Explanation:
Through the Constitution the Indian state promises equality to all its citizens. The various
provisions of the Constitution elucidated in the chapters on Fundamental Rights
(justiciable) and on Directive Principles of State Policies (non-justiciable) delineate the
state’s obligation to provide equal opportunities to all its citizens in social, political and
economic spheres.1
Yet the ubiquitous presence of stark inequalities continues to do
offence to the idea of India visualised by the writers of the constitution. Furthermore,
persistent poverty and deprivation overlap with particular castes, communities and differ
between genders. Poverty and deprivations are also without shadow of doubt the result of
deep rooted class structure formed over centuries. While accepting this social fact, rather
than to look at class derived unequal outcomes our essay explores the reasons whereby
individuals with the same endowments (assets, entitlements, rights, skills, education,
experience) but differing in social group (caste, religion, gender, ethnicity etc.) command
different tangible returns (income, development benefits, realised entitlements) and less
tangible ones (such as dignity and respect). It is the experience of comparable endowments
and widely differing treatments and outcomes that we understand as social discrimination.
Social discrimination2
is necessarily an inter-group social phenomenon transcending class
differentiation – visible when one or few social group(s) commands and practises social
sanctions against other social group(s). For the purposes of this essay,, ‘social group’ is
defined as group of individuals having a shared socio-economic history and cultural
practices which not only provide them with a group identity but also distinguish them from
other social groups. In other words, social and cultural norms become the basis for defining
inter-group relationships which in turn govern status relationships.
