The Educated Unemployed Youth is not a jetsam of present Society
By Noor UL Shahbaz
Equality is a postulate of justice, as understood by the Aristotle’s theory of “distributive justice”. It demands the equal treatment of those equal before the law. However the principle of absolute equality between individuals of all classes can never be obtained as it is qualified by natural inequalities such as differences in status of infants and adults, insane and sane, men and women etc. The ideas of individual freedom and individual equality are co-related, freedom means opening the roads to the fullest development of personality, and equality means opportunity for all to participate in such development. The term ‘equality’ gives a task to the democratic societies to remove the inequality through the law which is made while the individuals exercise their freedoms. Opportunity is the basis of equality; equal treatment is the qualification for the outcome of equality. It is the immortal merit of Bentham to have stressed the necessity for the removal of inequalities in opportunities as a condition of democratic development. It should not be considered that “few men are leaders because of their social, monetary status and influence; it should be the belief always that, given facilities of material and intellectual development, leaders may spring from any race, class or nation”.
The popular meaning of the term equality is that all men are equal and all should be entitled to identity of treatment and income. Those who subscribe to this meaning of equality, assert that all men are born equal and nature has willed them to remain so. This natural equality of man was practically recognized in The Declaration of the Rights of Man (1789) issued by the National Assembly of France. It lays that, “Men are born, and always remain, free and equal in respect of their rights”. A similar statement is found in the American Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal”. But nature has endowed men with different capacities and so long as they differ in their wants, needs and capacities in satisfying them, equality in its popular sense is inconceivable. This is the reason that it is to be said that nature has not created all men equal. Inequality is an inescapable, natural fact and it has to be accepted by society. Equality means that special privileges of all kinds should be abolished. There should be no difference between man and man, and whatever rights in-here in another by virtue of his being a citizen must in-here and to the same extent, in me also. It means that I am entitled to the enjoyment of all those social and political privileges to which others are entitled. My vote in the election of the representatives is as valuable and potential as that of any other. I can also become the recipient of any office of the state for which I may be eligible. To refuse any man access to authority is a complete denial of his freedom and equality, because, “Unless I enjoy the same access to power as others, I live in an atmosphere of contingent frustration”.
One who lives in an atmosphere of frustration has neither any inspiration in life nor any incentive for it. He accepts his place in society, which accident of birth has given him, as a permanent condition of life. There can be no equality in a society where a few are masters and the rest are slaves. The principle of equality, accordingly, means that whatever conditions are guaranteed to me, in the form of rights, shall also, in the same measure, be guaranteed to others, and that whatever rights are given to others shall also be given to me. This chief characteristic of a right is its equalitarian basis. A democratic society is one in which all enjoy equal rights and privileges without any barriers of class distinction. The brotherhood of man is its basis and all its members stand equal in the common Fraternity. This means faith in man as man and his personality.
The concept of equality is applicable to citizens living in a society and regulates their relation with other men in that society. One of the ideal behind the concept of equality expressed by Mahatma Gandhi was that, “… I shall work for an India, in which the poorest shall feel that it is their country in whose making they have an effective voice; an India in which there shall be no high class and low class of people; and an India in which all communities shall live in perfect harmony…” He had opined that the incoming state shall strive to promote welfare of all the people by securing and protecting as effectively as it may a social order in which there shall be social, economic, political justice delivered to the people. In dealing with the question of justice according to the ‘need’ of people, the principle involved is one by which it is fair to allocate advantages and to recognize the claims of citizens according to their needs.
The concept of ‘need’ is somewhat a complex one but at the same time important for proper administration of the affairs of society. What it presupposes is that there are certain advantages such that, if they are not satisfied, no existence at all or at any rate no decent or complete existence is possible. Without life no existence at all is possible and without adequate food, clothing, shelter, no life is possible. Nor is this the limit of the advantages which people may be said to need. The boundaries of need shift from time to time with changes in the social and economic conditions of society and in the exigencies which a decent or complete existence is thought to postulate. What is at one time a luxury becomes at another time a necessity and need. The wider principle of social justice consists simply in the claims of all men to all advantages and to an equal share in all advantages which are commonly regarded as desirable and which are in fact conducive to human well being. The basic demand for equal treatment in all respects is not confined to food or material things but extends to opportunities for entertainment, recreation, education, employment etc. It also implies that all men shall have equal claims to all advantages which are generally desired and which are in fact conducive to human perfection and human happiness. This means equalization of human condition is the pre-requisite of good life. This involves equal claims to the necesities of life, to health, food, shelter etc. Also equality of opportunity for both work and enjoyment, secondly the principle of non-discrimination and conformity to the rule of law. A more equitable distribution of income may help to accelerate growth and promote economic development. This equitable distribution does not mean that one must work for progressive development and get income for others as well who are not contributing for that development. It refers to the distribution of income that is “fair”, i-e, opportunity opportunity for all or atleast sustainaibility for all. An equitable distribution of wealth and income must give all citizens a fair opportunity to become successful. If the wealth is very unfairly distributed, then the majority of people will suffer at the expense of the very few rich individuals. In short the concept of social justice is the harmonization of the rival claims or the interests of different groups and sections in the social structure by means of which aloe it is possible to build up a “welfare state”. While basic liberties are guaranteed and individual initiative is encouraged, the state has got the role of ensuring that no class prospers at the cost of other class, and no person suffers because of drawbacks which are not his, but social. Social justice forms the basis of progressive stability of society and human progress. The words of Prof. Laski are worth to read here that, “I have no right to eat a cake, if my neighbour, because of that right is compelled to go without bread”. Today social justice is the signature tune of the New World Order we battle for. The butcher, the baker, the candlestick-maker, the social protester, the bonded labourer, the tortured prisioner, the ideological dissenter and more importantly the educated unemployed youth who is considered as jetsam of present society, the silent minorities to whom the new legal system must serve so that they may challenge the violent fanatic, the vulgar feudalist, the big industrialist, and the ubiquitous exploiter.
Noor UL Shahbaz,M.A, LL.M (GOLD MEDALIST),Guest Lecturer and former Acting Principal at Sopore Law College can be reached at im1415151819@gmail.com
