Poverty and Inequality

In this blog, I tried putting my views over the relationship between Poverty and Inequality

Question?

Are they same?

Is poverty a consequence of inequality? 

Is inequality a consequence of poverty? 

Will development help to remove them? 

Or removing them will lead to development

Is this a dilema where an economy should look upon?

Development

Development is a multi dimensional concept which involves an overall growth of the social, cultural, economical and political sectors of the economy through which the quality of life of nation, communities or individual would be improved.

Talking about development, the Capability approach of Amartya Sen plays an important role. Here he talks about development to be referred through a person (not an economy) reflecting a progress (not in terms of income or availabitlity of resources) but in terms of capabilities and freedoms. Technically a development which ensures that opportunities are available to each person.

Also, a development which ensures that every section of the society is benefitted. This doesn't mean, the development to be equal because an equal development defines a process where there is inequality in terms of yield distribution. A rich person may get affected negatively while distributing resources and income equally. It should be kept in mind that while expanding the capabilities of some persons, the freedom of any other person should not be impacted negatively.  

Poverty

A poor lacks not only income but also education, health, justice, credit and opportunitues. Thus poverty is not only about a person being under a defined Below Poverty Line. Poverty is a DEPRIVATION of capabilities which limits freedom to achieve something. A multi dimensional approach to poverty describes that poverty is capability failure where the people lack the capability to enjoy key 'beings and doings' that are basic to human life.

Inequality

Inequality is not only in terms of unequal distribution of income but also access to resources and services, access to personal liberty and dignity. The goal while tackling this issue should not be focused only to ensure equal distribution of income but to equalise the opportunities people have to practice their freedoms and not the outcomes people obtain.

Now the question arises what are the causes of inequality and poverty. Are they linked directly to each other? A poor lacks education, health, justice because of the unequal distribution of income and access to resources. A person lacks equal opportunities to education and health, liberty and dignity because of poverty. So is income it's all about? Or is it that if the resources and services like education and health are made available to people equally would ensure a rise in their income levels and pull them out of poverty? 

Is that a human and economic development would lead to a decline of poverty and inequality OR a removal of poverty and inequality would ensure development? Is this the area where the policy makers are confused? What is the priority?

Inequality can not be only income based, it can be gender based, religion based, caste, creed, colour based. So, inequality does not only leads to poverty but also has various impacts like biaseness, tensions and conflicts, violence etc.

Government is to ensure the well being of every citizen of the country. It is important to ensure that no citizen in the country is deprived of basic necessities of living.

Therefore, the main aim should be the removal of poverty. Subsidies, employment generation programmes, affordable and quality education and health services, reservation, safe environment for living are the programmes which contributes in the removal of poverty. They ensure that the citizens are not deprived of capabilities which limits their freedom of ability to enjoy the beings and doings.

A person ensured employment and pulled out from the circle of poverty is economically empowered and thus less subjugated to social inequalities. Is this enough? Certainly yes certainly not. Inequality in justice, raising, freedom has a strong impact on the person's livelihood. Here, empowerment and awareness plays an important role. 

Poverty for me is at individual level and inequality at a community level.

A person deprived from basic necessities loses his/her faith from themselves because of the loss of dignity, trust and livelihood. Thus to strengthen the whole economy, starting from individual level is important. This can be done by incetivising them through employment and financial stableness. And it helps the person to build him/herself strongly. Once the self trust and strength grows, simultaneously the role comes of awareness and empowerment. The community now needs to accept, acknowledge and respect every section of the society and avoid inequalities.

So, this is to be concluded by noting that development, poverty and inequality goes hand to hand. The all three are the consequences and causes of each other. 

By starting the process of removing poverty, the issue of inequality is to be addressed and this leads to development. As well as ensuring development both in terms of social and economical would ensure availability of resources to address the issue of poverty and inequality consecutively. 

Thank you for reading this blog. In this blog I tried my best to put forward my ideas over poverty and inequality, if you have liked it please do comment down and also if you have some points in your minds clicking over this topic do post them in the comment section. 

 

The Trafficking in Persons (Prevention, Care andRehabilitation) Act, 2021.

ISSUE:
Human Trafficking

July 30 is the United Nations World Day against Trafficking in Persons.

Why in News:
A Bill is introduced to the Cabinet which if passed by both the houses of the Parliament may become and Act.

Title:
The Trafficking in Persons (Prevention, Care and
Rehabilitation) Act, 2021.

What is the Bill:
A BILL to prevent and counter trafficking in persons, especially women and children, to provide for care, protection, and rehabilitation to the victims, while respecting their rights, and creating a supportive legal, economic and social environment for them, and also to ensure prosecution of
offenders, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

Past: 

In the year 2018, a similar bill was introduced but was not approved as it received a lot of opposition. The new draft has some additions making it different from the earlier one.

EXTENT
(1) It shall extend to whole of India, and it applies to-
(a) all citizens of India within and outside India;
(b) persons who commit offences under this Act beyond India against Indian citizens or affecting the interests of Indian citizens or of India;
(c) persons on any ship or aircraft registered in India wherever it may be or
carrying Indian citizens wherever they may be;
(d) a foreign national or a stateless person who has his or her residence in India at
the time of commission of offence under this Act.
(3) This Act shall apply to every offence of trafficking in persons with crossborder implications.

Extending the scope of the bill to every Indian who is becoming a victim of trafficking ensure inclusive and safe environment to every individual of the country, which is very important.
In some Bollywood movies, (which generally lacked logical concepts) many scenes have been depicted showing the practice of trafficking in and outside the country awestrucked me that in real such thing happens not only with immature and young children but also with the adults who are educated enough to decide their good and bad. In search of livelihoods, home, love, marriage, passion they become a victim of this henious crime.

WHAT ACTUALLY IS HUMAN TRAFFICKING?
According to me, it is an immoral act of taking the advantage of the weak and disadvantaged section of the society by captivating and making them to leave their home places and making them engaged in the activities which hurt them physically, mentally and emotionally.

Reasons behind Human Trafficking:
1) Need of cheap labour
2) Economic crisis
3) Absence of parental care
4) Loss of livelihoods
5) SOCIAL MEDIA

and many more. 

My favorite is social media. Yes, it may sound a bit controversial of having likes and dislikes in such a theme. But social media is my favorite because I am a youngster, who is a part of social media wasting my time surfing through the memes and chatting. Social media is for a bigger purpose which we the majority of the youth isn't understanding. The very significant source of human trafficking is Socila media. Shiny advertisements attracting children, women and the youth can be fake. Talking to strangers has now become a trend where these individuals are trapped once they leave their houses to meet them up. Isn't it so reckless? Are we actually utilising the resources effectively? Not being aware, using it for crimes, is it for what the apps are made? Here, is where the school and education plays an important role for awareness. Well let's stick to the topic.

What role does the International Organisations play in this area: Here are some initiatives.
Blue Heart Campaign: The Blue Heart Campaign is an international anti-trafficking program started by the UNODC.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is responsible for implementing the protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children in 2000 as a part of the UN Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime. It offers practical help to states with drafting laws, creating comprehensive national anti-trafficking strategies, and assisting with resources to implement them.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) is a non-binding declaration that establishes the right of every human to live with dignity and prohibits slavery.

India do have many laws for protecting the citizens of it's country from trafficking. They can be listed as:
Article 23 (1) in the constitution of India prohibits trafficking in human beings and forced labour.
The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 (ITPA) penalizes trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation.
India also prohibits bonded and forced labour through the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1976, Child Labour (Prohibition and Abolition) Act 1986, and Juvenile Justice Act.
Sections 366(A) and 372 of the Indian Penal Code, prohibits kidnapping and selling minors into prostitution respectively.
Apart from this, the Factories Act, 1948 guaranteed the protection of rights of workers.
Section 370 of Indian Penal Code: Whoever, knowingly or having reason to believe that a minor has been trafficked, engages such minor for sexual exploitation in any manner, shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than five years, but which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.

So we now know, that the country has its laws and rules in the area of protecting the dignity of the citizens. Then why are the humans still trafficked? It is because of the inefficient implementation policy, lack of adaptive co managment, unawareness in the society, lack of technology to trap and record the cyber crime activities efficiently, lack of bottom top approach, illiteracy, lack of severinity of the punishments in case of offences, interference in the judicial activities, lack of access to psychological counselling etc. etc. etc.

This doesn't mean that India is not responding to such issues efficiently, it is responding but with the low rate in proportion to the rate at which such crimes are increasing and encouraging.

By going through these points, some stakeholders can be listed as follows:
1) NGO
2) Childline Helpline
3) Media
4) Factory/ Industry Owners
5) Police
6) School
7) Society
8) Anti Human Trafficking Units
9) Counsellors
10) Judiciary
11) Government

This reflects that every individual of the society is responsible to the crime of Human Trafficking. If we unite, if we are aware, isn't there a possibility of the decline of such practices.  

By understanding the ineficiency of the laws some solutions could be added in the formulation of the bills or drafts. They can be:
1) Proper staffing and funding of such institutions
2) Community based awareness ad vigilance activities
3) incentivising education and creating safe employment opportunities
4) increasing punishment for offences
5) attention to be paid to the challenges prosecutors and judges face in trafficking cases
6) Proper case management
7) Availability of affordable and qualitative psychological counselling

Significance of bill: 

As noted the bill is extended to every citizen of India including the transgender community, or any other person.
Also, cases such as forced labour, in which people lured with jobs end up in other countries where their passports and documentation is taken away and they are made to work, will also be covered by this new bill.
The bill also introduces a strict punishment in respective cases. Like imprisonment for 7 years minimum or life imprisonment in cases of death of the victim or any severe injury being caused to the victim. The bill also talks about death sentence and penalty upto 30 lakhs. Any property or asset brought by the amount gained by trafficking is subjected to be taken away from the criminal.

Thus, the security of the citizens is very important. The bill is being introduced to the Cabinet and then will be presented in the Parliament.

What is the growth of local government in India?

Self governing village communities existed in India since the earliest in the form of sabhas. These communities later took the form of panchayat which dealed issues at village level. 

 Pre independence era

In modern times before independence, local government bodies were created after 1882 during the viceroy period of Lord Rippon. Now these local bodies were called local boards, due to slow progress of these bodies after long period, village ppanchayatswere established in a number of provinces. 

After some time when the Constitution making was in process the subject of local government was assigned to the states. It was also mentioned in DPSPs. 

Post independence era 

After independence, Community Development Programme (1952) came in existence which sought to promote people's participation in local government. In this program the three tier system of local government was recommended in rural areas of some states. Gujarat, Maharashtra adopted elected system of local bodies but in many states local bodies were not powerful. They were very much dependent on the state and central government for the financial assistance. Later after 1987, a throughout review of functioning of local government institution was initiated in 1989. In 1989, P. K. Thungan Committee recommended Constitutional establishment of local bodies with enlistment of their functions along with their funds.

After 1989, Central government introduced two Constitutional Amendment popularly known as the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments, the rural local government with 29 subjects and the urban local government with 18 subjects respectively. 

OPERATION BLUE STAR

Have you ever experienced this? When you bring a person who would support you and help you to rise but then that person only becomes uncontrollable? 😂 Funny right? 

This exactly happened with Congress. 

In 1977 elections, Congress party led by Indira  Gandhi got defeated in Punjab and Akali Dal formed the government under the leadership of Prakash Singh Badal. Congress in order to restore power decided to bring prominent faces who would help them to rise again. 

Prakash Singh Badal

Gyani Zail Singh and Sanjay Gandhi, two Congress leaders chose Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. 

So how did it affect Congress so badly that it proved to be the worst nightmare for Congress itself?

Let's get into this.... 

Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was the fourteenth jathedar or leader of the prominent orthodox Sikh religious institution Damdani Taksal. He gained national attention after his involvement in the 1978 Sikh Nirankari clash. 

Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale

Soon, Bhindranwale rose to be the leader of the Sikh militancy group. Bhindranwale joined hands with Akali Dal and launched Dharam Yuddha Morcha in 1982 to fulfill their demands of the Anandpur Sahib Resolution. This was to make Punjab, a semi autonomous and a federal state of India. 

This way, Congress realised that Bhindranwale now, could not be controlled and his actions would effect their functioning. In 1983, to evade arrest, Bhindranwale occupied and fortified Akali Takht and made the Harminder Sahib complex, the holy shrine of Sikhs called Golden Temple as their headquarters. It is said that he had a strong backing of Major General Shabeg Khan and Amrik Singh. 

Golden Temple

The militant group was there in the temple with arms and ammunitions. They were getting regular supply of weapons which came to be known when one day, a truck loaded with food for langar was inspected randomly and large number of weapons were found. 

Two school of thoughts

1) It was said that these supplies were coming from Pakistan who was trying to threaten the internal security in India. 

2) Other was the Operation Kontakt which was sent by Russia. It is said that Russia, through this operation was trying to spread false information to Indira Gandhi, that Pakistan is behind all the supplies of weapons to the members of Pro Khalistani movement. And this worked, as Indira Gandhi believed and launched Operation Blue Star. 

After various rounds of negotiations, which proved to be futile, Operation Blue Star was launched on 1 June, 1984 in the Harminder Sahib complex in Amritsar. 

[According to General SK Sinha, Indira Gandhi had been considering the Operation for more than 18 months prior, authorizing army preparation for it long before any insurgents were in the complex.]

The operation led to 83 deaths and left 249 injured. According to the government high civilian casualties were attributed to militants using pilgrims trapped inside the temple as human shields. However, the Indian Army had allowed thousands of pilgrims and protestors to enter the temple complex and prevented them from leaving after imposing a curfew on the same day. 

The military actions in the temple complex was criticized by Sikhs worldwide, who interpreted it as an assault on the Sikh religion. They call the operation as the Teesra Ghallughara (Holocaust). 

Five months after Operation Blue Star, on 31 October, 1984 Indira Gandhi was assassinated in an act of revenge by her two Sikh bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh. 

Indira Gandhi

STORY OF ANANDPUR SAHIB RESOLUTION

India is the world's largest democracy, question arises is it a boon or a bane? Everyone has their different opinions. Comment down yours.

It's an incident of a state which is healthy and wealthy and called PUNJAB. The sweet and beautiful Punjab has it's own history of violence, discrimination, injustice and incited terrorism. Befort starting with the 1984 Sikh riots, let us start from the beginning and the first thing to learn about is Anandpur Sahib resolution. 

Image taken from

In 1972 elections, Akali Dal was defeated and Congress party won elections and framed it's government in the state. Gyani Zail Singh emerged as the respective Chief Minister of Punjab. 

Image taken from

Here starts the journey of the Anandpur Sahib resolution. Though it was a result of a long drawn aspirations but gained a momentum in 1973 when Akali Dal came out with its famous resolution called Anandpur Sahib Resolution. 

Earlier, the consequences of Green revolution proved to be very beneficial for Punjab. Punjab emerged as a prosperous land for agricultural productivity. However, the industrial development in the state was not taking place in the same way the agriculture sector was growing. Large industrial units were at a risk if they were installed in a state which shared border with Pakistan. 

This led to increased education opportunities with lack of job availability for the educated youth. This section were not satisfied with the government's functioning and thus, joined hands with militant organizations to display their grievances. 

This long history of discrimination, economic backwardness, dissatisfaction were put forward to the government in Anandpur Sahib resolution in 1973. It included  both religious and political issues. 

Some of them were:

1) Propagating Sikhism to combat atheism

2) Establishing favourable conditions for encouraging their free expression, satisfaction and growth. 

3) Eradication of poverty and exploitation

4) Many demands on spiritual grounds were made

5) Development of the farmers of Punjab by ensuring more irrigation and other facilities 

Such demands were put forward by the Akali Dal.

However, Anandpur Sahib resolution became controversial because it asserted regional autonomy and desired to refine centre state relations. It spoke of the aspirations of Sikh Quam  and also declared its goal as attaining  bolbala  of Sikhs. 

This was regarded by Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister as a secessionist movement as it would hinder the unity of India and thus, the resolution was rejected. 

Many developments took place after this incident which hold a significant place in the Indian history. 

In my view, bringing forward the demands is a right of every citizen. The resolution demanded for equality and freedom of expressions which is a fundamental right of every citizen and the government must ensure that every citizen is treated equally. 

One of the demands put forward by them was providing them sovereignty in their regional and religious matters. India is a secular country, there is no state religion and the government doesn't interfere in the religious matters as per the Constitution. However, the government has and should have the right to interfere in the religious matters if they hinder or infringe the fundamental rights of equality, privacy, life etc. So granting full sovereignty is a matter of grave concern. The examples of right intervention in religious matters can be seen in the abolishment of sati and widow remarriages. 

India is federal in form but unitary in spirit. Demanding full sovereignty would ultimately mean threatening the spirit. And thus the unitary character is threatened to break. 

To some extent, I believe that the demands were not liable to be fulfilled but the right to expression and equality are the fundamental rights which is mandated to be protected by the government. 

We will continue with the operation blue Star. 

कर्तव्य या प्रेम

जब भी तुम्हारा हृदय कर्तव्य या प्रेम, दोनो में किसी एक को चुनने की उलझन में हो तब ये स्मरण रखना कि, 

कर्तव्य सूर्य है, और प्रेम चंद्र। 

यदि प्रेम को चुनोगे तो चंद्र की शीतलता के साथ साथ रात्रि का अंधकार भी प्राप्त होगा। 

और यदि कर्तव्य का चयन करोगे तो सूर्य का प्रकाश प्राप्त होगा जिससे तुम अपने वातावरण को भी प्रकाशित कर सकोगे। 

आगे तुम्हारी इच्छा। 

हरे कृष्ण🙏

Politics and religion

Unity in Diversity. India is full of diverse linguistics, cultures, customs, castes and RELIGIONS. Religious diversity is one of the epicenter in any country's development and also it can be a reason for a country's downfall. The incidents of universal brotherhood along with the traumatic incidents of communal violence are experienced in our country. 

The question arises what is the role of politics in religion or what is the relationship between politics and religion. 

Let's get into this! 

The relationship between religion and politics is very much guided by religious differences in the country. Moreover, we have different considerations about religion and politics. They are:- 

1) Gandhian view of religion and politics: 

Mahatma Gandhi was the first to view that religion cannot be separated from politics. Politics must be guided by values drawn by every religion. Here Gandhi didn't mean by religion as any other religion like Islam or Christianity but the ethical values that are inherent in every religion. 

2) Humanist view on religion and politics: 

Human rights group believed that political power must be used to protect religious minorities, because in our country the victims of communal riots are from various minority groups. 

3) Women's movement on religion and politics: 

Women's movement demanded that religion must be guided by politics in such a way that it is a family law of every religion, which discriminates women, so government should modify these laws in more equitable manner. 

All these instances involve a relationship between religion and politics. Sometimes those who hold the elections should be able to regulate the practice of religion so as to prevent discrimination. But these political acts are not wrong as long as they treat every religion equally. 

Therefore, equality is the key to universal harmony among all religions.