A Research Paper Titled
POLICIES OF GOVERNMENT IN RAISING LIVING STANDARDS OF PEOPLE
Submitted to
BABASAHEB BHIMRAO AMBEDKAR UNIVERSITY (LUCKNOW)
Submitted By
Neha Bhati and Tamanna Ahlawat
On the occasion of INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE On the Theme ˜HUMAN RIGHTS LAW, JUSTICE AND GOVERNANCE™
————————————————————————-
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
There are numerous people whom I would like to thank for their kind support throughout my course work in Jayoti Vidyapeeth Women™s University, Jaipur.
I would like to express my gratitude towards all my supervisors at JayotiVidyapeeth Women™s University, who encouraged me throughout my research paper presentation. She enlightened my vision to look beyond and take up the challenges. Without her support I would not have reached the level I am standing on.
My efforts would not be sufficient without the kind support of our directorate (Research & Development) Dr. Pramod Raghav. He gave me a ray to find excavate new and fresh things to enlarge my vision of looking at things.
I would particularly thank my parents and friends for believing in me. Their love and support made me to continue my studies with utmost dedication and will.
And lastly, I would like to thank my best friend Vishal Chaudhary for showing his support and belief in me. He encouraged me throughout my studies. I have been fortunate enough to have him in my life as his immense patience brings out a newer side in me and that is the sole reason why I am here.
——————————————————————————-
ABSTRACT
India is a democratic country where the government runs for the betterment of its people. We have an equal access to the government and its policies. We the citizen of India enjoy certain rights. These rights are given to us by the higher authorities who are ruling the entire nation. It is not easy to govern the people when it comes to the success of a country. A proper governing body is required in every country in order to retain the sustainability of the growth and development of its citizen. To achieve this standard, governing bodies must ensure the fulfilment of basic needs of people living in the nation. After all, the success of a nation depends on the transparent working of ruling bodies and its good governance. Transparency can be achieved by the appropriate functioning of the government so that the citizens can easily trust and gain the sense of belongingness& pride among themselves. However, good governance can be attained by meeting the appropriate needs of the masses.
Government, from time to time launches different types of policies and programs for meeting the basic needs of the people by providing them with fundamental amenities. In this way government serves the people in best possible way to satisfy their respective needs. Several programs are designed especially to raise the development bar of the country. In this research paper we are going to discuss certain acts and policies such as MNAREGA, PDS, RTE, RTI, and shelter/homestead that contributed largely in developing the humankind and raising the standards of our country.
Our paper titled POLICIES OF GOVERNMENT IN RAISING LIVING STANDARDS OF PEOPLE will help in understanding the concept clearly.
——————————————————————-
The Purpose of the Paper
- To aware people about their equal access to the government and its policies.
- To emphasize and discuss certain acts and policies such as MNAREGA, PDS, RTE, RTI, and shelter/homestead that contributed largely in developing the humankind and raising the standards of our country.
Defining the term ˜Government™
A government is a law making body by which a state or community is governed.Government normally comprised of legislators, executives, and judiciary which works for the nation and betterment of its people. There are many types of governing bodies exists in different countries but we will talk about the democratic government specifically. In India the system of democracy prevails where every person has an equal access to the government and its policies.The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was recognized by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India.
Democracy consists of four basic elements:
A democratic system basically consists of the following four key elements:
1. In a democratic system every citizen has a right to choose and replace the government through free and fair elections.
2. Democratic Government offers its citizen an active participation in politics and civic life.
3. Safeguard of the human rights of all citizens.
4. In a democratic government laws and procedures apply equally to all citizens.
Knowing about ˜Human Rights™
Human rights are those rights, which people ideally should enjoy because they are human beings. In other words, human rights are those rights, which a human gets automatically on being born as human. Yet today, there are abundant concerns that need to be attended, due to the universal cases of human rights violations. The World-wide announcement of Human Rights was accepted in 1948. It is normally agreed to be the foundation of international human rights law.It continues to be an encouragement to all of us like in addressing injustices, in times of clashes, in societies suffering suppression, and in our efforts towards achieving universal enjoyment of human rights.
No matter what our nationality, place of habitation, gender, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other status is, the international community on December 10, 1948 made a pledge to uphold self-respect, integrity and justice for all of us.These rights are all unified, inter-reliant and inseparable.
Interdependent and indivisible
All human rights are inseparable or indivisible, whether they are social and political rights, for example, right to life, equality before the law and freedom of expression; economic, social and cultural rights, rights to work, social security and education, or collective rights, rights to development and independence, are indivisible, unified and mutually dependent on each other. The enhancement of one right ultimately facilitates progression of the others. Similarly, the deprivation of one right adversely affects the others.
Equal and Non-discriminatory
The principle of non-discrimination is accompanied by the principle of equality, as stated in Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. That means every human being has free and equal access to his/her rights with full dignity.
Both Rights and Obligations
Human rights require both rights and obligations. States undertake obligations and duties under international law to respect, to protect and to fulfill human rights. The obligation to respect means that States must refrain from interfering with or curbing the enjoyment of human rights. The obligation to protect requires States to protect individuals and groups against human rights exploitations/violation. The obligation to fulfill means that States must take affirmative action in order to facilitate the enjoyment of basic human rights to all the people of country. At the individual level, while we are permitted to access our human rights, we should also respect the human rights of others.
Universal Principles
The main principles of human rights first enlisted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, such as universality, interdependence and impartiality, equality and non-discrimination.All States have confirmed at least one, and 80% of States have sanctioned four or more, of the core human rights treaties, reflecting approval of States which creates legal obligations for them and giving actual expression to universality. Some fundamental human rights rules enjoy universal shelter or security by customary international law across all borders and societies.
Human rights are unchallengeable. They should not be taken away from us, except in specific situations and according to due procedure. For example, the right to liberty may be constrained if a person is found guilty of a crime by a court of law.
MNREGA
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is an Indian job guarantee scheme, which came into force on 25 August 2005. The proposal designed by the government offers a legal undertaking for at least one hundred days of service in every financial year to adult members of any rural family who are willing to do public work-related unskilled manual work at the constitutional minimum wage of 120 per day (according to the prices in 2009). If they fail to do so then the government is liable to reimburse the salary at their homes. Under this scheme MGNREGA accomplished twin objectives:
(a) Rural development and,
(b) Employment
PDS
Public Distribution System (PDS) is an Indian food security system. It was established by the Government of India under Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution and supervised jointly with state governments in India; the aim of this scheme is to allocatesubsidized food and non-food items to India’s poor especially below poverty line people (BPL). Major commodities distributed include staple food grains, like wheat, rice, sugar, and kerosene, through a network of Public distribution shops, also known as Ration shops. Rations shops are established in several states across the country. The hold and maintenance of PDS is under the authority of Food Corporation of India and a Government-owned corporation thorough fair price shops.
PDS scheme offers 35 kg of rice or wheat every month to each family below the poverty line. Separate cards have been issued to the person who fulfils the criteria of below the poverty line. However, a family above the poverty line is permitted 15 kg of food grain on a monthly basisas per the standards/rules of PDS. The concerns about the effectiveness of the distribution process are still under vigilance.
RTE Act, 2009
The Right of children to Free and Compulsory Education Act came into force from April 1, 2010. This day was considered as a momentous day for the people of India as from this day the right to education achieved the same legal position as the right to life. This right says that every child of age group 6-14 years will be provided 8 years of elementary education in an appropriate classroom in the vicinity of his/her neighborhood. India became one of 135 countries to make education a fundamental right of every child when the act came into force on 1 April 2010.
RTI
The Right to Information Act 2005 (RTI) is an Act of the Parliament of India “to provide for setting out the practical regime of right to information for citizens.” The Act applies to all States and Union Territories of India barring the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu and Kashmir has its own act called Jammu & Kashmir Right to Information Act, 2009. Under the provisions of the Act, any citizen may appeal for an information from a “public authority” (a body of Government or “instrumentality of State”) which is required to reply expeditiously or within thirty days. The Act also requires every public authority to automate or computerize their records for wide distribution and to pro-actively publish certain categories of information so that the citizens need minimum option to request for information formally. This law was passed by Parliament on 15 June 2005 and came fully into force on 12 October 2005. Information disclosure in India was previously restricted by the Official Secrets Act 1923 and various other special laws, which the new RTI Act now relaxes.
Conclusions and Recommendations
Hence it has been concluded thatGovernment, from time to time launches different types of policies and programs for meeting the basic needs of the people by providing them with fundamental amenities. In this way government serves the people in best possible way to satisfy their respective needs.
——————————————-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
WEBSITES
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_of_Children_to_Free_and_Compulsory_Education_Act
- www.rti.gov.in
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Distribution_System
- http://nrega.nic.in/netnrega/home.aspx
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi_National_Rural_Employment_Guarantee_Act
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights
- http://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/Pages/WhatareHumanRights.aspx
- http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml
- http://www.stanford.edu/~ldiamond/iraq/WhaIsDemocracy012004.htm
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participatory_democracy
BOOKS
- Law Relating to Human Rightsby Bhansali S.R.
- Human Resource Developmentby M. Ramesh
JOURNALS
- Journal on Humanitarianism and Responsibility by Glenn Mitoma& Kerry Bystrom
- Oxford Journal on Human Rights Law Review, Volume 13 Issue 1 March 2013
