LEGAL RESPONSE TO THE BASIC NEED OF PEOPLE IN INDIA

CONTENTS
SERIAL NO.

TOPIC

PAGE NO.

1.O
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4

THE CONCEPTION OF NEEDS: INTRODUCTION

IDENTIFICATION OF HUMAN NEEDS
PRIORITIZING HUMAN NEEDS
DIRECTION MANIFESTD IN OUR CONSTITUTION
DIRECTIVE PRINCIPLES OF STATE POLICY AND
BASIC NEEDS
NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY ACT, 2013
CONSTITUTIONAL MANDATE
WORLDS LARGEST EXPERIMENT TO FEED
MILLIONS
FOOD SECURITY VERSUS FARMER SECURITY
INADEQUACIES IN THE ACT
MAJOR HURDLES FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION
OF THE ACT
THE MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL
EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE ACT, 2006
POVERTY ALLEVIATION AND MGNREGA
THE MAINTENANCE AND WELFARE OF PARENTS
AND SENIOR CITIZENS ACT, 2007
LEGISLATIVE PROCESS
PROCEDURE FOR MAINTENANCE
WHO CAN CLAIM MAINTENANCE
BENIFITS OF THE ACT
RIGHT TO EDUCATION ACT, 2010
MEANING OF FREE AND COMPULSORY
EDUCATION
MAJOR PROVISIONS OF THE ACT
The SEXUAL HARASSMENT OF WOMEN AT
WORKPLACE (PREVENTION, PROHIBITION AND
REDRESSAL) ACT, 2013
SALIENT FEATURES OF THE ACT
COMPLAINT PROCEDURE

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3
3
4
4

2.O
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
3.0
3.1
4.0
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
5.O
5.1
5.2
6.0

6.1
6.2
6.3

SAFEGUARD
COMPLAINT

PROVIDED

7.0
8.0

CONCLUSION
BIBILIOGRAPHY

FOR

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6
6
6
7
7
8
8
9
9
9
10
10
10
11
11
12

12
13

MALICIOUS 13
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1.0.THE CONCEPTION OF NEEDS: INTRODUCTION

It is a well known truth that human beings everywhere experience needs, wants and desires,
have aspiration and interests, and claim rights. Yet needs differ from all these related
categories. One may want many things that one may not actually need; one may desire things
beyond ones needs, ones aspiration may be higher than ones wants, needs and desires; even
so, not all wants and desires correspond to having need or claiming rights. As concerns
needs contrasted with desires and wants, Roscoe Pound suggested the importance of the
category of interests as interests are social demands made by groups of the category of
people on the law and state.1 He regarded law as a species of social engineering whose
function is to maximise the fulfilment of the interests of the community and to promote the
smooth running of the machinery of society2. The task of law is both as legislation and
adjudication to provide mechanism for adjustment and settlement of conflicting interests. We
may surely ask in the context of the planned economy of India and Globalisation, whether the
Wants and Desires of the impoverished humanity actually experienced basic need and
attended by state, Politics and law or not. Here in this Article Author would try to find out the
legal response to the basic need of people in India through various newly enacted
Legislation and pending Bills in Parliament. It is neither my intention nor purpose to
undertake a jurisprudential project but to understand the inter-action between law and life and
how the community can register peaceful progress through the instrumentality of law.
1.1. IDENTIFICATION OF HUMAN NEEDS
The satisfaction of human needs is widely accepted as an ideal for any human society. Human
needs may be understood as a physiological or social requirement of the body or the mind
which is considered essential for the maintenance of human life. In respect of physiological
or homeostatic needs the biological sciences are more precise in giving scientific information
regarding the essential needs relating to general hunger and specific food appetites, thirst,
respiration, constant internal temperature and sleep, rest after fatigue and work after rest etc.
Karl Marx described these as species needs, which include primarily the need for solidarity
relations (companionship and communication) and need to perform productive work.3
1.2. PRIORITIZING HUMAN NEEDS
One of the earliest thinking about Basic human needs can be found in Buddhist writings,
which ordained that even for a person who joins the ascetic order certain basic needs known
as Chhatupacchay, including within its fold Pindpat (food), Chivar (clothes), Sensan (shelter)
and GilanapachhayaBhashayaParikhara (medical services) ought to be provided.4
The United Nations has identified the following as the basic human survival needs: (i)
Nutrition (ii) Shelter (iii) Health (iv) Education (v) Leisure (vi) Security (Physical safety and
economic security) and (vii) Environment.
11. UpendraBaxi, Law and Unmet Social Needs 1 Journal of NLU Delhi 1 (2013).
22. V R Krishna Iyer, Law & Life 1 (Universal Law Publishing Co., Delhi, 2008).
33.M.P.Singh and Helmut Goerlichet.al.(eds.), Human Rights and Basic Needs 151(Universal Law Publishing Co., Delhi,
2008).
44.Ibid 152 referred Rhys and Davids (ed. And trans.), Mahavaga Vinaypitaka, ( Pali text Society, London, 1980).

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Abraham Maslow5 made the Pyramid of needs which he categorised in four parts, in the rank
of hierarchy Bottom level i.e. (i) Safety and Security includes survival: food-water-shelter,
above this (ii) Self esteem mentioned as Belonging: Love and acceptance, after this (iii)
Aesthetic appreciation meaning there by Intellectual achievement and on the Top levels he
puts Self actualisation. There are some societies that lack resource for providing all the basic
needs at a time. However, in some societies even the actualisation of priority basic human
need such as food, poses serious resources and political will problems. The question arises on
what basic one need is to be preferred over the others?
1.3. DIRECTION MANIFESTD IN OUR CONSTITUTION
Part IV has been put into our Constitution containing directive principles of State Policy
which specify the socialistic goal to be achieved. Directive Principles in the scheme of our
Constitution project the high ideal which the Constitution aims to achieve hence these
Principles are fundamental in governance of the country. And Fundamental rights occupy a
unique place in the lives of civilized societies and have been variously described as
"transcendental", "inalienable" and "primordial" and they constitute the ark of the
Constitution. They are like a twin formula for achieving the social revolution which is the
ideal which the visionary founders of the Constitution set before themselves. In other words,
the Indian Constitution is founded on the bed-rock of the balance between Parts III and IV. It
is in this sense that Parts III and IV together constitute the core of our Constitution and
combine to form its conscience. The edifice of Indian Constitution is built upon the concepts
crystallized in the Preamble. Having resolved to constitute ourselves into a Socialist State
which carried with it the obligation to, secure to our people justice- social, economic and
political.6
1.4. DIRECTIVE PRINCIPLES OF STATE POLICY AND BASIC NEEDS
Articles 38,39,41,42,43,43A,45,46,47 and 48 of our Constitution clearly manifests the
importance of basic needs and includes policies to followed by states for welfare of the
citizens, men and women equally in terms of means of livelihood, right to work, education,
just and humane conditions of work, public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age,
sickness and disablement etc.
Article 45 which provides right to free and compulsory education may be read as after the
Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment)Act 2002,The state shall endeavour to provide, within a period of ten years from the
commencement of this Constitution for, for free and compulsory education for all
children until they complete the age of fourteen years.
Further Article 46 is another important provision for the Promotion of educational and
economic interests of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other weaker sections and
protects them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation.
55. T.Subbarao( Prof NLSIU) referred in his 2006 LRM PPT study material.

66.H.M.Seervai, Constitutional Law of India, 2, 1953 ( Universal Law Publishing Co., Delhi, 4thedn., 2008) as
referred in Minerva Mills Ltd. & Ors v. Union Of India & Ors, AIR1980 SC 1789. Further see Austin, The
Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation, 50 (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1966).

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In D.S Nakara v. Union Of India,7the court has held that the basic framework of socialism is
to provide a decent standard of life to working people, particularly security from cradle to the
grave. The object is to achieve economic equality and equal distribution of income. The main
emphasis in a socialist state is given on the welfare of all and not a few. The state must adopt
all possible measures to secure the well-being and progress of all citizens.8
In a Democracy Government is formed by consent and when laws are made it is the voice of
the people, and discipline of a democratic citizens conforms to the norms of behaviour so set
by the law. In a changing society such as in India, law must be dynamic and followed by
socio-economic legislation for addressing the changes. In this backdrop there is a need to
examine the new emphasis on Land Reforms, Right to Food, Right to Education, Right to
Legal Aid, Right to Information, Recognition of Forest Dweller Rights, Protection of
Children from the Sexual Offences, National Rural Employment Guarantee, Prohibition of
Child Marriage, Welfare of Senior Citizen and Old Parents, Prohibition on Manual
Scavengers and their Rehabilitation, Disaster Management, Unorganised Sector Workers
Right and Green Tribunal etc..
2.0 NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY ACT, 2013.
Food security can be best defined as physical, economic, and social access to balanced diet,
clean drinking water, environmental hygiene and primary health care. In the context of India
when we are talking about food security we not just limit our concern to 1.2 billion
population but we also need to think about one billion population of farm animals. India is
self sufficient in food production since 7th five year plan (1985-1990). In terms of food
security, we are not food secure because the people are not able to access the available food
in India. But when it comes to Nutritional security it is a distant dream for India.India ranks a
lowly 65th among nations surveyed for the Global Hunger Index, and is classified as one of
the countries with alarming levels of hunger.9This makes even more shocking reading when
one realises that food grains often pile up and rot in the Food Corporation of India ware
houses. The first significant initiative to get food need recognised as a fundamental right
came up in kishanPattanayak v. State of Orissa.10 The wide spread famine and starvation
7

87.AIR 1983 SC 130.8.Articles 38(1) and 39(b) and (c) of the Constitution of India. Further see Kerala Hotel
and Restaurant association v. State of Kerala AIR 1990 SC 913.
99.International Food PolicyResearch Institute et al., Global Hunger Index Report 19 (2012), available at:
http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/ghi12.pdf(last visited Aug 27, 2013). Bihar ranked 74 th ,
Jharkhand 76th, Odisha 67th and UP 61st .

1010.1989, Suppl 1 SCC258.

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conditions in Kalahandi and Koraput Districts of Orissa in the year 1985, state took steps
toward off the calamity faced by the vulnerable sections of the region.
Removal of malnutrition and hunger from the country is not only socially desirable but also
necessary for improving overall economic development, as healthy people contribute more to
the economy with their relatively higher level of productivity and efficiency. Hunger and
malnutrition put enormous cost burden on the society. A World Bank Report states that
malnutrition brings drown three percent of Countrys GDP annually.
2.1. CONSTITUTIONAL MANDATE
It is in this context that Right to Food through food security legislation assumes
significance. This right has been recognised both by the domestic and international legal
regimes and has the potential to reduce the alarming levels of hunger witnessed in the
country. Under the Indian constitution, Article 47 of Directive Principles of State Policy has
laid emphasis on the raising of level of nutrition as one of primary duties of the state, and the
jurisprudence under Article 21 has also recognised adequate nutrition as one of the
inalienable components to right to life.11 The Government of India signed the NATIONAL
FOOD SECURITY BILL, 2013 on September 12, 2013 and makes it Law and thus India has
joined the league of countries who guarantee majority of its population food grains.
2.2. WORLDS LARGEST EXPERIMENT TO FEED MILLIONS
It provides legal guarantee to 75% of rural and 50% the urban population to get five kg food
grains per month at Rs.3, Rs.2, and Rs.1 per kg for rice, wheat and coarse grains,
respectively. The poorest of the poor continue to be covered under Antyodaya Anna Yojana
and get 35 kgs food grains per month. It also makes provision for pregnant women and
lactating mothers to get nutritious of at least meals and maternity benefit of at least Rs.6000
for six months. Approximately 62 million tonnes of cereals is required to implement the Act.
In current financial year (2013-2014), under the public distribution system the government
has allocated nearly 50 million tonnes of cereals.
2.3. FOOD SECURITY VERSUS FARMER SECURITY
The report of National Crime records bureau 2009 came out with a shocking revelation. It put
the number of suicides in the 2009 at 17,368 and it is not region specific but is spread across
India. Although the government has started a lot of programmes for the financial inclusion of
farmers but all those schemes are beyond the reach of farmers. For this we have to plug the
loopholes in our existing agricultural production and distribution system. Proper storage
structures can stop the rotting of food grains. The more the secure a farmer; the more is the
agriculture production which ultimately ensures food security for all.
2.4. INADEQUACIES IN THE ACT
In brief, the important inadequacies in the national food security act can be listed as:
Firstly, it does not specify any time frame for rolling out the entitlements and the grievance
redressal of the states in the Act. In fact several entitlements and redressal structure would
require state legislatures to make adequate budgetary allocations: hence, implementation of
1111.Francis Coralie Mullin v. Union Territory of Delhi (1981)1 SCC, 608.

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the Bill may be affected if states do not pass requisite allocations in their budgets or do not
possess adequate funds.
Secondly, it continues with a targeted PDS, hence the scope of exclusion of 33% of the poor
population from accessing the PDS as a right covering the entire country as a whole.
Thirdly, although an adult requires 14kgs of food per month and children 7kgs; the Act
provides for reduced entitlements to 5kgs per person per month, thus, there is an absence of
entitlements to pulses and oil in the PDS, so fails to address the widespread problem of
malnutrition.
Fourthly, the Act continues to allow for the entry of private contractors and commercial
interests in supply of foods in the integrated centralised distribution system by insisting on
specific norms related to food safety Acts and micronutrient norms. However, these standards
can only met through centralised factory based food production.
2.5. MAJOR HURDLES FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ACT
The food subsidy in coming years will balloon due to the lower central issue price of grain, a
significant rise in the number of significant rise in the number of entitled benefiaries and the
need to keep raising the minimum support price to cover rising cost of production and to
incentivize farmers to increase production of cereals.12Next hurdle is if the beneficiary does
not purchase food grain with the cash transferred, after two month he will stop gaining the
cash. That is why end-to-end computerization is a prerequisite for the successive
implementation of the Act and this infrastructure may take two more years.
While centralised planning is all right, the government must not discourage or ignore local
innovations; thus it calls for the Act should be flexible enough to accommodate local ideas,
particularly those through the panchayats which further doubts how it is possible and time
frame.13
In summing up the current trend in the productivity levels with growing pressure on water
and land it would be a difficult proposition for the public agencies to ensure food security on
sustainable basis.
3.0. THE MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE
ACT, 200614
In 2006, India embarked on an ambitious attempt to fight rural poverty. The National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act of 2005 created a justiciable right to work for all households
in rural India through the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, renamed the
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in 2009.
This promises 100 days of work per year to all rural households whose adults are willing to
1212.Food Security Bill ill-timed The Economic Times,
August 29, 2013 available at:
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-08-29/news/41582622_1_food-security-bill-right-to-5-kg-total-foodsubsidy (last visited Aug 31, 2013).
1313. Arabi.U, Ramya H.D, Hurdles in implementing food security Act12, vol.62, no.1 (Kurukshetra, November 2013).
1414.
Original
website
Ministry
of
Rural
Development,
on:http://nrega.nic.in/netnrega/home.aspx (visited on September 5, 2013).

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Government

of

India,

Available

do unskilled manual labour at the statutory minimum wage notified for the program. Work is
to be made available to anyone who asks for it within 15 days of receiving an application to
work, failing which the state government is liable to pay an unemployment allowance. Open
village meetings (Gram Sabhas) are supposed to identify suitable projects and local
government institutions (Gram Panchayats) are given a central role in planning and
implementation15.
MGNREGA began in 2006 in 200 districts, and from 2008 was implemented in all rural
districts in all states in India. Recent data show that almost 45 million households have
accessed MGNREGA employment to date (Dec, 2009). In 2009-2010, the central budget
allocated Rs300 billion ($6 billion) to MGNREGA. This is around 0.5% of GDP, 3.3% of
budget expenditure and 10% of planned expenditure.
3.1. POVERTY ALLEVIATION AND MGNREGA
There are a number of distinct ways in which such a scheme tries to reduce poverty. The most
direct and obvious way is by providing extra employment and income to the poorest in rural
areas. The long-standing incentive argument is that the work requirements entail that the
scheme will be self-targeting in that the non-poor will not want to do such work, and also
prevents dependency as poor people will readily turn away from the scheme when better
opportunities arise.
Furthermore, by linking the wage rate for such work to the statutory minimum wage rate, and
guaranteeing work at that wage rate, such a scheme is essentially a means of enforcing that
minimum wage rate on all casual work, including that not covered by the scheme. Indeed, the
existence of such a program can radically alter the bargaining power of poor men and women
in the labour market, and also poor people living in not-so-poor families, by increasing the
reservation wage (the fall-back position if a bargain is not struck). They may then benefit
even if they do not in fact participate in the program.
A scheme such as this can also provide valuable insurance against the many risks faced by
Indias rural poor in their daily lives. Even those who do not normally need such work can
Benefit from knowing it is available. This can help underpin otherwise risky investments.
And the gains to the poor can also come with efficiency gains given existing labour market
distortions.
The scheme also tries to address some of the causes of poverty in rural India. By its bottomup, demand-driven nature, it aims to empower the rural poor to help them take actions in
various domains that help them escape poverty. It would be naive to think that such
empowerment will emerge overnight amongst poor people who have faced a history of
exclusion from the processes of public action, and of subjugation to the will of local elites.
However, creating the legal right is certainly a first, positive, step.
4.0. THE MAINTENANCE AND WELFARE OF PARENTS AND SENIOR CITIZENS
ACT, 200716
1515. Original Website Indian Yojna, Available onhttp://www.indianyojana.com/rojgar-yojana/nrega-national-ruralemployment-guarantee-act.htm(visited on September 5, 2013).
1616. Original Website Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India. Available at:
http://socialjustice.nic.in/oldageact.php(visited on September 5, 2013).

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How far you go in life depends on your being tender with theyoung, compassionate with the
aged, sympathetic with thestrongand tolerant of the weak and the strong, because
Someday in life you will have been all of these.
George Washington.
4.1. LEGISLATIVE PROCESS
We need to take care and protect the old age and senior citizen because of their inestimable
value to the society. The Union ministry of social justice and empowerment needs to be
congratulated for piloting the passage of Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior
Citizens Act,2007(Act No. 56 of 2007) as a standalone legislation to promote the
maintenancecare and protection of older persons including parents, in the country. Legislation
has taken a period of more than eight years after the formulation of a National Policy on
Older Persons in 1999. The National Policy also took forty nine years as a logical sequence to
the Constitutional directive under Articles 38, 39 and 41 of Chapter IV of
DirectivePrinciples of State Policy; under Article 21 as the fundamental right to a dignified
life at the old age. The matter falls under Item No. 9 of State List and Item Nos. 20, 23, 24 of
Concurrent List of Schedule VII which relates to invalidity and old age pension and The
maturity benefits17.
4.2. PROCEDURE FOR MAINTENANCE18
Though the parents can claim the maintenance under the Section 125 of theCode of Criminal
Procedure, 1973, the Section 20 of the Hindu Adoption andMaintenance Act, 1956 and other
personal laws, these are both timeconsuming as well as expensive. Hence there is a need to
have simple inexpensiveand speedy provisions to claimmaintenance for parents which this
new Act provides. Parents as well as senior citizens can claim as the fundamental right to
dignified life maintenance from 'Maintenance Tribunal' which is presided over by a single
officer who is the Sub-divisional Officer of district without any court fees and that too
instantly with interim maintenance and within ninety days final maintenance.
4.3. WHO CAN CLAIM MAINTENANCE
(a) A parent or grand-parent from one or more of his children whichincludes son, daughter,
grandson and granddaughter but does not include a minor;
(b) A childless senior citizen from his relative who is legal heir and is not a minor and is in
possession of or wouldinherit his property after his death.
Here 'parent' means father or mother whether biological, adoptive or step father or step
mother, as the case may be, whether or not the father or the mother is a senior citizen and
'senior citizen' means any person being a citizen of India, who has attained the age of sixty
years or above.

1717.ParthaSarathiAdhya, The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 19, HelpAge IndiaResearch & Development Journal 1(January 2013).
1818. Original Website PRS legislative research, Government of India, available on:http://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/themaintenance-and-welfare-of-parents-and-senior-citizens-bill-2007-441/(visited on September 5, 2013).

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Moreover, whoever is responsible for the care or protection of senior citizen, leaves such
senior citizen in any place with the intention of wholly abandoning suchsenior citizen, shall
be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months or fine which
may extent to five thousand rupees or with both.
4.4. BENIFITS OF THE ACT
Further, where any senior citizen who, after the enforcement of this Act, transferred by way
of gift or otherwise, his property, subject to the condition that the transferee shall provide the
basic amenities and basic physical needs to transferor and such transferee refuses or fails to
provide such amenities and citizens. The said transfer of property shall be deemed to have
been made by fraud or coercion or under undue influence and shall at the option of the
transferor be declared void by the Maintenance Tribunal.
The Act also provides for the establishment of old age homes for indigent senior citizens in
each district with seats extending to one hundred and fifty at the beginning in each home for
which, the State Government will formulate rules for the management of the homes.
The State Governments have a duty to provide to the senior citizens in Government hospitals
separate beds,queues, facility for treatment of chronic, terminal and degenerative diseases;
and research activities for geriatric ailments duly headed by a medical officer.
Thus this was a much awaited legislation for the true welfare of parents and senior citizens in
the real sense which at last has seen the light of the day.
5.0. RIGHT TO EDUCATION ACT, 201019
In 1950, India made a Constitutional commitment to provide free and compulsory education
to all children up to the age of 14, by adding this provision in article 45 of the Directive
Principles of State Policy.
The Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002 inserted Article 21-A in the
Constitution of India to provide free and compulsory education of all children in the age
group of six to fourteen years as a Fundamental Right in such a manner as the State may, by
law, determine. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009,
which represents the consequential legislation envisaged under Article 21-A, means that
every child has a right to full time elementary education of satisfactory and equitable quality
in a formal school which satisfies certain essential norms and standards.
5.1. MEANING OF FREE AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION
Article 21A and the RTE Act came into effect on 1 April 2010. The title of the RTE Act
incorporates the words free and compulsory. Free education means that no child, other
than a child who has been admitted by his or her parents to a school which is not supported
by the appropriate Government, shall be liable to pay any kind of fee or charges or expenses
which may prevent him or her from pursuing and completing elementary education.
1919. Original Website Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource development,
Government of India. Available on: http://mhrd.gov.in/rte (visited on September 10, 2013).

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Compulsory education casts an obligation on the appropriate Government and local

authorities to provide and ensure admission, attendance and completion of elementary
education by all children in the 6-14 age groups. With this, India has moved forward to a
rights based framework that casts a legal obligation on the Central and State Governments to
implement this fundamental child right as enshrined in the Article 21A of the Constitution, in
accordance with the provisions of the RTE Act.
5.2. MAJOR PROVISIONS OF THE ACT
The RTE Act provides for the:
(i) Right of children to free and compulsory education till completion of elementary
education in a neighbourhood school.
(ii) It clarifies that compulsory education means obligation of the appropriate government to
provide free elementary education and ensure compulsory admission, attendance and
completion of elementary education to every child in the six to fourteen age group. Free
means that no child shall be liable to pay any kind of fee or charges or expenses which may
prevent him or her from pursuing and completing elementary education.
(iii) It makes provisions for a non-admitted child to be admitted to an age appropriate class.
(iv) It specifies the duties and responsibilities of appropriate Governments, local authority
and parents in providing free and compulsory education, and sharing of financial and other
responsibilities between the Central and State Governments.
(v) It lays down the norms and standards relating inter alia to Pupil Teacher Ratios (PTRs),
buildings and infrastructure, school-working days, teacher-working hours.
(vi) It provides for rational deployment of teachers by ensuring that the specified pupil
teacher ratio is maintained for each school, rather than just as an average for the State or
District or Block, thus ensuring that there is no urban-rural imbalance in teacher postings. It
also provides for prohibition of deployment of teachers for non-educational work, other than
decennial census, elections to local authority, state legislatures and parliament, and disaster
relief.
(vii) It provides for appointment of appropriately trained teachers, i.e. teachers with the
requisite entry and academic qualifications.
(viii) It prohibits (a) physical punishment and mental harassment; (b) screening procedures
for admission of children; (c) capitation fee; (d) private tuition by teachers and (e) running of
schools without recognition,
(ix) It provides for development of curriculum in consonance with the values enshrined in the
Constitution, and which would ensure the all-round development of the child, building on the
childs knowledge, potentiality and talent and making the child free of fear, trauma and
anxiety through a system of child friendly and child centred learning.

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The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) 20 has been designated
as the agency to monitor provisions of the Act.This Act is an essential step towards improving
each child's accessibility to secondary and higher education. The Act also contains specific
provisions for disadvantaged groups, such as child labourers, migrant children, children with
special needs, or those who have a disadvantage owing to social, cultural, economical,
geographical, linguistic, gender or any such factor.
6.0. The SEXUAL HARASSMENT OF WOMEN AT WORKPLACE (PREVENTION,
PROHIBITION AND REDRESSAL) ACT, 201321
The Act ensures that women are protected against sexual harassment at all the work places,
be it in public or private. This will contribute to realisation of their right to gender equality,
life and liberty and equality in working conditions everywhere. The sense of security at the
workplace will improve women's participation in work, resulting in their economic
empowerment and inclusive growth.
6.1. SALIENT FEATURES OF THE ACT
The Act provides a definition of sexual harassment, which is as laid down by the Hon'ble
Supreme Court in Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan. 22 Additionally it recognises the promise or
threat to a woman's employment prospects or creation of hostile work environment as 'sexual
harassment' at workplace and expressly seeks to prohibit such acts.
The Act provides protection not only to women who are employed but also to any woman
who enters the workplace as a client, customer, apprentice, and daily wageworker or in adhoc capacity. Students, research scholars in colleges/university and patients in hospitals have
also been covered. Further, the Bill seeks to cover workplaces in the unorganised sectors.
6.2. COMPLAINT PROCEDURE
The Act provides for an effective complaints and redressal mechanism. Under the Act, every
employer is required to constitute an Internal Complaints Committee. Since a large number of
the establishments (41.2 million out of 41.83 million as per Economic Census, 2005) in our
country have less than 10 workers for whom it may not be feasible to set up an Internal
Complaints Committee (ICC). The Act provides for setting up of Local Complaints
Committee (LCC) to be constituted by the designated District Officer at the district or subdistrict levels, depending upon the need. This twin mechanism would ensure that women in
any workplace, irrespective of its size or nature, have access to a redressal mechanism. The
LCCs will enquire into the complaints of sexual harassment and recommend action to the
employer or District Officer.
Employers who fail to comply with the provisions of the Act will be punishable with a fine
which may extend to 50,000.
2020.
Original Website
National Commission for the
Protection
on:http://www.ncpcr.gov.in/child_rights.htm(visited on September 5, 2013).

of

Child

Rights,

2121. Published in The Gazette of India, Ministry of Law & Justice, Government of India (April 23, 2013).
2222. AIR 1997 SC3011.

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Available

Since there is a possibility that during the pendency of the enquiry the woman may be
subject to threat and aggression, she has been given the option to seek interim relief in the
form of transfer either of her own or the respondent or seek leave from work.
The Complaint Committees are required to complete the enquiry within 90 days and a period
of 60 days has been given to the employer/District Officer for implementation of the
recommendations of the Committee.
6.3. SAFEGUARD PROVIDED FOR MALICIOUS COMPLAINT
The Act provides for safeguards in case of false or malicious complaint of sexual harassment.
However, mere inability to substantiate the complaint or provide adequate proof would not
make the complainant liable for punishment.
Implementation of the Act will be the responsibility of the Central Government in case of its
own undertakings/establishments and of the State Governments in respect of every workplace
established, owned, controlled or wholly or substantially financed by it as well as of private
sector establishments falling within their territory. Besides, the State and Central
Governments will oversee implementation as the Act casts a duty on the Employers to
include a Report on the number of cases filed and disposed of in their Annual Report.
Organizations, which do not prepare Annual Reports, would forward this information to the
District Officer.
Through this implementation mechanism, every employer has the primary duty to implement
the provisions of law within his/her establishment while the State and Central Governments
have been made responsible for overseeing and ensuring overall implementation of the law.
The Governments will also be responsible for maintaining data on the implementation of the
Law. In this manner, the Act creates an elaborate system of reporting and checks and
balances, which will result in effective implementation of the Law.
7.0 CONCLUSION
More than sixty five years after independence, Indias development records are still not very
convincing. International economic and social indicators reveal the existing problems in
achieving basic needs for the majority of the population. In view of the stages of development
and preferences there may be differences between one Society and other on the issues of
perception of human needs. But the starting point of enquiries for basic needs is the field of
legal rights, human rights, social justice, individual liberty and equality etc. Food security no
longer is just a matter of production. There is enough food to allow a decent food supply for
all if evenly distributed. It is a social requirement of the body or the mind which is considered
essential for the maintenance of human life. The incidents of hunger, cold and heat exposure
deaths and increasing numbers of the marginalised and homeless in most of our metro
towns is an indicator that everything is not all-right with our legal system. More alarming is
the act of our learned communitys ability to live comfortably with all this social and moral
decadence.
8.0. BIBILIOGRAPHY

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PRIMARY SOURCES:
Constitution of India, 1950.
Universal Declaration of Human rights, 1948.
National Food Security Act, 2013.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2006.
THE Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizen Act, 2007.
Right to education Act, 2010.
The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and
Redressal) Act, 2013.
SECONDARY SOURCES:
V R Krishna Iyer, Law & Life 1 (Universal Law Publishing Co., Delhi, 2008).
M.P.Singh and Helmut Goerlichet.al. (eds.), Human Rights and Basic Needs
(Universal Law Publishing Co., Delhi, 2008).
UpendraBaxi, Law and Unmet Social Needs 1 Journal of NLU Delhi 1 (2013).

H.M.Seervai, Constitutional Law of India, 2, 1953 ( Universal Law Publishing Co.,

Delhi, 4th edn., 2008).

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T.Subbarao( Prof NLSIU), 2006 LRM PPT study material.

International Food Policy Research Institute et al., Global Hunger Index Report 19
(2012).
Arabi.U, Ramya H.D, Hurdles in implementing food security Act 12, vol.62, no.1
(Kurukshetra, November 2013).
ParthaSarathiAdhya, The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens
Act, 2007 19,Help Age India-Research & Development Journal 1(January 2013).
The Gazette of India, Ministry of Law & Justice, Government of India (April 23,
2013).
International Food Policy Research Institute et al., Global Hunger Index Report 19
(2012).
Austin, The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation, 50 (Clarendon Press,
Oxford, 1966).
Food Security Bill ill-timed The Economic Times, August 29, 2013.

JUDGEMENTS:
Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan,AIR 1997 SC3011.
kishanPattanayak v. State of Orissa, 1989, Suppl 1 SCC258.
D.S Nakara v. Union Of India,AIR 1983 SC 130.
WEBSITES:
http://www.ncpcr.gov.in/child_rights.
http://www.mhrd.gov.in/rte.
http://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/the-maintenance-and-welfare-of-parents-and-seniorcitizens-bill.
http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications.
http://www.ncpcr.gov.in/child_rights.

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