Q.Briefly discuss the three principles of justice outlined in the chapter? Explain each with examples.

The chapter identifies three principles societies use to decide how justice should be done. Each addresses a different aspect of giving people their due.

Equal Treatment for Equals: since all people share the basic characteristic of being human, they deserve equal rights and treatment — equal civil rights (life, liberty, property), political rights (like the right to vote), and social rights (equal opportunity). This also means no discrimination on the basis of class, caste, race or gender: people should be judged by their own work, not by their group. For example, if two people from different castes do the same job — say, breaking stones or delivering pizzas — they should receive the same pay; paying a male teacher more than a female teacher for the same work is equally unjust.

Proportionate Justice: equal treatment is not the only principle — sometimes treating everyone exactly the same would itself be unfair. For example, it would seem unjust if all students in a school were given equal exam marks simply because they attend the same school and sat the same paper; it is fairer to reward students according to the quality of their answers and the effort put in. So, once everyone starts from an equal baseline of rights, justice can also mean rewarding people in proportion to the scale and quality of their effort, skill, or the risk involved in their work — for instance, miners, skilled craftsmen or policemen doing dangerous, socially useful work may deserve higher reward than they currently receive.

Recognition of Special Needs: a third principle is that a just society must take into account people's special needs — such as physical disability, age, or lack of access to good education or health care — while distributing rewards or duties. This does not contradict equal treatment; it extends it, since people who are unequal in some important respect may need to be treated somewhat differently to enjoy real equality. For example, a visually impaired student being given extra time to complete an exam compared to the rest of the class recognises a genuine special need without being unjust.

Governments often find it difficult to balance all three together — over-emphasising equal treatment can work against rewarding merit, while over-emphasising merit can disadvantage those who have lacked access to good nourishment or education, so harmonising these principles becomes the task of government.