State the measures taken by any three State Govts in order to provide essential items
to economically backward sections of the society during the lockdown
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Answer:
India announced a Rs 1.7-lakh-crore relief package to take care of poor, workers and those who need immediate help amid a lockdown to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Scheme, which will cover 80 crore poor people, will include cash transfers and food security, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said at a press meet in New Delhi. Each one will get free 5 kilogram of rice or wheat every month for the next three months, she said, adding a kilogram of preferred pulse per household will also be given every month to these families for the next three months.
The scheme also focuses on giving payments to different sections of the society directly into their bank accounts. This will cover farmers, workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, widow pensioners, disabled, women with Jan Dhan accounts, women running self help groups, beneficiaries of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation and construction workers.
The novel virus outbreak—that has so far killed 10 and infected more than 600 people in India—forced the government to announce a complete lockdown for 21 days to contain the spreading of infection, shutting down businesses temporarily in an already slowing economy. Only sale of essential items such as food and medicines are allowed
Indian republic was formed in 1950 with a fourfold objective of securing to its citizen justice, liberty, equality and fraternity. Further, the citizens were guaranteed so many fundamental rights, through the Constitution, for a better standard of life. But without basic amenities to a decent life, the fundamental rights cannot be enjoyed in themselves. Land is still concentrated in the few hands, only 5% of India’s farmers control 32% land.[1] Industry too is concentrated in the hands of the top business houses. Social and economic power is still monopolised by small proportion of the people. Thus, in order to bring the economically weaker section of the society in the front, it is necessary to bring them under the garb of some economic policy. According to UNDP Report 2018 between 2005/2006 to 2015/2016 India has reduced multidimensional poverty from 54.7% to 27.5% of total people.[2]
In 1980, the Mandal Commission Report, followed the Supreme Court judgment in Indra Sawhney v. Union of India[3], allowed not more than 50 per cent of seats in the educational and service matter for the ST (Scheduled Tribes), SC (Scheduled Castes) and OBC (Other Backward Classes) who constituted around 70 per cent of the total population of India. This lead to a considerable progress in their status; according to the data released by Planning Commission between 2004-2005 and 2011-2012, more people among the deprived social classes — SCs, STs and OBCs — were brought above the poverty line, compared to other segments of society.[4] Therefore, it became an imperative for the legislature to frame policies for the upliftment of the economically weaker sections of the people who belonged to “other category” or “general category”. Keeping this in mind the legislature passed the Constitution (103rd Amendment) Act, 2019 (hereinafter referred as “Act”) to provide for 10 per cent reservation in the jobs and educational institutions to economically backward section in the general category.
It amended the fundamental rights under Part III of the Constitution to insert Articles 15(6) and 16(6) in the Constitution. The clauses read as follows:
Article 15(6): Nothing in this article or sub-clause (g) of clause (1) of Article 19 or clause (2) of Article 29 shall prevent State from making:
(a) any special provision for the advancement of any economically weaker sections of citizens other than the classes mentioned in clauses (4) and (5); and
(b) any special provision for the advancement of any economically weaker sections of citizens other than the clauses mentioned in clauses (4) and (5) insofar as such special provisions relate to their admissions to educational institutions including private educational institutions, whether aided or unaided by the State, other than the minority educational institutions referred to in clause (1) of Article 30, which in the case of reservation would be in addition to the existing reservations and subject to a maximum of ten per cent of the total seats in each category.