Law Social Engineering
LAW AS A TOOL FOR SOCIAL ENGINEERING IN INDIA
KARANDEEP MAKKAR1
Roscoe Pound introduced the doctrine of “Social Engineering” which aims at building an efficient structure of society which would result in the satisfaction of maximum of wants with the minimum of friction and waste. It involved the rebalancing of competing interests. This article analyses the role of legislations, constitutional provisions and court judgements in the process of social engineering in India.
Introduction
India, known around the world as a “cradle of civilizations” has always been a queer mixture of various faiths, religions, a place where the cultures of the world meet, constituting an environment of composite culture. It was for this reason that Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru called India the “the museum of world religions”. Indeed, the very paradigmatic setting of India
has been pluralist all along. Even today the land mass
called India, spread over 3.28 million sq km of area inhabited by a thousand million plus population, with every imaginable kind of a weather pattern from minus 40 degree
Celsius in greater Himalayan region to 50 degree Celsius temperature in the deserts of
Rajasthan and temperate weather of coastal regions, 20 official languages written in 16 different scripts, around 2000 dialects, 16 well demarcated agro-climatic zones2 and almost all religions of the world well and adequately represented, presents a mind boggling variety and plurality. And all this has a bearing on India’s liberal, secular, republican, politico-legal system. Under these conditions, it becomes very necessary to have a mechanism for balancing the interests of the individuals, society and the state.
India, after independence, adopted the ideal of a socialistic pattern of society and has formulated programmes of social welfare in various spheres. The aim is to establish a social order which would eradicate exploitation, secure equal opportunities for all citizens, ensure that
KARANDEEP MAKKAR1
Roscoe Pound introduced the doctrine of “Social Engineering” which aims at building an efficient structure of society which would result in the satisfaction of maximum of wants with the minimum of friction and waste. It involved the rebalancing of competing interests. This article analyses the role of legislations, constitutional provisions and court judgements in the process of social engineering in India.
Introduction
India, known around the world as a “cradle of civilizations” has always been a queer mixture of various faiths, religions, a place where the cultures of the world meet, constituting an environment of composite culture. It was for this reason that Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru called India the “the museum of world religions”. Indeed, the very paradigmatic setting of India
has been pluralist all along. Even today the land mass
called India, spread over 3.28 million sq km of area inhabited by a thousand million plus population, with every imaginable kind of a weather pattern from minus 40 degree
Celsius in greater Himalayan region to 50 degree Celsius temperature in the deserts of
Rajasthan and temperate weather of coastal regions, 20 official languages written in 16 different scripts, around 2000 dialects, 16 well demarcated agro-climatic zones2 and almost all religions of the world well and adequately represented, presents a mind boggling variety and plurality. And all this has a bearing on India’s liberal, secular, republican, politico-legal system. Under these conditions, it becomes very necessary to have a mechanism for balancing the interests of the individuals, society and the state.
India, after independence, adopted the ideal of a socialistic pattern of society and has formulated programmes of social welfare in various spheres. The aim is to establish a social order which would eradicate exploitation, secure equal opportunities for all citizens, ensure that