Which Shot of Justice?

This chapter undertakes a critical assessment of five Indian policies pertaining to children and claims of equality of resources (opportunities) and outcomes from the perspective of theoretical and empirical discussions in the previous chapters. As far as the policies are concerned, they have largely focused on equality of resources, predominantly with reference to health care and early nutrition. Despite showing some promise, they have ended up in timidity as far as their conceptualization and operationalization of equity is concerned. The chapter goes on to discuss the relevance of Amartya Sen’s ‘multifocal variable’, and although it seems that Sen would call for equality of capabilities, he does not. Instead, he argues against ‘absolute priority’ to any ‘unifocal criterion’ and in favor of equity considerations being broad, inclusive and multidimensional. It ends with the implications of discussions in the book for the equalisandum debate in political philosophy and for affirmative action policies.