1)Tribal Society :
The tribals are economically, educationally and politically backward as compared to the non-tribals. One scholar has called tribal people “ Backward Hindus”. However there is a sizable number of Tribals who are Christian.
The tribes of India before independence were considered animistic by the by religion Census authorities. Distinction was made between those who were Hindu and those who followed their own religion. There is no uniform pattern of religion among the tribal peoples of India.
Mandelbaum mentions eight characteristics of Indian tribes: (i) kinship as an instrument of social bonds, (ii) lack of hierarchy among individuals and groups, (iii) absence of strong, complex, formal organizations, (iv) communitarian basis on land holding, (v) segmentary character, (vi) little value for surplus accumulation. (vii) lack of distinction between form and substance of religion, (viii) a different Socio-psychological make-up for enjoying life.
The present popular meaning of a tribe in India is a category of people, included in the list of the scheduled tribes : Tribal populations are poor, are relatively isolated and closed groups, forming homogeneous units of production and consumption. Being economically backward, they have been exploited by the non-tribals.
After independence the policy of protection and development for the population identified as tribe has been made into a constitutional obligation. A list of tribes was adopted for this purpose which had 212 names which was modified later by presidential orders. In 1971, the list contained 527 names. The people who have been listed in the constitution are called scheduled tribes. This is the administrative concept of a tribe. Geographical Distribution : On the basis of ecology, it is possible to group tribes into five distinct regions – Himalayan region (with tribes like the Gaddi, the Naga etc.) Middle India (with tribes like the Munda, Gonds the Santal etc.) Western India (with tribes like the Bhil, the Grasia etc.) South India region (with tribes like the Toda, the Chenchu etc.) and the Islands region (with tribes like the Onge in the Bay of Bengal, the Minicoyans in Arabian Sea).
2. Agrarian Society : People belonging to scheduled castes are economically dependent on agriculture and are distributed in rural & Semi-urban areas of our country.
3. Industrial Society :
4. Linguistic Groups : In India population belongs to multiple linguistic Groups. Sanskrit has influenced most of the languages.
Modern industry came to India in the 19th Century after the Industrial Revolution of Europe and was allied with a modern system of education sponsored by an alien power. Since then profound changes have taken place regarding the social stratification of people of our country. There was a change in values; people come to accept western values known as westernization in opposition to the traditional value called sanskritization. Since the Industrial Revolution, urbanization and industrialization have moved in great pace.
Features of Industrial Society : The industrial society has the following features :
1. Norm and social role conflicts : The diversity of social life is the most important characteristic of urban industrial life. It springs from the size, density and heterogeneity of the population, extreme specialization of the various occupations and the class structure existing in the larger communities. The latter factors in turn, generally result in divergent group norms and values and conflicting social roles. In modern industrial societies, the ends sought by different groups are so divergent that
individuals often do not know in many areas of life exactly what are the norms and behavioral standards, and appropriate social roles.
2. Rapid social and cultural change : Rapid social and cultural change, disregard for the importance of stability of generations also generally characterize urban life. The result is the decline of importance of the elements which are ‘ traditional’ or ‘ sacred’. Urban industrial life brings about changes in norms and ideologies which may greatly change the social structure and the relationships between people. The reduced size of the modern family i. e nuclear family is a result of industrial society.
3. Impersonalness and lack of intimate communication : Owing to heterogeneous composition, urban people know each other only in superficial and impersonal ways. A large proportion of urban social relations takes place between nameless strangers and they last only for a limited period of time. One may know a person as a bank cashier, another as a co-worker, another as a grocer, but they are seldom known in an intimate way. Economic interests dominate this in personal urban world. The city becomes a complex mass of people living close together, but without emotional ties. The urban dweller often feels lonely and isolated even in the midst of vast crowds. The impersonality, formality of relations and the breakdown of intimate communication in an urban society gives rise to many urban industrial problems. In metropolitan areas, neighbors frequently live side by side in anonymity.
4. Materialism : In an industrial society external appearances and material possessions are of primary importance. City dwellers are known for their status symbols (such as salaries, car, video cassettes etc.) Urban people do not believe in plain living and high thinking.
5. Individualism : The city dwellers, in their social relations give primary consideration to their own interest and happiness. Here people are mostly self-centered, if not selfish. Since in urban set up individual status depends mainly on individual accomplishments, city dwellers have developed exaggerated attitudes of competitiveness.
6. Mobility : One of the features of urban life is greater mobility. The urbanites always make new social contracts. It is ordinarily called social mobility. People move again and again from job to job, from one locality to another. The residential mobility tends to weaken ties to the local community, to make persons less interested in maintaining certain community standards thereby tending to weaken bonds which is the basis for social control among members of local groups.
7. Increase in formal social controls : Whereas social controls in a rural society is mostly informal, social control in the urban society is more formal. The rural people feel no need for secondary social control because family and kinship ties, customs and mores among themselves act as social pressures. Responsibility for controlling behavior in urban areas is largely shifting to the police, the courts and others agencies of the government to enforce the norms of certain groups.
Demographic aspect : In India population concentration has been one of the key features of urbanization. There has been a steady increase in the urban population in recent year. The percentage of urban population has been more than doubled from 10. 8% in 1901 to 23. 3% in 1981. Urban population has significantly increased in the post independence period. The rapid growth of urban population during 1941-51 has been mostly due to partition of the country which led to refugee migration in the urban areas. The steady increase in the urban population in the last few decades came about not so much because of planned economic development and industrialization but due to imbalanced agricultural development.
Towns or urban areas have certain limitations in accommodating population providing civic amenities or catering to such needs as schooling, hospitals civic amenities, etc. Beyond certain optimum capacities, it becomes difficult for the town administration to provide facilities for increasing population. Mumbai and Kolkata are two such examples of cities which have urban population growth beyond their capacities to manage. This feature refers to over-urbanization.
Closely related to over-urbanization of a town is a feature called sub-urbanization. When towns get overcrowded by population it may result in sub-urbanization. Delhi is a typical example where sub-urbanization trend is taking place around it. Sub-urbanization means urbanization of rural areas around the towns.
Population in the larger urban centers (with 100, 000 or more) haws constantly been growing in India. More than 60% of the urban population in India lives in this category of cities.
4. Profile of Indian Population
i)Size and Growth: According to the Census of 2001, India’s population was 1028 million (532. 1 million male and 495. 4 million females). India ranks second in the world next only to China. India’s land surface is only 2. 4 p. c. of the total world area whereas its population is 16. 7 p. c. of the world population.
The population of India which at the turn of the 20th Century was around 238. 4 million, increased to reach 1028 million at the dawn of twenty first century.
The rate of population growth was 2. 2 p. c. per annum during 1961-71. The 1981 Census indicated that the rate of population grown during 1970s remained more or less the same as it was during the 1960s. Even the 1991 Census indicated that the annual rate of population growth during the 1980s was 2. 14 p. c. The Census of 2001 has shown that the rate of population growth remained as high as 1. 95 p. c. per annum during the 1990s. The country now remains in the second stage of Demographic transition and is encountering a population explosion.
ii)Population Density: One of the important indices of population concentration is the density of population. It is defined as the number of persons per sq. km. The population density of India in 2001 was 324 per sq. km.
iii)Sex Ratio : Sex ratio, defined as the number of females per thousand males is an important social indicator to measure the extent of prevailing equality between males and females in a society at a given point of line. The sex ratio in the country had always remained unfavorable to females due to the fact that makes are considered to be generating wealth for the family.
iv)Literacy: For the purpose of Census 2001, a person aged who can both read and write with understanding in any language, is treated as literate. A person, who can only read but cannot write, is not literate. The provisional results of 2001 reveal that there has been an increase in literary in the country. The literacy rate in the country is 64. 84%, 75. 26% for males and 53. 67% for females.
Kerala retained its position by being on top with a 90. 86 p. c. literacy rate closely followed by Mizoram (88. 80%) and Lakshadweep (86. 66%) Bihar with a literacy rate of 47. 00% and ranks last in the country.
vii)Population Explosion and its Control: The economic prosperity of a country is bound up with the size and composition of its population. Small population makes it impossible for a country to harness properly its natural resources; On the other hand, if population is abnormally large, the per capita income will be low. India having the second largest population in the world is also one of the poorest countries in the world.
Rapid population growth in India has constituted a formidable obstacle to economic progress as it has tended to cancel out the margin of economic advances. It has also necessitated the diversion of the limited resources from production to consumption channels, leaving narrower and narrower the resource base for future economic development. Gunnar Myrdal has aptly put it : that most of the countries of South-East Asia have entered a critical phase of sharply accelerated population grown and are now witnessing a veritable demographic revolution, the pace and dimensions of which are without precedence anywhere in the world. Unless this “ demographic revolution” is taken into account economic planning will fail to produce tangible results, Population control programmers should go hand in hand with economic growth and prosperity.
Social Stratification :
1. Social Stratification
The word social “ stratification” refers to the idea that society is divided into a patterned structure of unequal groups which tend to persist across generations.
According to Melvin M. Tumin, the characteristics of social stratification are as follows :
1. It is social, i. e. patterned, in character.
2. It is ancient, i. e. it has been found in all societies.
3. It is ubiquitous
4. It is diverse in its forms.
5. It is consequential i. e., the most important, most desired and often scarcest things in human life constitute the basic materials which are distributed unequally.
Closed Social Stratification – The Caste System : Class and caste are two phenomena of social stratification which offer many features in common not only in their origin but also in their development and function.
The word “ caste” is used in everyday life and we use it to distinguish one person from another. We say that such and such person belongs to a particular caste. In saying it we generally mean to convey that he is born of parents or is a member of the family said to belong to a particular caste. In this way caste is hereditary group. In biology this word is used only for descent or heredity. But this definition is inadequate for the purpose of sociology since it requires a more comprehensive and clear definition. Caste may be defined as a hereditary endogamous group which decide the individual’s status in the social stratification and his profession etc.
The following are the predominating characteristics of caste.
i)Determination by birth : The membership of caste is determined by birth.
ii)Rules and regulations concerning food : Each individual caste has its own horns which govern the food habits of its members.
iii)Definite occupation : In the Hindu scriptures there is a mention of the occupation of all castes. According to Manu the functions of the Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudras were definite. The functions of the Brahmin were to study, teach, guide and perform religious rituals and to give and receive alms < that of the Kshatriya to study, perform religious rituals, give alms, punish the evil and to war; that of the Vaishya to study, perform religious rituals, give alms, work in agriculture, trade and animal husbandry; that of Shudra to do menial work for all the other castes.
iv)Endogamous group : The majority of persons marry only within their own caste, Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra all marry within their respective castes.
v)Rules concerning status and untouchability: The various castes in the Hindu social organization are divided into a hierarchy of ascent and descent one above the other. In this hierarchy the Brahmins have the highest and the untouchables the lowest position.
vi)Authority: The last feature of caste worth considering is the existence within it of an organ wielding a varying degree of authority which compels obedience from caste members. In the high castes it is public opinion which exercises this control over its members.
The Class System :
A social class is a category or group of persons having a definite status in society which permanently determines their relation to other groups. The relative position of the class in the social scale arises from the degree of prestige attached to the status. Class is a status group based on Socio-economic status of the person who reside mostly in urban areas.
A class system usually results from industrialization and is present in all industrialized societies. The upper-middle class constitutes the successful businessmen and professional people. The lower middle class shares many characteristics with upper middle class but are not able to achieve the “ same kind of life style because of economic and educational short-comings. The working class constitutes the factory employees. They have adequate means but do not have much to spend towards luxury. The lowest class is at the bottom of the economic ladder. The people belonging to this class have no education or occupational skills and consequently remain either unemployed or under-employed.
Distinction between Class and Caste
Class Caste
1. Membership, status, standard1. Membership of Caste is of life etc. are based on based on birth. objective facts
2. There is open stratification 2. There is closed stratification in class, meaning that a in caste, meaning that a
person can change his person cannot rise above his caste caste.
3. Members of a class are class3. There is no need for any
conscious subjective consciousness in
members of caste.
4. Class system does not hinder4. Caste system does hinder Democracy social interactions democracy social interactions like marriage etc. like marriage etc.
5. An individual has compara-5. In caste system there are tively greater freedom in a comparatively more strict class. Restrictions in marriages etc.
6. There is comparatively less6. A comparatively greater
Social distance in class class distance is kept
Between the castes.
2. The Scheduled Castes :
The term “ scheduled caste” was coined by the Simon Commission (1972). The expressions “ Depressed Class”.
The Constitution of India made a provision that the President may specify the castes, races or tribes which shall be deemed to be Scheduled Caste & Schedule Tribes. The criteria adopted for inclusion in the scheduled castes list are social, educational and economic backwardness arising out of the stigma of untouchability. The better known scheduled castes include Chamar and Bhangi, (U. P. Bihar, Punjab). Rajbansi (W. Bengal) Mahar (Maharashtra), Mala and Madiga (Andhra). Cheruman and Pulayan (Kerala) Palla and Paraiya (Tamil Nadu). There are numerous other groups).
The scheduled castes account for about 15% of the total population of the country. They are not concentrated in any particular geographical region. They are found in every state.
The scheduled castes constitute the lowest strata of Indian society. They were considered untouchables.
3. Backward Classes :
A class is considered to be backward if its members are economically and educationally less privileged compared to the other classes in that society.
The backward classes in India can be understood only when we understand the basic character of Indian society which consists of a number of closed status groups. The backward classes do not constitute one single whole but a multitude of social groups with varying positions and socio-economic
standing in the social hierarchy of Indian society.
The Indian Constitution is silent on the definition of the backward classes. But the characteristics of backwardness have been referred to in different articles of the Constitution. Article 15(4) speaks of social and educational backwardness. Article 16(4) speaks of backward classes and their inadequate representation in services. Article 23 speaks of forced labour and Article 46 refers to weaker section of the people in which the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes are included.
The Constitution makes special provision for the upliftment of backward classes. There is also legal provision. Article 17 of the Constitution abolishes untouchability. This extension of adult franchise has given the scheduled castes the political power. However, the real problem is not the removal of legal disabilities but social disabilities. To remedy this, the Constitution has laid down certain provisions under Article 46. It states that the state shall promote with special care the educational and economic advancement of the weaker section of the people in particular the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
The Schedule Tribes : A tribe is defined as a group of people who can be identified as a homogeneous unit with certain common characteristics. The common characteristics that they share are a common territory, a common language and descent from a common ancestor.
The scheduled tribes constitute nearly 7% of the total population. They are believed to constitute the aboriginal element in the Indian Society referred to as the ‘ Girijans’ or Adivasis. They are concentrated in certain geographical areas like the northern and north-eastern mountain valley and eastern frontiers, hills and plateau between peninsular India and Indo-gangetic plains, hills and ghats in the south-western part of India. There are 414 tribes in various states of India. They are scattered over almost every state in India. But they have a fairly large concentration in MP, Orissa, Bihar, W. Bengal, Rajasthan and Gujarat. The 6th schedule of the Indian Constitution provides a considerable degree of social, cultural and political autonomy for the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
Other Backward Classes : Indian Constitution provides reservation for the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. The demand for a similar provision for castes other than the scheduled castes and tribes, which are educationally and socially backward, have been raised.
The Backward Classes Commission was set up in 1953 under the Chairmanship of Kaka Kalekar with a view to decide the criterion on the basis of which socially and educationally backward classes could be identified. The Commission was of the view that the majority of the backward classes are ignorant, illiterate and poor.
The Central Govt. constituted the Mandal Commission to look into it. With the publication of the Mandal Commission report, the question of reservation became an issue of heated controversy. The result was that the Government’s did not accept the recommendation of the Commission. There was a lot of controversy over the definition of Other Backward Classes.
Since 1961, the Central Govt. has been pressing for the adoption of economic criteria in defining the other Backward Classes. The majority of the states have adopted economic criterion for defining backwardness.
Kinship System :
Kinship is a fundamental principle of social organization in India. Since India is a land of immense diversity, its different regions reflect different systems of Kinship. As the country’s two major geographical divisions – the north and the south-present two distinct forms and have been described in sociological literature as such.
The Kinship system refers to a set of persons recognized as relatives either by virtue of a blood relationship or by virtue of a marriage relationship. In sociology, all blood relationships are known by a technical term, consanguinity. Similarly, all relationships through marriage are called by the term affinity. For example the relationships between mother and son/daughter, sister and brother/sister, father and son/daughter are consanguinal, while relationships between father/mother-in-law and daughter/son-in-law are affinal. People who are related to each other through descent or a combination of affinity and descent are relatives or kin.
Importance : Kinship is recognized as the universal process of mating and reproduction. In almost all societies kinship plays an important role in the socialization of individuals and the maintenance of group solidarity. In the pre industrial society kinship relations was so extensive that virtually they constitute the social system.
Kinship Terminology and Usages : The list of terms used by the people to refer to their kin relationships expresses the nature of Kinship system. Morgan was the first to draw attention to the importance of kinship terminology in Kinship systems. He broadly divided Kinship terminology into two types : descriptive and classificatory. A descriptive terminology provides a specific Kin terms for each person (e. g. father and mother in English Kinship Terminology) while a classificatory terminology groups together two or more Kins and assigns each category a single kin term (e. g. uncle and aunt in English Kinship terminology).
Kinship Usages : Kinship usages refer to the behavior patterns of various Kins. They provide guidelines for interaction among members of the kin groups – family, lineage, sibs or clans. They define proper acceptable role relationships as between father and daughter between brother and sister, between father-in-law and daughter-in- laws etc.
Kinship Group : Sociological studies in various parts of North India show that social groups such as patrilineage, caste, sub-caste provide the basis for cooperation or conflict among the people.
It can be said that kinship organization in North India is based on unilateral descent groups. When the lineage membership of groups is traced on the basis of shared descent in one line, we call it a unilateral descent group.
Members of a patrilineage cooperate in ritual and economic activities. They participate together in life cycle rituals. They live close together in the same village. As the farm-lands of lineage members are normally located in the same village, they set up their houses almost next to each other.
Lineage members help each other but conflict also characterizes kinship relations among them.
From one generation to the next, transmission of status and property takes place according to certain rules .
A lineage is an exogamous unit i. e. a boy and a girl of the same lineage cannot marry. A large exogamous category is called the Clan. Among the Hindus, this category is known as gotra. Each person belongs to the clan of his father and cannot marry within the clan or gotra.
The kinship system operates within the families of the caste groups. Castes are endogamous i. e., one marries within one’s caste, people belonging to one caste group are kinsmen in the sense that they are related to each other. Caste fellows generally come forward to help each other when others challenge their honour and status.
We must recognize Fictive Kinship among villagers, People who are not related either by descent or marriage, form the bonds of fictive kinship with each other. On the basis of common residence in a village in north India, unrelated individuals may usually behave like brothers.
Economic Problems :
1. Poverty :
Poverty is not simply an economic concept, it is a much broader concept. The poverty of the masses is generated and perpetuated by the social system. It has been called ‘ artificial’ poverty. This means that poverty is a socially created state. It is multi-dimensional in nature comprising economic, political, social and cultural aspects. But economic poverty constitutes the basis and gets reinforced and perpetuated by political, social and cultural backwardness.
Approaches to Poverty : There are two approaches to poverty the nutritional approach and the ‘ relative deprivation’ approach.
The nutritional approach has been adopted in the developing countries. In this case, poverty is measured in terms of food requirements. This is calculated in terms of consumption of adequate calories (generally 2250 calories) by a person to maintain his working capacity. People who are unable to fulfill this bare minimum in food consumption due to their low income are placed below the poverty line. Persons whose income level is below the poverty line are identified as poor. This is a measure of ‘ absolute poverty’.
In the case of developed countries the ‘ relative deprivation’ approach has been adopted for measuring poverty because fulfillment of minimum needs of food is not the major problem. Here poverty is seen in terms of relative deprivation of a section of population against the privileged ones. Here emphasis is more on social inequalities than nutritional requirements.
In urban areas , the poor people are usually engaged in the unorganized sector and some low paid jobs in the organized sector. They are employed in unskilled, semi-skilled and also some low-income skilled jobs.
The pattern of the per capita expenditure on consumption among the rich and the poor section of population is another indicator of the magnitude of economic inequality, poverty and the gap in the standard of living.
2. Problem of Unemployment :
Employment is part and parcel of our existence and lack of employment threatens the survival of man. McNamara rightly pointed out that unemployment is not only endemic throughout the emerging world, but is growing worse especially in urban areas. Though the urban population in the developing countries has been increasing at an average annual rate of over 5 percent, industrial employment has risen much more slowly.
A restructuring of growth on the following lines would be necessary to accelerate growth of employment opportunities for achieving the goal of near full employment by the end of the decade :
1. Economic growth would be mainly derived from sectors which have high observed and potential employment content.
2. Within each major sector, growth of commodities and lines of production with high employment intensity would be accorded high priority.
3. Wherever possible use of production techniques with higher employment potential per unit of capital, would be encouraged in different production lines and tendency towards indiscriminate increase in capital intensity would be discouraged.
4. Besides reorienting public sector investment towards employment including sectors and lines of production, macro economic fiscal and credit policies would be used for more effectively influencing private investment decisions in favour of sectors and technologies with high employment potential.
At the beginning of 1990-91, about 16 million persons – 10 million in rural areas and 6 million in urban areas – were unemployed. Of these, 12 million are males and 4 million females. Another 12 million are severally underemployed. Thus the backlog of unemployment could be taken to be around 28 million.
Employment would have to grow at a rate of over 4 per cent per annum to reach the goal of near full employment by 1995 and over 3 per cent per annum if it is to be reached by 2000 AD.
The goal would be feasible if employment is consciously built into the development strategy so that the growth is mainly derived from the sectors with high employment intensity. Such a strategy includes the following elements.
i)a rapid and geographically diversified growth of agriculture so that the hitherto lagging regions have a major share in agricultural growth during the 1990s.
ii)diversification of agriculture into non-staple high value crops.
iii)development of an appropriate support and policy framework for the growth of non-agricultural particularly manufacturing activities in rural areas.
iv) emphasis on small and decentralized segments of the manufacturing sector as a major source of industrial growth.
v)large scale programs of construction both of infrastructure and residential accommodation; and
vi)expansion and strengthening of social infrastructure, education and health, particularly in rural areas. Impact on Family Structure :
Industry and the Roles of Females :
Social Problems :
1. Terrorism :
Prof. Jenkins has defined terrorism as the use or threatened use of force designed to bring about a political change.
Under the legal guidelines, some groups can be labeled as terrorists, while other groups engaged in the same activity may be described as legitimate revolutionaries.
Terrorist behaviour differs from standard patterns of criminal behaviours because terrorists are highly motivated and loyal to a particular cause” While ordinary criminals are opportunistic, terrorists are focused. They may select targets of opportunity, but the target has a symbolic value. Terrorists use crime to make a symbolic statement about a political cause. For ex. In August 1998, a group known as A1-quaeda or ‘ the base’ destroyed two American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Osama bin Laden, the leader of the group, chose the targets because they represented the best opportunity to strike America. If criminals are uncommitted and self-centered, terrorists find strength in a cause and the ideology or religion behind the cause. They are team-oriented, even when they act as individuals. Suicide bombing has been employed by several Middle Eastern groups in their strikes against Israel. Suicide bombers do not act alone. They are supported by an organization and sent on a mission.
Criminals are indisciplined, untrained and oriented towards escape. Terrorists are exactly the opposite. They are prepared for their mission, they are willing to take risks and they are attack-oriented, Sri Lanka has been plagued with a terrorist campaign since 1974. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elaam is a fighting force of 10, 000 members. They are running a training wing, ground force and small navy. Their primary tactic is terrorism and they are known for suicide bombings.
Types : There are three types of terrorists – criminals, crazies and crusaders.
Street criminals comprise the first category. Although almost all terrorists use criminal means, criminal terrorism is rare. When it does exist, criminals who terrorize society do so frequently for monetary gain or to seek some sort of vengeance.
Crazies are mentally unstable violent people, motivated for a variety of factors but they are seeking some sort of psychological reward through terrorism. They are not political terrorists. Psychological gratification justifies their actions. Mass murderers fit into this category.
Crusaders make up the bulk of political terrorists. They are using terrorism to change society.
A terrorist has a number of traits : Terrorists exhibit fear, anger, depression, guilt antisocial behaviour, a strong ego, need for excitement and a feeling of being lost. According to one school terrorism could only be eliminated when the political causes of terrorism such as injustice were eliminated.
Financial resources of terrorism is important. In its battle against terrorism, the West has been focusing on the wrong target. Counterterrorism should concentrate on cutting off the source of terrorism.
4. Alcoholism :
For long in the history of mankind alcoholism was a moral problem,, resulting from moral degradation and weakness of will power.
Dinking is just one of the several ways in which people wrongly react to stresses and strains which are too difficult for them to meet in the normal manner.
In general the effects of alcohol are very injurious. When the alcohol content of the blood rises to 0. 3 p. c., serious disturbances in movement, speech and vision are seen and thinking is confused. And when it rises to 0. 5% the entire physiological and neural balance is upset and the person becomes unconscious. This unconsciousness in a way protects him from more serious consequences because he is prevented from consuming more consuming more alcohol which might bring about his death. The effects of alcohol vary with the individuals, their physical conditions, their personality, the amount of food they already taken and the time for which have drinking. There are people who consume quite a large quantity of liquor but show no signs of intoxication and retain their intellectual alertness.
The actual effect of alcohol on the brain centers is not fully known but it does not seem to cause damage to the brain tissues. But it does seem to slow down the functioning of the brain.
5. Narcotic Addiction or Drug Abuse :
Definition : The WHO defines drug as any substance that, when taken into the living organism, may modify one or more of its functions.
Drug abuse or narcotic addition has been mainly restricted to heroin, marijuana, brown sugar, stimulant and depressant drugs and hallucinogens but legal drugs such as alcohol and nicotine have been excluded.
All the drugs that cause addition are divided on the basis of their sources into two main categories – Primary Natural Products and Manufactured Drugs.
Child Labour :
Employment of children has continued to be a problem since the early days of industrialization. The problem of child labour is not an English or American or Indian problem – it is a global problem. The minimum age for the employment of children was fixed at 12 years under the Factories Act and 15 years under the Mines Act.
Definition of Child Labour : Article 1 of the UN Convention defines the child as a human being below the age of 18 unless under the law majority is allowed earlier by the respective countries. According to Article 23 of the Indian Constitution no child below the age of 14 should be employed in any factory, mine and such other places or engaged in any hazardous employment.
Child labour covers only a part of the children who suffer deprivation and do not receive sufficient protection from society. Child labour is a socio-economic problem and the need for their protection became unnecessary when exploitation of children become common by engaging them in different jobs some of which are hazardous.
Our Constitution provides for protection of child workers. No child below the age of 14 years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any hazardous employment. The minimum age for employment is fixed at 18 years under the Factories Act 15.
As an initial step for the eradication of child labour, public awareness of this problem is an important step.
Nutrition and Malnutrition :
The food man takes consists of a number of chemical substances. These are known as nutrients. Food provides one the following nutrients : Water, Proteins Carbohydrates, Fats, Minerals and Vitamins.
Nutrition is a process by which the body assimilates foods to meet its physiological needs. The state of the body resulting from the kinds and amounts of food supplied to it is termed as nutritional status.
One can say one’s nutritional status is normal, if one gets all the essential nutrients in correct amount and proportion to meet one’s body’s needs. It also implies that your body has been able to utilize these nutrients in such a manner as to maintain you in good health.
The prefix mal-means that which is not desirable. Malnutrition is a state of improper nutrition balance in the body. Malnutrition stands for undesirable kind of nutrition, which results in ill health. When there is an insufficient supply of essential nutrients under nutrition occurs.
If the intake of nutrients is in excess of body needs, we refer to this state as over nutrition. In other words, over nutrition means that a person gets more food than he needs. Both under nutrition and over nutrition are two manifestations of malnutrition.
Over nutrition due to consuming more food than you need. The most common problem of over nutrition is overweight and obesity. When you consume more energy than you need, your body stores the extra energy as fat.
Compare your weight with standard tables which give you the ideal weight according to height, age and sex. If your weight is more than 10% above the “ ideal” weight you are overweight and if it is 15 or 20%, you are obese.
Fat people suffer from many health problem such as hypertension, stroke, diabetes, heart disease etc. Fat people die at a younger age. Extra fat in and around the chest makes if difficult for a fat person to breathe just climbing the stairs makes them tired.
Occupational disease :
The words “ occupational disease” mean a disease arising out of and in the course of employment which is due to hazards in excess of those ordinarily incident to employment and is peculiar to the occupation in which the employee is engaged. A disease shall be deemed an occupational disease only if caused by a hazard recognized as peculiar to a particular trade. Process, occupation or employment as a direct result of continuous exposure to the normal working conditions thereof.
No disease shall be deemed an occupational disease when :
1)It does not result directly and naturally from exposure in this State to the hazards peculiar to the particular employment.
2)It results from exposure to outside climatic conditions.
3)It is a contagious disease resulting from exposure to fellow employees or
from a hazard to which the workmen would have been equally exposed outside of his employment;
4)It is one of the ordinary diseases of life to which the general public is equally exposed, unless such disease follows as a complication and a natural incident of an occupational disease or unless there is a constant exposure peculiar to the occupation itself which makes such disease a hazard inherent in such occupation.
5)It is a disease of the cardiac, pulmonary or circulatory system not resulting directly from abnormal external gaseous pressure exerted upon the body or the natural entrance into the body through the skin or natural orifices thereof of foreign organic or inorganic matter under circumstances peculiar to the employment and the processes utilized therein; or
6)It is a chronic disease of the skeletal joints.
Occupational diseases – illnesses caused by substances or conditions that the worker was brought into contact with at the workplace.
Occupational disease benefits for workers and their families :
A worker with an occupational disease receives the same benefits as other injured workers. These includes :
*Payment for loss of earnings or permanent impairment
*Coverage for health care costs
*Survivor benefits (if a worker dies as a result of a workplace injury or illness)
Workers with an occupational disease have needs that differ from other injured workers. Therefore, their claims go to our Occupational Disease and Survivor Benefits (OD & SBI Program).
Musculoskeletal Disorders : Patients with musculoskeletal disorders involving the arm and neck frequently seek medical care. Work tasks contribute to symptoms in a significant proportion of these patients. More than 60 percent of reported occupational illnesses are work-related musculoskeletal disorders of various types.
14 Specific diagnoses, such as localized nerve entrapment (e. g. carpal tunnel syndrome), tendonitis (e. g. lateral epicondylitis, de Quervain’s tendonitis) (e. g. muscle strain and less well-defined regional pain syndromes), have been associated with jobs in all sectors of the economy , Repetition, force, awkward or static postures, vibration, work speed and restricted tasks are job factors that may contribute to the development of these ailments.
Respiratory Diseases : A variety of respiratory diseases are also commonly occupational in origin. Pneumoconiosis due to inhalation of asbestos, silica or other nonorganic dust should be considered in patients who report progressive dipsomania and dry cough. Airway diseases, including rhino sinusitis, bronchitis and asthma, have been increasingly recognized as work related.
A widening array of exposures has been linked to occupational asthma related to possible exposure to allergens (e. g. grain dust). Respiratory irritants (e. g. sulfur dioxide) or substances acting through other mechanisms (e. g. isocyanides) 10. 15 Less frequently recurrent “ flu” or “ pneumonia” may actually be symptoms of hypersensitivity pneumonitis, from exposure to mold, other organic materials or certain chemicals.
Neurologic Disorders : The nervous system is a frequently target of toxins, including organic solvents (e. g. toluene and chlorinated hydrocarbons), metals (e. g. lead and manganese) and pesticides (e. g. organophosphates). Peripheral polyneuropathy may be caused by agents such as lead, methyl butyl ketone and organophosphate pesticides. More commonly, chronic organic solvent exposure is responsible for a syndrome that includes headaches, fatigue, light-headedness, cognitive difficulties and depression.
Cancer and Heart Disease : Work exposures also contribute to a notable percentage of cancers and have been increasingly recognized as factors in the development of coronary artery disease.
Stress-Related illnesses : Stress has also emerged as an important hazard in the contemporary workplace. It has been associated with a range of emotional and physical ailments, including coronary artery disease and myocardial infarction. The risk of stress-related illness is increased in jobs with high emotional/psycho logic demands and low potential for control by the worker.
Work conditions and illness as the focus of business has shifted from manufacturing to service in most industrialized countries traditional notions of hazardous work have, by necessity, been expanded. Occupational illnesses continue to occur in manufacturing construction and agricultural sectors, but they are also increasingly being recognized in the burgeoning service sector. For example, rapidly expanding computer use has been associated with musculoskeletal and eye problems in a growing number of office workers.
Today a significant proportion of occupational illnesses are related to building conditions, such as inadequate fresh-air ventilation organic compounds and fibers, molds or other microbiologic materials.
Typically, workers with symptoms related to indoor air quality report upper airway and eye irritation, frequently accompanied by fatigue and difficulty concentrating. These symptoms generally occur in a group of workers in the same environment. Furthermore, the workers report rapid cleaning of the symptom when they leave the workplace. Other illnesses including asthma, hypersensitivity pneumonitis and respiratory infections, have also been linked to specific building related exposures.
India and the World :
India’s International Nabour
Given the backdrop of the changing international scenario , India’s foreign policy is directed towards realization of the following objectives : (i) To protect India’s core national interests by fostering support and understanding in the international community ; (ii) To preserve the autonomy of the decision making process; (iii) To strengthen the international campaign against terrorism; (iv) To give greater focus and priority to economic diplomacy with the objective of promoting foreign trade and investment; (v) To work closely with P. S. countries and to build strategic ties with the other major powers and leading developing countries; (vi) To intensify and strengthen ties with neighbours through mutually beneficial cooperation. The realization of SAARC as a more vibrant regional forum leading to an economic integration of the region is a desired goal; (vii) To ensure that cross-border terrorism is brought to an end;
(viii) To strengthen cooperation, friendship and trust with countries of India’s extended neighbourhood; (ix) To further the gains from India’s Look East Policy and aspire for substantive progress in several areas of common interest to India and ASEAN; (x) To constructively engage other members of multilateral institutions and organizations to generate common approaches to contemporary challenges relating to economic wel-being and development;
(xi) To leverage trends towards regionalism and sub-regionalism and promoting economic growth and all-round development with active coordination and assistance to organizations like BIMST-EC and the Mekong Ganga Cooperation; (xii) To continue to work closely with international bodies like the UN, NAM, the Commonwealth and regional groupings like the EU and G-20 for furthering India’s interests in the international arena; (xiii) To reform and restructure the UN Security Council and espouse multipolarity in a world order that respects and principles of sovereignty and non-intervention; (xiv) To promote a more equitable equation between the developed and the developing world; (xv) To work towards the goal of global nuclear disarmament; (xvi) To closely interact with the Indian Diaspora to strengthen their bonds with India and to recognize their pivotal role in India’s international relations.
India’s International Neighbours
1)Bhutan and India share extensive and mutually beneficial bilateral relations. There is free movement of people and goods between the two countries, and the Indian Rupee is legal tender in Bhutan. 90 percent of Bhutan’s global trade is with India. India has played a pivotal role in the socio-economic development of Bhutan. Bhutan’s first two Five year Plans during 1961 – 66 and 1966-71 were financed entirely by India. India’s contribution to Bhutan’s development budget during 1961 to 2002 is close to 30 percent. Indian assistant to Bhutan’s ongoing Ninth Five Year Plan is continuing. India has already created over 400 MW of generation capacity in Bhutan that is also creating to the needs of India.
2)India and Nepal share extensive bilateral relations. As open border of 1860 kms between the two countries facilitates free movement of goods and people. Indian Rupee is a legal tender in Nepal. Over 62 percent of Nepal’s global trade is with India, and nearly half of the Foreign Direct Investment in Nepal originates from India. India is building an optical fibre cable along the Nepalese Terai, which will bring significant improvement in bilateral communications. The National Hydro Power Corporation of India on a Build. Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) basis, has taken up the 300 KW upper Karnali hydro-electric project.
3)India has close ties with its eastern and southern neighbours, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. All these countries are of strategic importance to India and share cultural and ethnic legacies. India has focused on strengthening its relations with these countries through economic cooperation.
4)Interaction with China, which is based on the principles of Panchsheel, mutual sensitivity to each other’s concerns and equality, has developed due to a mutual agreement to qualitatively enhance bilateral interaction while simultaneously addressing differences through dialogue and peaceful means.
5)India continued with its efforts to develop a relationship of mutual trust, friendship and cooperation with Pakistan. In keeping with this spirit, in April 2003, once again a hand of friendship was extended to Pakistan.
6)India-Afghanistan ties continued to expand and strengthen during 2003-04. There were regular bilateral exchanges. The government made substantial contribution to Afghanistan’s reconstruction effort, which includes a wide range of humanitarian financial and project assistance.
NGO and Socio-Economic Development :
The experience of development plans in the third world countries indicates that managing developing can no longer remain exclusively with govt. but needs to be extended to non-govt. organizations also. In India, the govt. is keen to be making the voluntary sector involve in managing development and accordingly in the Seventh-Five year plan for the first time recognized the role of NGOs in promoting economic and social development.
The role of NGO’s in women empowerment programmes cannot be exaggerated. These NGOs are doing well particularly through self-help formation motivating the women on savings and thrift and make them fully involve in economically productive activities through micro credit and finance.
In spite of 50 years of development and planning India still suffers from many unsolved socioeconomics problems like poverty, rapidly growing population malnutrition and environmental degradation for which it has become essential to strengthen and develop al the sources of voluntary action and community mobilisation available in the country. It is felt that instead of depending unduly on the govt., the people in each area, at the community level through voluntary action, will develop the will and capacity to solve their own problems as self-reliant citizens and build up their resources and potential.
The term non-governmental organization (NGO) is very broad. Any organization which functions in a distinct manner from Govt. may be termed as a non-government organization, ranging from a global charity to a local self-help group. It may be a research institute, a coordinating agency or a lobby group . NGOs in India are known variously as voluntary agencies, pressure groups, social action groups, self-help organizations, non-party processes, alternative development agencies etc. NGOs may be grouped broadly into four as charity and relief groups, development groups, action groups and support groups. They may have an international, national, regional or local base but not location specific.
Voluntary organizations have demonstrated their capacity to organize the weaker sections of the people, defend their rights, ensure improved delivery of services to beneficiaries and enlarge local effort, through new areas of social service. They innovate new methods, and approaches, plan cost-effective project implementation and get effective involvement and participation of the people.
Voluntary action has a long tradition in India. Voluntary efforts for rural and urban development were first initiated by great individuals and organizations during the middle of the 19th century. The earlier role of voluntary organizations was largely to provide relief measures to the victims of war, partition, natural calamities to help the poor and the neglected. But over the years voluntary organization have assumed a multi-sectoral approach, form relief agents to the engines of area development.
It was only alter the second world war, various rural reconstruction schemes like Sevagram Centre (MP), Firaka Development Scheme (Madras). Sarvodaya (Bombay) Nilokheri Project (Punjab) and Etawah Project (UP) were launched. At that time, the voluntary agencies took keen interest in rural development programmes.
Though the tradition of voluntary action is very old in India, the interaction of voluntary organizations with the govt. is purely a post independence phenomenon where these voluntary agencies are considered as catalysts for bringing changes in the society. It was only after 1947, voluntary organizations got recognitions by the government for addressing some wider social issues. The govt. started financing voluntary organizations assuming them capable of “ dealing with social problems” for which the state cannot provide sufficient measures. The first five year plan provide a sum of Rs. 4 crores as assistance to the voluntary organizations.
The contribution of non-governmental organization has substantially altered the contents of Agenda 21 to deal with the concerns that may never have been identified without their participation throughout the conference. NGO pressure groups kept up their input, either as members in the capacity of official delegations of their countries or from the global forum which was a parallel summit to NGOs where some of the deepest concerns of the ordinary citizens of the world were voiced.
One of the most crucial areas of NGOs activity in India now a days is environmental awareness and environmental protection. The number of voluntary agencies actively involved in environmental issues in India today is larger than any other third world country. Many rural organization at the grassroots have taken up environmental issues along with their long standing concerns for rural and urban development, poverty eradication, literacy mission, social justice etc.
In India, there is urgent need to save and generate the environment through effective conservation of soil and water, social forestry and development of alternative energy resources. These are the essential areas of activity in which gross root voluntary organizations can do much to make the people aware of the dangers ahead, enlist their cooperation and participation and help achieving sustainable development. Voluntary organizations have also to pay a key role in monitoring and vigilance and help ensure that no damage is done to primary resources as a consequence of uncontrolled and unregulated industrial development.
In India, where poverty still remains a major problems with about 300 million people forming 30% of the population living below the poverty line, NGOs recognized microfinance as one of the tools to attack poverty. They took to self-help group approach promoting people’s organizations and functioning as feeder-banks linking unreached and underserved rural poor.
Though the NGOs and the voluntary sector have assumed increasing significance in the development process, not much research has been found to highlight the performance and contribution of this sector and strategies followed in eliminating the poverty, unemployment and other economic and social problems.
NGOs may be national NGOs and international NGOs. There are various estimates of the resources NGOs command, according to one estimate the total annual contribution to NGOs vary between 9 and 10 billion US dollars which is a good 20 p. c. of global development assistance received by developing countries. There are no firm estimates of the quantum it is about Rs. 1000 crore per annum.
Regarding the role of NGOs there is no two opinion that they are more efficient than public sector organizations in reaching the poor and more flexible and innovative. The World Bank and several other multilateral official donors have developed programmes to finance and work with NGOs. The influence of NGOs is rising, both nationally and internationally.
VALUES & ETHICS IN BUSINESS
Features, Types and Relevance of Values
The word ‘ value’ is derived from a French word, ‘ valoir` which means the worth, merit, usefulness or importance of a thing. Value concept is more relative than absolute.
The individual’s attitudes are based on the personal value system of the decision market. A value is a belief on which a man acts by preference.
Values shapes ь Beliefs ь perceptions ь Attitudes ь behaviour and personality.
FEATURES OF VALUES
(i)Values are at the core of personality and are a powerful force affecting
behaviour.
(ii)Values contain a judgmental element in that they carry an individual’s ideas as to what is right or wrong.
(iii)Values have both content and intensity attributes. The content attribute indicates that a mode of conduct of existence is important. The intensity attributes specifies how important it is.
(iv)Values are not fixed, they change over time.
(v)Many values are relatively stable and enduring. This is because of the way in which they are originally learned.
(vi)We have a hierarchy of values that our value system. But everyone does not hold the same values.
TYPES OF VALUES
Values can be divided into two classes- instrumental value and terminal values. Instrumental values are those values regarding the way we approach end states. These relate to means for achieving desired results.
Terminal values refer to beliefs about ultimate good or end results while instrumental values refer to beliefs about desirable modes of behaviour that are instrumental to the attainment of ultimate goals.
The following lists show several instruments and terminal values.
Instrumental Values:
AssertivenessDependability
Hard WorkObedience
Open-mindednessSelf-sufficiency
TruthfulnessGood manners
Terminal Values:
Satisfactionpeace and harmony
Pride in accomplishmentProsperity
RecognitionSecurity
Value Formulation
1. Genetic Source: A significant portion of our value is genetically determined. 2. Environmental Source: Environmental factors like natural environment culture, friends circle, educational institutions, religious faith help in formulation of values. 3. Influence of Superiors: Parents, elders, teachers, religious leaders, all such persons help us in the formulation of our values. 4. Media: Newspaper, Journals, magazines, film, radio, cinema go a long way to formulation our values.
Elements of Indian Ethos
The Indian management methods are bound to work in India, because Indians are products of the Indian ethos. The Indian ethos is different from Greco-Roman ethos, American ethos or Japanese ethos, effective as they are in their respective countries. Indian ethos is better than Greco- Roman ethos. Indians believe: (i)Ego sublimation rather than ego assertion.
(ii)Synthesis rather than analysis.
(iii)Concept of duties rather than concept of rights.
(iv)Yielding rather than dominating.
(v)Self-control rather than control from outside.
(vi)Substance rather than form.
(vii)Spiritual attainment rather than material prosperity.
(viii) Reverence for age and maturity of thought rather than for material progress and cleverness. (ix)Flexible order rather than unchanging order.
(x)Term achievement rather than individual achievement.
(xi)Harmonious living with nature rather than dominance of nature.
(xii)Sacrificing spirit rather than fighting spirit.
WORK ETHOS
Work ethos or work culture refers to certain norms of behaviour governing the conduct of workers involved in work situation to achieves certain desired objectives. In other words, work culture is the involvement impacts his performance to give high or low productivity, high or low quality.
Work ethic will be different at different levels:
1. At the basic level, it is about discipline, i. e. to maintain punctuality coming to work on time, behaving properly with superiors, colleagues and subordinates and not wasting time during working hours. 2. At the top level, it is about commitment and accountability, to feel responsible for the task assigned to him. 3. Protecting the interest of the organisation. No employees should make any adverse comments about the organisation in public. 4. To perform one’s jobs with devotion. The worker should contribute his best to the organisation. Every man should work like a master and not like a slave, as Swami Vivekananda said. Good work culture means workman is fully absorbed in the work and has high morale. On the other hand poor work culture results in high rate of wastage, poor quality, low productivity and low morale.
Work culture is also concerned with a worker’s loyalty and sense of belonging to the organisation. The worker should exhibit by his behaviour a sense of belonging to the organisation.
A employee is involved in an organisation with 4P’s, i. e., pay, prospect, promotion and performance. Ethical value system dictates that through performance an employee should receive pay, prospect and promotion.
Importance of Ethics
IMPORTANCE OF ETHICS IN BUSINESS
Ethical behaviour is essential for long-term success in business. This is true from both a macro- and micro-perspective. According to macro-argument , unethical behaviour distorts the market system, that leads to an inefficient allocation of resources. The micro argument highlights the importance of ethics to the individual firm. Unethical behaviour leads to decreased long-term performance.
The market system leads to a more efficient way of allocating resources than any command system.
The conditions required for the efficient working of the market system are:
1. The right to own and control private property.
2. Freedom of choice in buying and selling goods and services.
3. The availability of perfect information regarding these goods and services.
MACRO PRESPECTIVE –ETHICS AND TRUST
From the respective of the firm, ethics is closely associated with trust. In order to develop trust, behavious must be ethical. Trust is a variable for ethics. If trust is important and ethical behavour is n
