Introduction: An Overview

Social justice is a concept rooted in fairness and equity, aiming to ensure that all individuals in a society have equal access to opportunities, resources, and rights. 

Striving for a Just Society: The Path to Social Equality

• Pursuing social justice entails confronting deep inequities in money and power. 
• Ensures Equality: A just society does not seek full equality but rather ensures the fundamental conditions for living healthy, secure lives with equal chances. 
• Conditions for Social Equality: Determining these conditions entails estimating basic necessities such as nutrition, education, and housing. 
• Democratic Welfare Challenges: While democratic governments have a responsibility to provide basic necessities, doing so can be difficult in nations like India with sizable populations of the underprivileged.
• Equality Strategies: There is debate on the best way to provide equality for disadvantaged citizens. 
  • Some argue for free market competition to benefit the poor without affecting the wealthy, whilst others feel that governments should provide a basic minimum for the poor, possibly through resource redistribution.

Market Vs. State: Navigating the Economic Dichotomy

Legal Safeguards: Ensuring Social Equality in Markets

• Legal Regulations: In a market context, legal regulations play a vital role in safeguarding various aspects of societal well-being and social justice. 
• Worker Rights: The problem of workers’ pay is a major source of worry. Corporations and commercial organizations frequently put profits over worker rights and fair compensation. However, the law steps in and declares such actions illegal. 
  • Example: The concept of minimum wage ensures that workers are appropriately compensated and are safeguarded from underpayment. Regular modifications to minimum wages provide long-term economic justice.
• Law Enforcement: Enacting laws alone is insufficient; their enforcement is crucial, especially when vulnerable individuals require protection from more influential entities. 
• Constitutional Backing: In India, the Constitution’s fundamental rights form the basis for these laws. 
  • Example: The Right Against Exploitation prevents people from being paid very little or working in harsh conditions. 
  • The Constitution also says that “no child shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment” until they are 14 years old.

Legal Landscape: The Nexus of law and environment

• Environmental Regulation: India had little environmental protection regulations up to 1984, which allowed industries to pollute without restraint. 
• Ensure Liability: Following the Bhopal gas tragedy, the Indian government passed new environmental rules in response to demands from environmentalists. 
  • Because the environment is a shared resource, these rules made polluters liable for environmental harm. 
• Supreme Court Ruling: In Subhash Kumar vs. the State of Bihar (1991), the Supreme Court ruled that the Right to Life is a Fundamental Right under Article 21 of the Constitution, and it encompasses the right to clean water and air for full enjoyment of life. 

Conclusion:

• Disagreements over distribution and justice are both inevitable and productive in a democratic society. 
  • These disparities compel us to investigate many points of view and logically advocate for our own. Politics involves resolving such disagreements through reasoned dialogue. 
  • Various social and economic inequities persist in our country, necessitating ongoing attempts to address them.