CLASS 8th - CIVICS - CHAPTER - LAW AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

Introduction:
Need of Law and Social Justice With reference to the

Story of a shirt
Producer of cotton Consumer of shirt

At times, market everywhere tend to

be exploitative of people.

∴ To protect people from such

exploitation laws and social justice
required.
Number of people are involved in this cycle: Farmer
weavers, workers, Buyers, etc.
CLASS 8th - CIVICS - CHAPTER - LAW AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Introduction:
What we are going to study in this chapter?
➔ Laws and Social Justice and issue related to it
➔ Bhopal Gas Tragedy
➔ What is a worker’s worth?
➔ Enforcement of safety laws
➔ New laws to protect the environment
➔ Environment as a public facility
➔ Conclusion
➔ NCERT Solution
CLASS 8th - CIVICS - CHAPTER - LAW AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Laws and Social Justice: Issue Related to it
A common market situation

❖ Private companies, contractors, business persons Wants more and more profit.

In this situation

They might deny workers their rights and not pay them
wages.
Workers in a textile mill in Ahmedabad. Faced
with greater competition from power looms, a ● Only laws can protect them. E.g. Minimum wages act.
majority of the textile mills closed down during ● Similarly there are laws that protected the interests
the 1980s and 1990s. Power looms are small
of producers and consumers.
units with 4-6 looms. The owners operate them
with hired and family labour. It is well known
that conditions of work in the power looms are Are the laws sufficient?
far from satisfactory.
CLASS 8th - CIVICS - CHAPTER - LAW AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Laws and Social Justice: Issue Related to it
❖ Merely making laws is not enough. The government has to ensure that these laws are
implemented.

❖ Enforcement becomes even more important when the law seeks to protect the weak from the
strong.

Role of Government
∴ We can say that.
Through making, enforcing and upholding these laws, the government can control the activities of
individuals or private companies so as to ensure social justice.
❖ Many of these laws are part of fundamental rights.
I. Right against Exploitation says that no one can be forced to work for low wages or under
bondage.
II. “No child below the age of 14 years shall be employed to work in any factory or mines or engaged
in any other hazardous employment.”
CLASS 8th - CIVICS - CHAPTER - LAW AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Bhopal Gas Tragedy:
❖ At midnight on 2 December, 1984.

A highly poisonous gas Methyl-isocyanate leaked in the Union Carbide (UC), an American
pesticide producing company.
CLASS 8th - CIVICS - CHAPTER - LAW AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Bhopal Gas Tragedy:
❖ Disaster was not an accident UC had deliberately ignored the essential safety measures.

Despite all this, it refused to accept responsibility.

A $3 billion compensation case was filled in 1985 but

accepted lawley $470 million in 1989.
CLASS 8th - CIVICS - CHAPTER - LAW AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
What is a Worker’s Worth?
❖ Disaster happened in Bhopal. But but why did Union Carbide set up its plant in India.

There are multiple reason for it

● Cheap labours are available in India as compared to USA.

● Lower working conditions including lower safety measures
are used as ways of cutting costs.
Example: In Union Carbide
I. Between 1980 and 1984, the work crew for the MIC plant
was cut in half from 12 to 6 workers.
II. The period of safety training for workers was brought down
from 6 months to 15 days.
III. The post of night-shift worker for the MIC plant was
abolished.
CLASS 8th - CIVICS - CHAPTER - LAW AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
What is a Worker’s Worth?
West virginia USA UC plant Bhopal

I. Comparison between UC’s safety system in
Bhopal and its other plant in the US.
II. Computerised warning and monitoring
systems were in place.
I. Whereas the UC plant in Bhopal relied
on manual gauges and the human
senses to detect gas leaks.
II. At the West Virginia plant, emergency
evacuation plans were in place, but
nonexistent in Bhopal.

❖ Why are there such sharp differences in safety standards across countries? And even after
the disaster happened, why was the compensation to the victims so low?
CLASS 8th - CIVICS - CHAPTER - LAW AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
What is a Worker’s Worth?
❖ Reasons for such sharp differences are:
● Easy availability of workers.

Since there is so much unemployment, there are many workers

who are willing to work in unsafe conditions in return for a
wage.
Making use of the workers’ vulnerability, employers ignore
safety in workplaces.

Due to this there are regular reports of accidents in construction sites,

mines or factories due to the callous attitude of the employers.
CLASS 8th - CIVICS - CHAPTER - LAW AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Enforcement of Safety Laws:
Government

Ensure that safety laws Upholds article 21 and

are implemented. constitution

What was the government doing when there were such blatant violations of safety standards in
the UC plant?

I. The safety laws were lax in India.

II. Even weak safety laws were not enforced.

Understand with this the case of Bhopal Gas Tragedy

CLASS 8th - CIVICS - CHAPTER - LAW AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Enforcement of Safety Laws:
Bhopal Gas Tragedy

❖ Government officials refused to recognise the plant as hazardous and allowed it to come up
in a populated locality.
❖ When some municipal officials in Bhopal objected the position of the government was that
the state needs the continued investment of the Bhopal plant, which provides jobs.
❖ Government inspectors continued to approve the procedures in the plant, even when
repeated incidents of leaks.

This is contrary to what the role of a lawmaking and enforcement agency should be.

❖ With more industries being set up both by local and foreign businesses in India: There is a
great need for stronger laws protecting workers’ rights and better enforcement of these
laws.
CLASS 8th - CIVICS - CHAPTER - LAW AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
New Laws to Protect the Environment:
Situation in 1984
❖ The environment was treated as a ‘free’ entity and any industry could
pollute the air and water without any restrictions. Why?

Only few laws No enforcement of these laws.

The Bhopal disaster brought the issue of environment to the forefront.

Impact
Following the Bhopal gas tragedy, the Indian government introduced new laws on the environment.
● The polluter was to be held accountable for the damage done to environment.
● It could not be destroyed merely for industrial development.
● In Subhash Kumar vs. State of Bihar (1991), the Supreme Court held that the Right to Life is a
Fundamental Right under Article 21 of the Constitution and it includes the right to the
enjoyment of pollution-free water and air for full enjoyment of life.
CLASS 8th - CIVICS - CHAPTER - LAW AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Environment as a Public Facility:
❖ Court’s order on environmental issues. Solved one problem

But it created another problems.

Ex. The courts directed industries in residential areas in Delhi to close down or shift out of
the city.

● Because of the closure, many workers lost their jobs.

● After the relocation also, factories were polluting the environment.
● The issue of the safety conditions of workers remained unaddressed.
❖ The growing concern for the environment among the middle classes is often at the expense
of the poor.
Ex. Slums are needed to be cleaned as a part of a city’s beautification drive.

But there is little concern for the safety of the workers themselves.
CLASS 8th - CIVICS - CHAPTER - LAW AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Environment as a Public Facility:
Disparity in enjoying the benefits
of the government

❖ The challenge is to look for solutions where everyone can benefit from a clean environment.

What can be done?

● Move to cleaner technologies and process in factories.

● Fine those polluted the environment.
● The workers livelihoods are protected and both workers and communities living
around the factories enjoy a safe environment.
CLASS 8th - CIVICS - CHAPTER - LAW AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Conclusion:
Laws and their significance

Private companies and other Profit motive

Exploitation of workers

In this situation role of the government is very important.

Making, enforcing and upholding laws

❖ Along with government people can exert pressure so that both private companies and the
government act in the interests of society.

Environment, workers rights, Right to life