INDIAN SOCIALISM

SUBMITTED BY:Anamika BishnoiB.A.LL.B. 2nd year

WHAT IS SOCIALISM??

Derived from sociology

Dissimilarity between sociology and socialism

Still one thing in common i.e. society

Sociology: branch of science studying society, societal relations, rules, norms, behavior and other society related things

Socialism: principle aiming welfare of the society

Implementation of all state policies in favor of public good and public interest

Concept of welfare state followed

Socialist state

State that abolished capitalism

State moving towards communism

Some form of ownership of means of production and distribution by the state

Indian constitution aiming economic socialism

Economic socialism involves mixed economy

State following egalitarianism

Egalitarianism

Derived from French word “egal” meaning equal

Soul of a socialist state

Trend of thought favoring equality of some sort

General premise: people should be treated as equals on dimensions of religion, politics, society and culture

Believes all human are equal in fundamental worth or moral status

Aims at removal of all economic inequalities among people

Decentralization of power

Basically called natural state of society

Preamble

Before 1976 it constituted of only sovereign democratic republic

Converted into sovereign socialist secular democratic republic after 42nd amendment 1976

The concept made explicit

India’s commitment to this ideal strengthened and underlined

Instancesproving socialism in India……

Mixed economy Combination of public and private

ownership of the means of production with some measure of control by the centre

Mix between socialism and communism

Attempt to gain the advantages of freedom without govt. having to give up it powers

Objects to achieve economic growth with distributed justice

Major example: United States Of America

Articles supporting mixed economy

Article 19 (1) g

Article 19: protection of certain rights regarding freedom of speech etc.

1. all citizens shall have the rightG. to practice any profession, or to carry on

any occupation, trade or business

Article 298 Power to carry on trade, etc.- the executive power of

the union and of each state shall extend to the carrying on of any trade or business and to the acquisition, hilding and disposal of property and the making of contracts for any purpose:

Provided that- a. the said executive power of the union shall, insofar

as such trade or business or such purpose is not one with respect to which the parliament may make laws, be subject in each state to legislation by the state; and

.

b. the said executive power of each state shall, insofar as such trade or business or such purposes is not one with respect to which the state legislature may make laws, be subject to legislation by parliament

Abolition of privy purse Privy purse???

a. Payment made to the royal families of erstwhile princely states

b. It was a part of their agreements to first integrate with India in 1947 and later to merge their states in 1949 whereby they lost all ruling rights.

c. For the 565 princely states, Privy Purses ranged from Rs. 5000/- per annum to amounts in millions

d. And 6 of the most important states in India were provided with Privy Purses above Rs. 10,00,000/-

e. Those 6 states were- hyderabad, mysore, travancore, baroda, jaipur and patiala

Its abolition:

a. finally, the motion to abolish it & the official recognition of the titles was originally brought before the parliament in 1969

b. But unfortunately was defeated by one vote

c. And it was again proposed in 1971 by the prime minister

d. And was successfully passed as the 26th Amendment to the constitution of India

e. Indira Gandhi argued the case for abolition based on equal rights for all citizens and the need to reduce the government's revenue deficit

Article 14 Of The Indian Constitution

Equality before law- the state shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of laws within the territory of India.

This article uses two expressions :a. Equality before the lawb. Equal protection of laws

Equality before law: a. Common law conceptb. Absence of privileges in favor of any

person or classc. No man is above lawd. Every person, irrespective of his rank

or condition, is subjected to ordinary course of jurisdiction

e. Taken from British law

Equal protection of laws:a. Law will apply equally to equally placed

personsb. That means discrimination can take place

between persons not placed in equal circumstances

c. State is in no danger to have the power to distinguishing and classifying persons or things for the purpose of legislation

d. But, the classification made, must be reasonable

Bank Nationalization the process of taking an industry or assets into

the public ownership of a national government or state

usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being transferred to the public sector

Many socialists believe that public ownership enables people to exercise full democratic control over the means whereby they earn their living

and provides an effective means of distributing output to benefit the public at large, and a means for providing public finance

The need of nationalizing the bank in India was felt because the private commercial banks were not fulfilling the social and developmental goals of banking

Despite the enactment of the banking regulation act 1949 and the nationalization of the state bank of India in 1955, the expansion of commercial banking had largely excluded rural areas and small-scale borrowers

Then the nationalization took place in two phases:

First round- in 1969 covering 14 banks

Second round- in 1980 covering 7 banks

Currently there are 27 nationalized commercial banks

At the time of nationalization, priority sector concept introduced by bringing agriculture, small-scale industry, retail trade, small business and small transport operators under its fold

It became mandatory for banks to provide 40% of their net credit to “priority” sectors

Within this bank had to provide 18 percent of their net credit to the agricultural sectors, so as to reduce the hold of moneylenders & make more funds available for agricultural development

So, from the early 1970s, banks were also actively involved in poverty alleviation and employment generation programmes

Anti-competition law

Also known as monopolies and restrictive trade practice act (MRTP Act)

India enacted its first legislation act in 1969

It was an integral part of the economic life of the country

It aims at preventing concentration of economic power to the common detriment, provide for control of monopolies and probation of monopolistic, restrictive and unfair trade practice, and protect consumer interest

enacted to ensure that operation of economic system does not result in concentration of economic powers in hand of few

Directive principles of state policy Guidelines to central and state government, to be

kept in mind while framing laws and policies

These provision not enforceable by any court, but the principles are considered fundamental duties of state

This concept has been borrowed from Irish constitution

It aims at creating social and economic conditions under which the citizens can lead a good life.

The state shall work towards reducing economic inequality

Also aims to establish social and economic democracy through a welfare state

State shall aim for securing right to an adequate means of livelihood for all citizens as well as equal for equal work for both men and women

State shall try to ensure that ownership and control of the material resources is distributed to sub serve the common good

The two most important articles of directive principles of state policy favoring socialism are:

Article 38: state to secure a social order for the promotion of welfare of the people–

1. The state shall strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting as effectively as it may a social order in which justice, social, economic and political, shall inform all the institutions of the national life.

2. The state shall, in particular strive to minimise the inequalities in income, and endeavor to eliminate inequalities in status, facilities and opportunities, not only amongst individuals but also amongst groups of people residing in different areas or engaged in different vocations

Article 39: certain principles of state policy to be followed by the state—

the state shall, in particular, directs its policy towards securing—

a. That the citizens, men and women equally have the rights to an adequate means of livelihood;

b. That the ownership and control of the material resources of the community are so distributed as best sub serve the common good;

c. That the operation of the economic system does not result in the concentration of wealth and means of production to the common detriment;

d. That there is equal pay for equal work for both men and women;

e. That the health and strength of workers, men and women, and the tender age of children are not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocation unsuited to their age or strength;

f. That children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in condition of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment

Conclusion It proves our socialism to be democratic

Because democratic socialists believe, both the economy and society should run democratically

i.e. to meet public needs, not to make profit for a few

To achieve more just society

It support the principles of democratic collective ownership of the basic means of production and the principle of democratic management

Therefore these socialist support not only public ownership but cooperative ownership of economic functions

And all these features are very identical to those we had discussed some minutes before

Ironical: we cannot find the word socialism anywhere other then preamble

But still we have socialism in almost every part of our constitution

This shows the successful existence of socialism in India….

And we hope it forever remains one of the most important part of the constitution

THANKYOU