ISSUES IN RIGHTS BASED APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT

 BACKGROUND

After the Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 discussions further focused on questions of democracy, development. the cold war,dichotomy between individual liberty market economy and Centralised planning.Later  Developments like disappearance of cold war emergence of human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch coupled with onslaught of liberalisation etc. further led to increased attention on human rights violations  both at  civil and political level resulting in increasing violations on social ,cultural and economic rights as well as The development of human rights organizations along with both national and multilateral development agencies and organizations enabled the stake holders to assert their duties, responsibilities, transparency, trust and accountability that ultimately evolved the development of  the rights based approach. Accordingly the United Nations 1993 Vienna Conference developed the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action that significantly linked human rights  with democracy ,sustainability and development. This further led to linkage between human rights and development  enabling the policy makers and development administrators to incorporate  a rights based approach to  development. 

RIGHT BASED DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA 

India  has been following  the rights based  path of policies to guarantee social life rights to people  based on four  Pillars namely 1.Rights to Information, 2.Right to Education, 3. The  Right to  Food   and 4 Right to Work. Right to Food  is recognized as the Fundamental Right in India as per Article 21 of  Constitution. As per Supreme Court observation ' food is an essential component of the right to live with dignity and the nation has an obligation to ensure that it's citizens do not suffer hunger and malnutrition. According to the Right to Education Act 2009 all children in the age group 6-14 years are entitled to have free and compulsory education, which is a fundamental Right under Article 21A of Indian constitution. Significant provisions also included 25% reservations for economically Disadvantaged children in  private School,  mandated teacher  student  ratios , banning of teacher led private tuitions etc.  and most importantly the formation of School Management Committees (SMCs) for responsible Community participation in School Governance.Right to Health refers to the  most attainable levels of health. As per World Health Organisation definition health broadly  refers to a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being,  not just the absence of disease or infirmity. Under Article 21 of  Indian Constitution health  encompasses broad spectrum of factors including  access to health care services, clean environment, adequate food, housing and safe living and working conditions required for a dignified life.While Supreme Court of India  has consistently held right to health as an integral part of the fundamental Right to life and personal liberty UN Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights treat health as an enforceable human rights requiring states to take appropriate steps to attain full realization. 

SUPREMACY OF RTI ACT. 

 While Rights to Education bill was passed in 2009,Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment  Guarantee Act 2005 acted as a Demand based legislation ensuring job for atleast  one person  in a family  for minimum 100 days in ayear.Rights to Information Act is universally acclaimed as a major breakthrough in the journey towards good  transparent and responsible Governance.RTI Act 2025 is often regarded as the best transparency laws in the world. Under this an RTI application can be addressed to Public Information Officer (PIO ) of the Department / Office  concerned along with ₹ 10 appliction fee via UPI, net banking  or postal order, wait for 30 days .If no reply received or dissatisfied with the response users can file a appeal and can repeat the appeal if not satisfied.Nearly 60 lakh RTI applications are filed each year.According to a Senior Advocate When people interact with the Government they do not realise the extent to which they could possibly get Information about  their concerns for this unless they also have RTI literacy is attained is  very important .For the poor RTI has become a weapon to fight corruption and red -tape at community levels. Studies have also shown that nearly 50% cases, people get the information on basic rights like ration ,pension, water  and sanitation etc 

CONCLUSION 

.Unfortunately over the years there were reports of more than 300 instances of harassment and attacks on citizens  and 108 RTI users have been killed and linked to information sought under RTI ACT.This calls for the need for protection of whistle blowers .Eventhough the Whistle blowers protection Act  was passed in 2014,it is yet to be implemented. In fact protection of  RTI applicants becomes utmost important and prerequisite of rights based development in India in orde to nurture our civilization and culture and social well-being in the country . Finally as India has been following largely  a rights based social welfare policies to ensure social rights of the people based on four Pillars of  Right to Information, Right to Education, Right to Work and Right to Food, it must be strengthened further structurally,transparentally and democratically. Apart from guaranteeing the right,  such policies and legislation should be implemented both effectively and efficiently.