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GS Paper: GS1-06.Salient features of Indian Society

 

  • Who are the Pasmanda?

    In a political conclave in Hyderabad, PM made a special mention for the Pasmanda muslim community and their social upliftment.

    Who are the Pasmanda Muslims?

    • The word Pasmanda is derived from the Persian language meaning ‘left behind’.
    • The Pasmanda community comprise of Dalits and Backward Muslims who are fighting a different social battle inside the society.
    • This community has its stronghold in Uttar Pradesh where the Pasmandas account for around 75% of the total Muslim population.
    • In fact, 85% of the total population of Muslims in the country is known as Pasmanda.
    • It is believed that the so-called untouchable Hindu converts are categorised as Pasmanda.

    A caste system in minorities

    • The caste system is applicable to Asian Muslims in the same way as it is applicable in the Indian society.
    • Among the South Asian Muslims including those living in India, 15% are considered upper class or upper caste, called Ashraf.
    • The remaining 85% Muslims known as Arzal and Ajlaf are considered to be Dalit and backward. Arzal means degraded.

    Why political parties are focusing on them?

    • If reports are to be believed then the creamy section of the Muslim society looks down upon them.
    • They are backward and oppressed economically, socially and educationally. This oppressed section among Muslims is called Pasmanda in India.

    A social movement in making

    • Actually the Pasmanda movement in India is 100 years old. A Muslim Pasmanda movement had emerged in the second decade of the last century.
    • After this, in the 90s in India, two big organisations were formed in favour of the Pasmanda Muslims.
    • This was the All India United Muslim Front, whose leader was Ejaz Ali.
    • Apart from this, Ali Anwar of Patna founded an organisation named All India Pasmanda Muslim Merej.
    • However, both are termed as non-Islamic by Muslim religious leaders.
    • All the small organisations of Pasmanda Muslims are mostly found in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

     

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  • India ranks 136th in the World Happiness Report 2022

    India ranks 136th in the World Happiness Report 2022, while Finland becomes the happiest country for the fifth consecutive year.

    One can definitely question the credibility of such reports whenever India is being grouped with some African countries that too below Pakistan.

    World Happiness Report

    • The WHR is an annual publication of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
    • It measures three main well-being indicators: life evaluations, positive emotions, and negative emotions (described in the report as positive and negative affect).
    • Since 2011, the World Happiness Report (WHR) is released every year around the time of International Day of Happiness on March 20.
    • It was adopted by the UN General Assembly based on a resolution tabled by Bhutan.

    How is the WHI derived?

    • The ranking is done on a three-year average based on surveys of ‘Life Evaluation’ conducted by Gallup World Poll which surveys around 1000 people from each country to evaluate their current life on a scale of 0-10.
    • On this scale, 10 marks the best possible and 0 as the worst possible life.
    • Further, six key variables GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and corruption contribute to explaining life evaluations.

    Top performers this year

    • The top five countries in the list are from Europe.
    • While the United States held the 16th spot in the happiest countries list.
    • Following Finland, Denmark bagged the second rank, while Iceland and Switzerland stood at third and fourth rank.
    • The Netherlands was at the fifth rank in the list.
    • Meanwhile, Luxembourg, Norway, Israel, and New Zealand were the remaining countries in the top 10.

    Dismal performers

    • Afghanistan held the last position of 146th in the list, with Lebanon (145th), Zimbabwe (144th), Rwanda (143rd), and Botswana (142nd) following.
    • Bangladesh has improved its ranking by seven notches on the WHI from 101 last year to 94 in 2022 out of 146 countries included in the report.

     

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  • Supreme Court clarifies on abuse linked to Dowry Deaths  

    Dowry death can be presumed if the wife was harassed, mentally and physically close before her death in the marital home, the Supreme Court has held.

    Section 304B, IPC

    • A Bench led by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana was interpreting Section 304B of the Indian Penal Code (dowry death).
    • The provision mandates that the death of a married woman could be linked to the crime if she had been harassed for dowry “soon before her death”.

    What is the recent judgment?

    Ans. Bridges the gap between extreme Harassment and Death

    • The cruelty has to be proved during the close proximity of time of death. It should be continuous.
    • Such continuous harassment, physical or mental, by the accused should make life of the deceased miserable which may force her to commit suicide, ruled Justice Hima Kohli.
    • The court said the expression “soon before her death” would normally imply that the interval should not be much between the cruelty or harassment concerned and the death in question.
    • In other words, there exists a proximate and live link between the effect of cruelty based on dowry demand and the death concerned.

    Other takeaways

    • Frequent incidents of cruelty disturb the mental equilibrium of the women concerned, ruled the court.
    • However, the presumption of dowry death was also rebuttable, observed the court.

    Dowry System : A Backgrounder

    • The dowry system in India incorporates payments in the form of capital, durable goods, real estate among others, made to the bridegroom from the family of the bride as a condition for marriage.
    • The abuse for the demand for dowry can be in the form of verbal and the most serious can take the shape of death of the victim or dowry death.

    Dowry Deaths in India

    • Dowry deaths are deaths of married women who are murdered or driven to suicide by continuous harassment and torture by their husbands and in-laws.
    • This is mainly over the demand of dowry, making the women’s homes the most dangerous place for them to be.

    What numbers reveal?

    • In 2020, reported dowry death cases in India amounted to nearly seven thousand.
    • This was a gradual decrease from the 2014, in which this number was approximately 8.5 thousand.

    Why is dowry so much prevalent?

    • Bride pricing: There exists a system of “bride price”, whereby the family of the groom had to give some gifts to the family of the women before marriage.
    • Property inheritance: Until its amendment in 2005, the Hindu Succession Act of 1956 was biased towards the male next of kin when it came to property inheritance.  The amendment stated that women had the right to their parents’ property irrespective of being married.
    • Financial dependency: In practice, the inheritance of the woman is socially imparted to her as dowry in marriage leading to financial dependence on the husband or the in-laws.

    Factors contributing to its continuance

    • Traditions and historicity: It has been a preconceived notion of the people that the dowry system has been existing since centuries back and it is quintessential to be followed by the two families.
    • Social status associated with Dowry: It is a belief among people that dowry giving or receiving gives a lot of merit in reputation and honor within the society.
    • Illiteracy: Although dowry is something that is even practiced by the literates of our society, it becomes a lot difficult to make them understand the laws.
    • Bridegroom coercion: The demand for the well-earned bridegroom in prestigious workplaces often encourages brides families to pay hefty dowries leading to the continuance of such evil customs.

    Legal measures against dowry

    • Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973: Dowry death is a non-bailable offence and the person cannot be acquitted without court’s order.
    • Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961: It was passed by the government which prohibits the giving or taking of dowry in India.

    Dysfunctions created by the Dowry system

    • Defamation: There have been many instances where these laws have been used to defame or slander one’s name.
    • Fights for property inheritance: This go ugly when the girl involves into interfaith marriage. This often leads to honor killing.

    Way forward

    • The dignity, modesty and safety of women must be prioritized by all. Abusing them just for dowry or any other financial favour is a shameful act in itself.
    • To prevent such heinous crimes stringent provisions and measures need to be undertaken by the government.

     

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  • Meghalaya to give land rights to men

    Matrilineal Meghalaya is set to break the tradition of share of parental property to the khatduh, which means the youngest daughter in the Khasi language.

    Matrilineal Society of Meghalaya

    • The matrilineal tradition which the Khasi and other subgroups practice in Meghalaya is unique within India.
    • Khasi are an ancient tribe said to be the largest surviving matrilineal culture in the world.
    • Matrilineal principles among the Khasi are emphasised in myths, legends, and origin narratives.

    Their evolution

    • Khasi kings embarking on wars left the responsibility of running the family to women and thus their role in society became very deep rooted and respected.
    • Reference to Nari Rajya (female kingdom; or land of matriarchy) in the epic Mahabharata likely correlates with the Khasi and Jaintia Hills and Meghalaya’s present-day matrilineal culture.

    Property rights

    • The youngest daughter of the family, the Ka Khadduh, inherits all ancestral property.
    • After marriage, husbands live in the mother-in-law’s home.
    • The mother’s surname is taken by children.
    • When no daughters are born to a couple, they adopt a daughter and pass their rights to property to her.
    • The birth of a girl is celebrated while the birth of a son is simply accepted.
    • There is no social stigma attributed to a woman remarrying or giving birth out of wedlock as the “Khasi Social Custom Lineage Act” gives security to them.
    • Care of children is the responsibility of mothers or mothers-in-law.

    Matrilineal, not matriarchal

    • While society is matrilineal, it is not matriarchal. In past monarchies of the state, the son of the youngest sister of the king inherited the throne.
    • Even now in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly or village councils or panchayats the representation of women in politics is minimal.

    Issues with the system

    • Some Khasi men perceive themselves to be accorded a secondary status.
    • They have established societies to protect equal rights for men.
    • They express that Khasi men don’t have any security, they don’t own land, they don’t run the family business and, at the same time, they are almost good for nothing.

     

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  • Complex count: On caste census

    These days, many states are urging the Centre to include a caste-wise census in the Census of India to have substantial data for reservations of certain dominant caste groups.

    Background

    Caste census of Backward Classes difficult: Centre

    Reaction by the Centre

    • In this backdrop, the Union government’s assertion in the Supreme Court that a census of the backward castes is “administratively difficult and cumbersome” may evoke varying responses.
    • There are two components to the Government’s stand:
    1. Jeopardizing the Census: It asserts that it is a policy decision not to have caste as part of the regular census and that, administratively, the enumeration would be rendered so complex that it may jeopardise the decennial census itself.
    2. Adding more vagueness: It cites the difficulties and complexities inherent in getting an accurate count of castes, given the mind-boggling numbers of castes and sub-castes, with phonetic variations and similarities.

    This is the reason that the data from the 2011 SECC were not acted upon because of “several infirmities” that rendered them unusable.

    Why is caste census not feasible?

    • Hurdle to casteless society: The idea of a national caste census is abhorrent when the stated policy is to strive for a casteless society.
    • Political polarization: Political parties with their base in particular social groups may find a caste enumeration useful, if their favoured groups are established as dominant in specific geographies.
    • Electoral impact: Politicians may find the outcome inconvenient, if the precise count turns out to be lower and has a negative bearing on perceptions about their electoral importance.

    Limitations of SECC, 2011

    • Completeness and Accuracy: Even in the Censuses up to 1931, when caste details were collected, they were wanting in completeness and accuracy.
    • Lakhs of Caste: Further, the data contained 46 lakh different caste names, and if subcastes were considered, the ultimate number may be exponentially high.

    Need for such census

    • Quantifiable data: It may also be a legal imperative, considering that courts want ‘quantifiable data’ to support the existing levels of reservation.
    • Basis for Affirmative actions: It will be useful to establish statistical justification for preserving caste-based affirmative action programmes.

    These points do merit consideration, and even those clamouring for a caste census cannot easily brush them aside.

    Way forward

    • A caste census need not necessarily mean caste in the census.
    • It may be an independent exercise, but one that needs adequate thought and preparation, if its ultimate goal is not for political or electoral purposes, but for equity in distribution of opportunities.
    • A preliminary socio-anthropological study can be done at the State and district levels to establish all sects and sub-castes present in the population.
    • These can be tabulated under caste names that have wider recognition based on synonymity and equivalence among the appellations that people use to denote themselves.
    • Thereafter, it may be possible to do a field enumeration that can mark any group under castes found in the available OBC/BC lists.

    Conclusion

    • A caste census may not sit well with the goal of a casteless society, but it may serve, in the interim, as a useful, even if not entirely flawless, means of addressing inequities in society.

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  • Is a caste census desirable?

    With the 2021 Census coming up, several political parties have demanded a nationwide caste census.

    What is Caste Census?

    • Every Census in independent India from 1951 to 2011 has published data on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, but not on other castes.
    • Before that, every Census until 1931 had data on caste.
    • However, in 1941, caste-based data was collected but not published.
    • In the absence of such a census, there is no proper estimate for the population of OBCs, various groups within the OBCs, and others.
    • The Mandal Commission estimated the OBC population at 52%, some other estimates have been based on National Sample Survey data.
    • Some political parties make their own estimates in states and Lok Sabha and Assembly seats during elections.

    Arguments for caste census

    A caste census is not merely geared to the reservation issue.

    • Enumerating the marginalized: A caste census would actually bring to the particular the number of people who are at the margins, or who are deprived, or the kind of occupations they pursue, or the kind of hold that institutions like caste have on them.
    • Data for Policymaking: This information is absolutely necessary for any democratic policymaking.
    • Judicial backing: The courts in India have often emphatically said that it is important to have adequate data with regard to the reservation.
    • Caste offers privilege: Caste is not only a source of disadvantage; it is also a very important source of privilege and advantage in our society.
    • Caste doesn’t marginalize: We need to do away with the idea of caste being applicable to only disadvantaged people, poor people, people who are somehow lacking.
    • Rids away caste rigidities: Counting of caste doesn’t necessarily perpetuate caste or the caste system. Myths of caste elitisms can be debunked through a caste census.

    Arguments against caste census

    • 50% breach: It is argued that a Socio-Economic Caste Census is the only way to make a case to breach the 50% cap on reservation and rationalize the reservation matrix in the country.
    • Rising assertiveness: More the State ignores out caste, the more is the tendency to preserve caste, protect it. This has been observed in many states.
    • Chaos: Data gathering itself is a big problem because it can become very, very invasive. But we need to actually balance it with enabling people and asserting citizen equality.
    • Social friction: Caste identification can lead to friction amongst various classes.

    Breaching the 50% cap

    • Judicial Substantiation: The 50% cap, as introduced by the court, has not really been argued through.
    • Questioning the sacrosanctity: Some feel that nothing sacrosanct about the 50% limit − it can be exceeded, if necessary, but a clear argument should be given for why this is being done.

    Inefficacy of reservations

    • Fractional benefits: The way reservation is practiced has invariably led to elites among castes and communities.
    • Domination: These elites within the castes have tended to exercise their dominance over their very communities and not let them exercise the kind of freedoms, or search for equality, which any democratic polity deserves.
    • Welfare isn’t reservation: The state has helped privileged communities far more, even though this help has not taken the explicit form of programs like reservation.

    Why is a caste census always controversial?

    • Data manipulation: This is a manifestation of the principle that those in power control data and information.
    • Censoring of data: We have had instances where this data has been collected but has not been made public.
    • Relative deprivation: Since a caste census is a necessity, it is not a happy thing, it is not a great achievement, it is just something that the State has to do circumstantially.
    • Vote bank politics: Vested interests of particular state governments in hunt for vote banks are also visible these days.

    SECC has the solution

    • We have got locked into a mindset where we think only those communities which want welfare benefits from the state must be enumerated.
    • Many have argued that a Socio-Economic Caste Census would be the best way to rationalize reservation based on data and make a strong case for breaching this gap.
    • Earlier governments argued that counting caste will perpetuate it.

    Conclusion

    • Favoring one caste becomes a disfavor for others. This is an undeniable fact of Indian society.
    • It seems that the caste census will happen unless something extraordinary happens in our polity.
    • There are also important questions of demands coming up because of mismatches between the numbers that we come out with and the share in resources that different communities have.
    • This is a kind of nightmare that all governments fear. So, they would much rather leave things vague.
    • The Backward Classes are more than 50% of the population. And this dispensation knows that it cannot afford to lose the support of the Backward Classes.

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  • [pib] Definition of Minority

    The Ministry of Minority Affairs has provided some useful information about various initiatives for minorities.

    A very interesting fact found in the article is that Minorities are identified by the States and not the Centre!

    Defining a minority community

    • The Central has notified minority communities at the national level in consultation with various stakeholders under Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), Act,
    • The six communities notified as minority communities under Section 2(c) of the NCM Act, 1992 are Christians, Sikhs, Muslims, Buddhists, Parsis, and Jains.
    • Notification of any community-specific to a State as a minority community within a State comes under the purview of the State
    • Article 29 and 30 of the Constitution provide for the protection of interest of minorities which includes linguistic minorities also.

    Who are linguistic minorities?

    • Linguistic Minorities are group or collectivities of individuals residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language or script of their own.
    • The language of the minority group need not be one of the twenty-two languages mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
    • In other words, linguistic minorities at the State level mean any group or groups of people whose mother tongues are different from the principal language of the State, and at the district and taluka/tehsil levels, different from the principal language of the district or taluka/tehsil concerned.
    • The linguistic minorities are therefore identified by the respective States/UTs.
    • The State/UT wise, broad linguistic profile is available in the 52nd Report of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities(CLM).

    National Commission for Minorities

    • The Government has already enacted the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Act, 1992 to constitute a National Commission for Minorities.
    • The NCM receives petitions/grievances from the aggrieved persons and the said petitions/grievances being received by Commission.
    • They are dealt with by calling for reports from the concerned authorities under the Union and State Governments.
    • On receipt of the reports, the Commission makes appropriate recommendations to the respective authorities for redressal of the grievances.

  • The Caste Census Debate

    The Ministry of Home Affairs has informed that it was decided as a matter of policy not to enumerate caste-wise population other than SCs and STs in Census.

    What kind of caste data is published in the Census?

    • Every Census in independent India from 1951 to 2011 has published data on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, but not on other castes.
    • Before that, every Census until 1931 had data on caste.
    • However, in 1941, caste-based data was collected but not published.

    Why is there a demand for caste census?

    • In the absence of such a census, there is no proper estimate for the population of OBCs, various groups within the OBCs, and others.
    • The Mandal Commission estimated the OBC population at 52%, some other estimates have been based on National Sample Survey data.
    • Some political parties make their own estimates in states and Lok Sabha and Assembly seats during elections.

    How often has the demand for a caste census been made?

    • It comes up before almost every Census, as records of debates and questions raised in Parliament show.
    • The demand usually come from among those belonging to Other Backward Classes (OBC) and other deprived sections, while sections from the upper castes oppose the idea.
    • On April 1, the constitutional body National Commission for Backward Classes urged the government to collect data on the population of OBCs “as part of Census of India 2021 exercise”.

    Need for caste census

    • There is a central list of OBCs and a State-specific list of OBCs.
    • Some states do not have a list of OBCs; some States have a list of OBCs and a sub-set called Most Backward Classes.
    • There are certain open-ended categories in the lists such as orphans and destitute children.
    • Names of some castes are found in both the list of Scheduled Castes and the list of OBCs.
    • Scheduled Castes converted to Christianity or Islam are also treated differently in different States.
    • The status of a migrant from one State to another and the status of children of inter-caste marriage, in terms of caste classification, are also vexed questions.”

    Back2Basics: Census of India

    • The decennial Census of India has been conducted 15 times, as of 2011.
    • While it has been undertaken every 10 years, beginning in 1872 under British Viceroy Lord Mayo, the first complete census was taken in 1881.
    • Post-1949, it has been conducted by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.
    • All the censuses since 1951 were conducted under the 1948 Census of India Act.
    • The last census was held in 2011, whilst the next was scheduled to be held in 2021.

  • Explained: Conjugal rights before Supreme Court

    The Supreme Court is expected to begin hearing a fresh challenge to the provision allowing restitution of conjugal rights under Hindu personal laws.

    What is the provision under challenge?

    • Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, which deals with restitution of conjugal rights.

    What are conjugal rights?

    • Conjugal rights are rights created by marriage, i.e. the right of the husband or the wife to the society of the other spouse.
    • The law recognizes these rights— both in personal laws dealing with marriage, divorce etc and in criminal law requiring payment of maintenance and alimony to a spouse.
    • The concept of restitution of conjugal rights is codified in Hindu personal law now, but has colonial origins and has genesis in ecclesiastical law.
    • Similar provisions exist in Muslim personal law as well as the Divorce Act, 1869, which governs Christian family law.
    • Incidentally, in 1970, the United Kingdom repealed the law on restitution of conjugal rights.

    How can a case under Section 9 be filed?

    • If a spouse refuses cohabitation, the other spouse can move the family court seeking a decree for cohabitation.
    • If the order of the court is not complied with, the court can attach property.
    • However, the decision can be appealed before a High Court and the Supreme Court.
    • Normally, when a spouse files for divorce unilaterally, the other spouse files for restitution of conjugal rights if he or she is not in agreement with the divorce.
    • The provision is seen to be an intervention through legislation to strike a conciliatory note between sparring spouses.

    Why has the law being challenged?

    • The law is being challenged now on the main grounds that is violative of the fundamental right to privacy.
    • The plea argues that court-mandated restitution of conjugal rights amounted to a “coercive action” on the part of the state, which violates one’s sexual and decisional autonomy, and right to privacy and dignity.
    • In 2019, a nine-judge Bench of the Supreme Court recognised the right to privacy as a fundamental right.
    • The verdict in the privacy case set the stage for potential challenges to several laws such as the criminalization of homosexuality, marital rape, restitution of conjugal rights, the two-finger test in rape investigations.

    Question over gender-neutrality

    • Although the law is ex-facie (‘on the face if it’) gender-neutral since it allows both wife and husband to seek restitution of conjugal rights, the provision disproportionately affects women.
    • Women are often called back to marital homes under the provision and given that marital rape is not a crime, leaves them susceptible to such coerced cohabitation.
    • It will also be argued whether the state can have such a compelling interest in protecting the institution of marriage that it allows legislation to enforce the cohabitation of spouses.

    What has the court said about the law earlier?

    Supreme Court:

    • In 1984, the Supreme Court had upheld Section 9 holding that the provision “serves a social purpose as an aid to the prevention of break-up of marriage”.
    • Leading up to the Supreme Court intervention, two High Courts — those of Andhra Pradesh and Delhi — had ruled differently on the issue.

    AP High Court:

    • In 1983, AP High Court had for the first time struck down the provision and declared it null and void. It cited the right to privacy among other reasons.
    • The court also held that in “a matter so intimately concerned the wife or the husband the parties are better left alone without state interference”.
    • The court had, most importantly, also recognised that compelling “sexual cohabitation” would be of “grave consequences for women”.

    Delhi High Court:

    • In the same year, a single-judge Bench of the Delhi High Court took a diametrically opposite view of the law and upheld the provision.
    • From the definitions of cohabitation and consortium, it appears that sexual intercourse is one of the elements that go to make up the marriage.
    • But it is not the summum bonum (the ultimate aim). As if marriage consists of nothing else except sex.

  • Adoption of COVID-19-orphaned children

    The Supreme Court has directed the States and Union Territories (UTs) to take stringent action against private individuals and NGOs who invite people to illegally adopt children orphaned by the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Also read

    Legal issues involved in adoption pleas for Covid-19 orphans

    SC ruling against illegal adoption

    • The court ordered the government to step in and prevent private entities from revealing the identities of COVID-19 affected children, usually on social media and inviting people to adopt them.
    • No adoption of affected children should be permitted contrary to the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 the court-ordered.
    • It was illegal to invite strangers to adopt children, already traumatized by their personal losses, without the involvement of the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA).

    About CARA

    • Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) is an autonomous and statutory body of the Ministry of Women and Child Development. It was set up in 1990.
    • It functions as the nodal body for the adoption of Indian children and is mandated to monitor and regulate in-country and inter-country adoptions.
    • CARA is designated as the Central Authority to deal with inter-country adoptions in accordance with the provisions of the 1993 Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption, ratified India in 2003.
    • It primarily deals with the adoption of orphaned, abandoned and surrendered children through its associated and recognized adoption agencies.
    • In 2018, CARA has allowed individuals in a live-in relationship to adopt children from and within India.