Social Needs For India

 10 Special & Unique Social Needs For Our Country

"When you experience a problem in your life, what do you typically do? Who do you typically call? Chances are you have someone who supports and encourages you when you feel overwhelmed. In order to avoid problems such as anxiety, depression, or loneliness, we all need to feel accepted and supported by others. When we are able to develop strong connections with others such as friends, family, team members, and lovers, we are able to cope with distressing situations."

By Vedant Khandelwal                                                                                                                

Getting  a perspective on human's needs from Maslow's theory on Hierarchy Of Needs

Maslow first introduced his concept of a hierarchy of needs in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation" and his subsequent book Motivation and Personality. This hierarchy suggests that people are motivated to fulfill basic needs before moving on to other, more advanced needs.

While some of the existing schools of thought at the time (such as psychoanalysis and behaviorism) tended to focus on problematic behaviors, Maslow was much more interested in learning about what makes people happy and the things that they do to achieve that aim.

As a humanist, Maslow believed that people have an inborn desire to be self-actualized, that is, to be all they can be. In order to achieve these ultimate goals, however, a number of more basic needs must be met such as the need for food, safety, love, and self-esteem.

There are five different levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Let's take a closer look at Maslow’s needs starting at the lowest level, known as physiological needs. 

What are Social Needs According To Maslow

Social needs refer to the need to have relationships with others once the physiological and safety needs have been fulfilled. Maslow considered the social stage an important part of psychological development because our relationships with others help reduce emotional concerns such as depression or anxiety. As humans, we all have a need to feel loved and accepted by others.The social needs in Maslow’s hierarchy include such things as love, acceptance, and belonging. At this level, the need for emotional relationships drives human behavior. Some of the things that satisfy this need include:

• Friendships
• Romantic attachments
• Family
• Social groups
• Community groups
• Churches and religious organizations

In order to avoid problems such as loneliness, depression, and anxiety, it is important for people to feel loved and accepted by other people. Personal relationships with friends, family, and lovers play an important role, as does involvement in other groups that might include religious groups, sports teams, book clubs, and other group activities.

Addressing the social problems India is facing

India’s social problems are also rooted in the religious practices and beliefs of it people. Almost all forms of social issues and problems find their origin in the religious and cultural practices of the people of India. These social problems are developed in a long period of times and are still continuing in one form or other.

10 Social Needs Required To Be Implemented In India are :

1. Need For A Universal Security System

2. Microfinance

3. Low Cost Education

4. Rural Economy

5. Waste & Sewage Management

6. Sanitation

7. Mental Health Services

8. Job & Career Counselling

9. Proper & Appropriate Sex Education

10. Issues With Parking In Indian Metropolises

1. Need For A Universal Security System

The lockdown necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic has caused misery to all those workers whose daily incomes disappeared. This was revealed in the painful images of families of migrant labourers struggling to get back to their villages.

This tragedy has driven home the imperative of providing universal social security. The founders of the Republic wanted this. The Directive Principles of State Policy in Article 41 of the Constitution says that within the limits of its economic capacity, the State would provide “public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness, disablement, and in other cases of undeserved want”. The time has now come to make this a reality.

About 10% of workers are in the organised sector. They have the protection of social security under the labour laws. These laws are based on similar legislation in industrialized nations. Contributions from both the employers and the employees fund the social security provided to workers. This principle of joint contribution evolved in the early part of the last century as industrialization and workers’ movements gained momentum. The organised sector workers, who constitute less than 10% of all workers in India, have far greater job security than the remaining 90%, who work as casual labour in large, medium, small, and micro enterprises in cities, at construction sites, in transport, in agriculture and non-farm work. Or, they are self-employed as street vendors or in job work. This 90% is the most vulnerable.

The intention to cover all workers is also indicated in the draft legislation on the Social Security Code that has been introduced in Parliament. The challenge for the State is how to provide social security to all with its limited financial and administrative capacities. A universal social security system will have to be built progressively.

The principle of “learning while earning” should be more vigorously applied to improve India’s skill development systems. These have not delivered enough, in spite of great attention given to skills development in the last 15 years by the United Progressive Alliance and the National Democratic Alliance governments. In a dynamic market-economy, workers will lose jobs and this will happen at a faster pace with technological changes. Workers will have to keep learning to stay productively employed. The best way to learn useful skills is on the job, supplemented with off-line modules, which has been the successful approach of governments and employers in Germany and Japan.

An improvement that should be made in the design of MGNREGS-like schemes is to attach on-the-job skill development with the schemes. That way, not only can physical infrastructure be improved in rural and urban areas along with wage payments, but human capabilities will also be simultaneously developed. 

Covid-19 has highlighted the urgency for providing universal free health care. It has demonstrated that for-profit private health care is only for the wealthy. The poor need to be provided with good health care too. Raising the share of expenditure on health care to 2.5% of the Gross Domestic Product in the next two years would be a good beginning. Universal insurance coverage will not be enough.

The State must also provide the infrastructure and make doctors and facilities accessible. Digital technologies, tele-medicine, pharmacy chains of generic drugs, promotion of healthier lifestyles, and greater use of trained nurses and paramedics can improve health care and lower costs dramatically.

Income support with skill improvement and good health care for all who need it, are essential for a universal social security system in India. The State must round these off with improvements to schemes for those who, due to life circumstances, cannot work, such as the disabled, the elderly, and expectant mothers.

Source : HT India

2. Microfinance

Microfinance The socio-economic alleviation of the nation’s poor -most concentrated in the west where 35-45 per cent of the population is poverty-stricken- is a priority when 59 per cent of the population lives on less than $2.00 (Rs. 150) a day. This doesn’t mean the remaining 41 per cent is better off. According to the World Bank’s 2010 report, 96.3 per cent of the population lives below $5 (Rs. 374) a day. Hence, those sections of society that desperately need to be included into the economy must be assisted. This is where ‘microcredits’ came in, which eventually evolved into microfinancing. Its popularity as a buzzword in non-developed countries hit high when Muhammad Yunus of Grameen Bank won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his efforts in economic inclusiveness of the poor and marginalized.

The commercialisation of MFI's makes it little different from what lending institutions otherwise do. How to offset the negatives of MFI and turn it into a long-term solution that actually does help in business building will determine whether these institutions will have a significant and quantifiable impact on economic inclusiveness. What everyone can agree with, however, is that organisations need to help the poor in business-building.

3. Low Cost Education

In 67 years, literacy in India has gone from a paltry 12 per cent to 74.04 per cent (2011). It took more than half a century for India to drag the literacy rate to this number. Even then, there is a staggering gender and regional disparity in literacy levels, where only 65.46 per cent of women, but 82.14 per cent of men are literate. Whilst Tripura has 93.91 per cent literacy, Bihar is stuck at an abysmal 63.8 per cent. This number is even lower for women in Bihar.

Mismanagement of government schemes, socially regressive attitudes, economic backwardness that encourages child labour over education are primary reasons for the slow growth in literacy. Accessible low-cost education, then, becomes an important tool for children in slums, villages and remote areas of the country. It’s not enough to be simply be literate, though. Enrolment rates in the country for pre-primary are 58 per cent, primary are 93 per cent, secondary are 69 per cent, and tertiary are 25 per cent. The numbers may seem impressive, but the Indian education system is fraught with severe problems. Teacher absenteeism, lower girls’ education, poor infrastructure and sub-par quality of schools show a different picture. For instance, when non-profit ASER conducted a survey of 16,000 villages, the enrollment was found to be a high 96 per cent. However, 50 per cent of those aged 10 could not read at the level of a 6-year-old, and more than 60 per cent of these students were incapable of simple division.
India has a low quality of primary and secondary education. Only a small slice of the population benefits from quality private institutions in major cities. It is unfortunate that the perception of Indian education is based on the the country’s middle-to-upper class crème de la crème in education centers like Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata. The average student in India comes from rural areas, not urban schools. This is why in the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA 2009+), where 15-year-old students from across the globe are tested to gauge the quality of education being provided to them,  Indian students were miserable at reading , mathematics and science. Their best competition was Kyrgyzstan. It shattered the baseless preconception that Indian students were generally mathematically superior to their counterparts in the OECD nations. Under these circumstances, it’s monumentally important for low-cost education startups and organisations to assist the government in improving education to make these enrolment statistics actually meaningful.

4. Rural Economy

Almost 68 per cent of the country is rural, yet the other 32 per cent is always in the news. In fact, the very perception of “development” is narrowly based on what constitutes Western urban development, or development that benefits urban India more than rural India.

Farming and agriculture communities in India are in desperate need of sustainable solutions that improve the quality of their produce without damaging the environment their work is dependent on. Rural areas, for instance, depend on woodfuel. This needs to be remedied by providing these areas access to clean and sustainable energy solutions, a move that’ll help reduce India’s pollution levels (one of the highest in the world at 59ug/m3).

Means of effective storage and delivery are urgent in a nation there tonnes of produce is left to rot or farmers can’t efficiently sell perishable items without portable cold storage. Farmers need scientists and entrepreneurs to develop technologies that sophisticate the industry, especially, when wasteful irrigation practices are still common.

The other side of the rural economy is women’s entrepreneurship. This is, perhaps, one of the most difficult challenges to tackle. Steeped in tradition, rural India is fairly intolerant of women’s economic empowerment. Steps have been made in the direction through government schemes, yet there are cultural hindrances to bringing businesses to women and helping them develop skills to start their own.

Traditional skills have largely been the domain of men. There is a natural tendency towards seeing women as “job snatchers”, disrupting their means of livelihood, than competition. Since half of all adolescent girls drop out of school after the age 15, they lose a potential income of USD 400 billion. Economic empowerment of rural women can only come with their political and social empowerment. It’s an exhausting and time-consuming task… yet, their untapped potential and poor quality of life makes it all the more important to focus on alleviating their condition.

5. Waste & Sewage Management

An exponentially growing country, the rise in disposable income means a rise in consumption. With this consumption comes the manifold increase in municipal solid waste generation. Currently, South Asia generates the least amount of MSW compared to OECD countries. However, India’s figures tend to be disingenuous due to its wide urban-rural divide.

A large percentage of MSW comes from urban India, putting more strain on these regions. In 2000, the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) reported that 1,00,000 MT of MSW was generated daily in the country. In 2004-2005, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) surveyed 59 cities (35 metro cities and 24 state capitals) and found these cities generated 39,031 tons per day. This waste needs to be collected, separated and treated. These figures do not consider all the plastics and biomass burnt in open air, and waste incineration plants are not effective until state-of-the-art technologies are put to use.

The same logistic and technological problems beset sewage management. Open sewers pollute land, soil, underground water resources and the air, besides causing an intolerable stink. The 2011 CAG report concluded that 53% of sewage in Bangalore Metropolitan Region was let into storm drains and lake, whereas only 47% of sewage was treated. Waste and sewage management are expensive and technologically challenging areas of development, but ones that need urgent attention to improve the livelihood of people and the quality of the environment if people are still interested in breathing clean air and drinking clean water.

6. Sanitation

Old ills still plague, but incredible achievements have been made in the country. One such achievement is the increase in access to drinking water. Between 1990-2012 the government increased drinking water access to 534 million people.

However, a higher number -597 million- still defecates openly, the worst in MDG regions. As opposed to the stride taken to provide people drinking water, India has done the least to address its sanitation needs compared to countries like Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Pakistan and Nepal. 65 per cent of rural India still does not have access to sanitation, a problem more compounded for women, as they have special hygiene needs.

In urban India, this number is 12 per cent, where the problem is largely confined to semi-urban regions and slums. The sanitation problem is a health and environment hazard with long-term consequences for economic progress. Considering how bad even our sewage system is, on closer look, the predicament looks like something that simply cannot be solved.

A constantly proposed solution, public toilets take a long time to install due to government bureaucracy, and are expensive to maintain (which they are not). Many aren’t used by slums they’re supposed to service. It’s a grave issue and it can only be solved if the sewage and disposal system in cities is given equal attention.

These are just some of the problems that beset healthy, sustainable and equitable progress in India. Where many of these problems reflect the systemic rot in the nation and policy failure, others can be addressed by social enterprises and organisations that seek to include marginalized, discriminated or neglected communities across India.

What India needs are good solutions to problems with wide-ranging consequences, not short-term quick fixes. There is no point in cleaning a wound if the abscess beneath is untreated. Attempts at bettering the underprivileged majority of India will only succeed if social entrepreneurship is, in fact, “social” and not driven by the need to exploit a historically backward section of society for a quick buck.

 Source: YourStory

7. Mental Health Services 

In India, approximately 18 crore people suffer from mental health illness such as depression, stress and suicide. However, the amount of funds allocated by the government for mental issues is only Rs 50 crore in the National Mental Health Program.

The mental health therapist says that the Mental Health Act, which ensures every insurer makes provisions for medical insurance for mental illness treatment just like physical illnesses, is mandatory.

The government should emphasize on the integration of mental health services in India's basic healthcare system which will in turn improve its affordability and accessibility.

Stop discounting mental illness

• Stop discouraging people from seeking treatment 
• Stop telling people to be strong and to snap out of their condition
• Stop labelling and judging people Stop shying away from seeking treatment 
• Stop self-treating yourself and others after online research
• Stop seeing mental illness as a sign of weakness 
• Stop blaming yourself or others for the cause of the condition

Source : Economic Times

8. Job & Career Counselling

The Indian education system has been stringent and the same for a very long time and needed new reforms, amends and overall changes in it's systems, departments, way of teaching, mediums of teaching and agendas of teaching. The change is now being set into action and within the next year should be implemented at all levels. The new opportunities are going to open more options and nurture the skills of the students in an even more advanced way. However, these new opportunities won't be falling under students only  but the overall general public who are seeking for job opportunities. 

In India, a majority of students are compelled to take up disciplines which are eventually supposed to give them a good earning salary and perks. In this pressure, the students are made to leave their interests, skills and passion behind to pursue what they are made to adapt to. This is only leading to a state of scarcity of good talent, skill-set and dedication in our nation. 

In order to give the youth a proper guidance, career counselling services should be set in every school, government and private schools both, universities, colleges, institutions, residences, colonies and societies at a very minimal cost or for free. 

This would also promote the idea of the government's Skill India mission, further generating employment in every field and sector. 

9. Proper & Appropriate Sex Education

Sex education is a programme which educates and informs young individuals about sex, sexual health, sexuality, and sexual rights in an age-appropriate manner.

The Supreme Court of India, in a landmark judgment, read down Section 377 of the IPC, decriminalising homosexuality and paving a way for the LGBTQ+ community to live a free life. Despite this, the subject of sex education remains a taboo in the country.

Furthermore, India is the second most populated country in the world and on its way to beat China to top the population chart. With such a booming population, the need for sex education is obvious, and yet remains unacted upon.

India is home to 253 million adolescents (aged 10-19 years) who comprise 21% of the country’s population as per the 2011 census who receive little to no education about their own sexuality.

Almost a decade ago, the government of India, in collaboration with NACO, NCERT and UN, announced the launch of the Adolescence Education Programme (AEP) in schools. In response, 13 states immediately called for a ban on it on the grounds that it is “against Indian culture”. Prominent political figures voiced their concerns about the programme and went so far as to say that AEP would make young individuals indulge in sexual profligacy.

It is very important that young boys and girls know the reasons for the changes in their body, they should be given sex education when they reach adolescence.
Both boys and girls need to understand the menstrual cycle so that girls can accept it as a normal role of nature and boys should not hate menstruation, tampons and sanitary pads. To be sensitive to this issue it is necessary to know about it.

By spreading awareness about sex, there will be awareness about other related issues including diseases like sexual diseases and HIV at the time of conception. According to the WHO, 34 percent of people in the age group of 12 to 19 in the world are infected with HIV.
Sex education will make the youth responsible and thus they will decide to have sex with full knowledge of the possible outcome rather than eagerness and will be able to face such reactions without any negative effect.

The youth should not be ashamed to buy contraceptive material which is a very important aspect.

To end rape, coercive physical relationships, sex education is very important.
Last but not the least, the victims of child sexual abuse have to understand that something is going wrong with them. With which they will be able to inform their parents about unpleasant incidents. A study by the Department of Women and Child Development shows that about 53 percent of the children in the country have been victims of some kind of sexual abuse.

Source : QRIUS

10. Issues With Parking Spaces In Indian Metropolises

A commuter in Delhi spends over 80 hours every year looking for parking spaces.

The problem is simple – even as the number of vehicles has expanded, parking space in Indian cities has remained constant or reduced due to a growing population. Especially when land is limited and expensive, like in metropolises, rising parking demand spaces puts immense pressure on it. Sample this, in New York midtown area, road area per person stands at 33.3 sqm while in Mumbai’s Null Bazaar, it is no more than 1.7 sqm. This means that a vehicle in Mumbai imposes a cost nearly 20 times as much as one in New York.

Thanks to a rapid economic and population growth, Indian metropolises are staring at a mobility crisis. Today, urban areas face tremendous pressure on parking spaces, resulting in issues such as traffic congestion, disproportionate demand and supply, and environmental hazards, to name a few. Because of poor parking management and policy, India struggles with chaotic situations like overcrowded footpaths, illegal parking, and criminal activities due to improper surveillance.

Saturated Parking Spaces

One of the most common problems today is a saturation of parking spaces. Vehicles continue to outnumber existing parking spaces, thus clogging roads. Incidences of violence over occupancy, deformed cars due to a space crunch, and overcharging for parking are some problems that result.

Unregulated Tariffs

An unregulated tariff structure leads to a scarcity of parking spaces. In Indian metros, parking is either free or minimally priced, the fees being unregulated for many years now. For instance, Mumbai charges the same parking fee as it did 20 years ago and has one of the lowest tariffs in the world. Because parking price stops increasing after a certain period of time, the longer one stays in a parking space, the less one has to pay. In Sarojini Nagar in Delhi, parking price is a meager Rs. 20 per hour with a standard fee of Rs. 100 for 24 hours, making parking even cheaper.

On-Street Vs. Off-Street Parking

Another problem in Indian metropolises is the skewed demand for on-street parking since it’s cheaper than off-street parking. On-street parking issues often cause delays, especially on roads with heavy traffic. A balance in tariff is necessary for both types of spaces to be optimally utilized. For example, the Sfpark Garage policy in San Francisco varied hourly prices based on demand and gave off-peak discounts to lessen congestion in and near garages at rush hour.

Cruising

Another problem that arises due to a lack of parking spaces in Indian cities is cruising i.e. vehicles looking for a parking space causing long queues, congestion, and pollution. Typically when free on-street parking isn’t available, drivers choose to cruise instead of paying for parking. By under-pricing on-street parking, Indian metros create an economic incentive to cruise. Once occupied, low-cost parking isn’t vacated for hours and instances have been recorded of cars being parked for days.

Parking On Special Occasions

In Indian cities, special occasions mean unending traffic – festivals, concerts, college fests etc. A large number of vehicles come out on the streets, exerting immense pressure on parking spaces. This means more cruising, chaos, quarrels and long queues than usual. For instance, during Durga Puja in Kolkata, almost the entire city is out, which spells trouble for parking availability. As pandals encroach roads, traffic becomes so terrible that distances requiring fifteen minutes are covered in approximately two hours.

Parking within Market Premises & Roads

In many metropolitan cities, local market places are areas which are quite prevalent, often overcrowded,  clustered with traffic jams mainly because of the presence of vehicles parked on the either sides of the roads and the vehicles cruising through the market place.

People often come to these areas for shopping of various stuff, eating at local areas/ stalls/ restaurants/ cafes and mostly park their vehicles on the side of the roads. With already the heavy presence and dwelling of pedestrians and shoppers, it all becomes a chaos and results in hours of traffic. 

The law & enforcement should implement the rule of not parking within the market area premises or vehicles cruising around for shopping or whatsoever reason. 

A separate complex or enclosed area for parking should be developed and maintained such as those of shopping malls so that, parking of the vehicles is organized and maintained in a systematic order and hours of traffic jams and chaos are prevented.

Source : Get My Parking

These are just some of the problems that beset healthy, sustainable and equitable progress in India.

 Where many of these problems reflect the systemic rot in the nation and policy failure, others can be addressed by social enterprises and organisations that seek to include marginalized, discriminated or neglected communities across India. What India needs are good solutions to problems with wide-ranging consequences, not short-term quick fixes. There is no point in cleaning a wound if the abscess beneath is untreated. Attempts at bettering the underprivileged majority of India will only succeed if social entrepreneurship is, in fact, “social” and not driven by the need to exploit a historically backward section of society for a quick buck.

By Vedant Khandelwal

14 Aug, '20