What are the challenges of diversity in Indian society? Explain.
Answers
Explanation:
Different kinds of social institutions, ranging from the family to the market,can bring people together, create strong collective identities and strengthensocial cohesion, as you learnt in Chapters 3 and 4. But, on the other hand, asChapters 4 and 5 showed, the very same institutions can also be sources ofinequality and exclusion. In this chapter, you will learn about some of thetensions and difficulties associated with cultural diversity. What precisely does‘cultural diversity’ mean, and why is it seen as a challenge?
The term ‘diversity’ emphasises differences rather than inequalities. Whenwe say that India is a nation of great cultural diversity, we mean that there aremany different types of social groups and communities living here. These arecommunities defined by cultural markers such as language, religion, sect, raceor caste. When these diverse communities are also part of a larger entity like anation, then difficulties may be created by competition or conflict between them.
This is why cultural diversity can present tough challenges. The difficultiesarise from the fact that cultural identities are very powerful – they can arouseintense passions and are often able to moblise large numbers of people.Sometimes cultural differences are accompanied by economic and socialinequalities, and this further complicates things. Measures to address theinequalities or injustices suffered by one community can provoke oppositionfrom other communities. The situation is made worse when scarce resources –like river waters, jobs or government funds – have to be shared.
If you read the newspapers regularly, or watch the news on television, youmay often have had the depressing feeling that India has no future. Thereseem to be so many divisive forces hard at work tearing apart the unity andintegrity of our country – communal riots, demands for regional autonomy,caste wars… You might have even felt upset that large sections of our populationare not being patriotic and don’t seem to feel as intensely for India as you andyour classmates do. But if you look at any book dealing with the history ofmodern India, or books dealing specifically with issues like communalism orregionalism (for example, Brass 1974), you will realise that these problems arenot new ones. Almost all the major ‘divisive’ problems of today have been thereever since Independence, or even earlier. But in spite of them India has notonly survived as a nation, but is a stronger nation-state today.
As you prepare to read on, remember that this chapter deals with difficultissues for which there are no easy answers. But some answers are better thanothers, and it is our duty as citizens to try our utmost to produce the bestanswers that are possible within the limitations of our historical and socialcontext. Remember also that, given the immense challenges presented by avast and extremely diverse collection of peoples and cultures, India has on thewhole done fairly well compared to most other nations. On the other hand, wealso have some significant shortcomings. There is a lot of room for improvementand much work needs to be done in order to face the challenges of the future …
Explanation:
Accommodation of Beliefs. ...
Ethnic and Cultural Differences. ...
Gender Equality. ...
Physical and Mental Disabilities. ...
Generation Gaps. ...
Language and Communication.