P-6: DIVERSITY & DIFFERENCES

Diversity in India

• India is a country of many diversities. We speak different languages, have various types of food, celebrate different festivals, practice different religions, wear different dresses, marriage customs, ways of praying, and greet each other.

• The history of many places shows us how many different cultural influences have helped to shape life and culture there. Thus regions became very diverse because of their unique histories.
• Diversity also comes about when people adapt their lives to the geographical area in which they live. For example, living near the sea is quite different from living in a mountainous area.
• Not only do people have different clothing and eating habits, but even the kinds of work they do are different. In cities, it is often easy to forget how closely people’s lives are tied to their physical surroundings. This is because in the city people seldom grow their own vegetables and grain. Instead, they depend on the market to buy all the food and other goods that they need.
• While Kerala and Ladakh are quite different in terms of their geographical features, the history of both regions has seen similar cultural influences. Both regions were influenced by Chinese and Arab traders. It was the geography of Kerala which allowed for the cultivation of spices and the special geographical location of Ladakh and its wool that drew traders to these regions. Thus history and geography are often tied to the cultural life of a region.
• Similarly in our own neighborhoods, we live close to people from several communities. Our daily lives are about how we do things together and hear stories about each other’s lives, customs, and traditions.
• There are eight major religions in the world. Every single one of them is practiced in India. We have more than 1600 languages that are people’s mother tongues, and there are more than a hundred dance forms. 
• India’s diversity has always been recognized as a source of its strength. When the British ruled India, women and men from different cultural, religious, and regional backgrounds came together to oppose them. India’s freedom movement had thousands of people of different backgrounds in it. They worked together to decide joint actions, they went to jail together, and they found different ways to oppose the British.
• The story of the Indian flag was it was used as a symbol of protest against the British by people everywhere.
• In his book "The Discovery of India" Jawaharlal Nehru says that Indian unity is not something imposed from the outside but rather, “It was something deeper and within its fold, the widest tolerance of belief and custom was practiced and every variety acknowledged and even encouraged.” 
• It was Nehru, who coined the phrase, “unity in diversity” to describe the country.
• Jana Gana Mana is the national anthem of the Republic of India. It was originally composed as "Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata" in Bengali by polymath Rabindranath Tagore on 11 December 1911.
• The first stanza of the song Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata was adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India as the National Anthem on 24 January 1950. It was another expression of the unity of India.  
• “Jana Gana Mana” was translated by Tagore from Bengali to English in February 1919 at Madanapalle in the District of Chittoor.

Prejudice (पूर्वधारणा / पक्षपात)

• Prejudice means to judge other people negatively or see them as inferior. When we think that only one particular way is the best and right way to do things we often end up not respecting others, who may prefer to do things differently. 
• For example, if we think English is the best language and other languages are not important, we are judging these other languages negatively. As a result, we might not respect people who speak languages other than English.
• Prejudice can be about many things: people’s religious beliefs, the color of their skin, the region they come from, the accent they speak in, the clothes they wear, etc.

Stereotype (मान्यतावाद)

• When we fix people into one image we create a stereotype. Stereotypes stop us from looking at each person as a unique individual with his or her own special qualities and skills that are different from others. 
• They fit large numbers of people into only one pattern or type. Stereotypes affect all of us as they prevent us from doing certain things, that we might otherwise be good at.

Discrimination (भेदभाव)

• Discrimination happens when people act on their prejudices or stereotypes. It can take place because of several reasons such as different religions, economic conditions, etc.
•  If you do something to put other people down, if you stop them from taking part in certain activities and taking up jobs, or stop them from living in certain neighborhoods, prevent them from taking water from the same well or hand pump, or not allow them to drink tea in the same cups or glasses as others, you are discriminating against them.
• Dalit is a term that people belonging to so-called lower castes use to address themselves. They prefer this word to ‘untouchable’. Dalit means those who have been ‘broken’. This word according to Dalits shows how social prejudices and discrimination have ‘broken’ the Dalit people. The government refers to this group of people as Scheduled Castes (SC).

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar (1891-1956)

• Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar is considered the father of the Indian Constitution and is also the best-known leader of the Dalits. He fought for the rights of the Dalit community. 

• He was born into the Mahar caste, which was considered untouchable. The Mahars were poor and owned no land,  and children born to them also had to do the work their parents did and lived in spaces outside the main village and were not allowed into the village. 
• Dr Ambedkar was the first person from his caste who completed his college education and went to England to become a lawyer. He encouraged Dalits to send their children to school and college. 
• He also urged Dalits to take on different kinds of government jobs to move out of the caste system. He led many efforts of Dalits to gain entry into temples. 
• Later in life, he converted to Buddhism in his search for a religion that treated all members equally. He believed that Dalits must fight the caste system and work towards a society based on respect not just for a few but for all persons.

Equality

•  When India became a nation in 1947 our leaders too were concerned about the different kinds of inequalities that existed. Those who wrote the Constitution of India (a document that laid out the rules by which the nation would function), were aware of how discrimination had been practiced in our society and how people had struggled against this.
• So these leaders set out a vision and goals in the Constitution to ensure that all the people of India were considered equal. This equality of all persons is seen as a key value that unites us all as Indians. 
• Everyone has equal rights and opportunities. Untouchability today is seen as a crime and has been legally abolished by law. 
• People are free to choose the kind of work they wish to do. Government jobs are open to all people. In addition, the Constitution also placed responsibility on the government to take specific steps to realize this right to equality for the poor and other such marginal communities.
• The writers of the Constitution also said that respect for diversity was a significant element in ensuring equality. They felt that people must have the freedom to follow their religion, speak their language, celebrate their festivals,  and express themselves freely.
• India became a secular country where people of different religions and faiths had the freedom to practice and follow their religion without any fear of discrimination. This is seen as an important element of our unity – that we all live together and respect one another.
• The first page of the Constitution (Preamble) clearly states that all Indians are entitled to equality of status and opportunity.