Mains Practice Questions

Introduction

The State is constitutionally obligated to establish a welfare state committed to social justice, as reflected in the Directive Principles of State Policy, notably Article 38 (reduce inequalities), Article 39 (equitable distribution of resources), Article 46 (protect SCs, STs and weaker sections), and Article 47 (improve nutrition and public health).

• Accordingly, the State pushes for welfare policies, and institutional mechanisms to address structural inequalities of caste, gender, class, and region, though their effectiveness remains uneven.

Body:

Effectiveness of State Interventions in Ensuring Social Justice:

• Constitutional Mandates: The Bedrock of Equity
  • The Constitution provides a transformative framework to dismantle structural hierarchies:
  • Fundamental Rights: Articles 14, 15, and 16 ensure equality before law and prohibit discrimination, while Article 17 (abolition of untouchability) directly targets the root of caste-based inequality.
  • Directive Principles (DPSP): Article 38 mandates the State to secure a social order based on justice, and Article 39A ensures equal justice and free legal aid to the vulnerable.
  • Affirmative Action: Articles 15(4) and 16(4) empower the State to provide reservations in education and public employment to remedy historical disadvantage and ensure adequate representation of backward classes.
    • Effectiveness: These mandates have successfully provided "political and legal visibility" to marginalized groups.
• Welfare Policies: Transition to "Saturation" and "Empowerment"
  • Recent state interventions have shifted from "trickle-down" to "direct-delivery" models to bypass structural leakage:
  • Digital-First Inclusion: The JAM Trinity (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) has enabled Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT), saving over ₹3.5 lakh crore from leakages.
  • Livelihood & Health Security: Schemes like PM-JANMAN (for PVTGs) and AB-PMJAY (providing ₹5 lakh health coverage per family annually for secondary and tertiary care) target the "missing middle" who are most vulnerable to poverty traps.
  • Saturation Approach: The Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra is ensuring that social justice is not just a policy but a delivered reality.
    • Effectiveness: 24.82 crore Indians escaped Multidimensional Poverty in the last 9 years, indicating the success of targeted interventions. Though critical gaps remain in implementation of many schemes.
• Institutional Mechanisms: Watchdogs of Justice
  • The State has created specialized bodies to monitor and protect marginalized interests:
  • Constitutional Bodies: The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) (Art 338), National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) (Art 338A), and National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) (Art 338B) act as investigative and advisory hubs for policy implementation.
  • Legal Instruments: The SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and the DPDP Act, 2023 provide legal teeth to prevent social exploitation and data-driven discrimination respectively.
  • Institutional Shift: The ONDC is an emerging mechanism designed to "democratize" the digital economy, allowing small MSMEs to compete with global giants.
    • Effectiveness: While Institutional Mechanism has highlighted systemic gaps and pushed for reforms, they often face challenges of "overlapping jurisdictions".

Limitations In Ensuring Social Justice

• Uneven Implementation And Last-Mile Gaps: Administrative capacity constraints and weak local institutions undermine effective delivery of welfare. Leakages and exclusion errors persist in PDS and housing schemes despite digitisation.
  • For example nearly 28% of India's subsidized grains, intended for the poor, are lost to leakage
• Persistence Of Structural And Social Discrimination: Legal safeguards cannot fully dismantle deep-rooted social hierarchies and informal discrimination.
  • Atrocities against SCs/STs continue despite stringent laws, reflecting social resistance to change.
    • For instance, Registered cases of atrocities against Scheduled Castes went up to 13% in 2022. (NCRB)
• Fragmentation And Overlapping Schemes: Multiplicity of schemes leads to duplication, inefficiency, and diluted impact.Multiple nutrition and livelihood programmes often operate in silos with limited convergence.
  • For instance, the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) under the Women & Child Ministry, the PM-POSHAN (Mid-Day Meal) under the Education Ministry, and the National Health Mission (NHM) under the Health Ministry all target child stunting and anaemia.
• Fiscal Constraints And Sustainability Concerns: Rising subsidy bills and limited fiscal space restrict the scale and quality of interventions.
  • Competing demands on public finances constrain long-term investments in education and health.
  • For instance, In the Union Budget 2025-26, interest payments are estimated at ₹12.76 lakh crore.
• Limited Accountability Of Institutions: Statutory bodies often lack enforcement powers, resources, and autonomy.Recommendations of commissions are frequently advisory and not binding on governments.
  • For example, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) can inquire into complaints but has no power to enforce its recommendations.
    • Governments are only required to submit a "memorandum of action taken" or a "justification for rejection" to Parliament/Legislatures, which often results in recommendations remaining on paper for years.

Measures to Strengthen Effectiveness of State Interventions:

• Outcome-Based Budgeting: Transition from mere "outlay" tracking to a monitorable "outcome-outcome framework" to ensure financial allocations result in measurable social impact.
• Decentralized Implementation: Empower Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) to customize welfare delivery based on specific local structural bottlenecks.
• Accelerate Mission Karmayogi (Capacity Building): Train civil servants in empathy and digital governance to shift the administrative culture from "rule-based" to "role-based" and "citizen-centric."
• Technological Interoperability: Leverage the ONDC and JAM trinity to create an open, competitive digital ecosystem that allows small-scale producers to bypass dominant e-commerce gatekeepers.
• Social Auditing & Transparency: Mandate community-led social audits for all major welfare schemes to hold local officials accountable and reduce ground-level leakages.
• Grievance Redressal Modernization: Integrate AI-driven bots in platforms like CPGRAMS for multi-lingual, real-time resolution of citizen complaints regarding welfare exclusion.
• Convergence of Schemes: Implement an "Integrated Social Security Framework" to prevent the fragmentation of benefits across different ministries (e.g., merging health, nutrition, and pension portals).
• Inclusive Design: Adopt a "Capability Approach" by involving marginalized groups in the initial policy-design stage to ensure schemes address dignity, not just consumption relief.

Conclusion

State interventions have made meaningful but uneven progress in advancing social justice amid persistent structural inequalities.Achieving inclusive and sustainable social justice requires strengthened governance and long-term investments aligned with SDGs 1 (No Poverty), 5 (Gender Equality), 10 (Reduced Inequalities), and 16 (Strong Institutions).