Rights to Equality


 
 
Concept Explanation
 

Rights to Equality

Right to Equality: Constitution says that the government shall not deny the equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws to any person in India. It means that the laws y in the same manner to all, regardless of a person’s is. This is called the rule of law. Right to Equality is the foundation of any democracy. It means that no person is above the law. The government shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds y of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. Every citizen shall have access to public places like shops, restaurants, hotels and cinema halls. Similarly, there 11 be no restrictions with regard to the use of wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads, playgrounds and places of public resorts maintained by government or dedicated to the use of general public.

Reservations: Government of India has provided reservation for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs). But these reservations are not against the Right to Equality. Equality does not mean giving everyone the same treatment, no matter what they need. Rather it means giving everyone an equal opportunity to achieve, whatever one is capable of. Sometimes, it is necessary to special treatment to someone in order to ensure equal opportunity. Thus, the reservations of this kind are not a violation of the Right to Equality.

Untouchabitity: The principle of non-discrimination extends to social life as well. The Constitution directs the government to put an end to the practice of untouchability. It is the extreme form of social discrimination. Untouchabitity does not mean refusal to touch people belonging to certain castes. Rather it refers to any belief or social practice which looks down upon people on account of their birth with certain caste labels. Such practice denies their interaction with others or access to public places as equal citizens. That’s why the Constitution made untouchability a punishable offence.

Many Forms of Untouchabitity: In 1999, P. Sainath wrote a series of news reports in ‘The Hindu’ newspaper describing untouchability and caste discrimination that was still being practiced against Dalits or persons belonging to Scheduled Castes.

P. Sainath travelled to various parts of the country and found that in many places

  • • Tea stalls kept two kinds of cups, one for Dalits one for others.
  • • Barbers refused to serve Dalit clients.
  • • Dalit students were made to sit separately in the classroom and drink water from separate pitcher.
  • • Dalit grooms were not allowed to ride a horse in the wedding procession.
  • • Dalits were not allowed to use common handpump or if they did, the handpump was washed to purify it.
  • Sample Questions
    (More Questions for each concept available in Login)
    Question : 1

    Right to equality implies ?

    Right Option : D
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    Explanation
    Question : 2

    Social Equality implies that there ?

    Right Option : A
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    Explanation
     
     


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