Professor RR Prasad*
The current deafening clamor over one of the agenda items in the 2024 Congress Party Election Manifesto suggests that ideologies such as social justice and equity will be challenged and potentially a controversial articulation of an organization's vision and mission. It makes the public ponder whether there is.
As a social anthropologist, I delve deeper into the theoretical foundations to unravel and clarify core concepts related to equity and social justice, and to pinpoint the desired political and moral compass in the realm of democratic states. I've been trying to do that.
What is social justice?
Social justice refers to the concept of a society in which justice is achieved in all aspects of society, not just law enforcement. It is generally thought of as a world in which individuals and groups are given fair treatment and a fair share of society's benefits.
Social justice can be thought of in four broad aspects. distributive or economic justice; It is concerned with giving all members of society a “fair share” of available benefits and resources. Procedural justice is concerned with making and carrying out decisions according to a fair process that ensures 'fair treatment'.
For fair decision making, rules must be followed fairly and applied consistently. Those implementing the procedure should be neutral, and those directly affected by the decision should have some voice and representation in the decision-making process.
Retributive justice appeals to the concept that people have a right to be treated like other people. This is a retrospective approach that justifies punishment as a response to past injustices and wrongdoings. The central idea is that criminals gain an unfair advantage through their actions, and that punishment redresses this imbalance.
Some have suggested that restorative justice processes are more effective because restorative justice tends to shift the focus from retributive justice to revenge. While the retributive justice approach considers violations as crimes against the state or state, restorative justice focuses on violations as crimes against individuals. We work to heal the wounds of victims, restore offenders to law-abiding lives, and repair the damage they have caused to interpersonal relationships and communities.
unpack capital
Fairness is a concept that cannot be formulated precisely. To be as precise as possible, fairness can be defined as equality. However, the word “equality” itself lacks precision, and no society in the world truly strives for complete equality. A common understanding of “fairness” is that it is synonymous with social justice.
“Equity” means recognizing no more inequality in income, wealth, power, privilege, or social status than a good society should. Equity as a concept encompasses human development as an end and a means of the development process.
Economists use two different concepts of fairness or equity: horizontal equity and vertical equity. Vertical equity refers to treating different people differently to reduce the impact of these inherent differences, whereas horizontal equity refers to treating the same people in the same way .
At the operational level, the term capital has two broad perspectives.
1. Process fairness: This can be thought of as equality of opportunity. In an educational context, this means that a child's chance of success in acquiring cognitive and social skills depends on the student's own abilities, the encouragement he receives at home, and his own efforts, but is independent of the school he attends. means that at school.
2. Equity in outcomes: This means that different needs need to be taken into account, so that, for example, special measures are taken for disadvantaged students. In the extreme, this may require equality of educational outcomes, but different outcomes through decentralization (e.g. with respect to primary school completion) can be achieved by different socio-economic groups without adjusting for 'special needs'. , it can be subdivided by ethnicity, etc.
These alternative conceptions of fairness correspond to a distinction between opportunity sets and outcomes, and are not necessarily consistent. A particular system of education may be fair according to predetermined criteria, but its outcomes may not be fair, or at least not to the same extent. Distributive justice is based on the idea of needs that resources should be distributed in different ways, taking into account the unique needs of each group or individual, rather than being uniformly distributed based on quotas. I think there is.
The principle of fairness not only takes into account performance, but also whether the distribution of compensation is proportional to performance. Equity in the broadest sense does not mean a fair distribution of income, but a broader distribution of opportunities to participate in social and economic life, resulting in a better distribution of power at different levels. will be affected by. between rich and poor, between men and women, between different regions and different ethnic groups.
Social factors that influence the fair distribution of goods and services include demographic factors such as family size, family patterns, life cycles, gender, able-bodied people, and disabled people. Similarly, occupational factors—division of labor, full-time or part-time work, government, private sector, self-employment, etc.—play an important role in designing policies that promote equitable development.
Similarly, geographical factors: rural, urban, central, peripheral, inland coast, distance from adequate transportation, ethnic factors: tribal, racial, linguistic, religious, political factors: elite and It is needed by non-elites, power groups, and political minorities. Mainstreaming an equitable development policy framework.
constitution and social justice
The Indian Constitution solemnly promises social, economic and political justice to all its citizens. Freedom of expression of thought, faith, belief, and worship. equality of status and opportunity. and to promote fraternity that guarantees the dignity of the individual and the unity of the nation. Aiming to balance socio-economic justice with the seemingly conflicting demands of individual freedom and fundamental rights, the Constitution contains certain relevant provisions.
Men and women, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, rural and urban, irrespective of caste, creed, religion or gender, are treated equally by the laws of the land and discriminated against. A society with equal protection, equal educational opportunities, employment, access to health facilities, a good environment, and above all justice is considered an egalitarian society with social justice. .
And the humanity of a society is determined by the extent to which its weak and disadvantaged members are protected so that they can live a life worthy of dignity and honor.
In simple operational terms, the right to social justice in a democratic system means the right to protection for the weak and disadvantaged, such as communities belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, the destitute, the disabled, and the elderly. . Opportunity to compete and succeed with the nation and with the more advanced parts of different sectors of society.
The concept of social justice therefore broadly embraces the objective of eliminating all inequalities and providing equal opportunities to all citizens in social affairs and economic activities.
Further debates, objections and views regarding this universally agreed upon and valued approach to human development and peace are to be subdued and in order to uphold without distorting the basic and fundamental principles of social justice and equity. A broad consensus should be adopted.
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*Previously affiliated with National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR), Hyderabad.
