Social justice

Topic: Equality and Social Justice · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 4 "Social Justice"; Class 11, Ch 10 "The Philosophy of the Constitution"

Meaning

Social justice means sharing rights, opportunities and resources fairly in a society, so that people are freed from disadvantages built up in the past. It does not mean everyone gets the same income. It means everyone gets the basic minimum needed for a healthy, secure life, plus a fair chance to rise by their own effort.

It matters because the Constitution names it as a goal. The Preamble promises "Justice, social, economic and political", and Article 38 asks the state to build a social order based on it. Most welfare laws and schemes in India grow from this one idea.

Explanation

What justice asks for, and what it does not

• Signs of an unjust society:
• The rich and the poor seem to live in different worlds.

• The poor cannot improve their lives, however hard they work.

• What justice does NOT ask for: that everyone has the same income or lifestyle.

• What justice DOES ask for:
• Basic minimum conditions: enough food (nourishment), housing, clean drinking water, education and a minimum wage.

• Equal opportunities, so each person can rise by their own effort.

• Why the basic minimum comes first:

• A starving or homeless person cannot compete on equal terms.

• So equal opportunity means little until basic needs are met.

• NCERT's caution: meeting everyone's basic needs puts a heavy burden on the budget of a poor country with a large population.

How we measure it: income vs capability

• Income poverty lines count the money a person needs to stay above poverty:
• Tendulkar line, 2009.

• Rangarajan line, 2014 (a revised, higher line).

• Capability approach: judge a person's well-being by their real freedoms. This means what they are actually able to be and do, such as be healthy, be educated or take part in community life.

• Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom (1999). Income is only a means. Freedom is the goal.
• Martha Nussbaum (2000) listed ten central capabilities, such as life, bodily health, practical reason, affiliation and play.

• Why it matters: two people with the same income can live very different lives. A disabled person needs more resources to have the same freedoms.

• Measures built on the capability idea:

• Human Development Index (HDI), 1990: combines health, education and income.
• Global MPI, 2010: counts the different deprivations a person faces at the same time.
• NITI Aayog's National MPI (Multidimensional Poverty Index): 12 indicators grouped under health, education and standard of living [5][6].

Who should deliver it: market or state?

• The free-market view:
• A free market is an economy where people own property, make contracts and compete, with little state control.
• Supporters say it is just because it rewards merit (talent and effort), and because it is blind to caste, religion and gender.

• A newer version accepts a state-guaranteed minimum, but wants private firms to supply the services. The state then helps people pay through vouchers, insurance or Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), which sends cash straight to bank accounts.

• NCERT's critique:

• Private firms avoid areas that don't pay, such as remote villages. That is why rural India has few good private schools.
• Where firms do serve poor areas, they often give cheap, poor-quality services.
• Good private health care and education cost too much for the poor.
• Conclusion: markets favour the strong and wealthy. The state must step in to give the deprived a real chance.

The theory behind the debate

• John Rawls, A Theory of Justice (1971):
• Veil of ignorance: choose the rules of society without knowing what your own place in it will be.
• Rational people would then protect the worst-off.
• Difference principle: inequality is fair only if it helps the least advantaged.

• Result: Rawls supports a welfare state that shares out resources (a redistributive state).

• Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974):

• Entitlement theory: whatever you got by fair means is yours.
• Taxing you to help others is unfair.

• Result: Nozick supports a minimal state.

• NCERT's closing view:

• Disagreement over how to share resources is inevitable and healthy. Democracy settles it through open debate.
• The state helps the poor because of equality of opportunity and shared humanity. Help is the poor person's right, not charity or pity.

In the Constitution and practice

• Preamble: promises justice that is social, economic and political.
• Fundamental Rights: the Constitution's text uses them to remove old social disadvantages:
• Article 17 abolishes untouchability.

• Articles 15(4) and 16(4) allow special provisions and reservations for backward classes.

• Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSPs), Part IV: goals the state must keep in mind when making laws. Courts cannot enforce them directly.

• Art. 38: secure a social order based on social, economic and political justice, and reduce inequalities in income, status, facilities and opportunities.
• Art. 39: adequate means of livelihood for all. Material resources should serve the common good. Wealth must not pile up harmfully. Art. 39(d) gives equal pay for equal work for men and women.
• Art. 41: right to work, to education and to public help in unemployment, old age, sickness and disability, "within the limits of economic capacity". These words match NCERT's point about the budget burden.
• Art. 43: a living wage (enough for a decent life, not just survival) and decent working conditions.
• Art. 46: promote the educational and economic interests of weaker sections, especially Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

• Art. 47: raise nutrition levels and the standard of living, and improve public health.

• Rights-based laws: these turn a welfare benefit into a legal right that people can claim, instead of waiting for it as a favour.

• RTE Act, 2009: free and compulsory schooling for children aged 6–14. It gives effect to Art. 21A.
• National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013: a legal right to subsidised grain.
  • Under PMGKAY, grain is free for about 81.35 crore NFSA beneficiaries for five years from 1 January 2024. The expected subsidy is about ₹11.80 lakh crore [4].

• VB-G RAM G Act, 2025: replaces MGNREGA, 2005 [2][3].

  • It guarantees at least 125 days of wage work per rural household each year, under Section 5(1). MGNREGA guaranteed 100 days [2][3].
  • States may notify a pause period of up to 60 days during peak sowing and harvest, under Section 6 [2][3].
  • The Centre and states share costs 60:40. For North-eastern and Himalayan states the share is 90:10 [2].
  • Both Houses passed it on 18 December 2025. It applies to all rural areas from 1 July 2026 [2][3].

• Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY (2018): health cover of ₹5 lakh per family per year, reaching about 55 crore people [7].

• Since September 2024, it covers everyone aged 70 and above, whatever their income [7].

• Results: multidimensional poverty fell from 29.17% (2013-14) to 11.28% (2022-23). About 24.82 crore people escaped it [5][6].

Don't confuse with

• Formal equality: treats everyone the same by law. Social justice goes further. It may treat people differently, for example through reservations or special help, to remove past disadvantage.
• Charity: help given out of pity, as a gift. Social justice treats help as the poor person's right, based on equal opportunity and shared humanity (NCERT).
• Total economic equality: everyone has the same income. Social justice asks only for a basic minimum plus equal opportunity, not sameness.
• Minimal state (Nozick): the state only protects life, liberty and property. The welfare state (Rawls, Beveridge Report 1942) actively provides health, education and work to secure social justice.

Prelims Hooks

• Article–provision match: Art. 39(d) gives equal pay for equal work. Art. 41 gives work, education and public help "within the limits of economic capacity". Art. 43 gives a living wage. Art. 47 covers nutrition and public health.
• VB-G RAM G Act, 2025: 125 days of work (MGNREGA gave 100). Pause period of up to 60 days. Funding 60:40, or 90:10 for NE and Himalayan states. In force from 1 July 2026 [2][3].
• Book–author pairs: Development as Freedom is by Sen (1999). The ten central capabilities are Nussbaum's (2000). A Theory of Justice is by Rawls (1971). Anarchy, State, and Utopia is by Nozick (1974).
• NITI National MPI: 12 indicators across health, education and standard of living. Poverty fell from 29.17% to 11.28%, and 24.82 crore people escaped it [5][6].
• Trap: the Tendulkar line is from 2009 and the Rangarajan line is from 2014. Neither is NITI's MPI. HDI dates from 1990 and the Global MPI from 2010.
• Trap: the Beveridge Report (1942) belongs to the welfare state (modern liberalism), not neo-liberalism. The Washington Consensus (1989) belongs to neo-liberalism.

Mains Points

• Markets vs state in welfare delivery:
• Markets bring choice and efficiency. But they avoid remote areas that don't pay, and they price the poor out of good services (NCERT).

• A balanced model: the state guarantees the minimum. It provides services itself where markets fail. Where markets work, it pays private providers through insurance, vouchers or DBT, and regulates their fees and quality.

• Rights-based welfare as social justice:

• RTE 2009, NFSA 2013 and VB-G RAM G 2025 turn DPSPs (Arts. 41, 43, 47) into legal claims. This fits NCERT's view that help is a right, not charity.

• Trade-off: the cost. PMGKAY needs about ₹11.80 lakh crore over five years [4]. Under VB-G RAM G, states pay 40% and any spending above their normative allocation [2]. This shifts part of the welfare burden onto states.

• Targeting vs universalism, and "freebies" vs welfare:

• Targeting costs less but leaves some poor people out (exclusion errors). Universal schemes, like PM-JAY for everyone over 70 [7], cost more but leave nobody out.
• Through the capability lens, spending on food, health, education and work is an investment, not a freebie.
• Argue for fiscal-responsibility rules and transparency, rather than courts deciding what counts as a "freebie". The issue has been raised before the Supreme Court and the Election Commission of India.

Related concepts

• Basic minimum needs
• Capability approach
• Free market
• Minimal state
• Modern liberalism
• Neo-liberalism

Read more

• Pursuing social justice: basic needs, free markets and the state