YouTube video link on this topic is shared below:
Introduction
Broadly, there are two types of offences:
Causes Of Socio-economic Offences
In India, socio-economic offences can be outlined after the World War. Essential and basic needs were scarce after the war, which caused an increasing demand for such things and resulted in avarice among the businessmen. Gradually, these factors developed these types of offences, which subsequently bred after freedom and Partition of India due to lack of proper legal and administrative control. Later, this problem increased, and after urbanization, these offences became rampant in India. The major causes of these offences are:-
-Industrial revolution,
-The transition from rural and traditional society to industrialized society,
-extreme business competitiveness
-Technological and scientific developments
-Decline in ethical, moral and spiritual values
-Materialistic happiness and greed for money
-State’s attitude of “laissez-fair” philosophy
-lack of any intensive and organized public resentment.
When the above factors were influencing the country, the Government started to recognize these problems, appointed different committees to investigate the matter, and tried to control the situation by implementing some measures, as can be found from the reports of these committees.
The Santhanam Committee Report,1964
In 1962, Lal Bahadur Sastri appointed Santhanam to preside over the committee on anti-corruption. Because of its thorough investigative work and recommendations, the Committee earned a reputation as Santhanam's Committee on Anti-Corruption. In his 'Code of Conduct for persons in power, authority or positions of trust in our country', he explicitly included ministers, Parliament members, and state legislatures. There should be no use of position for personal or family advantage; no actions motivated by considerations of party, religion, caste, or community; no unofficial dealings with businessmen or hospitality or gifts accepted from them or other private persons.
Although there is no prescribed definition of it, the 47th Law Commission report explains the term as follows:-
47th Law Commission Report
i. In these offences, the mens rea is not lust, hate, revenge, or any other criminal act. Instead, it is greed.
ii. Usually, in these types of offences, the victim is mainly public at large, especially the consuming public, and even though there is no harm to any particular person, the harm is caused to society, which has a tremendous impact upon the society,
iii. The mode of these types of offences is fraud generally and not force,
iv. The act which results in the commission of these types of offences is generally deliberate and willful,
Overlapping With Other Terms/Offences
The term ‘socio-economic offence’ should be contrasted and if and when necessary, differentiated from terms (which are its manifestations) like-
- white-collar crimes,
- victimless crimes,
- public welfare offences,
- organized crime,
- corporate crime,
- statutory offences,
-economic crime,
-regulatory offences’
-civil offences
-quasi-criminal offences
-anti-social offences,
The overlapping nature of several conducts within these categories makes it difficult to classify offences under them. If socio-economic offences are defined as those that affect the country's socio-economic condition, all criminal statutes, both major and minor, will find their way into the list.
Types of Socio-economic offences:-
(1) Offences calculated to prevent or obstruct the economic development of the country and endanger its economic health:
It can be found that it is a very wide category, where the test is only to determine whether the commission of the offence endangered a country's economic development and economic health.
(2) Evasion and avoidance of taxes lawfully imposed:
This is particularly dealt with by the Income Tax Act of 1961. In some cases, the court has correctly and firmly disapproved of tax evasion. It is pertinent to mention here that tax evasion shows the defects present in law enforcement.
(3) Misuse of public servant's positions in making contracts, disposing of public property, issuing licenses and permits,and similar other matters:
This commits one of the social and economic offences, and they specifically misuse their public position while making contracts and dealing with matters relating to disposing of public property.
(4) Delivery by individuals and industrial and commercial undertakings of goods not in accordance with agreed specifications in fulfilment of contracts entered into with public authorities:
Which are not in accordance with the previously agreed specifications while fulfilling the contracts entered into by a public authority.
(5) Profiteering, black marketing, and hoarding:
Profiteering means selling something at a rate in excess of the controlled price of that thing, hoarding means storing anything in excess of the permissible quantity, and black-marketing is the illegal traffic or trade in officially controlled or scarce commodities.
(6) Adulteration of foodstuffs and drugs:
This has become a very common problem. It started after industrialization in the 20th century. It is not only a problem in India; many other countries are suffering from the same problem.
(7) The offences which are related to theft as well as misappropriation of the properties or funds which belong to the public:
Previously, the Indian Penal Code, with the help of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 and some special enactments enacted to deal with the problems, tried to fight with these offences and tried to curb the problem. However, as there were many loopholes in the previous Act of 1947, the Act was amended, and the Prevention of Corruption Act of 1988 came into force to effectively fight these evils.
(8) Trafficking in licenses and permits, etc.:
The acts which include the outright sale of the licenses, as well as permits, are meant, whereby these licenses and permits any other person is allowed, apart from the person who is intended, to enjoy the benefits accruing from the licenses as well as permits. The import laws try to control the situation related to these offences in India.
So, these are the different categories of social and economic offences that cause harm to the country.
Notions Of Privileged Class Deviance In The Indian Context
1. Essential Commodities Act, Prevention of Black Marketing, and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities
The main aim of the Act is to provide a food supply to consumers and to protect them from the exploitation of unscrupulous traders.
2. Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006
Implementing the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006 has consolidated eight laws governing the food sector and established the Food Safety and Standards Authority (FSSA) as the regulator. They are:-
(a) The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954.
(b) The Fruit Products Order, 1955.
(c) The Vegetable Oil Products (Control) Order, 1947.
(d) The Meat Food Products Order, 1973.
(e) The Solvent Extracted Oil, De oiled Meal, and Edible Flour (Control) Order, 1967.
(f) The Edible Oils Packaging (Regulation) Order, 1998.
(g) Any other order issued under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, relating to food.
(h) The Milk and Milk Products Order, 1992.
The food law's objective is to make safe, pure, wholesome, and nutritious food available to the public. The said Act consolidates all the previously existing laws relating to food and establishes the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for laying down science-based standards for articles of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale, and import, to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption. It also provides for penalty in case the food standards are not in conformity with the provisions of the Act and also brings within its penal ambit any act which deceives the consumer with regard to food items.
3. Income Tax Act, 1961
Among economic offences, tax evasion is the most illegitimate. It is practised by corporate houses, professionals, and other eligible taxpayers by suppressing facts and manipulating records. This Act is the income tax charging Statute in India. It provides for the levy, administration, collection, and recovery of Income Tax.
4. Conservation of foreign exchange and prevention of smuggling activities act, 1974 (COFEPOSA)
The act aims to provide for preventive detention in certain cases for the purposes of conservation and augmentation of foreign exchange and prevention of smuggling activities. The preamble to the Act also mentions that it is necessary to detain people to prevent such activities effectively.
5. Foreign exchange regulation act (FERA) and foreign exchange management act (FEMA)
To consolidate and amend the foreign exchange law to facilitate external trade and payments and promote the orderly development and maintenance of the foreign exchange market in India.
6. Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985
It, commonly referred to as the NDPS Act, is an Act of the Parliament of India that prohibits a person from producing/manufacturing/cultivating, possessing, selling, purchasing, transporting, storing, and/or consuming any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance.
7. Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988
Corruption is considered one of the worst socio-economic crimes and is the greatest impediment to progress for developing countries like India. It was enacted to combat corruption in government agencies and public sector businesses in India. One of the important steps in this regard was enlarging the scope of the definition of the expression ‘Public Servant’. This Act discusses various offences and penalties.
8. Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961
This Act prohibits the practice of giving or taking of dowry by either party to a marriage. This law also punishes demanding and advertising dowry. It imposes a duty on parties to get married to make a list of gifts and presents. If dowry has been exchanged at a wedding anyway, it imposes a duty on the person given dowry to give it to the bride.
9. Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, 1956 (pita)
The Act intends to combat trafficking and sexual exploitation for commercial purposes. The Act leads to the codification of the laws that lay down rules and regulations regarding the sensitive issues of prostitution. It protects women and children from forceful flesh trade. This leads to the reduction of objectification of women and children.
The State Government may, in its discretion, establish as many protective homes and corrective institutions under this Act as it thinks fit, and such homes and institutions, when established, shall be maintained in such manner as may be prescribed.
Conclusion
Socio-economic offences degrade society socially and economically. Greed for money is the main reason behind this. Socio-economic offences are often confused with other such offences, but there is a thin line between them. The government has taken many major steps to curb this problem occasionally, but still, much is needed to improve the condition.
