Here is an essay on ‘Social Injustice in India’ for class 11 and 12. Find paragraphs, long and short essays on ‘Social Injustice in India’ especially written for school and college students.
Essay # 1. Introduction to Social Injustice:
Indian economy is a mixed economy where both public and private sectors are allowed to operate in it. Private sector aims at ‘Profit Maximisation’ as its main aim. While Public Sector aims at Economic Growth along with ‘Social Justice’ every business now-a-days has a ‘social responsibility’ towards society. Though there has been tremendous increase in national income but it has not raised the share of income of the poor sections of society. Growth of economy on the whole has not resulted in growth of social services like – health, education, family welfare, water supply, sanitation, welfare of SC/ST and BC of society. Basic problems of society, like injustice towards women, child labour decline in sex-ratio etc. remain more or less same.
Social Injustice means inequality of income, lack of social services and existence of socially disadvantaged groups.
So we can conclude that social injustice means inequality in distribution of income, wealth, regional imbalances, employment problems, lack of health, water, education facilities, injustice towards children, women, disabled persons, old age people, orphan children, socially deprived section of society.
Economic Growth with Social Justice is the most important aspect of growth of economy of the country.
Areas of Social Injustice in India:
Public sector has failed in achieving its objective of “Economic growth with social justice” and as a result inequalities of following kinds exist in society which is mainly responsible for social injustice in India:
(i) Inequality of income and wealth.
(ii) Increase in unemployment.
(iii) Increase in absolute poverty.
(iv) Increase in child and women labour.
(v) Lack of Infrastructure and Social services in rural areas.
(vi) Preference for male child—Decline in sex ratio.
(vii) Problem of malnutrition in women and children.
(viii) Regional Imbalances
(ix) Not much improvement in health facilities especially in rural areas.
(x) Unsafe drinking water and lack of sanitation facilities.
(xi) Illiteracy of females.
(xii) Socially deprived sections of society—SC/ST/BC still deprived of basic facilities like education health etc.
Essay # 2. Causes of Social Injustice in India:
The following factors can be considered to be responsible for social injustice in India:
1. Population:
Population has been one of the major root causes of most of the problems in India. India stands second in the world for being most populated country. Large size of population and high rate of growth of population in India has affected economic development and thus social development of the country. This ultimately results in problems like unemployment, poverty etc. large size of family in poor sections of society causes reduction in per capita availability of social services and results in low standard of living. Government has taken number of measures from time to time to solve the problem of population but only consistent efforts can solve this problem in India.
2. Unemployment:
Majority of population in India is dependent upon agriculture. Problem of Disguised unemployment or under employment or seasonal unemployment is prevalent in rural areas. People get some kind of work for few months in a year but rest of the year they have to sit idle. In urban areas the number of unemployed registered with Employment Exchanges has increased eight times since 1951.Unemployment as a result of use of capital intensive technology in industries and educated unemployment are major unemployment problems in urban areas. Also less employment opportunities, corruption in government sector and political interference aggravate the problem of unemployment. All this leads to inequality of income in society.
3. Underdeveloped Infrastructure in Rural Areas:
Rural areas facing a problem of inadequate development of infrastructure like roads, transportation, electricity, hospital, education and banking. This affects economic growth in rural areas which ultimately widens the gap between inequalities in rural and urban sector. It further acts as hindrance to set up industries in rural areas. The pace of development of infrastructure is very slow in rural areas.
4. Decline of Sex-Ratio:
Sex ratio in India is declining every year. The major cause for this has been preference for male child even by educated people. As a result female-foeticide is increasing and sex ratio is declining. It was only 927 girls 1000 boys as per 2001 census.
5. Inequality in Distribution of Land Holdings:
Zamidari system has been responsible for inequality in land distribution and income in India. After independence, the Zamidari system has been abolished but the inequality in distribution of land is still continuing. According to 16th round of National Sample Survey (1960-61) forty percent of small farmers own thirteen percent of land holdings, 30 percent of medium farmers own 30 percent of land holdings and 10 percent of rich farmers own 56 percent of land, while 20 percent of farmers have no land at all. Landless Farmers with less income are growing poorer while big farmers with ownership of land are growing richer. Also big farmers are in a capacity to use latest and capital intensive technology and grow more income wise, while small farmer remain backward.
6. Low Female Literacy Rate:
There is a wide gap between male-female literacy rates as per census of 2001. Female literacy rate is 54.16 percent as against male literacy rate of 75.86 percent. Overall literacy rate in India is 65.38 percent. Illiteracy in any section of society gives birth to their exploitation and many social evils like poverty, high birth rate, unemployment, increase in crime rate etc. Drop-out rate of students from schools is much higher in case of girl students. Also literacy rate is very low in case of socially deprived sections of society like scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and backward class. Low literacy rate is the main cause of their dependence on manual work.
7. Low Standard of living of SC, ST and BC:
Scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and backward class have always been socially deprived sections of society. There have been consistent efforts on the part of government like reservation policy in the field of education, government jobs etc. But economic conditions of this section of society remain very bad which further widens the gap between rich & poor.
8. Regional Imbalances:
Since the beginning of economic planning some states like Punjab, Haryana, Goa, Delhi, Maharashtra and Gujarat have shown more economic development while states like Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have very low per capita income. Regional development of the country is imbalanced and inequal which further leads to differences in standards of living of persons of these states as well. Per capita income (at current prices 1993-94) of Goa is Rs. 41,105, of Punjab Rs. 25048, of Haryana Rs. 23,742 and that of Bihar is only Rs. 5,108.
9. Neglected Lot-Women:
In Indian society male child is preferred to girl child. Spending money on upbringing, education, health and career of girl child is treated as wrong investment. Women are looked down upon in Indian society. As a result of male dominated society, female foeticide is on increase despite the efforts of government to stop it like banning of prenatal diagnostic technique. Even educated couples have also shown preference for male child. Women are ahead of men now a day in every sphere of life but sex ratio is continuously declining. Presence of dowry system, even after fifty seven years of independence and around 60 percent of women being anaemic in India shows social injustice against women. Liberalisation and modernisastion of women are not taken positively by the society.
10. Child & Women Labour:
Population, Poverty and Unemployment are all interrelated problems.
Unemployment and poverty ultimately leads to child and Women labour. Despite the ban on employment of children below 14 years of age in factories, mines etc., and the children are being employed in unorganised sector, domestic services and home based industries because of absolute poverty and availability of child labour at very low rate. The gravity of the problem of child labour can be understood from the data of number of children working in India. This numbers in 1999-2000 was 10.4 million. Also illiteracy and poverty are two major factors responsible for women workers in unorganised sector like – domestic helpers, labourers in household industries etc. The ratio of women working in organised sector is very less as compared to the women working in unorganised sector.
11. Poverty:
There have been number of causes contributing to problem of poverty in India like: large size of population, large size of family in socially deprived sections of society, unemployment, very less remuneration to people working in unorganised sector as compared to the ones working in organised sector, regional imbalances and concentration of income and wealth in hands of few only. Even after adoption of different Poverty Alleviation programmes, 26.1 percent of population was living below poverty line in the year 1999-2000.The problem of poverty is contributing to widening of gap between rich and poor. Thus economic development benefits only few.
12. Expensive Professional Training:
Government has announced different schemes from time to time to promote primary education in rural and urban sectors. Also efforts have been made to make primary education affordable by offering scholarships, fee concessions etc. for poor people. But no relief has been given for professional training in professions like medicine, engineering, law, etc. As a result poor people cannot afford it and inequalities continue to exist because only rich people can afford such expensive training and courses.
13. Reservation Policy of Jobs:
Reservation in public appointments to a large extent of percentage causes injustice to the capable and deserving candidates belonging to non-reservation category. This also affects performance in public sector. The people belonging to reserved category can be given the concessions in the field of education, health services etc. instead of giving them reservations.
Essay # 3. Measures taken by the Government to Reduce Social Injustice in India:
Government of India, from the very beginning has been making special efforts to remove the causes of social injustice in India.
Following are some of principal steps taken by the government to reduce social injustice:
1. To Reduce Poverty and Unemployment:
After completion of Ninth five year plan about 26 crore people are still living below poverty line. The objective of Tenth Plan is to reduce poverty ratio by 5 percentage points by 2007 and by 12 percentage points by 2012. Also the target of the Tenth Plan is to create 5 crore additional employment opportunities with in a period of five years (2002-2007).
Following are few poverty alleviation programmes the employment generation programmes launched by government from time to time:
i. Swaranjayanti Gram Sawarojgar Yojana (SGSY)
ii. Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana (SGRY)
iii. Swaran Jayanti Shahri Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY)
iv. Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana (PMGY)
v. Development of Small and Cottage Industries.
vi. Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojana (PMRY)
vii. Jai Parkash Rozgar Guarantee Yojana (JPRGY)
viii. Employment Assurance Scheme.
ix. Establishment of More Employment Exchanges.
2. To Improve Health and Family Welfare:
The following table of Government expenditure on Social Services (including health & family welfare) shows the efforts of government toward this:
Table: Government Expenditure (Plan and Non-Plan) on social services (Rs. in crores)
The above table shows government’s concern for improving health & family welfare. Expenditure on health & family welfare was Rs. 1,722 crores in 92-93, which in 2002-03 has increased to Rs. 7,038 crores. There have been technological improvements in health care facilities which have resulted in improvement in life expectancy rate and reduction in death rate.
It is clear from the above table that life expectancy has increased both in case of males and females and death rate has reduced. This clearly shows the government’s endeavor to improve health facilities for the people of the country. Also government aims at eradicating polio and leprosy by the year 2005, and achieving zero growth of HIV/AIDS by the year 2007.
Infant Mortality rate is calculated as annual deaths of infants (D) between birth and one year, divided by the annual number of births (B) all multiplied by 1000.
IMR = (D/B) x 1000.
Life expectancy is defined as the average number of additional years of a person could expect to live if infant mortality trend were to continue for the rest of that person’s life.
First results of census 2011 have been released. India now has a population of 1.21 billion, comprising 624 million males and 587 million females. This is an increase of 181 million people since the census 2001 which is nearly equivalent to the population of Brazil.
India’s population growth rate has decelerated to 17.64% in the decade 2001-11, the slowest rate of growth in the past century with exception of 1911-21 in which
India had negative population growth rate. The preliminary figures of the census 2011 show that India’s female population grows by 18.12 percent over the past decade against 17.19% of males. The sex ratio i.e. number of females per 1000 males.
According to the Technical group on Population Projections constituted by the national Commission on Population (May 2006), annual population growth is expected to gradually decelerate from 1.6% in the five years ending in 2006 to 0.9% in the five years ending in 2026. India’s population which is estimated to have gone up from the census 2001 figure of 1029 million to 1112 million in 2006, is projected to increase to 1400 million by 2026 has improved to 940 from 933 a decade ago. But a matter of over whelming concern lies in the fact that the child sex ratio stands at 914 which is the lowest since India’s independence.
3. To Provide Education:
Another major thrust area under social development programme has been education which is clear by allocation of Rs. 1,878 crores in 1992-93 and Rs. 9,948 in 2002-03.93rd constitutional amendment in 2002 made elementary education a fundamental right for the children in the age group of 6-14 years. ‘Education for all’ scheme launched by government aims at providing free education to such children. Literacy rate which was only 18.33 percent in 1951 has gone upto 65.4 percent in year 2001.
Thus clearly shows effort of government to promote education. Education to girl child has been given special preference. Various schemes like, Mid-day Meal Scheme, Operation Black Board, Education Guarantee schemes have been launched in rural and urban sectors. Special attention has been given to professional and technical education in country by opening various Management, Engineering and Medical Colleges in the country.
4. To Improve Water Supply & Sanitation:
To provide safe drinking water and improve sanitation facilities the following two programmes have been launched by the government:
(i) Pradhan Mantri Rural Drinking Water Yojana.
(ii) Rural Water Supply Programme.
Rs. 788 crore has been allocated in 1992-93 and Rs. 5,391 crore in the year 2002-03. With the purpose of eliminating manual scavenging the low cost scheme was launched to convert existing dry latrines system. Rs. 662 crores has been spent for the training and rehabilitation of scavenger till the year 2000-2001.
5. For Welfare of SC/ST/BC:
Rs. 488 crores were allocated in 1992-93 and Rs. 1,385 crore in 2002-03 for the welfare and upliftment of scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and backward class. Emphasis is laid on improving education facilities for scheduled caste, improving enrolment of SC children in school, reducing dropout rate of SC children from school, providing scholarship to such children to motivate the economically backward Section of Society.
Also reservation policy has been framed in favour of scheduled castes for giving them opportunities of jobs in public appointments. Tribal population, which represents 8.6 percent of total population, has been given various benefits through different schemes announced by Ministry of Tribal Affairs like – Development of infrastructure in tribal areas, education facilities, hostels and scholarships for ST students, Rehabilitation of displaced tribes, food and nutrition scheme for STs, to uplift tribal women a scheme of ‘Adivasi Mahila Yojana’ has been launched.
‘New Swaranima’ scheme was launched by National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation for backward class women living below poverty line.
6. For Development of Women and Children:
The Department of Women and Child Development was set up in 1985 for formulation and implementation of schemes for development of women & children, Protection to women starts at domestic level, for which Domestic Violence Bill 2002 has been introduced in Parliament. Another major problem Indian women faces is ‘dowry system’ of India and to protect her from evils of dowry system ‘Anti Dowry Act’ has been framed by the government according to which demanding dowry or even giving dowry is considered illegal. To make women aware of their rights, to protect them against social evils and for development of women a ‘National Policy for Empowerment of Women 2001’ has been framed. Different Schemes at rural and Urban level have been implemented to prevent women against sexual harassment at working place or otherwise, to provide them counseling facilities & for their rehabilitation.
For the benefit and welfare of children Primary education has been made free in rural areas for the poor children, child labour has been banned for children below the age of 14 years. The Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) has also been launched by the government for providing nutrition, health check-up immunisation and education to children in villages.
7. To Remove Malnutrition:
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare takes care of health deficiencies for which different schemes have been launched from time to time, national Nutrition Mission has been set up to provide food-grains at subsidised rates in nutritionally backward districts of the country. Though various steps have been taken by the government but 30 percent of new born children are under weight and 60 percent of women are anaemic.
8. To Reduce Child Labour:
As a result of imposition of ban by the government on children working below the age of 14 years, the number of children working below 14 years came down from 6 percent of total work force in 1981 to 3.59 percent of total work force in 1991.
9. For Welfare of Aged Persons:
The problems faced by old people in their old age are increasing day by day in the present social system. A National Scheme has been launched for providing protection, shelter, and medical facilities to the old people. Also arrangements are made under different schemes by the government for old age homes, medical service centres and day care centres. Under such schemes special care is taken of their recreational facilities and entertainment.
10. For Welfare of Mentally/Physically Disabled:
Welfare of Physically disabled persons or mentally disabled persons is given as much importance as any normal person. Government sanctioned Rs. 207 crore in the year 2002-2003 for the welfare of such persons. There are number of government agencies and nongovernment organisations working for the welfare of such persons with the help of financial aid from the government. A National Trust was set up under National Trust Act to protect the interest of such disabled person.
Essay # 4. Suggestions to Reduce Social Injustice:
Besides number of steps taken by the government to reduce social injustice in India, following are few more suggestions:
(i) Restructuring of Poverty alleviation and Employment generation Programmes.
(ii) Population Control and reduction in size of family in socially deprived sections of society should be strictly followed.
(iii) Education System needs to be overhauled.
(iv) Improvement is required in providing safe drinking water and sanitation facilities should be proper.
(v) Status of women needs to be improved. Women need to be made more aware of their rights.
(vi) Health services need to be made more affordable for poor people and health facilities should be improved more.
(vii) Small Scale and Cottage industries should be encouraged and promoted by giving various incentives and tax-benefits to such industries.
(viii) Infrastructural development in rural areas is still not upto the mark.
(ix) Proper System should be evolved to keep a check on corruption, smuggling and black money in the society.
(x) More old age, home to be constructed for old people.
(xi) More schemes for benefit of children should be started.
(xii) Education System should be made job oriented to provide self-employment to youth of the country. Efforts of government can be fruitful to reduce social injustice only and only if society is also awakened to its rights.