“RIGHT TO PRIVACY IN THE DAWN OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY- A Critical Review ”

By- HarchandChoudhary^@

Abstract-

Right to privacy is basic right of a human kind and it is recognised universally. In Indian perspective even though it is came in existence through case by case because of Indian vigilant judiciary and made it sine qua non for human being and provided power against any encroachment. But revolution in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) diluted this right to privacy. ICT affected man badly and his right to be alone. Crime of hacking are continuously increasing because laws existed in present scenario is not adequate to handle the breach of data privacy. Even sometimes government agencies also encroaches other people’s right to their own benefit on the name of national security. On the other hand ICT also became part and partial in modern time and it cannot be banned. The only solutions are evolved a framework and enact effective rules and regulations against unwanted interference in right to privacy.

     1.     Introduction-

Every civilized nation ensures privacy of its citizen. The concept of privacy differs from society to society. The Universal Declaration of Human Right provides for the right of privacy similarly other International Instruments also endow for right of privacy.

Article 12, No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence,nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

The constitution of India does not expressly provide the right to privacy,however, the Supreme Court of India had interpreted it under the right to life. The Right of privacy has not been defined statutorily in India. The analysis of the Supreme Court’s decision on various cases brings forward certain areas that cover protection of information as a part of right of privacy. The concept of privacy in modern times is not restricted to mere physical movement or domiciliary surveillance, but also encompasses protection of a wide range of information, whether its medical, financial, bio metric or personal etc. The Supreme Court has explained the facet of privacy meritoriously as,

“The most serious advocate of privacy must confess that there are serious problems

of defining the essence and scope of the right. The privacy interest in autonomy must also be

placed in the context of other rights and values. Any right to privacy must encompass and protect the personal intimacies of the home, the family, marriage, motherhood, procreation and childbearing.”¹

     2.     Evolution of right to privacy-

Though it is true that the Indian Constitution does not explicitly guarantee this right as a fundamental right certainly the right to privacy or, the right to be left alone, should be accepted as an individual right. The courts' treatment of this right is a matter of paramount importance because of growing invasions of this right in areas that remained away from the purview of courts. It also assumes importance because of frequent violation of this right by the State on grounds which are not bona fide.

The Supreme Court of India (hereinafter referred to as the "Supreme Court") had the opportunity to first decide and lay down the contours of the right to privacy in India in the case of Kharak Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh[1]. This case did not witness the recognition of the right to privacy as a fundamental right under the ‘personal liberty’ clause of Article 21 of the Constitution. Majority of the judges in this case refused to interpret Article 21 in a manner to include within its ambit the right to privacy, however two of the seven judges asserted that the right to privacy does form an essential ingredient of personal liberty. Subsequently, the Supreme Court while deciding the case of Govind v. State of Madhya Pradesh³ laid down that a number of fundamental rights of citizens can be described as contributing to the right to privacy. Although the Supreme Court also stated that the right to privacy will have to go through a process of case by case development.The Supreme Court in the case of R. Rajagopa  v. State of Tamil Nadu^4, for the first time directly linked the right to privacy to Article 21 of the Constitution and laid down:

"The right to privacy is implicit in the right to life and liberty guaranteed to the citizens of this country by Article 21. It is a "right to be let alone". A citizen has aright to safeguard the privacy of his own, his family, marriage, procreation, motherhood, child bearing and education among other matters. None can publish anything concerning the above matters without his consent whether truthful or otherwise and whether laudatory or critical. If he does so,he would be violating the right to privacy of the person concerned and would be liable in an action for damages."

Further, while deciding on the issue of telephone-tapping in the case of PUCL v. Union of India⁵, the Supreme Court observed that telephone-tapping would be a serious invasion of an individual’sprivacy.Thus, telephone-tapping would infract Article 21 of the Constitution, unless it is permitted under the procedure established by law.

Therefore, the concept of privacy of an individual has evolved over the years and has been held to be a fundamental right by the Supreme Court. In the case of Selvi v. State of Karnataka⁶the Supreme Court held that an involuntary subjection of a person to narcoanalysis, polygraph examination and BEAP tests violates the right to privacy.
[2]

The Supreme Court has articulated an implicit right to privacy derived from the language set out in Article 21 of the Constitution. However, India does not have a separate and specific legislation that explicitly recognizes therightto privacyand sets out the contours of its applicability

Indian government proposed a bill for separate Right to Privacy Bill 2011 but it did not clear by parliament yet.

    3.     Effect of ICT on privacy-

Although Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) have greatly enhanced

ours capacities to collect, store, process and communicate information, it is ironically

thesecapacities of technology which make us vulnerable to intrusions of our privacy

on a previously impossible scale. Firstly, Data on our own personal computers can

compromise us in unpleasant ways – with consequences ranging from personal

embarrassment to financial loss. Secondly, transmission of data over the internet and

mobile networks is equally fraught with the risk of interception – both lawful and

unlawful – which could compromise our privacy. Thirdly, in this age of cloud computing

when much of “our” data – our emails, chat logs, personal profiles, bank statements etc.

resides on the distant servers of the companies whose services we use, our privacy

become only as strong as these companies’ internal electronic security systems.

Fourthly, the privacy of children, women and sexuality minorities tend to be especially

fragile in this digital age and they have become frequent targets of exploitation. Fifthly,

the internet has spawned new kinds of annoyances from electronic voyeurism to spam or

offensive email to ‘phishing’ – impersonating someone else’s identity for financial gain -

which each have the effect of impinging on one’s privacy.

In India right to privacy was breached many times by government agencies through phone tappings. in this there was famous case was Nira Radia Case.The Radia tapes controversy relates to the telephonic conversations between NiraRadia, a lobbyist and an acquaintance of the (then) Indian telecom minister A. Raja, and with senior journalists, politicians, and corporate houses,^[1] taped by the Indian Income Tax Department in 2008–09. The tapes led to accusations of misconduct by many of these people.

Latter on Tata has challenged the unauthorized publication of the recordings. His argument is that the authorities have failed in their duty to protect his privacy by allowing the tapes to be leaked and then proving unable to prevent dissemination of the information. He has thus asked for directives by the court for a probe into the leak, for the authorities to attempt to retrieve all leaked recordings, and for the media to be prohibited from publishing the tapes in any form. It is the second and third requests that have become points of controversy

Another most famous incident of phone tapping in India was during the Ramakrishna Hegde regime in Karnataka in the year 1988.  The opposition had alleged that Hegde had ordered the tapping of phones of opposition leaders and was invading their privacy.

In 2014 Edward Snowden revealed thousands of documents of spying program run by USA intelligence agencies CIA and FBI. These document shows that thousands of people, politicians, celebrities, businessmen and departments were spied by US agencies and breached right to privacy of many people. like

Ø  “US 'hacks China networks'

Ø   Merkel phone calls 'intercepted'

Ø  A total of 38 embassies and missions have been the "targets" of US spying operations, accordingto a secret file leaked to the Guardian.

Ø   Latin America 'monitored'

Ø   SMS messages 'collected and stored' In January 2014, the Guardian newspaper and Channel Four News reported that the US had collected and stored almost 200 million text messages per day across the globe.

A National Security Agency (NSA) programme is said to have extracted and stored data from the SMS messages to gather location information, contacts and financial data.

The documents also revealed that GCHQ had used the NSA database to search for information on people in the UK.”

·         “In July 2015, adult website Ashley Madison suffered a data breach when a hacker group stole information on its 37 million users. The hackers threatened to reveal user names and specifics if Ashley Madison and a fellow site, EstablishedMen.com, did not shut down permanently.

·         In November 2014 and for weeks after, Sony Pictures Entertainment suffered a data breach involving personal information about Sony Pictures employees and their families, e-mails between employees, information about executive salaries at the company, copies of (previously) unreleased Sony films, and other information. The hackers involved claim to have taken over 100 terabytes of data from Sony.

·         In August 2014, nearly 200 photographs of celebrities were posted to the image board website 4chan. An investigation by Apple found that the images were obtained "by a targeted attack on user names, passwords and security questions".

These are the purely side effects of ICT on right to privacy if ICT would not have existed then privacy had breached at vast level.

4.     Laws for protection of privacy-

Although there are a number of technological measures through which these risks can be reduced, it is equally important to have a robust legal regime in place which lays emphasis on the maintenance of privacy. We have some laws as under mention -

(A) Under Section 43A of the (Indian) Information Technology Act, 2000, a body corporate who is possessing, dealing or handling any sensitive personal data or information, and is negligent in implementing and maintaining reasonable security practices resulting in wrongful loss or wrongful gain to any person, then such body corporate may be held liable to pay damages to the person so affected. It is important to note that there is no upper limit specified for the compensation that can be claimed by the affected party in such circumstances.

(B)  Under Section 72A of the (Indian) Information Technology Act, 2000, disclosure of information, knowingly and intentionally, without the consent of the person concerned and in breach of the lawful contract has been also made punishable with imprisonment for a term extending to three years and fine extending to INR 5,00,000 (Approx. US$ 10750).

The current lot of legislations that try to address privacy concerns are piecemeal in nature. Bulk of these provisions is found in the Information Technology Act 2000 and its subsequent amendments. Section 72 of the Information Technology Act 2000 in its original form penalized the breaches of confidentiality and privacy of data. Essentially, the scope of the provision covered those empowered by the Act to gain “access to any electronic record, book, register, correspondence, information document or other material” seized for investigation. It was aimed at preventing accidental leaks of such information during the course of investigation. It was later amendedto include Section 72A to penalize “any person” (including an intermediary) who has obtained personal information while providing services under a lawful contract and discloses the personal information without consent of the person, with the intent to cause, or knowing it is likely to cause wrongful gain or wrongful loss.

When this clause is read together with Section 69B of the Act, it squarely puts the responsibility of securing personal data on the intermediary, which in this case could be a wide spectrum of actors from cyber cafes to telecom companies and ISPs. This also makes Government agencies like the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) which is tasked with collection of biometric data, accountable for maintaining privacy of such data collected by it.

Another set of amendments came into force by the addition of Section 43A which obliges corporate bodies which possess, deal or handle any sensitive personal data to implement and maintain “reasonable security practices,” failing which they would be liable to pay damages. The Act defines “corporate bodies” as those involved in “commercial or professional activities” only. The definitions of “sensitive personal data” and “reasonable security practices” are narrow and hence prevent courts from interpreting a contextual definition. Most importantly, government agencies and non-profit organizations are entirely excluded from the ambit of this section.

(C) Resolution adopted by the General Assembly for  Right to Privacy -

Reaffirming the human right to privacy, according to which no one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence, and the right to the protection of the law against such interference, and recognizing that the exercise of the right to privacy is important for the realization of the right to freedom of expression and to hold opinions without interference, and is one of the foundations of a democratic society, Stressing the importance of the full respect for the freedom

(D)Article 12 of The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights,which states that:

“No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.”

@ The court also specified in this judgment delivered in the PUCL vs Union of India⁷ case in 1997 that a telephonic conversation in private without interference would come under the purview of right to privacy as mandated in the Constitution.
The court further observed that unlawful means of phone tapping are invasions in privacy and are uncivilized and undemocratic in nature.

The Supreme Court, in the same judgment, also went on to lay down various guidelines regarding phone tapping which are as follows:

Ø  If a telephone needs to be tapped, then the home secretary of the Union government or the respective state government can issue an order to this effect.

Ø  Strong reasons have to be specified in order to issue such a directive.

Ø  Such an order shall be in force only for two months unless there is another order, which will give the home secretary the right to extend it by another six months only.

The Supreme Court, however, does not give the home secretary the ultimate power and states clearly in the same judgment that such an order shall be subject to review by the Cabinet, law and telecommunication secretary who will need to review the same in 2 months time of the date the order has been passed

[3]

5.     Possible Remedies-

Recommendations of the Shah Committee

In general, the Shah Committee recommended that the legislation on right to privacy must harmonize all statutory provisions that relate to privacy. As perthe Committee Report submitted in October 2012, the major recommendations of the Shah Committee were as follows:-

1.      The regulatory framework will consist of privacycommissioners at the Central and Regional levels;

2.      A system of co-regulation granting the selfregulating organizations at industry level the choice to develop privacy standards. These standards should be approved by a privacycommissioner;

3.      Individuals would be given the choice (opt-in/opt-out) with regard to providing their personal information and the data controller would take individual consent only after providing inputs of its information practices;

4.      The data controller shall only collect that personal information from data subjects as is necessary for the purposes identified for such collection as well as process the data relevant to the purpose for which they are collected;

[4]

5.      The data collected would be put to use for the purpose for which it has been collected. Any change in the usage would be done only with consent of the person concerned;

6.      Data collected and processed would be relevant for the purpose and no additional data elements would be collected from the individual;[5]

7.      Interception orders must be specific and all interceptions would only be in force for a period of 60 days and may be renewed for a period of up to 180 days. Records of interception must be destroyed by security agencies after 6 months or 9 months and service providers must destroy after 2 months or 6 months; and

8.      Infringement of any provision under the Act would constitute an offence forwhich individuals may seek compensation.

    6.     Conclusion-

Right to Privacy is fundamental right and sine qua non for a human being to live a dignify life. No one can compromise with his privacy. But on other hand Information and Communication Technology is also become a part and partial of modern world. ICT made whole world a village and connected to one another and without ICT life will be very difficult at present time. So both privacy and ICT are important for a person in these days, the only possible solution is to enact effective laws, rules and regulation to prevent data breach and create such a framework which can punish those people who breach the privacy of others.Government should motivate the IT companies to build a robust internet security and privacy protections in their network.

@ Author is the student of BA LLB 2^nd year of BharatiVidyapeeth Deemed University New Law College, Pune

Email id.-harchand9928@gmail.com , mo.no. 09689123719

      1.      Gobindvs State Of Madhya Pradesh, AIR 1975 SC 1378, 1975 CriLJ 1111, (1975) 2 SCC 148, 1975      SCR 946

      2.      Kharak Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh, cited at: (1964) SCR (1) 332.

      3.      Govind v. StateofMadhyaPradesh, cited at: AIR 1975 SC 1378.

4.      R. Rajagopal v. State of Tamil Nadu, cited at: 1994 SCC (6) 632.

      5.  . PUCL v. Union of India, cited at: (1997) 1 SCC 30.

6.      Selvi v. State of Karnataka, cited at: AIR 2010 SC 1974

7..PUCL v. Union of India, cited at: (1997) 1 SCC 30

    BIBLIOGRAPHY

1.      DURGA DAS BASU,THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA, 8^TH EDDITION 2008,P. 3139

2.      J.N. PANDEY,THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA,51^ST EDDITION 2014,P.254.

WEBLIOGRAPHY-

1.http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/privacy/safeguards-for-electronic-privacy

2. http://shefali1130.blogspot.in/2010/10/privacy-protection-and-it-act-2000.html

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Technology_Act,_2000

4. http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l288-Breach-of-privacy-&-Confidentiality-.html

5. http://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/article/offences-&-penalties-under-the-it-act-2000-439-1.html

6.http://www.mondaq.com/india/x/13430/IT+internet/Cyberlaw+In+India+The+Information+Technology+Act+2000+Some+Perspectives

7. http://www.slideshare.net/NIIConsulting/it-act-2000-penalties-offences-with-case-studies

8.http://login.westlawindia.com/maf/wlin/ext/app/tocectory?stnew=true&sttype=stdtemplate&sp=inbharati-1

9. http://manupatra.com

10. http://scconline.com

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To Charge Price Above MRP is Punishable

By- Harchand Choudhary^*

Now a days it is common to take price above MRP almost everywhere like in halls, railway stations and restaurants and most of people ignore it because they are unaware of rules and regulations.. Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules 2011,rule 18(2) says, “No retail dealer or other person including manufacturer, packer, importer and wholesale dealer shall make any sale of any commodity in packed form at a price exceeding the retail sale price thereof.”

It means to charge money above the MRP is clearly violation of Government rules and under certain acts, it is punishable. In India there is clear provision and platform to file complain against those who charge money above MRP from common man. The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) is the apex body at center level. Then comes State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission at State level and District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum in every district. These commissions/tribunals have given orders many time in welfare of consumers in like-

In a case D.K. Chopra v. Snack Bar¹, a unit of Saptagiri Restaurant at Chennai Airportcharged Rs 150 of a can of Redbull marked MRP Rs 75 from a Delhi based resident D.K. Chopra. He complained against that restaurant in  District Consumer  Forumsubsequently in the State Consumer Forum for compensation of Rs 2 lacs for harassment and mental agony and Rs 11000of travel expense but both of them rejected his plea. Finally he appealed in the  National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) in Delhi. National Commission imposed fine of Rs 50 lacs and also asked to pay Rs 10000 to the complaint.

  In another case Two passenger v. Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC)² was slapped a fine of Rs 10 lakh by a consumer forum in Delhi when two passengers of Delhi complained that they were charged of Rs 15 against MRP of Rs 12 for a bottle of  Maza (a soft drink). The forum directed IRCTC to deposit a fine of Rs 10 lakh with the Delhi State Legal Services Authority and awarded compensation of Rs 10,000 to each of the two complainants.

Overcharging on edible products be apart for a moment, it is a common knowledge that local merchants apply a two per cent extra charge when a consumer/customer makes a payment through debit card or credit card. This too is illegal and the merchants can be fined for this. According to a Reserve Bank of India Notification³, merchants are not allowed to levy this extra charge on customers. They are supposed bear these charge themselves and cannot pass it on to the customers.

Thus  it is clear that in India there are plentiful of Rules, Regulations and Acts but the need is only to make aware ourselves about those rules and laws. And we should give emphasis on implementing those laws in practical life against wrongdoer.

__________________

*Author is a student of Bharati Vidyapeeth  New Law College, Pune

1 Revision petition no 4090 of 2012 in NCDRC.

2 InState Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission of Delhi 2013.

3 RBI/2013-14/292 DBS.CO.PPD No. 3578 /11.01.005/2013-14 September 17, 2013 Point No. 4

Changing Status of Women and Constitutional Provisions in India

By – Harchand Choudhary

“It is impossible to think about the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved. It is impossible for a bird to fly on only one wing.” — Swami Vivekananda
“You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of its women.”    -- Jawaharlal Nehru
                               The Gandhian era and the decades after independence have witnessed tremendous changes in the status of women in Indian society. The constitution has laid down as a fundamental right the equality of sexes. But the change from a position of utter degradation and subjugation of women in the nineteenth century to a position. In the middle of the twentieth century is not a simple case of progress of women in modern era. Before the independent the condition of women was so bad due to many social customs and superstation, lack of education, awareness, and they had to bear with those.

     Sati system was one of the worst customs is an old, in which the widow was immolated alive on her husband's funeral pyre. Although the act was supposed to be voluntary on the widow's part.

 Another one was Jauhar refers to the practice of voluntary immolation by wives and daughters of defeated warriors, in order to avoid capture and consequent molestation by the enemy. The practice was followed by the wives of defeated Rajput rulers, who are known to place a high premium on honour. Evidently such practice took place during the Islamic invasions of India.

Purdah is the practice among some communities requiring women to cover themselves so as to conceal their skin and form from males. It imposes restrictions on the mobility of women, curtails their right to interact freely, and is a symbol of the subordination of women. It is noted that Indian women had to purdah in the Islamic Kingdoms in Indian Subcontinent, as result of fear, that they would be kidnapped by the Muslim invaders.

Devadasi is often misunderstood as religious practice. It was practised in southern India, in which women were "married" to a deity or temple. After the foreign invasions of Indian subcontinent, this practice started to mark its presence, as women were often raped or kidnapped by the foreign forces.

Due to those practices the situation of women was quite miserable and painful and at that time women literacy rate was so low, health condition, participation in workplace was at the below the ebb.

Revolutionary changes have taken place in the position of women in India after independence. The Constitution of India provided for special steps to be taken by the government to improve the condition of women by separate institutions.

A quick and effective change in the status of women was contemplated through social legislations. The Constitution of India guarantees certain fundamental rights and freedom such as protection of life and personal liberty. Indian women are the beneficiaries of these rights in the same manner as men some other provision like-Equality before law for women (Article 14),The State not to discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of  birth or any of them (Article   15 (i)) ,The State to make any special provision in favour of women and children (Article 15 (3),Equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the State (Article 16)¹.

[1]The State to direct its policy towards securing for men and women equally the right to an adequate means of livelihood (Article 39(a)); and equal pay for equal work for both men and women (Article 39(d)),To promote justice, on a basis of equal opportunity and to provide free legal aid  by suitable legislation or scheme or in any other way to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities (Article 39 A),The State to make provision for securing just and humane conditions of work and for maternity relief (Article 42)².

The State to promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people and to protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation (Article 46), The State to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people (Article 47), To promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India and to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women (Article 51(A) (e)³.

Not less than one-third (including the number of seats reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes) of the total number of seats to be filled by direct election in every Panchayat to be reserved for women and such seats to be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in a Panchayat (Article 243 D(3),Not less than one- third of the total number of offices of Chairpersons in the Panchayats at each level to be reserved for women (Article 243 D (4),Not less than one-third (including the number of seats reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes) of the total number of seats to be filled by direct election in every Municipality to be reserved for women and such seats to be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in a Municipality (Article 243 T (3),Reservation of offices of Chairpersons in Municipalities for the Scheduled Castes, the       Scheduled Tribes and women in such manner as the legislature of a State may by law provide (Article 243 T (4)⁴.

In the post-independent India we had series of laws passed for the upliftment of women. These legislations have been brought in order to give equal rights and privileges with men, to eliminate discriminations against women, remove inequality between sexes, and remove external barriers coming in the way of their self-realisation and development. The important Acts passed for the upliftment of women are:

The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955: This Act provided equal rights to women to obtain divorce and also maintenance in certain cases.

The Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act of 1956: By virtue of this Act a woman can adopt a boy or a girl as her son or daughter.

The Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act of 1956: This Act provides that a woman is entitled to act as the natural guardian of her minor children.

The Hindu Succession Act of 1956: As a result of this Act, woman has got equal rights in the inheritance of family property. This Act is a landmark in the history of Hindu law¹.

The Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act of 2005: this act brought the revolution in the field of women’s property right. It provide equal right and equal share to women in ancestral property in India².    

The Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961: According to this Act, taking or demanding dowry is an offence punishable by imprisonment and or fines.

The Equal Remuneration Act of 1976: This Act does not permit wage discrimination between male and female workers.

Besides legislations, education was also regarded as an important factor in raising the status of women in society. Therefore, active steps were taken to promote women’s education. Immediately after independence it was realized that unless half of our population are exposed to educational process, modernization of our society would be a distant dream. Various Committees and Commissions emphasized the need for equalization of educational opportunities.1951 the women literacy ratio was 8.9 percent and in 2011 this ratio increased to 65.5 percent³.

This happened because of government efforts and people’s awareness. Indian government enacted law like Right to Education2005, This led to opening of different schools and colleges, especially for women.

The Department of Women & Child Development in the Ministry of Human Resource Development has prepared a “National Policy for the Empowerment of Women” in the year 2001. The goal of this policy is to bring about the advancement, development and empowerment of women.

However, the absence of any economic compulsion was in fact one of the main reasons for the slow progress of women education till seventies. There is a gradual change among the women that in order to make a decent living and to assert their rights and privileges and to [2][3][4]become economically independent, they must acquire proper skill through education. Hence, there has been a constant rise of women ratio in the field of higher education.

There has been a remarkable increase in the number of women getting out of the four walls of the household and becoming workers in both cities and villages, according to the 1991 census report. Job opportunities outside the family, economic hardship and social situation have encouraged women to take up employment outside the family. The attitudes of women’s relatives towards women’s employment, women’s own preference for employment are now quite different from earlier beliefs. People are now in favour of women employment.
Contrary to common perception, a large percentage of women in India work. National data collection agencies accept that statistics seriously understate women's contribution as workers. However, there are far fewer women than men in the paid workforce. In urban India, women participate in the workforce in impressive numbers. For example, in the software industry 30% of the workforce is female. In the workplace women enjoy parity with their male counterparts in terms of wages and roles.

In rural India in the agriculture and allied industrial sectors, females account for as much as 89.5% of the labour force. In overall farm production, women's average contribution is estimated at 55% to 66% of the total labour. According to a 1991 World Bank report, women accounted for 94% of total employment in dairy production in India.¹ Women constitute 51% of the total employed in forest-based small-scale enterprises

Today, the centre of production is located outside the family, economic conditions demand participation of women with men in the production process. This has enhanced the status of women in the family as well as the society.

Through the Panchayat  Raj institutions, over a million women have actively entered political life in India. As per the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts, all local elected bodies reserve one-third of their seats for women. Although the percentages of women in various levels of political activity has risen considerably.

In the political field, women now enjoy equal rights with men. The two important rights in the political field sanctioned to women by Indian Constitution are: female enfranchisement and eligibility for the legislature. Prior to independence, when the elections were held in 1946 for constitutional assembly, many prominent women of Indian like Sarojini Naidu, Hansa Meheta, Renuka Rai and others were elected. In the first general election held in 1952, several women contested for the Lok Sabha.

After independence more women have joined different political parties. Some of them have captured seats of power as Chief Ministers, Cabinet Ministers, Deputy Ministers and Ministers of States.

Now all the political parties have a woman’s cell or wing and some women leaders are in the position of president or secretary of party. Women of different parties are actively participating in campaigning and organizing meetings at the time of elections. The families are always helping women to have a smooth entry in politics. Now politics is not the exclusive domain of men.
 In the health condition women drastic change have been brought by Indian government comparatively the situation of pre independent, the average female life expectancy today in India is low compared to many countries, but it has shown gradual improvement over the years. The maternal mortality in India is the 56th highest in the world. 42% of births in the country are supervised in Medical Institution. The life expectancy of Indian women has increased. In 1941 it was 31.4 years and it increased to 64.2 years in 2006 more than double¹.

Many changes have taken place with respect to social life of Indian women. The ‘new life’ in city has altered the family relations. Social life of women has been altered because the husband and wife have begun to share a common social life which was not found in traditional family.

Attitude towards -segregation of sexes has also been changing. Coeducation has created an opportunity for intermixing of boys and girls. During leisure the women visit their friends’ house. Boys take girls out to entertain them by taking to movies, restaurants and picnic.

Industrialization has not only affected the joint family system, but also the relationship between the husband and the wife. The position of a woman as consultant is found in most families where she shares the responsibility of making the major family decisions with her husband or father. Now authority vests not only on eldest male but also on females.

It is well known that the freedom movement in India generated great awareness among women about their social right and their social responsibilities in the larger soc.al order one result of this was the manifestation of a new creative urge among women in post-independent India.

The status of women and their social relationship as necessitated by the new social, political and economic organization in society has come out through the routine factors of social change.

Undoubtedly in the period before 1947 there was a considerable change in thinking, outlook and value of Indian women. Subsequently Indian women have gradually moved towards self-reliance and independence. The status of Indian women through the ages has been changing and the status, which was lost during the middle ages and earlier parts of 19th century, has been regained somewhat. It appears that the status of women has gone high in India.

However the real position is that a large majority of women in the villages or women of low caste still suffers from injustice and inequalities.

If we look at them, we will notice that no social change of much importance has been brought about among them Most of the women in villages are still illiterate and superstitious and do not participate in the political, social and economic life of the nation. Rural women have remained backward due to tradition, illiteracy, ignorance, superstition, social evils and many other factors. Hence, emancipation of women in rural India is an essential prerequisite for social progress of the nation.[5]

    Status of women then and now, one has to look at two sides of the coin; one side which is promising, and one side which is bleak. The crimes against women like rape, domestic violence, sexual harassment are increasing continuously in spite of many acts and regulation like-The Sexual Harassment of Women Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 came into force on Dec 2013, to prevent Harassment of women at workplace .Even in national capital in Delhi the cases related to rape and molestation were registered 24060 in 2011 and the double of registered case did not register. The sex ratio of women contiously decreased from 972 in 1901 to 940 in 2011 on per thousand males¹.

In Indian government enacted so many laws and regulation and it have improved the condition of women in India, but compare to other developed countries, it is not sufficient. So only laws can not improve the condition of women, it must be backed up by some strong machinery. And most important thing is that we have to change our attitude toward the women.

(author is the student of BA LLB Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University New law College Pune)

[6]

                                        

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1 .Constitution of India, J.N. Panday, 51^st ed. Page- 80,172

2. Constitution of India, J.N. Panday, 51^st ed. Page-440

3. Constitution of India, J.N. Panday, 51^st ed. Page-441

4. Constitution of India, J.N. Panday, 51^st ed. Page-656

1. The Hindu Succession Act,1956,S.K. Kader, 2004,page-351

2. The Hindu Succession Act,1956,S.K. Kader, 2004,page-163

3. Indian Economy, Datt & Sundhram,69^th edition , page-56

1. Indian Economy, Datt & Sundhram,69^th edition , page-58

1. Indian Economy, Datt & Sundhram,69^th edition , page-47

                                     Bibliography

(a)    Books

1.      Indian Constitution, J.N.Panday

2.      Indian Economy, Datt & Sundram

3.      The Hindu Succession Act,1956, S.A. Kader

              

                       Webliography

(b)   Internet links

1.      www.Wikipedia.com

2.      www.Westlaw.edu

3.      www.National Sample Survey.India.Gov