PUBLIC POLICY ANALYSIS SUBJECT CODE : 18MPA32C PREPARED BY : Dr.S. SUNDARARAJAN Asst professor DEPARTMENT : PG and Research Department Of Public Administration CONTACT NO : 9952337047 Material prepared according to textbook and reference books given in the syllabus. SYLLABUS 18MPA32C - PUBLIC POLICY ANALYSIS UNIT – 5 STATE LEVEL POLICY LANGUAGE POLICY Overview The Constitution, adopted in 1950, necessitated that English and Hindi be utilized for conducting the Union’s official business for a time of fifteen years [s. 343(2) and 343(3)]. After that time, Hindi should turn into the sole official dialect of the Union. It demonstrated difficult to supplant English with Hindi, in any case, in light of substantive restriction from the southern states, where Dravidian dialects were talked. They felt that the central government was attempting to force the entire nation to use Hindi, including the south, and chose to keep using English, which they thought was more “adequate” on the grounds that, much unlike Hindi, it was not connected with any specific ethnic culture. The Parliament, in 1963, passed the Official Languages Act, which lawfully settled Hindi and English as the dialects utilized as a part of Congress, while leaving states and domains to pick their own formal languages. In 1976, the Act was changed to formulate the Official Languages Rules, which, too, were revised in 1987. The Three Language Formula The three language formula is a policy that was formulated by the Education Ministry of the Indian government in the 1968 National Policy Resolution. It provides that in all government schools across India, there shall be three languages to be taught: English, as a mandate; Hindi, too, is compulsory, both in Hindi-speaking states and non-Hindi-speaking states; and finally, the third language is the local language of the region where the school is located. Language policy in India When we talk about the language policy of India, the first thing to be mentioned is the difference between the national language and the official language of a country. While national language refers to the language that is most widely used in cultural, political and in social realms, the official language refers to the language that is used for all of the government’s operations. The official language is pragmatic, wherein the national language is merely symbolic. Education policy and the language policy The Indian education system is multilingual in its character every sense of the word. Primary schools in Mumbai run in nine different languages, and those in Karnataka and West Bengal run in eight and fourteen languages respectively.[6] Most states, as was the goal of the education policy makers at the time of Independence, have their aim as developing and strengthening the multilingual characters of the system. TAMILNADU STATE LANGUAGE POLICY The first recommendation for a three-language policy was made by the University Education Commission in 1948–49, which did not find the requirement to study three languages to be an extravagance, citing the precedents of other multilingual nations such as Belgium and Switzerland. While accepting that Modern Standard Hindi was itself a minority language, and had no superiority over others such as Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi, Malayalam, and Gujarati all of which had a longer history and greater body of literature, the commission still foresaw Hindi as eventually replacing English as the means by which every Indian state may participate in the Federal functions. RESERVATION POLICY Reservation Policy in India is a process of reserving certain percentage of seats (maximum 50%) for a certain class such as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Backward classes, etc. in Government educational institutions, government jobs, etc. Reservation Policy in Pre- Independence Era The award brought in criticism from Mahatma Gandhi but was strongly supported by Dr. BR Ambedkar and other minority groups. As a result, of the hunger strike by Mahatma Gandhi and widespread revolt against the award, the Poona Pact of 1932 came into being which brought in a single general electorate for each of the seats of British India and new Central Legislatures. The stamping of the provisions of Poona Pact, 1932 were done in The Government of India Act of 1935 where reservation of seats for depressed classes was allotted. This was the scenario before the independence of India. Post- Independence Era Post- Independence the scenario changed and the reservation policy gained even more momentum than the pre-independence era. The Constituent assembly chaired by Dr. B.R Ambedkar framed the reservation policy and many Articles in the Indian Constitution were dedicated for the same. Article 15(4) – Special Provision for Advancement of Backward Classes- Constitution (93rd amendment) Act, 2006: Provision for Reservation of Backward, SC and ST classes in private educational institutions (article 15(5)) Reservation of posts in public employment on the basis of residence (Article 16(3))[6] Article 16(3) is an exception to clause 2 of Article 16 which forbids discrimination on the ground of residence. However, there may be good reasons for reserving certain posts in State for residents only. This article empowers Parliament to regulate by law the extent to which it would be permissible for a state to depart from the above principle. Other Articles of Indian Constitution covering the Reservation Policy Article 17 talks about the abolition of untouchability and declares its practice in any form to be an offense punishable under law. The Social Security Charter of Directive Principles of State Policy under Article 39- A directs the State to ensure equal justice and free legal aid to Economically Backward Classes and under Article 45 imposes a duty on the state to raise the standards of living and health of backward classes. Articles 330-342 talk about the special provisions for the certain class of people such as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Anglo –Indians, Linguistic minorities and OBC. The relevance of Article 335 The article serves as a guiding principle to the State in performing its duties under it without restricting the claims of the SCs and STs. 85th Amendment Act replaces the words “in matters of promotion to any class” in clause 4- A of Article 16 with words “in matters of promotion, with consequential seniority, to any class.” Why is reservation important in India? The concept of reservation was introduced to combat a long-existing practice of discrimination and stereotyping within the rural Hindu communities, which were divided into castes. Some castes were ranked as higher up, and the others were low-tier, with the former often discriminating against the latter. Legal Sense The discrimination faced by these marginalized groups was indicative of the constant oppression faced by them, dealt out by those considered to be of a ‘higher’ class than them. Socio-Cultural Sense To discuss further into the social and cultural background of casteism and reservation, we have to clearly establish the varna system in the Hindu religion, consisting of the Brahmins, the Kshatriyas, and Vaishyas originally. A fourth sect by the name of Shudras also developed who existed as cleaners, meant to serve the three ‘higher’ sects. Debate on Reservation While reservation has been an integral part of the Indian legal system for a long time, in recent times, its necessity has come under scrutiny. While people are not against the idea of reservation, it is the prevalence of caste-based reservation that stirs up controversy. Suggestions and Solutions Reservation benefits, if provided, should be restricted to a maximum of two children per family, regardless of the number of children they may have, which would help in regulating the population of OBCs which will eventually result in a decrease in their representation, giving way to the principle of equality. The Road Ahead Reservation and quotas are interrelated mechanisms. Without assigned reservations, a quota cannot exist. Reservation is the act of setting a part of something aside for a specific purpose. A quota for a reservation dictates how much of that particular thing will be set aside in accordance with the reservation. SOCIAL WELFARE POLICY OF INDIA The Directive Principles of State Policy, enshrined in Part IV of the Indian Constitution reflects that India is a welfare state. Seats are reserved for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in government jobs, educational institutions, Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha. The government has passed laws for the abolition of untouchability, Begar and Zamindari. Food security to all Indians are guaranteed under the National Food Security Act, 2013 where the government provides food grains to people at a very subsidised rate. Budget As of 2020, the government's expenditure on social programme and welfare (direct cash transfers, financial inclusion, benefits, health and other insurances, subsidies, free school meals, rural employment guarantee), was approximately 14 lakh crore rupees ($ 192 billion), which was 7.3 % of gross domestic product (GDP).[3] Aadhar It is a 12-digit unique identity number that can be obtained voluntarily by residents or passport holders of India, based on their biometric and demographic data. The data is collected by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), a statutory authority established in January 2009 by the government of India, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, following the provisions of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, benefits and services) Act, 2016.[4] Aadhaar is the world's largest biometric ID system. World Bank Chief Economist Paul Romer described Aadhaar as "the most sophisticated ID programme in the world".[5]The government of India uses this unique identification number to distribute social security and welfare measures to its citizens. FEDERAL POLICY This section covers some of the social programmes and welfare measures in place in India at the federal level.