Indian culture and Society

Women Empowerment in India

Most countries today consider gender equality and women’s empowerment to be essential for the development and well-being of families, communities and nations. No nation, society, and family can flourish and be happy if fifty per cent of its population. i.e. women and girls, are not respected, free and happy.

Not just in India, but in most countries of the world, women have been discriminated against, excluded from decision making at all levels, marginalised and disempowered. This is so because of the prevalence of patriarchy, a social system in which men are considered to be superior to women and io which, men have more control over resources, decision making and ideology.

It is indeed difficult to generalise about women in India because of the vast differences between them. They belong to different classes, castes, religions, communities. Yet, one can say that most women suffer from patriarchal structures and ideologies; they experience gender inequalities and subordination. Women lag behind their men in all indicators of social and human development.

• India has the most adverse sex-ratio for women in the world.
• Life expectancy for women is lower than that of men,
• women’s health, nutritional and educational levels arc significantly lower than that of men
• Women are Concentrated in low skilled and low paid jobs, they gel lower wages and lower income than men
• They hardly own and/or control property and means of production.
• The participation of women in political and social decision-making is abysmally low
• Women’s participation in the Parliament has never been higher than 10 percent
• They are excluded from jural authority.
• They have little say in the formulation of social, economic, legal. political rules which govern their lives and keep them subjugated.

Not in all, but in large parts of India, girls live with disadvantages, burdens and fears. They carry the burden of neglect, of discrimination. The burden of household work, the burden of looking after siblings, the burden of work outside the home. Girls live with fears – fear of being aborted, fear of being poisoned, fear of being neglected and allowed to die, fear of not getting adequate affection, care, nourishment, medical attention, education.

Our daughters also live with the fear of sexual abuse ranging from playful manhandling to rape. Even after the passing of s1ricter and better laws. !he number of brutal gang rapes bas been increasing. After marriage, they face the fear of loneliness, maladjustment, mental and physical torture.

Necessary steps for women’s empowerment in india

Women’s empowerment is a process, which is both ongoing and dynamic and which enhances women’s ability to change those structures and ideologies which keep, them subordinate. This process enables them to gain more access to add control over resources and decision making; gain more control over their own lives. gain more autonomy. It is a process which enables women to have self-respect and dignity, which improves their self image and social image.

In order to move towards gender equality, we have to empower that gender which is disempowered, i.e., women and girls. One needs to understand POWER in order to empower anyone. Power is the capacity or ability to take actions freely and independently, it is the capacity-to control or influence others. Power means autonomy, freedom, making your own choices, having a voice.

The process of empowerment is a political process, because it aims at changing existing power relationships between women and men. The goal of women’s empowerment cannot and should not just be ,to be change hierarchical gender relations, but to change all hierarchical relations in society i.e. class, caste, race, ethnic, and North-South relations.

• Because gender relations do not operate in a vacuum, because they are related to and influenced by all other economic, social and political systems, one cannot change gender hierarchies without changing other systems and hierarchies.
• Women’s empowerment is not and cannot be separate from the empowerment nature, empowerment of all the marginalised people and countries.
• Women’s struggles and movements therefore, need to be closely linked to peace movements, ecology movements, workers’ and peasants’ movements, human rights movements and movements for democratisation and decentralisation of society. These different movements are different aspects of the same struggle, different segments of the same dream; therefore, there need to be strong connections and alliances between them.

I believe that while talking of empowerment of women, we must also talk about empowerment of feminist thinking and ideology, empowerment of principles like equality, justice, democracy and sustainability. This means, we do not support all women irrespective of what they stand for. We do not empower women dictators, women patriarchs, women who promote caste and patriarchy, just because they are women.

We recognize that women can also be patriarchal aud dominating and that some men can be and are our partners in fighting patriarchy and other hierarchical systems. Our struggle is for certain principles and for a society where all men and women have equal opportunities to live, to grow, to participate.

Constitutional Provisions for women in Indian constitution

• Article 14 – Men and women to have equal rights and opportunities in the political, economic and social spheres.
• Article 15(1) – Prohibits discrimination against any citizen on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex etc.
• Article 15(3)- Special provision enabling the State to make affirmative discriminations in favor of women.
• Article 16- Equality of opportunities in matter of public appointments for all citizens.
• Article 23- Bans trafficking in human and forced labor
• Article 39(a)– The State shall direct its policy towards securing all citizens men and women, equally,the right to means of livelihood.
• Article 39(d)- Equal pay for equal work for both men and women.
• Article 42– The State to make provision for ensuring just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief.
• Article 51 (A)(e)- To renounce the practices derogatory to the dignity of women
• Article 300 (A)– Right of property to women
• 73rd & 74th Amendment Act 1992- Reservation of 1/3rd of seats in local bodies of panchayats and municipalities for women.

One Nation One Language India | UPSC – IAS

The debate over One Nation One Language started in the constituent assembly debates on the official language. — Hindi was voted as official language, however due to outpour and anti-Hindi agitation from various sections, English was also continued as an associated official language.

• The Constituent Assembly of India adopted Hindi written in Devnagari Script along with English as the official language of the country on September 14, 1949, under Article 343(1).

Articles Relating to Hindi language in Indian Constitution

• Article 351: It shall be the duty of the Union-
  • To promote the spread of the Hindi language,
  • To develop it so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India and
  • To secure its enrichment by assimilating without interfering with its genius, the forms, style and expressions used in Hindustani and in the other languages of India specified in the Eighth Schedule.
• Article 120 and 210 regarding language to be used in Parliament and state legislature respectively gives the option of transacting business in Hindi as well in English.
• Article 343 gives power to parliament to decide by law, the languages to be used for official work.
• Article 344 provides for constitution of a parliamentary committee every 10 years to recommend to the President regarding progressive use of the Hindi language for the official purposes of the Union and restrictions on the use of English.
• Article 29 gives every Indian the right to a distinct language, script & culture.

Arguments in favor of One Nation One language | UPSC – IAS

• Removing barriers in the development: There are various areas where there is a perceived lag only because of lack of national language, like trade, education and research, areas of national security like military, etc. Thus, the lack of national language acts as barrier for the progress of nation.
• For the creation of knowledge and thus creating a Public Sphere: As we often see that, students avoid going to other places for education and research due to lack of understanding of local languages. There is difficulty to collaborate in various ideas in different spheres; non participation in national affairs and hesitancy to relocate in other parts of India due to the absence of a national language.
• Thus, a universal language which will be spoken and understood by everyone will be best suited to become the lingua franca of the country.
• • For effective administration: The various people who works for central government or Armies etc. always face the language problem when they move to other regions of India. Therefore, the administrative machinery will not be able to deliver efficiently, if the language becomes a barrier in understanding people’s aspirations and needs.
• For Leveraging technology: If India adopts a national language it might automatically become the largest
  spoken language thus giving numerous opportunities to software developers to make many applications which is unreachable today mainly due to lack of understanding of English language.
• To give India a global Identity: It is necessary that there is one language to represent India in the world. A uniform national language, will give us great advantage at global scale due to its large number of users thus forcing people of other nations to learn that language, in order to engage with India in trade, business, education etc.
• False sense of glory attached with Multilingual Image of India: India has always been shown having a great diversity such as having 22 different languages, 415 different dialects etc. But is it truly a matter of glory that the knowledge existing in one language can’t be understood by a person of other language? We need to come out from this false sense of glory to the true sense of glory by adopting a single national language.

Arguments against One Nation One Language | UPSC – IAS

Language is the lifeline of culture, tradition and customs of people living in a particular region and the best way to preserve or promote any language is to use it extensively.

• Idea of one country, one language: A colonial Construct: The idea that a language represents a nation is one of the colonialism’s construct. The complex process of modern nation building in colonial countries involved questions of cultural unity. Language and literature held the key to this project of cultural continuity from a
  unique and great past.
• Delinking language from cultural Identity: Often it is argued that a national language is considered a language which represents Indian culture; however, we can definitely preserve our culture in spite of adopting other language and also learning one more language beside our regional language would not ruin or destroy us or our culture. So, changing the medium of expression would not change our identity which can be understood by even an ordinary person.
• Issue of consensus: There is a lack of consensus- among the population with respect to one language, as the whole construct of a national language seems more of an imposition of one language over others.
  • Therefore, any such efforts of imposing a language on the unwilling people is hardly unifying, and rather it could turn out to be divisive.
• Diverse structure: A uniform language goes against the idea of a diverse and federal structure of the country, where such common language may not be desirable. It also runs contrary to the spirit of the Constitution and our country’s linguistic diversity”
  • o All languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution are national languages and must be treated equally. Any attempt to impose any one language will lead to the disruption of our country’s unity and integrity.
• Inevitability of English: English is today’s language of science and technology in the whole world. Even if we replace English from all technological usage in India with Hindi, still it will remain the language of science as it would be immensely difficult to translate all the scientific knowledge-base in Hindi language.
• Significance of Language Diversity: As there have not been enough success stories globally- e.g. the imposition of Mandarin, Russian or Urdu have rarely fulfilled such aims of unity and integration.

Conclusion | UPSC – IAS

• To preserve our ancient philosophy, our culture and the memory of our freedom struggle, it’s important that we strengthen our local languages simultaneously without being biased towards any one language.
• The need today is to respect, protect and nurture diversity of our nation so that unity is ensured and it lies in the quality of unity and togetherness.

Urbanization their Problems and their Remedies | UPSC – IAS

(The Nature and Concept of Urbanization)

Urbanization refers to the population shift from rural areas to urban areas, the gradual increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas, and the ways in which each society adapts to this change.

Urbanization is a universal process implying economic development and social change. Urbanization also means, “a breakdown of traditional social institutions and values”. However, . in india, one cannot say that urbanization has resulted in the caste system being transformed into the class system, the joint-family transforming into the nuclear family, and religion becoming secularized.

Two trends are clear regarding urban life:-

1. Dependence upon agriculture for livelihood has steadily decreased; and
2. Population of towns and cities has increased over the years.

Both the trends indicate an increase in the processes of industrialization and urbanization. Towns and cities offer jobs and better amenities, whereas people in villages live a hard life. Due to urbanization, traditional bonds based on religion, caste and family have weakened in the villages. Anonymity, as found in towns, is absent in rural areas.

Structure of towns and cities | UPSC – IAS

Towns: For the Census of india 2011, the definition of urban area is as follows:- All places with a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee, etc.

All other places which satisfied the following criteria:

1. A minimum population of 5,000;
2. At least 75 percent of the male main working population engaged in non-agricultural pursuits; and
3. A density of population of at least 400 persons per sq. km.

The first category of urban units is known as Statutory Towns. These towns are notified under law by the concerned State/UT Government and have local bodies like municipal corporations, municipalities, municipal committees, etc., irrespective of their demographic characteristics as reckoned on 31st December 2009. Examples: Vadodara (M Corp.), Shimla (M Corp.) etc.

The second category of Towns (as in item 2 above) is known as Census Town. These were identified on the basis of Census 2001 data.

Urban Agglomeration in India | UPSC – IAS

Urban Agglomeration (UA) in India: An urban agglomeration is a continuous urban spread constituting a town and its adjoining outgrowths (OGs), or two or more physically contiguous towns together with or without outgrowths of such towns. An Urban Agglomeration must consist of at least a statutory town and its total population (i.e. all the constituents put together) should not be less than 20,000 (as per the 2001 Census)

• In other words – An urban area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. A city is defined as a place having population of 1,00,000 or more.
• The ratio of rural population to urban has not changed drastically ,since 1901; but there is a trend towards its slow decline.Today, cities are overcrowded. They contain many more people than the number for whom they can comfortably provide civic amenities.
• Cities which are state’s capitals have become overburdened. The cities of Delhi, Bengaluru and Jaipur have shown rapid increase in their populations over the past two decades. All towns and cities do not have a uniform pattern of population growth and development

Urbanization in India | UPSC – IAS

The following points have been made about the nature of urbanization in India:

• Whether the nature of urbanization is co-terminus with westernization?
• Can a valid distinction be made between villages and cities?
• Urbanization is seen in relation to social change, hence urbanization is not an independent variable of  social change; and
• Urbanization has brought new forms of social organization and association

Features of Urbanization in India | UPSC – IAS

Students of urban life have identified some dominant features that distinguish life in cities and towns from that in village;

• Ritual and kinship obligations are diluted; caste and community considerations yield to economic logic. This results in secularization of outlook.
• In the urban context the traditional social structure undergoes a process of losing up.
• The quality of human relationships tends to become more formal and impersonal.
• Urbanization leads to greater functional specialization and division of labour.
• Urbanization life is organized around community organizations and voluntary associations.
• Towns have substantial cultural, educational, recreational and religious resources that become institutionalized.
• Urban areas provide impulses for modernization is society as a whole.

Major Problems and Remedies of Urbanization in India | UPSC – IAS

Among the myriad problems of urban India following four problems are usually highlighted:

• Poverty
• Housing ( or the lack of it)
• Civic amenities
• The great cultural void of the poor.

Despite being one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, a significant percentage of Indians still live in poverty. It had a growth rate of 7.11% in 2015, Nearly half the population of India (or 41 per cent, if we lend credence to official statistic) is below the poverty line. Rural India is better able to disguise and handle poverty; urban India cannot do so. Its poverty is growing, particularly which eludes them in the cities. The poverty directly affects the quality of life, particularly in the areas of nutrition, health and education.

Social scientists have not made any concerted studies of the cultures of the pavement dwellers and slum dwellers; all we have are some socio-economic surveys which provide bare but stark statistics. Novelists, short-story writers, and some exceptional film makers, on the other hand, have provided penetrating and incisive insights into their ways of life. There are many simple, hard-working men and women living in the slums, but they also have extortionist dons, bootleggers, and smugglers. They have dens of vice and the flesh trade. These aspects present the ugly face of urban life.

• There are few civic amenities for the poor. Water taps work only for an hour or so in the morning and evening. As slum areas have but a few public taps, there are long rows of people waiting their tum to fill their vessels. Most hand pumps are in a state of despair; the few that work are overused.
• There are few lavatories; most people have to ease themselves in the open, pigs and stray dogs provide some sanitation, but they also spread disease. The roads and lanes are slushy.
• Primary health centres are not adequately staffed and stocked.
• Important life-saving drugs are always in short supply and nave to be bought from druggists. The schools, in uninviting settings, impart only nominal instruction.
• Public transport is expensive and crowded.
• Cinemas and video parlours provide some entertainment, to be supplemented by drinks, drugs, and gambling

Most pavement and slum dwellers find themselves detached from their tradition moorings, living in a cultural void. Many of them live away from their families, unable to adapt to the urban ethos. They lead lonely lives or fall into evil company. Those living with families also encounter many problems. While men are away at work there is not much security for the women left behind in the slums. As parental authority becomes weak, adolescents become unmanageable.

Remedial measures of combating problems of urbanization | UPSC – IAS

Remedial measures suggested for removing the problems. The problem of urbanization has acquired certain distortions and imbalances in the planned processes of development. Given the alarming situation and the condition that prevails in rural areas the push factors are likely to operate in the villages. Thus, urban areas will continue to attract village populations. Besides this there is going to be a natural increase in the population of town and cities. This is unavoidable.

However, adequate measures of planning and efficient management of the problems associated with it may provide some relief to the people living in village and the urban areas. Some of the remedial measures are given below:

• Planned communities for the migrants with adequate housing facilities.
• Efficient public transport
• Improved water and power supply
• Improved sanitary conditions
• Improves health infrastructure for preventive and curative medicine
• Improved education facilities
• Improved civic amenities

The needs of the poor have to be kept in mind so that they have an access to good living condition. What is all the more important is the fact that these civic amenities and infrastructural facilities need to be extended in rural areas as well, so that large scale migration of displaced population due to economic compulsions may be checked from moving to urban centres.

Salient features of Indian Society | UPSC – IAS

India is one of the most religiously and ethnically diverse nations in the world, with probably the most profoundly religious societies and cultures. Religion plays significant role in the life of its people. Although India is a secular Hindu-dominant country.

Concept of Indian Society | UPSC – IAS

Whenever we try to understand society the fact that immediately comes to our mind is the people around us. With them we have relationships both of formal and informal nature.

• The formal nature of relationship is defined by rules regulations and the principles of organizations in which we live. For example in school a student learns to understand what kind of respect .she/he has to extend to his\her teacher and fellow students.
• Thus rules are well established that regulate their behaviors in schools. Similarly as he grows up, joins a college or the university, rules accordingly change and students learn to adjust themselves. After completing his education when he joins the service he is governed by the rules of the office.

In other words the society has a formal setting in which a person is governed by impersonal rules and therefore, he feels a degree of constrain to adjust to the rule. Therefore, a society which has formal institutions people tend to acquire the knowledge about the

• Existing procedures
• Etiquettes,
• Manners and
• Behavior.

However, in informal settings it is not the rules that govern our behavior in society but is the traditions and norms that govern our behavior and the relationships that we tend to develop with each other.

• There are many groups which can be cited as an example of informal settings where relationships are defined by the personalized nature. Family, kinship group, village communities are some such groups where we have relationships that are defined by the norms, traditions and customary practices.​

Viewed in the context mentioned above it is said that society is all about social relationships that we have with people around us. Sociologists have also defined ‘society as network of social relationship’, ‘pattern of interaction’, ‘interpretative understanding of social action’ in which interacting individuals are aware of the positions of each other.

• Sociologists are the one who try to understand a disciplined understanding of the wide range of relationships that individuals have with each other and the groups in which they live. They have talked about different types of societies termed as ‘simple’ and ‘compound.‘
• Be it simple or complex the fact that remains unchanged is that each society has its own culture, traditions, social structure and the normative-patterns which are characterized by stability and change.
• That means the structure,culture, the norms of society and its traditions never remain static. They always remain in state of flux. Two factors which account for fluidity and change are internal and external. That Means there are both internal and also external factors of change.

Nature of Indian Society | UPSC – IAS

The nature of Indian society cannot be understood without having a proper examination of its culture and social structure. So far as the culture of Indian society is concerned it is considered to represent the ultimate values and the normative framework of Indian society. Normally the culture includes both the physical and non-physical aspects of people’s life.

• Physical aspects refer to tangible things such as material objects.-
• Non-physical aspects refer to non-tangible and non-material objects such as ideas thoughts, feelings, prejudices etc.

In this context the Indian society and its plural character has to be understood in the background of not the culture only but also its social structure and traditions. Both must be seen as a process of continuity and change.

The salient characteristic of Indian society has to be understood in historical backdrop as the Indian society has its origin 5000 years back when Indus valley civilization emerged as the first known civilization which has two notable culture known as Mohenjo-Daro and Harappan culture, both represented diversity richness and vitality in its long traditions of inhabiting people of diverse socio cultural cities.

• It is pertinent to note here that during a long period of the first known civilization indian society experienced several waves of immigrants. Those who visited India brought their own culture, tradition; language and religion. Needless to mention the ethnic group compositions of the visitors varied in range and scope.
• What is important to note however is the fact that all these cultural tradition that the immigrants brought added to the richness, vitality and diversity of Indian society.
• It is often perceived by the historians that India represented one monolithic culture which brought all the migrants groups culture integrated into one grand society called Hindu society.

This however will misrepresent the fact and reality of Indian Society. The noted sociologists of the Indian origin M.N Srinivas, in particular, is of the opinion that the cognitive understanding of the Indian society relies heavily on the indological evidence and therefore they tend to understand Indian society in terms of scriptural texts available.

• Needless to mention that such a perspective may be called a ‘book view’ of understanding Indian society that highlights the glory of vedic age of Indian History.
• A closer and pointed analytical focus however would like to examine the dynamics of Indian society keeping in mind the empirical situation that obtains in the field. The studies conducted by” historians –  like DD Kosambi point out the material conditions of earlier time to understand the society of those days.

Evolution of indian Society | UPSC – IAS

The evolutionary course of Indian society and the life and the people suggest that there was co-existence of plural culture traditions of Indian society. The contemporary Indian society reveals different levels of social evolution that consisted following stages of its development.

• Primitive hunters and food gatherers
• Shifting cultivators who used digging sticks and hoes.
• Nomads of different types which Included breeders of goats, sheep and cattle
• Settled agriculturist who used the plough for cultivation.
• Artisans and landed as well as aristocracies of ancient lineage.

When we focus attention on the religious groupings of ancient times we find the evidence of  several world’s major religious grouping which includes:-

• Hinduism
• Islam
• Christianity
• Buddhism
• Sikhism
• Jainism etc.

1931 census classified Indian population under ten religious groups. This shows the diversity of religious groups reported in the census data in the first quarter of 20th century.

The- three main dimension of their roles in their social structure may be examined under following heads:-

• The relation between different castes and religious groups
• General role of religion in the economic development
  
• Religion and castes determining socioeconomic privileges of people.

Constituents of Indian Social Structure | UPSC – IAS

The major components of social structure are statuses, roles, social networks, groups and organizations, social institutions, and society. Social structure is often treated together with the concept of social change, which deals with the forces that change the social structure and the organization of society.

The following groups are considered to be the mainstay of Indian social structure:

• The village-community
• The caste system
• The joint family system
• The kinship groups
• Ethnic groups and Minorities
• Rural ,urban and tribal social structure

Characteristics of Indian Society | UPSC – IAS

So far as the characteristics of Indian Society is concerned it is generally acknowledged that Indian society is characterized by both unity and diversity.

The features of indian society is treated as  policy document and remains a cliche that very often is echoed by social scientist  and the nationalist.

• The fact that remains a puzzle is that very often such a perspective is contested by those who try to either propagate or portray Indian society in this manner.
• It is pertinent to mention here that a society which has evolved over a period of time witnessed lot of turmoil and storm before it acquired a political character after its independence in 1947.
• In other words the modern Indian society harbours the salient character of its tradition and cultural legacy of earlier days and also infuse in its overarching and ever expanding universe the traits of global character.

Thus the characteristics of Indian society may be understood under following heads:-

• Unity
• Diversity
• Harmonious coexistence at global level
• Emerging centre of power in global context
• Providing spiritual leadership
• Pragmatic rationality
• Spreading entrepreneurial skills
• Ambassador of global cultural traits having Indian flavour.
• Harbinger of cultural renaissance.
• Modernization of Indian tradition

Nature and extent of Indian society | UPSC – IAS

India is a vast country with various types of diversities. The entire society is divided by caste, religion, language, race etc. But with all these diversities we live together as there is a fundamental unity among us.

Diversity in india is found in terms of:-

• Race
• Religion
• Language
• Caste
• Culture
• Racial groups

Factors of Unity | UPSC – IAS

“Though outwardly there was diversity and infinite variety among our people, everywhere there was that tremendous impress of oneness, which had held all of us together for ages past, whatever political fate or misfortune had befallen us.” — The Search for India, from The Discovery of India, 1946

Unity in diversity is an idea of “unity without uniformity and diversity without fragmentation” that shifts focus from unity based on a mere tolerance of physical, cultural, linguistic, social, religious, political, ideological and/or psychological differences towards a more complex unity based on an understanding that difference enriches human interactions.

The factors of unity in India are its:-

• Indian Polity
• National Culture and festivals
• Ethnicity and Cultural unity
• Geographical boundaries
• Legacy of great rulers
• Pilgrimage centers
• Geographical Unity
• Religious and Emotional Unity
• Linguistic and Racial Unity