Industrialisation & Urbanisation

Answer : One of the important traditional economic institutions in India is the `Jajmani system’. William H. Wiser’s book “The Hindu Jajmani System” describes in details how different caste groups interact with one another in production and exchange of goods and services. Wiser’s books is based on his study of the Karimpur village in U.P. This system of production and exchange of food, goods, and services is also a ritual as much concerned with the aspect of purity and pollution as with economic aspect. The villages in India are composed of a number of castes, each having occupational speciality. Jajman’s system is essentially an agricultural based system of production and distribution of goods and services. Through Jajman’s relations, these occupational caste get linked with land owning dominant caste. The Jajmani system operate around the families belonging to the land owning dominant castes, the members of which is called Jajman. The land being the chief means of production, the land owning castes occupy a privileged position in the Jajmani relations. Thus the Jajmani interactions between the occupational caste and the land owning caste take place within the framework of reciprocal and symmetrical type of relationship. The land owning caste maintains a paternalistic attitude of superiority towards their occupational caste who are called “Kamin” in Northern India. Also, traditionally the exchange in the Jajmani system was a non-market type of exchange. In term’s of Karl Polyani’s classification of exchange system. Jajmani can be termed as redistributive type of exchange.

Analysing the function of Jajmani system, Leach has said that the Jajmani system maintains and regulates division of labour and economic interdependence of castes. According to Wiser (1967), the Jajmani system serves to maintain the Indian village as the self sufficing community. Gould (1967) said that the Jajmani system distributes agricultural products in exchange for manual and craft services. Beidelman (1959) is of the opinion that it maintains higher caste prestige.

In the Jajmani system the Jajmans and Kamins play all the roles. The Kamin caste renders certain occupational, economic and social service to the Jajman castes for which the latter pay them at fixed intervals or on specified occasions. However, all castes do not necessarily participate in this reciprocal exchange. For example, Teli is one such caste, which is generally not involved in the exchange of service system. Kamins’ clients may include members of his own village as well as other villages. Kamin may sell his right to the client to another Kamin. The important thing in the role relationship is that free food, free clothes, free residence, rent free land, casual aid in litigation and protection are provided to Kamins by Jajman during various exigencies of life.

The Jajmani system is not considered reciprocal in the village. Kolenda has observed that the dominant castes swing the balance of power in their favour in such relationship in many villages in India. Yogendra Singh also believes that the villages in India are changing today in respect of economic institutions, power structure and inter-caste relationships. A major source of economic change is land reforms which has been introduced through abolition of intermediaries, tenancy reforms, ceiling of land holdings, redistribution of land, development of cooperative farming and religious-economic movement for gift of surplus land by the rich to the poor in Bhoodan movement. These measures have affected the transaction among castes, Jajmani system and the social system of the village.

The other factors, which have made the Jajmani system dysfunctional, are; the emergence of market economy, industrialisation, urbanisation, spread of modern education, individualism, democratic political system, secularism etc. The Kamin caste has, now, started to migrate to the urban areas with their traditional profession, which are rather beneficial for them. The social cohesion and integration maintained under the Jajmani system has lost its relevance with these changes. The emergence of class-consciousness and social consciousness among the Kamin has resulted in change in the Jajmani relations.

Answer : The state consists of three important organs. These are Legislative, Excutive and Judiciary. The legislative body is constituted by the democratically elected members of the parliament. The decision making and law-formulation process are totally owned by the legislative body. The various socio-economic planning and policies are formulated by it. They can make new laws and amend the provisions of the Constitution. The second organ of the state is called Executive who are responsible for the implementation of the policies and programmes formulated by the government or legislature. The president, vice president and bureaucrats are the chief authority through which the socio-economic policies are implement. The other organ of the government is the Judiciary which acts as a watch-dog on the proper functioning and well-being of the Legislature and Executive. Judiciary maintains the dignity of the Constitution and ensures social justice to the people.

In the socio-economic reconstruction of the Indian society these organs of the government are playing significant roles. After independence, Planning Commission was constituted for the socio-economic development. In the first five-year plan (1951-56) the special priority was given to agriculture. The government introduced high yielding varieties of seeds and modern technology in the agriculture. This priority continued till the second five year plan (1956-62). As a result of which the `Green Revolution’ occurred and India became self-independent country in terms of food production. The rural poverty was decreased and food security was ensured to the people. Similarly, in the second five year plan and other consecutive planning, some aspects of socio-economic life of the people were more strengthened along with the over all growth and development. In the decade of 1990’s under the new economic and industrial policies, a new trend of liberalisation, globalisation, privatisation, computerization etc. were initiated. These are proving very well for the socio-economic growth and development of the society. In all of these initiatives and changes, the ideology and developmental policies formulated by the state are playing praiseworthy roles.

The emerging political trends such as criminalisation of politics (Bohra Committee), coalition government, regional party, caste in politics etc. have resulted in the dysfunction of the legislative machinery. Thus the planning process in India has been terribly affected. Due to lack of long-term planning and the stable government, the development and growth may not be expected positively. The rapidly growing population is posing another problem or obstacle before the government. In spite of all these difficulties, state is playing remarkable role in the socio-economic upliftment of the people especially, poor and downtrodden.

The other dimension is at the bureaucratic level. The implementation of the policies, its coordination and monitoring are chiefly ensured by the bureaucrats. The corruption in bureaucracy and lack of will power to serve the poor have negatively affected the socio-economic growth. A number of developmental programmes at the Panchayat, Block and District level have been launched by the State and Central government which do not function properly; firstly because of lack of the people’s consciousness and secondly, lack of bureaucratic will.

The third organ of the state “Judiciary” is playing very remarkable role in the present days socio-economic development. The dysfunction in the legislative body and bureaucratic administration have been rightly questioned by the Supreme Court or Judiciary. It imposes its own initiatives where there are its needs. Thus the issue of “Judicial Activism” is the subject of debate these days. It is the body, which has been maintaining its dignity and has given many historical judgements related to socio-economic reconstruction of the society.

Thus, with the help of these three major organs and other institutions and associations of the country, the state, to a great extent, has been able to ensure the socio-economic restructuring of the indian society in the present global socio-economic and political order.

Answer : Informal sector in the urban economy in India: Informal sector in the urban economy in India: The concept of informal sector coined by Hart has now been associated with economy of large cities of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Informal sector in India is broadly characterized as consisting of units engaged in the production of goods and services with the primary objectives of generating employment and incomes to the persons concern. These units typically operate at low level of organization, with little or no division between labour and capital as factors of production and on a small scale. Labour relations, where they exist, are based mostly on casual employment, kinship or personal or social relation rather than contractual arrangements with formal guarantees.

The formal sector comprises enterprises for which the statistics are available from the budget documents or reports etc. On the other hand the informal sector refers to those enterprises whose activities or collection of data is not regulated under any legal provision or do not maintain any regular accounts. As in other nations of third world informal sector in India is also associated with the process of urbanization which began recently.

The transition from rural agrarian to urban is not marked by concomitant expansion in metropolis of technologically advanced and modernly organized industries aimed at enabling accommodation of the newly mobile section of populations from rural hinterland uprooted from their village habitats. Only a small part of labour that reaches the urban areas manages to penetrate the secure zones of regular, more skilled and hence better-paid work.

As per survey, there were 44.35 million enterprises and 79.71 million workers employed thereof in the non-agriculture informal sector of the economy. Among these 25.01 million enterprises employing 39.74 million workers were in rural areas whereas 19.34 million enterprises with 39.97 million workers in the urban area. Among the workers engaged in the informal sector, 70.21 million are full time and 9.5 million part times. Percentage of female workers to the total workers is 20.0 percent. About 370 million workers constituting 92% of the total workforce in a country were employed in the unorganized or informal sector as per NSS Survey 1999-2000.

There are number of models of providing social security to the workers in the informal sector. These may be classified as under:

• Centrally funded social assistance programmes.
• Social insurance scheme.
• Social assistance through welfare funds of Central and State Government, and
• Public initiatives.

There are a number of common features in the social profile of these masses:

• These workers have little or no formal training and majority of them are totally illiterate.
• No source of income besides earnings from their own labour.
• Extremely low wages.
• Higher participation of both women and children.
• Low status.

Visaria & Jacob viewed that in 1991 of the 343.5m workers just 26.7m (i.e. 8%) constituted formal workforce and the rest informal. Breman classifies informal sector into three classes-patty bourgeoisie, sub- proletariat and paupers.

Answer : The Market economy developed because of the commercialization of Indian agriculture, the process of industrial transition. Simultaneously, there was a decline of Indian handicrafts and progressive ruralisation of the Indian economy.

When the East India Company established itself in India, they were interested in the export of manufactured articles to Europe. When the Industrial Revolution took place, this situation changed. The British industry needed raw materials. As a result, Indian industry was crushed and agriculture was commercialized.

In other words, a market economy in agriculture developed. Agricultural crops were produced for sale rather than for consumption. Of course, even earlier a small portion of the agricultural output was produced for the market, but now the demand for raw materials especially jute, sugarcane, cotton, groundnuts, etc increased.

Because of the higher price for these crops, the peasants were induced to substitute commercial crops for food crops and in some places the movement for commercial agriculture became so strong that the peasants started buying food stuffs from mandis for their own needs.

Thus, food production went down and this was one of the causes of the terrible famines in the history of India. Since the people now had to pay high taxes, commercial agriculture increased. Further, the market economy was helped by the growth of transportation.

The new land system by which some of the tenants were converted into landlords and the commercialization of agriculture produced very drastic results for the Indian economy. The new land relations established the creation of a new class of land owners and a class of cultivators was separated from ownership of cultivation. Thus, exploitation and oppression increased.

In India, thus the market economy unlike in the western countries resulted in greater oppression-it meant the destruction of Indian handicrafts & the process of progressive deindustrialization set in. With the hostile attitude of a foreign government, in built depressors were created & the country remained trapped in the vicious circle of poverty.

Thus, this market economy resulted in stagnant agriculture, a proletariat and peasantry steeped in poverty. The ruling country was an industrialized capitalist nation but India’s economy was that of a pre-capitalist period without any of the benefits that the common people had under the earlier village system.

Answer : Cities everywhere are recognised as contributing substantially to economic, social educational and infrastructural needs of the country. While they offer a higher standard of amenities to city-dwellers, they also have an important role in ensuring a range of services to the rural hinterland creating demand for rural output as well as providing avenues for access to inputs. Towns and cities act as nodal centers for services in marketing, health-care, education, and also in opening a window to the larger world.

The 74th constitutional Amendment provides to decentralize of the people and accountability in the administration. However, the challenge to be met in the Tenth plan period is to assist the elected bodies to grow organizationally to fulfill the demands of urban residents for a quality life at pat with world standards.

Substantial work has already been done to upgrade the urban infrastructure and urban development authorities have acquired considerable skills in planning and executing projects. Programmes such as the mega city project for five selected cities, the Integrated Development of Small and Medium Towns (IDSMT), and the Accelerated Urban Water Supply Programme (AUWSP), etc; have shown needs. The development authorities are designed to play supportive role to the elected bodies rather than baking over the functions which properly belong to the urban local bodies (ULBs).

In order to augment the financial position of ULBs, reforms are being introduced through introduction of accrual-based double entry system of accounting, e-governance, property tax reforms, levy of reasonable user charge, etc., by ULBs. To bridge the gap between requirement of funds by the ULBs and available financial resources, the Twelfth Finance Commission has recommended Rs 5,000 crore for local bodies as grants-in-aid for the period from 2005 to 2010, out of which Rs. 25,00 crore is specifically earmarked for solid waste management in the ULBs.

At the state level of improve the financial position of the ULBs, actions have been taken to implement the recommendations of the states, finance commission through taxes, duties, fees, etc., assigned to ULBs and distribution of their proceeds between the state and the ULBs.

Answer : According to the United Nation's study in 1999, 'the era of globalisation is opening many opportunities for millions of people around the world.' The study suggests that it offers enormous potential to eradicate poverty in the twenty first century.

But the experience of globalisation so far, particularly in the developing countries, do not follow this trend. It has given rise to serious risks for countries that are unable to become internationally competitive. The negative consequences of globalisation are more dominant compared to its positive potential. Increased trade, new technologies, foreign investments and expanding internal connections have, no doubt, led to substantial economic growth in the world today but the gains of economic growth are not evenly distributed among different countries. There are several problems that emanate from this basic weakness.

The consequences of structural adjustment policies of globalisation in Africa, Asia and the south pacific imposed by the IMF and the World Bank have been no less than disastrous. They have decreased the access to education, health and nutrition to the under privileged section of the population of course, it has extended these facilities mainly to the most privileged groups. Even in Europe, where the welfare state was born, there has been severe reduction in these facilities.

At present, for developing countries, the risks are more than the advantages and opportunities. The most direct impact has been on jobs. For example, unemployment rates doubled in Asian countries where the depression of 1997-98 was worst. Wages in the current labour market are generally low. Intense competition for employment means that workers have low capacity to bargain in most countries. The real wages throughout Latin America and Africa have yet to return to levels considered normal twenty years ago. Failure to create sufficient employment has undermined the prospects for poverty reduction. The number of people living in poverty fell in mid-1990s but then started to rise again in almost all countries. In fact, there has been a remarkable increase in inequality over the past decades. In the developing countries, the rich can easily adjust to the new environment, but the poor are becoming poorer.

Answer : The term Privatization and Globalization gained currency during te decade of nineties in Indian society. Privatization is the general process of involving the private sector in the ownership and operation of a state owned enterprises. Thus, it covers the three sets of measures: ownership measures, operational measures and organizational measures. On the other hand globalization refers to the correlation of Indian society and economy to the world or global socio-economic order. During the decade of nineties the process of globalisation was accelerated due to liberalization and privatization of the economy. Therefore, both the processes are mutually correlated and interdependent. After ten years of globalization and privatization, now we are fully aware of its positive and negative consquences. Now Indian society, on the one hand has boosted up its economy by increasing the per capita income and growth-rate, on the other hand unemployment, deprivation and inequality in the society are rapidly increasing. One cannot trace the impact of privatization and globalization in the rural socio economic structure of India. It is merely confined to a small segment of people residing in urban areas. Thus, in India, privatization is not considered a panacea for the present day ills of the economy. Neither do people have an excessive faith in the market forces. Quite a significant section of our society is opposed to privatization and globalization for a variety of reasons.

Answer : Slum as a concept itself involves the idea of 'darkness and despair'. When one refers to the term slum, one need not say in addition that slums are areas of congestion, degeneration and debasement because slum stands for all these. This will be clearer when we look at the definition of slum.

The government of India considers an area as slum "where such dwellings predominate, which by reason of dilapidation, over-crowding, faulty arrangement and design of buildings, narrowness and faulty arrangements of streets, lack of ventilation, lack of sanitation facilities, inadequacy of open spaces and community facilities or any combination of these factors are detrimental to safety, health or morale".

Slum is synonymous with the condition of ground and room congestion and unhygienic living condition. Slum houses are mostly huts and 'kacha' houses. The population density of the slum areas may be upto 4000 person per acre. The maximum density is found in the settlements near the wholesale market. Room congestion is 2 persons per room to 25 per room. Ground congestion of houses may vary from 10 houses an acre to 600 houses per acre.

Congestion is often a function of the size of the slum- number of people and number of shelters, its age, the site area and its locational setting. For example in the metropolitan cities where employment opportunity is abundant and land for settlement is scarce, population density is explosive.

Generally the physical condition of slum present a picture of total neglect. In most of the cases these slums are near drains which contain filthy stagnant water. These drains serve as home to billions of flies and mosquitoes. As there exist no laterine facility for the dwellers, the banks of these drains come handy for children and adults to defecate. This makes the situation more terrible.

Inside, the hut or 'houses' may present a picture of order. Although all activities are done in one room which is 'the house', each things are placed in order. The metal pots and pans gleam on the shelves, clothes are folded and hung on the line, and the floor is swept clean. The walls are adorned with colourful calendars having photographs of gods and goddesses and of film stars. Where the residents can afford, the floor is cemented and walls are white-washed.

Slum areas lack all the civic amenities which make human life possible. One estimate is that 99 percent of slum dwellers have no access to water tap, 98 percent are without latrines, 92 percent are without bathrooms and 61 percent without a kitchen. The dwellers make a long queue with all kinds of containers before the street water tap. Often the containers alone make a long queue and when the water falls from the tap, people come and get water. More often than not water stops flowing before everybody in the queue gets water.

Without the toilet facilities, the dwellers go out to defecate in open space or nearby drain from which water outflows flooding the settlements. This poses major health hazards to residents.

Besides, the facilities like open space for the children to play, educational institutions like primary school, primary health care unit, and government agencies for development are rarely available.

The slum area is generally associated with deviant behaviour such as crime, juvenile delinquency, prostitution, drug use, beggary, illegitimacy, illicit distilling of liquor, alcoholism, gambling etc. The dwellers engage in crime in the part of cities where affluent sections live. Since there exists no proper socialising agency like school, family with educated parents etc, devience flourishes.

Marshall Clinard posits that the slum have typical culture called 'a way of live'. It is mainly synthesis of the culture of lower class and the 'culture of poverty'. People at the individual level have feeling of helplessness, marginality and powerlessness. They have a sense of resignation and fatalism. The family among the slum dwellers is unstable and disorganised. Free union with illigitimate children are not very uncommon. They do not take part in the community activities or take advantage from the major institutions. They have a sub-culture which guides them to do exactly opposite of what is generally valued, desirable, common and approved. This further marginalises them from the general stream of life.

Thus, in the light of these facts we can conclude that slums are areas of darkness and despair.

Answer : Globalisation refers both to time-space compression of World and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole. In India, globalisation opened the door for arrival of huge amount of finance capital and technology. It has by and large lessened the pressure of fund shortage for development related investment. Upgraded and refined technology has also entered the shores of India. Advancement of India in biotechnology and information technology is the result of Indian initiative and of keeping contact with the world.

However, the advantages of the development on the front of economy and science and technology are yet to touch the common people.

Globalisation as a process of homogenisation and localisation has introduced multi-layered changes in Indian Society. Y. Singh in "Culture change in India: Identity and Globalisation" argues that while Indian society has become receptive to the MTV, MacDonald, Beatles, "Pepsi and BMW' it has sufficient resilience to succeed in preserving its cultural identity. Here, a selective cultural adaptation is taking place. While local identities have got reinvented, they have not proved hurdles to integration of new cultural values and practices.

Globalisation has opened the gate for entry of information age in India. Indian society is getting rapidly wired and connected. Now we are at the threshold of Information Super Highway. This has changed the pattern of life, social interaction, marketing, earning etc.

Consumerism has been brought to India in the arms of Globalisation. The dotcom economic boom and expansion of the reach of mass media intensified consumerism among Indian middle class. The opening of market and availability of world class brand in market is also a reason.

Observing these, we can conclude that globalisation has proved to be a factor of change which has importance for India as far-reaching as the contact with the west or the process of modernisation.

Answer : Democracy has reshaped the destiny of the people of this landmass of India. Infact, democracy was opted as a system of polity with the goal of investing a new India which was modern and based on equality and justice. This was clearly stated by the framers of the Indian Constitution.

The working of democracy for almost five decades lay the functions of democracy bare. First we find that it has created political consciousness among people and has empowered them. The logic of the electoral politics made the political leadership to go to the poorest of the poor and address their problems to seek their support. This led to a barrage of attack on the system and ideology of inequality which draw sustenance from tradition. This made the people more sensitive to the skewed social order and its implication. Democracy also provided people the right to vote. The marginalised section used this as a weapon to fight injustice and secure their right and respect. It also rasised the aspirations of the people. Earlier, they were out of the political system. In the period of kingdoms and feudalism, they formed the bottom most layer of society with no political say. But competition in the vote politics and their numerical strength gave them edge over the numerically weak but politically dominant section. Within a small period of time, as Y. Singh shows, political leadership also arose from this section. The end result was empowerment of these people.

The second important function of democracy was the breakdown of the traditional socio-economic order and its replacement by relatively just and healthy order. The first principle of democracy is equality- political, social and economic. This is contrary to the tradition of hierarchy and inequality supported by the ideology of caste system. In this conflict the hierarchy of caste system yielded to the new and live idea of equality of all humans irrespective of birth and creed where caste system worked as an anchor-sheet of social organisation. With the coming of democracy, at least ideologically, it has received a big jolt. In the contemporary Indian society, the lower castes question the logic of caste ideology. They question the division of labour as assigned by the caste system. They compete for power, education, economic resources with the upper caste. They disown the lower social status given to them in caste hierarchy.

Democracy is also associated with the kind of social development the country has witnessed in the last decades. The pressures of democratic polity culminated into setting of Planning Commission for rapid economic development, equal distribution of economic resources and alleviation of poverty. Its other manifestations were Community Development Projects, Panchayati Raj, land reform involving abolition of zamindari system, programmes for poverty alleviation and development oriented economic planning strategy. Democracy is also behind the release of social forces like women power. Some indicators of development like rise in literacy rate, economic growth, reduction in inequality, rise in per capita income, rise in expectation of life at birth, increase in life expectancy, lower population growth rate, industrialisation, high production and consumption of electricity, availability of state drinking water etc. may be fairly attributed to the functions of democracy in India.

However, it does not take much to perceive that democracy has left much to be desired. While it has no doubt worked to eliminate some of the traditional social inequalities, it has not completely freed Indian society from their binds. Women who are one of the victims of the traditional system of inequality have not benefitted much. Their representation in Parliament never crosses the mark of 10 percent. Sex ratio is adverse to them. Freedom and liberty to women which should be a hallmark of a democratic society is not available. Even at universities in metropolitan cities women wearing jeans are jeered. In the small towns and villages, women are the worst sufferers of male cruelty and patriarchy. Life is nothing more than a baby producing machine. Moreover, the other sections of society like the Scheduled Castes still suffer stigma, isolation, forced exclusion and discrimination. Though democracy made them conscious and provided them space to organise and protest, their protest go neglected. The reservations for them in services are rarely filled up with the candidates. Untouchability, legally, is a crime but practically it is rife.

However, the wheels of democracy is grinding fast. Before long the existing traditional social inequalities can be hoped to be removed.

Answer : The term `privatisation’ connotes a wide range of ideas which, in the narrow sense, implies the indication of private ownership in publicly owned enterprise, but in broader sense, it connotes besides private ownership, the introduction of private management and control in the public sector enterprises. According to the Barbara Lee and John Nellis “Privatisation is the general process of involving the private sector in the ownership and operation of the state owned enterprises. Thus the term refers to private purchase of all or parts of a company. It covers contracting out and the privatisation of management through management contracts, lease or franchise arrangement”. Thus privatisation consists of three sets of measures (a) ownership measures, (b) organisational measures, and (c) operational measures.

(a) Ownership Measures: It is considered as a set of measures, which transfer ownership of public enterprises, fully or partially, leading to privatization. The higher the proportion of transfer of ownership to the individual, cooperative and corporate sectors, the greater is the degree of privatization. This can take three forms, firstly, the total denationalization, which implies a complete transfer of ownership of public enterprises to private hands. The second is the “joint venture” which implies partial introduction of private ownership. The range of private ownership can vary from 25 to 50 per cent or even more, depending upon the nature of enterprise and state policy in this regard. The third form is the liquidation which implies sale of asset to someone who may use them for the same purpose or some other purpose depending upon the preference of the buyer.

(b) Organisational measures : A number of organisational measures are conceived to limit state control. Firstly, a holding company structure may be so designed that the government limit its control intervention to apex level decision and leaves the operating companies within the arrangement to a sufficient degree of autonomy in decision-making within the framework of the market forces. The second is the `leasing’ which refers to public enterprises which while retaining ownership may lease out a private bidder for specific period for use. The third is the `restructuring’ which refers to bring public sector enterprises under market discipline. There are two forms of restructuring. The first is the financial restructuring in which the accumulated losses are written off and capital composition is rationalised in respect of debt-equity ratio. The second is the basic restructuring which may be effected by redefining the set of commercial activities, which the enterprise will undertake henceforth. It may shed off some activities to be taken up by ancillaries or small-scale units.

(c) Operational Measures: It is intended to improve efficiency of the organisation, even when full denationalisation has not been undertaken. They, infact, inject the spirit of commercialisation in public enterprises. These measures include grants of autonomy to PEs in decision making, provision of incentive to blue collar as well as white collar employees consistent with increase in inefficiency or productivity, freedom to acquire certain inputs from markets by the system of contracting instead of producing them within the enterprise, development of proper investment criteria, permitting PEs to go to capital market to rasie funds etc. The basic purpose of these measures of operational privatisation is to bring about a drastic reform to reduce government control over the enterprise.

The policies of privatisation and globalisation, which were initially introduced by Rajeev Gandhi and later on, promoted by Narshimha Rao government, have many faceted impacts on the process of economic reforms in India. Firstly, a large number of the multi-national companies have been facilitated for the direct investment in India which has strengthened our infrastructure. Thus the pace of economic growth and development have relatively increased. According to the well known economist, Jayant Ghose the government is getting away with the national interest and employees security because of poor understanding among employees of what the government strategy is doing to them. A lot of it has to do with privately owned print media which are promoting the idea that privatisation is the answer to all economic ills. The government, she said, is able to give the public sector a bad name and then hang it, thanks to media, which are either government run or privately owned. The entire logic of new economic reforms is based on the fact that the governmental or bureaucratic or state failure has shown that the system does not work efficiently under the election of the state and so they justify the minimal roles of the state. In other words, both nationalisation and privatisation are means to achieve ceratin ends.

Answer : Slums chiefly refer to the people who are living in the dirty settlement with improper housing, overcrowding, unhygienic atmosphere, or sanitation etc. With the growth of urban centers and overpopulation in the metropolitan and small cities, the housing problem especially for the working and lower middle class has arisen. The slums have given birth to a number of urban problems like child delinquency, crimes, rapes, health problems etc. According to recent UNI Report between one forth and half of the urban population in India's largest cities lives in makeshift shelters and slums. At least 15.0% of the nation's families are housing deprived' more than 60.0% of the houses have inadequate housing facilities, and 80.0% of the rural, 30.0% of the urban population live in mud houses. Millions of people are required to pay excessive rents that is one which is beyond their means. In our profit oriented economy, private developers and colonizers find little profit in building houses in cities for the poor and lower middle class people, though they concentrate instead in meeting the housing needs of the rich and upper middle class. The result has been higher rents and scramble for the few available houses.

Almost half of the population are either ill housed or pay more than 20.0% of their income on rent. In some states, Housing Boards and city development authorities have tried to remedy the city housing problem with active financial support from the Life Insurance Corporation, HUDCO and such other agencies. They even charge the total housing cost in monthly installments on an interest varying from 9% to 11%. But engineers and contractors profit a lot from these governments efforts. They use poor quality material in construction. The buyer soon finds that the roof leaks, the plaster peels off, there are cracks in the wall and electric fittings break down. Such venture blacken the name of housing boards and even of a few honest bureaucrats associated with such housing schemes. No wonder the housing problems in the cities even today continues to be a gigantic problem next only to food and clothing.

At the beginning of seventh plan, the estimated shortage of housing was about 25.0 million units, out of which about 6.0 million were required for the urban areas. By 1990, the shortage was expected to grow to 9.7 million units in urban areas. In Delhi alone which has seen a population increase from 2.0 to 9.0 million between 1957 and 1990, there is an addition of 60,000 people each year who need to be provided with new housing. Almost 70.0% of the Delhi's population, according to an UNI report live in sub-standard conditions, and in the country's slum 44.0% population in Delhi, 45.0% in Bombay 42.0%, in Kolkatta, 39.0% in Madras. The situation is no better in the eight other metropolis of Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kanpur, Pune, Nagpur, Lucknow and Jaipur. The slum population, governmental efforts notwithstanding, is expected to show a sizable increase by the next decades adding further to the housing problems and the squatter conditions. The order of development in squatter settlement is people, land (Site), shelter and service. The people first select a site which meets their social and economic needs, build shelters and then wait for the services, to move in over a period of time. Although the settlement fulfills the needs of the people, they violate city planning regulations. It is, therefore, believed that the current order of development ought to be land (site), people, shelter and service. Now the government, apart from encouraging the poor for going in for low cost non-formal housing technologies, has formulated several plans and given many concession to promote to the National Housing Banks, setting up a separate Social Security Fund with corpus of Rs. 100 crore, and creating a National Scheduled caste and Scheduled Tribes Finance Development corporation.

Under the five-year plan, the government should adopt a separate sub. Plan to eradicate the problem of slum. The Housing, abolition of poverty and illiteracy should be the part of the programme. Special emphasis should be given to the urban areas. The financial Bank-related to housing, should have flexible rate of interest and long-term loan should be provided to the needy people. The roles of NGO, people's participation, executive coordination and monitoring etc. are of worth importance to eliminate the scars of slums.

Answer : Under the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, the democratic nature of our polity and society has been further expanded. The power structure, which was traditionally centralised in the parliament, has been decentralised after these amendments. In the rural areas the traditional panchayat system of governance has been restructured and strengthened and, in the urban areas the traditional Municipal Corporation or Nagar Nigam has been restructured under 73rd and 74th amendment respectively.

The power structure in the Panchayati Raj system under 73rd Act has been restructured under the three tier system. This system functions in a coordinated way under the supervision of lower by the higher unit. The first and the basic unit is known as a Gram Sabha and Gram Panchayat. The Gram Sabha is the general body of the local citizen comprising all the eligible voters of the village. The gram panchayat has the jurisdiction over a village or a group of villages. It consitists of 8 to 31 members headed by surpanch. The administrative, law and order, commercial, civic, welfare and developmental assignments and related powers are vested in the village Panchayat. The decision making process constituted by the representation of Women, Scheduled Caste and various segments of the society which are democratically elected. They collect revenues from different sources and allocate properly among the village under a panchayat.

The Panchayat Samiti functions at the block level which is constituted by the sarpanchs of all Panchayat within the Block. The Pradhan or Pramukh who is democratically chosen by the surpanch and BDO are the prominent position holders of powers at this level. They monitor, coordinate and legislate over the entire functioning of Panchayat under a village. The Panchayat Samiti has been assigned with delegated, community development and supervisory functions.

Thirdly, at the district level, the Zila Parishad (District Council) has been constitued which include the president of the Panchayat Samiti, MLAs, MLCs and MP of the area. The representative of women, SC, ST and OBC are also included in it. The Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Zila Parishad are elected by the president of the Panchayat Samiti in the district. The terms of the office of the member varies from three to five years. The Zila Parishad headed by DDO exercises administrative and legislative power over the entire Panchayat and Panchayat Samiti of the village, Panchayat, block and district level. In this way, the Village Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad enjoy more independent power like a little republic.

Similarly under the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act the power structure in the urban areas has been decentralised differently. The Municipal Corporation is the top most urban local body constituted by a Mayor and a Municipal Commissioner. Both are democratically elected and exercise tremendous administrative and legislative power over the issue related to urban communities. The Municipalities and Nagarpalikas are also democratically structured and posses powers regarding the urban growth and facilitation.

One of the characteristic features of the power decentralisation under 73rd and 74th act in the rural and urban areas is that, the traditionally deprived section of the society such as SC, ST, OBC, Women etc have been provided reservation of seats so that they may participate in the decision making process. This, of course, will propel the socio-economic upliftment of these segments. The other features consists of the lower level of bureaucratic control over the power and functioning of these democratically elected bodies.

Answer : The traditional economic structure of India was self subsistence economy which was oriented to fulfill the needs of people. The economic organisation involved exchange of goods and services within the various local jatis and within the framework of the jajmani relations. According to Karl Polanyi, the economic exchange was predominantly either redistributive or reciprocal type. Although, the market site did not exist for each cluster of villages but, market exchange was peripheral to rural economy. Periodic market were held on festive occasions, where goods and services of various artisan castes as well as products manufactured in the urban centres and handled by specialised traders were exchanged. These market did not cater to the day to day needs of the rural people. In fact, goods and services were not available in the normal course of life and the articles catering to luxury needs of the rural people were exchanged through these markets. These periodic market did not constitute on integral part of the rural economy and it was valued more for the social and recreational functions rather than their economic functions. The function of these market also reflected the socio-political restructuring of the community.

In the pre-industrial urban centres, there was the limited cash-transaction. The system of land-revenue settlement demanded by the British was mainly in the form of cash. This forced the peasants to raise the cash-crops which were sold in the town or markets for the collecting income in cash to pay the revenues. Thus, village economy got linked to the urban and later indirectly to the national economy. But, this partial monetisation and extension of market economy to rural areas had only negative consequences and did not bring about any significant change in the social relations. With the introduction of cash crops, the area under cultivation for foodgrains decreased and therefore, the output of foodgrains declined. On the other hand, the cash income generated from the new crops was transferred to the zamindars and the British government as payment of land revenue and was not utilised for improving the land and increasing the productivity. Thus, in spite of introduction of market economy, productivity declined and poverty in the rural areas increased. Widespred expansion of market economy and monetisation had far reaching consequences for the traditional rural economy.

Firstly with the introduction of market economy there was a change in the nature of production. Now the primary motive behind the agricultural production was to generate surplus for the market. Unlike the traditional subsistence economy, which was limited towards meeting, the local subsistence needs only. Emphasis on the generation of surplus led to various efforts towards increasing the productivity through modernisation of agriculture. This led to the breakdown of traditional Jajmani ties because they were not conducive to efficient and high productivity. Instead, wage-labour relationship came into existence between the landowning upper castes and the landless labourers. Due to the absence of alternate employment in the villages, a large number of these rural poor started migrating to the cities in search of livelihood in the lean seasons, thus, contributing to the process of over urbanisation and overcrowding of Indian cities. The another consequence of the market economy and modernisation of agriculture through green revolution and other measures was the growth in agricultural productivity leading to affluence among the large and middle sized farmers. This led to the spread of consumption oriented life style in rural areas.

With the emergence of market economy, the rural society in India is under going a process of polarisation into rich landowing classes and extremely poor landless labourers which, in turn is leading to conflict in the rural society which no longer have the age-old ties of interdependence to keep it united.

The monetisation and market economy have also increased the avenues of social mobility in the rural areas. Various low ranking castes by acquiring wealth through various means try to improve their social status in the village society by buying land, according to F.G. Bailey’s study of Bisipara village in Orissa.

Market economy and monetisation also had an effect on traditional Hindu Joint Family. Due to the monetisation, the contributions of the different members of the family to the family income, which can be compared and quantified in a disadvantageous position in the joint family, tended to establish a separate nuclear household. Expansion of market has also increased the volume of trade and commerce throughout the country and this facilitated the economic integration of Indian society.

The growth of the economy has led to the occupational diversification and increasing specialisation of occupation, which in turn, has created a demand for educational institutions to provide, specialised training. Due to industrialisation and a spread of market in the urban areas consumption oriented life-style developed and there is increasing competition for conspicuous consumption. The use of mass media of advertising in urban areas is also responsible for these trends.

The high degree of social mobility in the market economy involves the open system of social stratification in the rural areas. The ranking in the new system of stratification is based on one’s position or occupational status. Market economy is governed by the supply and demand, which are inherently unstable. This leads to the anomie which is becoming the characteristic features of India urban life. Inflation and corruption are the other features of the market economy.

Answer : The unplanned urban growth refers to the growth of cities without the zonal differences and intermingling of the different activities. For example, the industrial areas, residential areas and business and commerce areas if not separated to each other or intermingled, will create several social, economic and civic problems. Unlike the developed countries, in India, the urban life is not sharply characterised or uniformed according to the zonal and sector theories. The residence, office, business and commerce and sometimes industries may be frequently traced in the single conglomerated areas. The heterogeneity of the population, different classes and occupations are other aspects of the planning. The civic amenities such as water, electricity and sanitation are the other side of it. The improper planning is resulting in pollution, crimes, maladministration, deviations and other problems. The noise and Air pollution which cause disease and loss of life are very intense in the metropolitan like Delhi, Kolkatta and Bombay. The volume of population of the big urban centres are gradually increasing especially with the migration which contribute to slums and maladjustment in the cities. The rate of drug addiction, Juvenile deliquancy, deviant behaviour, slums etc. are the other social consequences of unplanned urban growth.

Answer : The functioning of caste is characterised by the endogamy, hierarchy, traditional profession, ritual purity and pollution etc. A caste system is a rigid system of social stratification. A man born under a particular caste, remain its members till his death. One cannot enter into a caste by acquiring wealth, power, educational qualification etc like a class. Under the caste system, the social status and professions are ascribed. On the other hand democracy is a combination of two words `demo’ and `cray’ which are meant for people and their rules respectively. It is a rule of the people, for the people and by the people. When a large number of people make value consensus on a particular issue and make decision on it, it is called democratic way of doing a thing. In the democratic polity the will of the majority of the people prevail. In the preamble of the Constitution of India it has been mentioned that there will be a democratic political system for India. This points out that the political participation and representation will be irrespective of caste, race, class etc. All have been endowed with equal right and duties under the fundamental right and duties.

But with the emergence of various caste associations, caste based political parties and the element of caste in the state and national politics, it is reasonable to consider whether castes is becoming democratic? In India two types of emerging trends may be traced. Firstly, the organisations and associations of the traditionally higher castes like Brahmins and Rajputs affiliate themselves with a distinct ideology and political parties. Secondly, the other wing is the association and organisation of traditionally low caste or untouchable. Their perception of politics is somewhat different from that of the upper or higher caste politics. The regional parties of India like DMK, AIDMK, RJD, BSP etc are chiefly based on the Dalit ideology. Though the political leaders of these parties are democratically elected, yet they are mainly associated with the traditionally deprived or Dalit caste. The numerically dominant caste of a region often vote their own caste leader, whether they have leadership quality or not. Since the caste association, parties and organisation are of the democratic nature, it may be called that both are mutually compatible. Here the word casteism denotes positive connotation. The element of incompatibility between the caste and democracy may result when the casteism results in dysfunction of the democratic political system. Sometimes the ideology or ethos of democracy clashes with those of traditional beliefs or ideological views of the caste. Here caste and democracy are mutually incompatible.

In Maharastra, as in Madras, the Congress achived a notable victory in the 1936-37 election and the non-Brahmin party candidate suffered severe defeat. According to Miss Patterson, the Congress was able to attract Marathas and other non-Brahmins into its fold because its leader Mahatma Gandhi’s was not ‘Brahmin’. In her opinion “All along in various ways, caste has exerted subtle effect on the Congress organisation in Maharashtra. In April 1948, a large block of Maharastra Congress party left it to form the peasants and workers party. The leaders of the new party were a Shri K. Jedha and Shri S.S. More. Miss patterson says that “the formation of which was considered overtly ‘capitalist’ domination of the Congress and to by-pass what was claimed to be continued Brahmin control over position of leadership in the Maharashtra congress organisation.” B.R. Ambedkar, the leader of the schedule caste said, ‘In a monolithic Maharastra, Maratha having the absolute majority, would dominate.”

Answer : Housing problem in cities is a serious problem. Government, industrialists, capitalists, entrepreneurs, developers, contractors and landlords have not been able to keep pace with the housing needs of the poor and the middle class people. According to the recent UNI report, between one fourth and half of the population in India's largest cities live in makeshifts shelters and slums. At least 15.0% of the nation's families are 'housing deprived', more than 60.0% of the houses have inadequate lighting and air facilities and 80.0% of the rural and 30.0% of the urban population live in the mud houses. Almost half of the population are either ill-housed or pay more than 20.0% of their incomes on rent. In some states, the housing board and cities development authorities have tried to remedy the cities housing problems with active financial support from the Life Insurance Corporation, HUDCO and such other agencies. According to the UNI report almost 70%, of the Delhi's population lives in substandard condition. Bombay, Kolkatta and Madras have also large number of the slum population. The national Housing Banks, HUDCO and some NGOs are playing active role in the reconstruction of slum settlement. The rape, crimes, unhealthy living condition etc. are the basic problem created by slums dwellers.

Answer : In the traditional society, the elite is not a differentiated group because it is based on the homogeneous strcture of values. Elite status is ascribed and elites are a close group. Recruitment being based largely on the birth and kinship. The political elite in the traditional India consists of king and priests. According to Professor Yogendra Singh, the traditional elite structure of Indian society remains authoritarian, monarchial, feudal and charismatic oriented towards the perseverance of the status quo.

After 1958, the traditional political elite lost its eminence and with the establishment of rational legal system of authority and with the spread of new system of secular and scientific education, communication channels and with the establishment of bureacratic administration in civil as well as military spheres, a new structure started emerging in India. This new elite was drawn largely from the entrenched upper caste of the Hindu society. Most of them have gone under western education in India and abroad and were trained in various professions. An analysis of the caste background of this new elite which started emerging from late 19th century onwards, shows that they consisted of the Brahmins especially. They were mainly ‘Nagari’ and Anvil Brahmin of Gujarat, ‘Chitpavan’ Brahmin of Western India, Iyer and Iyyengar Brahmin from South, various sub-caste of the Brahmins in the North and other upper castes like Kayastha and Vaishayas etc. Besides, there were some members belonging to Parsi comunity and others belonging to Muslim sub-castes. The growth of this type of elite was structural breakdown with the feudal monarchial character of the traditional elites. This new elite was deeply influenced by the western ideology of liberal humanism, democracy, egalitarianism industrialism etc.

The present day elite structure of India is varied and diverse. They belong to different castes, class, community and socio-educational background. With the reservation of seats in the Parliament and State Legislature, the SC, ST and OBC constitute a sizeable section of the political elite. In the Panchayati Raj institution, they also represent their due right and obligation. At the regional levels these traditionally deprived segments of the people have constituted the regional parties like DMK, BSP, RJD etc. Due to sanskritiation and social change, they are rapidly occupying the due socio-political position in the society. The ideology of Hindutwa has affected, to some extent the elite structure of the minority communities. A trend of two polar opposite structure of elite has emerged, the one consists of the minority while other is inconstituted by the majority Hindu. These social elites in terms of their orientation are modern and committed to policy of gradual social transformation through planned change. Some of them also enjoy charismatic image and had earned a reputation for courage, vision and action for the develoption of society. Unlike the old professional elite which was drawn largely from the entrenched upper caste, a sizeable section of these new elites belong to ascendant caste who had acquired economic power as a consequence of various state sponsored measures of economic development. This new elite lacks the western educational background as the earlier elites and also their commitment to the liberal democratic value was not so sound. Instead, the new elites are largely rural based, have a parochial outlook and are conscious of their regional and ethnic identity. They have a populistic orientation and more pragmatic orientation in political goals. They tend to prefer an expediencey-based pursuit of goal rather than principled pursuit of political goals. Their populism was reflected in the ability to mobilise masses through attractive slogans and their lack of commitment to liberal democratic principles. This new elite is more concerned with the attainment of specific goals rather than using legitimate means for attaining these goals. The changing compositions of the political elite is reflected from the fact that more than 40% of the Members of Parliament and around 70% of the members of state legislature are drawn from newly affluent section of the rural community.

Answer : The social inequality refers to the unequal distribution of rewards, wealth, prestige, opportunity, education etc. among the various castes, class and groups of the society. These inequalities may be both; the society created and natural. The inequalities, under the urban and the caste systems are called socially created inequalities while the racial and biological inequalities are natural inequalities. The economic inequalities are the part of the social inequality, which especially, refers to the unequal distribution of wealth, employment opportunities, education and economic deprivation.

In the traditional Indian society, under the Varna system, the Brahmin and Shudra were not associated with the economic activities. Therefore, they had no wealth and economic opportunities. They were mainly engaged in imparting knowledge and serving the `dwija’ respectively. The Rajnaya was the administrator and ruler. They accumulated more wealth than their need and engaged in luxurious life style or what Pareto calls conspicuous consumption. The Vaishya was the trading Varna and the commercial activities were monitored and coordinated by them. They are considered as the modern business class. This socially created inequality continued with some change till the Mughal or Muslim periods. But with the emergence of British rule in India, these inequalities were greatly modified. The traditional occupational system, agriculture, cottage and small scale industries were destroyed by the Britishers for their own sake. The introduction of machine made goods, surplus economic production, modern values and education resulted in emergence of class system in India. A class is open and anybody can enter into it by acquiring the standards of living, such as wealth, education etc. Thus, economically speaking, there is higher class, middle class, lower calls etc. in the urban areas. According to Daniel Thornir the Malik, Kisan and Majdur are the economically three distinctive class of the rural India. Though the ideology of the government has been to establish an egalitarian society in India. Yet, they have failed to ensure this characteristic feature. There is the wide disparity of income, wealth, educational opportunity, employment opportunity etc. among the various classes, castes and segments of the society. The gap between the rich and poor are continuously increasing in the modern India. Some of the factors responsible for these economic inequalities are as follows.

(i) Caste System: It is socially created inequality. The traditionally dominant castes of society such as Brahmin, Rajput, Vaishya own the means of production such as agriculture land, modern industrial undertaking, capital and other resources. On the other had, the Sudra, untouchables, SC, ST, and OBC which are traditionally deprived are still living a relatively deprived life. This inequality under the caste system has been greatly abolished by sanskritisation, modernisation and governmental efforts.

(ii) Industrialisation: It has created the working class, middle class, higher class etc. in the society. The working class or proletariat remains alienated from his own production. The capitalist or bourgeoies enjoys the conspicuous consumption and luxurious life style.

(iii) Unequal distribution of land: The agricultural lands are still owned by the traditional landlords. Some have more lands than one’s capacity to properly make production on it. While others have a little or no land at all. The land management and reforms in it are further required.

(iv) Educational and unemployment: The modern professional and technical education which provide employment to the people should be equally imparted irrespective of caste, religion, class etc. The government reservation policy to SC, ST and OBC is praiseworthy here.

(v) Planning and Coordination: The five year plans and other poverty alleviating programmes at the Centre and State should be properly monitored, coordinated and distributed. Both the long-term and short-term planning strategies should be adopted to impart the gap between the rich and poor.

If the social inequality, especially economic is not checked, it may result in the dysfunction, anomie, frustration etc. in the society. According to Karl Marx, when the traditionally deprived classes or castes become conscious or “class for-itself”, it will result in the proletariat revolution which will overthrow the existing social system and establish their own, which is known as socialist or communist society. Merton has also argued that one of the factors of dysfunction or non-function of the social system is the prevalence of social inequality and resentment among the people. Thus, the growth and developmental process of the society are terribly affected by the economic inequalities in the society. The another aspect is the social problems such as poverty, unemployment, crime, prostitution etc. are greatly caused or sponsored by the economic inequality. Though the totally egalitarian society or establishing an equal economic order is merely a dream, yet it may be greatly synthesized.

Answer : Karl Polanyi states market involved a site where exchange is actually carried out. The operation of market principle is determined by the law of supply and demand. The encroachment of market economy upon that of village has led to a series of change. F.G. Bailey from his study of the Bisipara village of Orissa concluded that when distillation was prohibited, the distiller caste Ganjam who has already harnessed a lot of wealth from their traditional occupation took part in market economy. The market economy has disrupted the traditional jajmani system. The class structure and occupational differentiation has become more important than caste and status ties. In the market economy the primary motive behind agricultural production was to generate the surplus for the market. Due to the absence of alternative employment in the agriculture, a large number of rural poor started to migrate to the cities for livelihood during the lean seasons. Thus, it contributes to the process of urbanisation and overcrowding in the cities. A trend of consumption, oriented life style in the rural areas has come into existence, especially in Punjab, Haryana and Western U.P. The rural society in India is undergoing a process of polarisation into rich land-owning and extermely poor landless labour. The market economy and monetisation also had an impact on the traditional Hindu Joint family. Market economy has also facilitated high degree of social mobility. Thus, open system of stratification comes to develop in the rural areas.

Answer : In cities we find lack of feeling of neighbourliness, the social relations are totally devoid of love and sympathy. Generally speaking, the feeling of neighbourliness is in inverse proportion to the size of the city and the density of the population. In cities the residential and industrial complexes are usually separated by great distances. Therefore, people leave their homes early in the morning and return fairly late in the evening utterly exhausted. Sunday and other holidays are spent in doing household chores. Thus they have virtually no time to meet their neighbours and spend some time with them. Moreover, most of the people live in insufficient accommodation and it is a problem for them to entertain their guests. This acts as an inhibiting factor in developing contacts. In his "The cities and primary Group", Robert M. Wesley has made deep analysis of the cause of decline in the feeling of neighbourhood. Whereas it is true that in some leading metropolis, the feeling of neighbourliness is virtually absent, it is very much in evidence in the majority of cities in India. Not only in small cities but in cities like Delhi and Bombay, we find Mohalla organisation which show great spirit of cooperation among neighbours. These organisations are formed for the defence of the common interest. Even in big cities, there are localities in which people from a particular region, following a particular religion or belonging to a particular caste predominate and in these localities we find great deal of feeling of neighbourliness. The highly individualistic life style, formality and all the features of organic solidarily are manifested in the behavioural pattern of city neighbourhood.

Answer : The distribution of power and allocation of social status in the rural India are embedded in the traditional varna or caste system of social stratification. The Jamjani system and the holding of land are the other sources of power in the society. According to `Purushsukta’ of the Rigveda, the Brahmin, Rajanya, Vaisha and later on Shudra were the four major divisions of society. This system is still continuing in the modified form as a caste system. Under this system, Brahmin occupies the position of distinction and ranks at the top of the hierarchy. Conducting Yajna, prayers for peace and goodwill, imparting didactic lesson and knowledge among the people are the chief function of Brahmin. The respect to the Brahmin and following their instruction were strictly obeyed. They were ritually more pure than the other three varnas. Thus, knowledge, ascribed status and charismatic character were the chief sources of power by which they were imposing their will on the whole society. The second position in terms of power and social status was enjoyed by Rajanya (Rajputa). The administrative, military and monarchial powers were exercised by them. They directly influenced the Vaish and Shudra but the Brahmin was regarded by them. The powers of the Rajanya and Brahmin were different. While the Brahmin exercised charismatic power the Rajanya was involved in exercising military or administrative power. Thirdly, the Vaish who engaged in trade and commerce were under the direct control of Rajanaya and their power was limited to the shudra only. At the lowest of the hierarchy, the Shudra was the servant of all the varnas and had no power at all. Thus the ritual purity and ascribed superiority were the fundamentals of power.

The traditional system of power were continued very strictly till the medieval period, but during the British period, it changed remarkably. According to Daniel Thorner, the Malik (owner of land) enjoyed more power over the kisan (peasant) and Majdur (workers), during the British and medieval India. The traditional charismatic power of the Brahmin had decreased and the possession of land, wealth etc. gradually became the source of power. But since the Rajputa and Brahmin were the most wealthy and big landlord, yet they exercised power over the masses of the village. The British introduced the Ryotwari, Zamindari and Mahalbari system of land holding under which the traditionally dominant castes chiefly occupied the right of holding of lands.

With the emergence of modern education, industrialisation, social mobility, modern judiciary, rational legal bureaucratic organisation, etc. the traditional power structure in India was greatly affected. These changes made the traditionally lower varna or caste quite conscious. During the same period, a number of socio-religious reform movements such as self-respect movement, SNDP movement, the social reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Rai, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Vivekanand, Swami Dayanand etc. played praiseworthy roles in eliminating the degradig condition of untouchables. Thus, it was a period of Renaissance in India. As a result of it the positional change started to emerge in some lower castes, especially in Coorgs of Mysore which was termed by late M.N. Srinivas as `Sanskritisation’. The Okkaliga caste who was traditionally impure and Shudra had acquired land and wealth similar to their Brahmin counterpart and had claimed higher status and power over the Brahmin. Thus, in place of traditional ritual and purity, the holding of wealth, numerical strength etc became the chief source of dominance and power among the Okkaliga. Similarly F.G. Bailey studied the Bisipara village of Orissa and found the Ganjam and Boad, who were the toddy-trappers and traditionally untouchable castes, now had acquired wealth and education and are exercising equal power or more on the traditionally dominant caste. The power clashes and conflict among different castes may be traced in Bihar where the traditionally dominant castes like Rajput and Bhumihar have organised Ranvir Sena, Bajrang Dal and other militant groups which clash with the other militant groups of lower castes. The mass killing is frequent here.

In the recent year, the introduction of Panchayati Raj, reservation policy, Constitutional safeguards, special developmental programmes etc have been launched by the government to rationalise the power and status distribution in the rural areas. The traditionally untouchable and deprived castes are now respectfully participating in the decision making process of the country from grass-root to higher level. The democratic decentralisation of power, judiciary, bureaucratic organisation, media, education etc. have contributed a lot to make the rural life an egalitarian living.

Answer : In the Indian context, the `Word Urban Area refers to those areas, which consist of:

(i) Local authority such as municipality, cantonment, board, notified areas, etc.

(ii) The population of 5,000 or more, the 75% of which are engages in non-agricultural activities.

(iii) The density of population should be at least 900 per sq. km. Thus, urbanisation is a gradual process by which the rural society is gradually transformed into the urban society.

The increasing urbanisation in India has led to problems like pollution, over-crowding and slums, unemployment and poverty, crime and juvenile deliquency, communication and traffic control, violence and sexual harassment of women tensions and strains. According to Anderson (1953) urbanisation involves not only movement of the population to cities but also changes in-migrants attitudes, beliefs, values and behavioural pattern. Urbanism is a way of life characterised by transience (short term relationship), superficiality (impersonal and formal relation with limited number of people), anonymity (not knowing names and lacking intimacy), individualism (people giving more importance to its vested interest). Louis worth has argued about the four characteristic features of the urban system or urbanism. These are heterogeneity of population, specialisation of function, anonymity and impersonality and standardisation of behariour. All the above mentioned characteristic features of urbanisation are found in India also.

The four metropolitan cities of India, Mumbai, Kolkatta, Delhi and Chennai along with other big urban centres have the problems of overcrowding, pollution, slums, high rate of crime, poverty, unemployment, cultural conflict, law and order etc. The concerned state government are involved in the process of abolishing these problems. Besides this, the non-governmental organisations are also involved in the restructuring process of urban centres. In the slums and jhuggi-jhopri colony, there are relatively high rates of crimes, juvenile delinquency, rape, spread of AIDS etc. The government and NGOs along with people’s participation should make conscious and friendly efforts to ensure quality life for slums.

The pollution is another major problem of the urban areas. The air, noise and water pollution have negatively affected the health of the people. Especially in Delhi, the Supreme Court has given strict order to remove the polluting industries from the cities. For the vehicular pollution, CNG has been prescribed. At the national and international level there is the need of the establishment of the pollution monitoring cells. AIDS is the another major health problem of the cities. Though NACO and other NGO’s efforts have been made to make the people conscious about it, it is essential to abolish prostitution, call girls, illiteracy etc. The people should be adequately taught about the knowledge of AIDS. For the crime and juvenile delinquency in the urban areas, proper training to the police administration, poverty, unemployment, overcrowding etc. should be checked. The migration from the rural to urban areas is considered as the fundamental base of urbanisation, which should be restricted by developing the rural infrastructure.

The government should adopt the poverty and unemployment alleviative measures in a phased manners to overcome it from the urban areas. The rural labourers and workers’ exploitation must be checked. The public distribution system should be made poor friendly. The proper nutrition to the children and child-labour are the other areas of concerns. The elderly or old age people should be especially cared because they are the resources, which consist of wide knowledge and experiences of the society. The drug abuse among the youth will be rehabilitated with the efforts by the family, peer groups, schools and other socialising agencies. Thus, with the due consideration on the above-mentioned areas, the composite culture of the urban life and well-being will be ensured.

Answer : The industrialisation and economic development involves occupational diversification, commercialisation of agriculture, and change from primary to secondary and tertiary occupations. The people of India may be chiefly divided into three categories, according to their occupation in the industrial society. The first category consists of people engaged in primary occupation such as agriculture, mining and quarrying. The second category consists of secondary occupation such as trade, commerce, manufacturing and transport. The third category consists of tertiary occupation such as service. Age-wise, people belonging to 15-59 years of age group are said to be belonging to working age group. Of the total people belonging to working age group (about 46 per cent), 62.7 per cent are engaged in primary, 14.9 per cent in secondary and 22.4 per cent in tertiary occupation (Manpower Profile India - 1998). In the industrial and post-industrial society, the tertiary sector occupation is gradually increasing. Occupational diversification has affected institutions like family, caste, kinship etc. Epstein argues that the conversions from subsistence to cash economy rather than the diversification of economy are responsible for the break up of the joint family in India. S.S. Dube has referred to the effect of education on occupational diversification and development of society. In the recent time, with the coming of information technology, globalisation of the economy, privatiosation etc. the diversification of the occupation has further boosted up.

Answer : According to the Indian Trade Union Act of 1926, a trade union is any combination, whether temporary or permanent formed principally for the purpose of regulating the relation between the workmen and the employers or between the employers and employees or for imposing restrictive condition on the conduct of any trade or business and include any federation or two or more trade unions. The Union system, especially trade union here, is governed by the democratic principle. The interest or safety of the large number of the people is vested in it. Since the trade union always remains conscious, it is called class for itself rather than class-in-itself. The trade union in our country is also working as a pressure and interest group in the Indian politics. They pressurise the government to formulate the developmental policies, which may ensure their growth and development. In the formulation of the five years plans and developmental policies, the trade unions contribute a lot to the government. One of the successful efforts through organised action to fulfil workers’ demands was made by N.M. Lokhande in Mumbai who succeeded in getting demands for a weekly holiday for the workers.

Answer : In India, the democratic political system did not develop gradually as a part of the process of overall modernisation rather it was adopted at the time of independence, due to preferences of westernised political elite who led India’s struggle for independence. Thus, in India, democratic political system and the nation state emerged simultaneously, unlike the western society where a cohesive nation state was established first and gradual democratisation followed later. India had never been a nation earlier and the sense of nationalism at the time of independence and even afterwards has been weak. Mostly, it prevailed more intensely among the westernised political elite rather than the common masses. Given the ethnic diversity of Indian society numerous sub-national identities exist within the nascent Indian nation state.

The Indian society has been remained stagnant agricultural society for a number of centuries which is primarily based on traditional values of hierarchy and divided into numerous kinship, caste and ethnic groups. These features remained unchanged even at the time of independence. The other pre-condition of the functioning of democratic political system namely, the existence of the social order based on egalitarian ideology also did not exist. Similarly, the spread of secular education and secularisation of social life confined to a few urban centres. Majority of Indian people was steeped in religion and remained untouched by modern education. Even today, more than 60% of India’s population remains illiterate Liberation of individual from the corporate group like joint family and caste has not taken place and these traditional institutions continued to held its sway. Nor has there been a widespread diffusion of participatory civil culture. Even urbanisation and industrialisation are limited only to few regions.

Yet another pre-condition, which existed in India and facilitated the functioning of the democratic political system, is the community at the local level. It was largely autonomous of central political authority. But due to diversity of language, religion, caste, race, culture etc. value consensus among the masses at large are rather feeble. Given the uneven nature of development in India, differentiation of interest has not been crystallised enough to give rise to political parties based on some common interest and guided by some definite ideologies.

Thus, we find that most of the pre-conditions which are essential for the smooth functioning of the liberal democratic system are not existent or exist only partially in a traditional society. The other factors which have contributed to these problems is that while in the west, socio-economic development was stimulated from below and the liberal democratic political system only played a regulatory roles, in case of India, the liberal democratic system has been entrusted with the responsibility of bringing about modernisation in social and economic spheres for which it is not well suited as pointed out by Gunnar Myrdal that given the gigantic nature of the task of bringing about socio-economic moderni-sation, Indian state is too soft for such a purpose. However, in the first two decades of independence, the Indian political system seems to be functioning quite smoothly. The main reason being that the political elite during this period had acquired a charismatic image for their role in the freedom struggle, and the share of common socio-intellectual background, due to which there existed value consensus among the political elite. These political elite, being trained in western education, also had a deep commitment for liberal democratic ideology.

It was during 1960s onwards that a new political elite started to emerge which was less westernised and was more regional and parochial in outlook. Also they had a strong sense of their ethnic identity. Further, the commitment of this new elite to liberal democratic ideology was superficial. Given the populistic and pragmatic orientation of this elite, they did not hesitate from appeasing to regional, ethnic and other sub-national identities of the people for political mobilisation. Religion also came to be freely used as a means of political mobilisation and so the caste. All these developments had their bearing on the traditional political system. Paul R. Bras has pointed out the interaction between the traditional Indian society and modern political system in India had been a two way process. While the traditional political system tried to modernise the society, the society simultaneously traditionalised the political system and this process of traditionalisation of modern democratic political system in India has generated numerous problems at various levels.