Part B (Q5): Write a note on Social Injustice and Mandate for Social Justice.

Social Injustice

Social Injustice refers to the systemic and structural inequalities present within a society that prevent certain groups of people from accessing resources, opportunities, rights, or protections that are available to others. It is not merely about individual prejudice; it is about how institutions (laws, education systems, economies) are designed to favor some and marginalize others.

• Examples: Denying a Dalit person housing based purely on their birth (caste discrimination); paying a woman less than a man for the exact same work (gender inequality); or a system where the poor have no access to quality healthcare, locking generations into a cycle of deprivation.

The Mandate for Social Justice

The mandate for social justice is the driving ethical force behind the social work profession and democratic governance. It dictates that society must intervene to correct these inequalities.

• Constitutional Mandate: In India, the mandate for social justice is explicitly written into the Preamble of the Constitution, which promises to secure "Justice, social, economic and political" to all citizens. This is further operationalized through Fundamental Rights (e.g., abolition of untouchability) and Directive Principles of State Policy.
• Professional Mandate: For social workers, the mandate comes from their professional code of ethics. Social workers are required to not just help an individual survive in an unjust system, but to actively work to dismantle the oppressive systems themselves. The mandate demands equity (giving more support to those who start at a disadvantage) rather than just equality (giving everyone the exact same thing).