Day 18 – Q 1.What do you understand by the term ‘vulnerability’ in the socio-economic context? Why do different groups become vulnerable? What do they become vulnerable to? Analyse

1. What do you understand by the term ‘vulnerability’ in the socio-economic context? Why do different groups become vulnerable? What do they become vulnerable to? Analyse 

सामाजिक-आर्थिक संदर्भ में ‘भेद्यता’ शब्द से आप क्या समझते हैं? विभिन्न समूह भेद्य क्यों होते हैं? वे किसके प्रति भेद्य हो जाते हैं? विश्लेषण करें।

Introduction:

Vulnerability refers to individual or group of people exposed to the risk of facing hardships due to prevailing socio-economic factors in the form of social exclusion, abuse, exploitation and other.

Vulnerable groups include women, old-age, disabled, Dalits, children, tribal, religious-linguistic minorities, transgender.

Body:

Different groups become vulnerable due to number of factors:

• Prevailing societal factors where certain section enjoys privileges and dominant status while others are subjugated to various discriminations who to an extent have accepted or internalized present conditions as just.

Ex: subordination of women to men and confining them to home.

     Discrimination against untouchables.

      Stigmatizing LGBT community.

• Diversity: people are emotionally attached to their language, religion, region, customs. This makes people from other socio-cultural background susceptible in different parts of country.

Ex: Attack on north-eastern people in Delhi.

     Incidents of lynching people in the name of cow-protection.

     People from UP, Bihar seen with suspicion in southern India.

• Isolation from mainstream society resulting lower awareness about world makes tribal’s vulnerable. Decreasing forest cover has made them further susceptible.
• Economic reason: old-age and disabled people being seen as economically burden on family.
• Lack of political representation, lack of political unity and consensus hardly gets their concerns addressed. Ex: pending of women reservation bill, 2010.

These factors result into discrimination, socio-economic exploitation, abuse. Vulnerable group are denied their basic rights like Education (21A), Health, livelihood (A-39) preventing them reaching their true potential and live dignified life.

Ex:

Women: Lack of reproductive rights , undernourishment(MMR- 130) Labour force participation low(24.7), wage-gap, glass ceiling, parliamentary representation around just 11%

Transgenders: Hardly get employed formally and are involved in informal works with poor working conditions.

Tribals: lower education levels, loopholes in implementation of FRA, exploitation by middlemen

Children: Forced labour, trafficking

Conclusion:

Government of India has taken group specific measures to address concerns of vulnerable. Real development is achieved when access and opportunity to resources is broad based especially to vulnerable. DPSPs shall guide us in this direction.