Phubbing, a combination of ‘phone’ and ‘snubbing’, refers to being engaged on the phone, ignoring the presence of the person you are with. Hence, it is proposed to amend the National Commission for Women Act, 1990 to entrust the responsibility of looking into issues of preservation and strengthening of the institution of family by renaming it as the National Commission for Women and Family to reflect its enhanced role and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto.The term ‘phubbing’ was added to the Oxford dictionary to define a new behavior of the mobile era. Given the centrality of women to the institution of family, the National Commission for Women is an eminently suitable body to look into issues affecting family. However, there is no institutional mechanism to look into issues affecting the institution of family and recommend suitable remedial measures. It has always been recognised the world over in all civilisations that women are the mainstay of the family, a key sociological unit which provides social, emotional, economic and physical necessities to the children, elders and other dependents, and also through which generational transmission of civilisational values takes place. The National Commission for Women Act, 1990 was enacted to constitute a National Commission for Women for achieving the objectives as stated in the statement of objects and reasons attached thereto. Unfortunately, by blindly importing the failed social policies of the imploding Western liberal democracies, India is traversing the same self-destructive path. With the fast disintegration of the family system, modern Indian society presents a worrisome paradox: In the midst of growing material prosperity, there is increasing greed, loneliness, destitution, crime, emotional vulnerability and physical insecurity with negligible fall back options for individuals. Bereft of higher purpose the atomised individuals are prone to mindless self-aggrandisement and vagaries of disorder. Just as eroded soil becomes infertile, the atomised society loses its humaneness rendering existence purposeless. As discussed, modern liberal democracy with its penchant for over legislation and Statist interference in social and family matters is atomising the society. Just as erosion of soil denudes it of the glue atomising the sand grains which are only physically together with no mutual bonding, the disintegration of families makes society a mere collection of individuals whose connect with each other is superficial. Para-2 of the Statement of Objects and Reasons to the Government Bill introduced in Lok Sabha on 6-12-2019 to amend the Maintenance and Welfare of the Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 says, "… with the gradual breakdown of joint family system in the society, number of cases of neglect, crime, exploitation and abandonment of parents and senior citizens are in the rise." It would have been apt had the Bill mentioned the reasons for the breakdown of the family system and proposed measures to address the issue. The disintegrating European society is a living example of the destruction wrought by the democratic statism. It is, therefore, no wonder that across all modern liberal democracies the institution of the family became the first casualty. For, the democratic State perceives family as a barrier in its direct equation with, nay control of citizens.
Thus the Constitutional and jurisprudential neglect of family which is the fundamental building block of society is rather deliberate. That is to say, all institutions exist upon the sufferance of the State.
This makes all non-State institutions illegitimate unless expressly sanctioned by the State. Implicitly, it is expected that the citizens' primary and predominant loyalty should be to the State alone. To explain, the State in a modern democratic polity is considered a representative of all citizens. Democratic exceptionalism abhors any intermediary between the State and citizen. The least talked about deleterious consequence of modern liberal democracy is de-legitimisation of non-State institutions.
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