Tag: #diversity

Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India

Indian society is very unique and diverse. We have a lot of cultures, communities, religions, languages, etc

India is a plural society, characterized by its unity and diversity. A grand combination different cultures, religions and languages of the people belonging to different castes and communities has upheld its unity. This combination of different culture and ethnicities is what that has made India unique from other countries. Different events such as the foreign invasions, immigration from other parts of the world, and the existence of diverse languages, cultures and religions have made India’s culture open- minded , on the one hand, and a unique continuing and living culture, with its specificity and historicity, on the other. Not only we have diversity in racial compositions, religious and linguistic distinction but also in patterns of living, life styles, land tenure systems, occupational pursuits, inheritance and succession law, and practices and rites related to birth, marriage death etc. 

Post-Independent India is a nation united against several odds and obstacles. India is a secular state. It has one Constitution providing guarantees for people belonging to diverse regions, religions, cultures and languages. It covers people belonging to all socioeconomic strata. The Article 15 of the Indian Constitution talks about Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. Our Indian Constitution itself safeguards and protects the rights of every individual irrespective of their religion, race, caste sex or place of birth. It gives everyone opportunity and treats everyone equally.

DIFFERENT FEATURES OF INDIAN SOCIETY

MULTI RELIGIOUS SOCIETY

India consists of people from many different religions. Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism are some major religion in India, However there are other different religions as well. Hinduism is the most dominant religion in India.

As per the census 2021, there are approx. 110 crore people follow Hinduism in India. The Hindus are most numerous in 29 States/UTs except in Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Lakshadweep, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Jammu & Kashmir, and Punjab.

Approx.  20 crores of people are Muslims In India. The Muslims professing Islam are in majority in Lakshadweep and Jammu & Kashmir.

In 2021 approx. 3.20 Crores people are Christians in India. Christianity has emerged as the major religion in three North-eastern states, namely, Nagaland, Mizoram, and Meghalaya. 

In 2021 approx. 2.4 Crores people follow Sikhism in India.

In 2021 approx. 10 million or 1 Crore people are followers of Buddhism in India and In 2022 approx. 5 million or 50 Lakh people follow Jainism in India.

MULTI RACIAL SOCIETY

Race is a group of people with a set of distinctive physical features such as skin colour, type of nose, form of hair, etc. India is a country of people with different racial groups. The latest racial classification of the Indian people based on researches in this field has been given by B.S. Guha (1952). He has identified six racial types (1) the Negrito, (2) the Proto Australoid, (3) the Mongoloid, (4) the Mediterranean, (5) the Western Brachycephals, and (6) the Nordic.

MULTI LINGUAL SOCIETY

According to the latest analysis of a census more than 19,500 languages or dialects are spoken as mother tongue in India.

There are 121 languages which are spoken by 10,000 or more people in India, which has a population of 121 crore. Only 22 languages are listed in Schedule VIII of the Indian Constitution. The 96.71 per cent population in the country have one of the 22 scheduled languages as their mother tongue and the remaining 3.29 per cent is accounted for other languages. Not all these languages are, however, equally widespread. Many of them are tribal speeches and these are spoken by less than one percent of the total population so here we can clearly see see that in India there is a great deal of linguistic diversity as there are so many people of different languages and dialects.

MULTI CASTE SYSTEM

The term caste is generally used in two senses: sometimes in the sense of Varna and sometimes in the sense of Jati. In India, caste system is very much prevalent. The Varna system is basically a four fold system in the Hindu society based on their functional criteria, the four divisions are Brahmins, which is on the top of this system followed by kshatriya, Vaishyas and then shudra with their functions as learning or teaching, defense, trade and manual labour. We find castes among the Muslim, Christian, Sikh as well as other communities. One must have heard of the hierarchy of Shaikh, Saiyed, Mughal, Pathan among the Muslim. Similarly, caste consciousness among the Christian in India is not unknown. Since a vast majority of Christians in India are converted from Hindu fold, the converts have carried the caste system into Christianity. Among the Sikh again we have so many castes including Jat Sikh and Majahabi Sikh (lower castes).

In addition to the above described major forms of diversity, we have diversity of many other sorts like settlement patterns – tribal, rural, urban; marriage and kinship patterns along religious and regional lines; cultural patterns reflecting regional variations, and so on.

Some other of the salient features applicable to Indian Society are:

  1. Unity In Diversity
  2. Patriarchal Society
  3. Tribes
  4. Family
  5. Kinship System
  6. Balance between spiritualism and materialism
  7. Co-existence of traditionalism and modernity

India is a very diverse country and because of its unique feature it always attracts people from all parts of the world.

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The Beauty of Diversity – INDIA

India a name when comes to your mind, what is the the picture of india for you? If you know about india and had lived here than you will have a picture of where some wear dhoti other lungi and some other pajama. There is even diversity in the way of wearing saree like bangali, Gujarat, assami, marathi, orria and much more.

The real beauty of India

India is actually a planet in it self, where there are numerous festivals, people, issues etc all of a different kind but in one nation. Where you will find a Hindu enjoying eid with Muslim, a Muslim taking care of a Hindu temple, a Sikh serving langer to each and every being on this earth who wants to have it.

In India everything is diverse our geography, climate, culture, attaire, language, cuisine, looks, religion, festivals etc. But one thing is common in everyone that is we are Indians and we love our india. We celebrate eachother’s festivals, we enjoy eachother’s cuisine, we wear eachother’s attaire, ultimately we are united.

We fight among ourself (which I agree is not a good thing), but when anyother tries to offend our country we unites.

India’s is really an amazing country, whose real essence is ‘unity in diversity’.

The Forgotten Identity

   

The books have always taught us that we youngsters are the future generation of India. According to research, this fact is not entirely true. We youngsters do not represent the entire generation in India. There is another commodity, living far away from the reach of the powerful media. They are the rich generation of India’s Adivasi (tribal) communities. Adivasis make up eight percent of India’s population. They stand as an unknown identity of our nation altho their rich culture has always contributed to the diversity of India.

The tribes in India form a significant part of the total population. As the new technologies emerged and India took a step forward to development, these tribes started drowning in the crisis. The law ignores that they are the citizens of our country; there are numerous contradictions about reservation, yet there is no answer that will improve their condition. The tribals are facing several serious problems. The major among these are poor economic conditions. Most of the tribals lead a life of poverty and hardships. As they lead a

nomadic life, their children don’t get formal education. Most of the tribal people do not have adequate money to start their ventures. The banks are not prepared to lend them because they keep moving around from place to place. The other major problem faced by our tribals is that they do not live at proper places where they have access to water, sanitation, transportation, and other facilities necessary for their growth. Apart from the financial loss during this lockdown, brutal acts against humanity have come into notice. A 13-year-old girl from tribal-dominated Sundargarh district in Odisha, on a fine day, decided to go and visit a nearby fair in the Biramitrapur area on 25th marc. A sudden lockdown got announced, and the fair got canceled, and the little girl left stranded in the area wanting to go home but no reasonable means to do so. After some while, she was spotted by patrolling police. She was brought to the police station by the cops. She got raped by the very inspector in charge of the police station Anand Chandra Majhi. Since that day, she was repeatedly summoned to the police station and raped again and again. The girl got pregnant, and the cops with her stepfather conducted an abortion at a local community clinic. A protection officer filed a complaint against the officers, the doctor, and the stepfather. The inquiry is still pending; as usual, it was difficult to find this detailed report of this barbaric crime which was supposed to be the national headline. Also, a disturbing video of a tribal girl brutally thrashed, by her family members, allegedly for eloping with a man from her village was found on social media. In the viral video, a man is holding both the hands of the girl, while two other men thrash her repeatedly. MS Bhabhor, Superintendent of Police, Chhota Udepur district told that the victim was a 16-year-old woman, a resident of Rangpur village in the district. Local news reports confirmed that the incident was from Chhota Udepur district in Gujarat and that the girl belongs to a tribal family. The reports further said that the teenager was beaten in public by her family members for allegedly eloping with a man from the village.

If you are wondering why you should contribute towards their development, Here is why-The first and the most important reason is that dignity of all communities should be respected and no community should be living in such harsh conditions like these tribes. Secondly, the tribal communities have consistently contributed to the diverse culture of the country. They are experts in wildlife and nature conservation, know various sustainable agriculture and living practices ethnomedicine, and have a rich culture of stories, literature, art, and dance forms. So why not protect our culture?

Also, they help to protect our environment. fight climate change and build resilience to natural disasters. These people have continued to experience extreme acts of inhumanity mentioned above. The contradictions continue to evolve for ages, yet no significant improvement has come into notice. Gandhiji coined a term for them – Harijans yet we treat them like they are the lowest rung of the society. Remember when you bestow respect for the tribal communities you offer honor towards your nation.