Society

1. Constitutional Measures

1.1 Affirmative Action

1.2 Protective Measures

1.3 Political Measures

1.4 Administrative rights 

1.5 Specifically for STs

2. Legal Measures

2.1 For Scheduled Castes

• Protection of Civil Rights Act (PCRA), 1955: The act deals with untouchability 
• Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of the Atrocities) Act, 1989
  • Prevents commission of atrocities against SC/ST by a person other than SCs & STs.
  • Establishment of special courts for speedy trial of such offences. 
• Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013

2.2 For Scheduled Tribes

• Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of the Atrocities) Act, 1989
• PESA, 1996
• Forest Rights Act, 2006

How particular tribe is added to the list of Scheduled Tribes?

It is done under the provisions of Article 342 in the following way

1. President, by public notification, specifies the tribal communities to be declared as Scheduled Tribe.
2. Parliament amends the list for including or omitting names of communities in the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950.

Meaning of the Atrocities

• The term atrocity is not defined in law (but the list of atrocities is given). 

Applicable to

• The act is applicable in connection with Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes who are subjected to violence and brutalities by any person who is not a member of a Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Atrocities mentioned in the Act

Atrocities under the act include (but are not limited to):

1. Social discrimination
2. Beating, lashing and other forms of torture
3. Arson-the burning of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes communities and their homes
4. Violence against women
5. Bonded labour
6. Denial of rights, especially land rights
7. Deny to give job or do business with a person belonging to SC/ST
8. Forcibly remove cloth
9. Forcing to eat something
10. Denying access to a public place
11. Police abuses against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and custodial abuse

Imprisonment

• The person will be put behind bars at the same instant when FIR is lodged against the person. 
• There is no provision of Anticipatory Bail. Only High Court can grant bail. 
• The act has the provision of imprisonment ranging from 6 months to life.

Regarding Government Servant

• If any government servant indulges in such activity, there is a provision of imprisonment of 6 months to 1 year.
• The case can be registered against a government servant only when he is found guilty in the investigation.

Other Provisions

• Special Courts have been established to deal with these cases. 
• SC/ST are provided with financial aid and a lawyer to fight the case.

Working Appraisal of Act

• There are only 194 Special courts which amount to only 1 out of 3 districts having special courts.
• The conviction rate is very low,
• The awareness about the act is very low among the community it is designed to protect. 
• The police, which in most of the states is filled up with dominant caste, guard the door to justice by not filing FIRs. 

• Forest Rights Act or Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act came into force in 2006. 
• It has been enacted to recognize and vest the forest rights and occupation of forest land in forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers, who have been residing in such forests for generations, but whose rights could not be recorded. 

Main provisions of the act

• The authority to vest forest rights in forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes and traditional forest dwellers have been vested with the Gram Sabha.
• It guarantees the following rights   
  • Title Rights: The right in the land is granted to STs and the people who have been residing there for 75 years but don’t have documents (maximum 4 hectares)
  • Right of use of resources. E.g., Minor Forest Produce (honey, herbs etc.), common property resources etc.
  • Relief and Developmental Rights: In case of any displacement of tribals, proper relief packages should be given.
  • Forest Management Rights of the Forest Dwellers to protect forests and wildlife.  

Issues wrt Forest Right Act

• The task of documenting the claims of communities is very tedious. 
• Reluctance on the part of the bureaucracy
• The narrow interpretation of the law 
• Opposition from wildlife conservationists
• The Forest Rights Act is often in conflict with other laws, e.g., rights in protected areas like wildlife sanctuaries, national parks, etc. 

• Dalit activist Chandra Bhan Prasad coined the term. 
• It is a process in which capitalism is seen as a solution for the upliftment and emancipation of dalits. 

Government steps like

• Stand Up Scheme
• MUDRA Bank
• PSL lending to SCs

are inline with Dalit Capitalism

But there is a fundamental flaw with the concept

• It wants to correct one exploitative system, i.e. Caste System, using another exploitative system, i.e. capitalism. 
• Dalit Capitalism will not uplift the poorest of poor dalits. 

Every bank branch will provide 

1. a loan from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 crore 
2. to one Dalit or Adivasi member and one woman each 
3. For greenfield enterprises in the non-farm sector without collateral.

• 1973: Dhebar Commission created Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs) as a separate category, who are less developed among the tribal groups.  
•  2006: The government of India renamed it to Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs).
• At present, they are 75 in numbers like Asurs of Bihar, Seharias of Rajasthan, Jarawas, Sentinelese and Onges of Andaman and Nicobar. 

PVTGs have some basic characteristics

Problems faced by them

• The growth of PVTGs’ population is either stagnating or declining. 
• The health status of PVTGs is in awful condition because of poverty, illiteracy, lack of safe drinking water, bad sanitary conditions etc.
• The condition of education is also deplorable, with an average literacy rate of 10% to 44% in PVTGs.

Scheme: Scheme for Development of PVTGs

• It identifies 75 PVTGs as the most vulnerable among the Scheduled Tribes.  
• It gives state governments flexibility in planning initiatives.  
• Long term Conservation cum Development plan for five years for each PVTG to be established by States. 
• The scheme is funded entirely by the Central government.

• The government opened Eklavya Schools in budget 2018. 
• Eklavya schools were established in all Tribal blocks with more than 50% ST population. 
• Eklavya schools provide boarding and lodging facilities to tribal students. 
• These schools will have special facilities for preserving local art and culture besides providing sports and skill development training.

• TRIFED was formed in 1987.
• It works under Tribal Ministry
• It performs the following two functions
  • Minor Forest Produce Development
  • Retail Marketing Development of tribal products

• The Van Dhan Vikas Yojana aims to promote the development of tribal communities by fostering the creation of groups that focus on enhancing the value of forest resources through processing. 
• The initiative provides essential support to these groups, including infrastructure, tools, and equipment, as well as training in value addition and entrepreneurship.

After rationalization of Centrally Sponsored Schemes, all the Schemes for Scheduled Castes are taken under one Grand scheme, Umbrella Scheme for Scheduled Castes, which is Core of the Core Scheme and is 100% Centrally Sponsored. 

Some of the Schemes under this are

1. Educational Empowerment

1. Pre-Matric Scholarships to SC Students
2. Post Matric Scholarship for SC students
3. Full financial support for pursuing studies beyond 12th class, in notified institutes of excellence like IITs, NITs, IIMs, reputed Medical/Law and other institutions.
4. National Fellowship: Financial assistance to SC students for pursuing research studies  
5.  National Overseas Scholarship: for pursuing higher studies of Master level and PhD programmes abroad.
6. Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas Yojna

2. Economic Empowerment

1. Standup India
2. Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castes

• Migration refers to spatial mobility between one geographical unit and another, generally involving a change of residence for a considerable period.
• The Census defines a migrant as a person residing in a place other than their place of birth or who has changed his/ her usual residence to another place. 
• Migration includes both additive (at the place of destination) and separative (at the place of origin) aspects. 

India has witnessed waves of migrants coming from Central and West Asia. The history of India is a history of waves of migrants arriving and settling one after another in different parts of the country. Similarly, many people from India have been migrating to places in search of better opportunities, especially to the Middle East, Western Europe, America, Australia and East and South East Asia. 

Based on Origin and Destination

Migration can be divided into the following types based on origin and destination:

1. Rural to Rural R → R (mostly in cases of marriages only)  
2. Rural to Urban R → U (also known as Urbanisation)   
3. Urban to Urban U → U
4. Urban to Rural U → R (very unlikely. It includes government employees going to a village for a job or reverse migration of the earlier migrant) 

Based on Country of Destination

Another basis of division can be whether within or outside the country.

1. Internal Migration: Internal Migration occurs within the same country. It can further be divided into
   • Intra-state: Within State 
   • Inter-state: Between States 
2. International Migration: International Migration occurs from one country to another country.

Based on Duration

Migration can also be classified based on the duration. 

1. Permanent Migration 
2. Semi-Permanent (due to a lack of economic resources, people cannot sustain their living in the destination regions and are forced to migrate back).
3. Seasonal / Circular (because of the rainfed nature of our agriculture and the lack of employment opportunities, people migrate to other areas during lean season and return to the source region once that period is over).

According to Census 2011, 45.36 crore people, i.e. 37% of the population or every third citizen of India is a migrant —now settled in a place different from their previous residence.  

1 . Intrastate Migration

• About three-fourths of all intrastate migrants were females, demonstrating that marriage is the prime reason for such migration. Most people, 49%, migrate for marriage (while globally, migration is an attempt by people to survive and prosper, in India, marriage appears to be the biggest reason why people migrate). 
• Other reasons 
  • Rural to Urban in search of good jobs and educational facilities.
  • Urban to Urban: Due to job transfers 

2 . Interstate Migration

• In India, people migrate from underdeveloped states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar etc., to comparatively developed regions like Maharashtra, Punjab, NCR Delhi, Chandigarh etc.
• As per the 2001 census, Maharashtra occupied first place in the list with 2.3 million net in-migrants, followed by Delhi, Gujarat and Haryana. On the other hand, Uttar Pradesh (-2.6 million) and Bihar (-1.7 million) were the states which had the largest number of net out-migrants from the state. 

Interstate Migration is also of two types with different destinations. 

2.1 Rural as Destination

• Agricultural labourers from underdeveloped states migrating to Punjab, Haryana etc.

2.2 Urban as Destination

• These include groups of industrial labourers.
• Due to the ICT revolution, there is large migration of skilled professionals in IT sectors to Bangalore, NCR, Mysore, Hyderabad, Chandigarh etc., where BPOs are situated. 

3 . International Migration

Large-scale international migration is seen from the whole country, especially Kerala & Punjab. 

Side Topic : Curious Case of Mexican International Migrants

• Mexico’s emigration problem is a unique one, with more than 98% of all Mexican migrants living in the U.S.A, the country with which Mexico shares a border that runs 3110 km in length.
• The Mexican emigration rate increased substantially since the 1960s and, with more than 11% of Mexicans living abroad, Mexico is the country with the largest number of emigrants in the world.

• Brain drain is related to the selective migration of educated people. Some countries are losing the most educated segment of their population. It can be both a benefit for the receiving country and a problem for the country of origin.

Impact on receiving country

• Receiving country gets highly qualified labour which contributes to the economy right away. 
• It promotes economic growth in strategic sectors, especially science and technology. 
• Receiving country doesn’t have to pay for education and health costs; for example, 30% of Mexicans with a PhD are in the US.

Country of origin

• Education and health costs are not paid back to the country of origin.
• It has a long-term impact on economic growth. It has the possibility of getting remittances. Many brain-drain migrants have skills that they can’t use at home. The resources and technology may not be available there.  

1 . Push Factors

Push factors are the factors forcing a person to leave his residence and move to some other place.

1.1 Economic Causes

• Lack of jobs
• Rural Poverty
• Low levels of Economic development.
• Development-led migration: For example, building a dam can force a number of villages to be evacuated.
• The pressure of population has resulted in a high man-to-land ratio.

1.2 Socio-Cultural Causes

• Caste System: Dalits feel suffocated in villages due to the low status bestowed upon them by the caste system. Hence, they migrate to an urban place where they can live anonymously. 
• Higher pressure on limited land in bigger families forces some members to migrate and search for jobs other than agriculture.
• Marriage: Most people, 49%, migrate for marriage purposes. 
• Family conflicts also cause migration.

1.3 Political Causes

• Targeted violence against the community creates fear among the survivors. It forces them to migrate. E.g., Large Sikh migration from Delhi to Punjab post-1984 riots and exodus of Kashmiri pandits from the valley. 
• Adoption of the ‘sons of the soil policy’ by the State governments. E.g., The rise of Shiv Sena in Bombay, with its hatred for the migrants and the occasional eruption of violence in the name of local parochial patriotism.

2. Pull Factors

Migrants are lured by the attractive conditions in the new place, called Pull Factors.

2.1 Economic Causes

• Economic opportunities & jobs in cities and abroad act as an incentive to migrate.
• Better standard of living, health & educational facilities at the destination point act as a huge pull factor to migrate. E.g., In recent years, the high rate of movement of people from India to the USA, Canada & Middle East is due to better employment opportunities, higher wages & better amenities.

2.2 Socio-Cultural Causes

• Due to urban anonymity, caste doesn’t play a significant role in urban areas.

2.3 Political Causes

• People want to enjoy political freedom in western countries.

3. Pull Back Factors

• Pull-back is a recent phenomenon. With better opportunities for employment (due to MGNREGA and other schemes), individuals are pulled back to their native places.

• India had the highest number of internally displaced people (IDP) due to disasters worldwide (five million till 2020).
• IDPs are different from refugees. Having not crossed a border, international refugee protections do not typically cover them. They remain subject to national laws and, as such, are afforded less protection. 

1. On the destination

• Migration creates pressure on urban infrastructure due to increased traffic, competition for housing facilities & water etc. 
• Create social and ethnic tensions and xenophobia due to a clash of interests between migrants and locals.
• Mismanaged migration leads to the formation of slums and ghettos and acts as the source of the outbreak of diseases.
• It leads to a skewed sex ratio in favour of males. 

2. On the source

Cost of Migration on the Source 

• Migration results in the separation of individual migrants from their origin & relatives.
• It results in a loss of human resources for the state, especially if the migration is of employable people. 
• Impact on women: It leads to ‘Feminisation of labour & agriculture’ at the source. Additionally, because of the male migration, wives suffer from neurosis, hysteria and depression. 

Benefits of Migration on the Source

• Migrants act as agents of social change. Internalised urban values are transmitted to the native place. 
• Remittances sent by migrants have an important impact. Remittances are mainly used for food, repayment of debts, treatment, marriages, children’s education, agricultural inputs, construction of houses, etc. For thousands of the poor villages of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh etc., internal remittance works as the lifeblood of their economy.
• Migration leads to the evolution of composite culture and broadens the mental horizon of the people at large.
• Migration also changes the demographic profile of rural areas in following ways following ways
  • Reduced family size among the migrants as compared to non-migrants. The separation of rural male migrants from their wives for long durations tends to reduce the birth rate. 
  • Ageing of Villages as migrants are young, leaving old age in villages.   
  • Increased Sex Ratio in villages as men usually migrate, leaving females behind.

3. On migrants

• The problem of identity documents deprives them of social security benefits and government socio-economic programs.
• Migration and slums are inextricably linked. The migrants inhabit most slums. Such slums are deprived of primary healthcare and sanitation facilities.  
• Limited access to Formal Financial Services results in them being exploited by their employers, and they risk theft and personal injury while transferring their earnings. 
• They face political exclusion because they often don’t have voting rights at their place of destination. Further, they are the target of political rhetoric of local identity politics and are subjected to violence and abuse. 
• Augmenting Human capital: Evidence reveals that with rising incomes, migrant remittances can encourage investment in human capital formation through increased expenditure on health and education. 

• There is legislation, i.e. Interstate Migrant Workmen Act of 1979, which aims to safeguard migrant workers. But its ambit needs to be increased (as suggested above). 
• Rather than treating migration as a problem, destination states should aim to accommodate them into the state’s economy. There is ample evidence to support the fact that migrants generally take up those jobs and businesses, which the locals do not do. 
• The planning of cities should keep in mind the needs of the migrants. 
• Political class, civil society and NGOs should conduct inter-group interactions to ward off mistrust between natives and migrants. 

• Domestic violence is the use of physical, sexual, emotional, psychological, or financial abuse by one person against another in an intimate relationship like marriage. This behaviour is used to gain power and control over the victim (woman) and can cause significant harm and fear.
• It is also known as Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). 

• Dowry Demands: It can lead to physical & emotional abuse and even dowry death and bride burning.  
• The patriarchal structure of household where men claim ownership over women’s bodies, labour, reproductive rights and level of autonomy
• Cultural acceptance of Intimate Partner Violence
• Alcoholic husband. 
• Not having a male child
• Legislative lacunae, as marital rape is not punishable under Indian law
• Violence against young widows, esp. in rural areas, as they are cursed for their husband’s death
• Under Reporting: Underreporting & non-reporting encourage partners to indulge more in this.
• Erosion of the joint family structure has reduced the check on the spouse’s violent behaviour.
• Lack of awareness of women’s rights and belief in women’s subordination perpetuates a low image of women.
• Increasing stress has increased the instances of Intimate Partner Violence

• Emotional distress & suicidal tendencies in women suffering from Intimate Partner Violence
• Infringement of Fundamental Rights of women, including the Right to Life 
• Serious health problems: Injury, Unwanted Pregnancy etc.
• Negative Impact on Children: Children of such parents also face psychological problems and live in an atmosphere of fear. 

Women have a very low status in the political scenario of the country. For example, the number of women in Parliament has never crossed the 20% mark till now.

Historically, women were not considered fit for politics earlier. According to philosophers like Kant, women have the inability to control emotions & thus, the inability to be impartial & rational requires their exclusion from politics.

• 73rd & 74th Constitutional Amendments to the constitution provide the reservation of 1/3rd of seats for women in Panchayati Raj Institutions. 
• 108th Constitutional Amendment Bill was introduced in the Parliament to provide 1/3rd reservation for women in Lok Sabha 
• 110th Constitutional Amendment Bill was introduced in the Parliament to reserve 50% of seats for women in Local Bodies 
• Pam Rajput Committee recommended 50% reservation of seats for women at all political levels.

• 17th) Lok Sabha has 14.6% women representatives.
• Rajya Sabha has 11% women representatives.
• State Legislatures have just 9% women representation (some states like Nagaland have 0% women representation).

• Bhakti Sharma, sarpanch of Barkhedi Abdulla village, was just 25 years old when she left her job with an attractive package and post-graduate degree in political science to become sarpanch of her village.
• She gives up her two months’ salary to each family where a girl child is born in the village.
• In 2015, she was chosen as one of the 100 most popular women in the country.

• Due to reservations in Panchayati Raj Institutions, a positive impact on governance is visible where women head them. Women representatives have contributed immensely in overcoming social taboos and constraints like removing ghunghat, sitting at the same height as men on chairs etc. 
• Though it begins with token equality that caused acute discomfort and even confrontation, women, especially Dalit women, have been able to push boundaries and create space in the decision-making sphere across all sectors.
• The acts made by women are more gender-sensitive and are able to include female perspectives in them.