MEANING OF EQUALITY

The term ‘equality’ has been interpreted by Article 14 of the Indian Constitution where principles
regarding equality before law and equal protection of laws have been mentioned.

Equality before law advocates for similar treatment to everyone in every circumstance/s. It is
somewhat a negative concept and reflects the concept of Rule of Law given by AV Dicey. It prohibits
any special privilege to anyone or any class of the society. (This is formal equality as well)

Equal Protection of Laws, on the other hand, talks about the concept of ‘likes should be treated alike’
and is a positive concept. Positive, in the sense that it allows discrimination based on justified grounds.
The grounds so taken are based on the principles of natural justice and reaffirm the concept of
affirmative action. For e.g. reservation system adopted in India and highlighted in The Constitution in
form of Articles 15 and 16. (This is substantive equality)

LEGAL AND FACTUAL EQUALITY

Legal Equality – It is theoretical in nature and advocates for similar treatment based on justified
grounds. The concept gives on-paper recognition to equality and demands the society to follow the
principles of equality in a literal and true sense. It is based on legal notions which may or may not be
practical in real life. In other words, legal equality means and includes principles that Constitution and
the government wants their citizens to follow in a nation. Anything which is within the defined
theoretical limits of any statutory law or the Constitution of a nation comes under Legal Equality. It is
a set of rules and regulations that aim to bring every section of the society on the same platform and
thereby ensure justice to all of them. For e.g. the principle given in Article 14 of the Indian
Constitution.

Factual Equality- It is a practical concept which says that equality should not only be seen on papers,
but in practical life as well. In other words, it is a subsidiary of legal equality but wants the authorities
to enforce equality in true sense. It works on the principle that ‘equality (justice) should not only be
done, but it should seem to be done’. For e.g. if Articles 15 and 16 talk about reservation to the
socially and Educationally Backward class of citizens, it should be seem to be implemented on ground
in a proper manner. Factual here means related to ‘facts’ and ‘practicality’. Anything which is not easy
to be implemented on ground cannot become part of factual equality. For e.g., giving money to every
citizen who is living in India. This is something which is not practically achievable and more
importantly, it will degrade the value of currency.

So, the basic difference between legal and factual equality is that the former talks about a purely
theoretical concept and advocates for similar treatment highlighting the demands of the framers of the

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Constitution and the latter brings in possibilities and factual scenario/s for implementing equality in
true letter and spirit.

CONSEQUENCES OF INEQUALITY/DIVISION IN INDIA

1) Inequalities tend to produce social conflict among the social groups e.g. caste groups like
Jats, Maratha, Patels are demanding reservations but this demand is opposed by caste groups
already claiming the benefits of reservations, such clash of interest due to perceived
inequality tend to produce violent conflicts between opposing caste groups.
2) Inequalities among ethnic groups have led to various ethnic movements demanding separate
states or autonomous regions or even outright secession from India. North East has been
rocked by numerous such ethnic movements. For e.g. by Nagas for greater Nagalim etc.
3) Religious inequality tends to generate feeling of exclusion among religious minority groups.
This reduces their participation in mainstream, and in India, religious minorities have large
population and their economic exclusion compromises the GDP growth of nation as whole.
4) Poor development indicators like IMR, MMR, low per capita income, lower education and
learning outcomes at schools, high rate of population growth can be traced to existing socio-
economic inequalities.
5) High economic inequality is detrimental to public healthcare and education. Upper and
middle classes do not have vested interest in well-functioning public healthcare and
education as they have means to access private healthcare and education.

INEQUALITY IN INDIA BEFORE INDEPENDENCE AND STEPS TAKEN FOR ITS REMOVAL

Inequality can be broadly classified in to:

1) Economic inequality: Economic inequality is the unequal distribution of income

and opportunity between individuals or different groups in society.

unevenly based on norms of a society that creates specific patterns along lines of
socially defined categories e.g. religion, kinship, prestige, race, caste, ethnicity,
gender etc. have different access to resources of power, prestige and wealth
depending on the norms of a society.

Both these categories are deeply intertwined and inequality of one type affects the inequality in
another. For e.g. Social Inequality due to gender have large impact on income of women. In
patriarchal societies large gender wage gap tends to exist.

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Economic inequality is a major problem even in today’s India and that is the biggest reason of
bringing the 103rd Constitution Amendment (2019) in India which talks about 10 percent reservation
for the members of unreserved category. Before independence, India failed to take prolific steps for
removing economic inequality because more or less, everyone was trying to free the nation from
Britishers.

Indian reformers as well as the government took steps to remove inequality in India by laying down
the foundation of developmental projects and schemes. Initially, before independence, Mahatma
Gandhi coined the word, ‘Harijan’ for the people coming from the underprivileged section of the
society advocating for their self-respect and the right to live in the society and Dr. B R Ambedkar
played an important role in laying down the foundation of reservation for socially and educationally
backward class if the society in the Indian Constitution.

Needless to emphasize the fact that the members of SC, ST and OBC community were not given due
respect and therefore it was necessary to bring them in the main stream by giving them certain benefits
and privileges so that their status is lifted.