Challenges Of Social Transformation

Answer : The human resources refer to the manpower and their potential which due to lack of education remain unfertile. India is one of the largest countries in the world which has abundant human resources. But, due to lack of undeveloped infrastructure, poor quality educational institutions, poverty, caste and other diverse factors, the human resources are not being developed. The education, especially modern is considered as the relevant institutions through which these hindrances may be overcome and adequate perception, training and knowledge are being imparted among the youth in particular and society as a whole in general.

In other words it may be said that nature has provided us abundant resources in the physical, geographical, social, economic, political, scientific etc. fields. These resources have been all times. The development and utilisation of these resources most extensively depend on the education system. The traditional Indian society is known for spiritual and oral tradition of education. Customs and religion were the fundamental ground of education. The stratification of society was based on Varna which was not conducive for the whole development of society. Thus, the resources of the society remained unutilised.

It is the education, which provides theoretial and practical studies of phenomena which may be related to different spheres of life. On the basis of experimental and other scientific methods, the knowledge and training are imparted. In the modern time with the increase in the literacy rate, a large number of people are participating in the socio-economic, political, and scientific reconstruction of the traditional Indian society. Without education, the growth, development, socialisation and other constructive or creative work cannot be propounded. Thus realising the importance, the government of India launched New Education Policy of 1986. It is also known as 10+2+3 pattern of education. Under this new policy special emphasis is being provided to primarily, technical and professional education. It has showed very positive result. Today, we have a large number of computer professionals who are bringing foreign currency for us. In the business and commerce also, the professionalism are playing crucial roles. Thus the seeds of modern education which were sown by firstly, Raja Ram Mohan Rai and later on, by Jawahar Lal Nehru are now giving fruits.

The other aspect of the human resource and education is related to the rural society. About 70% of the people are still living in the villages. A sizeable section of the population of the age group 15-45 years which is considered more productive have remained deprived of the education. They are poor and illiterate. This is a major problem of the society. Since in the family and society, they are not properly socialised, therefore, we cannot expect the qualities of National Character among them. Though, government has launched literacy campaign programmes under which the primary education, adult and informal education are being imparted, yet the basic infrastructure of the village and problem of poverty should be abolished. Food, shelter and clothes are basic needs, after ensuring these we can think about education. The caste system and traditional values are now no more important in the hindrance of education because in the rural areas also, everybody knows the importance of education in the development of individuals, family and society as a whole.

In modern times, India, along with the world is moving towards the industrial capitalist society which is chiefly characterized by scientific temperament, gobalization, privatization, specialization, individualization, heterogeneity or what Durkheim calls “organic solidarity”. In this context, the importance of manpower and moulding them according to needs are of the worth importance. This assignment could be done through providing quality education and institution. In this direction the universalisation of primary education programme in India is a remarkable step taken by the government. But what required is the change in attitudes and mass participation in it. In Rajasthan, Bihar, UP, and Madhya Pradesh, there are abundant human resources which remain unutilised due to lack of poor educational infrastructure, corruption and other socio-economic problems.

Thus to make pace with the world, India should develop the proper institutional facilities for imparting technical and job oriented education. But, at the same time the integrative traditional values cannot be ignored. The Central government with its affiliation to the state government and people’ participation, may be in a position to utilise the human resources of the society properly. Thus, without education, human resources cannot be developed.

Answer : The Integrated Rural Development Programmes (IRDP) is a major instrument of government to alleviate poverty. Its objective is to enable selected families to cross the poverty line by taking up self employment ventures in the varieties of activities like agriculture, horticulture and animal husbandry in the primary sector; weaving and handicrafts in the secondary sector; and service and business activities in the tertiary sector. The aim of IRDP is to see that a minimum stipulated number of families are enabled to cross the poverty line within a given investment and in a given time frame. Thus, the three variables involved are; (a) number of families (b) resources available for investment and (c) the time-span over which the investment would yield an income which would enable the family to cross the poverty line.

IRDP was lunched by the Central Government in March 1976 in 20 selected districts, but by October 1982 it covered the 5,011 blocks in the country. This programme considers family as the basic unit of development. Under this programme, during the Sixth Five Year plan (1980-85), against a target of assisting 15 million families, 16.5 million families were assisted by improving their economic condition and rising over the poverty line. The seventh plan envisaged an outlay of Rs. 2,643 crore and the targeted coverage was 20 million (10 million old and 10 million new) beneficiaries. Upto the end of 1985, a family was considered poor if its annual income was Rs. 3,500 irrespective of the family members. But on 16 December 1985, this definition was changed and accordingly 'poor' was defined as one whose annual income was Rs. 6,400 and quantum of assistance was also raised from Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 6,000 per family. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), the Institute of Financial Management and Research (IFMR), Madras, The Programme Evaluation Organisation of the Planning Commission (PEO) and a number of other institutions have undertaken studies with respect to the implementation and working of IRDP. Since, most of these studies are based on the experience of initial years of programmes, their finding do not give a clear picture. At the most, they point out the flaws in the implementation of programmes.

Some of the criticism against this programme are: (1) The poorest are largely excluded. This is mainly because of three factors: (a) the poor are unable to pay large bribe, fill up complicated form, influence the village headman and find the 'guarantors' for themselves, (b) bank officials are often reluctant to deal with poor borrowers because they believe rightly or wrongly that giving loans to the poor is risky since recovery is often used as a major indicator of the performance of a particular Branch of a rural bank, and (c) The poor themselves take less interest in the programmes because they are afraid of being cheated or of being not able to repay. (2) There is too much corruption, misuse and malpractice in the implementation of the loan programme. The loans are often misallocated with the apparent violation of the guidelines of the schemes for (a) the guidelines make it dear that for fair allocation of loans, Gram Sabha (Village assembly) meeting should be convened for selecting the beneficiaries but in practice this do not happen because the village headmen and the Gram Sevak act as the intermediaries between the villagers and the administration; (b) bribing is a sine qua non of obtaining loans; and (c) household survey on which the lists of eligible households are supposed to be based are not conducted. (3) The IRDP loan neither raises the living standard of the beneficiaries nor does it have any impact on rural poverty by raising the number of people above the poverty line. This has been indicated by several studies conducted in Rajasthan, Gujarat, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.

Thus the Integrated Rural Development programme due to poverty and illiteracy has suffered a serious setback which are resulting in more and more poverty in the villages. These poor and illiterate people are not directly involved in programmes which causes adverse impact. The population and numerical strength of the poor family are also large. If the one or two member of family are facilitated with food, shelter, clothes and education, within a year several new members take birth which causes disorganization and poverty in the family.

Answer : Development as distinguished from mere change is a value laden concept. It refers to a process of desired change. And only planned and desired changes can be termed development in contrast to all causes of change.

We need to distinguish between economic and sociological notions of development. Social development refers to overall transformation of individuals and society, which may enable every person to achieve moral, social, physical and material well-being. Egalitarianism though a devised ideal still remains so, lately the idea of sustainable development is gaining currency. The concept of sustainable development refers to development that meets the needs of the present without compromising on the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This is a holistic view of development taking into account all aspects of development including humanistic and environmental concerns.

Displacement is not uncommon in development but its expanding size and adverse impacts are cause of concern. In India an estimated 60 m people are displaced till now. This no is going to double in coming years due to spurt in huge development works. Though development works cannot be halted altogether concern should be taken about livelihood problem of people.

The displaced people should be stakeholders of the development projects. It has been noted that people displaced are the ones who are least benefited by the fruits of development projects.

As far as possible habitation, forest and agricultural lands, sustaining community livelihood should be spared from acquisition for these activities. If over it is inevitable the similar community life should be re-established in rehabilitation sites.

Most importantly resettlement and rehabilitation should be completed to the satisfaction of those displaced. As far as possible these sections should be involved in the process of rehabilitation programmes. Wherever tribal areas are acquired, care should be taken to minimize tribal alienation and sustain and preserve these distinct cultures.

Instead of going for huge development work involving displacement of many communities, acquisition of forest and agrarian lands, alternative means of development like mini hydro electric, solar, rain water harvesting should be tried, for example, Majhgawan Watershed Development Programme.

Displacement by coercive methods should be avoided. The opposition from them should not be seen as a law and order problem. But it should be understood that it is their basic human right to live in their traditional land, for example, Singur (WB) & Kalinga Nagar (Orissa).

The use of suitable technology with minimum environmental costs should be utilized. The term people’s technology or appropriate tech has become indication of green, clean and sustainable production.

More importantly the displaced and resettled communities should be provided with jobs in development projects and appropriate agricultural land nearby to their area of habitation. Women should be given joint rights along with their husbands in land and house.

Answer : Reproductive Health: Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) Approach was adopted in 1995 following International Conference on Population & Development, Cairo, 1994 and ICPD Programme of Action, 1994.

Reproductive health is defined by WHO as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of diseases or infirmity in all matters relating to reproductive system and its functions and processes.’

This implies two conditions. The first condition is that people are able to have a satisfying and safe sex life and the second is that they have the capacity to reproduce and the freedom to decide it, when and how often to do so. The second condition implies that men and women have the right to be informed and have access to safe, effective and affordable as well as acceptable methods of family planning of their choice for regulation of fertility, which are not against the law of the land.

It is also implied that people have the right to access to appropriate healthcare services that would enable women to go through pregnancy and childbirth safely and provide couples with better chance of having a healthy infant. RCH Programme launched in 1997 follows a differential strategy with districts as basis with inputs linked to needs of area as well as capacity for implementation. It combines trinity objectives of reproductive health, child survival and fertility regulations offered though PHC.

RCH-II is a flagship programme under NHRM with pro process orientation. The main objective is to bring change in three critical health indicators, IFR, IMR and MMR in conformity to National Population Policy 2000 and XIth Five year plan.

Answer : Atrocities on women affect the lives of millions of women worldwide, in all socio-economic and educational classes. It cuts across cultural and religious barriers, impeding the right of women to participate fully in society. Violence against women takes a dismaying variety of forms, from domestic abuse and rape to child marriage and female circumcision. All are violations of the most fundamental human rights.

According to one estimate, as many as 30 specific forms of violence against women have been identified. These range from sterilization abuse, through pornography to outright murder. Violence against women is often seen as an assault against her body but more importantly it is a negation of her integrity and personhood. The fear of sexual violence has been a powerful factor in restricting women's behaviour and sense of freedom. There is a growing concern over dowry deaths, abuse of amniocentesis test, rape, prostitution, sexual harassment and wife-beating. Power rape, i.e., rape of helpless women by men in positions of authority, is particularly an indigenous phenomenon. The emotional destruction resulting from these acts of aggression have yet to be seriously examined.

1. Wife-beating: Wife beating is perhaps the most prevalent form of violence against women. The problem is viewed as a general problem of domestic discord. Usually, violence is seen as natural occurrence and social workers seek to save the marriage by making the woman more understanding and more adaptable. Studies in this field have found out-that the immediate causes of violence as reported by the women are: arguments over money, jealousy and suspicion of the woman's character, instigation by in-laws, housework, alcohol, women's desire to work outside the home, or women's high self-esteem, dispute over children, extra martial affairs on the part of the husband etc.
2. Female Infanticide: This practice was common in many parts of India, with some tribal groups, when the British came to India. With the introduction of an Act for suppression of Female Infanticide of 1870, there was noticeable decline of this practice in most areas in India. However, it continues to this day in some parts. It is found to be prevalent in societies where women's status is very low (for e.g the Kallars in Tamil Nadu) and there is a strong preference for a male child. The custom of infanticide seems also to be motivated by the relative economic backwardness of the community, and the social importance of the males. Another practice that lowers the economic values of the female child is the practice of dowry.
3. Dowry Deaths: Dowry is another social practice in India which give social sanction for the ill-treatment of women. Dowry as a social evil, extends from mere abuse to physical abuse to harassment, and sometimes leads to suicide or murder. The problem of dowry is a question of the inter-relatedness of psychological, social and economic factors. There is very little and often no awareness of the root of the problem or any motivation to curb the practice and bring about a much needed social change. This can be attributed to an internalisation of prevailing patriarchal values which view women as inferior and having only themselves to blame for their predicament. It seldom sees them as victims of a particular form of oppression or of socially prevalent sex biases. The burden of tradition, a prevailing ideology of male superiority, an insensitive police force, an archaic judicial system and a society the condones violence are all responsible for this situation.
4. Early Marriage: Early marriage followed by multiple pregnancies can affect the health of women for life. The age at marriage for women in India is much lower than other developed countries in the world. Early marriage for women denies the right for education, freedom and economic independence and pushes the girl very early into the household drudgery. Often the girl in not mature enough to protect herself from the social evil.
5. Rape: Rape can occur anywhere, even in the family, where it can take the form of marital rape or incest. It occurs in the community, where a woman can fall prey to any abuser. It also occurs in situations of armed conflict and in refugee camps. Wherever there is a social upheaval or communal violence, women are the victims of rape. Every year about 4,000 cases of rape are registered in India. Now a days, rape related crime is going up in the Rajdhani Delhi.
6. Prostitution and Trafficking: many women are forced into-prostitution as a result of the difficult economic and social condition in which they find themselves. The also may be lured into prostitution by agencies that promise to find them a job. Most women initially victimized by sexual traffickers have little inkling of what awaits them. Once they are caught up in the system, there is practically no way out, and they find themselves in a very vulnerable situation. The extent of trafficking in women and girl children has reached alarming proportions, even across country borders.
7. Sexual Harassment: Sexual harassment in the workplace is a growing concern for women. Employees abuse their authority to seek sexual favours from their female co-workers or subordinates, sometimes promising promotions or other forms of career advancement or simply creating an untenable and hostile work environment. Women who refuge to give in such unwanted sexual advance often run the risk of anything from demotion to dismissal.
8. Pornography: Another concern of issue is than pornography, which a represents a form of violence against women that "glamorizes the degradation and maltreatment of women and asserts their subordinate function as more receptacles for male lust.

Suggested Annihilative Measure: It is necessary to improve the general status of women through education, effective legislative measures, providing training and employment opportunities. Similarly, it is suggested that to much prominence should not be given to cases of violence against women in the mass media. Although, there are ethical and humanitarian reasons for censoring violence against women in the mass media, we have no evidence that such a move will necessarily lead to reduction in violence. The same is true of providing deterrent punishment to perpetrators and social organisation by one's kin, neighbours and friends. These measures may be desirable for their social effects but we cannot be certain that they will lessen the exploitation of women to any extent. While there is lack of evidence to identify which general policies deserve priority, there are nevertheless a number of measures which could be adopted to contain women's harassment.

First, we take up the issue that is already receiving attention from many women's organizations as well as government and private/public institution. This is to meet the needs of protection, support and advice of the victims. Second, assistance in finding employment and child-care facilities and immediate financial support is also the need of the suffering women. Advisory centres for this purpose could be located centrally but away from the Women Homes so that they can be well advertised without-affecting the safety of the residents in the Homes. Third, establishment of cheaper and less formal courts could also be a measure to help women who are victims of exploitation. The scope of these courts could be extended to deal with all types of domestic and non-domestic problems of women. Fourth, strengthening and increasing voluntary organizations which could take up individual women's problems with their in-laws or the police or the courts or the concerned individual women's problems with their in-laws or the police of the courts or the concerned individuals is equally necessary. Fifth, publicity has to be given to those organization which provide free legal aid to women so that the needy women could approach them and seek their help. Last, a change in parents' attitudes is also necessary in women's cases. Another important thing is that women have to learn to be assertive and accept new roles for themselves. They have to develop an optimistic and hopeful approach to life.

Answer : Modernization in India started mainly with he western contact, especially through establishment of the British rule. This contact had a special significancehistorically which brought about many far reaching changes in culture and social structure of the Indian society. Not all of them, however, could be called modernizing. The basic direction of this context was towards modernization, but in the process a variety of traditional institutions also got rein forcement.

The various factors of the process of modernization in India may be discussed in the following points—the role of British Missionaries, a universalistic legal system, expansion of western form of education, urbanization and industrialization, spread of new means of communication and transport and social reforms. Along with these modernization norms structural modernization also took place. For instance, rational bureaucratic system of administration and judiciary, army and industrial bureaucracy, new classes of business elite and entrepreneurs came into being. These were accompanied by emergence of political elite and a nationalist leadership by the middle of the nineteenth century. Growth of industrial entrepreneurship also contributed to the emergence of industrial working class and trade unions organized on corporative as in the west. These modernizing structures had a uniform character throughout the country. Their development led, therefore, to articulation of nationalist aspirations in the country which itself was a major step in the growth of modernization.

Following independence, modernization process in India has undergone a basic change from its colonial pattern. As an integral part of developmental strategy now modernization has been envisaged for all levels of cultural and structural systems. Discontinuity in modernization between macro-structures and micro-structures and between the little and great traditions, as during the British regime, has now been consciously abolished. Introduction of adult suffrage and a federal parliamentary form of political structure have carried politicization to every sector of social organization. Conscious legal reforms in Hindu marriage and inheritance laws have deeply affected the foundations of traditional Hindu family structure. Community Development Projects have carried the cultural norms and role structures of modernity to each and every village in India and this, coupled with introduction of land reforms and elective village panchayats, has initiated villagers to a bureaucratic form of participation in local level management and administration of justice. Caste has in the process undergone radical transformation of roles, developed new functional adaptations and activated aspirations unleashed by democratization of polity and power structure. Hence, all these factors function as an important structural networks in the process of modernization.

Modernization, in its initial stages in India, according to Eisenstat, did not lead to any serious breakdown because of the peculiar structural characteristics of the Indian society. Here cultural system was fairly independent of political system. Louis Dumont writes: “This domain (polity or artha) is, in the dominant tradition, relatively autonomous with regard to absolute values. There was also independence between the political system and the system of caste stratification. Caste had their own panchayats and plural traditions, and similarly there also existed an autonomy for groups and regional communities. The inter structural autonomy facilitated assimilation of modernizing innovations, without introducing major breakdown. Modernity, however, mainly developed as a sub-structure and sub-culture without expansion in all sectors of life. But, on the other, major potential sources of breakdown in the Indian process of modernization may be attributed to structural inconsistency, such as democratization without spread of civic culture (education), bureaucratization without commitment to universalistic norms, rise in media participation (communication) and aspirations without proportionate increase in resources and distributive justice, verbalization of a welfare ideology without its diffusion in social structure and its implementation as a social policy, over-urbanization without industrialization and finally modernization without meaningful changes in the stratification system.

As for modernization in India, we find a growing trend that traditional role structures are giving way to modern ones. But persons following these roles often retain categorical values of tradition instead of those of modernity. Generally, ritual order and religion which are essentially based on categorical values of a traditional nature do not show evidence of decline, nor is there an easy possibility of their disappearance in the near future. Since many of these categorical values may always be a possibility of unique combination of traditional values with modern ones; the categorical values can hardly be falsified by scientific proof and hence the spread of science may not logically lead to obsolescence of traditional categorical values.

Answer : Weaker sections of the society refer to various groups which are socio-economically and educationally backward in nature. Therefore, in this section, we can take scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and women. The problems arising before the scheduled castes in the present Indian situation are mainly of two types: (i) those arising out of their insignificant enrolment and; (ii) those arising out of their traditionally lower social position in the caste hierarchy. Even if the first set of problems may be overcome by the government measures, the nature of the second set of difficulties are subject for further studies and illustrations. The studies in this concern reveal that inspite of their educational achievement and better occupational status they are not accorded equal recognition in terms of prestige by the higher caste Hindu as the sentimental and psychological attachment of higher Hindus with their caste traditions have not died out.

In addition to it, higher educational institutions, as well as vocational institutions are not located in the areas in which they are concentrated. They therefore, get higher education only when they send their children to far away places, for which they are not prepared, more particularly, in the case of their daughters and sisters.

About 50 percent of the total Indian population consists of women but literacy among them is much lower, as compared to men. It is not because the women are not interested in getting higher education, but these are faced with some serious difficulties. History is a witness that in the past women were provided all facilities to get education. Education, of course, used to be at home. During all periods, there were however, educational institutions which were exclusively for girls, though their number was much less as compared with the institutions which were devoted to the spread of male education.

In India vast majority of population is poor. They cannot afford to give education to all their children. When choice comes, they prefer to spend on the education at sons, rather than their daughters. Another very significant fact is that many societies and a vast population in India still believes that proper place for women is to remain at home, serve that husband and his family and give birth to the children.

As a matter of fact, under various social arrangement certain groups were persistently deprived and exploited. This was the problem which the framers of the Indian constitution faced that certain groups have been suppressed and exploited for centuries and therefore had to be given protection if the equality envisaged in the constitution was to become reality.

Answer : The mass media has variously affected the social, economic, political and cultural life of the developing and modern India. We are arguing about a global village, therefore, all required change in this direction is imperative and in- evitable. Indian society is known for her revolution and development in the other means or mode of communication. Our communication is linked globally which provides us different information, knowledge, values etc. One of the important impact of mass-media is at the cultural level. The trends of modernisation and westernisation have been accelerated by it. These are the valuational change which ultimately result in the structural change in the society. We are borrowing the new cultural traits in terms of marriage, family, kinship, dress code, courtesy and overall style of life.

Media works as a mediator between the government and the people, it is more public friendly and democratic. The distant learning, academic, competitive and professional learning or education through media have largely solved the unemployment problem of India. It is comparatively chief and simple. The use of internet and IT have narrowed down the gap between rural and urban community. Now mass media and IT, have also entered in the field of agriculture and the peasants are getting valuable information related to seeds, fertiliser, pests and latest technology. On the other hand, in the socialization of the children, the role of media is crucial especially in the urban area. It has also affected the political participation, voting behaviour, communal riots, secularism and democracy. It has accelerated a general conciousness among the people.

Ogburn’s concepts of “cultural lag” is really applicable in Indian context. The mass media has brought about consumerism and materialistic culture. The people, in general, aspire to avail all the modern pleasures or goods such as car, mobile phone, AC, latest TV, fashion, modern house etc. The traditional notion of simplicity is being replaced by complexity. Now family is not considered as a productive but a consumption unit. The jean and pizza culture, party, club, smoking, girl-friend and call-girl culture etc. are largely affecting the moral values and education of the urban youth. The sanctity of Brahmcharya and Grihastha Ashram is largely violated and the problem of inter-generation gap results in misguided way of life for the youth. Drug addiction, alcoholism and protitution are another facts of the consumer and meterial culture. Due to high expectation and demand, the youth involved themselves in criminal and anti-social behaviour. The graph of crime in different states is gradually rising. English speaking and manners are perceived as a symbol of intelligence and prosperity. All these changes have weakened the social solidarity in the society. Our yoga, meditation and metaphysics are used as a diagnostic technique of mental and physical disease in western and European society, but we are becoming alien to them because, due to modernity, we consider them as myths.

A huge amount is being spent on foreign education which is also available in our country. It is because of prestige or quality associated with it. The rigidity of caste system and purity and pollution have been rationalised and democratisation and secularisation of society have rationalised the attitudes of different caste, class and community. The competitive attitude and achievement motivation have further boosted up the productivity and thus economically we are on the prosperous path. Along with it, social inequality has increased.

Finally, it may be concluded that the mass media has affected positively as well as negatively, both the structural and functional side of the traditional Indian society. On the whole, there are more positive impact of the mass media at the culturral and political level. But with the emergence of consumer and material culture through the mass media, our traditional values and culture have been terribly attacked. Besides few positive change such as competitive spirit, achievement, motivation, hard work etc., most of them are attacking our values, culture and polity. The role of media is crucial and the media person must have the sense of responsibility on behalf of the people.

Answer : The atrocities on women are numerous which may be classified into two categories, domestic level and social level. At the domestic level, one can easily trace the frequent occurance of dowry deaths, wife beating, sexual abuse by kin, mal-treatment of widows and elderly women, torture of daughter-in-law etc. At the social level, one can observe the eve-teasing, forcing wife or daughter-in-law to go for female foeticide, forcing a young widow to commit sati, refusing to give share to a women in property etc. Dowry death is the most prevalent form of atrocity on the women. In the in-law’s house firstly, the daughter-in-law is tortured and later on killed. In the male dominated family, they remain passive and economically dependent on their husband and other family members. Sometimes, they are wrongly declared infertile and stigmatised. Sometimes, husband dominates over them and sometimes, son and elderly women exercise their power over them. Women take their meal at the end. In the society they cannot freely move. The elderly women are considered as the burden on the family. The women are abused and attacked by the men they know. In general, the atrocities are money oriented, seeks power over the weak, pleasure-seeking etc. In the rural area, the married women are forced to do hard work beyond their physical strength. They are given minimum wage for the similar kind of work performed by their male counterparts. In her childhood, an Indian woman is ruled by her parents, after marriage by the husband and in the old-age by the son.

Answer : There exists wide range of educational inequalities in India. Educational inequality is found in the form of lack of facility for education for all sections of society. For example, while the upper class of Indian society has access to the speciality and higher education in science, technology, medicine, humanities etc. the lower class which live in poverty and indigence have ways blocked to the portals of educational institution. While the national average of literacy rate is 64 percent (1998), for the Scheduled Castes it is only 37 percent and for the Scheduled Tribes it is further lower at 30 percent. Gender and region wise also, inequality is glaring. Only 43 percent of the girl child is enrolled in primary school and in the upper primary it is further low of 39 percent.

When we look at higher levels of education, we find that the social base of students, academicians and those who manage institutions is very narrow. The mass of the population is lying out of contact. The social status have bearing also on the type of education one takes. For example engineering, medicine, or vocational courses are costlier and confined to upper class-caste group. Then the quality of education also shows variance as the students from lower class background, if have chance to get education, generally enrol at state run schools. Here the standard of education is pathetic. But students from upper section get entry into the public schools where the quality of education is much better.

At the root of educational inequality in India is the structural and cultural factors which tilts the balance in favour of same sections. Besides, political commitment to universalise primary education is lacking.

Answer : The term “literacy campaign” came in currency during the 1980s onwards. The new education policy of 1986 launched the 10+2+3 system of education. The ethos of education was greatly changed. A number of technical and professional institutions of education were established. The open school, distance education, primary education etc. were strenghtened. The literacy campaign is chiefly meant for sponsoring education among poor, adult, women, SC, ST and village community. The vocational course and training are being still provided as a part of the campaign to the needy people. The literacy campaign consists of basic, formal and informal education. The means of campaign are: media, volunteer organisation and people’s participation. This is working in a phased manner in the different districts and states in India. The Kerala, Manipur and Mizoram have shown positive result of this campaign while Rajasthan, Bihar, MP, UP etc. are still lagging behind. Recently, the mid-day-meal scheme, hostel facilities to SC and ST, free supplements of elementory book etc. are being provided by the Govt. under the campaign. It also checks the child labour and persuades them for education. In the literacy campaign, community participation, informal education and universalisation of primary education etc. have been given priority.

Answer : ‘Dowry System’ as a social problem has been still continuing with its new faces and concept. In the traditional Indian society, dowry was considered merely as a system of exchange which was chiefly prevalent among the elites of society. At present there is a two much burden on the bride kin. Groom has to be found within the jati. The groom should also be educated with a job. Thus, there is a lot of competition which create a new diamension to dowry. Age at marriage being low, further compounds the problems. Kanyadan was a punya. Another contributing factor to the practice of dowry is dependence of women. When unmarried, she is dependent on father, when married on the husband, when widowed on the son (Manu). Further wedding is an occasion for conspicious spending-is a status symbol. According to M.N. Srinivas, stern legislation is not enough to curb dowry-the hardship it causes to the poor and middle class parents and degrades those who give it. On the social side, it results in the destruction of hard earned wealth at wedding in an effort to maintain or improve status of the brides kin. Dowry is an anti-social institution. What is required is a powerful social movement to get rid of dowry. Taker of dowry should be ridiculed and ostracised with wide publicity. Political parties must help. Incentive should be given to those who do not take dowry. The movement to combat dowry should be build around the core idea that men and women are equal. Marital breakdown, wife-beating, female-foeticide, mental torture, killing etc. are the consequences of dowry system. Under the Dowry Prohibition Act-1961, Govt. has banned the practice of dowry in any form, but in practical situation, this legislation is not functional. It needs attitundinal change of people, community participation, rationality and educational uplifment of the individual, family and society to eliminate dowry.

Answer : Political, economic, educational and social; these are the four wheels of life of men and women. In the context of women, the political sphere refers to the political participation, socialiation, modernisation, recruitment etc. In the traditional Indian society, the women were completely deprived of the political rights and activities. During the British period and after independence the political door was opened for the women. Raja Ram Mohan Rai, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Swami Dayanand Saraswati etc advocated the political participation of women. In the Constitution, women have been granted equal facilitation in all respect like the men. In the Panchayati Raj, state assembly and parliament, some seats have been reserved for the women. The women reservation bill is pending before the parliament, according to which they would be given reservation in parliament and the state assembly. Thus now the women, especially literate are relatively conscious and active in politics.

The state, Central Government and society are involved in granting and facilitating more economic opportunities for the women. They aim to make women economically independent. After independence with the impact of modernisation and westernisation, the primary, secondary and teritiary sectors of the economy are pulling the women to contribute in the economic activities. The state and central governments have launched various programmes for strenghening the economic needs of the women especially rural women. For example, Mahila Samridhi Yojna (MSY) was launched by the government of India in 1993 to encourage saving among rural women.

Janshri Bima Yojna, Apni Beti Apna Dhan Yojna etc are the other remarkable schemes. There is the provision of reservation of seats in the government job for the women working as computer professionals, school teachers, bank clerks, receptionists etc. The culture of working women has distinctive identity in the big metropolis. Thus, the individualism and economic autonomy have recovered them from the clutches of exploitation and dependence an husband, father and sons. In the growth or development of family and society, the working women contribute a lot. Therefore, it is due to respect them like Lakshmi of the household.

But only the political and economic empowerment is not sufficient to recognise their due status in the society and family. The abolition of illiteracy among the women especially rural is the serious issue. According to the census report 1991, a large number of rural women in India are illiterate. They do not know about the common ideals and value of national culture. The consciousness and awareness among them are rarely found. They do not know about the functioning of society and the state. They are easily influenced and mobilised by the irrational and exloitative elements of society. Due to illiteracy, the socialization of children is terribly affected. Thus in elevating the status of women, education is of worth importance. If a woman is being educated, a family will be positively affected by it.

Another facet related to status of women in the society is at the social level, which require the attitudinal change among the people about their perception to women in the society. Even the parent makes discrimination against the girl in allocation of food, shelter and clothes. The parents make huge amount of expenditure on the education of son but the girls are relatively deprived of even the basic education. In the rural areas, the women’s life is confined under the closes, door. The unmarried girl is considered as the problem of the family because she will take away dowry with her at the time of marriage. Thus within the family and outside it, the women should be regarded and assisted.

It is quite clear that social legislation has not proved very effective in India. Despite the Anti-Dowry Act and other legislation, incidents of harassment, abuse and torture continue unabated. Without social consciousness and public awareness, social legislation will remain a hollow and unfulfilled promise. These movements are organised mostly by white collared upper middle class women. Not surprisingly, the issue raised by them mainly concern the urban women. As a result, the exploitation of women in the countryside has not received even scant attention. It is imperative to review and amend the laws and social regulations. However this must be accompanied by a movement to bring about an attitudinal change in our society to ensure their success and acceptability. The need is to create an enabling and nurturing environment where women can truly exercise their right and assist themselves as equal partner of men.

Answer : The literacy among the age group of 15-35 may be called bane. This is very productive and creative period. A large number of youth especially rural are deprived of the education due to some individuals, familial, social and governmental reasons. In Rajasthan, Bihar, UP., MP, Orissa and some north-western states, adults literacy rate is relatively poor than the several Southern states. After considering the situation in 1998, the government launched National Literacy Mission (NLM) to impart functional literacy to 800 lakh adult illiterates in the age group 15-35. The implementation of the programme under NLM has showed that eradiction of illiteracy is not a utopian idea but is possible, feasible and achievable. The most important development that has taken place under the NLM is the near ascendancy of campaign made in adult education programmes as in the country. On the heels of Success of Ernakulam in Kerals experiment for achiveing full literacy these campaigns for total literacy, have generated certain characteristics features which make them unique and distinguish them from other programmes. They are specific, time bound, volunteer-based, cost effective and outcome oriented. Total literacy campaign have been launched in 336 districts of the country covering above 81 lakh illiterate persons and 134 districts have commenced post literacy campaigns to consolidate the gains of literacy. It is proposed to cover 395 districts by TLC campaign by the end of Eighth plan period. The focus of the campaign is now on the four major Hindi speaking states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Utter Pradesh where bulk of the illiterate population resides. The reasonable solution to the problem of illiterate adult lies in the community and family participation in propagating education among the illiterate adult.

Answer : According to the 1991 census, the general literacy rate in India is 52.21% while the literacy among the Scheduled Caste and tribe is 37.41% and 29.60% respectively. The literacy rate of the Scheduled Caste is highest in Kerala (79.66%) followed by Gujarat (61.7%), and Goa, Delhi, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra etc. the SC’s literacy is very poor. Similarly, the literacy rate among the Scheduled Tribe is highest in Kerala (57.22%) and lowest in Andhra Pradesh (17.16%). Within the state also, some tribes like Meena of Rajasthan have high literacy rate while others like Bhil, Saharia, Rawat etc. have poor literacy rate. The Shudra or untouchable castes which have been traditionally discriminated are still facing socio-economic and educational discrimination, inspite of government facilitation. The chief hampering factors in imparting the education among the SC, ST and OBC are poverty, traditional mentality, caste system, social differentiation, lack of positive attitude etc. The Central Advisory Board of Education recommended the universalization of primary education among these classes. In Constitution, the provision for grants (article-275) and the facilitation related to education have been provided to them. According to Mandal Commission recommendation, the reservation of seats in the educational institutions and employment had been given to these communities. The coming result is positive and they will certainly enhance their educational attainment. To eliminate the educational problem of backward classes, community consciousness, attitudinal change, government policy, bureaucratic efforts, abolition of mutal discrimination etc. are the areas of concern.

Answer : India has a position of distinction in the world for its cultural characteristics. Unity in diversity is one of them. There are several racial groups. Social practies of the tribal people in North-Eastern India, South-India, Western-India, Punjab etc. are diverse and different. In other words, we have many sub-cultural traditions. The combination of all these sub-cultures make the culture of India which is known as “composite culture”.

The national integration refers to the establishment of harmony and cohesion among the various sub-culture, race, community etc. Some violence, prejudice, mutual antoganism etc. among them result in anomie and disorganisation in the society. The education which is considered as one of the important agencies of socialisation is playing conducive role in ensuring national integration. The ethos of education in the traditional and modern society have been to establish a peaceful, harmonious and developed social system. The modern scientific education impart objective education and expect from individual to make objective analysis of any phenomena. This helps in abolishing prejudice and mutual conflict because the reasons of these are rationally sorted out and thus it is logically eliminated.

The educational institutions are the places where the students from the diverse communities, region and socio-economic background get value education which establish integration among them. This integration is further extended to the family and community level in the society. In the present time, media is considered as a part of educational programme which is playing significant role in social solidarity. The impact of media, especially audio and visual are relatively more in shaping the opinion of the masses.

The traditional caste system in India is one of the factors which negatively affect the national integration especially at the political level. In modern times, the caste based politics, formation of regional party and vote bank have terribly affected the democratic political system and secularism in India. The Preamble to the Constitution consists of secular, democratic, national brotherhood etc. terms which are harmonising in nature. The education system is involved in imparting these Constitutional value which greatly help in the elimination of mutual prejudice and ensuring patriotic sentiment among them.

The primary education, women’s education and education to the illiterate adult of the country are of paramount importance. On the other hand, the vulnerable sections of the society especially SC, ST and OBC are facing immense educational problems. Due to lack of education among them, any conflict and mutual prejudice starts from the illiterate groups. To consolidate these educational crunch among them, the government has made educational arrangement for the SC, ST and OBC. Special formal and informal educational programmes are operating for them at the village and district levels.

Durkheim has pointed out that, in the industrial capitalist society, the collectives conscience is very poor, that means there may be little degree of social cohesion and integration in the society, but in India, the rich cultural heritage which is basic ethos of education are rather more harmonising than the cultural tradition of the western society where racial conflict is very frequent. In America, there is Black and White conflict, in the Muslim countries Shia and Shunni conflict but in India except few riots, there is no intense communal and racial conflict in the present time. The main reason of it is the development of education. The literacy rate is gradully increasing. In the highly literate states such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu, there are relatively more integration, growth and all round development.

Thus, to conclude it may be said that the national integration, peace, growth and development of India will be greatly ensured by strengthening the education.