Repercussions of Inequality and COVID-19

The Author, Aashi Sharma is 4th year, BA.LLB (H) student of Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University,New Delhi and Author Rimjhim Sharma is 4th year, BA.LLB (H) student of IIMT & School of Law, affiliated to IP university, New Delhi.

INTRODUCTION

We entered 21st century years back and with the magnificent growth of the digital technology, a vast change in the work pattern and thought process has been witnessed but the idea of creating a better India consists of many factors altogether. If we talk about sociological factors then social inequality within the society hinders the path of improvement.

Inequality is the difference in social status, wealth, or opportunity between people or groups^[1]. Inequality can be either social or economic in nature. It simply means unequal distribution or sharing of opportunities, produce or treatment and talking specifically about social inequality, it usually implies to the lack of equality of outcome, but may alternatively be conceptualized in terms of the lack of equality of access to opportunity^[2]. There are ample reasons for social inequality which can revolve around the basic fundamental rights which are provided in legislations and can extend to the reservation rights etc.

The social disparity within the society can be broadly divided into different categories i.e. gender inequality, inequality due to caste system, inequality due to location/region, economic inequality, inequality with respect to education, racial inequality and there are various other historical reasons. These categories are broadly discussed in this paper.

The concept of social inequality is not new to society as it can be traced back to many centuries and the situation hasn’t changed much. When we talk specifically about India then poverty has a very important role to play in tracing social inequality within the society. The present situation of global pandemic has shown the various facets of inequality within the society and most among the poor class. The paper highlights various issues which need a reality check.

The Constitution of India provides with fundamental rights, fundamental duties, directive principles of state policies which contain various provisions to prevent the situation of social inequality within the society. Violation of Article 14, 19, 21, 21A, 39 etc is the result of a wide spread situation of inequality in different forms and when these rights are infringed, it becomes a subject of concern for a democratic country like India. There are various legislations which help to curb such inequality amongst the deprived members of the society.

Concept of Social Inequality

The society which is structured on the basis of caste, gender, race, economy and the members are given the resources, opportunities and rights unequally then such situations give birth to a concept called Social inequality. The main characteristics of Social inequality is the unequal opportunities as well as benefits who are at different positions/statuses in the group/society.

From the sociological perspective there are two views of social inequality based on functionalist theory and conflict theory. The theorists of functionalist theory believe that inequality within the society plays a positive role as it leads to meritocracy hence the important position is given more importance whereas the theorists of conflict theory believe that the inequality hampers progress of the society as the haves dominate the haves not.

The former Supreme Court Judge J. Chelameswar said that the Indian Constitution shows the way on how to remove inequality and also believes that "Inequality is there in all the countries in different forms and due to various reasons (But) In this democratic country it seems more.”

Different Forms

1. GENDER INEQUALITY:

Every social structure consists of three genders roles i.e. male, female and androgynous, in a Gender System. This third category of gender role is termed as Third Gender who are categorized as neither men nor women. Now coming to the inequality which prevails amongst these three categories, results from the unequal treatment of male, female or the third gender due to various factors like biological, psychological, cultural norms etc.

Gender inequality in India refers to health, education, economic and political inequalities between men and women in India^[3]. In the Global Gender Gap Index, India stands at rank 112^th among 153 countries. The economic gender gap is comparatively larger than the political gender gap in India among the study of 153 countries.^[4].

Discrimination is witnessed in India with respect to women more than men whether it pertains to education, occupation, health, politics or other opportunities. LGBT community also faces many challenges with respect to disparities within the society. Though we have constitutional provisions which clearly provide for equal rights but still disparity increasingly prevails.

September 2018 has significantly changed the position of gender inequality within society with the pronouncement of few path breaking judgments by the Supreme Court of India. It is witnessed as a big step towards striking down gender inequality.

The hon’ble S.C. ruled in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India^[5] that the consensual sexual intercourse between same sex is no more a crime under section 377 of I.P.C., hence the section was read down and the rights of LGBT Community were recognized.

In Indian Young Lawyers Association v. The State of Kerala^[6] the court held that the years old practice of Sabarimala temple to prohibit the entry of women between the age group of 10-50 year, in the temple is unconstitutional. This practice violates Article 25(1) which gives the fundamental right to freedom of religion.  So, it is a step towards removing the stigma faced by menstruating women.

“Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code has been struck down by the S.C. considering it to be old fashioned and unconstitutional on the ground that the section is biased towards women and they cannot be considered the property of her husband neither the husband can be the master of his wife. This section clearly violates Article 14, 15 & 21; hence, adultery is no longer a criminal offence.” held by the Supreme Court in Joseph Shine v. Union of India^[7].

The steps are also taken for the transgenders to excel as the very first University for transgender community is going to be established in U.P.’s Kushinagar. Also these stereotypes are being broken by the people themselves as Sathyasri Sharmila became the India’s first transgender lawyer.

The Supreme Court's landmark verdict The Secretary, Ministry of Defencevs BabitaPuniya&Ors. (17 February 2020) allowed women officers in the Army to be granted permanent commission and command postings. It is also another step towards gender equality.

2. CASTE SYSTEM:

Caste System is one of the forms of Social Stratification. It is believed that the caste system as it exists today, is the result of the takeover of the Mughals by the Britishers in India and the resulting developments. Caste system basically leads to segregation of the people in the society on the basis of the caste they belong to.

The caste of a person is the key factor in deciding the status and rights of the person in the society. This system basically makes one go into their traditional occupation and that is what they are expected to do but this is where the real problem of social inequality lies. The very interesting fact is that the caste system is nowhere emphasized in the Vedas.

The four major castes into which the Hindus are categorized are the Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas and Shudras. These castes are hierarchical in order and the Brahmans are considered the superior ones whereas the Shudras are the inferior ones. 

The caste system significantly promoted the practice of untouchability and a very prominent step was taken by the drafters of our constitution by adding the provision prohibiting untouchability^[8].

This caste system has given rise to the concept of reservation in India which is the biggest debate of today. The reservation for OBCs came into picture on the recommendations of the Mandal Commission^[9] and later after years reservations for SCs and Scheduled Tribes (STs or Adivasis) was mandated by the Indian Constitution. After such actions by the authorities caste inequality and caste-based reservations continue to remain contentious issues in the Indian polity^[10].

All these practices within society have created a big gap between the upper and the lower castes, this has also created a denigrating effect on the societal progress of the country. From the political point of view this caste system is the easiest way to gather votes from the members of the same caste, providing reservation to the lower castes is nothing more than a political gimmick in the current scenario.

The constitution makers tried curbing the inequality within the society with the insertion of provisions like Article 15(1) states that  "The state shall not discriminate against any citizens on grounds only of religion, races, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them" & Article 29(2)  reads as "No citizen shall be denied admission to any educational institution maintained by the state or receiving out of the state funds on the grounds of only religion, race, caste, language or any of that". Decades have passed and Governments have come and gone but social injustice, an anathema of Ambedkar India, denied freedom and justice a reality of life^[11].                                                                                                       

3. INEQUALITY IN ACCESS TO EDUCATION:

Education system in India, even after three decades of planning, suffers from several pitfalls. The role of education in socio-economic and political development of the country had been clearly recognized at the inception of planning itself and one of the important features of Indian education is its inequalitarian nature but educational facilities are unequally distributed among different groups of population. After briefly discussing the concept of super flaws in Indian education, the author analyzes the inequality in education in respect of poverty.

The Right to Education Act, 2009

Article 21-A in the Constitution of India^[12] defines the right to education. The main objective of this act is to provide free and compulsory elementary education to each and every child in India who are in the age group of six to fourteen years. No child is required to pay fees or any other charges that may prevent him or her from pursuing and completing elementary education .Free education also embraces the provisions of textbooks, uniforms, stationery items and special educational material for children who are having disabilities in order to reduce the burden of school expenses.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE ACT ,2002)^[13] which envisaged under Article 21-A, means that every child has a right to full time basic education of satisfactory and equitable quality in a formal school and must  satisfy certain essential rules and standards.

In UNNIKRISHNAN VS STATE OF A.P^[14] The court ruled that “The Constitution (86th) Amendment Act, 2002, inserts new Article 21A in the Constitution to make the right to education a fundamental right for all children between six and fourteen years of age and this is the obligation on the part of state to provide education to the children”. Thereafter his right to education is subject to the limits of economic capacity and development of the State.

But it seems, RTE Act 2009, fails to provide quality education to the children. This Act along with other governmental initiatives has very well invited children to schools but giving them an equal and valuable education is still a very distant dream resulting in unequal rights to the children. The right to go to school would be quite meaningless if the school the child has way in to continue is disadvantage the child.

The Right to Education Act 2009, celebrated as engage in only political apropos

In the last few years young people, if we talk about particularly who are having engineering qualifications, have been scorned as “unemployable”, apparently lacking the technical knowledge and soft skills, including English comprehension, needed in the industry. Even if they had these skills, there are no jobs for them.

Education can only help in shaping a good society and for this, teachers are the fundamental actors in the field of education but now what every child is facing now, the teachers are not intuitive, they have a lack of presence in colleges or schools and in this plight what a child can expect from his future? Even if the teachers are absent from the schools but this is not the matter of concern for anyone and it is easily acceptable so even the law that was enacted with the aim to give the right to all children in reality gives a child a truncated/edited/conditional right, whose parents cannot pay for the privilege of private schooling. The Art-21A of the constitution and the Art-45 of DPSP’s which give us separate rights for our benevolence does not fulfil its aim as it must be and for this there is enormous reasons-

• Not having smarter people to teach
• Lack of massive technology infrastructure for education
• Discrimination in state policies
• Irrelevant reservation like quotas system in private schools and colleges.
• Inequalities in skill development in many groups of society and so on.

Education has been sold as a path to national greatness in India .It is expected to “socially uplift” the poor, transform society and turn the country into an economic powerhouse but in countries like ours where inter affecting several generations, social and economic inequalities are entrenched, education on its own changes very little. It mostly causes the inequalities.

How poverty affects education?

Like a tree, poverty has many roots but among the many causes of poverty one factor stands out i.e education. Education and poverty are inter-connected. It is true that every person without an education is not living in extreme poverty, but most of the poor are having scarcity of even basic education and this may leads to the poverty. Those who are below the poverty line will be more likely to keep their children out of school, which means that their children will also have a greater chance of living in poverty. Necessary and elementary education to these children can also reduce the chance of crimes in the society which is another obstacle in the development of the country.

4. REGIONAL INEQUALITY:

When the income, resources, opportunities and other factors variable in nature are distributed unequally across the different areas or locations, this situation is termed as Regional Inequality. It is mostly seen that inequality results from geographical remoteness which results in unequal opportunities and access to service. In India, regional inequality is widely spread among different states.

The economic reforms of 1991 resulted in increased regional inequality and gradually the southern and the western part of India emerged as the economically strengthened state than the northerner and the eastern part. Growth allegedly has not equally benefited every region of the country leading to differences in level of per capita income between the richer and poorer regions^[15].

The minimal growth  in the poor states of India like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh has contributed most in the inequality which has increased overtime. These states lack because they are comparatively less attractive and are considered unfavorable for investment. The youth from such regions are migrating to settle in other better states which provide them exposure unlike the poor states, leaving behind these states in bad conditions and lesser growth.

The skilled people contribute massively in the growth of a region who are mostly found in the west and south resulting in the growth of rich states and worsening the conditions of poor states. Population growth due to a lower literacy rate is highly destructive for such poor states and is a major problem. The inequality among the states also hampers the overall growth rate of India which requires a proper solution. The gap is increasing everyday and requires years of work to bridge the gap.

Economic Inequality

India is often characterized as an emerging economic superpower.  In contrast, there is another profile of India which is rather sullen. Economic inequalities play an important role in creating disparities with respect to earning. “Economic inequality” generally refers to the imparity of wealth or income between different groups or within a society.

When Indian society seeks to meet the challenge of socio-economic inequality in the country then the preamble of the constitution itself speaks of Justice- social, economic and political, which seeks to achieve without any violent conflict.Article 39 makes the states obligatory for providing adequate means of livelihood to both the sexes and require to prevent undue concentration of economic wealth and means of production in few hands. Article 41 relates to securing right to work and Article 43 enjoins the state to ensure living wage for all kinds of workers, so these articles envisage economic equality for both sexes.

Economic inequality due to caste system

Broadly, there are four subgroups: Brahmins; Kshatriyas; Vaisyas and Sudras. Brahmins represent the highest caste because they were traditionally priests and teachers. In response to the burden of social stigma and economic backwardness borne by people belonging to India's ‘untouchable castes', the Constitution of India allows for special provisions for members of these castes like Article 17. Articles 341 and 342 includes a list of castes who are entitled to benefits and all those groups included in this list are referred to as ‘Scheduled Castes'^[16].If there were no economic inequalities in India then there would not be any reservation or quota system but now when India is dispersed into well off class and poor class/weaker sections, then this economic inequality can be fend or balanced by providing Economic justice to such weaker sections.

In Papaiah vs. State of Karnataka and Ors.^[17]the court held that “The right to economic justice to the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other weaker sections is a fundamental right to secure equality of status, opportunity and liberty. Economic justice is a phase of liberty without which equality of status and dignity of person is only illusions.”

“The ideal of economic justice is making equality of status meaningful and life worth living at its best removing inequality of opportunity and of status whether it is social, economic and political.” it was held by the court in Dalmia Cement(Bharat)Ltd vs. Union of India^[18].

Economic inequality by Gender

Economic inequalities emerge from people’s different positions and these economic positions are also related to other characteristics, such as whether they are man or woman. In patriarchal societies of India, although it is customarily accepted that a woman belongs to her husband's family upon marriage, a woman's rights to property within her husband's family are meager. As a wife, a woman has little or no control over her husband's property. Legally she has no right over any property belonging to her husband during his lifetime.

Nevertheless as per the Constitution of India, all citizens have a right to equal opportunity in relation to matters of public employment or appointment to any office under the state.^[19] Even Article 38(2) and Article 39 of DPSP strives to minimize inequalities in income among individuals and equal pay for equal work for both men and women. In addition, The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 of India (ERA) prohibits differential pay to men and women workers for performing the 'same work or work of similar nature'. Mackinnon Mackenzie & Co. Ltd. v. Audrey D'costa and Ors^[20]In this landmark case, the Supreme Court held that men and women employees should be paid equally for the same work.

Present Scenario in India

So far now we have traced various pitfalls in the development of India and due to this inequalities in the societies at least more than half of the population is not able to meet the basic requirement of a dignified life, then how one can imagine the condition of poor class (laborers/workers) amidst the pandemic disease of Coronavirus, which is a glaring example of inequality and the labor class is suffering the most.

Uttar Pradesh government has decided to suspend 35 of the 38 labor laws for three years including laws related to industrial disputes, trade unions and contract workers to attract more investors to an economy battered by Covid-19. The M.P. Government has also proposed the amendments in the Factories Act, 1948, Madhya Pradesh Industrial Relations Act and Himachal Pradesh has issued an executive order allowing shifts of 12 hours’ work a day or 72 hours of work a week with no provision of overtime^[21].

No elementary education- Not so good education structure has shattered the lower class amidst the pandemic. The claim of digital India has lost its value as these poor children are unable to go to school due to lockdown neither there is facility of digitally based distance learning, and on the other hand countries like Finland, USA and China are dealing with the situation remarkably. Almost 266 million adults are still unable to read and some 12 million children are yet to get enrolled in schools which is nearly a fifth of the country’s population[22] and this illiteracy leads to poverty hence, Art. 21A is yet to be fulfilled.

Falling economy- In 2020, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) urged India to take steps quickly to reverse the slowdown, attributing it also to declining consumption and falling tax revenues. Niti Aayog which is the premier policy 'Think Tank' of the Government of India, The head of this policy, recently claimed that the current slowdown was unprecedented in 70 years of independent India and they called for immediate policy interventions in specific industries.^[23]

Higher Unemployment- India was already suffering from youth unemployment, the unemployment rate had started to rise even before the lockdowns and stood at 8.7 percent for the full month of March, this is the highest unemployment rate since September 2016. The rate has climbed rather steeply as the unemployment rate during last week of March was 23.8 percent and the weaker section like Labor participation rate fell to 39 percent and the employment rate was a mere 30 percent^[24]. Result of this unemployment is the migration of laborers back to their villages.

Food scarcity- The foremost thing that is going to be affected more is food security. Before the coronavirus outbreak, 265 million people are estimated to suffer from acute food crisis, a 100% increase in the number of people who are facing intense food shortages. As the influence of Covid-19 becomes more and more apparent, this number is certainly going to further increase^[25]. The country has surplus food stock but mismanagement is the problem as the food is not reaching the hungry although various steps have been taken by the government but seems insufficient.

Poverty is widespread- Where labor class/poor class exist and illiteracy rate is high, the situation and development of that country is evitable and this disastrous situation is witnessed in the present scenario of pandemic. There is a burdensome on the rural employment too that the labor left limited or no opportunity to earn a decent income in their native villages.

The laborers are in unpleasant situation- The lowest stratum of the society like daily-wage workers, construction workers, contract laborers, street vendors etc, who are similar in their education ,income or social status have been hit the worst. Industries and factories are closed, these vulnerable groups have lost the only source of their income and are now under the threat of dying from hunger which clearly shows the system failure and is mind boggling altogether.

Increasing crime- India was already facing the problem of crimes like rape, child labour, child trafficking and amid this outbreak of covid-19 India is still facing cases related to violence, sexual offences and cyber crime has increased drastically, the problem remains the same as there is no stringent implementation of law in India. India has always been called a capital of crime and is considered to be the fourth most dangerous country for women travellers.^[26]

According to recent data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) shows that 1 case of rape is reported every 15 minutes in India. Women reported almost 34,000 rapes in 2018, scarcely changed from the year before in which just over 85 per cent led to charges, and 27 per cent to convictions.^[27]

The Cyber Crime National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) shows thatIndia recorded 21,796 cyber-crimes in 2017, an increase of 77% from 2016. Countrywide, 1.7 cyber-crimes were committed per one lakh population in 2017[28] and now when everyone is locked down and is frequently using internet, cyber-crime may reach its height.

Inequality Is the Main Cause of steadfast Poverty

Poverty results from various factors like infrastructure, economic policy, development, available resources of the country. Indian economy is largely based on Agricultural economy rather than industries and it is a unique mixture of fundamental divisions and disparities.

Disparities in caste-based society, region based societies land inequality, inequality in small services sector, lack of proper distribution of capital or unequal distribution to the same class and so exist massively but the poor governance is the biggest constraint in achieving the aspirations of a new generation and reduction in poverty and inequality. 

The level of inequality or disparity determines what the share of the poor in the growth process will be like let’s assume a growth process in which all levels of income grow foully at the same rate and the high levels of inequality entails that the poor will gain less in absolute terms from growth and they will have a smaller share of both total income and its increment through growth. Consequently, the rate of poverty will not reduce.

survey conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO) by which the average monthly spending by an individual fell to Rs 1,446 in 2017-18 from Rs 1,501 in 2011-12, down 3.7 per cent rural consumption fell 8.8%, and rural food consumption crashed by 10%. If this survey is true then poverty must have skyrocketed^[29].

Although India has some flagship programs like MGNREGA to reduce poverty. No doubt these programs are important for protecting the poor but equitable growth and productive inclusion in generating quality employment is a broader concern. The more Indians have fallen into poverty, hunger and income inequality in the past two years.^[30]

It's been highlighted by the Indian judiciary in Francis Coralie Mullin v. Administrator, Union Territory of Delhi^[31]The S.C held that “the right to life includes the right to live with human dignity and all that goes along with it, namely the bare necessities of life such as adequate nutrition, clothing and shelter etc more than mere animal existence but it must include the right to the basic necessities of life and also the right to carry on such functions and activities as constitute the bare minimum expression of the human-self.”

The most authoritative index of poverty across the world, has found that the India’s poor did not increase their income as much as the other sections did. It means that the gap between the poor and the rich is widening so fast^[32]. It is another worry for India.

The things have gone from bad to worse in Murshidabad, the opulent capital of the Nawabs of Bengal. It is now one of three districts in eastern India that have become the den(cave) of child traffickers.^[33]

The most prominent of pro-poor legislations is the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 that gives statutory effect to the provisions of Art. 39A of the Constitution of India and aims at providing free and comprehensive legal services to the indigent sections of the population. Additionally, almost all legislations operating in any field whatsoever, whether it be labour    laws^[34], civil law^[35], criminal law^[36] are bound to have certain provisions dealing with indigent issues.

Fundamentally, it is through the social laws that a direct impact is ensured on poverty-related issues. Several legal provisions dealing with issues of caste status^[37], land reforms^[38], child labour^[39] and gender equality are in existence.

Judicial/Legislative Approach to Curb Social Inequality

An antithetical view of Social Inequality is social justice which can be achieved by treating all the citizens equally without any discrimination on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them, be subject to any disability, liability, restriction or condition^[40].  It means absence of privileges being extended to any particular section of the society, and improvement in the conditions of backward classes (SCs, STs, and OBCs) and women. Social Justice is the keystone of Indian Constitution^[41]. Various steps have been taken by the judiciary/legislation to curb social inequality and establish social justice.

“Social justice holds the aims of equal opportunity to every citizen in the matter of social & economical activities and to prevent inequalities” said by then Chief Justice Gajendragadkar.

The Preamble, fundamental rights, fundamental duties, directive principle of state policy in the Constitution plays an important role in keeping social justice within the society by Just, fair, and reasonable procedure. It helps in curbing the social inequality prevailing in the society.

Judiciary has tried to establish social justice through Public Interest Litigation, judicial activism, judicial review, curative petition.

PIL cases have addressed the plight of the labour class from time to time. Bonded labour, contract labour, child labour cases, and such other matters have been dealt with in number of cases, proper enforcement of varied labour laws along with the just relief has been granted. There are many laws for the labour class in India which curbs the exploitation of such masses because of unequal treatment.  Indian Trade Unions Act, 1926, The Trades Disputes Act, 1929, Payment of Wages Act 1936 etc.

In the year 1993, 73^rd and the 74^th Constitutional Amendment mentioned about the 33% reservation for women in panchayats and municipalities. This was a big step towards empowering women and mitigating inequality in the political participation of women. Not only this, the legislature formulated The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 which ensued the judgment, Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan[42], after the Supreme Court observed the need for such legislation.

Coming to the SC/STs of the society who face lot of caste discrimination and atrocities within the society, there is a legislation for the same, The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

Article 39(d) of the Indian Constitution directs state to make policies so as to secure equal pay for equal work for men and women both. Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 came up with the same objective and was an affirmative step towards securing the idea behind art. 39(d). Another provision in the Constitution which work against inequality is Article 46, it directs the state to promote the interests of the weaker sections, specifically SCs & STs and to give them protection against social injustice and exploitation.

The apex court in D. S. Nakara v. Union of India^[43], highlights the aim of a state, which is to remove inequality. Also observed that providing standard of living and security is a structure of a socialist state. It also emphasised on equality with respect to income and equal distribution of the same.

CONCLUSION & SUGGESTIONS

Social inequality and economic inequality is witnessed everywhere in the society, not only in India but also in other countries. Inequality has taken various forms and is slowly getting deep rooted within the society. Biggest challenge with the inequality is the hampered growth of society and the plight of the sections considered weaker.

Another concern is the overall growth of the country is affected widely on the global scale which also hinders foreign investment. This reason may someday badly affect the economy of India. The constitutional provisions made by the makers of our constitution for the better treatment of the downtrodden sections of our society are violated with every act of inequality and even the legislation made for the poor class, labourers or weaker section appears to be of no or lesser use.

With this growing  situation of the India country where the economy has been shattered as given the report atop due to many resplendent situations ,how one will be dealing with the present situation of the country which is going through the pandemic of Coronavirus and the most affected is the labour class as they are left with no employment and most of the population is the migrant workers who are also running out of food and essentials. This is a glaring example of inequality as these people are deprived of the bare minimum needs and to cope with this plight  many states have removed/changed the provisions of labour laws to attract the investors in an economy and this shows the failure of management to a greater extent. So, the question arises that the legislature passes a law but what about the implementation? And if there is an implementation then how the awareness of those laws are enlightening to all people specially if we take a sheer example of Art-21A of the Constitution.

These problems need to be addressed and the executives should be questioned so that this could not happen in future and when the Constitution is being violated then who other than the judiciary can take the immediate check.

The removal of discriminatory social practices plays a vital role in building social justice. The idea behind Social Justice is to provide education free of cost and equally, to build a society not based on caste system and employment is in every hand. In Workmen of Meenakshi Mills Ltd. v Meenakshi Mills Ltd.^[44] The Supreme Court said that the Preamble of the Constitution clearly depicts the objective to secure political, economic and social justice to the citizen of country.

Need of the hour is to develop a viable judicial system by amending our existing procedural laws and taking necessary steps for proper implementation of laws. Apart from this ,educational institutions have obligation to ensure compulsory and free education^[45] to the children between the age of six-fourteen because education is the pillar of the nation to combat poverty and it also builds up an individual’s personality in accordance with the societal norms or values also as a fundamental right, if education is not enjoyed by all and most people do not have quality and value education, how can education be used as the key for promotion of other human right?

In the context of reduction of poverty, make in India initiative, focus on start-ups, mudra, financial inclusion, etc. can be more effective steps in the right direction. Equally, employment and privatization has to be promoted. Over time, the share of the organized sector has to be raised while simultaneously improving productivity in the unorganized sector. Youth unemployment is a major concern of every state so opportunity for jobs must be improved. Everyone irrespective of caste, class, gender, and region should have equal opportunities in education, health, employment and entrepreneurship. The new generation needs better quality of schools and higher education with no discrimination on any ground. Issues like electoral reforms, crony capitalism, election funding and corruption should be part of the reform agenda to reduce inequalities.

A better India can only be the result of  proper governmental structure, upgraded education system, new reforms, no inequality and the new perspective to accept and work towards removing these evils and problems from society and by this India may deal with such a pandemic outbreak or an any emergency with a better armour in hand  like other countries are battling or dealing.

References:

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