LAW, POVERTY

&

DEVELOPMENT

EIGHTH SEMESTER

COURSE OBJECTIVE

To provide an understanding of basic

concepts of poverty and development

and their relationship with law.

COURSE CONTENTS

MODULE CONTENTS

I Understanding Poverty and Development

Poverty, meaning and concept. Relative dimensions, measurement and determinants. Issues related to poverty in India, developments, perspective, development index.

II Constitutional Guarantees for the poor

Equality and protective discrimination, right to basic needs and welfare, abolition of untouchability and protection of civil rights. Rights to development

III Criminal Justice System and the Poor

Treatment of the poor by Police, inability to get bail, problems of poor undertrials, working of free legal aid schemes.

IV Impoverishment of Women, Children and Disabled Person

Deprivation of women under family laws, problems of women workers in organised and unorganised sectors, child labour, approaches to disability and rights of the disabled persons, right to education and dignity.

TOPICS FOR PROJECTS

1. Supreme Court on slum rehabilitation/ development in Mahadev Jagpat case; (2006) 11 SCC 661 and Keya Developers case, (2010) 2 SCC 261.

2. Basis for compelling a public authority, Rubbabuddin case, (2010) 2 SCC 200-A.

3. Supreme Court on land grabbing in Mandal Revenue Officer’s case, (2010) 2 SCC 461-C.

4. Breakdown of marriage as basis of divorce; Supreme Court’s views in Smruti Pahariya’s case, (2009) 13 SCC 338-C.

5. Treatment of borderline cases concerning Juvenile; Supreme Court in Hari Ram’s case, (2009) 13 SCC 211-B.

6. Deficiencies & inadequacies in Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970.

7. Law laid down in Mandal Revenue Officer’s case; (2010) 2 SCC 461.

8. Voluntary surrender of land; Shankaranarayan Bhat’s case, (2009) 13 SCC 487.

9. Supreme Court on daily wage employees; (2010) 4 SCC 179.

10. Right to development and Supreme Court (2010) 4 SCC 409.

11. Law on release on probation as seen from Karamjit Singh’s case, (2009) 7 SCC 178.

12. Right of natural guardian to custody of child; Anjali Kapur’s case, (2009) 7 SCC 322.

13. Inhuman or degrading treatment.14. Reduction on quantum of back wages; Bharat

Cooking coal case, (2009) 7 SCC 160.15. Validity of caste certificate; Kurapati Maria Das

(2009) 7 SCC 387.16. Test to determine whether contract labour

genuine or sham, (2009) 13 SCC 374.

17. Claim for juvenility; (2009) 13 SCC 211.18. Bonafide requirement of widow in an eviction

proceedings. Smt. Rafeequan’s case; decided on 6 Sep 2010 (SC).

19. Supreme Court on child custody in Athar Hussain’s case, decided on 5 Jan 2010 (SC).

20. Right to practice medicine of a Vaidya; Rajasthan Pradesh case decided on 1 June 2010 (SC).

21. Bank loan, public accountability of bank and its officials; Eureka Forbes, decided on 3 May 2010 (SC).

22. Social welfare legislations; Harjinder Singh’s case, decided on 5 Jan 2010 (SC).

23. Essential ingredients to be a case of dowry death Supreme Court in Siddaramesh case; decided on 05 Feb 2010.

24. Efficacy of Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976.

25. The success of anti poverty programmes in India.

26. Legal issues relating to inter-parental child abduction.

27. Media and victims of sexual assault.

28. A review of dowry laws in India.

29. Legal issues of long term live in relationship.

30. Rights of visually impaired to pursue professional education.

31. Right to alimony of a muslim wife till and beyond her re-marriage.

32. Condonation of rape by a mere compromise.

33. Legal issues relating to mining in Bellary.

34. Legality of concept of ’backward’ groups amongst Muslims.

35. Justification for creation of a special fund for road accident victims.

36. Right of a first wife to live separately and seek maintenance.

37. Application of Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 over contract workers.

38. ‘Irretrieval breakdown’ as a ground for divorce.

39. Rights of a ‘protected’ workman under Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

40. Legal protection to runaway couples.

41. Legality of double reservation benefit.

42. Whether failing students below the age of 14 violates the RTE Act. Madras High Court on Don Boscoe Matriculation School case.

43. Right of temporary staff to the Provident Fund.

44. Unreasonable delay in child custody matters.

Recommended Literature

1. Law, Poverty and Development by Upendra Baxi.

2. State and Poverty in India by Atul Kohli.

3. The Poverty Question by Yogesh Atal.

4. Poverty, Rural Development and Public Policy by Amarendra.

5. Law, Poverty and Development by Universal.

6. Law, Poverty and Development by M.L. Upadhyay.

LECTURE 1

POVERTY

POVERTY

Dictionary meaning

1. The state of being poor, want of the necessities of life.

2. The state of being insufficient in amount.

3. Scarcity or lack.

POVERTY

Poverty is the lack of basic human needs,

such as clean water, nutrition, healthcare,

education, clothing and shelter because of

the inability to afford them.

This is also referred to as absolute poverty

or destitution.

ANOTHER MEANING

The condition or state of being poor and

needing money.

POVERTY LINE

The minimum income level needed to

secure the necessities of life.

Poverty stricken

means extremely poor

POVERTY TRAP

A situation in which an increase of income

incurs a corresponding or greater loss of

state benefits, making real improvement

impossible.

QUOTES

1. The rich rob the poor and poor rob one another.

2. Hungry people cannot be good at learning or producing anything, except perhaps violence.

Poverty cannot increase in our country

and it can only decrease.

Dr. Manmohan Singh

RELATIVE POVERTY

It is the condition of having fewer

resources or less income than others

within a society or country, or compared

to worldwide averages.

FIGURES

1. 77% of the people lived on less than Rs. 20/- a day.

National Commission on Enterprises in Unorganised Sector.

2. 27.5 per cent

Planning Commission

3. Global Hunger Index

India figured at 66 rank among 88 countries and was in alarming category.

BPL

According to a 2005 World Bank estimate,

42% of India’s population falls below the

international poverty line of o$ 1.25 a day.

India suffers serious deprivations

in education and health.

The decision to raise the BPL would mean

more than 10 crore families will have access

to food.

WHO ARE POOR

Poor are those who do not meet their

daily needs.

Poor are those who are socially deprived.

Poor are those who feel relatively deprived.

SOCIAL EXCLUSION

It is the denial of equal opportunities

imposed by certain groups of society upon

others which leads to inability of an

individual to participate in the basic political

economic and social functioning of the

society.

IDENTIFICATIONS

Method of identifying a group of people as

poor.

AGGRESSION

A method of aggregating the characteristics

of the set of poor people into an overall

image of poverty.

CONCEPTS

1. Harijan

2. Dalit

3. Garibo Hatao

THREE GROUPS

1. Chronic Poor (CP) – Those households below the income poverty line with at least one stunted child.

2. Other Poor (OP) – Rest of the poor households.

3. Non Poor (NP) – Those whose income is greater than the income poverty line.

CHRONIC POOR

A household is identified as chronic poor if

its income is below the poverty line as well

as its children and adults are suffering from

malnutrition.

Food prices undermine political security

which has a strong two way linkage with

food security.

DETERMINANTS OF POVERTY

Important Aspects

1. People’s assets

2. The return to (or productivity of) these assets.

3. The volatality of returns

Using a poverty threshold is problematic

because having an income marginally

below it and those slightly above it may

not have much difference.

Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs)

EIGHT GOALS

1. End hunger2. Universal education3. Gender equity4. Child health5. Maternal health6. Combat HIV/Aids7. Environmental sustainability8. Global partnership