1. Social Inequality
By,
S.MONISHA
AISHWARYA IYER
MANASI MISHRA
(B.A SOCIOLOGY)

2.  "...all
animals are equal here, but
some are more equal than
others." [G,Orwell, Animal Farm]

3.  What does Social Inequality Mean?
--Differential Access to:-
 Wealth
 Power
 Prestige

4.  The unequal opportunities to
access various commodities
and services available in
society to different sections of
society are termed as “social
inequality”.
 These socially defined sections are
gender, age, class, cast and race
etc.
 Similarly commodities and services
as referred here are
education, healthcare, job
opportunities, employment etc.

5.  On What bases is
Differential Access
Based?
Ethnicity or
caste
 Gender
 unequal
distribution of
wealth.

6.  Caste -
 Caste system in society, particularly with
reference to few Asian countries, exists since
ancient times.
 In a few countries, such as India, it is
considered to be the ideology of life.
 Though with the efforts of various
governments this has reduced somewhat in
recent past but still it is not dead.
 Under this caste system a section of society
enjoys more opportunities compared to others,
based on their upper caste thereby creating
social inequality

7.  Caste system has been part of Hindu
culture for thousands of years.
 One of the effects of this system is
discrimination against the lower castes, a
problem that was most severe for the very
lowest rung of society, the
Untouchables’s.
 Such of the basis for this discrimination
is connected to Hindi views of unclean
activities. Working with leather, cleaning
toilets, clearing garbage, and trades such
as oil pressing were regarded as ritually
unclean, and would pollute those
associated with them.
 Prior to independence, the number of
people labelled as Untouchable
accounted for perhaps 20% of the
population of India.
 These people were subjected to severe
limitations, and were excluded from
temples, cremation grounds, wells, and
other public utilities.
 Despite the discouragement of British
rulers, in some areas, the caste system
was expanding in the early 20th C.

9.  The leaders of independent India decided that India will be
democratic, socialist and secular country. Practicing untouchability
or discriminating a person based on his caste is legally forbidden.
Along with this law the government allows positive discrimination
of the depressed classes of India.
 The lower classes were listed in three categories. The first category
is called Scheduled Castes. This category includes in it
communities who were untouchables.
 The second category is Scheduled Tribes. This category includes in
it those communities who did not accept the caste system and
preferred to reside deep in the jungles, forests and mountains of
India. The Scheduled Tribes are also called Adivasi, meaning
aboriginals.
 The third category is called sometimes Other Backward Classes.
This category includes in it castes who belong to Sudra Varna and
also former untouchables who converted from Hinduism to other
religions. This category also includes in it nomads and tribes who
made a living from criminal acts.
 According to the central government policy these three categories
are entitled for positive discrimination. 15% of India's population
are Scheduled Castes. According to central government policy 15%
of the government jobs and 15% of the students admitted to
universities must be from Scheduled Castes. For the Scheduled
Tribes about 7.5% places are reserved which is their proportion in
Indian population. The Other Backwards Classes are about 50% of
India's population, but only 27% of government jobs are reserved
for them.

10. Gender inequality
 Discrimination against girls and women is
widespread in India, in both Hindu and Muslim
communities.
 The dowry system (payment of money or goods by
the family of a bride) means that girls are a financial
burden, whereas boys are viewed as a source of
income and prosperity.
 Nationwide, girls are fed less and taken to doctors
less frequently, so mortality is greater.
 Death in childbirth is also unacceptably high:
maternal death rates are over 0.5% of births.
 Education is also less available to women, and as a
result, literacy rates are lower: nationally, literacy
rates are 64% for males, but only 39% for women.
 In the poorer states, female literacy may be less than
25%. As a result, the level of opportunity for women
is low.

11. Unequal distribution of wealth-
 When national wealth, generated as a result of
economic growth of a country is not proportionately
distributed among different sections of society, the
social inequality arises.
 The upper or developed strata of society takes the
lion share of growth whereas the deprived class or
lower strata of society gets very little proportionate
to their population.
 This unequal distribution of wealth further deepens
the difference between the rich and poor strata of
society. This ultimately adds to the social inequality.

13. •The 2001 census put the number of persons belonging to
Scheduled Tribes in India at 84.3 million which is 8.2% of
the total population.
-There were about 60 major tribal groups
-Over 100 medium tribal groups and 130 minor tribal
groups.
•According to 2001 census, STs are largest in MP followed
by Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan and Jharkhand. The ST
formed the largest proportion of the total population in
Lakshadweep, Mizoram and Nagaland.
•The decadal population growth between the census years
1981-1991 in tribal population has been higher at 31.64%
than that for the entire population at 23.51.

14.  Karnataka has witnessed highest growth rate of
80.82% followed by Nagaland 67.23%.The
lowest growth rate as per 2001 census was
recorded in Andaman and Nicobar Islands at
10.08% followed by Himachal Pradesh at
12.02%.
 The sex-ratio among STs stand at 977 per 1000
males. In all states except AP and Tamil Nadu
and Uttaranchal the ST sex-ratio as per 2001
census was more women centric.
 The literacy rate for STs increased from 29.62%
to 47.10 %.The female literacy rate among
tribals increased from 18.19% to 34.76% in
2001.

16.  For ages tribals are considered primitive segment of Indian
society. They lived in forests and hills without any contact with
civilizations.
 During British rule they consolidated their position and their
political aspirations and administrative needs necessitated to
open up the entire country.
 The British introduced the system of landownership and
revenue. Annual tax was trebled which was beyond the
paying capacity of tribal cultivators.
 Many nontribals began to settle in the tribal areas offering
credit facilities. Initially it provided relief to tribals but gradually
the system became exploitative.
 Over the years the tribal population faced all types of
exploitation. This aroused the tribal leaders to mobilize the
tribals and start agitations.
Thus it is the cumulative result of a number of factors.
Indifference from administrators and bureaucracy in dealing
with tribal grievances.

17.  Harsh and unfriendly forest laws and regulations.
 Lack of legislation to prevent the passing of tribal
land into the hands of non-tribals.
 Lack of credit facilities.
 Ineffective government measures to rehabilitate
tribal population.
 Delay in implementation of recommendations of
different committee
 Discrimination in implementation of reform
measures.

18. Land Alienation:
Began during British colonialism in India when the British
interfered in the tribal region for the purpose of exploiting
the tribal natural resources. Coupled with this tribal lands
were occupied by moneylenders, zamindars and traders
by advancing them loans etc.
• After the British came to power, the Forest policy of the
British Government was more inclined towards
commercial considerations rather than human.
• Some forests were declared as reserved ones where
only authorized contractors were allowed to cut the
timber and the forest -dwellers were kept isolated
deliberately within their habitat without any effort to
ameliorate their economic and educational standards.

19. Poverty and Indebtedness
Majority tribes live under poverty line.The tribes follow many simple
occupations based on simple technology.
 Most of the occupation falls into the primary occupations such as
hunting, gathering, and agriculture.
 The technology they use for these purposes belong to the most
primitive kind. There is no profit and surplus making in such
economy.
 Hence there per capita income is very meager much lesser than the
Indian average. Most of them live under abject poverty and are in
debt in the hands of local moneylenders and Zamindars.
 In order to repay the debt they often mortgage or sell their land to
the moneylenders.
 Indebtedness is almost inevitable since heavy interest is to be paid
to these moneylenders.

20. Health and Nutrition
In many parts of India tribal population suffers from chronic infections
and diseases out of which water borne diseases are life threatening.
 They also suffer from deficiency diseases. The Himalayan tribes
suffer from goiter due to lack of iodine. Leprosy and tuberculosis are
also common among them.
 Infant mortality was found to be very high among some of the tribes.
Malnutrition is common and has affected the general health of the
tribal children as it lowers the ability to resist infection, leads to
chronic illness and sometimes leads to brain impairment.
 The ecological imbalance like cutting of trees have increased the
distances between villages and the forest areas thus forcing tribal
women to walk longer distances in search of forest produce and
firewood.

21. Education
 Educationally the tribal population is at different levels of
development but overall the formal education has made very little
impact on tribal groups.
 Earlier Government had no direct programme for their education.
But in the subsequent years the reservation policy has made some
changes.
 There are many reasons for low level of education among the tribal
people: Formal education is not considered necessary to discharge
their social obligations.
 Superstitions and myths play an important role in rejecting
education. Most tribes live in abject poverty. It is not easy for them to
send their children to schools, as they are considered extra helping
hands.
 The formal schools do not hold any special interest for the children.
 Most of the tribes are located in interior and remote areas where
teachers would not like to go from outside.

22. Cultural Problems
 Due to contact with other cultures, the tribal
culture is undergoing a revolutionary change.
 Due to influence of Christian missionaries the
problem of bilingualism has developed which
led to indifference towards tribal language.
 The tribal people are imitating western culture
in different aspects of their social life and
leaving their own culture.
 It has led to degeneration of tribal life and
tribal arts such as dance, music and different
types of craft.

23. Numerous uprisings of the tribals have taken place beginning with the
one in Bihar in 1772 followed by many revolts in Andhra Pradesh,
Andaman and Nicobar Islands,Arunchal Pradesh,Assam,Mizoram and
Nagaland.The important tribes involved in revolt in the 19th century
were Mizos (1810),Kols(1795&1831),Mundas (1889),Daflas
(1875),Khasi and Garo (1829)
After independence the Tribal struggle may be classified into three
groups:
 Struggles due to exploitation of the outsiders.
 Struggles due to economic deprivations
 Struggle due to separatist tendencies
The tribal movements may also be classified on the basis of
their orientation into four types:
 Movements seeking political autonomy and formation of separate
state.
 Agrarian movement
 Forest -based movements
 Socio-religious movements

24. Most of the tribal movements were result of oppression and
discrimination, neglect and backwardness and apathy of
government towards tribal problems.
Tana Bhagat Movement
In the Tana Bhagat movement an attempt was made to
emulate the way of life of the Hindu higher castes.
 It emerged among the Oraon of Chotanagpur; Bihar.
 It tried to raise the status of its members in the eyes of the
surrounding Hindu society and was characterized by a large
scale incorporation of Hindu belief-practices into its ideology.
Birsa Munda Movement
During the second half of the 19th century the whole of
Chotanagpur underwent a tremendous change.
 The old Munda system of Khuntakatti tenure gave way to a
new and alien system of exploitation by the landlords known
as jagirdar and thikadar.
 In 1895 Birsa Munda of Chalkad started a movement. In him
the Munda found the embodiment of their aspiration.
 He gave them leadership, a religion and a code of life. He
held before them the prospect of Munda Raj in place of
foreign rule.

25.  The number of crimes committed against ST’s was:-
 4,306 in1992
 3,652 in 1993
 5,019 in 1994
 13.9% were cases of hurt, 7.7% cases to rape,2.1% cases to
murder, 1.3% case s to kidnapping and 48.8% to other cases.

26. According to 2001 census the
population of Scheduled Castes in
India was 166.6 million which is 16.2%
of the total population of the country.
The SCs are largest in UP,
Maharashtra, Bihar and West Bengal.
The highest proportion of scheduled
caste population was in Punjab while
the lowest is in Nagaland.

28. Introduction
 Of all the sections the shudras, once put on
the lowest rung of the social hierarchy were
destined to suffer all types of deprivations. These
untouchables and depressed classes came to be
designated as Scheduled Castes.
 The term first appeared in the Government of
India Act, 1935. In April 1936, the British
Government had issued the Gov-ernment of
India (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1936 specifying
certain castes, races, and tribes as Scheduled
Castes in the then provinces of
Assam, Bombay, Bengal, Bihar, Central
Provinces and Berar, Madras, Orissa, Punjab
and United Provinces.

29. Different Plans for Upliftment of SCs
 The implementation of the special strategies of
the Special Component Plan (SCP) for SCs and
the Special Central Assistance (SCA) to SCP,
has been receiving special attention, since their
inception, as these were effective instruments to
ensure proportionate flow of funds for SCs from
the other general development sectors.
 In respect of the Special Component Plan
(SCP), the situation at the central level was not
found to be very encouraging as the earmarking
of funds was adhered to only by thirteen
Ministries/Departments.

30.  The discriminations suffered by the oppressed sections
of the society including SC and STs over great period of
time has led to the concept of protective discrimination
to safe-guard their interests.
 The main reason behind protective discrimination is to
provide the necessary facilities to the deprived sections
and to bring them to the mainstream society.
 These two classes were placed beyond the bounds of
the larger society, the scheduled tribes on account of
their isolation in particular ecological riches and the
scheduled castes on account of the segregation
imposed on them by the rules of pollution.

31.  There are certain clauses in the constitution which aims at
providing equality of opportunity to all by prohibiting
discrimination and to remove disparities between privileged
and underprivileged classes.
 However the state faced with the dilemma that this would
mean that in the society characterized by the distinctions on
the basis of caste, religion only who are better positioned
than the rest would get all the benefits and the backward and
repressed classes will remain sidelined.
 In order to overcome this, state has the special responsibility
of giving equal rights to the communities through protective
discrimination.
There are many provisions in the constitution:
i. Art 15 (clause 3) which empowers the state to make any
special provision for women and children.
ii. Art 16 (clause 4) serves the same purpose for backward
class citizens. There are several other articles which aim to
remove disparity between different sections of the society.
The constitution attempts to create balance between right
to equality and protective discrimination.

33.  Scheduled Castes (SC) 16.8%
 Scheduled Castes (ST) 8%
 Other Backward Classes 27% (or
more)
Even with conservative estimates, it
appears that more than 50% of India’s
population suffers systematic
disadvantage and depravation

35.  The reservation for OBC’s was announced by the
Janata Dal government on aug 7,1990.
 27% seats were proposed to be reserved for 3,742
OBC’s.
 This was done in accordance with implementing
the mandal Commision’s report.
 The report was discussed by both rajya sabha and
lok sabha in 1982.
 The sudden announcement of accepting its
recommendation in aug 1990 was decribed as a
political decision of then prime minister V.P
Singh,taken without an in-depth study of the
various issues arising out of its implementation.

36.  The Mandal Commission was established in India in 1979
by the Janata Party government under Prime Minister,Morarji
Desai with a mandate to "identify the socially or educationally
backward."
 It was headed by Indian parliamentarian Bindheshwari
Prasad Mandal to consider the question of seat reservations
and quotas for people to redress caste discrimination.
 In 1980, the commission's report affirmed the affirmative
action practice under Indian law whereby members of lower
castes (known as Other Backward Classes (OBC)
and Scheduled Castes and Tribes) were given exclusive
access to a certain portion of government jobs and slots in
public universities, and recommended changes to
these quotas, increasing them by 27% to 49.5%.

37. Dalit
woman.

38.  The commission used three indicators for
identifying a specific caste/class as
backward.
 They were-social,educational,and economic.
 The social indicators were given a weightage
of 3 points,the educational indicators 2 points
and the economic indicators were accorded 1
point.
 The total value was 22 points.
 Casstes which secured the score of
50%,i.e;11 points or above, were listed as
‘backward’.

39. Social
 Classes considered as socially backward by others.
 Classes which mainly depend on manual labour for their livelihood.
 Classes where at least 25 per cent females and 10 per cent males above the state
average get married at an age below 17 years in rural areas and at least 10 per
cent females and 5 per cent males do so in urban areas.
 Classes where participation of females in work is at least 25 per cent above the
state average.
Educational
 classes where the number of children in the age group of 5–15 years who never
attended school is at least 25 percent above the state average.
 classes where the rate of student drop-out in the age group of 5–15 years is at
least 25 percent above the state average.
 classes amongst whom the proportion of matriculates is at least 25 per cent below
the state average.
Economic
 classes where the average value of family assets is at least 25 per cent below the
state average.
 Classes where the number of families living in kuccha houses is at least 25 per
cent above the state average.
 Classes where the source of drinking water is beyond half kilometer for more than
50 per cent of the households.
 Classes where the number of households having taken consumption loans is at
least 25 per cent above the state average.
 Also known as "Creamy layer," this criteria of separation is ignored by the
government which is known as the most controversial issue of reservation

41.  The government’s decision to implement the Mandal
Commmision report on reservations for the OBC’s provoked
widespread resentment among students.
 Most families endure hardship and sacrifice to educate their
children.
 the students went on a rampage and took to agitations and
immolations.
 Between 19th sep 1990 and 16th oct 1990,160 youth had
attempted to commit suicide.
 A large no. chose to set themselves on fire in full public view
while some took poison.
 All the victims were from the lower-middle class families.
 Some students were killed in police firing, many were injured
while thousands were arrested.
 No political party openly opposed the implementation.

43.  Fulfill the mandatory requirement of the constitution
of satisfying OBC’s discontent.
 Moral and social duty to ensure that the
suppressed people are at par with the affluent
people in society.
 The recommendations are not based on caste.
 There is mere representation of nation’s OBC’s in
public sector unemployment.
 The reservations will be only for the central govt
services & not 1% of total population of the country
are in these services, therefore reservation will not
adversely affect mass people.

44. Demonstrations against Mandal Commision.

45.  The criteria used for defining the other
backward castes/classes.any special
provision should be meant for all the poor
irrespective of their caste.
 Using very old census data for making
population projections on the basis of an
assumed constant rate of population growth.
 Bungling of facts and figures related to the
identification of the OBC’s.
 Non-objective sampling procedure in the data
collected.
 The terminology discrepancies with reference
to the use of terms like ‘caste’ and ‘class’.

46. V.P SINGH AND HIS FOLLOWERS.

47.  The supreme court gave its verdict on November 15,1992
based on V.P Singh’s government’s notification.
 The majority judgment held that 27% reservations in govt.
service on the basis of caste are permissible.
 But it gave certain directions for change in this policy, they
were:-
1. ‘Creamy layer’ of backward class should be excluded.
2. Armed forces and sensitive higher civilian posts should be
kept outside the purview of caste reservations.
3. While commission had identified 3,743 backward
classes, the supreme court recognized only half this
number as OBC’s.
4. Those castes which were well represented in govt. jobs
should be excluded from the list of OBC’s.
5. Supreme court recommended reservations only in original
appointments.

48. 6. Supreme court gave directions for treating unfilled
vacancies as unreserved.
7. Reservation of 10% seats for weaker sections in the higher
castes as constitutional.
8. The reservation quota should not go beyond 50%

49.  All the recommendations of the report are not yet implemented. As on 27
June 2008 there is still a backlog of 28,670 OBC vacancies in government
jobs.The recommendation of reservations in Higher educational institutes
was implemented in 2008.
 NFHS Survey estimated only Hindu OBC population.Total OBC population
derived by assuming Muslim OBC population in same proportion as Hindu
OBC population.
 The National Sample Survey puts the figure at 32%.There is substantial
debate over the exact number of OBC's in India, with census data
compromised by partisan politics. It is generally estimated to be sizable, but
lower than the figures quoted by either the Mandal Commission or and
National Sample Survey.
 There is also an ongoing controversy about the estimation logic used by
Mandal commission for calculating OBC population.
 Famous Indian Statistician,Mr.Yogendra Yadav who supports Reservations
agrees that there is no empirical basis to the Mandal figure. According to him
"It is a mythical construct based on reducing the number of SC/ST, Muslims
and others and then arriving at a number."
 National Sample Survey's 1999-2000 round estimated around 36 per cent of
the country's population is defined as belonging to the Other Backward
Classes (OBC). The proportion falls to 32 per cent on excluding Muslim
OBCs. A survey conducted in 1998 by National Family Health Statistics
(NFHS) puts the proportion of non-Muslim OBCs as 29.8 per cent.