Since change is the law of nature, Indian society is no exception to this rule. A little over 100 years back, the mother of Mohan Das Karam Chand Gandhi was nearly depressed at the idea of her son going to England and endangering the purity of his caste. He was almost excommunicated from his caste for crossing the ocean on his way to England.

Now an Indian mother will be highly elated at the thought of her son going to USA, a country farther away than England, for higher studies and for opportunities for earning plenty of money to upgrade the economic status of his family. The caste members will be filled with envy and would tenaciously remain in contact with him to seek his help in case their children nurture ambitions of going abroad.

The sight of women M.P.s sitting on Dharama outside the Parliament House demanding women’s reservation in the legislatures is a far cry from the days of subjugation of women in Indian society. Davits and backward caste leaders -Banger Lamina, Kanchi Ram, Malaya Singh Yadav and Lallu Parsad Yadav- are presiding over major political parties and sharing power in the central as well as many state governments in India .All this was almost unthinkable a hundred years ago. There is no doubt that Indian society is in a melting pot today.

Notwithstanding the political and social upheavals, which have convulsed Indian society in the last three thousand years of recorded history, it still preserves and maintains, without any fundamental change, certain behaviour and cultural patterns it evolved in the remote antiquity. The same shlokas of the Vedas and Scriptures are recited to solemnise the Hindu marriage today as were recited three thousand years ago.

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Belief in punarajanma (rebirth), immortality of atma (soul), papa (sin), punya (merit) karma (deeds), dharma (morality) and moksha, has undergone little dilution over the three millenia. An average Hindu still believes that his present lot is the result of his good or bad deeds in previous life and his deeds in present life will determine his fate during the next birth. Only the balance of his papa and punya will determine the release of his soul from the chain of birth and death.

Hierarchical gradations between castes and within castes still determine the popular behavior in the matters of commensal and marriage relations. The principle of purity and impurity still governs their rituals and ceremonies related to crucial milestones of life like birth, initiation, marriage and death. The concept of impurity, in popular mind, is related to birth and not to cleanliness. Millions of low caste people, who have given up unclean occupation, are still subject to social segregation.

Even the converts to Christianity and Islam have not been able to remove the stigma of birth in low caste. The Mazhabi Sikhs cannot have intimate social relationship with the other Sikhs although the Sikh religion specifically prohibits caste discrimination. Indian Christians, Muslims and the Sikhs have not been able to do away with the considerations of purity and impurity even hundreds of years after leaving the Hindu fold.

By and large, Indian society has preserved its intimate beliefs and core religious values. But it has absorbed innumerable influences, values and ways of thinking and acting from scores of foreign conquerors, preachers and traders it came across during the past three millenia. The Greek invaders left an indelible mark on Indian architecture. Islam reinforced the monotheistic tendencies among the Hindus and Muslim Sufi saints influenced the Bhakti Poets of the Medieval India.The saint poets preached equality of men, inveighed against inequities of caste system and preached universal brotherhood and principles of love as the surest path to salvation. Many Hindus took up service under the Mughal rulers and acquired influential positions in the ruling hierarchy.

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People living in the close proximity to the imperial household and having frequent interaction with the ruling classes acquired their mannerisms and ettiquettes. The Mughal Rule has left a lasting influence on the subsequent way of administration, art, architecture, dress-code and manners of people of lndia.lt has become an inseparable part of Indian heritage. Foreign rulers made little impact on isolated and largely self- governing and. self sufficient village communities.They persisted with their belief systems, caste-hierarchies and subsistence economy.

Influence of European conqerors, particularly that of the British was much more pervasive during hardly two centuries of their rule compared to the impact of the Muslim rulers. Enlivened by the spirit of renaissance and encouraged by the indomitable commercial upsurge of Industrial Revolution, the British went about systematically to impose their culture, education system, revenue administration, transport and communication system in the nooks and corners of India.By the time they left India in 1947,they had convulsed the village communities, killed the handloom and handicrafts of India, drained off the wealth of the country, anglicized large sections of the Indian middle classes and transformed almost irrevocably the system of governance.

India’s interaction with the British established a love-hate relationship -love for the liberal and humanist ideas and hate for their cruel and brutal treatment of Indians and impoverishment of traditional industries. Liberal thinkers like J.S.Mill and rationalist like Bertrand Russell influenced many generations of Indian students studying in England and freedom fighters to oppose autocracy, foreign domination and bring about political independence and establish democracy to secure for Indian citizens equality, freedom and fraternity.

The constitution of India is an amalgamation of the Constitutions of Great Britain, U.S.A., Ireland and Australia. The Fundamental Rights provided to Indian citizens have been incorporated from the constitution of Ireland. India became a Republic and adult franchise was introduced to realize democratic ideals through parliamentary system of governance. Over the course of 50years

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and 13 general elections to the Parliament, Indian people have shown their political maturity by voting non-performing governments out of power. Vestiges of power and privilege of kings and princes were removed by abolition of their privy purses. All princely states were integrated with the Indian Union thus making inhabitants of these states equal and active participants in the democratic polity of free India.Zamindari was abolished and land ownership or perpetual tenancy rights were granted to the tenants to give them reprieve from the stranglehold of the exploitative landed aristocracy.

Leaders of many backward and lower castes have captured political power and the hitherto disadvantaged sections have used newly acquired political power to better their prospects. In many parts of the country, however, the electoral politics has accentuated caste rivalries generating social tensions. In Bihar, the violence caused by caste- wars, gang-wars and political rivalries have led to loss of many lives and still continue unabated. In West Bengal and to some extent In Kerala and Tripura rival political parties are engaged in violent confrontation, leading to recurrent loss of lives.

Democracy is supposed to legitimise dissent and breed tolerance towards political opponents. The political process has got derailed and led to distortions in the democratic functioning of the polity. The instances of booth capturing and booth capturing continue to vitiate polls in a few states especially in Bihar.Many political parties obtain overt or covert support of Mafiosi to retain or obtain political power by manipulating the electoral process.

The suppression or at least containment of these Mafiosi is perhaps the greatest challenge faced by Indian society today. Since politics of the country subsumes all other activities in the society, no social or economic institutions in the country can function smoothly unless the politics is thoroughly cleansed of the influence of Mafiosi.

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Ethnic revolts have disturbed peace in many north-eastern states of the country especially in Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura and Assam.In Mizoram; peace could be restored after Indian government signed an accord with the rebel Mizo leader Lai Denga.Mizo insurgency has since died down. But complete peace still eludes Nagaland and Manipur inspite of prolonged negotiations between the militant outfits and the Government of India.Peace process in Assam is still fluid and yet to get crystalised.

The violent incidents and kidnapping and extortion are quite frequent in these northeastern states dislocating the development process and endangering the lives and business of common citizens. Considering the past history of the North -East and the strategic importance of this border region, the government has to proceed fast and in a spirit of political accommodation to bring about peace and rapprochement between different ethnic groups. Indian society is too big and complex to be kept cohesive by a few standardized and commonly accepted solutions. Some novel and imaginative measures have to be initiated to integrate the Northeast with the Mainstream of national life.

State became an active participant in India to energize the economy and to remove grinding poverty of nearly half the population of the country. Following the successful example of the planned development of the erstwhile Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Five-year Plans were launched to usher in an economically self-reliant India and to ensure economic growth with social justice.

Massive investments were made in the public sector to give it the commanding heights of the economy and to develop the infrastructure of power, steel, coal, engineering goods and ordinance factories for greater self-reliance in providing for defense forces requirement of arms and equipment. In 1969, 14 big banks of the country were nationalized to enable the farmers, small- scale industrialists and poor artisans and craftsmen to avail of bank credit to improve their economic conditions.

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Through the untiring efforts of our agriculture scientists and extension workers, India could usher in the Green revolution and achieve self- sufficiency in food. At the turn of the century, India has huge reserve of foodgrains to meet any eventuality. Inspite of all these impressive achievements, nearly one third of our One Billion people still live below the poverty line. Great majority of these has no or little purchasing power to buy the food from the overflowing food-godowns of Food Corporation of India.

While the conditions of the poor remain stagnant or are deteriorating, there has been substantial improvement in the incomes of middle classes. The medium sized farmers, traders, organized workers, doctor’s lawyers, chartered accountants, industrialists and bureaucrats have upgraded their incomes and standard of living enormously. It is estimated that no less than 20 crore Indians, that is to say, nearly one fifth of the population of India, is reasonably well off. They make up the expanding market for consumer goods and are targeted by the Multi-national companies trying to get a foothold in the Indian market.

The technological revolution, more particularly in the InformationTechnology, has enormously benefited the Middle classes and has brought them enhanced income and unexpected comforts and luxury. Computer- engineers and software- experts have raked in huge fortunes through export of software.They have motivated the software giants like the Microsoft of Bill Gates to seek collaboration with Indian companies to make use of the vast technological manpower of India. Unplanned urbanization has put a great strain on the limited civic infrastructure and has led to growth of slums in the cities.

Haphazard growth of Industries in many cities has aggravated environmental pollution. As the political executive failed to check pollution, the Judiciary intervened. The Supreme Court ordered the closure of pollutant industrial units in Agra to save the Taj Mahal .The Judiciary has also ordered the relocation of industrial units in the city of Delhi. The growing consciousness about protection of environment has given rise to many Environment Movements in different parts of the country.

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The opposition to the construction of Sardar Sarovar Dam, which is displacing lakhs of tribals and hill people, is becoming more and more strident. One healthy fall -out of these movements is the special attention the government now pays to environment impact assessment of development projects. The popular desire for development at all costs has now been tempered with the considerations of sustainability of development.

Filial obligation and attachment to family are two of the most enduring and revitalizing factors in ensuring social cohesion in India.Thus we see Punjabi immigrants in the USA, Malayali girls in the North East and the Bihari labour in Punjab engaged in all sorts of menial or odd jobs earning money and making regular remittance to their parents to finance buying of a home, studies of children and marriages of daughters. Kerala’s economy has been euphemistically caJJed the Money-order economy to underline the substantial contribution of the remittances received by the households from the youth working outside the state.

The festive occasions of the Holi, Durga Puja and Pongal provide annual get- together of the family members when they celebrate their festivals together and reinforce their family solidarity. Many people, particularly in the agriculture and business sector are still following the joint family.systems. In times of crisis, family cohesion and mutual efforts of the family members are able to salvage many difficult situations but during normal times, sibling rivalries, petty quarrels among daughters- in- law and children disturb peaceful atmosphere and poison the family life.

With the fast -track life in the cities and the changed priorities of the new generations, joint family system has come under considerable strain .In salaried households; the ties with the older generations are loosening. As a result, millions of people are condemned to lead lonely, mechanical and atomised existence, which is sought to be relieved by uninterrupted viewing of insipid tele- serials.