Socio-Religious Awakening in the 19th century (Part-II)

Important reformers of the 19^th century

            As discussed in the previous article on the subject, India underwent a socio-religious awakening in the 19^th century. These reform movements took place all over the country. Some facts about the important reformers/reform movements of the period are as under:

Raja Ram Mohun Roy and Brahmo Samaj

Raja Rammohan Roy was the first person who took up the issue of social reforms in the Indian society in the 19^th century. He has been called the “Father of Modern India” and “Father of Indian Renaissance”. Raja Rammohan Roy was born in 1772 in Bengal. He was a multilingual scholar with knowledge of Bengali, Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit and English. Though proud of India’s cultural heritage he was opposed to various evil practices associated with the religion. He strongly opposed sati, enforced widowhood, child marriage and caste system. During course of his campaign he published a number of pamphlets, books and magazines. In 1818 and 1819 he published his famous pamphlets on sati. In 1821 he started a newspaper ‘Sambad Kaumudi’ in which he published a number of articles on various social issues.

Rammohan Roy was a strong believer in monotheism and an omnipresent God who is one and undivided. He established Atmiya Sabha in 1815 to facilitate discourses on these issues. Brahma Samaj was founded in 1828 which preached the worship of one God. In 1830 he was sent by the Mughal Emperor to England to petition for an increase in his allowances where after persistent lobbying he was able to persuade the British Government to increase the stipend of Mughal Emperor by 30,000 pounds a year. However, he fell ill and was buried in Bristol on 27^th September 1833.

Contribution of Rammohan Roy in the development of a modern Indian is immense. In the words of Tagore, ‘he inaugurated the modern age in India”. His most important campaign was against sati practice and his persistent efforts were one of the reasons for the sati practice being banned by Lord William Bentick by enacting Bengal Sati Regulation Act of 1829.

Devendra Nath Tagore and Keshub Chandra Sen were two other important leaders of Brahmo Samaj. Debendra Nath Tagore (l817-1905), established the Tatvaranjini Sabha in 1839 which was later known Tattvabodhini Sabha. It also had a printing press and started publishing Tatvabodhini Patrika. The Sabha was later on merged with Bahma Samaj and Debendranath Tagore managed Brahmo Samaj. Keshub Chandra Sen (l838-1884) was another important reformer associated with Brahmo Samaj. However, differences developed between Tagore and Sen as a result of which Sen formed the Brahmo Samaj of India in 1866.  

Henry Louis Vivian Derozio and the “Derozions”, “Young Bengal”

            Henry Lui Vivian Derozio (1809-1831) was a poet and a teacher at Hindu College, Calcutta. He was appointed a teacher in the college in 1826 at the young age of 17 and his radical ideas had profound impact upon his students. He organized an association for debate and discussions on literature, philosophy, history and science. He inspired his followers and students to test everything on the basis of reason and logic and not to shy from questioning any authority.  His followers were known as the “Derozians” and Young Bengal. Derozio himself died of cholera at the young age of 22 but his ideas continued to inspire young people. The “Young Bengal” Movement continued even after Derozio’s death and members of this group continued preaching radical views through teaching, journalism and personal non-conformist behaviour.

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

            Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (1820-1891 A.D.) was another important reformer from Bengal. He dedicated himself to the cause of the emancipation of women particularly in the field of women education and widow remarriage. His efforts led to Hindu Widow Remarriage Act in 1856. He played a leading role in promoting education of girls and started and helped in setting up a number of schools for girls. Vidyasagar did not concern himself much with religious questions and stressed more on social work.

Swami Vivekananda and “Ramakrishna Mission”

Ramakrishna Paramhans (1836-1886) was a priest at Dakshineshwar Kali temple. Though he did not have much formal education, he had a deep understanding of religion. He believed in oneness of God and did not differentiate between various religions. One of his disciples was Narendra Nath Datta (l863-1902) later known as Swami Vivekananda. Vivekananda laid stress on Ramakrishna’s teaching on the essential oneness of all religions. He laid stress on Vedantic philosophy of upnishads which he considered to be the most rational system. This he clearly mentioned in the World Congress at Chicago in 1893. However, despite his belief in superiority of Hinduism, he also believed in diversity of religions and the need for tolerance. He also stressed on social service and upliftment of the masses. He founded the Ramakrishna Mission in 1897 for spreading the teachings of his master and for conducting social service. This organization has played an important role in providing social service and has also helped people in times of national distress like famine, floods, and epidemic. The mission is running a number of schools, hospitals and other programmes of social welfare.

Paramhans Sabha & Prarthna Samaj

            In western India, Dadoba Pandurang founded Manav Dharm Sabha in 1844. Later he founded Paramhans Sabha in 1849. Its followers had faith in one God and opposed caste system. At its meetings, members took food cooked by low-caste people. They favoured education of women and supported widow remarriage. Prarthana Samaj was founded by Dr.Atmaram Pandurang in 1867. R.G.Bhandarkar (1837-1925) and M.G.Ranade (1842-1901) were important reformers associated with it. Samaj took to work of social reforms. It opposed caste system, opposed child marriage, supported widow remarriage and the education of women. M.G. Ranade was also the founder of the Widow Remarriage Association and the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha. The latter was socio-political in nature and was formed in 1870 with a view to bring the aspirations of the people to the notice of the Government.   

Jyotiba Phule and Satyashodhak Samaj

 Jyotirao Govindrao Phule was born in 1827 in Poona in a family of mali caste (gardeners). His family had been supplying flowers to the court of Peshwas. He got his education in a school run by Scottish missionaries. His missionary education failed to convert him to Christianity but helped him to develop a critique of orthodox Hinduism. He was one of the most important reformers of the country and incessantly worked for the upliftment of lower castes and women. He started girl’s school in Poona in 1848 as well as a school for children of the depressed classes. In 1873, he founded the Satya-Shodhak  Samaj. He also wrote extensively. Gulamgiri (1873), Shetkaryacha Asud (The Cultivator’s Whipcord) (1883) and Sarvajanik Satya Dharm Pustak (1891) are some of his important works. He also submitted a memorandum to the Hunter Education Commission (1882).

Gopal Hari Deshmukh (Lokhitwadi)

            Gopal Hari Deshmukh (Lokahitwadi) was another reformer who attacked orthodox Hinduism. He criticized all the ills plaguing hindu society. From 1848 he started his famous series of essays called ‘shatpatre’ or hundred letters (actual number was 108). These present a sharp and penetrating analysis of the ills of Indian society.  

Swami Dayanand and “Arya Samaj”

            Swami Dayanand was a vedic scholar of the period. He believed in the superiority of Hinduism and infalliability of the Vedas and also that a number of belief and superstitions in the Hindu religion were later additions which need to be discarded. Hence he have the call “Back to the Vedas”. He opposed idolatry and caste system and tried to redefine varna system on the basis of virtue. On the social front he opposed child marriage and encouraged remarriage of widows. He founded the Arya Samaj in 1875 which soon made rapid progress in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Arya Samaj also supported modern education and a chain of Dayanand Anglo Vedic Schools and Colleges was established to impart modern education.  Arya Samaj also tried to inculcate a spirit of self respect among the Hindus. It also prescribed a purificatory ceremony called “shuddhi” for those Hindus who had been converted to other religions like Islam and Christianity. As compared to Brahmo Samaj, the Arya Samaj had more revivalist tendencies though its revivalism was not only religious but national as well.

Reform movements in South India

            In the southern parts of the country Kandukuri Veeresalingam (1848-1919) pioneered the movement in support of widow remarriage and girls education in Andhra. He was influenced by Brahmo Samaj and established a number of schools for girls as well as a widow home. He was also a prolific writer and wrote extensively in Telugu. Veda Samaj was founded in Madras in 1864 and advocated discarding of caste distinctions and promotion of widow remarriage and women’s education. It condemned the superstitions and rituals of orthodox Hinduism and propagated belief in one supreme God. Chembeti Sridharalu Naidu was the most popular leader of the Veda Samaj.

Reform Movements among Muslims

  Reforms also took place among Muslims. Muhammedan Literary Society was founded in Calcutta in 1863 by Nawab Abdul Latif (1828-1893). It promoted discussion of religious, social and political questions in the light of modern ideas and encouraged upper and middle class Muslims to adopt Western education. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad had founded the Ahmediya Movement in 1889. The followers of this movement believed in revival of Islam and its peaceful propagation. However, the movement faced discrimination from fellow Muslims on account of certain beliefs.

Syed Ahmad Khan was the most important Muslim reformer. Born in 1817 in a Muslim elite family in Delhi, he took up a job with the East India Company. During the revolt of 1857 he supported his masters but he was deeply affected by the revolt and was concerned about the impact of revolt on the Muslim community. He realized that unless Muslims adapted themselves to the changed circumstances of the British rule and adapted modern education, they would be deprived of the new opportunities. In 1864 he started a Scientific Society in Aligarh which promoted discussions on history, science and political economy. In 1869, he travelled to England where he was impressed by the British Colleges. As a result of his efforts Muhammedan Anglo-Oriental College was started in 1875 which later grew into Aligarh Muslim University.

Reforms among Parsis

            Parsi community was also affected by the wave of socio-religious reforms. The Rehnumai Mazdayasan Sabha or Religious Reform Association was founded in 1851by Nauroji Furdonji, Dadabhai Naoroji and others. Dadabhai Naroji also started a journal Rast Goftar (Herald of Truth) in 1851 and was also its first editor. This journal became an important tool of social reform among the Parsi community in India. The Rehnumai Mazdayasan Sabha campaigned against the entrenched orthodoxy in the religious field and initiated the modernization of Parsi social customs regarding the education of girls marriage and the social position of women in general. In course of time, the Parsis became socially the most westernized section of Indian society.

Socio-religious awakening in the 19th century (Part-I)

          In the 19^th century Indian society was plagued by various social problems. Religious superstitions were prevalent and the priests exercised excessive and unhealthy influence on the people. Women were subject to control and hardly had any rights. Practices like sati, child infanticide, child marriage and ban on remarriage of widows compounded their problems. Persons from the lower castes were another harassed lot facing untouchability and discrimination in all spheres of life. It was in these social conditions that the colonial rule introduced modern education and western culture to Indian people. Advent of an alien culture necessitated an introspection of Indian social conditions as well as a comparison of Indian and Western societies and cultures. This was facilitated by the emergence of an educated middle class which was different from the traditional landed aristocracy and comprised of merchants, traders, industrialists and professional groups like teachers, lawyers, journalists and doctors. This class had received modern education and in its mindset was progressive and not so much bound to tradition.

           Thus, various socio-religious reform movements which came up in the nineteenth century were the immediate response of the section of Indian society to western ideas and culture. Intellectuals of the period did carry out an introspection of Indian society. While comparing the Indian society with the West they perceived many of the beliefs to be decadent and regressive and wanted the Indian society to be cleansed of such beliefs and practices. This started the demand for reforms. As religion held the most important place in Indian society, the reforms were also concentrated on religion but the approach of the reformers was not entirely religious. The approach was rather humanist and objective was to improve the condition of the people. The reformers worked for improving the condition of women by raising their voices for abolition of sati practice, allowing widow remarriage and stopping female infanticide. Caste discrimination was another aspect of the society which attracted attention of the reformers particularly those coming from these castes.  Finally, all the social reformers laid great stress on spread of education.

          Rationalism and Universalism were two important ideas on which these reformers based their thinking.  The reformers tried to develop a rational view of all socio-religious issues. At certain times some reformers did refer to scriptures for seeking religious sanctions. Raja Ram Mohan Roy went to scriptures for demonstrating that sati had no religious sanction and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar invoked religious sanction for widow remarriage. However, in all such cases rationality was not compromised and religion was only invoked when it served the humanist purpose.  Some others like ‘Derozoins’ and ‘Young Bengal’ held a particularly highly rational attitude towards various issues. They rejected all authority and held the position that all things should be rationally analyzed. Akshay Kumar Dutt developed a rationalist critique of Indian philosophies and his influence resulted in Brahmo Samaj accepting the view that the Vedas are not infallible. Reformers from Maharashtra were less dependent on religion and Gopal Hari Deshmukh (Lokhitwadi) did not consider religious sanction necessary for social reforms. He held that if religion did not sanction reforms then religion has to be changed.

          Universalism was another aspect of the reform movements. Although reformers worked to bring social reforms in their particular sects or groups, their religious perspective was universalistic.  Brahmo Samaj founded by Raja Ram Mohan Roy was intended to be a Universalist creed. Ram Mohan Roy was a strong believer in monotheism. Keshab Chandra Sen was clearer when he said, “Our position is not that truths are to be found in all religions, but all established religions of the world are true.” Shree Narayan Guru, the reformer from Kerala who did most of his work among the backward classes of Kerala said, “One Caste, One religion and One God for all”.

Methods of Reform

          These movements adopted various methods for bringing changes in the society. First was the creation of awareness among people by publishing articles, journals and books as well as organizing debates and discussions on various issues.  Raja Ram Mohan Roy was a pioneer in this field. In 1818 and 1819 he published his famous pamphlets on sati which received widespread public attention. Originally written in Bengali, these were later translated into English under the title, “A Conference Between An Advocate For and An Opponent of, The Practice Of Burning Widows Alive” and “A Second Conference Between An Advocate For and An Opponent Of, the Practice of Burning Widows Alive”. “Sambad Kaumudi” was one of his notable journal.  Similarly, Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar also published pamphlets on widow remarriage which had profound impact on the Indian society.

           Second method was by seeking legislative intervention against prevalent social evils. Reformers like Keshab Chandra Sen in Bengal, Mahadev Govind Ranade in Maharashtra and Veersalingam in Andhra Pradesh believed that social reforms could be taken up only with the support of the state. These reformers appealed to the colonial rulers for enacting suitable legislations. Although they were successful in some cases and legislation banning sati and allowing widow remarriage were passed, these reformers failed to understand that primary intention of the British in India was not to reform or enlighten Indian society but to govern it for their own benefit and hence their support was likely to come only when it suited their own interests.

            Third method was that of representing themselves as symbols of change through non-conformist individual activity and an uncompromising attitude towards social evils. However, this group was limited only to ‘Derozions’ or ‘Young Bengal’. They were highly influenced by the West and stood for rejection of all tradition. One of them, Ram Gopal Ghose, while taking about rationality said, “He who will not reason is a bigot, he who cannot is a fool and he who does not is a slave.” However, their uncompromising attitude failed to impress people.   Last method adopted by some of the reformers was through social service.  Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was one such reformist who did not feel contended by writing pamphlets and creating awareness. He devoted his entire life for the cause of widow remarriage. Arya Samaj and Ramakrishna Mission also tried to propagate ideas of social reform through social service.

Significance

           These reformers made significant contribution in evolution of modern India. These were the people who took the first step towards the formation of a modern society. They championed the cause of equality, criticized the social divisions of castes, tried to improve the conditions of women, worked against superstitions and also worked for the development of a modern and rational outlook. Efforts from these people resulted in the colonial Government bringing in a number of legislations which helped social reforms. In case of women, these movements led to passing of Bengal Sati Regulation Act of 1829, Hindu Widows Remarriage Act of 1856 and increasing the age of marriage of girls from 10 to 12 years in the year 1891. Later, Child Marriage Restraint Act was passed in 1929 in which the marriageable age was increased to 14 and by an amendment in 1940 to 15 years.  Another important subject of reforms was the caste system. All the reformers condemned caste system but biggest difference was made reformers coming from these communities like Jyotiba Phule in Maharashtra and Shree Narayan Guru in Kerala.  These movements made the lower classes conscious of their rights as human beings and citizens.  Reforms during the period are also important in the sense that these provided a platform on which the country could move forward for developing an egalitarian society in later years.

Limitations

           

           Despite significant contribution to the Indian society, these reformers suffered from some limitations. First and foremost was that the reformers failed to realise the true nature of colonial rule. They felt that colonial rule was beneficial for the country and new ideas from the West would regenerate Indian society. They failed to realise that British rule was essentially exploitative in nature and the colonial rule would support that social structure which it would consider beneficial for itself. Second limitation was that most of the reforms were essentially an educated urban middle class phenomenon.  Except movements of Jyotiba Phule and Shree Narayan Guru and to a certain extent Arya Samaj, the reform movements were limited to the upper class of the society. This restricted the effectiveness of these movements. 

Governance

            Literally, governance means the processes by which administration of a country is run. It includes the processes by which the rulers are selected and also the manner in which they take and enforce decisions. In dictatorial and totalitarian/autocratic regimes the Government carries out the function of ruling the state through some institutions and unilaterally defines the relationship of the citizens with these institutions. However, in democratic countries, the situation is different as rulers are elected by the people and hence people are able to affect the policies followed by the Government. In many of the these countries, the situation has undergone a change due to involvement of  non state actors like civil society, public institutions, market forces and international agencies who play a vital role in decision making and implementation processes. This brings in the concept of “governance” which broadly implies the involvement of non state actors mentioned above as well as a shift from state centric administration to citizen centric administration.

        As per the Plan Document of the 10^th Five year plan, “Governance relates to the management of all such processes that, in any society, define the environment which permits and enables individuals to raise their capability levels, on one hand and provide opportunities to realise their potential and enlarge the set of available choices, on the other.” United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) defines governance as “The exercise of economic, political, and administrative authority to manage a country’s affairs at all levels.  It comprises mechanisms, processes, and institutions, through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights, meet their obligations, and mediate their differences.”

This brings up an important question, what is good governance? Good governance can be understood in terms of some characteristics it should possess. As per UNDP, good governance  is “-----among other things, participatory, transparent and accountable. It is also effective and equitable. And it promotes the rule of law. Good governance ensures that political, social and economic priorities are based on broad consensus in society and that the voices of the poorest and the most vulnerable are heard in decision-making over the allocation of development resources.” Hence, good governance should be accountable, transparent, responsive, equitable and inclusive, effective and efficient, follows the rule of the law, participatory and consensus oriented.

Relevance of Governance

         Governance is closely related to the well being and quality of life of the people of a country. Most poverty stricken countries are also poorly governed. India has its own share of poor governance. Its implications were discussed in the tenth five year plan document, some of which are as under:

• Poor management of economies, persisting fiscal imbalance and disparities in development.
• Denial of basic needs of food, water and shelter to a substantial proportion of the population.
• Threat to life and personal security due to inadequate control on law and order.
• Marginalisation, exclusion and even persecution of people on account of social, religious, caste or gender affiliations.
• Lack of sensitivity, transparency and accountability in many facets of working of state machinery.
• Lack of credibility of some institutions.
• Lack of incentives/disincentives for people (particularly for a civil servant), subversion of rules, evasion of taxes and failure in getting timely justice.
• Existence of significant number of poor with little opportunities for participation.
• Deterioration of physical environment, particularly in urban areas. 

As per Human Development Report of UNDP for the year 2013 Human Development Index for the country is .546 and the country is at 136^th rank in a total of 186 countries. Poor governance is one of the important reasons for this lackluster performance. On its part the Government has tried to make improvements in the administration. Two Administrative Reforms Commissions were constituted to suggest reforms in administration.  First Commission was constituted in 1966 and the second in 2005. Since its constitution, the Second Commission has submitted reports on various aspects of governance some of which like Right to Information, Ethics in governance and Citizen Centric Administration specifically pertain to subject of Good Governance.

      As mentioned earlier accountability, transparency, responsiveness, equity and inclusiveness, being effective and efficient, following the rule of the law, being participatory and being consensus oriented are important characteristics of good governance. Some important points regarding these features of good governance are as under:

• Accountability means that someone who is responsible for doing a particular task can also be held accountable for any lapse or wrongdoing. Presently this aspect is looked after by various agencies like CAG, CVC, CBI and Vigilance sections of concerned departments.
• However, despite these provisions,  fixing of accountability for a lapse is rare, mainly due to the fact that our administrative system involves lengthy procedure involving multiple stages and employees. This makes it difficult to fix specific accountability of concerned officials. The procedure to fix accountability is itself burdened with elaborate procedures, making any logical conclusion within a reasonable time frame, a remote possibility.
• As regards transparency, some progress has been made with the implementation of RTI Act, 2005. Citizen charters are another source of information, though these rarely reflect the actual situation. Most of the Government departments have their websites but again in most of the cases the information provided is quite sketchy and in some cases outdated. Official attitude is still to conceal things rather than to disclose.
• As regards participation, India follows a democratic system of governance. Hence the political system is participative to that extent. However, efficacy of this participation is diluted to a certain extent by the tendency of the voters to vote on basis of caste, religion or region, thereby relegating the issue of governance to the background.
• Panchayati Raj institutions have helped in increasing the participation of previously excluded social groups particularly women. In some urban areas, Resident Welfare Associations have been involved to a certain extent in some of the day to day activities. Views of trade organizations are also sometimes solicited in matters relating to a particular profession. National Policy on Voluntary Sector, 2007 formulated by the Planning Commission also provides for consultation with the Voluntary Sector by constituting Joint Consultative Groups.
• As regards the rule of law, the country has an elaborate judicial system which is fairly independent. However, its effectiveness is restricted by the lengthy and costly procedures and delays in getting the cases finalized. Mostly, the dominant and the powerful are able to exploit the legal lacunae to their advantage.
• Effectiveness and efficiency of the administrative machinery are extremely important for effective implementation of the various laws and welfare schemes. This is the worst aspect of our administration. One of the reasons is the lack of accountability in the system. Another reason is due to inherent problems in the system as a whole. Our administrative system is highly procedure centric and result/targets acquire a secondary position. As a result employees are more concerned about following procedure than in actual delivery of services. This restricts the efficiency of the system in delivering services.
• Historically, Indian society had comprised of social groups which were excluded from the mainstream. These included the lower castes and the women. During the time of freedom struggle and after independence, it was apprehended that the minorities would also face discrimination. This social structure was not conducive for equitable and inclusive growth. Hence the concept of inclusive and equitable growth has been a challenge before the Government. Despite efforts of the Government through various welfare schemes like the MGNREGA, equitable and inclusive growth remains a distant dream. As per latest poverty data, 21.9% of the population lives below the poverty line. This clearly indicates that the growth story of India is still quite far from inclusive.
• In the recent years, corruption has emerged as one of the biggest challenges to good governance. It is visible in all walks of life and at all levels, from a modest amount of a few rupees to scams amounting to thousands of crores.  Corruption cases are mainly dealt under the Prevention of Corruption Act. CVC, CBI and departmental vigilance sections have been formed to prevent corruption. Despite this, it has not shown any signs of diminishing mainly because of lack of deterrent as well as the acceptability of corruption by a section of the society. As per Corruption Perception Index maintained by Transparency International, in the year 2012 India is at 94^th rank among a total of 182 countries.
• Civil Society is a wide ranging term which includes NGOs, social activists, academicians, business groups, media and similar other people/groups. In the last few years, there has been an increase in activism from the civil society. This has been spearheaded by NGOs, who apart from assisting the Government in carrying out a number of programmes have also took up the issue of a transparent, accountable and corruption free Government. This activism was instrumental in persuading the Government to enact the RTI Act. Recently, some of these activists took up the issue of setting up of Lokpal, and although the movement could not achieve that goal, it was successful in bringing the issue of corruption at the centre stage.

Future Road Map

       The issue of governance has also been dealt by the 12^th five year plan which has devoted one chapter in the plan document to the subject. The document refers to three specific issues; one is systematic improvements to increase efficiency of plan expenditure, second is the customer satisfaction on the services delivered by the Government agencies and third is the perception about corruption.  The Plan document proposes to combat these problems by a number of measures which include strengthening Panchayati Raj Institutions by allocating a sum of Rs.6437 crores for Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Sashaktikaran Abhiyaan meant for increasing human resource and capabilities of these institutions; making specific provisions in each flagship scheme for social mobilization, generating awareness and social audit; increasing the role of civil society and voluntary sector and institutionalizing Joint Consultative Groups in all forms of planning as proposed in the National Policy on Voluntary Sector, 2007; improving service delivery by making appropriate legal provisions for making the specified service deliveries time bound; combating corruption and reforms in civil services.  

e-Governance

       In the last few years, e-Governance has come up as an important tool in government administration. It is particularly useful in service delivery to citizens in a number of ways. It is faster and cheaper. It also reduces the requirement of physical presence of the citizen thereby reducing the scope for corruption. Due to these reasons, the Government approved the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) on May 18, 2006, comprising of 27 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) and 8 components. The objective as mentioned in the vision statement was to "Make all Government services accessible to the common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets, and ensure efficiency, transparency, and reliability of such services at affordable costs to realise the basic needs of the common man”. Presently NeGP comprises of 31 Mission Mode Projects. A Mission Mode Project is an individual project focusing on one aspect of electronic governance like banking or land records or commercial taxes etc.

Constitutional Provisions about Indian Federalism and Centre-State Relations

        India is a diverse country and when we talk of diversity we need to understand that the diversity is in many areas, in terms of topography, climate, language, culture, religion, economic development etc. Each region has its own history with its own moments of glory and hence has got some sort of regional nationalism. However, despite this diversity, India is one country. Making adequate provisions for maintaining this unity in diversity was an important task before the founding fathers of the Constitution. India could neither be a centralized government like the United Kingdom nor could it be a federation of states like USA. Therefore, India was envisaged as a Union of States wherein both the Union and the States would have their own rights and responsibilities. However, as maintaining the unity of the country was the foremost consideration, the power arrangement was tilted in favour of the Union.  Some of the important constitutional provisions in this regard are as under:

Important Constitutional provisions

• Article I defines India as a Union of states.
• Article 2 & 3 empower the Parliament to admit new states or establish new states by uniting territories of two states or changing the boundaries or names of states. However, the bill to alter name, boundary and territory of any state shall not be introduced in the Parliament unless the same has been sent to the concerned state legislature for expressing its views.
• Article 153-155 provide that there shall be a Governor in each state who shall be appointed by the President. The executive power of the Government shall vest in the Governor.
• Article 169 empowers the Parliament to create or abolish Legislative Councils in a State if the Legislative Assembly of the State passes a resolution to that effect by a majority of the total membership of the Assembly and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of the Assembly present and voting.
• Article 200 provides that any bill, which in the opinion of the Governor would endanger the constitutional position of High Court, shall be sent to the President for his assent.
• Article 246 provides that Parliament can make laws on the subjects under the Union List and Concurrent List. Similarly, state legislature can legislate on the subjects in the State list and Concurrent List.
• Article 249-250 empower the Parliament to legislate on the subjects enumerated in the State list in certain specific circumstances and during the period of national emergency.
• Article 252 also provides that if legislatures of two or more states ask the Parliament to make a law on such matters over which it does not have any power to legislate, the Parliament can legislate on such subject.
• Under Article 253, the Parliament can pass laws for implementation of an international treaty or agreement.
• Under Article 254, if there is an inconsistency between the law passed by the Parliament and that by a State legislature on a subject enumerated in the Concurrent list, law passed by the Parliament will prevail.
• Article 256 and 257 provide that the States shall exercise their executive powers in accordance with the laws made by the Parliament and the Union shall have the power to give necessary directions to the States on subject it may consider necessary including those for the construction and maintenance of means of communication and railways. However, any sum incurred in this regard will have to be paid by the Union.
• As per Article 258 and 258A, the Union can confer certain powers on states while states can transfer some of its functions to Union by mutual consent.
• Article 262 provides that Parliament can make laws for adjudication of disputes relating to use, control and distribution of waters in interstate rivers or river valleys.
• Article 263 empowers the President to set up an Inter State Council.
• Article 268 provides for certain duties to be levied by the Union but collected and appropriated by the States, while Article 269 provides for certain taxes levied and collected by the Union but assigned to the states. Article 270 provides for certain taxes levied and to be distributed between the Union and the States.
• Article 275 provides for such grant-in-aids to the states as the Parliament may determine.
• Article 280 provides for setting up a Finance Commission every five years to decide the modalities of revenue sharing between the Union and the States.
• Article 312 provides for establishment of All India services while Article 315 provides for establishment of Union and State Public Service Commissions.
• Article 352-355 empower the Government to proclaim emergency in times of threat to the country by war, external aggression or armed rebellion. During this period, the Union will have powers to give directions to the State or make appropriate legislation.
• Article 356 empowers the President to take up the functions of the State Government and authorize the Parliament to take up the functions of state legislature if the Governor of the State submits a report regarding failure of constitutional machinery in the state.

Inter State Council

As per Article 263 of the Constitution, the President is empowered to form an Inter State Council. The Council was formed on 28 May 1990. The Council is a recommendatory body for discussing and investigating matters of common interest of some or all states or states and the Union. The Council is chaired by the Prime Minister and includes Chief Ministers or Heads of Government of State and Union Territories and six Cabinet Ministers nominated by the Chairman as members. Standing Committee of the Council was constituted in the year 1996 for continuous consultation and processing of matters for the consideration of the Council. Standing Council is chaired by the Union Home Minister and presently has six  Union Ministers and nine Chief Ministers as members.

Finance Commission

        Article 280 of the Constitution provides for setting up of a Finance Commission every five years which shall comprise of a Chairman and four members. 14^th Finance Commission was set up on 2^nd January, 2013 for making recommendations for distribution of tax proceeds between the Union and the States, the principles which should govern grant-in-aid and the measures needed to augment the Consolidated Fund of the State for next five years commencing from 1^st April, 2015. The 13^th Finance Commission submitted had submitted its report in December, 2009. Among other things the Commission recommended that State share in the net proceeds of shareable central taxes shall be 32%. Apart from this the Commission also recommended grant-in-aid to various states amounting to Rs.3,18,581 crores.

All India Services

       In our constitutional arrangement, where the Union and the States have their own rights and authority, it is important that there is uniformity in the administrative procedures being followed in the country. This was sought to be achieved through the All India Services. As mentioned above, Article 312 of the Constitution of India provides for establishment of these Services. All India Services are different from the Central Civil Services. While members of the Central Civil Services are recruited by and work under the Government of India, members of All India Services are appointed by the Government of India through Union Public Service Commission. Ministry of Home Affairs is the cadre controlling authority for IAS and IPS while for IFS, cadre controlling authority is the Ministry of Environment & Forests. After appointment, members of these services are allocated to various states or groups of states and are borne on these state cadres. Union territories are also included in these cadres. Although members of these services also work on various posts of Central Government, they are still a part of the state cadre and work under Central Government through a policy called Central Staffing Scheme as per which officers from different state cadres work on posts in Central Government for certain period of their service. Presently there are three All India Services. Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFS).

Disaster Management in India-Institutional Framework

       A terminology developed by the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) defines a disaster as “A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses and impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources.” The Disaster Management Act, 2005 defines a disaster as “a catastrophe, mishap, calamity or grave occurrence in any area, arising from natural or man made causes, or by accident or negligence which results in substantial loss of human sufferings or damage to, and destruction of property, or damage to, or degradation of, environment and is of such nature or magnitude as to be beyond the coping capacity of the affected area”.

            Disasters are divided into two categories. Natural Disaster and Man Made Disasters. Earthquakes, floods, cyclones, tsunami and landslides & avalanches are categorized under natural disasters as these are supposed to be due to natural causes and not directly attributable to human actions although human activities are indirectly responsible for many of them by contributing in the environmental degradation. The second category is the Man-Made Disasters and includes those types of disasters which take place directly due to human actions. These include nuclear disasters, chemical disasters and biological disasters.

            India is a vast country with diverse geographical and climatic conditions and hence different parts are vulnerable to different types of disasters. As per National Disaster Management Policy, 2009, 58.6% of the landmass is prone to earthquakes of varying intensity; over 40 million hectares (12% of land) is prone to floods and river erosion; out of our 7516 Km long coastline, about 5700 Km is prone to cyclones and tsunamis; 68% of the cultivable land is prone to drought and hilly areas are prone to landslides and avalanches. Further, possibility of man made disasters like chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear disasters also exists.

Disaster Management

            Disaster management means a systematic response to a disaster. Earlier the approach to disaster was relief centric and was limited to providing relief to the disaster affected area. For the first time, the tenth five year plan devoted a chapter to disaster management. The approach subsequently changed and pre-empting the disaster, assessing disaster risk and taking preventive measures has also become a part of disaster management. The Disaster Management Act was notified on 26^th December 2005 which defines disaster management as “a continuous and integrated process of planning, organising, coordinating and implementing measures which are necessary or expedient for-prevention of danger or threat of any disaster; mitigation or reduction of risk of any disaster or its severity or consequences; capacity building; preparedness to deal with any disaster; prompt response to any threatening disaster situation or disaster; assessing the severity of magnitude of effects of any disaster; evacuation, rescue and relief; and rehabilitation and reconstruction.” The Act provided for a dedicated and institutionalized framework to coordinate various aspects of disaster management. A National Policy on Disaster Management, which provided detailed guidelines on disaster management, was announced in 2009.

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)

            The Disaster Management ACT, 2005 provides for setting up of a National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) with the Prime Minister as Chairperson. Apart from him there are members whose number shall not exceed nine. One of these can be nominated as Vice-Chairperson of the Authority. Presently, Sh.M. Shashidhar Reddy, a sitting member of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly is the Vice-Chairman of the Authority.  NDMA is responsible for laying down policies, plans and guidelines for disaster management for ensuring timely and effective response to disaster.

            NDMA is to be assisted by a National Executive Committee which comprises of Secretaries to the Government of India heading various Ministries or Departments having administrative control over Agriculture, Atomic Energy, Defence, drinking water supply, environment and forests, finance, health, power, rural development, science and technology, space, telecommunication, urban development and water resources. Chief of the Integrated Defence Staff of the Chiefs of Staff Committee is also a member of the Executive Committee.

            National Executive Committee is responsible for preparing and updating a National Plan for disaster management. The Plan includes measures to be taken for prevention of disasters or the mitigation of their effects; measures to be taken for the integration of mitigation measures in the development plans; measures to be taken for preparedness and capacity building to effectively respond to any threatening disaster situation or disaster; and defining the roles of various departments in respect of these measures.

State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA)

         The Disaster Management Act 2005 also provides for setting up of Stage Disaster Management Authorities under the Chairpersonship of the Chief Minister.  State Authority is to be assisted by a State Executive Committee under the Chairpersonship of the Chief Secretary of the State. The Committee shall prepare a State Plan which would include assessment of vulnerability of different parts of the State to different forms of disasters; measures to be adopted for prevention and mitigation of disasters; capacity building; and role of departments of State Government. Apart from the planning aspect it is also involved in taking up and supervising relief and rescue operations at the time of disaster and in disseminating information about any impending disaster.

District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA)

           The structure of disaster management institutions goes down to the district level where the responsibility is given to DDMA which is headed by the Collector/District Magistrate with elected representative of the local authority as co-chairperson. DDMA will act as the planning, coordinating and implementing body for disaster management at the district level. It will prepare the District Plan for disaster management in accordance with instructions by NDMA and SDMA. The DDMA will also ensure that the guidelines    for prevention, mitigation, preparedness and response measures laid down by the NDMA and the SDMA are followed by all    the Departments of  the State Government at the District level and the local            authorities in the District.

                           

Local Authority

             For the purpose of disaster management, local authorities would include Panchayati Raj institutions and those agencies which control and manage civic services. These bodies are required to ensure capacity building of their employees for managing disasters and carrying out relief and reconstruction activities in the affected areas.

National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM)

       Capacity building is an important aspect of disaster management. This requires developing human resources to handle disaster management work and undertake studies and research on the subject. Disaster Management Act gives this mandate to the National Institute of Disaster Management. The institute was formed as National Centre for Disaster Management (NCDM) in 1995 but was re-designated  as National Institute of Disaster Management in 2005 after the enacting of the Disaster Management Act. The institute is headed by the Union Home Minister and Vice-Chairman, NDMA also acts as the Vice-President of the Institute. Day to day works are looked after by the Executive Director. The institute has five divisions i.e Geo-Hazard Division; Hydro-Met Hazard Division; Policy Planning and Cross Cutting Issues Division; Response Division; and Administrative and Finance Division.

National Disaster Response Force(NDRF)

            NDRF was constituted in 2006 with 8 battalions drawn from the paramilitary forces. Presently it has strength of 10 battalions. General superintendence of the force vests in NDMA and the force is headed by the Director General of NDRF and Civil Defence. These battalions are positioned at different locations to provide timely response to disaster situations and are available to State Governments at the time of need. The force provides specialized response during disasters, is pro-actively deployed in impending disaster situations, imparts training to state disaster response force personnel and conducts programmes for creating awareness and community capacity building.

Integrated Data Resource Network(IDRN) 

            Integrated Data Resource Network is a database in the electronic form maintained by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The data enlists inventory of equipments and human resources relevant to disaster management. Organizations related with the work update the inventory of equipments, skilled human resources and critical supplies for emergency response. Idea is to make available the information on availability of equipments and human resources required to combat any emergency situation. This database also helps the policy makers to assess the level of preparedness for specific vulnerabilities.

Other Institutional arrangements

• Cabinet Committee on Management of Natural Calamities (CCMNC) has been constituted to oversee all aspects relating to the management of natural calamities.
• National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF) was created in 2000-01 by the  Govt of India with a corpus fund of Rs.500 crores with an objective of providing assistance to disaster affected states. The fund was replenished with the National Calamity Contingent Duty on certain items such as tobacco products etc. and was operated through a High Level Committee (HLC) which had Finance Minister, as Chairman and the Home Minister, Agriculture Minister & Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission as members. Since 2010, this find has been merged with National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) which is also operated by a High Level Committee with similar composition.
• Armed Forces are called upon to assist the civil administration only when the situation is beyond their coping capability. In practice, however, the armed forces form an important part of the Government’s response capacity and are immediate responders in all serious disaster situations. They have played a major role in emergency support functions like communication, search and rescue operations, medical facilities and transportation.
• Central Paramilitary forces also play a key role at the time of immediate response to disasters. Besides contributing to the NDRF, they are also required to develop adequate disaster management capability within their own forces and respond to disasters which may occur in the areas where they are posted.
• State Police and Fire Services are crucial immediate responders to disasters are required to improve their response capabilities.
• Civil Defence Act has been amended in 2009 to bring disaster management in the area of operation of civil defence agencies.
• International agencies also play a role in disaster management. UNDP alongwith NDMA took up Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Urban Risk Reduction programmes. World Bank is associated with National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP) being taken up in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. Red Cross Society also provides valuable support during relief operations.