Positive discrimination refers to granting special privileges to marginalized groups to address historical injustices and promote diversity. This policy is supported by constitutional provisions and legal safeguards aimed at protecting vulnerable sections, including women and backward classes. While it has benefits like promoting diversity and eliminating socio-economic differences, it can also lead to reverse discrimination and reinforce stereotypes.

1. POSITIVE DISCRIMINATION

2. What Is Discrimination
Treating an individual or group differently from the rest of the group or population.
An example of discrimination is a particular ethnic group being stopped or searched
by the police much more often than other groups.
Discrimination is defined as distinguishing differences between things or treating
someone as inferior based on their race, sex, national origin, age or other
characteristics.

3. Meaning Of Positive Discrimination
• The concept of positive discrimination is the policy of granting special
privileges (a special advantage) to the downtrodden (abused or oppressed
by people in power) and the under privileged sections of the society.
• Positive discrimination is the process of giving preferential treatment to
minority groups of society that have been prejudiced against in the past.
• It means employing someone because they come from a particular deprived
group in preference to others equally qualified.

4. VULNERABLE SECTIONS OF THE
SOCIETY
• The backward classes: The Constitution
recognizes three categories of
backward classes, namely,
scheduled castes,
scheduled tribes, and
other backward classes.
• Other vulnerable sections includes
children, women, old age, transgender
etc.

5. BACKGROUND
• Positive discrimination includes affirmative
action programs, most visible in both the
United States and India, where there has been
a history of racial and cast discrimination.
• The need to discriminate positively in favour
of the socially unprivileged was felt for the
first time during the “Nationalist Movement”.
• It was Mahatma Gandhi, himself a devout
Hindu and a staunch believer in the cast
system, who was the first leader to realize the
importance of the subject and to invoke the
conscience of the upper casts to this age old
social malady of relegating whole
communities to the degrading opposition of
“untouchables”.

6. CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS
• Article -17: Abolition of “untouchability” and making its practice in any form a
punishable offence.
• Article-23 (1): Prohibition of Traffic in human being and forced labour.
• Article-24: Prohibition of employment of children in factories, etc.
• Article-46: Promotion of educational and economic interests.
• Article-243 (d) (1): Seats shall be reserved for the scheduled caste and scheduled
tribe in every panchayat and all the three levels.
• Article-330&332: Reservation of seats in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies.

7. CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISION
RELATED TO WOMEN
• Article 15(3): The state is empowered to make any special provisions for women.
• Article 16(2): No citizen shall be discriminate against for being ineligible for any employment
for the office under the state on the ground of sex.
• Article 23(1): traffic in human beings and forced labour are prohibited.
• Article 39(a): The state is to secure for men and women equally the right to an adequate
means of livelihood.
• Article 39(d): The state to secure equal pay for equal work.
• Article 39(e): The state is required to ensure the health and strength of the women worker
and tender age children are not abused and that they are not forced by economic necessity
to enter avocations unsuited to their age and strength.
• Article 42: Direct the state to make a provision for ensuring just and humane conditions of
work and maternity relief.

8. LEGAL SAFEGUARDS
• Medical termination of pregnancy Act, 1971.
• Equal remuneration Act, 1976.
• Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (regulation and prevention of misuse)
Amendment Act, 2002.
• Protection of women from domestic violence Act, 2005.
• Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.
• The sexual harassment of women at workplace ( prevention, prohibition and
redressal ) Act, 2013.

9. PROS AND CONS OF POSITIVE
DISCRIMINATION
pros
• It promotes diversity.
• It can eliminate socio-economic
differences.
• It stops stereotypes.
• It allows people to chase dreams.
• It can help to break the glass ceiling.
• It reverses societal laws.
cons
• It promotes discrimination in reverse.
• It still reinforces stereotypes.
• Diversity can be just bad as it can be good.
• It changes accountability standards.
• It lessens the achievements that minority
groups obtain.
• Personal bias will always exist.

10. CONCLUSION
Thus we can conclude that promoting diversity can be good, but it should not happen
at the expense of others.
Equality is a goal we can all strive toward. In some circumstances, positive
discrimination could promote needed diversity.
From a societal stand point, however, we need to be proactive in our efforts to help
everyone start from the same place.
In this way, each person can pursue the opportunities that are right for them.