Social Justice Awareness

The solution to social injustice lies within us only. We should be aware of the expressions the poor, the backwards, social justice which are being used to undermine standards, to flout norms and to put institutions to work. Despite the well intentioned commitment of ensuring social justice through equalization or protective discrimination policy, the governmental efforts have caused some tension in the society. In the name of social justice even such activities are performed which have nothing to do with social justice. The need of hour is to ensure the proper and balanced implementation of policies so as to make social justice an effective vehicle of social progress.

While Liberalism puts freedom first it is conscious of the fact that such freedom is hollow unless it is accompanied by a sense of security and equality. A liberal social policy should aim at providing the most disadvantaged with access to opportunities and, at the same time create a social net that strengthens their ability to cope with crises. Successive governments have attempted to meet the basic needs of people by spending large sums of money on various subsidies, a variety of employment generation and poverty alleviation schemes. While these schemes have created a huge distributive bureaucracy only a small percentage of the sums sanctioned actually reach the intended recipient groups. They have bred corruption on a massive scale.

A phenomenal amount of resources are wasted, destabilising public finances, harming economic development and burdening future generations. Alongside of measures to liberalise the economy which would create new employment opportunities there is needed to encourage entrepreneurship and self-employment particularly in the light of fast developing technology. This would spur an upward movement of people and each entrepreneur can provide work for one or more persons. Jobs and self-employment opportunities have to be encouraged in sectors like agriculture, plantations, and in a variety of infrastructural activities, etc. Employing techniques that involve a judicial mix of machines and manual labour, the country’s enormous economic potential can be exploited to the benefit of the less fortunate sections of the population.

Without administrative and political decentralisation the goals of social justice may not be accomplished. Letting people decide what their development needs are will not only generate social and political awareness among them but also instill a sense of self-respect and build strong leadership at the local and community levels.