UPPCS Mains
2026 Edition
General Studies Paper II
Smart Notes
Social Justice
4
Chapters
17
Topics
46
Figures & Maps
15
Tables
What's Inside
- 01Social Justice, the Welfare State and Disadvantaged Groups
- 02Vulnerable Groups by Gender, Age and Disability
- 03Health, Education and Human Resources
- 04Poverty, Hunger and Food Security
notes-cafe.com
The Nxt Gen Study OS
Based on NCERT, Standard Books references, Keywords from Syllabus and Previous Year question Papers
UPPCS Mains · Smart Notes
Disclaimer
This eBook has been prepared by NotesCafe solely for examination preparation and general educational guidance for UPPCS and other competitive examinations.
The content is based on the latest syllabus and previous year questions of UPPCS and other competitive examinations, and has been prepared with reference to standard textbooks, NCERT, government publications, official reports and other reliable public sources. Every effort has been made to keep the information accurate and up to date at the time of publication. Even so, errors, omissions or inaccuracies may remain. Facts, data, laws, schemes and policies may also change after publication.
- The author, the publisher and NotesCafe shall not be responsible or liable for any loss, damage or inconvenience caused to any person acting, or refraining from acting, on the basis of any material in this eBook.
- This eBook is a study aid. It is not a substitute for the official notification, the syllabus issued by the commission, or original sources. Readers should verify important facts from official sources such as commission notifications, the Gazette and government websites.
- Answers and explanations of previous year questions are based on the author's understanding and the information available. If there is any difference, the official answer key released by the commission shall prevail.
- NotesCafe does not guarantee selection, any specific marks or any result in any examination.
- Names of examinations, commissions and organisations are used for reference only. NotesCafe is not affiliated with or endorsed by UPPSC, UPSC or any government body.
- If you notice any error, please write to us at support@notes-cafe.com so that it can be corrected in the next edition.
Copyright & Licence
© 2026 NotesCafe. All rights reserved.
This eBook is licensed to the purchaser for personal, non-commercial use only. No part of it may be reproduced, copied, stored, shared, forwarded, uploaded to any website, Telegram/WhatsApp group or cloud drive, resold or distributed in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopy, screenshot, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. Removing the NotesCafe watermark or branding is also prohibited.
Unauthorised copying, sharing or sale is an infringement of copyright under the Copyright Act, 1957, and may also attract action under the Information Technology Act, 2000. NotesCafe reserves the right to take legal action and to suspend the account of any user found involved in piracy.
All disputes are subject to the jurisdiction of the courts at Lucknow only.
UPPCS Mains · Smart Notes
Contents
Social Justice · General Studies Paper II
- 01Social Justice, the Welfare State and Disadvantaged Groups5 topics
- 1.1Social Justice and the Welfare State: Welfare Schemes for Vulnerable Sections, Performance and Challenges
- 1.2Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes: Safeguards, Commissions and Affirmative Action
- 1.3Scheduled Tribes: Forest Rights, PVTGs and Tribal Welfare
- 1.4Minorities: Safeguards, Institutions and Welfare
- 1.5Workers and the Unorganised Sector: Labour Codes and Social Security
- 02Vulnerable Groups by Gender, Age and Disability5 topics
- 03Health, Education and Human Resources3 topics
- 04Poverty, Hunger and Food Security4 topics
Chapter 01
Social Justice, the Welfare State and Disadvantaged Groups
Topic 1
Social Justice and the Welfare State: Welfare Schemes for Vulnerable Sections, Performance and Challenges
Chapter Overview
This chapter covers social justice and the welfare state in India and four disadvantaged groups: Scheduled Castes and backward classes, Scheduled Tribes, minorities and workers of the unorganised sector. Social protection now reaches 64.3% of the population (2025) and the four Labour Codes came into force on 21 November 2025, yet many of the poorest still miss their benefits.
Topic 1 sets out the meaning and constitutional basis of the welfare state, its schemes and bodies, their performance and the challenges of implementation. Topics 2 to 4 apply this frame to SCs and backward classes, Scheduled Tribes and minorities through their status, safeguards and schemes. Topic 5 turns to workers, the widest vulnerable group, and the Labour Codes and social security that now govern their work.
Topic Flow
- 1Social Justice and the Welfare State
- applied first to
- 2Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes
- then to
- 3Scheduled Tribes
- and to
- 4Minorities
- and finally, by livelihood, to
- 5Workers and the Unorganised Sector
General government spending on social services rose to 7.9% of GDP in FY26 (BE), from 6.8% in FY19 (Economic Survey 2025-26). Social justice means fair access to education, health, work and dignity for every group, and a welfare state secures it through redistributive policy rooted in the Directive Principles.
Meaning of Social Justice and the Welfare State
- Social justice: combines equity in need-based distribution, inclusion by removing barriers, gender justice and dignity, so that social empowerment widens agency and participation; e.g. Ambedkar: "A just society is one in which ascending sense of reverence and descending sense of contempt is dissolved".
- Vulnerability and intersectionality: vulnerability, proneness to harm from structural and group-based disadvantage, once meant SCs, STs and OBCs and now covers more excluded groups; e.g. women, children, elderly, PwDs, transgender persons (NALSA, 2014), LGBTQ+ persons (Navtej Singh Johar, 2018), migrants (see Ch 2); a Dalit woman faces triple marginalisation.
- Many-sided deprivation: vulnerable groups face economic (wage gaps), social (violence), educational (dropouts), health and political deficits, rooted in caste, patriarchy and regional imbalance; e.g. MMR 88 per lakh live births (SRS 2021-23); child stunting 29.3% (NFHS-6, 2023-24).
- Constitutional basis: the Preamble promises social, economic and political justice, and Articles 14–17 and 21 give equality, end untouchability and protect life with dignity; e.g. Maneka Gandhi (1978) widened Article 21 to dignity and Olga Tellis v. Bombay Municipal Corporation (1985) linked it to livelihood (see GS-2 Polity Ch 2, Topics 3 and 4).
- DPSP as welfare charter: Articles 38, 39, 41 and 46 direct the State to secure a just social order, livelihood, public assistance and the interests of weaker sections; e.g. Article 41: right to work, education and public assistance in unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement (see GS-2 Polity Ch 2, Topic 6).
- Inclusive growth and social infrastructure: trickle-down growth left income inequality and regional imbalance, so the State builds education, health, housing and sanitation to raise human capital; e.g. Samagra Shiksha (2018), PMAY (2015), Swachh Bharat Mission (2014); SDG India Index 2023-24 State scores ranged from 57 to 79.
Table 1.1 Common ground: each body monitors safeguards and inquires into complaints; the three constitutional commissions have civil-court powers and report to the President.
| Body | Basis | Status | Covered in |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) | Article 338; separated by the 89th Amendment (2003) | Constitutional | Topic 2 |
| National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) | Article 338A (89th Amendment, 2003) | Constitutional | Topic 3 |
| National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) | Article 338B (102nd Amendment, 2018) | Constitutional | Topic 2 |
| National Commission for Women (NCW) | NCW Act, 1990 | Statutory | Ch 2, Topic 1 |
| National Commission for Minorities (NCM) | NCM Act, 1992 | Statutory | Topic 4 |
| National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) | CPCR Act, 2005 | Statutory | Ch 2, Topic 3 |
| National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) | Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 | Statutory | GS-2 Polity Ch 10, Topic 3 |
Welfare Architecture and Its Performance
- Rising social spending: social services took 26.6% of general government expenditure in FY26 (BE) and grew at a 12% compound rate from FY22; e.g. Economic Survey 2025-26: 7.0% of GDP in FY24 and 7.9% in FY26 (BE).
- Social protection coverage: the share of people covered by social protection systems has nearly tripled within a decade; e.g. 64.3% in 2025 against 22% in 2016 (Economic Survey 2025-26); over 94 crore people (ILOSTAT, 2025).
- Food and health security: free foodgrains and cashless hospital care now protect most poor households against hunger and costly hospital bills; e.g. PMGKAY for about 81.35 crore people, extended for five years from 1 January 2024; PM-JAY funded 10.98 crore admissions by December 2025 (see Ch 3, Topic 2; Ch 4, Topic 4).
- Poverty and SDG outcomes: multidimensional poverty fell sharply and SDG scores rose as schemes for basic services reached the poor; e.g. 24.82 crore people left multidimensional poverty, 29.17% (2013-14) to 11.28% (2022-23) (NITI Aayog, 2024); SDG India Index 71 in 2023-24 against 57 in 2018.
- Financial inclusion and DBT: bank accounts and direct transfers move benefits straight to beneficiaries, cutting out middlemen and leakages; e.g. PM Jan Dhan Yojana (2014); 2.5 crore NSAP pensioners Aadhaar-linked for DBT (PIB, 2025) (see GS-2 Governance Ch 1, Topic 5).
- Institutional machinery: ministries implement schemes, NITI Aayog tracks outcomes, PRIs deliver at the last mile, and MIS and social audits monitor performance; e.g. NITI Aayog’s SDG India Index and MPI; Gram Sabha social audit (see GS-2 Polity Ch 8, Topic 1).
Table 1.2 Group-specific schemes (scholarships, PM-JANMAN, PM VIKAS, e-Shram) are in Topics 2 to 5.
| Scheme | Year | Target group and benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), now Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 | 1975 | Children under six, pregnant and lactating women: nutrition, pre-school |
| National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) | 1995 | Poor elderly, widows and PwDs: monthly pensions |
| National Health Mission (NHM) | 2005 (NRHM); 2013 | Rural and urban poor: public health services |
| MGNREGA, now the VB-G RAM G Act, 2025 | 2005; replaced from 1 July 2026 | Rural households: 100, now 125 days of wage work (see Ch 4, Topic 3) |
| NFSA and PMGKAY | 2013; 2020 | Up to 75% of rural and 50% of urban people: subsidised, now free grain |
| PM Jan Dhan Yojana | 2014 | Unbanked households: bank accounts and insurance |
| Swachh Bharat Mission | 2014 | All households: toilets and sanitation |
| PMAY (Urban and Gramin) | 2015–16 | Houseless and kutcha-house families: pucca houses |
| Samagra Shiksha | 2018 | School children from pre-school to Class XII |
| Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY | 2018 | About 12 crore poor families and all aged 70+: ₹5 lakh cover a year |
Challenges in Implementing Welfare Schemes
- Targeting errors: inclusion and exclusion errors persist, leaving out needy households and including better-off ones, because beneficiary lists rest on old population and survey data; e.g. Supreme Court (July 2022): NFSA coverage still based on Census 2011, Centre asked to re-determine it under Section 9 of the 2013 Act.
- Leakages and weak data: corruption, ghost entries and poorly validated databases divert benefits away from the intended groups; e.g. CAG audit of PM-JAY (Report No. 11 of 2023): 7.49 lakh beneficiaries linked to one invalid mobile number.
- Awareness and digital exclusion: many eligible people do not know their entitlements, and biometric, network or literacy barriers shut out the old and remote; e.g. ePoS devices at 99.8% of ration shops (DFPD, 2025) rely on Aadhaar authentication, which can fail for manual workers and the elderly (see GS-2 Governance Ch 1, Topic 5).
- Fragmentation and overlap: many small schemes run by separate ministries for overlapping groups spread funds thin and confuse beneficiaries; e.g. separate scholarship schemes and portals for SCs, STs, OBCs and minorities.
- Fiscal burden: rising subsidies and cash transfers compete with spending on schools, hospitals and infrastructure; e.g. RBI (2022): freebies cost States 0.1–2.7% of GSDP in 2022-23 (see Ch 4, Topic 2).
- Social and administrative barriers: caste and gender bias at delivery points and weak frontline capacity reduce what schemes actually deliver; e.g. Second ARC (2005–2009) urged citizen-centric administration to fix weak capacity.
Welfare State: Rights or Doles?
Welfare spending is debated because the same transfer can be read as a right that builds capability or as a dole that strains budgets and weakens incentives.
- Rights view: dignity and capability: legal entitlements to food, work and education treat welfare as a right that builds human capital; e.g. NFSA, 2013 after the PUCL right-to-food case (2001); RTE Act, 2009; MGNREGA, 2005, replaced by the VB-G RAM G Act, 2025 from 1 July 2026.
- Rights view: stability and legitimacy: social security cushions households against shocks, reduces unrest and strengthens trust in democratic institutions; e.g. free grain under PMGKAY for about 80 crore people from April 2020 during the Covid-19 lockdown.
- Dole view: dependency and cost: critics argue that unconditional handouts may create a dependency syndrome, weaken work incentives and crowd out investment in schools and roads; e.g. RBI Bulletin (June 2022) separated merit goods such as PDS and education from freebies such as free power and loan waivers (see Ch 4, Topic 2).
Way Forward
- Fresh data for targeting: use the next Census and linked databases to update beneficiary lists and NFSA coverage; e.g. Census 2027 (reference date 1 March 2027) with caste enumeration; Rangarajan Expert Group (2014) on poverty lines (see Ch 4, Topic 1).
- Saturation and convergence: reach every eligible household through outreach and data analytics, and merge overlapping schemes into one window for each group; e.g. Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra (2023-24) for scheme saturation; DAJGUA joins 25 interventions of 17 ministries (see Topic 3); SDG 1 target on social protection for all.
- Accountability for outcomes: monitor outcomes rather than spending, with social audits by Gram Sabhas and time-bound grievance redress; e.g. SDG India Index; CPGRAMS; social audit and the Aspirational Districts Programme (2018), which ranks 112 districts on outcome indicators (see GS-2 Governance Ch 1, Topic 1); Punchhi Commission (2010) on decentralised delivery.
Without social justice, growth remains incomplete; accurate targeting and accountable, rights-based delivery are the route to SDG 1 and SDG 10.
Based on NCERT, Standard Books references, Keywords from Syllabus and Previous Year question Papers
Topic 2
Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes: Safeguards, Commissions and Affirmative Action
Among these vulnerable sections, Scheduled Castes number 20.14 crore, 16.6% of the population (Census 2011). They are communities that historically faced untouchability and caste-based exclusion, while Other Backward Classes are socially and educationally backward classes not subjected to untouchability.
Status of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes
- Untouchability and atrocities: caste-based violence and untouchability practices persist, so relief to victims remains a large recurring task; e.g. relief proposed for about 87,426 atrocity victims and incentives for 26,056 inter-caste couples in FY26 till December 2025 (Economic Survey 2025-26).
- Manual scavenging: hazardous caste-linked cleaning work continues despite the ban because of stigma, lack of other jobs and weak enforcement; e.g. 89,104 sewer and septic-tank workers validated and profiled under NAMASTE (Economic Survey 2025-26).
- Economic, educational and political gaps: SCs depend on informal jobs, own little land and lag in higher education, while reserved seats bring limited real influence; e.g. SC GER in higher education 27.8% against 30.0% overall (AISHE 2023-24); digital divide in online learning.
- Backward classes: OBC benefits are unevenly shared among castes, and no full caste count has been published since the 1931 Census; e.g. Justice Rohini Commission on sub-categorising OBCs; Census 2027 to enumerate caste (decided 30 April 2025).
Constitutional and Legal Safeguards
- PCR and PoA Acts: Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 punishes untouchability; SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, amended 2015 and 2018, sets up special courts; e.g. Section 18A (2018) bars anticipatory bail; added after Subhash Kashinath Mahajan (2018) diluted arrest rules and upheld in Prathvi Raj Chauhan (2020).
- Ban on manual scavenging: the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 bans the work and mandates rehabilitation of those freed; e.g. Safai Karamchari Andolan (2014): an Article 21 issue, ₹10 lakh compensation; Balram Singh (2023) raised sewer-death compensation to ₹30 lakh.
- Commissions and lists: the NCSC (Article 338) and NCBC (Article 338B) hear complaints with civil-court powers, but their advice is not binding; e.g. only Parliament can alter the SC list (Tanti-Tantwa case, July 2024); the 105th Amendment (2021), after the Maratha quota judgment, restored States’ own backward-class lists.
Table 1.3 Articles 15–16, Indra Sawhney (1992), M. Nagaraj (2006) and the EWS quota (Janhit Abhiyan, 2022): see GS-2 Polity Ch 2, Topic 3.
| Article | Safeguard |
|---|---|
| 15(4), 16(4) | Special provisions and reservation in posts for SCs, STs and backward classes |
| 16(4A) | Reservation in promotion for SCs and STs (77th Amendment, 1995) |
| 17 | Abolition of untouchability |
| 46 | Educational and economic interests of SCs, STs and weaker sections |
| 330, 332 | Reserved seats in Lok Sabha and State Assemblies |
| 335 | Claims to posts, consistent with efficiency of administration |
| 338 | NCSC; separated from the joint SC/ST commission (89th Amendment, 2003) |
| 338B | NCBC (102nd Amendment, 2018): civil-court powers, annual report; cannot define backwardness, no rule on expert members |
| 340 | Commission on backward classes (Kalelkar 1953, Mandal 1979) |
| 341, 342A | President’s SC list, altered only by Parliament; Central list of backward classes (105th Amendment, 2021) |
Schemes beyond Quotas and Their Performance
- Scholarships: scholarships and coaching support carry SC and OBC students into higher education and premier institutions; e.g. Post-Matric Scholarship for SCs: 34.42 lakh students and ₹4,370 crore central share in FY26 till December 2025; SHREYAS for 1,495 students in premier institutions.
- PM-AJAY (2021-22): turns SC-majority villages into model villages and funds hostels and skilling for SC youth; e.g. 2,611 villages declared Adarsh Gram and 3 hostels sanctioned in FY26 till December 2025 (Economic Survey 2025-26).
- Enterprise and dignity of labour: bank credit for SC and women entrepreneurs, OBC finance and mechanised sanitation aim at livelihoods with dignity; e.g. Stand-Up India (2016); NBCFDC loans; NAMASTE (July 2023) gave 45,871 PPE kits to sewer workers by August 2025.
Affirmative Action: Gains and Gaps
Reservation has widened representation, but whether its benefits reach the worst-off within each group is debated in courts and politics.
- Gain: representation and mobility: quotas in jobs, education and legislatures have helped create an SC and OBC middle class and social mobility; e.g. reserved seats in Lok Sabha and State Assemblies (Articles 330, 332); 27% OBC quota after the Mandal report.
- Gap: capture within groups: better-off sub-castes corner much of the benefit, which States may now correct by sub-classification; e.g. Davinder Singh (1 August 2024, 6:1) allowed SC sub-classification on empirical data, overruling E.V. Chinnaiah (2004).
- Gap: creamy layer, merit and politics: four judges in Davinder Singh urged a creamy-layer test for SCs and STs, while merit and political-mobilisation debates continue; e.g. four-judge view as reported by Verdictum (August 2024); OBC creamy-layer limit set at ₹8 lakh a year in 2017, a concept from Indra Sawhney (1992).
Way Forward
- Data-driven policy: use Census 2027 caste data and empirical studies to target benefits and justify any sub-classification; e.g. Davinder Singh: no State may reserve all SC seats for one sub-group.
- Capability beyond quotas: move from reservation alone to education, skills and enterprise so that the next generation can compete; e.g. SHREYAS, Stand-Up India; skilling (see Ch 3, Topic 1); SDG 10 target on inclusion of all.
- Dignity and enforcement: speedy special courts under the PoA Act and fully mechanised sewer cleaning can end the worst caste injustices; e.g. NAMASTE covered 54,140 sanitation workers under AB-PMJAY or State health schemes by August 2025.
Social justice for SCs and backward classes must secure dignity, opportunity and real equality, not representation alone, in line with SDG 10.
Based on NCERT, Standard Books references, Keywords from Syllabus and Previous Year question Papers