Yojana-Aug-2018-Social Change among SC/ST

Impact of Different affirmative actions of the Government on SC/ST community
Emergence of a New Educated Class

State's Actions :

• Constitution of India recognizes the less privileged and more disadvantaged groups for special safeguards and affirmative measures
• Such measures seek to ensure special safe-guards and affirmative action such as:
  • anti-discrimination
  • anti-atrocity
  • positive discrimination laws which includes:
    • Prohibition of Un-Touchability
    • Protection of the rights to land and habitation
    • provision of scholarships and reservations in education and employment
    • Ear marking sub plans in Union and State Budget for improving the lot of both SC and ST

Emergence of New Educated Middle Class among SCs & STs

• According to various studies, the affirmative actions taken by the government diluted the traditional social barriers for the upward social mobility of these historically deprived communities
• 'Reservation' Policy remains at the centre stage of these developments
• It has played a crucial role in social, economic and political empowerment of these deprived communities

Cyclical Nature of the benefits:

• By the action of state SCs and STs are empowered and can access education
• With education they improve their socio-economic status and assimilate with the mainstream society
• With this assimilation, they are able to access more resources for their further development which were hitherto inaccessible
• This further empowers them by which they can further access better education and employment opportunities

Positive Results:
Higher Education Participation among SC/ST has been the major impact of the state's affirmative action. The positive results are visible from the following stats and observation:

• Higher aspirations among SC/ST to get good and relevant education for employment. Thereby making them more assertive.
• Increase in enrolments in elementary education, reduction in dropout rates and improved retention at various levels
• The period between 2000 and 2015 has witnessed a higher rate of growth of higher education participation rates for all groups, more so for SCs
• The Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education has witnessed tremendous improvement in past 15 years. Among SCs, it has improved to 19.1% in 2014-15 in comparison to a mere 8.4% in 2005-06.
• Women from SC/ST have benefitted tremendously from this boom. Their participation has almost tripled in the period of 15 years.

Significance:

• The higher participation symbolizes a new consciousness regarding relevance of education for social and economic empowerment among these groups.
• It has resulted in restructuring the middle-class, professional occupational profile of these castes and tribes in the recent times and has brought forth considerable social change and dignity among the SCs and STs.
• More and More SC/ST professionals are going abroad for higher education and for employment, and are also setting up diasporic groups in their host countries, which signifies tremendous social and economic empowerment.

Highlighting some concerns:

• A bulk of Group IV jobs i.e. lower government and private sector jobs are largely populated by SC/ST reproducing a sort of hierarchical pyramid in modern secular occupations.
• The growth of Private Institutions for Higher Education has been more than that of state sponsored educational institutions. This development seems to limit the social mobility prospects among aspiring SC/ST
• Similarly, withdrawal of Government has been witnessed after liberalisation reforms which led to more growth in Private Jobs and a shrinking government sector. Absence of reservation in private sector jobs leaves SCs and STs either to be left out or become educated Unemployed.
• Gender Parity remains an issue in all groups, particularly among women. Such a plight leaves SC/ST women to be deprived within the deprived section of society.
• The negative impact of Rural-Urban divide is severely felt by SC/STs. Due to traditional dogmas still prevalent in Rural India, SC/ST are unable to reap the benefits of different affirmative action. Not even 5% of Rural SC/ST Households are employed in formal sector.

Summing UP:

While the lot of SCs and STs has improved significantly over the past few decades, it remains far more to be improved. With changing circumstances, there is a need that the government devise a new approach to address the issues faced by SC/ST. Also, it becomes important that rights of mainstream sections are also given due importance and protection. The fertile grounds for a social change have already been laid out and SC/ST communities are becoming conscious of importance of education more and more.

BASED ON INPUTS FROM THIS SUMMARY, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO ENRICH YOUR ESSAY AND ANSWER IMPORTANT QUESTIONS FOR MAINS

By: Chandan Sharma