Social Change Campaign in India
To understand the social change campaigns in India an overview is taken in form of case
studies with respect to perspective of cause , outcome and overall analysis of these social
change.(Cause,Outcome,Analysis ,Conclusion)
1. Family Planning Programm
In 1952, India was the first country in the world to launch a national programme,
emphasizing family planning to the extent necessary for reducing birth rates to
stabilize the population at a level consistent with the requirement of national
[Link] two, ours two ("Hum do, hamare do" in Hindi) is a slogan meaning one
family, two children and is intended to reinforce the message of family planning
thereby aiding population control. All forms of modern mass communication media
plus traditional cultural media were used to develop social support for the idea of
the small family. After 1952, sharp declines in death rates were, however, not
accompanied by a similar drop in birth rates. The National Health Policy, 1983
stated that replacement levels of total fertility rate (TFR) should be achieved by
the year 2000.( More detalils refer: [Link]
[Link])
2. 'Rastriya Saksharta Mission
National Literacy Mission (NLM) was set up by the Indian government on 5 May, 1988.
NLM works under the guidance of the National Literacy Mission Authority, an
independent wing of the Ministry of Human Resources and Development.
NLM initially had two flagship programs - "Total Literacy" and "Post literacy". The
initiative was revitalized on 30 September, 1999, when they were combined as a single
program: 'Literacy Campaigns and Operation Restoration'.
The NLM initiated its first successful campaign in Kottayam city of Kerala followed by
Ernakulam district. Up until November 2002, 596 districts out of the total 640 districts of
the country had been covered under Total Literacy. 191 were in the post literacy phase
while 238 were in the continuing education phase.
In 1999 UNESCO conferred upon it their Noma Literacy Prize. It received jury
appreciation for the teaching material it had produced and for raising the awareness of
quality primary education in schools.
NLM works with NGOs across the country, providing financial assistance for those that
actively participate. In India, 81% of youths from ages 15–24 and 63% of all adults are
literate, based on a 2005 - 2010 UNESCO study.
3. Save Our Tigers – In the long list of issues we need to fight for or against, as the case
may be, is the need to save and protect wildlife, one of them being the country’s
National Animal – Tiger. The movement to protect the national animal started in 2008
by Aircel and NDTV after the Sariska Tiger Reserve lost all its tigers due to
poaching. Since then both the companies along with the government have been
actively trying to gather funds to set up facilities to give a safe home to the animal.
Among its many initiatives, few that stand out and have caught people’s attention are
the regular ad campaigns, documentaries that they launch, the telethon launched in the
first year collected INR 45 million, signature campaign (open), and the latest, create
and sell merchandise based on Aircel’s ‘Kids for Tigers’ brand ambassador Stripey
the cub, in partnership with Gabi Life. Apart from these initiatives, Aircel has also
come up with a six-point agenda highlighting the support that they need from all of us
to save our national animal. The six-point agenda is –
Involve local communities in conservation
Strengthen and modernize the forest department to step up protection
Improve man-animal conflict mitigation measures
Increase protection in buffer-zones and corridors
Zero tolerance approach to poaching
Make political parties accountable for loss of biodiversity.
4. AIDS
History
In 1986, the first known case of HIV was diagnosed by Dr. Suniti Solomon and her student
Dr. Sellappan Nirmala amongst female sex workers in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Later that year,
sex workers began showing signs of this deadly disease. At that time, foreigners in India were
traveling in and out of the country. It is thought that foreigners were the ones responsible for
the first infections.
By 1987, about 135 more cases came to light. Among these 14 had already progressed to
AIDS. Prevalence in high-risk groups reached above 5% by 1990. As per UNDP's 2010
report, India had 2.395 million people living with HIV at the end of 2009, up from 2.27
million in 2008. Adult prevalence also rose from 0.29% in 2008 to 0.31% in 2009. Setting up
HIV screening centres was the first step taken by the government to screen its citizens and the
blood bank.
To control the spread of the virus, the Indian government set up the National AIDS Control
Programme in 1987to co-ordinate national responses such as blood screening and health
education.
In 1992, the government set up the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) to oversee
policies and prevention and control programmes relating to HIV and AIDS and the National
AIDS Control Programme (NACP) for HIV prevention. The State AIDS Control Societies
(SACS) was set up in 25 societies and 7 union territories to improving blood safety.[citation needed]
In 1999, the second phase of the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP II) was
introduced to decrease the reach of HIV by promoting behaviour change. The prevention of
mother-to-child transmission programme (PMTCT) and the provision of antiretroviral
treatment were materialized.
In 2007, the third phase of the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP III) targeted the
high-risk groups, conducted outreach programmes, amongst others. It also decentralised the
effort to local levels and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to provide welfare services
to the affected.[18]
Government policies
Soon after the first cases emerged in 1986, the Government of India established the National
AIDS Committee within the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.[22] This formed the basis
for the current apex Government of India body for HIV surveillance, the National AIDS
Control Organisation (NACO). The majority of HIV surveillance data collected by the
NACO is done through annual unlinked anonymous testing of prenatal clinic (or antenatal
clinics) and sexually transmitted infection clinic attendees. Annual reports of HIV
surveillance are freely available on NACO's website.
The first National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) was implemented over seven years
(1992–1999), focused on monitoring HIV infection rates among risk populations in selected
urban areas.[22] The second phase ran between 1999 and 2006 and the original program was
expanded at state level, focusing on targeted interventions for high-risk groups and
preventive interventions among the general population.[22] A National Council on AIDS was
formed during this phase, consisting of 31 ministries and chaired by the Prime Minister.[22]
HIV/AIDS was understood not purely as a health issues, but also a development issue and as
such it was mainstreamed into all ministries and departments.[22] The third stage dramatically
increased targeted interventions, aiming to halt and reverse the epidemic by integrating
programmes for prevention, care, support and treatment.[22] By the end of 2008, targeted
interventions covered almost 932,000 of those most at risk, or 52% of the target groups (49%
of FSWs, 65% of IDUs and 66% of MSM).[22]
In 2009 India established a "National HIV and AIDS Policy and the World of Work", which
sough to end discrimination against workers on the basis of their real or perceived HIV status.
[22]
Under this policy all enterprises in the public, private, formal and informal sectors are
encouraged to establish workplace policies and programmes based on the principles of non-
discrimination, gender equity, health work environment, non-screening for the purpose of
employment, confidentiality, prevention and care and support.[22] Researchers at the Overseas
Development Institute have called for greater attention to migrant workers, whose concerns
about their immigration status may exclude them from these policies and leave them
particularly vulnerable.[22]
No agency is tasked with enforcing non-discrimination policy, instead multi-sectoral
approach has been developed involving awareness campaigns in the private sector. The AIDS
Bhedbhav Virodhi Andolan (AIDS Anti-Discrimination Movement) had prepared many
citizens reports challenging discriminatory policies, and filed a petition in the Delhi High
Court regarding the proposed segregation of gay men in prisons. A play titled 'High Fidelity
Transmission' has focused on [Link] importance of the condom as compared with
abstinence and illegal testing of vaccines.[23] HIV/AIDS-related television shows and movies
have appeared in the past few years, mostly in an effort to appeal to the middle class.[24] An
important component of these programs has been the depiction of HIV/AIDS affected
persons interacting with non-infected persons in everyday life.
5. POLIO
6. Widow remarriage
7. Abolition Sati Pratha
8. Pledge to drive safe
9. Save the girl child
10. Sanitation
Note: Many more campaigns which were traditionally used before the emergence of concept
of social media may be used as social change campaign.
[Link]
