as 233
strategic improvements. The criminalisation of our MPs or 43% have criminal charges.
political system has unanimously been observed by
almost all recent committees on politics and electoral
reform.
There are many forms of criminalisation of politics, the one that is most alarming among them is a
significant number of elected representatives with pending criminal charges against them. The
criminalisation of politics involves intimidation of voters, booth capturing, the proliferation of non-
serious candidates, tampered electoral rolls, and other polling irregularities.
Causes:
o Vote Bank: Criminals are being wooed by political parties and given cabinet posts because
their muscle and money fetches crucial votes. Elections are won and lost on swings of just
1% of the vote, so parties cynically woo every possible vote bank, including those headed by
accused robbers and murderers.
o Denial of Justice and Rule of Law: Toothless laws against convicted criminals standing
for elections further encourage criminalization. Delay in justice is another root cause of
increasing criminalization.
o Illiteracy and lack of awareness: The rate of loss of criminals is directly proportional to the
increase in literacy rate in India. In absence of literacy, people usually vote based on freebies,
sensationalism and propaganda being presented.
o Lack of ethics or values in Indian politics, generally all major or minor political parties in India

used to play blame game, instead of finding a collective solution of the problem.
o Election Commission has limited powers to legislate on election related laws.
Impact:
o The primary sacrifice at the altar of criminalisation is that of governance, along with
transparency and accountability.
o Favouritism and nepotism: Permits are awarded to people irrespective of merit and once
such corrupt practices mar the political field, the way is clear for the entry of criminals.
o The political interference in the investigation of offence by police and at different stages of
trial appears to crumbling the criminal justice delivery system.
o Corruption: The elections to Parliament and State Legislatures are very expensive and it is a
widely accepted fact that huge election expenditure is the root cause for corruption in India.
o Criminals have more chances of winning
Steps taken:
o Executive efforts:
o Representation of people’s act 1950 and 1951 are main acts to take care of the
political system in India.
o The Representation of the People’s Act, 1951, was amended to facilitate use of
Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
o Judicial Efforts:
o Apex Court made it mandatory for candidates to submit an affidavit with full
disclosure of criminal cases, if any, and details of their asset and income.
o In 2003, None Of The Above (NOTA) option was also introduced by the judiciary.
o The apex court ruled that a sitting MP and MLA convicted of a jail term of two years
or more would lose their seat in the legislature immediately (Lily Thomas vs. Union
of India, 2013).
o The Supreme Court favoured the creation of special courts for expediting criminal
cases involving politicians
o The Allahabad High Court banning caste and religion based political rallies
o ECI efforts:
o The ECI has achieved considerable success in containing the role of muscle power
through measures such as the effective implementation of the model code of
conduct and the setting up of the expense monitoring cell.
o Mandatory declaration of assets and existing criminal charges in self-sworn affidavits
to the ECI prior to elections has brought in some transparency.

Socio economic system

Jajmani System
Jajmani system is considered as the backbone of rural economy and social order. It is a system of
traditional occupational obligations. In rural India Jajmani system is very much linked with caste
system. It has become a part and parcel of social and economic system.

• Etymologically, the term Jajman has been derived from the Sanskrit word Yajman, which
means a person who performs a yajna. Thus if some yajna is to be performed for that the
services of some Brahmins are essentially needed. It was gradually that its use was made
common to everyone who hired services or to whom the services were given.
It could be said that the Jajmani system is a system of distribution whereby high caste land owning
families are provided services and products of various lower castes such as Khati (Carpenter), Nai
(Barber), Kumhars (Potters), Lobars (Blacksmiths), Dhobi (Washer man), Sweeper (Chuhra) etc.
• The servicing castes are called Kamins while the castes served are called Jajmans. For
services rendered the servicing castes are paid in cash or in kind (grains, fodder, clothes,
animal products like milk, butter etc.) Kamin means who works for some body or services
him.
• In villages, durable relations obtain mainly between food-producing families and the families
that supply them with goods and services.
• William H. Wiser’s study of a village in Uttar Pradesh reveals that these relations are called
Jajmani in Hindi. In Maharashtra, they are known as “Balutdari”.
• In Jajmani system, at the centre is the family of agriculturists, the zamindars. They receive
services from the families of occupational castes.
• In other parts of India, terms such as Parjan, Pardhan, Balutedar etc. are also used for the
providers of goods and services. So Jajmani system can be defined as a patron-client
relationship.
• The Jajmani system is called “Aya” in Mysore of South India, according to Ishwaran (1966).
• Although the Jajmani relationship seems to be between castes, in reality, it is between
particular families belonging to particular castes. It is the relationship between families that
continue to exist over time.
Features of Jajmani System in India
• Hereditary: Jajmani ties are hereditary; i.e. various families belonging to various castes keep
on providing their specialist services to particular agriculturist families generation after
generation.
• Durable or Permanent Relation: The Jajmani relations are not like wage-relations which can
be terminated after the transaction is over. They are durable. They continue over
generations. They are exclusive. They are exclusive in the sense that one family will carry out
its relations with only one particular family of the particular occupational caste.
• Goods against Services (Barter exchange): The relationship between Jajman and Kainin is
not purely economic but is a human relationship. Accordingly Jajman takes full responsibility
for the welfare of kamin and kamin serves Jajman with full dedication and devotion. Jajman
not only provides kamin with food but also gives him clothing’s and residential
accommodation. The amount of food grain given to kamin depends upon the nature of
services rendered.
• Peace and Satisfaction: According to W.H. Wiser, peace and satisfaction or contentment is
a significant feature of Jajmani system which it provides to the villagers. The kamins of a
jajman feel a sense of security. They are not worried of finding employment.
This system provides relief to the jajmans also. They are assured of the services of the

kamins. Thus both Jajman and Kamin get a sense of security and peaceful living in the village.
The old age customs and traditions had made the adjustment between the two and nobody
has to bother.
• Difference in Scope of Work: Under jajmani system the range of work of different kamins is
not uniform. There is no specific provision that certain kamin should work for one family or
one village. A kamin may or can effectively cater to the needs of two or three villages
depending upon his nature of work.
For example, a barber can serve in more than one village; who can spare time for serving
extra jajmans, his services are not required by the jajmans every day.
• Ideology of Paternalism: It is noticed that there are multiple bonds between the jajman and
the kamin or we can say between the patron and client. The patron looks after all those
families that work for him. He advances loans or gifts to them at the time of festivals and
other similar occasions. He safeguards their interests. He saves them from exploitation at
the hands of others.
• Integration of Castes: Jajmani system leads to the integration of castes. Interconnectedness
within different castes is reflected through the joint celebrations of festivals such as Hoh,
Kumar Punima, and observation of Raja Sankranti etc. on the part of various caste groups.
Through these celebrations caste integration and solidarity is maintained and strengthened
and social unity is ensured in the village.
• It is Functional: Jajmani system is functional. It gives security to lower castes that they will
never go hungry, for the upper castes. It ensures a regular and uninterrupted supply of
services. Because of these relations, the village emerges as a unified body, where the patrons
organize rituals and activities that symbolically affect the unity of the village.
• It is Related to Ritual Matters: Under the Jajmani system the servicing castes, the kamins
perform the ritual and ceremonial duties at the jajman’s houses on occasions like birth,
marriage and death. All people who help in the function receive gifts of food, money and
clothes depending partly on custom, partly on jajman’s affluence and partly on the
recipient’s entreaty.

Advantages of Jajmani System:

1. Security of Occupation: Security of
occupation is guaranteed in case of
jajmani system. Since this system is
hereditary, the kamin is assured of his
occupation. He knows that if he breaks his family occupation he shall not be able to earn his
livelihood.

2. Economic Security: It provides economic security to kamins as the jajman looks after all of their
needs. The kamins are assured of their economic security. In every monetary crisis the jajman helps
the kamins. They extend all possible help to the kamins. So there is economic security in the jajmani
system.
3. Close and Intimate Relationship: There is close and intimate relationship between the jajman
and kamin. This relationship is not purely economical but it is sentimental and internal. A spirit of
fellow feeling and brotherhood develops under this system. Both jajman and kamin know full well
each other’s limitations as well as plus points.
So, they try to adjust each other. Jajmani system is hereditary and permanent, that is why both
jajman and kamin sympathies for each other. This system creates an atmosphere conducive to
peaceful living and co-operation.
4. Peaceful Living: The cut-throat-competition for work or employment is almost absent in jajmani
system. No jajman goes without service nor any kamin goes without food. So this system creates an
atmosphere of peaceful living by creating the spirit of fellow-feeling and co-operation.
Disadvantages of Jajmani System:
1. Source of Exploitation: Jajmani system is exploitative. The agricultural castes, which are
invariably upper castes, seek the services of the occupational castes, which Eire generally lower
castes. The exploitation of lower castes continues under the garb of paternal ties.
• Like the caste system, this system has become a source of suppression, exploitation and
discrimination. Oscar Lewis has pointed out in his study of Jajmani system in Rampur village,
whereas in the past it was based on personal relationship, it has now become an instrument
of exploitation of kamins by jajmans.
2. Feeling of Superiority and Inferiority:
In this system, the kamins are considered
low whereas the jajmans are placed high.
This has resulted in social inequality and
feeling of superiority and inferiority in the
minds of both Jajman and kamin. Because
this system is based on heredity, the
kamin cannot take other Job or
occupation and the advantage of latest scientific developments to improve his economic condition.
• This system has resulted in lowering the economic standard of the kamins. They are treated
as inferior. They are sometimes exploited and abused by the JaJmans. They become helpless

before the money power of their Jajmans. This is a system which is based on the sense
of high and low.
3. Impediment to Occupational and Social Mobility: Jajmani system has stood on the way of
occupational mobility and resulted in lowering economic standard of the kamins. This system is
hereditary, so there is no possibility of changing the occupation. In this way the system has checked
social mobility. The conditions of the kamins remain miserable because of their economic
weaknesses.

4. Support Caste System: Caste system is the basis of jajmani system. So this system suffers from
all the evils of caste system. Dr. Majumdar found in his study that the conditions of kamins are
miserable and the upper castes subject them to great harassment and trouble.
• They are ill-treated by the Jajmans. This system leads to widespread discrimination. There is
exploitation and coercion. Dumont has pointed out that this system has to satisfy all those
who enter into jajmani relationships.
5. Effect of Transport and Communication: Due to rapid expansion of transport and
communication, the system is in a decline. Because it has made easy for the kamins to seek job or
other occupation outside their village. Now the kamins are no longer compelled to do the Job of
Jajmans.
6. Impact of Social Reform Movement: Due to the impact of social reform movements, the
suppressed castes get benefits. They try to rise up in the social ladder. Various religious reform
movements, like Arya Samaj have produced one of the greatest setback to the Jajmani system.
Changing Aspect of Jajmani System:

• In the last sixty years the jajmani system has undergone many significant changes. In the
village, not every caste participates in this system. In addition to the jajmani relation, there
has always been contractual, wage labour type of ties between the providers of goods and
services and their buyers.
• With the rise of backward class movements in the recent past, certain caste that were a
part of the jajmani system have withdrawn themselves from it.
• Introduction of cash economy has also brought about changes, because payments in the
jajmani system were always in kind rather than in cash. With the ever expanding commercial
frontiers, new opportunities have come up in towns and cities, and many occupational
castes have sought to take advantage of this situation. They move to participate in these
opportunities after seeking withdrawal from the jajmani ties.
There are a number of factors responsible for the disintegration of jajmani system in India.
• Due to the Impact of modernisation, the jajmani system is getting disintegrated. The
influence of life style, modern education, and western culture has become the barrier In
jajmani system. Decline in Jajmani system can be attributed to changes in hereditary
occupation. The rapid expansions of means of transport and communication have enable
the people to receive improved services somewhere else.
• Due to the impact of industrialisation and urbanisation, the economic condition of the
people has been changed. So it comes in the way of jajmani system. Barter system of
exchange is now almost extinct. Now payment in form of cash is made.

• Broad changes in caste system also come in the way of jajmani system. Jajmani system
which was once useful In Indian rural society has gradually seen reduced to exploitation of
the lower castes. Jajmani
system is interconnected
with the caste system.
• The caste system in India is
on its way of disintegration.

So the jajmani relations
with other castes are In the
process of being broken
off. Another factor is that
now-a-days the caste
panchayats are dying out. They have lost their power and effectiveness. Various reform
movements have also contributed to the decline of the jajmani system.
Market economy and its social consequences

• A market economy is a system where the laws of supply and those of demand direct the
production of goods and services. Supply includes natural resources, capital, and labour.
Demand includes purchases by consumers, businesses, and the government.
• In primitive societies the usual system of exchanging goods vas barter system. At that time
the idea of profit did not exist, ‘people accumulated goods not for making profit during the
days of scarcity but to gain prestige. The system of trading often consisted if giving and
mutual rendering of services. Economic factors such s wages, investment; interest and profit
were practically unknown n preliterate societies.
• In the early part of the modern period, the economic activities were generally regulated by
the governing powers. It was an economic reflection of the growing unification of European
peoples under strong monarchical Governments. The interest of the secular rulers lay in
internal unification and this necessarily meant economic as well as political integration.
• The mercantilist ideology dominated the period. The economic activities of the people were
politically regulated to increase the profits of the king and to fill his treasury with wealth.
The nation was looked upon by the mercantilist as an economic organisation engaged in the
making of profit. The ownership and use of productive properties were minutely regulated
by mercantilist’s law.
• Then came the Industrial Revolution which changed the techniques of production. The policy
of mercantilism also had failed to bring about the welfare of the people. To secure maximum
production of usual goods the new do “trine of ‘Laissez- faire’ was propounded. The doctrine
preached non- interference in economic matters.
• Under capitalism, there is no governmental control over the forces of production,
distribution and exchange. It is controlled by the forces operating in the market. There is no
price control or regulated distribution by the government. The economy operates freely
under the law of demand and supply. The capitalist economy is a liberalized or market
economy.
Features of market system

In the broadest sense, capitalism may be
defined as the economic system making the
widest use of capital in the process of
production. In the technical sense,
capitalism may be defined as the economic
system of production in which capital goods

are owned privately by individuals or
corporations.
Private Property
In capitalism every person has the right to
earn and maintain property. The right to property is considered an inviolable right.
Large Scale Production
Capitalism arose as a result of industrial revolution which made large scale production possible.
The installation of gigantic plants and division of labour increased production. More production
means wider use of capital and led to more profits.
Profit Institution
Capitalism cannot exist in the absence of institution of profit. The capitalists invest money and out
of investments earn profit. Production under capitalism is profit-oriented.
Competition
Competition is the inevitable result of a capitalist economy. In capitalism there is extreme
competition between capitalists. Demand is artificially increased and supply is decreased. There is
cut-throat competition under capitalism.
Social Consequences of Capitalism
High Standard of Living. Capitalism is the product of industrialisation. Industrialisation has
increased production. The necessities of life are easily available.
Economic Progress
Capitalism has led men to exploit the natural resources more and more. The people exert
themselves utmost for earning money. This had led to many inventions in the field of industry,
agriculture and business which have contributed to economic progress.
Exchange of Culture
Capitalism has led to international trade and exchange of know-how. People in different countries
have come nearer to each other. The development of the means of transport and communication
has facilitated contacts among the peoples of the world thereby leading to exchange of ideas and
culture.
Lessening of Racial Differences:
Capitalism has also led to the lessening of differences based on race, creed, caste and nationality.
In the factory the workers and officials belonging to different castes co-operate with one another
and work shoulder to shoulder. Inter-mixing of castes is the off-shoot of capitalism.
Greed for Wealth
Capitalism is based on greed for wealth It has raised wealth to the pedestal of deity. Wealth has
become the be-all and end-all of human life. The modern man is mad after wealth. He wants to earn

more and more wealth by any means. The idea for morality does not enter into the means of
earning. It has thus led to moral degeneration.
Destruction of Human Values
In a capitalist order, everything has come to be measured in terms of wealth. All values of human
life such as love, sympathy, benevolence, love and affection are evaluated in terms of silver coins.
Every person wants to get the maximum. The sole criterion is wealth, not value.
Materialism

Capitalism manifests materialism in its extreme form. Religion and spirituality lose their force.
Religion becomes the opium of people. Religion becomes hypocrisy. The big capitalists save lakhs
of rupees by way of tax through contribution to fictitious charitable institutions. While people are
short of goods, the capitalists hoard them to soar the prices.
Artificiality
Capitalism has transformed modern culture into mere artificiality. Today there is false courtesy. One
does not find gentility and human touch. One can see false prestige, mere artificiality, and sheer
advertisement even in art and literature, nothing to speak of diet, dress and speech etc. Life today
has become artificial.
Imbalance in Social System
Capitalism has led to an imbalance in the social system. It has failed to adjust itself to the welfare of
society. It has widened the gap between the haves and have-nots and created insatiable greed for
wealth among the people. It has changed the very outlook of human beings. Wealth has become an
important criterion of status.
It has led to the moral degeneration of man. Obviously, capitalism has failed to bring about the
moral development of man. It is injurious both to society and the individual. In short, it has proved
a curse to humanity instead of a blessing. Karl Marx was its bitter critic.
Occupational diversification and social structure

• Economic development involves occupational diversification, commer-cialisation of
agriculture, and change from primary to secondary and tertiary occupations. Occupation-
wise, people in India may be divided in three groups: those engaged in-
1) Primary occupations (i.e., agriculture, min-ing and quarrying)
2) Secondary occupations (i.e., trade, commerce, manufacturing and transport)
3) Tertiary occupation (i.e., service)
• Age-wise, people belonging to 15-59 years age group are said to be belong-ing to ‘working’
age group. About 38 per cent people in India belong to 0-14 years age group, 55 per cent to
15-59 years age group, and 7 per cent are 60+ years. Of the total people belonging to the
‘working’ age group (about 46 crore), 62.7 per cent are engaged in primary, 14.9 per cent in
secondary and 22.4 per cent in tertiary occupations.
• Occupational diversification affects institutions like family, caste, kinship, etc. Bailey (1957)
has maintained that the joint family cannot survive divergent interests and disparate income
among its members. Epstein, however, does not agree with this view. He contends that
conversion from subsistence to a cash economy rather than the diversification of the
economy is responsible for the breakup of the joint family system.

• M.S.A. Rao (1968) held that joint household organisation is not incompatible with cash
incomes and diverse occupations.
• T.N. Madan (1968) has held that urbanisation and industrialisation do not necessarily lead
to the disintegration of the joint family.
Factors that determines occupational structure of a country are described below:

Geographical Factors:

• After various sources of energy were discovered and rapid improvements were made in the
capital equipment used in industries, the importance of factors like the fertility of soil,
climate and availability of minerals declined in determining the occupations of the people.
• In India, they are still important and people have to choose occupations within the
constraints of available natural resources.
Development of Productive Forces:
• Occupational structure in any country depends to a large extent on the development of
productive forces.
• As long as productive forces do not develop adequately and technology does not acquire
sophistication, productivity of labour remains low and, consequently, a large part of the
labour force engages itself in the production of food articles.
• This is precisely the problem of most underdeveloped countries, including India.
Division of labour and Specialisation:
• Continuous development of productive forces creates conditions for increasingly complex
division of labour.
• With the introduction of division of labour in production, labour productivity rises and
transfer of population from primary industries to secondary and tertiary industries takes
place.
• This is inevitable because of the following two reasons firstly, because in any economy based
on division of labour, all people need not produce food for themselves and secondly,
because the demand for food articles is relatively inelastic and as productivity rises it can be
met by the production done by a lesser number of people.
Level of Per Capita Income:
• The per capita income of a country has a great bearing on the occupational distribution of
population. In all the countries where per capita income is low, a substantially large portion
of the national income is spent on goods produced in the primary sector. As such, sizable
labour force in these countries remains employed in agriculture, animal husbandry, fishery
and forestry.
• When growth takes place and per capita income rises, demand for manufactured goods
increases and in its response their output is also expanded. This creates more jobs in the
secondary sector. India’s per capita income is one of the lowest in the world.
Changing Structure:
• It is an utmost necessity that a large part of the workers in the agricultural sector be
transferred to industrial and service sectors. The argument for the transference of workers

from agriculture is that, it will raise productivity per worker. Hence, the quicker the
pace of such transference, the better it is.
• Since productivity per head in industries and services is generally higher than in agriculture,
such transference of workers from low to high productivity sectors will result in higher
national productivity per head resulting in an increase in total production. Besides, there will
be diversification in economic activities.
• As a consequence of these developments, national income will rise, and if the rate of

population growth remains within reasonable limits, per capita income will also rise. The
occupational structure as a reflector of these changes will undergo desirable changes.
Profession and professionalization
Profession means a job or an occupation that helps a person earn his living. The main criteria of a
profession involves the following.
• Advanced expertise − the criteria of a
profession is to have sound knowledge in
both technical aspects and liberal arts as
well. In general, continuing education and
updating knowledge are also important.
• Self-regulation − An organization that
provides a profession, plays a major role in
setting standards for the admission to the
profession, drafting codes of ethics, enforcing the standards of conduct and representing
the profession before the public and the government.
• Public good − any occupation serves some public good by maintaining high ethical
standards throughout a profession. This is a part of professional ethics where each
occupation is intended to serve for the welfare of the public, directly or indirectly to a
certain extent.
Professionals
A person who is paid for getting involved in a particular profession in order to earn a living as well
as to satisfy the laws of that profession can be understood as a Professional.
Professionalism
• Professionalism covers comprehensively all areas of practice of a particular profession. It
requires skills and responsibilities involved in engineering profession. Professionalism
implies a certain set of attitudes.
• The art of Professionalism can be understood as the practice of doing the right thing, not
because how one feels but regardless of how one feels. Professionals make a profession of
the specific kind of activity and conduct to which they commit themselves and to which they
can be expected to conform. Moral ideals specify virtue, i.e., desirable feature of character.
Virtues are desirable ways of relating to other individuals, groups and organizations. Virtues
involve motives, attitudes and emotions.
• According to Aristotle, virtues are the “acquired habits that enable us to engage effectively
in rational activities that defines us as human beings.”
Professional Ideals and Virtues

• The virtues represent excellence in core moral behaviour. The essentials for any professional
to excel in the profession are behaviour, skills and knowledge. The behaviour shows the
moral ideology of the professional.
• The moral ideals specify the virtue, i.e., the desirable character traits that talk a lot about
the motives, attitude and emotions of an individual.
o Public spirited virtues
o Proficiency virtues

o Team work virtues
o Self-governance virtues
• The virtues mentioned above show the professional responsibility of an individual. Hence,
the professionalism that comes in with these virtues is called Responsible Professionalism.
Public-spirited Virtues
• Maintaining a sense of community with faith and hope within the society and being
generous by extending time, talent and money to professional societies and communities,
a professional can maintain the public-spirited virtue.
Proficiency Virtues
• These refer to the virtues followed in the profession according to the talent and intellect of
a professional. The moral values that include this virtue are competence and diligence. The
competence is being successful in the job being done and the diligence is taking care and
having alertness to dangers in the job. Creativity should also be present in accomplishing
the assigned task.
Teamwork Virtues
• These virtues represent the coordination among team members which means working
successfully with other professionals. These include cooperative nature along with loyalty
and respect towards their organization, which makes the professionals motivate the team
professionals to work towards their valuable goals.
Self-governance Virtues
• These virtues are concerned with moral responsibilities which represent integrity and self-
respect of the person. The integrity actually means the moral integrity which refers to the
actions, attitude and emotions of the person concerned during his professional period.
• The self-governance virtues centre on commitment, courage, self-discipline, perseverance,
self-respect and integrity. The truthfulness and trustworthiness which represent his honesty
are the crucial moral values to be kept up by a professional.
GOALS FOR PROFESSIONALIZATION
Historically, professionalization has had one or more of the following goals:
(1) To establish standards that enhance the quality of the workforce
(2) To regulate workers whose jobs can affect the health, safety, or property of others
(3) To enhance public trust and confidence
(4) To enable compliance with regulatory or legal requirements
(5) To enhance the status of an occupation
(6) To establish a monopoly or otherwise regulate the supply of labour to advance the interests of
its members etc.
An additional, often unstated but important, goal is to establish a shared set of values, culture,
ethos, and mindset for a profession

Role of trade unions
Trade unions are associations of workers formed to represent their interests and improve their pay
and working conditions.
Trade unions are a major component of the system of modern industrial relations in any nation,
each having their own set of objectives or goals to achieve according to their constitution and each
having its own strategy to reach those goals.Union of workers plays an important role in industrial

system. Annually statics on Trade Unions are collected by Ministry of Labour, Government of Indias
Labour Bureau. Right to form Trade Union in a fundamental right under Article 19 (1) (c) of the
Indian Constitution
Objectives and Need of Trade Union
• Wages and salaries-Wages and salaries and the most important subjects of Trade Unions. In
the organized industry, wages and benefits are determined through processes such as
collective bargaining, wage boards, conciliation, and adjudication. Working of all these
processes deserves systematic inquiry. Union power and objective facts hopefully influence
the wage scene through these forums.
• Working conditions-Another major objective of the Trade Unions is to insure the safety of
workers. While working every worker must be provided with basic facilities like. Drinking
water, minimum working hours, paid holidays, social security, safety equipments, lights and
others.
• Personnel policies-Any personal policy of the employer with respect to promotion, transfer
and training may be challenge by Trade Unions if arbitrary.
• Discipline-Trade Unions also protect the workers from arbitrary discipline action taken by
management against any worker. No worker should be victimized by management in the
form of arbitrary transfer or suspension.
• Welfare-The main objective of the Trade Union is to work for the welfare of the workers.
This includes welfare of the family members or children of the worker.
• Employee and Employer Relations-for an industrial peace there must be harmony between
employer and employee. But due to superior power of the management sometimes conflict
arises in this situation Trade Union represent the whole group of workers and continue
negotiations with management.
• Negotiating Machinery-Trade Unions may also put proposals before management, as this
policy is based on the principle of Give and Take. Trade Unions protect the interest of
workers through collective bargaining.
• Safeguarding Organisational Health and the Interest of the Industry-Trade Unions also help
in achieving employee satisfaction. Trade unions also help in better industrial relation by
creating procedure to resolve the industrial dispute.
• Alone workers feel weak. Trade Union provides him a platform to join others to achieve
social objectives.

Functions/significance of Trade Unions in India

• Collective Bargaining-Honourable Supreme Court of India has defined Collective bargaining
as the technique by which dispute as to conditions of employment is resolved amicably by
agreement rather than coercion. In this process negotiations and discussions take place
between employer and employee in respect to working conditions. Refusing to bargain
collectively is an illegal trade practice. Collective bargaining helps to resolve the issues of
workers. Collective Bargaining is the foundation of the movement and it is in the interest of

labour that statutory recognition has been accorded to Trade Union and their capacity to
represent workmen.
• Trade Unions protect the worker from wages hike, provides job security through peaceful
measures.
• Trade Unions also help in providing financial and non-financial aid to the workers during lock
out or strike or in medical need.
• It has also to be borne in mind while making an agreement that the interest of the workers
who are not the members of Trade Union are also protected and the workers who are not
members of the Trade Union are also protected and the workers are not discriminated.
• Trade unions fills the void which was obstructing the attainment of industrial peace and
social justice any decision arrived by virtue of deliberation with employer through trade
union should be followed strictly by the labours which forms the part of that trade union as
it improves the working condition, wages they get and other matters related to employment
as the trade unions helps the labours in their bad days like the personal accidents or at the
time of retrenchment or lockouts.
• There are many welfare measures are taken for supporting the workmen example of which
is legal assistance, housing schemes and education to children of workers so these functions
of trade union makes its existence significant for social justice.
• Trade unions perform substantial roles in increasing the wages of the workers.
Growth and Origin of Trade Union in India

• The first factories Act was passed in the year 1881 by virtue of recommendation of Bombay
factory recommendation in the year 1985.The workers of the Bombay textile industry
demanded that the working hour should be reduced, weekly holidays and compensation in
case of injuries suffered by the workmen. Bombay mills hand association is first union
established for workers by N.lokhande in the year 1890.
• Several Labour movements started after the outbreak of world war one. The miserable social
and economic condition of the people at that time triggered the labour movement.
Formation of ILO (international labour organization) leads to formation of trade unions
.Ahmadabad labour textile association was formed under the guidance of Mahatma Gandhi
principle of non-violence.
AITUC (All India Trade Union Congress)
• All India trade union congress is formed in the year 1920 for the purpose of selecting the
delegates for ILO, first meeting of AITUC was held in Bombay under the president ship of
Lala Lajpat Rai in the year 1920

• AIRF (All India Railways man Federation) was formed in 1922, all the union consisting
and compromising of railway workmen were made part of it and affiliated to it.
• AITUC witnessed the split because some members were in support of the war and other
were not in support of the war, later group is separated as an organization under the
leadership of congress leaders resulted in the formation of Indian National Trade Union
Congress (INTUC) .
• Socialists also got themselves separated from the AITUC which resulted in the formation of

Hind Mazdoor sabha in the year 1948. Therefore the splits and detachment can be observed
resulting in creation of separate trade unions.
The four major organization serving as union for workmen are INTUC, AITUC ,HMS ,UTUC
INTUC
The formation is lead by congress leaders, all the unions affiliated to INTUC should go for arbitration
for the dispute once all other remedies are exhausted.
HMS (HIND MAZDOOR SABHA)
It was formed by those who neither became part of AITUC, INTUC in Calcutta in the year 1951
following the socialist principle.
UTUC (United Trade Union Congress)
It was formed in the year 1949 and mainly operated in west Bengal and Kerala. Apart from these
four trade unions there are other trade unions working in various industries not affiliated to any
central organization. Indian trade unions have now recognized by law and given legal status and
becomes the permanent attribute industrial society influencing policy making and decision of
employers by virtue of negotiation over interests between workman and employer.
Problem faced by Trade Unions in India

(A) Uneven Growth: Trade union activities are concentrated in large scale industries and that too in
regard of manual labour only and mainly in bigger industrial centre, there are hardly any trade union
activities in small scale enterprises, domestic and agricultural labour. The degree of unionism varies
a lot from industry to industry, thus touching only a portion of the working class in India.
(B) Low Membership: Even though, the number of trade unions has increased considerably in India
but this has been followed by the declining membership per union. The average number of
members per union was about 3,500 in 1927-28. It reduced to about 1,400 in 1946-47 and again to
as low as a figure of 675 in 1985-86 and 659 in 2000-01. This indicates the emergence of small scale
trade unions.
(C) Multiplicity of Unions: Another problem faced by the growth of trade unions is that of
multiplicity of unions. There may exist many trade unions in the same establishment. The existence
of large number of trade unions can be attributed to the fact that The Trade Unions Act, 1926
permits any association of seven workers to be registered as a union, and confers upon it certain
rights. Many a time, it is contended that multiplicity of unions is because of outside leaders, but
more pertinent point is that they are able to work because law permits and gives sanctity to the
small unions.
(D) Inter Union Rivalry: Unions try to play down each other in a bid to gain greater influence among
workers. In the process they do more harm than good to the cause of unionism as a whole.

Employers are given an opportunity to play unions against each other. They can refuse to
bargain on the contention that there is not true representative union. Besides this, the workers own
solidarity is lost. Employers are able to take advantage of in fighting between workers groups.
(E) Weak Financial Position: The financial position is very low as their average yearly income is very
low and inadequate. The subscription rates are very low due to multiplicity of unions, unions
interested in increasing their membership keep the subscription rates very low resulting inadequacy
of funds with the unions. Another important reason for the weak financial position of unions is that

large amounts of subscription dues remain unpaid by the workers. The name of constant defaulters
continuously appears on the registers on most of the unions. They are neither expelled nor cease
to be members ipso facto according to the union rules.
(F) Lack of Public Support: The trade unions frequently resort to strike and protest in order to make
their demands meet. As a result, inconvenience is caused to public. This is the public support or
sympathy is almost negligible
Current update
Labour Reforms
There are numerous labour laws in India – more than 40. As part of labour reform initiatives, the
labour ministry has decided to amalgamate 44 labour laws into four labour codes — on wages,
industrial relations, social security and safety, health and working conditions.
In 2019, the Central Government introduced four bills on labour codes to consolidate 29 central
laws. These are:
• Code on Wages
• Industrial Relations Code
• Social Security Code
• Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code
While the Wages Code was passed in 2019, the other three bills were referred to a Standing
Committee on Labour. As per the recommendations of the Committee, the government replaced
these bills with new ones in September 2020, and these were passed in the same month.
The Rules for all the four labour code bills would be notified in one go according to the Labour
Ministry. Hence, even though the draft Rules for the Wages Code had been circulated in 2019 itself,
the Ministry withheld its finalisation and implementation.
CODE ON WAGES, 2019

The Code on Wages was passed by the Parliament in 2019.
The Wages Code seeks to regulate wage and bonus payments in all employments where any
industry, business, trade or manufacture is carried out.
This code replaces the following laws:
• Minimum Wages Act, 1948
• Payment of Wages Act, 1936
• Payment of Bonus Act, 1965
• Equal Remuneration Act, 1976

Coverage of the Code on Wages:

• The code will apply to all employees.
• The Central Government will take decisions on wages for employments in mines, railways,
oil fields, etc.
• For all other types, the state governments will make the decisions.
• Wages include salary, allowance or any other monetary component. It does not include
bonuses and travelling allowances.

Floor wage
• As per the code, the Central Government will fix the floor wages considering the workers’
living standards.
• The floor wage may vary depending on the geographical location.
• The minimum wages decided by the central or state governments should be above the floor
wages. In case the existing minimum wages are higher than the floor wages, the central or
state governments cannot reduce the minimum wages.
• While fixing the minimum wages, the government should take into account the difficulty
level of the work, and the workers’ skill levels also.
• Also, the minimum wage fixed will be reviewed by the government at least every five years.
• Employers cannot employ people on less than the minimum wage.
• The number of working hours will be fixed by the central or state governments. In the case
of overtime work, the worker is entitled to overtime compensation which should be at least
twice the normal wages.
• The employer can fix the wage period as either daily, weekly, fortnightly, or monthly.
• The employer can deduct wages for the following. However, the deductions should not
exceed 50% of the worker’s wages.
o Fines
o Absence from duty
o Accommodation given by the employer
o Advances given to the employee
o All employees whose wages do not exceed a specific monthly amount will be entitled
to an annual bonus.
• The Code prohibits gender discrimination in wages and recruitment of people for the same
work or work of similar nature.
• Work of a similar nature is defined as work for which the skill, effort, experience, and
responsibility required are the same.
Advisory boards
• Advisory boards will be set up by the central and state governments. These boards will consist
of an equal number of employees and employers, state government representatives and
independent persons.
• One-third of the boards will be women members.
• These boards will advise the governments on minimum wage fixing and increasing the
employment opportunities for women.

The Code specifies penalties for offences committed by an employer.

• Contravention of any provision of the Code
• Paying less than the minimum wage
• The maximum punishment is three-month imprisonment along with a fine of Rs. 1 lakh
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS CODE, 2020

Some of the provisions of the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 are mentioned below.

• The Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 had made it mandatory for
employers of industrial establishments with 100 or more workers to define the conditions
of employment and rules of conduct for workmen, by way of standing orders/services rules
and to inform the workers of the same clearly.
o However, under the new Code, the minimum number of workers employed for an
establishment to have standing orders has been raised to 300.
o With the increased threshold, it becomes more flexible and easier to hire and fire
thus leading to increased employment according to the government.
o Prior permission of the government is mandated before closure, lay-off, or
retrenchment of employees in establishments having more than 300 workers.
• The Code also introduces new conditions for conducting a legal strike.
o Employees are prohibited from going on strike without giving a 60-day notice.
o Employees are also prohibited from going on strike during the pendency of
proceedings before a Tribunal or a National Industrial Tribunal.
o They should also not go on strike before 60 days are completed after the tribunal’s
proceedings.
• The new Code also proposes the setting up of a re-skilling fund for training retrenched
workers with contribution from the employer, of an amount equal to 15 days last drawn by
the worker.
CODE ON SOCIAL SECURITY, 2020

• The definition of employees has been widened to include inter-state migrant workers,
construction workers, film industry workers and platform workers.
• The gratuity period for working journalists has been reduced from 5 years to 3 years.
• The Code talks about setting up social security funds for unorganized workers, platform
workers, and gig workers.
• There is a provision for the central government to decrease or defer the employer’s or
employee’s contribution towards the PF or ESI for up to 3 months in the event of a pandemic,
national disaster or an epidemic.
• The Code proposes the establishment of a National Social Security Board for recommending
to the central government the formulation of schemes for the various sections of
unorganised, gig and platform workers.

CODE ON OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY, HEALTH AND WORKING CONDITIONS, 2020

• The Code expands the definition of a factory as a premise where at least 20 workers work
for a process with power and 40 workers for a process without power.
• The Code removes the manpower limit on hazardous working conditions and makes the
application of the Code obligatory for contractors recruiting 50 or more workers (earlier it
was 20).
• The Code fixes the daily work hour limit to a maximum of eight hours.

• The Code empowers women to be employed in all kinds of establishments and at night
(between 7 PM and 6 AM) subject to their consent and safety.
• To encourage formalisation in employment, the employer is required to issue an
appointment letter.
• The Code defines an inter-state migrant worker as someone who has come on his/her own
from one state and received employment in another state and earns up to Rs.18000 per
month.
• Portability benefits for inter-state migrant workers: They can avail benefits in the destination
state as regards ration and benefits of building and other construction worker cess.
• However, the Code has dropped the earlier provision for temporary accommodation for
workers near worksites.
• The Code also proposes a Journey Allowance – this is a lump sum fare amount to be paid by
the employer for the journey of the worker from his/her native state to the place of
employment.
A vibrant and responsible trade union

environment is the requisite for
inclusive growth to any economy. It
checks growing inequality and falling
living conditions of the working class.
Recent years has seen an erosion of
powers of most labour unions.
Though labour reforms are the need
of the hour, every reform should
strike a perfect balance between
labour welfare and investment-led
development.

Social determinants and consequence of economic development
Economic development refers to the process, whereby people of a country utilize the resources
available to bring about a sustained growth in per capita production of goods and services.
Sustained growth of per capita income is a feature of economic development.
However, non-economic or social dimension has been’ added to the concept of economic

development by UNO. According to UNO-
“Development concerns not only man’s material needs, but also improvement of social
conditions of his life. Development is, therefore, not only economic growth but growth plus
change – social, cultural and institutional as well as economic”.
• As the process of economic development is a continuous process, it needs to create chain of
reactions of such forces which may set in motion the process of income generating in the
economy. The process of economic development requires suitable climate for its initiation,
maintenance and acceleration.
• Gunar Myrdal has pointed out six important factors affecting development:
1) Output and income
2) Conditions of production
3) Levels of living
4) Attitude towards life and work
5) Institutions
6) Politics.
• The first three refer to economic factors, the next two to non-economic factors, and the last
one to a mixed category.
• The social determinants of economic development include various social institutions such
as the family, class structure, caste, religion, traditions, attitudes, beliefs and culture etc.
Although economic factors are significant, social factors are more dynamic and powerful
which determines economic development to a great extent.
• The rate and nature of economic development are profoundly influenced by factors such as
the adaptability of society, its attitudes to innovation and change. The rate of economic
development is also influenced by the attitudes of the traditional elite to social and political
changes.
• The cultural context surrounding the production systems, the relations between various
groups participating into the economic processes and a favourable cultural context in society
determine the structure of the economy decisively. An open and progressive society with
healthy environment makes a positive contribution to development.
• A rigid, retrograde social system hinders economic development in many ways. A mobile,
receptive outward looking social system is conducive for economic development.
• Democratic norms and its full application are important factors for development. The type
of Government and its relationship with the masses in the domain of policy making for
development a assumes importance for all round development.

• Advancement in technology is hindered in developing countries due to lack of

education of people. Education motivates and inspires individuals to actively participate in
the process of economic development. In fact, education brings revolutions in ideas of
economic progress.
• Traditional values are not conducive to economic development. Social mobilisation is an
essential prerequisite of economic development. Social mobilisation implies the process in
which major clusters of Old social, economic and psychological commitments are eroded

and broken. In addition, cultural flexibility is necessary for the introduction of any new norms
and values.
• Economic development not only requires institutional changes but also changes at personal
level….sustenance of economic development depends upon certain personal traits. Instead
of being fatalistic, religious and immobile, individuals should be mobile, activists and
innovational in nature.
• Better health conditions and availability of medical facilities, reduction in mortality rates and
birth rates can have positive contribution to economic development. Rapid population
growth impede economic growth in underdeveloped areas.
• The trickledown effect of overall per capital GNP growth was expected to provide more jobs
and economic opportunities, ensuring wider diffusion of the benefits of growth. But in the
Third World countries things
did not work out in this way, the
economists had predicted. The
benefits of growth remained
confined to small sections of
the population. It became
increasingly clear that the
concept of economic
development cannot solve the
major problems of poverty,
hunger and malnutrition.
• Hence, the concept of
economic development has
been enlarged to refer to
economic equality and self-
reliance along with economic growth. Several non-economic issues, e.g. education, housing,
employment, social welfare have been incorporated to the major objectives in the
development strategies.

Globalisation and its social impact
Globalisation is the process by which the world is becoming increasingly interconnected as a

result of massively increased trade and cultural exchange.
Globalization is a significant factor in competitive world that integrate and mobilize cultural values
of people at global level. In the age of rapid technical progression, many countries are unified and
transformed due to the process of globalization. Globalization has a huge impact on cultural,

social, monetary, political, and communal life of countries.
Socio-Cultural Impact on Indian Society
• Access to education: On one hand globalisation has aided in the explosion of information
on the web that has helped in greater awareness among people. It has also led to greater
need for specialisation and promotion of higher education in the country. On the flip side
the advent of private education, coaching classes and paid study material has created a gap
between the haves and have-nots. It has become increasingly difficult for an individual to
obtain higher education.
• Growth of cities: It has been estimated that by 2050 more than 50% of India’s population
will live in cities. The boom of services sector and city centric job creation has led to
increasing rural to urban migration.
• Indian cuisine: is one of the most popular cuisines across the globe. Historically, Indian spices
and herbs were one of the most sought after trade commodities. Pizzas, burgers, Chinese
foods and other Western foods have become quite popular.
• Clothing: Traditional Indian clothes for women are the saris, suits, etc. and for men,
traditional clothes are the dhoti, kurta. Hindu married women also adorned the red bindi
and sindhur, but now, it is no more a compulsion. Rather, Indo-western clothing, the fusion
of Western and Sub continental fashion is in trend. Wearing jeans, t-shirts, mini skirts have
become common among Indian girls.
• Indian Performing Arts: The Indian Classical music has gained worldwide recognition but
recently, western music is too becoming very popular in our country. Fusing Indian music
along with western music is encouraged among musicians. More Indian dance shows are
held globally. The number of foreigners who are eager to learn Bharatanatyam is rising.
Western dance forms such as Jazz, Hip hop, Salsa, Ballet have become common among
Indian youngsters.
• Nuclear Families: The increasing migration coupled with financial independence has led to
the breaking of joint families into nuclear ones. The western influence of individualism has
led to an aspirational generation of youth. Concepts of national identity, family, job and
tradition are changing rapidly and significantly. Divorce rates are rising day by day.
• Old Age Vulnerability: The rise of nuclear families has reduced the social security that the
joint family provided. This has led to greater economic, health and emotional vulnerability
of old age individuals.
• Pervasive Media: There is greater access to news, music, movies, videos from around the
world. Foreign media houses have increased their presence in India. India is part of the global

launch of Hollywood movies which is very well received here. It has a psychological,
social and cultural influence on our society.
• McDonaldization: A term denoting the increasing rationalization of the routine tasks of
everyday life. It becomes manifested when a culture adopts the characteristics of a fast-food
restaurant. McDonaldization is a reconceptualization of rationalization, or moving from
traditional to rational modes of thought, and scientific management.
• Walmartization: A term referring to profound transformations in regional and global

economies through the sheer size, influence, and power of the big-box department store
WalMart. It can be seen with the rise of big businesses which have nearly killed the small
traditional businesses in our society.
• American festivals like Valentines’ day, Friendship day etc. are spreading across India.
The impact of the globalization on India has been positive as well as negative. Some areas have
benefited while others have suffered in socio-cultural context and this has forced policy makers to
put efforts to decrease and contain the negative impacts.
Globalisation has brought huge improvement in fields of technology, education and healthcare.
Research and advance education institutions can play important role in the process of globalization.
Advanced economies in world have for long been working together with the universities and other
educational and research institutions for the development of new knowledge and skills to improve
their operations and functioning. Emerging economies like India and China have also started
investing in collective and collaborative studies and research with the business houses and
educational institutions. Such studies and developments can help nations and societies to make
globalization process more sustainable and beneficial for the society by remedying the loopholes
and distortions caused only profit seeking market oriented elements.
At the same time it has helped to bring down gender inequality and establish the concept of equal
opportunities to everyone irrespective gender and caste. This has improved the position of women
and Dalits in society. Festivals, music, cinema, television, literature and languages well as eating
habits have been largely affected by western values in terms of expression and celebration etc. Also
the process of globalization has reduced the autonomy of states in matters of economic activities.
But it has brought transparency, higher efficiency and sense of responsibility in administrators.
These changes can be said to be beneficial in one way or other. But in some areas like family
structure and values, attitude and identity and social security, globalisation has made irreversible
damage. Also the case of drugs and trafficking is on rise in India.
Although there are some changes in whole country at social as well as cultural level because of the
process of globalisation but globalisation cannot be sole factor of changes; whether beneficial or
non-beneficial. There must be some other factors that also might be responsible for multi facet
change in socio-cultural changes in India.

Scheduled caste and their

welfare
Scheduled castes are those castes in the country that suffer from extreme social, educational and
economic backwardness arising out of age-old practice of untouchability and certain others on

account of lack of infrastructure facilities and geographical isolation, and who need special
consideration for safeguarding their interests and for their accelerated socio-economic development.
These communities were notified as Scheduled Castes as per provisions contained in Clause 1 of
Article 341 of the Constitution.
The problems faced by scheduled caste are as follows
The main problems faced by the scheduled castes in the past and even today are social, religious,
economic and political deprivations.
Social deprivation:
• Face the problems of untouchability and discrimination though these have been legally
abolished. They become victims of various types of atrocities committed by the higher caste
people.
• Their literacy rate and educational level is low, their social status is still downgraded and their
economic exploitation is higher especially in rural areas.
• Ritually and religiously, they are still considered impure and despite legal protection, they are
generally not allowed to enter temples or use public places.
• Poverty, illiteracy, economic As Mckim Marriot (1955) noted in his
background, poor health conditions, study of the Kishan Garhi village in U.P., and
lack of general awareness are some of the exchange of food and drink the
problems the scheduled caste suffer between different castes was patterned
from. within the framework of the jajmani
• Most of them are engaged as landless, system. The pattern related to who will
manual daily wage workers even today. eat with whom, who will give kaccha
• A majority of the scheduled castes live food (i.e. food cooked in water) to in
rural areas and are hence deprived of- whom, and who will receive it, who will
better education including higher give only pacca food to whom, and so
education. on
• Lack of urban and mass media exposure
make them unaware and ignorant of
many basic things which are important for motivation and aspiration.
• Their level of self-perception is low and life is mainly reduced to a struggle for survival.
• They have no courage to protest against the higher caste people even when heinous crimes
are committed against them.
• Educational Problems: Although there has been a gradual increase in the literacy rate of the
scheduled castes over the years yet the gap between the higher castes and scheduled castes
in their educational achievement is still very wide.
• Most of the scheduled castes also face problem to acquire higher educational loan as they
have no knowledge from where to get such type of loans.

The idea that food touched by the Shudra is denied and cannot be taken by a Brahmin is
first expressed in the Dharmasutras (500B.C.-300). Shudra could not take part in Vedic sacrifices
and sacraments. He came to be excluded from the Vedic sacrifices to such an extent that in the
performance of certain rites, even his presence and sight were avoided.
Economic Deprivation:
• They have very few assets and are mainly In a 2013 research paper, Ashwini
dependent upon agricultural pursuits and other Deshpande and Smriti Sharma at

low income generating occupations like shoe the Delhi School of Economics, used
making, sweeping, bamboo basket making, black- data from the third and fourth
smithy, weaving, poultry, piggery etc. rounds of the Indian Micro, Small
• Their economic condition is deplorable. A large and Medium Enterprises Survey to
number of them continue to live below poverty show that the share of SC-owned
line. Due to their poor economic condition, they firms in the food and beverages
cannot afford adequate and good quality food and category was much lower than the
basic amenities of life for themselves. national average and the average
• They being economically dependent on the higher for other social groups.
castes, have to survive a hand to mouth existence.
Data: (Use in the exam)…

The economic census, which was conducted in 2013 and covered 58.5 million economic
enterprises, provides data on social-group wise ownership of proprietary establishments.
OBCs have an almost proportionate ownership, while SCs have the lowest relative share
among all social groups. The ownership of SCs/STs and OBCs in non-agricultural
establishments is lower than overall figures, suggesting that India’s socially deprived groups
typically face greater barriers in the non-farm sector of the economy. The scale of
deprivation is however far higher for SCs and STs than for OBCs, the data suggests.
2011-12 NSSO also point to the stark inequality in socio-economic status between SCs (and
STs) and other castes. The data show that Dalits are the least likely to start their own
enterprises and most likely to work as labourers for others, with SCs having the lowest
relative share in self-employed category and the highest share in casual labourer category.
The OBCs have a roughly proportionate share in each employment category.
The data shows that non-Muslim upper castes have a much higher share among white collar
employees, while Dalits and Adivasis (SCs/STs) have a much greater share among unskilled
workers in comparison to OBCs.
Political deprivation:
• They are under represented in democratic institutions in spite of reservation.
• In panchayat seats are reserved for SC- upper caste either do not allow elections to be
conducted or place their proxy in the position (refer PRI and village section for case study)
• The bureaucracy is mainly dominated by higher castes. All the welfare programmes, schemes
and plans remain on the papers or are implemented haphazardly and normally do not reach
the needy scheduled caste people.
• Poor implementation of laws meant to protect the lower caste.

Data collected by the Trivedi Centre for Political Data, Ashoka University shows that in 63
state assembly elections held since 2004, scheduled-caste candidates found it extremely
difficult to get elected from a unreserved seat. In 44 elections, they lost. Often Dalits are not
given tickets by major political parties from unreserved seats. Neither Uttar Pradesh, the
state where the BSP is a force, nor the BJP-ruled states have a good track record. The
Communist Party of India (Marxist) ruled Tripura stands out as an exception with a 5% share
of scheduled caste candidates being elected from unreserved seats.

Crimes against SC/ST National Crime Records Bureau
• Cow vigilantism: The term “Cow vigilantism” (NCRB) data shows that crimes
is used to describe the lawlessness happening against Dalits increased from less
under the name of Cow protection. Dalits and than 50 (for every million people) in
Muslims are at the receiving end of this the last decade to 223 in 2015.
vigilantism. Since Dalits are concentrated in Among states, Rajasthan has the
the occupation of leather making from hides worst record although Bihar is a
of the cow, they are invariably targeted by regular in the top 5 states by crimes
vigilantes. against Dalits. Gujarat had a rate
• Honour killing: In a society like India, where lower than all-India average (for
caste structures are still dominant in the form crimes against Dalits) in 2011.
of endogamy, honour killings are prevalent on
a wide scale. Dalits are almost always at the receiving end of the violence.
• Social boycott: Khap panchayat – caste panchayat often acts as an arena for perpetuating
atrocities against Dalits by ostracizing them from the society.
Constitution and SCs / STs
The Constitution provides a three-pronged strategy to improve the situation of SCs and STs:
1. Protective arrangements:
• Such measures as are required to enforce equality, to provide punitive measures for
transgressions, and to eliminate established practices that perpetuate inequities.
• A number of laws were enacted to implement the provisions in the Constitution.
• Examples of such laws include the Untouchability Practices Act, 1955, Scheduled Caste
and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, The Employment of Manual
Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993, etc.
• Despite legislation, social discrimination and atrocities against the backward castes
continued to persist.
2. Affirmative action:
• Provide positive treatment in allotment of jobs and access to higher education as a
means to accelerate the integration of the SCs and STs with mainstream society.
• Affirmative action is popularly known as reservation.
• Article 16 of the Constitution states "nothing in this article shall prevent the State from
making any provisions for the reservation of appointments or posts in favor of any
backward class of citizens, which, in the opinion of the state, is not adequately
represented in the services under the State".
• The Supreme Court upheld the legality of affirmative action and the Mandal
Commission (a report that recommended that affirmative action).
• Development:
• Provide resources and benefits to bridge the socioeconomic gap between the SCs and
STswww.NammaKPSC.com
and other communities. Hebbal | Vijayanagar 155
Measures for SC protection and upliftment
Constitutional mechanism for upliftment of SC

The deep concern of the framers of the Constitution for the uplift of the Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes is reflected in the elaborate constitutional mechanism
set-up for their uplift.
• Article 15(4) refers to the special provisions for their advancement.
• Article 16(4A) speaks of “reservation in matters of promotion to any class or classes of posts in the

services under the State in favour of SCs/STs, which are not adequately represented in the services
under the State’.
• Article 17 abolishes Untouchability.
• Article 46 requires the State ‘to promote with special care the educational and economic interests of
the weaker sections of the people, and, in particular, of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled
Tribes, and to protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation.
• Article 330 and Article 332 of the Constitution respectively provide for reservation of seats in favour
of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in the House of the People and in the legislative
assemblies of the States. Under Part IX relating to the Panchayats and Part IXA of the Constitution
relating to the Municipalities, reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in local bodies
has been envisaged and provided.
• Article 335 provides that the claims of the members of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled
Tribes shall be taken into consideration, consistently with the maintenance of efficiency of
administration, in the making of appointments to services and posts in connection with the affairs of
the Union or of a State.
• Article 338 provides for a National Commission for the Scheduled Castes with duties to investigate
and monitor all matters relating to safeguards provided for them, to inquire into specific complaints
and to participate and advise on the planning process of their socio-economic development etc.
Institutionalised mechanisms
The Constitution of India has prescribed, protection and safeguards for the Scheduled Castes (SCs),
Scheduled Tribes (STs) and other weaker sections; either specially or the way of insisting on their
general rights as citizens; with the object of promoting their educational and economic interests and
removing social disabilities.
These social groups have also been provided institutionalized commitments through the
constitutional body, the National Commission of SCs.
Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment is the nodal Ministry to oversee the interests of
the Scheduled Castes.
Though the primary responsibility for promotion of interests of the Scheduled Castes rests with
all the Central Ministries in the area of their operations and the State Governments, the Ministry
complements their efforts by way of interventions in critical sectors through specifically tailored
schemes. The Scheduled Castes Development (SCD) Bureau of the Ministry aims to promote the
welfare of Scheduled Castes through their educational, economic and social
empowerment. Efforts made by State Governments and Central Ministries for protecting and
promoting the interests of Scheduled Castes are also monitored.

SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act (POA Act 1989)
• Article 17 seeks to abolish ‘untouchability’ Untouchability (Offences) Act 1955 was enacted
• The lacuna in the above act lead to the passing of Protection of Civil Rights Act 1976
The provisions of SC/ST Act:
• Creation of new types of offences not in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) or in the Protection of
Civil Rights Act 1955 (PCRA).
• Atrocities can be committed only by non-SCs and non-STs on members of the SC or ST

communities. Crimes among SCs and STs or between STs and SCs do not come under the
purview of this Act.
• Defines various types of atrocities against SCs/STs and prescribes stringent punishments for
the same.
• Enhanced minimum punishment for public servants.
• Punishment for neglect of duties by a public servant
• Cancellation of arms licenses in the areas identified where an atrocity may take place or has
taken place and grant arms licenses to SCs and STs
• Denial of anticipatory bail provided in Section 438 of the CrPC
• Denial of probation to convict
• Provisions for relief and compensation for victims
• Provisions that establish special authorities for the implementation and monitoring of the
Act.
• Creation of Special Courts and special public prosecutor
• Mandatory, periodic monitoring system at District, State and National level
• Identification of atrocity prone areas
The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2015
• Amends existing categories and adds new categories of actions to be treated as offences.
• Offences in case of sexual exploiting of SC or ST woman: (i) Using acts, words or gestures of a
sexual nature against SC/ST woman. (ii) Touching an SC/ST woman intentionally in a sexual
manner without her consent (iii) Practice of dedicating an SC/ST women as a devadasi to a
temple.
• New offences: (a) garlanding with footwear, (b) compelling to dispose or carry human or
animal carcasses, or do manual scavenging, (c) abusing SCs or STs by caste name in public, (d)
attempting to promote feelings of ill-will against SCs or STs or disrespecting any deceased
person held in high esteem, and (e) imposing or threatening a social or economic boycott.
• Preventing SCs or STs from undertaking the following activities will be considered an offence:
(a) using common property resources, (c) entering any place of worship that is open to the
public, and (d) entering an education or health institution
Presumption to the offences: If the accused was acquainted with the victim or his family,
the court will presume that the accused was aware of the caste or tribal identity of the
victim unless proved otherwise.
• The act specifies the duties of public servants
• Under the earlier Act, a court of Session at the district level is deemed a Special Court.
Amendment specifies that an Exclusive Special Court and exclusive Special Public Prosecutor
must be provided at the district level
• Special courts must be established where offences are less in number cases should be
disposed of within two months

• Adds a chapter on the rights of victims and witness.

• The duty of the state to make arrangements for the protection of victims, their, and
witnesses.
Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2018.
§ It added Section 18A to the original Act.

§ It delineates specific crimes against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as atrocities

and describes strategies and prescribes punishments to counter these acts.
§ It identifies what acts constitute “atrocities” and all offences listed in the Act
are cognizable. The police can arrest the offender without a warrant and start an
investigation into the case without taking any orders from the court.
§ The Act calls upon all the states to convert an existing sessions court in each district into
a Special Court to try cases registered under it and provides for the appointment of Public
Prosecutors/Special Public Prosecutors for conducting cases in special courts.
§ It creates provisions for states to declare areas with high levels of caste violence to
be “atrocity-prone” and to appoint qualified officers to monitor and maintain law and order.
§ It provides for the punishment for wilful neglect of duties by non-SC/ST public servants.
§ It is implemented by the State Governments and Union Territory Administrations, which
are provided due central assistance.
The ‘Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013’ (MS
Act, 2013):
Eradication of dry latrines and manual scavenging and rehabilitation of manual scavengers in
alternative occupation has been an area of high priority for the Government. Towards this end, a
multi-pronged strategy was followed, consisting of the following legislative as well as programmatic
interventions:
• Enactment of “Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines
(Prohibition) Act, 1993(1993 Act)
• Integrated Low Cost Sanitation (ILCS) Scheme for conversion of dry latrines into sanitary
latrines in urban areas
• Launching of National Scheme for Liberation and Rehabilitation of Scavengers (NSLRS).
• Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers.
In spite of the above measures taken by the Government, manual scavenging continued to exist
which became evident with the release of 2011 the Census data indicating existence of more than
26 lakh insanitary latrines in the country. Therefore, Government decided to enact another law
to cover all types of insanitary latrines and situations which give occasion for manual scavenging.
The ‘Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013’ (MS
Act, 2013) was passed.
Objective:
• Identify and eliminate the insanitary latrines.
• Prohibit:- i) Employment as Manual Scavengers and ii) Hazardous manual cleaning of sewer
and septic tanks
• Identify and rehabilitate the manual scavengers.

Schedules Caste Sub-Plan (SCSP)
Under the Scheduled Castes Development Bureau, the Ministry implements Schedules Caste Sub-
Plan (SCSP) which is an umbrella strategy to ensure flow of targeted financial and physical benefits
from all the general sectors of development for the benefit of Scheduled Castes. Under the strategy,
States/UTs are required to formulate and implement Special Component Plan (SCP) for Scheduled
Castes as part of their Annual Plans by earmarking resources. At present 27 States/UTs having
sizeable SC population are implementing Schedules Caste Sub-Plan.

Features:
• Give a thrust to family oriented schemes of economic development of SCs below the poverty line,
by providing resources for filling the critical gaps and for providing missing vital inputs so that the
schemes can be more meaningful.
• The Sates/UTs have been given full flexibility in utilizing SCA with the only condition that it should
be utilized in conjunction with SCP and other resources available from other sources like various
Corporations, financial institution etc.
• State Government have been given flexibility in choice of schemes to be implemented out of
Special Central Assistance, within the overall frame work of the scheme.
• Special Central Assistance (SCA) to Scheduled Castes Sub Plan (SCSP) is a central scheme under
which 100% grant is given to the States/UTs as an additive to their Scheduled Castes Sub Plan
(SCSP)
Schemes and programmes
1. Educational Empowerment
Various scholarships are provided to the students belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SCs) to ensure
that education is not denied due to the poor financial condition of their families. These Scholarships
are provided at both pre-matric and post-matric levels. Scholarships are also provided to SC students
for obtaining higher education in India and abroad, including premier educational institutions. The
Scholarships can broadly be classified into the following three types:
• Pre-Matric Scholarships : The objective of the pre-matric Scheme is to support the parents of
SC children for educating their wards, so that the incidence of drop outs at this stage is
minimized.
• Post Matric Scholarship for Scheduled Caste Students (PMS-SC): The Scheme is the single
largest intervention by Government of India for educational empowerment of scheduled
caste students. This is a centrally sponsored scheme. 100% central assistance is released to
State Governments/UTs for expenditure incurred by them under the scheme over and above
their respective committed liability.
• Scholarships for obtaining Higher Education and Coaching Scheme: These include:
o Top Class Education for Scheduled Caste Students : The objective of the Scheme is to
promote qualitative education amongst students belonging to Scheduled Castes, by
providing full financial support for pursuing studies beyond 12th class, in notified
institutes of excellence like IITs, NITs, IIMs, reputed Medical/Law and other

institutions. Scholarship is awarded to the eligible SC students on securing

admission in any of the institutions notified by the Ministry.
o National Fellowship: The Scheme provides financial assistance to SC students for
pursuing research studies leading to M.Phil, Ph.D and equivalent research degrees.
o National Overseas Scholarship: The Scheme provides assistance to students
belonging to SCs, de-notified, nomadic, semi-nomadic tribes etc for pursuing higher
studies of Master level courses and PhD programmes abroad.
o Free Coaching for SC and OBC Students: The objective of the Scheme is to provide

coaching of good quality for economically disadvantaged SC and OBC candidates to
enable them to appear in competitive examinations and succeed in obtaining an
appropriate job in Public/Private sector. The Scheme provides central assistance to
institutions/centres run by the Central/State Governments/UT Administrations,
Central/ State Universities, PSUs, Registered Private Institutions, NGOs, etc. Coaching
is provided for Group 'A' & 'B' examinations conducted by the UPSC, SSC, various
Railway Recruitment Boards and State PSCs; Officers’ Grade examinations conducted
by Banks, Insurance Companies and PSUs; and Premier Entrance examinations for
admission in Engineering, Medical and Professional courses like Management, Law
etc.
o Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas Yojna: The primary objective of the Scheme is to
attract implementing agencies for undertaking hostel construction programme with a
view to provide hostel facilities to SC boys and girls studying in middle schools, higher
secondary schools, colleges and universities. The Scheme provides central assistance
to State Governments/ UT Administrations, Central & State Universities/ Institutions
for fresh construction of hostel buildings and for expansion of the existing hostel
facilities. The NGOs and Deemed Universities in private sector are eligible for central
assistance only for expansion of their existing hostels facilities.
2. Economic Empowerment:
• National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation (NSFDC): Set up under the
Ministry, to finance income generating activities of Scheduled Caste beneficiaries living below double
the poverty line limits (presently Rs 98,000/- per annum for rural areas and Rs 1,20,000/- per annum
for urban areas). NSFDC assists the target group by way of refinancing loans, skill training,
Entrepreneurship Development Programmes and providing marketing support through State
Channelizing Agencies, RRBs, Public Sector Bank and Other Institutions
• National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation (NSKFDC): It is another
corporation under the Ministry which provides credit facilities to beneficiaries amongst Safai
Karamcharis, manual scavengers and their dependants for income generating activities for socio-
economic development through State Channelizing Agencies
• Special Central Assistance (SCA) to Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan (SCSP)
• Scheme of Assistance to Scheduled Castes Development Corporations (SCDCs): A Centrally
Sponsored Scheme in the ratio of 49:51 between Central Government and State Governments. The
main functions of SCDCs include identification of eligible SC families and motivating them to
undertake economic development schemes, sponsoring the schemes to financial institutions for
credit support, providing financial assistance in the form of the margin money at a low rate of

interest, providing subsidy out of the funds made available to the States under the Scheme of
Special Central Assistance to Scheduled Castes Sub Plan of the States to reduce the repayment
liability and providing necessary tie up with other poverty alleviation programmes. The SCDCs are
playing an important role in providing credit and missing inputs by way of margin money loans and
subsidy to the target group. The SCDCs finance the employment oriented schemes covering diverse
areas of economic activities which inter-alia include (i) agriculture and allied activities including minor
irrigation (ii) small scale industry (iii) transport and (iv) trade and service sector

• Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castes: The objective of the fund is to promote
entrepreneurship amongst the Scheduled Castes who are oriented towards innovation and growth
technologies and to provide concessional finance to the scheduled caste entrepreneurs.
• Credit Enhancement Guarantee Scheme for Scheduled Castes: The objective of this Scheme is to
provide credit guarantee facility to Young and start-up entrepreneurs, belonging to Scheduled Castes,
who aspire to be part of neo middle class category, with an objective to encourage entrepreneurship
in the lower strata of the Society resulting in job creation besides creating confidence in Scheduled
Castes.
• Stand Up India Scheme: The Stand up India scheme aims at promoting entrepreneurship among
women and scheduled castes and tribes. The scheme is anchored by Department of Financial Services
(DFS), Ministry of Finance, Government of India.
• Stand-Up India Scheme facilitates bank loans between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 Crore to at least one
Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST) borrower and at least one woman borrower per bank
branch for setting up a greenfield enterprise. This enterprise may be in manufacturing, services or
the trading sector. In case of non-individual enterprises at least 51% of the shareholding and
controlling stake should be held by either an SC/ST or woman entrepreneur.
• Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY): The Centrally Sponsored Pilot Scheme ‘Pradhan
Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana’ (PMAGY) is being implemented for integrated development of
Scheduled Castes (SC) majority villages having SC Population concentration > 50%. Initially the
scheme was launched in 1000 villages in 5 States viz. Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan
and Tamil Nadu. The Scheme was further revised w.e.f. 22.01.2015 and extended to 1500 SC
majority villages in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh,
Telangana, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Odisha. The
principal objective of the Scheme is integrated development of SC Majority Villages:
o Primarily through convergent implementation of the relevant Central and State Schemes;
o By providing these villages Central Assistance in form of gap-filling funds to the extent of
Rs.20.00 lakh per village, to be increased by another 5 lakh if State make a matching
contribution.
o By providing gap-filling component to take up activities which do not get covered under the
existing Central and State Government Schemes are to be taken up under the component of
‘gap filling’.

“Other Backward Classes”

On the basis of certain elements of backwardness such as illiteracy and lack of education poverty,
exploitation of labour, non-representation in services and untouchability, Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes are listed in the Constitution while the third group i.e. Other Backward Class is
unlisted. Instead it is loosely defined.
As a result of the absence of clear definition, the problem of Other Backward classes is very

complicated and very difficult to deal with.
• While the term ‘backward classes’ has not been defined by the Indian Constitution, the
characteristics of backwardness are described here and there and also sometimes the categories
are mentioned.
• Article 15(4) speaks of the socially and educationally backward class.
• Article 16(4) uses the term ‘backward class’ and speaks of inadequate representation in services.
• Article 46 mentions the weaker sections of the people
• Article 340 empowers the State to investigate the conditions of the backward class and to help
them by grants.
• Recognizing that Indian society is made up hundreds of millions of citizens who are utterly poor,
illiterate and live in small, closed tribal and village societies the Constitution has laid stress on the
social, economic and political justice along ‘with equality of status.
• While Article 14 and 15 (1) and (2) emphasise equality of all citizens before law and prohibit
discrimination on grounds of caste, creed, birth etc., Article 15 (4) asserts that these
Constitutional provisions do not prevent the State from making special provisions for the
advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or the Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Thus, the Constitution has recognised that it is necessary to take
special steps to help the socially and economically backward classes.
• The Backward Class Commission was appointed in 1953 with Kaka Kalelkar as the Chairman
according to the Article 340 of the Constitution. The Commission was asked to determine the
criteria to be adopted to provide concessions to “socially and educationally backward classes”
besides The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
• The Commission was also asked to prepare a list of such classes. The Commission prepared a list
of about 2400 castes. The words specifically used are classes and sections and not castes and yet,
as explained in the body of the report the words ‘sections and classes’ mean nothing but castes
and no other interpretation is feasible. List prepared for backward classes deemed to have been
made in terms of castes and the term ‘backward classes’ has been used to describe and include
“backward castes”. But the Constitution does not recognise caste, except the scheduled castes.
• It must be recognised that the term ‘class’ is associated with economic category and indicates an
‘open’ status group. By contrast, the backward classes in India form an aggregate of ‘closed’
status groups; they belong to these groups by birth, not because of their individual economic
characteristics.
• Backward status is ascribed on the basis of birth to certain castes. Hence, for all practical
purposes the term backward class is used for backward castes, while the Constitution
recognises special provisions for advancement of any socially and economically backward class.
• Mandal Commission’s recommendation for reservation of 27 per cent Government jobs for
backward classes has also been accepted by the Supreme Court of India and caste has been
accepted as the basis for identifying the beneficiaries of reservation. Of course Supreme Court
has ordered that the creamy layer has to be excluded from reservation.

National commission for backward classes
• 102nd Constitution Amendment Act, 2018 provides constitutional status to the National
Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC).
• It has the authority to examine complaints and welfare measures regarding socially and
educationally backward classes.
• Previously NCBC was a statutory body under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
Background

• Two Backward Class Commissions were appointed in 1950s and 1970s under Kaka Kalelkar and
B.P. Mandal respectively.
• In Indra Sawhney case of 1992, Supreme Court had directed the government to create a
permanent body to entertain, examine and recommend the inclusion and exclusion of various
Backward Classes for the purpose of benefits and protection.
• In pursuant to these directions parliament passed National Commission for Backward Classes Act
in 1993 and constituted the NCBC.
Structure of NCBC
• The Commission consists of five members including a Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and three
other Members appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal.
• The conditions of service and tenure of office of the Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and other
Members is determined by President.
Constitutional Provisions
• Article 340: identify those "socially and educationally backward classes", understand the
conditions of their backwardness, and make recommendations to remove the difficulties they
face.
• Article 338B provides authority to NCBC to examine complaints and welfare measures regarding
socially and educationally backward classes.
• Article 342 A empowers President to specify socially and educationally backward classes in
various states and union territories. He can do this in consultation with Governor of concerned
State. However, law enacted by Parliament will be required if list of backward classes is to be
amended.
Powers and Functions
• Investigates and monitors all matters relating to the safeguards provided for the socially and
educationally backward classes
• It participates and advises on the socio-economic development of the socially and educationally
backward classes and to evaluate the progress of their development under the Union and any
State.
• It presents to the President, annually and at such other times as the Commission may deem fit,
reports upon the working of those safeguards. The President laid such reports before each House
of Parliament.
• Where any such report or any part thereof, relates to any matter with which any State
Government is concerned, a copy of such report shall be forwarded to the State Government.
• NCBC has to discharge such other functions in relation to the protection, welfare and
development and advancement of the socially and educationally backward classes as the
President may, subject to the provisions of any law made by Parliament, by rule specify.
• It has all the powers of a civil court while trying a suit.

Backwards Classes – Welfare Schemes

There are multiple schemes which are given below.
1. Education Empowerment – Scholarships from pre-metric level to higher education.
2. Mahila Samridhi Yojana – To provide microfinance to women entrepreneurs
3. Swarnima Special Scheme – To promote self – dependence among women
4. Assistance to Voluntary Organizations for the welfare of OBCs – Promote the involvement of
National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation (NBCFDC) to improve
education and socio-economic condition of people coming under Backward Class and help

them to start income generation activities on their own.

Minorities in India
Some of the main problems faced by minorities in India are as follows:
1. Problem of Identity: Because of the differences in socio-cultural practices, history and

backgrounds, minorities have to grapple with the issue of identity everywhere which give rise
to the problem of adjustment with the majority community.
2. Problem of Security: Different identity and their small number relative to the rest of the

society develops feeling of insecurity about their life, assets and well-being. This sense of
insecurity may get accentuated at times when relations between the majority and the
minority communities in a society are strained or not much cordial.
3. Problem Relating to Equity: The minority community in a society may remain deprived of
the benefit of opportunities of development as a result of discrimination. Because of the
difference in identity, the minority community develops the perception of the sense of
inequity.
Linguistic minorities
In India, the data collected about mother tongues through the 2011 census showed 19,569
languages, which after linguistic scrutiny and categorisation resulted in 1,369 ‘rationalised’ mother
tongues. Nearly 400 of these languages however are facing the threat of extinction in the coming 50
years. While this data speaks volumes about the linguistic diversity in India, it also highlights the
continued need to protect and nurture the languages spoken by the minorities.
• A linguistic minority is a class of people whose mother tongue is different from that of the
majority in the state or part of a state. The constitution provides for the protection of the interests
of linguistic minorities.
• Three different kinds of linguistic minorities could be identified in India and they are:
1. Linguistic minorities
2. Linguistic minorities with tribal affiliation
3. Linguistic minorities with religious affiliation
About 36.3 million of India's 1.2 billion strong population (Census 2011) speak an "absolute minority
language", a language which in every of India's 28 States forms a minority. Most of those languages
are Adivasi languages.
Neither the constitution nor any piece of legislation however defines linguistic minority. It was
in 1971, in the case of DAV College etc. v/s State of Punjab, and other cases, that the Supreme
Court of India defined a linguistic minority as a minority that at least has a spoken language,
regardless of having a script or not. In the case of TA Pai Foundation and Others vs State of
Karnataka, it further held that the status of linguistic minority is to be determined in the context
of states and not India as a whole.
Safeguards for Linguistic Minorities are:
1. Translation and publication of important rules, regulations, notices, etc., into all languages, which
are spoken by at least 15% of the total population at district or sub-district level.
2. Declaration of minority languages as second official language in districts where persons speaking
such languages constitute 60% or more of the population.
3. Receipt of, and reply to, representations in minority languages; scheme of safeguards.
4. Article 350-A imposes a duty on the states to Endeavour to provide adequate facilities for
instruction in the mother tongue at the primary stage of education to children belonging to
linguistic minority.
5. Advance registration of linguistic preference of linguistic minority pupils, and inter-school
adjustments.
6. Provision for text books and teachers in minority languages; scheme of safeguards.
7. Implementation of Three-language Formula.

8. No insistence upon knowledge of State’s Official Language at the time of recruitment. Test of
proficiency in the State’s Official Language to be held before completion of probation.
9. Issue of Pamphlets in minority languages detailing safeguards available to linguistic minorities.
10. Setting up of proper machinery at the State and district levels.
11. Article 347 provides for the use of majority language in the administration. If a demand is made
in this behalf and the president is satisfied that a that a substantial proportion of the population
of a state desire the use any language spoken by them to be recognized by the state, the president
may direct that such language shall also be officially recognized throughout the state or any part
of tire state for such purposes as he may specify.
12. Article 350 gives right to every person to submit a representation for the redress of any grievance
to any officer or authority of the union or a state in any of the language used in the union or a
state, as the case may be.
13. Article 350-B empowers the president to appoint a special officer for linguistic minorities. It is the
duty of the special officer to investigate all matters relating to the safeguards provided for
linguistic minorities under this constitution and report to the president upon those matters at
such intervals as the president may direct. The president shall cause reports to be laid before
each house of parliament and send to the government of the state concerned.
Case study
The Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysore, a subordinate office of the Ministry of
Human Resource Development is implementing a scheme for preservation and protection of
languages spoken by less than 10000 people. Under the scheme, grammatical descriptions,
monolingual and bilingual dictionaries, language primers, anthologies of folklore, encyclopedias,
etc of all the endangered languages / mother tongues, especially those spoken by less than 10000
persons are prepared.

Religious minorities
• Six religious communities viz Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs, Zoroastrians (Parsis) and
Jains have been notified as minority communities under Section 2(c) of the National Commission
for Minorities Act, 1992.
Geographic spread of minorities in India

• Notified minorities constitute about 19% population of the country.

• In rural India during 2009-10, 11 per cent of households followed Islam with about 12 per cent of
the population. Christianity was followed by around 2 per cent of the households constituting
about 2 per cent of the population. In urban areas, the percentages of households and population
following Islam were about 13 and 16 and following Christianity were about 3 and 3, respectively.
• Government of India has also forwarded a list of 121 minority concentration districts having at
least 25% minority population, excluding those States / UTs where minorities are in majority (J &
K, Punjab, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Lakshadweep).
Social Characteristics of Religious Communities in India

Census of India recognises three social characteristics of religious communities. They are sex ratio,
literacy and work participation rate.
1. Sex Ratio:
• Sex ratio, expressed as the number of females per thousand males is very important social
characteristic of all the religious communities. Religion and region apart, what comes across as a
uniform fact is the discrimination against women.
• On virtually every parameter—sex ratio, literacy, employment—women trail the community’s
overall average. However, Christian population is an exception which has the highest sex ratio of
1,009 females per thousand males at the 2001 census. This is followed by “Other Religious and
Persuasions” (992), Buddhists (953) and Jains (940).
• Sex ratio of Sikh population is 893 which is the lowest among the different religious communities.
Sex ratio among Muslim population at 936 is just above the national average of 933 for all
religions while a shade lower is the Hindu population sex ratio of 931
2. Literacy:
• Literacy rate for the population age 7 years and above for the country as a whole stands at 64.8
per cent.
• As compared to this, the literacy rate among the Jains is the highest at 94.1 per cent followed by
Christians 80.3 per cent and Buddhists 72.7 per cent. Hindus and Sikhs have returned a marginally
higher literacy rate than the national average. The lowest literacy has been recorded for ‘Other
Religions & Persuasions’ at 47.0 per cent. Muslims are the other religious community returning
lower than the national average literacy rate at 59.1 per cent.
3. Work Participation Rate (WPR):
• The overall work participation as well as work participation rates for males and females for
religious communities. It is evident that work participation rates are different for different
religious communities.
• The group of ‘Other Religions and Persuasions’ have recorded the higher WPR of 48.4 per cent
followed by the Buddhist at 40.6 per cent.
• Hindus 40.4 per cent and Christians at 39.7 per cent The lowest WPR of 31.3 per cent at the
national level are seen for the Muslim population, preceded by Jains at 32.9 per cent and Sikhs
at 37.7 per cent. The proportion of urban population, female work participation rates and
proportion of workers in non-agricultural activity directly influences low W s among other factors.

Constitutional provisions for minorities in India

• In India, the safeguards for mіnorіtіes under the constitution of India are іn the form of
fundamental rights
• Firstly the Constitution nowhere dіscrіmіnates among the citizens of India on the grounds of
religion, race, caste, etc and secondly, the rights conferred under Articles 25 to 30 are
fundamental rights. The State іs duty bound to protect the fundamental rights.
There are some Articles in the Constitution of India that exclusively safeguards minority’s rights,
whereas, there are certain Articles though not specifically meant for minorities but they

strengthen minorities’ rights.
• Article 25: Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion
o Subject to publіc order, moralіty and health and to other provіsіons of thіs part, all persons
are equally entіtled to freedom of conscіence and the rіght freely to profess, practіce and
propagate relіgіon.
• Article 26: Freedom to manage religious affairs
• Article 27: Freedom as to payment of taxes for promotion of any particular religion
• Article 28: Freedom as to attendance at religious instruction or religious worship in certain
educational institutions
• Rights exclusively meant for minorities

• Article 29: Protection of interests of minorities.-
• Article 30: Right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions.-
• Article 347: Special provision relating to language spoken by a section of the population of a State
• Article 350: Language to be used in representations for redress of grievances
• Art. 350A: Facilities for instruction in mother-tongue at primary stage
Problems faced by minorities in India:

• Problem of Identity: Because of the differences in socio-cultural practices, history and
backgrounds, minorities have to grapple with the issue of identity .This give rise to the problem
of adjustment with the majority community.
• Problem of Security: Different identity and their small number relative to the rest of the society
develop feeling of insecurity about their life, assets and well-being. This sense of insecurity may
get accentuated at times when relations between the majority and the minority communities in
a society are strained or not much cordial.
• Problem Relating to Equity: The minority community in a society may remain deprived of the
benefit of opportunities of development as a result of discrimination. Because of the difference
in identity, the minority community develops the perception of the sense of inequity.
• Problem of Communal Tensions and Riots: Communal tensions and riots have been incessantly
increasing since independence. Whenever the communal tensions and riots take place for
whatever reason, minority interests get threatened.
Ex: Increase in number of mob lynching, kathua rape case etc
• Lack of Representation in Civil Service and Politics: The Constitution provides for equality and
equal opportunities to all its citizens including the religious minorities. The biggest minority
community, that is, Muslims have a feeling among them that they are neglected. However, such
a feeling does not seem to exist among the other religious minority communities such as the
Christians, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists, for they seem to be economically and educationally better
than the majority community.

• Failure to Stick on Strictly to Secularism: India has declared itself as a secular͟ country. The
very spirit of our Constitution is secular. But in actual practice there is lack of commitment to
secularism, purely religious issues are often politicised by these parties.
Causes for anger against minorities:
• Cultural / religious revivalism and glorification is on rise and this trend is against the minorities.
• The vote bank politics is the major stake holder in rising violence against minorities.
• The backward classes not having access to proper education have had the privileges of
reservation, which takes a large proportion of seats either in jobs or schools/colleges- this makes

people in general category hostile towards the reserved sections, especially the minorities.
• Inability of the government to create better employment opportunities for the large section of
youth has created economic backwardness. This made them think the minorities are stealing their
jobs.
Government Initiatives for the welfare of Minorities:

PM's New 15 Point Programme:
• Prime Ministers New 15 Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities, is a overarching
programme covering various schemes/ initiatives of different Ministries/ Departments.
• Earmarking 15% of targets/ outlays for the minorities or specific monitoring of flow of benefits/
funds to minorities or areas with substantial minority population.
• The programme is being implemented with the objectives of enhancing opportunities for
education of minorities
• ensuring equitable share for minorities in economic activities and employment
• improving the condition of living of minorities
• preventing and controlling the communal disharmony
Schemes for Minority
Educational Empowerment
Scholarship Schemes
• Students belonging to notified minority communities viz. Muslim / Christian / Sikh / Buddhist /
Jain / Parsi (Zoroastrian) studying in India only and fulfilling the Scheme guidelines are eligible to
apply for these scholarships. The government has taken the following steps to ensure that these
benefits reach the intended beneficiaries.
• The Scholarship Schemes have been restructured to allow for greater transparency and
accountability during processing and sanction.
• To help evaluation of flow of benefits, segregated data for the different minority communities
is being sought from all Ministries. The states/UTs have also been requested to provide better
and timely feedback.
• The scholarship schemes are reviewed regularly through interaction with the State
Governments at regular intervals and field visits by the Ministry officials.
• The Online Scholarship Management System (OSMS) earlier introduced for the Merit-cum-
Means scholarship scheme has now been extended to Post Matric scholarship scheme.
Free Coaching & Allied Scheme (for Competitive Examinations of Professional Courses
and Government jobs)
• The scheme aims to empower the minority communities by assisting the economically weaker
sections of students among them through coaching institutions for enhancing their skills and
capabilities to make them employable in industries, services and business sectors in addition to
the government sector. It has built-in resilience to adapt to the market dynamics on a continuous
basis so that the target groups are not deprived of the professional acumen demanded by the
changing/emerging market needs and opportunities for employment at domestic as well

as international levels.
• Separate schemes for providing coaching to students belonging to scheduled caste, minority
communities and backward classes were being implemented from 6th Five Year Plan. These
separate schemes were amalgamated with effect from September 2001 into a combined Scheme
of Coaching and Allied Assistance for Weaker Sections including Scheduled Castes, Other
Backward Classes and Minorities. After creation of the Ministry of Minority Affairs, a new scheme
called "Free Coaching & Allied Scheme for candidates belonging to minority communities has

been formulated keeping in view the emerging trends of employment in the era of economic
reforms, liberalization and globalization.
Objectives
The objectives of the scheme are to assist students belonging to minority communities by way of
special coaching for the following:-
1. Qualifying examinations for admission in technical/professional courses such as engineering, law,
medical, management, information technology etc and language/aptitude examinations for
seeking admission in foreign universities.
2. Competitive examinations for recruitment to Group 'A', 'B', 'C and 'D' services and other
equivalent posts under the Central and State governments including police/security forces, public
sector undertakings, Railways, banks, insurance companies as well as autonomous bodies; and
3. Coaching for jobs in the private sector such as in airlines, shipping, information technology (IT),
business process outsourcing (BPO) and other IT enabled services, hospitality, tours and travels,
maritime, food processing, retail, sales & marketing, bio-technology and other job oriented
courses as per the emerging trend of employment.
4. Remedial coaching at undergraduate and post graduate level to improve the academic
knowledge and enable the student to catch up with the rest of the class and complete the course
successfully.
Maulana Azad Sehat scheme
• Under the scheme, Sehat Card will be issued to every student of the Institution financially aided
by Maulana Azad Education Foundation (MAEF).
• Preventive Health Check-up Camps will be organized by the Institute twice in a year, through
government or private hospitals or nursing homes.
• All findings of the preventive health checkups will be entered in the Sehat Card of the student by
the doctors.
• In exceptional and deserving cases for serious ailments the poor students belonging to notified
minorities will be provided financial assistance for the treatment in government or recognized
hospitals. Serious ailments of kidney, heart, liver cancer and brain or any life threatening diseases
including knee and spinal surgery will be covered.
• A dispensary or health care centre is to be set up in the educational institutions (school) to
provide daily medical facilities to the students studying in the educational institutions funded or
aided by MAEF.
Minority Cyber Gram
The MCG programme seeks to introduce digital literacy skills in identified minority clusters in
India through designated Digital Fellows towards knowledge empowerment and entitlement
gains of minority focused groups and beneficiaries.
Background
With basic literacy level low among the backward sections of the minorities, the social and
economic profile is further aggravated due to lack of basic digital skills and knowledge to
derive advantages from digital tools, devices, platforms and knowledge networks. In order to
mainstream minority groups and communities with national development goals and
objectives, it is extremely important and relevant to deploy and introduce digital literacy skills
to get benefits in knowledge based networks and in public schemes and other services
through information empowerment.
Objectives
• To impart digital literacy and skills among identified minority groups and beneficiaries through
designated Digital Fellows (DFs) in identified minority clusters for information and knowledge
empowerment and entitlement gains.

• To provide opportunities in information and knowledge networks for local communities.
Nalanda Scheme
Union Ministry of Minority Affairs has launched the Nalanda Project for Minorities Higher
Educational Institutions on 4 March 2014.
Nalanda Project is an innovative Faculty Development Program of Union Ministry of Minority
Affairs. The Nalanda Project is being taken up at Aligarh Muslim University, a premier
Minority University of world fame. The Aligarh Muslim University is also a Nodal Staff College
of University Grant Commission.
Other schemes
• Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF): The objective of the Fellowship is to provide
integrated five year fellowships in the form of financial assistance to students from minority
communities, as notified by the Central Government to pursue higher studies such as M. Phil and
Ph.D.
• Padho Pardesh: Scheme of Interest Subsidy on Educational Loans for Overseas Studies for the
Students Belonging to the Minority Communities
• Naya Savera: Free Coaching and Allied Scheme
• Nai Udaan: Support for Students for preparation of Main Examination who clear Prelims
conducted by UPSC/SSC, State Public Service Commission (PSC) etc.
• Hamari Darohar:- The Scheme aims to preserve rich heritage of minority communities in context
of Indian culture.
• Khwaza Garib Nawaz Senior Secondary School will be established at Ajmer by Maulana Azad
Education Foundation (MAEF) to give a fillip to minority education
Economic Empowerment
Skill Development
• Seekho aur Kamao (Learn & Earn): Seekho aur Kamao (Learn & Earn)” is a scheme implemented
since 2013-14 for skill development of minorities. The scheme aims at upgrading the skills of
minority youth in various modern/traditional skills depending upon their qualification, present
economic trends and market potential, which can earn them suitable employment or make them
suitably skilled to go for self-employment.
• USTTAD (Upgrading the Skills and Training in Traditional Arts/ Crafts for Development)
• Nai Manzil: Nai Manzil, a scheme launched on 8th August 2015, aims to benefit the minority
youths who do not have a formal school leaving certificate in order to provide them formal
education and skills, and enable them to seek better employment and livelihoods in the organised
sector.
• Concessional credit through National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC)
Infrastructure Development
• Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK): Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK)
seeks to provide better socio economic infrastructure facilities to the minority communities
particularly in the field of education, health & skill development which would further lead to
lessening of the gap between the national average and the minority communities with
regard to backwardness parameters.
Special Needs
• Nai Roshni- The scheme is envisaged to reach out to women through nongovernmental
organizations who will be provided with financial support for conducting leadership
development trainings so that women are empowered and emboldened to move out of the
confines of home and community and assume leadership roles and assert their rights
collectively or individually.

• Hamari Dharohar: initiative by the Indian government to preserve the culture and heritage of
minority communities in the country.
• Jiyo Parsi - Jiyo Parsi, the Central Sector Scheme for containing population decline of Parsis in
India was launched on 23 September 2013 by the Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of
India.
Objectives
The main objective of the Jiyo parsi scheme is to reverse the declining trend of Parsi
population by adopting scientific protocol and structured interventions, stabilize the Parsi
population and increase the population of Parsis in India.
Main features
o 100 percent funded by Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India.
o Medical interventions under Standard Medical protocols in empanelled hospitals/clinics.
o Confidentiality of the patients to be given utmost importance.
Target groups
o The scheme is meant for only Parsis community.
o Parsi married couples of child bearing age who seek assistance.
o Adults/young men/women/adolescent boys/girls for detection of diseases resulting with
consent of parents/legal guardians.
Waqf Management
• Strengthening of State Wakf Boards: The scheme envisages to provide assistance for meeting
the training and administrative cost of State Wakf Boards, removal of encroachment from Waqf
Properties and also strengthening of Zonal/Regional offices of Waqf Boards.
• Qaumi Waqf Board Taraqqiati Scheme ( Scheme of Computerization of Records and
Strengthening of State Waqf Boards)
• Shahari Waqf Sampatti VIkas Yojana (Scheme for Grants-in-Aid to Waqf - Development of Urban
Waqf Properties)
Support to Institutions
• Corpus Fund to Maulana Azad Education Foundation (MAEF)
• Equity to National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC)
• Grant in Aid Scheme to State Channelising Agencies of National Minorities Development &
Finance Corporation

173
KAS MAINS
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PART OF NAMMAKPSC MAINS TEST SERIES ELTP AND GTP

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KAS MAINS INITIATIVE

SOCIETY & SOCIAL ISSUES

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WE HAVE BRANCHES AT HEBBAL & VIJAYANAGAR, BENGALURU

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SOCIAL CHANGE AND MOVEMENTS ..............................................................................................................................5

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Social Change And Movements

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Social structure, in sociology, the

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Social structure of India on the basis of caste:

Caste has for long been viewed as a distinctive feature of the

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Features of Caste System:

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Social Differentiation in Societies

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Characteristics of Social change

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THEORIES OF SOCIAL CHANGE

Theories of social change can be divided into two groups:

(1) Theories relating to the direction of social change:

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(3) Multilinear Theory of Evolution:

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Criticism of Evolutionary Theory:

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3. ECONOMIC (MANDAN) THEORY OF SOCIAL CHANGE:

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Social disorganization and social movements

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Characteristics of Social Disorganisation:

(i) Conflict of Mores and of Institutions:

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Symptoms of Social Disorganisation:

Social disorganisation is an indication of the existence of diseased or disruptive elements in society.

Causes of Social Disorganisation

(i) Division of Labour:

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SOCIAL MOVEMENTS Social Change Vs Social Movements

Features of a Social Movement

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