Assignment Code: MPS-003/ASST/TMA/2022-23

Course Code: MPS-003

Assignment Name: India: Democracy and Development

Year: 2022-2023

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

SECTION-I

1. Critically examine the working of the federal system in India.

Ans) India's federalism significant trend toward centralization during the first 40 years that the constitution was in effect, which led to the union government acquiring authority that was not permitted by the constitution. The constitution does, in fact, authorise a situational concentration of federal authority within the union, but this in no way implies that the states' constitutional rights to federal autonomy and authority are suspended, even in normal circumstances.

The primary form of invasion used by the union government was its exclusive ability to determine what is in the public and national interest. This power has frequently been used to expand its legislative jurisdiction and to infringe upon the state's legislative authority regarding matters of state lists. Only submissions for primary topics are made in the seventh schedule. The centre has developed the practise of legislating over ancillary matters/issues to either give effect to key subjects or to establish national uniformity on a specific item in the greater public interest.

As a result, even the subjects that were initially given to the states have been encroached upon by the centre. In order to provide an example, "Acts passed by Parliament under items 52 [Industries] and 54 [Regulation of mines and mineral development] of the union List are exemplary examples. Parliament passed the (Industries Development and Regulation) Act, 1951, in accordance with entry 52. The union currently has influence over a sizable percentage of the industries included in schedule 1 of the Act. The constitutional result is that the state legislatures' authority over the topic of "Industries" under entry 24 of the state list has been constrained to the extent that control has been assumed by the union as a result of this act. Agribusiness products including tea, coffee, and other agricultural products are now governed centrally under this Act.

The union government has altered the distribution of competencies through omission, addition, and transfer through various amending acts. between the centre and the states, as per the seventh schedule of the constitution. Thus, entries 11 were left out of the forty-second amendment act (education). (Forest), I9, 20 (protection of wild life). 29 (weights and measures). and entry 36 (the acquisition or requisitioning of property) was left off the state list by the seventh amendment act.

As a result, rather than the 66 subjects that were initially provided, the state list now only includes 61 subjects. On the other side, the concurrent list gained four new entries as a result of the 42nd Amendment Act's transfer. Along with significant changes to Articles 25 (education) and 33 (weights and measures), they also include 11A (administration of justice), 17A (forest), 17R (Protection of wild animals and bird:);), 20A (population control and family planning), and 33A (weights and measurements) (trade and commerce). As a result, the concurrent list contains 51 items. in the list of unions. Three significant additions can be found: 2A (deployment of armed forces), 92A (taxes on sales or purchases of products during interstate trade or commerce), and 92B. (taxes on the consignment of goods).

2. Discuss the main challenges of ethnicity for the nation-state in India.

Ans) India differs from most other countries in the globe by having a greater number of ethnic and religious organisations. There are eight "major" faiths, 15 "ordinary" languages spoken in varied dialects in 22 states and 9 union territories, a great variety of tribes and sects, in addition to the 2000 strange castes that are frequently mentioned. Three religious or ethnic clashes have recently come to light: two occurred in the states of Assam and Punjab, and the third, the more well-known Hindu-Muslim conflict, is still going on. The Assam problem is often an ethnic one, the Punjab problem is mostly a result of religious and regional disputes, and the Hindu-Muslim issue is primarily a spiritual one.

Ethnic Conflict in Assam

Assam has recently received the most media attention of the three conflicts mentioned. Not since India was divided in 1947 have there been as many deaths and displacements as a result of racial or religious conflict. According to the available reports, mob violence has killed 4,000 people, caused some 250,000 people to become homeless, and forced a significant number of people to leave the country in search of safety abroad. Despite friction and fear existing for the previous three years, the election in February became the immediate cause of this bloodshed. The Assamese, the Bengalis (each of which include components of Hindus and Muslims), and the tribals, which are localised communities, were three culturally distinct corporations that had been interacting in Assam.

Historical Pattern of Migration

Since the dawn of the twenty-first century, Assam has experienced India's greatest rate of population growth. A significant portion of this rise is owed to migration into the kingdom. The majority of immigrants came from Bengal, including present-day Bangladesh (referred to as East Bengal earlier than the 1947 partition and East Pakistan from 1947-seventy one). Hindu and Muslim immigrants from Bengal were both. After the British established tea plantations in the middle of the 19th century, Bengali Hindus started to migrate. Because of their superior academic standing compared to Assamese, they were more qualified to staff the expanding administrative and professional machinery.

On the other hand, Bengali Muslims were in particular peasants. They primarily came from East Bengal, a region that is moderately populated, has low agricultural production, and has a dispersed landholding structure that makes it difficult to support large households. Assam has reportedly become less populated, had many uninhabited places, and experienced far less land stress. Large stretches of waste, flooded, and forested land were made habitable and productive by Bengali peasants along the southern bank of the Brahmaputra River, an area that is also populated by indigenous tribal groups, including the Lalung.

Overall Bengali dominance started to take many different forms. They had jobs in the city, their language evolved and became more widely spoken in Assam, and their supremacy in math or even in the sciences was more than obvious. The Assamese middle class slowly began to emerge with the sluggish development of education in the 20th century, and with the growth of the Assamese middle class, the seeds of what has been dubbed "small nationalism" were sown in Assam.

Post-Independence Developments

The Assamese centre magnificence re-emerged after the 1947 partition and the relocation of Sylhet, a sizable Bengali Muslim district, to East Pakistan. This was the first time in roughly a century. This newly acquired power, which was electorally buttressed, was used to solidify the placement of the Assamese centre elegance in opposition to Bengali dominance in administrative services and professions through improved instructional applications and the use of Assamese as a language within the university.

3. Write short notes on the following in about 250 words each:

a) Caste in Indian Democracy

Ans) Caste became a tool for justifying their rule in India. It led to caste conflicts among people. Caste also started churning in social consciousness. Therefore, caste started evolving in Indian society. Modern Constitution abolished untouchability , also in 1976 (the Protection of Civil Rights Act), reservation of seats which ultimately resulted in further concretisation of caste. Caste and casteism never disappeared in India.

Myron Weiner’s concept of “political co-optation” became very relevant. The policy of political mobilization followed by Congress and other parties also resulted in co-optation many lower castes into the party. With the erosion of the moral basis of caste, the self-imposed barrier to protest by the lower castes was also eroded. Therefore, some middle and lower castes sought equality with the upper castes through the process of Sanskritization, thus claiming more political power.

Caste based reservations came with the Article 15 of the Indian Constitution which prohibits discrimination of Indians on basis of religion, race , caste, sex or place of birth. But Article 15 (4)modified by asserting that nothing in this article shall prevent the state from making any special provision for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward of citizens or for the SC’s and ST’s. Thus, the constitution simultaneously embodies two conflicting notions of equality, one bases on individual rights and the other based on group rights. Also, the Mandal Commission, or the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Commission, was established in 1979 by the Janata Party government under Prime minister Morarji Desai with a mandate to “identify the socially or educationally backward classes” of India.

It basically defined backward classes in terms of caste . The caste membership rather than individual class characteristics became the matter of importance. Thus, low social ranking in the class rather than average per capita income became the criteria for inclusion in the OBC list. Thus, it made possible for caste membership to become responsible for identifying class benefits, thus social ranking became a matter of perception rather than an average per capita income. Thus, caste and class became cross cutting identities.

b) Identity Politics in India

Ans) In India, communities and collective identities have persisted in strength and have made recognition claims even after the country's independence and the adoption of a liberal democratic democracy. In reality, Beteille has demonstrated how the Indian political system has continuously attempted to balance community concerns with liberal [individual] spirit loyalties. Bikhu Parekh claims that a variety of independent and largely self-governing communities have been recognised as a result of this process. It has made an effort to come to terms with its dual nature as a community of communities and an association of people by recognising that both are right-bearers.

Many scholars have been persuaded to assume that the post-independent state, its structures, and institutions have provided a material basis for the enunciation of identity claims as a result of India's claim to and acknowledgment of specific identities. Alternatively said, it is believed that the state "actively contributes to identity politics through the development and maintenance of state structures which define and then recognise persons in terms of certain identities."

Identity politics of all stripes are therefore prevalent in India, with those based on language, religion, caste, race, or tribal identity being the most spectacular. The assumption that each of these identity markers operates independently, free from the overlapping impact of the other creators, notwithstanding what has been discussed, would be incorrect on our side. In other words, a homogeneous linguistic group can be split up along caste lines, which can then be further separated along religion lines, or it can all be lumped together under a more general ethnic claim.

SECTION-II

4. Comment on the following in about 250 words each:

a) Sustainable Development

Ans) Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The desired result is a state of society where living conditions and resources are used to continue to meet human needs without undermining the integrity and stability of the natural system.

Sustainable development was defined in the 1987 Brundtland Report as "development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs".[2][3] As the concept of sustainable development developed, it has shifted its focus more towards the economic development, social development and environmental protection for future generations.

Sustainable development was first institutionalized with the Rio Process initiated at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. In 2015 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and explained how the goals are integrated and indivisible to achieve sustainable development at the global level. The 17 goals address the global challenges, including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace, and justice.

Sustainable development is interlinked with the normative concept of sustainability. UNESCO formulated a distinction between the two concepts as follows: "Sustainability is often thought of as a long-term goal (i.e., a more sustainable world), while sustainable development refers to the many processes and pathways to achieve it." The concept of sustainable development has been criticized in various ways. While some see it as paradoxical (or an oxymoron) and regard development as inherently unsustainable, others are disappointed in the lack of progress that has been achieved so far. Part of the problem is that "development" itself is not consistently defined.

b) Gender and Development

Ans) Gender and development is an interdisciplinary field of research and applied study that implements a feminist approach to understanding and addressing the disparate impact that economic development and globalization have on people based upon their location, gender, class background, and other socio-political identities. A strictly economic approach to development views a country's development in quantitative terms such as job creation, inflation control, and high employment – all of which aim to improve the ‘economic wellbeing’ of a country and the subsequent quality of life for its people. In terms of economic development, quality of life is defined as access to necessary rights and resources including but not limited to quality education, medical facilities, affordable housing, clean environments, and low crime rate.

Gender and development considers many of these same factors; however, gender and development emphasizes efforts towards understanding how multifaceted these issues are in the entangled context of culture, government, and globalization. Accounting for this need, gender and development implements ethnographic research, research that studies a specific culture or group of people by physically immersing the researcher into the environment and daily routine of those being studied, in order to comprehensively understand how development policy and practices affect the everyday life of targeted groups or areas.

The history of this field dates back to the 1950s, when studies of economic development first brought women into its discourse, focusing on women only as subjects of welfare policies – notably those centred on food aid and family planning. The focus of women in development increased throughout the decade, and by 1962, the United Nations General Assembly called for the Commission on the Status of Women to collaborate with the Secretary General and a number of other UN sectors to develop a longstanding program dedicated to women's advancement in developing countries. A decade later, feminist economist Ester Boserup’s pioneering book Women’s Role in Economic Development (1970) was published, radically shifting perspectives of development and contributing to the birth of what eventually became the gender and development field.

5. Write short notes on the following in about 250 words each:

a) Language and politics in India

Ans) It is possible to say that identity claims based on the idea of a collectivity linked by language have their roots in the pre-independence politics of the Congress, which had vowed to reorganise states in the post-independent period on the basis of linguistics. However, the "JVP" Committee's concession that the formation of Andhra from the Telugu-speaking region of the then Madras could be conceded if public sentiment were "insistent and overwhelming" served as the "opening wedge for the bitter struggle over states reorganisation which was to dominate Indian Politics from 1953 to 1956," according to Michael Brecher. Ironically, the demand for separate states for linguistic collectivises has persisted ever since 1956 and still raises issues for the Indian government.

The issue, however, is that none of the newly founded or proclaimed states are composed entirely of one race, and some even have politically and statistically significant minorities. This has led to a cascading series of claims that continue to put existing states' borders in danger, and disagreements over the borders of linguistic states have also sparked ongoing conflicts, such as the simmering tensions between Maharashtra and Karnataka over the Belgaum district or even the Nagas' claims to parts of Manipur.

The absence of a national language policy has made the linguistic distinctions more difficult. Since the major regional language of each state is frequently utilised as a form of instruction and social interaction, the affection and allegiance that people have for their own language is reflected even outside of their state of origin. For instance, the establishment of social, cultural, and linguistic communities outside of one's state of origin contributes to the strengthening of the cohesiveness and sense of belonging in a distinct language society. As a result, language provides a crucial foundation for the organisation of group identities and sets the parameters for defining the "in-group" and "out-group."

b) Economic Consequences of Migration

Ans) The economy's rate of accumulation of savings as well as growth may be impacted by migration. Particularly, it is generally accepted that temporary migrants save a significant portion of their income because they are risk-averse, planning to return to a lower and less secure wage, and because there is little marginal utility from expenditure when separated from their families. However, there is a paucity of supporting data when it comes to transient internal migrants. Furthermore, transient migration might simply increase people's tendency to save short-term. Migration may significantly alter the distribution of income through a number of pathways, as well as the efficiency of production.

Unless they make mistakes in judgement, a bet on migration doesn't pay off, or migration isn't of the migrant's own free will, migrants should win from migration. People's incomes are impacted by migration in both the origin and destination countries. As migrant labour changes, one way this happens is through changing the pattern of earnings among non-migrants. Whether earnings at the origin rise or fall is not immediately apparent.

The higher the returns to education and training for those left behind, leading to more investments in human capital and higher income, the longer skilled migrants stay abroad. There are at least two factors opposing this. First, there is some evidence of economic agglomeration supported by a workforce with a high level of education. This may suggest that staff turnover actually contributes to education. Second, migration may bring means to finance better education, but the absence of parental presence lowers the quality of learning for children left behind by migrant parents.