The idea of social justice requires that 1. equal treatment be supplemented with principle of proportionality 2. due and equal consideration is given to all individuals 3. equality of treatment be transcended to recognise special needs Select the correct answer using the code given below:

Correct — D, 2 and 3 only. The two statements the key keeps are the two limbs of social justice as the phrase is used in Indian constitutional argument. Due and equal consideration for every individual is the bedrock — the same rules, the same standing and the same weight given to each person's claim, which is the content of equality before the law and of equal opportunity. Going beyond equal treatment to recognise special needs is the second limb, and it is what justifies reservation, the special provisions for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, and the directive in Article 46 to promote the interests of the weaker sections. Statement 1's proportionality — rewarding people differently according to effort or skill — belongs to the broader theory of distributive justice and explains unequal reward, which is not what social justice in this sense is directed at.

• (a)1, 2 and 3 — Takes in proportionality along with the other two, and this is where most candidates went, since a widely used school treatment of justice does list equal treatment, proportionate justice and the recognition of special needs as three principles together. The official key marks (d), and the key header records that no item was dropped from this paper, so the proportionality limb is the one the examiner treated as belonging to justice in general rather than to social justice.
• (b)1 and 3 only — Drops the statement about equal consideration for all individuals, which is the least deniable of the three and the foundation the other two are built on.
• (c)2 only — Reduces social justice to formal equality of treatment. That leaves out the recognition of special needs, without which the idea has nothing to say about the disadvantaged.

Justice in political theory is usually approached through three questions — what is owed to everyone alike, what may be distributed unequally and on what ground, and what is owed to those whose circumstances put them at a disadvantage. Equal treatment answers the first, proportionality the second, and the recognition of special needs the third. Social justice, as the phrase is used in the Indian Constitution, is chiefly about the first and the third.

Read this item as contested and learn all three ideas rather than only two. The standard classroom account of justice presents equal treatment, proportionate justice and the recognition of special needs as a set of three, so statement 1 is not a fabrication and option (a) is a defensible answer on that account; that is why the option is there and why so many candidates took it. The official key marks (d), and 2020 dropped no items, so (d) is the answer that scored. The distinction that makes the key intelligible is between justice at large and social justice in particular — proportionality is about desert and reward, and social justice in Indian constitutional usage is about consideration and disadvantage. The constitutional anchors are the Preamble's promise of justice that is social, economic and political, Articles 14 to 16 on equality, Articles 15(4), 16(4) and 46 on special provision, and the directive principles in Articles 38 and 39.

• The Preamble promises justice that is social, economic and political, and it heads the list of objectives.
• Articles 14 to 16 secure equality before the law, non-discrimination and equality of opportunity in public employment.
• Articles 15(4) and 16(4) permit special provision for socially and educationally backward classes and for scheduled castes and tribes.
• Article 46 directs the State to promote the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections with special care.
• Proportionate justice, which distributes reward according to effort or contribution, is a principle of distributive justice and works alongside rather than inside the idea of social justice.

• Assuming every principle of justice belongs to social justice; the two phrases are not coextensive.
• Reading recognition of special needs as a departure from equality rather than as a way of realising it.
• Reducing social justice to redistribution of income, which leaves out standing and consideration.

Political-theory items of this kind depend on which textbook's list the setter is working from, so learn the whole family of principles and how each is usually labelled.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which Article of the Constitution of India directs the State to promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people?

  • (a)Article 39
  • (b)Article 44
  • (c)Article 46
  • (d)Article 51

  Answer(c) Article 46 — it names the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in particular.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The idea that principles of justice should be chosen without knowing one's own place in society is associated with

  • (a)Jeremy Bentham
  • (b)John Rawls
  • (c)Robert Nozick
  • (d)Karl Marx

  Answer(b) John Rawls — the device is the veil of ignorance in A Theory of Justice.