On Equality

1.0Introduction

Equality is a key feature of democracy and influences all aspects of its functioning. In this chapter we will read more about equality - what it is, why it is important in a democracy, and whether or not everyone is equal in India.

A constitution is a set of fundamental rules that determine how a country or state is run. Almost all constitutions are "codified", which simply means they are written down clearly in a specific document called "the constitution".

2.0Equality in India democracy

• The Indian Constitution recognises every person as equal.
• This means that every individual in the country, including male and female persons from all castes, religions, tribes, educational and economic backgrounds are recognised as equal under the Fundamental Rights.
• This is not to say that inequality ceases to exist. It doesn't.
• But atleast, in democratic India, the principle of the equality of all persons is recognised.
• While earlier no law existed to protect people from discrimination and ill-treatment, now there are several that work to see that people are treated with dignity and as equals.
• This recognition of equality includes some of the following provisions in the Constitution: first that every person is equal before the law. What this means is that every person, from the President of the country to, a domestic worker, has to obey the same laws.
• Second, no person can be discriminated against on the basis of their religion, race, caste, place of birth or whether they are female or male.
• Third, every person has access to all public places including playgrounds, hotels, shops and markets. All persons can use publicly available wells, roads and bathing ghats.
• Fourth, untouchability has been abolished.
  
• The two ways in which the government has tried to implement the equality that is guaranteed in the Constitution is first through laws and second through government programmes or schemes to help disadvantaged communities.
• There are several laws in India that protect every person's right to be treated equally.
• In addition to laws, the government has also set up several schemes to improve the lives of communities and individuals who have been treated unequally for several centuries.
• These schemes are to ensure greater opportunity for people who have not had this in the past.
• One of the steps taken by the government includes the Midday meal scheme.
• This refers to the programme introduced in all government elementary schools to provide children with cooked lunch.
• Tamil Nadu was the first state in India to introduce this scheme, and in 2001, the Supreme Court asked all state governments to begin this programme in their schools within six months.
• This programme has had many positive effects.
• These include the fact that more poor children have begun enrolling and regularly attending school.
• Teachers reported that earlier children would often go home for lunch and then not return to school but now with the midday meal being provided in school, their attendance has improved.
• Their mothers, who earlier had to interrupt their work to feed their children at home during the day, now no longer need to do so.
• This programme has also helped reduce caste prejudices because both lower and upper caste children in the school eat this meal together, and in quite a few places, Dalit women have been employed to cook the meal.
• The midday meal programme also helps reduce the hunger of poor students who often come to school and cannot concentrate because their stomachs are empty.
  
• While government programmes play an important role in increasing equality of opportunity, there is much that still needs to be done.
• While the midday meal programme has helped increase the enrolment and attendance of poor children in school, there continues to be big differences in our country between schools that the rich attend and those that the poor attend.
• Even today there are several schools in the country in which Dalit children, like Omprakash Valmiki, are discriminated against and treated unequally.
• These children are forced into unequal situations in which their dignity is not respected.
• This is because people refuse to think of them as equal even though the law requires it.
• One of the main reasons for this is that attitudes change very slowly.
• Even though persons are aware that discrimination is against the law, they continue to treat people unequally on the basis of their caste, religion, disability, economic status and because they are women.
• It is only when people begin to believe that no one is inferior, and that every person deserves to be treated with dignity, that present attitudes can change.
• Establishing equality in a democratic society is a continuous struggle and one in which individuals as well as various communities in India contribute.

3.0Issues of equality in other democracies

• You are probably wondering whether India is the only democratic country in which there is inequality and where the struggle for equality continues to exist.
• The truth is that in many democratic countries around the world, the issue of equality continues to be the key issue around which communities struggle.
• So, for example, in the United States of America, the African-Americans whose ancestors were the slaves who were brought over from Africa, continue to describe their lives today as largely unequal.
• This, despite the fact that there was a movement in the late 1950 s to push for equal rights for African-Americans.
• Prior to this, African-Americans were treated extremely unequally in the United States and denied equality through law.
• For example, when travelling by bus, they either had to sit at the back of the bus or get up from their seat whenever a white person wished to sit.
• Rosa Parks (1913-2005) was an African-American woman.
  
  Rosa Parks, an African-American woman, changed the course of American history with one defiant act.
• Tired from a long day at work she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man on 1 December 1955.
• Her refusal that day started a huge agitation against the unequal ways in which AfricanAmericans were treated and which came to be known as the Civil Rights Movement.
• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, religion or national origin.
• It also stated that all schools would be open to African-American children and that they would no longer have to attend separate schools specially set up for them.
• However, despite this, a majority of African-Americans continue to be among the poorest in the country.
• Most African-American children can only afford to attend government schools that have fewer facilities and poorly qualified teachers as compared to white students who either go to private schools or live in areas where the government schools are as highly rated as private schools.

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) was a prominent American civil rights leader and a key figure in the American civil rights movement. He is best known for his nonviolent activism and his role in advocating for racial equality and justice in the United States. He played a leading role in organizing and participating in various civil rights protests, marches, and campaigns.

4.0Glossary

• Civil Rights - a person's legal right to freedom and equal treatment in society, whatever his/her sex, race or religion.
• Opportunity - a chance to do something that you would like to do, a situation or a time in which it is possible to do something that you would like to do.
• Attitude - the way that you think, feel or behave.

5.0MIND MAP