Law and Social Justice

Prepared by : Mr.H.R.Prasad ,T.G.T. (S.Sc)

J.N.V. ,NAYAGARH(ODISHA)

Indian constitution

• One can know the main objectives of the Constitution of India through its Preamble. In the Preamble we can find the terms : Justice –Social ,Economic and Political.

LAWS TO ESTABLISH SOCIAL JUSTICE

In order to establish social justice the Government makes various laws from time to time.

Law-the system of rules a particular country or community recognizes as regulating the actions of its members and which it may enforce by the imposition of penalties.

LAW THAT PREVENTS EXPLOITATION-MARKETS

Let us take a common market situation where the law is very important.Markets everywhere tend to be exploitative of people-whether as workers,consumers or producers.

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Private Companies , contractors, business persons etc normally want to make as much profit as they can. To get more profits ,they might deny workers their rights and not pay them wages.

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Law for workers: The Minimum Wages Act

Law for consumers: The Consumer Protection Act

Implementation of the Laws-

Making law is not enough. The government has to ensure that these laws are implemented . This means that the law must be enforced. Enforcement becomes even more important when the law seeks to protect the weak from the strong.

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• Through making, enforcing and upholding these laws, the government can control the activities of the individuals or private companies so as to ensure social justice.
• Some laws are based on the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Indian constitution.
• For example- Right against exploitation (Articles 23-24)

Right against Exploitation-

• It says that no one can be forced to work for low wages or under bondage.
• Child labour Prevention Act -It says that no child below the age of 14 years shall be employed to work in any factory or mines or engaged in any other hazardous employment.

�����Why foreign companies come to �India?

• Cheap labour- wages that the Companies pay to workers in India is very less.
• Cost cutting measures- Companies can operate with lower working conditions including lower safety measures. For example,
• Union Carbide- It is an American company that had set up a factory in the city of Bhopal where it produced pesticides.

Bhopal Gas Tragedy-

• At midnight on 2 December 1984 methyl-isocyanite(MIC) –a highly poisonous gas-started leaking from this UC plant. Within three days, more than 8000 people were dead. Hundreds of thousands were maimed.

The disaster was not an accident. The company had deliberately ignored the essential safety measures in order to cut costs.

Other ways through which Union Carbide cut costs other than wages were:�

• 1)In the Union Carbide’s Bhopal plant,every safety device was either malfunctioning or in short supply.
• 2)Between 1980 and 1984,the work crew for the Methyl-Isocyanite (MIC) plant was cut to half from 12 to 6 workers.
• 3)The period of safety training for workers was brought down from 6 months to 15 days.
• 4)The post of night shift worker for the MIC plant was abolished.

ENFORCEMENT OF SAFETY LAWS

As the maker and enforcer of laws, the government is supposed to ensure that safety laws are implemented. It is the duty of the government to ensure that the Right to Life guaranteed under Article 21 of the constitution is not violated. The government did not do its duty when there were blatant violations of safety standards in the Union Carbide (UC)plant at Bhopal.

Some reasons of Bhopal Gas tragedy :-

1)Safety laws were lax in India, these weak safety laws were not enforced.

2)The government officials refused to acknowledge that the plant was hazardous and allowed it to come up in a populated locality.

3)Some municipal officials raised objection to the installation of an (MIC) production unit in 1978 because of safety violations.

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4)The government did not ask UC to shift to cleaner technology or safer procedures.�5)Government inspectors continued to approve the procedures in the plant despite repeated incidents of leaks from the plant.�

NEW LAWS TO PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT

In 1984,there were very few laws protecting the environment in India, and there was hardly any enforcement of these laws. The environment was treated as a ‘free’ entity and any industry could pollute the air and water without any restrictions.

The Bhopal disaster brought the issue of environment to the forefront. Several thousands of persons who were not associated with the factory in any way were greatly affected because of the poisonous gases leaked from the plant. In response to this pressure from environmental activists and others, in the years following the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, the Indian government introduced new laws on the environment.

NEW LAWS -���-The polluter was to be held accountable for any damage done to the environment.�-Right to Life is a Fundamental Right under Article 21of the constitution and it includes the right to enjoyment of pollution free water and air for full enjoyment of life(The supreme court judgement in Subhash kumar vs state of Bihar-1991).

-The government is responsible for setting up laws�and procedures that can check pollution, clean rivers and introduce heavy fines for those who pollute.�

CONCLUSION- Laws are necessary in many situations, whether this be the market, office or factory so as to protect people from unfair practices.� While the government has a leading role in this respect, people can exert pressure so that both private companies and the government act in the interests of society.� There are many areas where the situation is still very unfair. People must demand stronger laws protecting workers interests so that the Right to Life is achieved for all.�Thank You