“Justice must reach the poor”

During the recent lockdown period, I happened to interact with a young writer via a WhatsApp group. Her lines, which depict experiences of a disabled or, now we call them, differently abled ‘girls’ during lockdown days, actually put much curiosity in me. Those lines were meant to retrospect everyone about the privileges that we have in our daily lives. However, later I came to know that she actually portrayed her life in those lines. She, being a physically challenged girl from childhood, had never got a chance to go to schools. Later included in recreational activities, she had also met with poor living conditions after her father’s denials. Nonetheless, with the given life chances, she was literally competing to get her duration done, thus making her realize her capabilities  and all.

On the other hand, one of my classmates during my post-graduation was also physically challenged, but his parents were taking care of him very well, and our academic premises were later designed with separate entrances and washrooms meant to cater to the needs of this student. What I intend to say from these above contexts was the differences of life chances appear in these both physically challenged persons. The second one being a boy, belonging to a well-off family despite his disabilities, was able to come up with his aspirations, whereas in the first case, the person being a girl and belonging to a poor family is struggling to realize her potential despite the abilities she had. One thing is getting clearer: the notion of justice. In the first case, the aspect of justice did not reach well, whereas in the second case, it has served its purpose to an extent.

When we look at the history of mankind, the Blacks across the world and the Dalits in India are considered to be the most marginalized sections in society. The Dalits in India had been considered as untouchables for thousands of years and were stigmatized from participating in secular life. The Black Panther movement and the Dalit movements in India were meant to bring the notion of justice to these sections of society. It is from the understanding that the marginalization of these communities is still continuing within the modern frameworks of socio-economic system.

It is to be noted that the concept of justice has been detailed by many scholars ranging from Plato of ancient Greek to the modern thinkers like Amartya Sen. Broadly it was understood as to bring social harmony in society. However, thinkers like John Rawls, who emphasize on redistributive aspect of justice and Sen’s capability approach provide a more nuanced conception of justice. It altogether meant to reduce the concentration of resources at one center and enable everyone in society to make use of the arable resources.

If we come across the Constitution of India, it makes provisions for the most vulnerable sections of society, especially scheduled tribes, castes, minorities, and women. The provisions for reservation of socially, educationally, and now economically backward sections of society are intended to bring justice to the poor in the apparatus of polity.

It is well taken into account that the discrimination of women in our society. Women face discrimination at both public and private life. So the feminist scholars do argue for the extension of opportunities for women in order to end the discrimination and bring equality of opportunities. It is also noted that the concept of “Feminization of poverty” indicates the significant presence of women among the poor due to several socio-cultural inequalities in society. Therefore, the developmental programs are designed in such a way as to improve the life chances of women, thus to uplift the society holistically.

India had witnessed the plight of migrant laborers during the last lockdown due to the pandemic. Since the LPG era, the condition of workers is deteriorating and their bargaining power had come down. The concept of living wage had deteriorated to minimum wages – The Informal Sector which caters to 90% of the labor force in our country had to struggle a lot for their survival during their emergencies. The Govt of India’s migrant labor through schemes like one-nation-one ration are considered to be textbook examples of bringing justice to the poor.

We have also witnessed the digital gap exists in our society while we considering technological progress. When the entire world, including India, had opted for application of technology in the field of education especially, had displayed the cleavages present in our society. The large chunk of students belonging to the lower strata of society could not afford The accessories and technology for their education. The suicide of a scheduled Tribe girl in Kerala had revealed the extent of digital divide present in the advanced world. Since then In engagement of civil society via NGOs, political parties and several philanthropic groups along with the state had stepped into the distribution of accessories to every nook and corner of the country is yet again demonstrated the importance of justice must reach to the poor.

In the domain of environment, we have been witnessing the suffering of vulnerable sections of society. The impacts of pollution in cities are affecting the day-to-day life of the homeless and people living in slums. They have to rely on poor quality drinking water, poor sanitation, bad quality of physical surroundings, etc. The municipal workers and sewage cleaners have to clean the urban areas with poor security measures and low levels of wages even in the megacities.

Moreover, the environmental justice is undermined in the International Sphere in recent times. The impacts of global warming such as the rising sea levels and atmosphere pollution are affecting the low-income countries like Maldives, Bangladesh, and all. The very idea of differential responsibility in the international environmental conventions such as the Montreal protocol and Nagoya protocol are meant to bring the notion of justice must reach the poor.

The other important dimension of justice is at the economic sphere. It demonstrates the growing inequality in accessing resources across societies and countries. The Oxfam studies in India had revealed that 58% of the wealth in India is owned by less than 2% of the population. Moreover, the studies by Thomas Piketty and other economists are giving the exact picture of the extent of inequality present in the economic sphere.

The international organizations like WTO, through its several measures, are trying to bring justice in international trade. However, the protectionist policies and narrowness of policy get again pose challenges to economic justice in the internal sphere.

Therefore, a holistic level of acknowledgment extends the principle of redistributive justice. The ideas and values of a welfare state and the understanding of ethical aspects of treating others could up bring the principle of justice across the world.

The emphasis of justice should not then remain in the agenda of reaching to the poor; it seeks a much wider evaluation. Because the concept of justice is for the establishment of core human rights. It implies dignity, honor, and thus the emancipation of humans from all the structural and cultural barriers. So the idea of justice must reach everyone and especially to the poor.