Yar Majak - India Booklet PDF: Gender Roles and Status

Core: Continuity and Change Focus Study - Gender Roles and the Status of Men and Women in India 1  Contents Contents​ 2 Syllabus​...

Core: Continuity and Change Focus Study - Gender Roles and the Status of Men and Women in India 1  Contents Contents​ 2 Syllabus​ 4 India Background Information​ 5 Banyan India’s caste system remains entrenched, 75 years after Independence​ 20 Change Comes Slowly for Religious Diversity in India​ 22 A Study of Gender Inequality in India​ 25 The role of women in Hinduism: Becoming leaders of patriarchal traditions​ 31 Historical Background of Gender Equality and Succession Right of Hindu Women’s Right of Property in Tamil Nadu​ 35 Masculinity and Challenges for Women in Indian Culture​ 57 Gender Inequality in Well-being in India Estimates from NFHS Household-level Data​ 65 Gender Inequality in India: Status and Determinants​ 75 Gender Inequality and Women Discrimination​ 88 Gender Inequality in India​ 94 Understanding young women’s experiences of gender inequality in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh through story circles​ 100 Gender Inequality in India: Causes and Remedies​ 110 Gender Inequality In Modern India – Scenario and Solutions​ 114 What shapes gender attitudes among adolescent girls and boys? Evidence from the UDAYA Longitudinal Study in India​ 118 The State of Gender Inequality in India​ 138 The “living dead” within “death‐worlds”: Gender crisis and covid‐19 in India​ 148 Tackling India’s Deepening Gender Inequality During COVID-19​ 157 Gang rape exposes caste violence in India and the limits of Me Too​ 159 As India advances, women’s workforce participation plummets​ 161 Why India’s Modern Women Say It’s a ‘Burden’ to be Female​ 168 Why is India ‘Missing’ 63 Million Women - Even Though Development is Roaring?​ 170 2  Syllabus Focus Study Social and Cultural Continuity and Change in a Selected Country Students will study in detail a country in order to: ​ Determine the nature of traditional society and culture ​ Analyse the nature of power and authority ​ Examine the impact of continuity and change upon the lives of individuals and groups in the micro, meso and macro levels of society Students will explore BOTH continuity AND change in the selected country through a detailed study of the following aspect: ​ Gender roles and the status of men and women In relation to the selected country, students will examine: ​ Is all change necessarily progress? ​ Which groups benefit from change? Which do not? ​ How has access to technologies impacted on the rate and direction of change? Apply the following social theory to the selected country: ​ Functionalist Assess the appropriateness of this social theory in explaining continuity and change for the selected country. The Near Future Students are to: ​ Determine current trends and suggest probable future directions for the aspect of the country studied in the focus study ​ Evaluate the impact and implications for gender roles and the status of men and women: ○​ Likely changes ○​ Probable continuities ​ Predict the importance of technologies to the country studied 3  India Background Information Culture Name Indian, Hindu, Bharati Orientation Identification. India constitutes the largest part of the subcontinental land mass of South Asia, an area it shares with six other countries, including Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. It has highly variable landforms, that range from torrid plains, tropical islands, and a parched desert to the highest mountain range in the world. Location and Geography. India, on the southern subcontinent of Asia, is bounded on the northwest by Pakistan; on the north by China and Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan; on the northeast by Bangladesh and Burma (Myanmar); and on the southwest and southeast by the Indian Ocean, with the island republics of Sri Lanka and the Maldives to the south. Excluding small parts of the country that are currently occupied by Chinese or Pakistani military forces, the area of the Republic of India is 1,222,237 square miles (3,165,596 square kilometers). Demography. The 1991 census enumerated 846,302,688 residents, including 407,072,230 women, and 217 million people defined as urban dwellers. However, with a population growth rate estimated at 17 per one thousand in 1998, by May 2000 the national figure reached one billion. Life expectancy in the 1991 census was sixty years, and in 1997 it was estimated that almost 5 percent of the population was age 65 or older. The population is still primarily rural, with 73 percent of the population in 1997 living outside the cities and towns. In 1991, the largest urban centers were Bombay or Mumbai (12,596,243), Calcutta or Kolkata (11,021,915), Delhi (8,419,084), Madras or Chennai (5,421,985), Hyderabad (4,253,759), and Bangalore (4,130,288). Linguistic Affiliations. There are four major language families, each with numerous languages. Indo-Aryan, a branch of Indo-European, covers the northern half of the country, and the Dravidian family covers the southern third. In the middle regions a number of tribal languages of the Munda or Austroasiatic family are spoken. In the northeastern hills, numerous Tibeto-Burman languages are spoken. Symbolism. The national flag, which was adopted in 1947, is a tricolor of deep saffron, white, and green, in horizontal bands (with green at the bottom). In the center of the white band is a blue wheel, the chakra , which also appears on the lion column-capital of the Emperor Asoka at Sarnath. This carving, which is over 2,200 years old, is also a national emblem that is preserved in the Sarnath Museum. The sandstone carving features four lions back to back, separated by wheels ( chakra , the wheel of law), standing over a bell-shaped lotus. The whole carving once was surmounted by the wheel of law. The national anthem is a song composed by Rabindranath Tagore in 1911 entitled Jana-gana mana. The nearly useless Saka-era calendar also may be considered a national symbol, adopted in 1957 and still often used officially alongside the Gregorian calendar. 4 History and Ethnic Relations Emergence of the Nation. India has a history going back thousands of years and a prehistory going back hundreds of thousands of years. There was a long phase of Paleolithic hunting and gathering cultures parallel in time and characteristics with the Paleolithic peoples of Europe and East Asia. This was followed, eight thousand to ten thousand years ago, by the development of settled agricultural communities in some areas. In 2700 B.C.E. , the first genuinely urban civilization in the Indus Valley and western India emerged. After its disappearance around 1500 B.C.E. , there was a bewildering variety of princely states and kingdoms, small and large, throughout the subcontinent, creating a long history of war and conquest that was punctuated by foreign invasions and the birth of some of the world's largest religions: Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, and Sikhism. Despite the extent of the Empire of Asoka (272–232 B.C.E. ) and the Mughal Empire (1526–1707), it was left to the last foreign invaders, the British, to establish a unified empire that covered most of the subcontinent during its final century. India was ruled by the British government after 1858 through a viceroy and a council, although several hundred "princely states" continued to maintain a measure of independence. The Indian National Congress, founded in 1885, slowly moved from a position of advisor and critic for the British administration toward demanding the transference of power to native Indian politicians. In 1930, the Indian National Congress, led by Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi, adopted a policy of civil disobedience with a view to achieving full national independence. It was to be a long struggle, but independence was achieved in 1947, with the condition that predominantly Muslim areas in the north would form a separate country of Pakistan. Mohammed Ali Jinnah was to be Pakastani's first prime minister, while Nehru became the prime minister of the Republic of India. The departure of the colonial authorities, including the British armed forces, was peaceful, but the splitting off of Pakistan caused a massive population movement and bloodshed on both sides as a result of "communal passions." A quarter century later, the eastern wing of Pakistan split from that country to become the independent country of Bangladesh. National Identity. National identity is not a major political issue; regional identity and the mother tongue seem to be more important. There are still millions of illiterate people who seem hardly aware that they are Indians but can be vociferous in their support of chauvinistic regional politicians. Thus, India has been plagued with secessionist struggles since independence, the most prominent of which have been a Dravidistan movement in the south, an armed struggle among Kashmiri Muslims for a union of their state with Pakistan, a Khalistan movement among Panjabi Sikhs, and a guerilla movement seeking independence for all the Naga tribes in the northeast. Ethnic Relations. India is home to several thousand ethnic groups, tribes, castes, and religions. The castes and subcastes in each region relate to each other through a permanent hierarchical structure, with each caste having its own name, traditional occupation, rank, and distinctive subculture. Tribes usually do not 5 have a caste hierarchy but often have their own internal hierarchical organization. The pastoral and foraging tribes are relatively egalitarian in their internal organization. India is no stranger to ethnic conflict, especially religious wars. Nevertheless, in most parts of the country there has long been a local intercaste and intertribal economy that commonly is based on barter or the exchange of goods and services; since this system has satisfied economic necessities at least partially, ethnic conflict commonly has been dampened or kept under control because of the mutual benefits these economic arrangements provide. Indian shop workers in the main bazaar in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Urbanism, Architecture, and the Use of Space In the Indus civilization of 2700 to 1500 B.C.E. , India developed one of the earliest urban societies in the world, along with an extensive trading economy to support it. The walled citadels in some early cities developed into elaborate palisades, walls, and moats to protect the multitude of Iron Age and medieval cities throughout much of the country. The towns and cities are of eight historic types: (1) ancient pilgrimage centers, such as Madurai; (2) local market towns, roughly one every 20 miles; (3) medieval fortified towns, such as Gwalior; (4) ancient and medieval seaports, such as Bharuch (Broach); (5) military cantonments first set up by the British, such as Pune; (6) modern administrative centers such as New Delhi; (7) new industrial centers, such as Jamshedpur; and (8) great modern metropoles such as Bombay (Mumbai) and Calcutta (Kolkata). Architecture developed distinct regional styles that remain apparent. These styles reflect the relative influence of the medieval Tamil kingdoms, Persian and Turkic invaders in the north, Portuguese and British Christianity, and all the distinctive features of the religious monuments of Jainism, Buddhism, Islam, and medieval Hinduism. The landscape is dotted with over half a million villages, and each region has distinctive forms of domestic architecture and village layout. Holy places of the various religions are commonly within villages and towns, but the numerous pilgrimage sites are not necessarily located there. 6 Food and Economy Food in Daily Life. About half the people eat rice as their staple, while the remainder subsist on wheat, barley, maize, and millet. There are thus major geographic differences in diet. Just as fundamental is the division between those who eat meat and those who are vegetarian. Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, and Christians all eat meat, with the important proviso that the first three groups do not consume pork. Lower-caste Hindus eat any meat except beef, whereas members of the higher castes and all Jains are normally vegetarian, with most even avoiding eggs. Food Customs at Ceremonial Occasions. Every caste, tribe, town, village, and religion has a panoply of traditional ceremonies that are observed with enthusiasm and wide participation. Most of these ceremonies have a religious basis, and the majority are linked with the deities of Hinduism. Basic Economy. With a large proportion of the population being located in rural areas (73 percent), farming is the largest source of employment; for hundreds of millions of people, this means subsistence farming on tiny plots of land, whether owned or rented. In most parts of the country, some farmers produce cash crops for sale in urban markets, and in some areas, plantation crops such as tea, coffee, cardamom, and rubber are of great economic importance because they bring in foreign money. In 1996, the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was $380, and the GDP growth rate was almost 6 percent from 1990 to 1996. In that period, the average annual inflation was 9 percent. In 1994, national debt was 27 percent of GDP. Over the past half century the economy has been expanding slowly but at a steady rate on the basis of a wide range of industries, including mining operations. Major cities such as Bombay are considered residential creations of British administrators. The United States has been the principal export market in recent years, receiving 17 percent of exports in 1995 and 1996. Clothing, tea, and computer software are three major categories of exports to the United States. Land Tenure and Property. In an economy based on agriculture, the ownership of land is the key to survival and power. In most parts of the country, the majority of the acreage is owned by a politically dominant caste that is likely to be a middle-ranking one, not a Brahmin one. However, the various regions still have different traditions of land tenure and associated systems of land taxation. India has only recently seen the last of the rural serfs who for centuries supplied much of the basic farm labor in some parts of the country. There are still numberless landless wage laborers, tenant farmers, and landlords who rent out their extensive lands, and rich peasants who work their own holdings. Commercial Activities. India has had many traders, transport agents, importers, and exporters since the days of the Indus civilization four thousand years ago. Market places have existed since that time, and coinage has been in circulation among urban people for 2500 years. In modern times, an expanding investment scene, combined with continuing inflation, has formed the background to an extensive import and export trade. The major industries continue to be tourism, clothing, tea, coffee, cotton, and the production of raw materials; in the last few years, there has been a surge in the 7 importance of the computer software industry. Russia, the United States, Germany, and Great Britain are among the major importers of Indian products. Major Industries. The modern infrastructure was created by the British administration in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The country still relies on a vast network of railroad track, some of it electrified. Railroads are a government monopoly. Roadways, many of them unsurfaced, total about 1.25 million miles. The first air service, for postal delivery, grew into Air India which, along with Indian Airlines, the internal system, was nationalized in 1953. In the 1980s a number of private airlines developed within the country, while international connections are provided by a multitude of foreign companies as well as Air India. International Trade. The major trading partners are Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. Political animosities have long ensured that trade with neighboring South Asian countries remains minimal, although there is now considerable transborder trade with Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Bhutan. Division of Labor. The division of work is based on gender. Age also separates out the very old and the very young as people unable to perform the heaviest tasks. Those jobs are done by millions of adult men and women who have nothing to offer but their muscles. Beyond these fundamental divisions, India is unique in having the caste system as the ancient and most basic principle of organization of the society. Each of many hundreds of castes traditionally had one occupation that was its specialty and usually its local monopoly. Only farming and the renouncer's life were open to all. Social Stratification Classes and Castes. The caste system is more elaborate than that in any of the other Hindu or Buddhist countries. Society is so fragmented into castes that there can be twenty or thirty distinct castes within a village. This society has a hierarchy of endogamous, birth-ascribed groups, each of which traditionally is characterized by one distinctive occupation and had its own level of social status. Because an individual cannot change his or her caste affiliation, every family belongs in its entirety and forever to only one named caste, and so each caste has developed a distinctive subculture that is handed down from generation to generation. A family at the Taj Mahal, one of the most famous buildings in the world. Hindu religious theory justifies the division of society into castes, with the unavoidable differences in status and the differential access to power each one has. Hindus usually believe that a soul can have multiple reincarnations and that after the death of the body a soul will be reassigned to another newborn human body or even to an animal one. This reassignment could be to one of a higher caste if the person did good deeds in the previous life or to a lower-status body if the person did bad deeds. The highest category of castes are those people called Brahmins in the Hindu system; they were traditionally priests and intellectuals. Below them in rank were castes called Ksatriya , including especially warriors and rulers. Third in rank were the Vaisyas , castes concerned with trading and land ownership. The fourth-ranking category were the Sudras , primarily farmers. Below these four categories and hardly recognized in the ancient and traditional model, were many castes treated as "untouchable" and traditionally called Pancama. Outside the system altogether were several hundred tribes, with highly varied cultural and subsistence 8 patterns. The whole system was marked not just by extreme differences in status and power but by relative degrees of spiritual purity or pollution. A curious feature of the caste system is that despite its origins in the Hindu theory of fate and reincarnation, caste organization is found among Indian Muslims, Jews, and Christians in modern times. In the Buddhist lands of Korea, Japan, and Tibet, there are rudimentary caste systems, their existence signaled especially by the presence of untouchable social categories. The major cities in modern times—Bombay (Mumbai), Madras (Chennai), Calcutta (Kolkata), New Delhi, and Bangalore—were essentially residential creations of the British administrators. Architecturally, professionally, and in other ways, they are therefore the most Westernized cities in India today. In these cities and their suburbs, there is now a developed class system overlying and in many respects displacing the more traditional caste system. As a consequence, there are many modern cases of intercaste marriage in all the cities, although this practice remains almost unthinkable to the great majority of Indians. Symbols of Stratification. There are many symbols of class differentiation because each caste tends to have its own persisting subculture. People's location in this stratification system thus can be gauged accurately according to the way they dress, their personal names, the way they speak a local dialect, the deities they worship, who they are willing to eat with publicly, the location of their housing, and especially their occupations. The combination of all these subcultural features can be a sure sign of where individuals and their families are situated in the caste hierarchy. Political Life Government. The national system of government is a liberal democratic federal republic, making India the largest democracy in the world. The country is divided for administrative purposes into twenty–eight linguistically–based states, plus a further seven small "Union Territories" administered directly by the central government in New Delhi, the national capital. Leadership and Political Officials. The central parliament in New Delhi consists of the House of the People ( Lok Sabha ) and the Council of States ( Rajya Sabha ). The states all have legislative assemblies ( Vidhan sabha ) and legislative councils ( Vidhan parishad ). Members of parliament and the state legislatures are selected in democratic elections. An exception to this procedure is that the Lok Sabha has two seats reserved for Anglo-Indian members, and of the 4,072 seats in all the state legislative assemblies, 557 have been reserved for candidates from the Scheduled Castes and a further 527 for candidates from the Scheduled Tribes. These provisions have ensured that the main minority populations have legislative representation and an interest in pursuing the electoral process. The Lok Sabha recently had sitting members from twenty one different parties. State legislatures also host a multiplicity of political parties. The head of state is the president, and there is also a vice-president, neither elected by general franchise but instead by an electoral college. The president is aided by a council of ministers, and appoints the prime minister of each government. This prime minister is the leader of the dominant party or of a coalition of prominent parties and has been elected as a member of parliament. The president has the power to dissolve a government and order new elections or to dismiss a problematic state government and declare "president's rule." Social Problems and Control. Indians have lived under the rule of law since ancient times. Hindu law was codified over two thousand years ago in the books called Dharmasastras. There is now one legal hierarchy throughout the land, with the Supreme Court at its head. Legal procedure is based on the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which was drafted in the mid-nineteenth century, and the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1973. The constitution promulgated in 1950 went further than any other South Asian country has gone in curtailing the influence of traditional legal systems that in practice applied only to the followers of a particular religion, whether Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, Jewish, or Parsi. 9 The huge legal profession helps push cases slowly through the complex apparatus of magistrates' and higher-level courts, sometimes creating the impression that litigation is a national sport. While fines and imprisonment are the most common punishments, the Supreme Court has upheld the legality of the death penalty. Military Activity. Five wars with Pakistan and one with China since independence have provided training for several generations of soldiers. India thus has a strong program of national defense, with four national services: the army, navy, air force, and coast guard (since 1978). In 1996, these branches An Indian shopkeeper with his wares. Small shops still make up a big part of the Indian economy. had 1,145,000 personnel. In 1998, the nation exploded a nuclear bomb as a test. Social Welfare and Change Programs Traditionally the family was responsible for the care of the poor, incapacitated, elderly, and very young. For rural populations this is still largely true. In recent decades, underfunded state governments, often with international help, have tried to create more jobs for the poor as a direct way of helping them. Beyond this, welfare organizations have helped, but they are largely private and often religious foundations with relatively little financing. The population in need of social welfare support is too vast for the facilities that are available, and these people are disproportionately concentrated in the cities. Nongovernmental Organizations and Other Associations There are numerous nongovernmental organizations of social, political, religious, educational, or sporting natures. Every village, town, and caste and most temples have at least one associate formal organization and sometimes dozens. Beyond some attempts at registration, for example, of cooperative societies and charitable endowments, the government does not attempt to control organizations. 10 Gender Roles and Statuses Division of Labor by Gender. Gender provides the basis for a fundamental division of the work force, with perhaps only the lowest day-labor jobs and the most modern professions being regularly staffed by people of both genders. The Relative Status of Women and Men. "Patriarchal" is the word most commonly used to describe the traditional Indian family and the gender relationships within it. This is true in all family systems except the defunct matrilineal system of the Nayar castes in Kerala. Within all branches of Hinduism, priests can only be male, though they may be boys. In Islam, the leaders of a prayer group are males. In Zoroastrianism and Roman Catholicism, only men can function as priests. It is said that a woman must first obey her father, then her husband, and then her son; this seems to be the normal pattern as she goes through life. The opinion of the male head of household is especially important in the arrangement of marriages, because in most religious communities these are effectively marriages between two families. At such times, romantic preferences get little consideration. Since it is the male head who typically controls the family's finances, it is he who pays or receives a dowry at the time of a child's marriage. Although older women may be very influential behind the scenes, they wield little legal authority in property and marriage matters. Marriage, Family, and Kinship Marriage. Although the different regions and religions have considerable variety in marital arrangements, the arranged marriage is a traditional feature of virtually every community; today, except among the urban middle classes, it still is widely practiced. Marriages that are not arranged by the couple's parents, often termed "love marriages," are looked down on as impulsive acts of passion. The more usual style of marriage unites a couple who have barely met beforehand. It is through the institution of arranged marriage and its correlate, caste endogamy, that parents exercise control not only over their adult children but also over the social structure and the caste system. Generally, the country has two main types of marriage: a north Indian one in which the man must not marry a closely related cousin and a south Indian one in which a cross-cousin, whether the mother's brother's daughter or the father's sister's daughter, is the ideal spouse. Many south Indian castes also permit uncle-niece marriage. Maharashtra state has intermediate forms. Domestic Unit. The residential unit is normally the household, but this unit varies widely in its structure, from housing a large extended family of three or four generations to a household made up of a lone widow. In large buildings with many rooms, it is common to find a number of discrete households, especially in cities; each of these households may be distinguished by its use of a common cooking hearth and perhaps by depending on a common source of funds. In crowded urban conditions, each room may constitute a separate household, as may each small grass hut in a roadside encampment. Inheritance. The written will is largely unknown except in modern urban areas. The tradition has always been that sons inherit property and status from their fathers and that daughters can hope to receive a dowry at the time of their marriage. However, there is much local and caste variation in precisely who inherits. In some groups, the oldest son inherits everything and then makes an accommodation for his younger brother and provides his sisters' dowries. In other groups, the brothers may inherit equal shares, except that the youngest brother inherits the house. Other patterns occur, but in general, although modern law states that daughters should inherit equally with their brothers, this almost never happens except in Islamic families. Kin Groups. The largest kin-based group is the caste, of which there are several thousand. A caste is an endogamous unit with its own traditional occupation and rank. It is made up of a number of clans, which are also kin-based but are exogamous and often intermarrying units. The clan in turn is made up of smaller and more localized groups called lineages, which are also exogamous. A caste may include hundreds of lineages of varying size and status, depending on how many generations of depth they claim. Major lineages commonly are composed of minor lineages, but the smallest are so localized that they are made up of a number of neighboring and closely related extended or nuclear families. Thus, a caste is endogamous, 11 but all the kin-based units below it are exogamous and follow rigid rules about which clans or lineages are allowed to inter-marry. Socialization Infant Care. Infant care is almost completely the responsibility of mothers, older siblings, and grandmothers. When the mother works in the fields or a factory, a grandmother commonly is the chief provider of daytime care for an infant. After about the age of two, older sisters spend much of their time in this activity. Child Rearing and Education. In 1995, the government spent over 2 percent of its resources on education. Although the government's goal of eradicating illiteracy among people age fifteen to thirty five by the year 2000 has not been achieved, there has been a steady decrease in illiterary since the late nineteenth century. Among people above age six in 1991, 52 percent were literate, a 9 percent increase from 1981. Kerala state has the highest rates of literacy. However, nationally there remains a great sexual disparity: While 64 percent of men were literate in 1991, only 39 percent of women were. The central government is more interested in military power than in literacy, and millions of rural parents, especially Muslims, feel that the schooling of girls is a waste of time and money. Only the establishment of sixteen as the minimum legal age for marriage has made it possible for many girls to get their parents' reluctant permission to attend school. While in earlier times missionary-run schools were important, especially in rural areas, in the last century local and state schools have educated the vast majority of students. Over the last half century universal school attendance for eight years, equal opportunities for female students, relevant vocational training, and improvement in the quality of classes and textbooks have been national goals, with an emphasis on free and compulsory education for everybody from ages six to fourteen. However, there has been a recent growth of privately run schools, many associated with religious organizations, which tend to do a better job but commonly charge fees. Higher Education. There were 166 universities in 1996, including thirteen central universities which are the oldest, best known, and best funded. The rest are run by state governments or religious foundations. Funding, hiring professors, and setting educational standards in all universities are centralized through the University Grants Commission, which was established in 1956. About a hundred colleges throughout the country have an autonomous status, but others are branches of major universities within their states. In 1996 there were 6.4 million university students enrolled throughout the country, of whom 5.7 million were undergraduates and 2.2 million were women. There are 418 institutions that grant degrees in engineering and technology and 1,029 that award diplomas. Adult education programs combat illiteracy, lack of knowledge about family planning, and inadequate understanding of new farming techniques. Such programs tend to be more accessible in urban areas. A major hurdle has been the language of university instruction. The central universities generally teach in English and produce graduates with internationally acceptable credentials, but most of the smaller universities teach in the local (state) language so that their students' skills are not easily transferable even to other parts of the country. The opportunities for graduate study overseas are much reduced for this category of students, and even the acquisition of up-to-date textbooks can be a problem. 12 Etiquette Indians are usually very hospitable even when poor and go to considerable lengths to make a visitor feel comfortable. Women normally adopt a deferential attitude toward men, especially to their husbands and fathers-in-law. All the people tend to show deference to religious figures and government officials. A woman decorates the streets with vibrantly colored rice powder paintings during a festival in Madurai, India. Religion Religious Beliefs. In the 1991 census, 82 percent of the population was enumerated as Hindu. However, 12 percent of Indians are Muslim, a fact that makes this one of the largest Islamic nations in the world. The next largest religious category is Christians, who make up only over 2 percent of the population and are closely followed in number by Sikhs. The only other groups of numerical significance are the Buddhists (less than 1 percent) and the Jains (less than half a percent). Rituals and Holy Places. The thousands of rituals and millions of shrines, temples, and other holy places of many faiths defy categorization here. For Hindus, large pilgrimage temples are the holiest centers, whereas for Muslims the tombs of saints ( pir ) are the most important. For Buddhists, many of them overseas visitors, the sites associated with the Buddha are crucial. Death and the Afterlife. While Muslims, Jews, and Christians pray that their individual souls will go to a paradise after death, Hindu ideas about the afterlife are very different. Muslims, Jews, and Christians bury their dead in cemeteries, as do most Zoroastrians today. However, Zoroastrians are noted for their Towers of Silence in Bombay and a few other cities: stone structures where corpses are exposed to the air and particularly to the vultures that congregate there. Women walk on a trail through drying chilies in the Bundi District of Rajasthan. Most Hindu communities have a fundamental belief in reincarnation. The basic idea is that one's soul can be reincarnated for an unknown number of rebirths and that what the soul is to be reincarnated into depends on the balance of one's sins and good deeds in past lives. This belief provides the justification for the inequities of the caste system: One is born into a particular caste, whether high or low, as a result of the accumulated virtues or sins of one's soul in a previous life. One can never hope to move out of one's caste in this life but may do so in the next reincarnation. Particularly evil individuals may be reincarnated as animals. 13 Hindus normally cremate the dead on a pile of logs, but the very poor may resort to burial. Extremely saintly figures may be buried in a sitting position, as are members of the Lingayat sect. Medicine and Health Care India has a tradition of medical healing, teaching, and research that goes back more than two thousand years to the two basic medical treatises written by Charaka and Sushruta. Today the country has four major medical systems as well as dozens of localized and tribal ones that depend on herbal treatments. The oldest of the four systems is still widely followed under the name of Ayurveda , meaning "science of long life". It is highly developed, with its own hospitals, clinics, pharmaceutical factories, and medical textbooks. It depends primarily on non invasive herbal treatments. The diagnosis and treatment emphasize a holistic approach. Sidda is a distinct tradition that developed in south India and follows principles of physiology close to those of Ayurveda. Diagnosis depends on a careful reading of the pulse. Treatment is mostly herbal and psychological. A third medical tradition is called Unani. This system came to India with Muslim travelers and was developed under the patronage of the Mughals. It emphasizes holistic diagnosis and treatment, but the theory of human physiology is distinct. All three of these systems attribute disease to an imbalance between underlying constituents. The fourth and most widely favored system is biomedicine, or scientific medicine. It has been used in the cities for three centuries and is practiced in the best hospitals and training colleges. India has about 140 medical colleges. Public health is a major concern of every state government because of the continuing incidence of epidemic diseases, high rates of infant mortality, and the need for family planning (usually sterilization) to control the growth of the population. Secular Celebrations Public holidays in most states include 1 January (Gregorian New Year), 26 January (Republic Day, when the constitution was adopted), 1 May (International Labor Day), 30 June, and 15 August (Independence Day), 2 October (Gandhi's birthday), 25 December (Christmas), and 31 December (New Year's Eve). Parsi New Year and Telugu New Year, both locally celebrated, fall at different times. The Arts and Humanities Support for the Arts. Historically, the arts flourished under the support of two main categories of patron: the larger Hindu temples and the princely rulers of states both small and large. Over the last two centuries, the patronage of British residents and art collectors has become important. In independent India, a national art institute, the Lalit Kala Akademi, promotes the visual arts through lectures, prizes, exhibitions, and publications. The government supports the Sahitya Akademi, which was set up in 1954 to promote excellence in literature; the National School of Drama (1959); and the Sangeet Natak Akademi (1953), which promotes dance. Literature. India has some of the earliest literature in the world, beginning with Sanskrit, which may be the oldest literature in any Indo-European language. The Rig Veda is the oldest of the four Vedas , long religious texts composed in an early form of Sanskrit some time late in the second century B.C.E. It was followed by three other Vedas , all liturgical in character, and then by the principalUpanishads during the eighth through fifth centuries B.C.E. The first significant secular document in Sanskrit was a sophisticated grammar that fixed the structure of the language, probably in the fourth century B.C.E. Then, during the reign of Chandragupta Maurya, the text of the great epic Mahabharata , the world's longest poem, was established around 300 B.C.E. , although it continued to be developed until about 100 C.E. About 200 B.C.E. there emerged the second great Sanskrit epic, the Ramayana , which probably took on its final form four centuries later. Both epics incorporated material from extant folklore. By roughly the third century B.C.E. , the Tripitaka or Three Baskets , the Buddhist canon in the Pali language (closely related to Sanskrit), was fixed. It was soon to become the most influential body of literature in the eastern half of Asia and has remained so to the present day, especially in Chinese and Japanese translations. 14 In that era the image of the social structure of India was codified by two books. During the late fourth century Kautilya, who is said to have been the prime minister Chanakya, wrote the Arthasastra , a Treatise on the Good , which was rediscovered in 1909. Shortly thereafter came the compilation of Manu's Laws (Manusmrti). This treatise on religious law and social obligation described in detail a society, possibly a utopian one, in which there were four caste blocks, the varna , each of which had its own occupation, status, and religious duties. This book continued to exercise an immeasurable influence on Indian society for the next two thousand years and the varna model is still a popular image of Hindu caste society. Around 150 C.E. , there began in south India the Tamil Sangam, an academy of poets and philosophers that lasted for decades. While its history is shrouded, it set the stage for an outpouring of medieval poetry in Tamil, a Dravidian language. Some of this work was devotional, but much was secular in its appeal, including the first known work of Indian women writers. The most famous example of this poetry was the Purananuru , an anthology of four hundred poems praising Tamil rulers. Equally important, the Kural was a collection of moral maxims compiled by Tiruvalluvar in perhaps the third and fourth centuries. It has been likened to a Tamil Koran. At about the same time, there was a flowering of Sanskrit drama in the northerly parts of India. In the fourth or fifth century lived the greatest Sanskrit poet, Kalidasa. The best known plays that have survived from this era are Shakuntala and The Little Clay Cart , the former written by Kalidasa and the latter a comedy also perhaps written by him. During the Middle Ages, science and philosophy flourished in Sanskrit texts. Perhaps the best known, if the least scientific, work was the Kama Sutra or a treatise on love by Vatsyayana, who wrote it in a legal style of Sanskrit in about the third century. The Middle Ages witnessed an outpouring of religious and philosophical literature not just in Sanskrit, which was still the prime liturgical and scholarly language, but also in a number of regional languages. Logic, metaphysics, devotional poetry, and commentary developed over the centuries. In the period 850–1330 there appeared an important new philosophical literature in Karnataka, beginning with the Kavirajamarga. This was Jain A farmer leans under the burden of a harvest as it is carried to the top of a building in Zanskar Valley, Ladakh. literature written in the medieval Kannada language. At the end of the twelfth century Lilavati was written by Nemichandra, the first novel in that language. It was followed by other allegorical novels, as well as Kesiraja's grammar of medieval Kannada. Around 1020, another Dravidian literature, in Telugu, made its debut with the grammarian Nannaya Bhatta and the poet Nannichoda. At about that time the Malayalam language became differentiated from Tamil. A 15 century later the oldest known manuscript was written in Bengali. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Mukundaraj became the first man to write poetry in Marathi. Early in the fifteenth century two poets brought Bengali literature into prominence: Chandidas and Vidyapati, with the latter writing in Sanskrit as well as Bengali. Contemporary with them were two Telugu poets, Srinatha and Potana, as well as the best-loved Hindi poet, Kabir (1440–1518). Kabir wrote in a medieval regional language closely related to Sanskrit. Although Kabir was a low-caste Hindu, he drew inspiration from Sufism and criticized the caste system, ritualism, and idolatry. He was followed in 1540 by the first important Muslim poet of India, Mohamed of Jais who wrote the allegorical poem Padmavat in Hindi. Contemporary with Kabir was one of the greatest of woman poets, the Rajput Mirabai, who wrote in both Hindi and Gujarati. A century before her, Manichand had written an important historical novel in Gujarati. In 1574 the Hindi version of the Ramayana ,by Tulsidas, appeared it was to be a forerunner of numerous versions of the Ramayana in regional languages. At that time there was a strong Persian cultural influence in some parts of the country. One ruler of the Muslim province of Golconda (later Hyderabad) was Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah, a poet who wrote in both Persian and Urdu, which was a new form of Hindi containing many Persian words and written in an Arabic script. In 1604, the Adi Granth , the canonical text of the Sikh religion, was established in Punjabi. Thirty years later there appeared, also in northwestern India, a book in Urdu prose, the Sab Ras of Vajhi. In more southern parts of the subcontinent the middle of the seventeenth century also saw the writing of the Kannada poem Rajasekhara , by Sadakshara Deva, the works of the Gujarati storyteller Premanand (1636–1734), and the influential Marathi poems of Tukaram (1607–1649). With the arrival of the printing press in south India, Tamil literature underwent a renaissance. Arunachala Kavirayar wrote The Tragedy of Rama in 1728, and the Italian Jesuit Beschi wrote the Tamil poem Tembavani in 1724 under the pen name Viramamunivar (it was not published until 1853). Also of interest was the eighteenth century "Indian Pepys" Anandaranga Pillai, a Tamil living in the French colony of Pondicheåry. His lengthy diary has been published in Tamil, French, and English. Another outstanding Tamil poet and bard was Tyagaraja. India has the largest film industry in the world. In the eighteenth century, there was a further flowering of Urdu poetry by Vali, Hatim, Sauda, Inch'a, and Nazir. By the time of Nazir, the British hegemony in India was well established, and along with it went the spread of regional printing presses, the opening of the first modern universities, and the increasing influence of European literary forms, especially in the English language. This influence is evident even in writers who published in their native languages. Bengal in particular experienced a great literary and intellectual renaissance in both English and Bengali, including the novels of Bankim Chandra Chatterji and India's first Nobel Prize Winner, the poet and dramatist Rabindranath Tagore. A parallel literary renaissance occurred in Hindi at the beginning of the twentieth century, with the first novels by Premchand. Tamil also began to produce novels with an English influence. The twentieth century saw a continuation of this modernization, fueled by the ease of publication and the increasing size of the reading public. An unexpected development during that century was the emergence of numerous world-class and prizewinning novelists writing in English, and often not residing in India. Pre-eminent today are the London-based Salman Rushdie, from Bombay, and the Delhi-based Arundati Roy, from Kerala. 16 Graphic Arts. India has a multiplicity of visual arts extending back over four thousand years. Early painting has not survived, but urban architecture and some small sculptures have. Most of the thousands of stamp seals that have been found are masterpieces of glyphic art, showing the large animals of northwestern India in miniature relief. The main visual arts arose in the context of religious worship. Sanskrit handbooks still survive stipulating the rules for the production of Hindu religious statues, temples, and paintings. Distinctive regional styles of temple architecture are a feature of the landscape and a clear marker of the presence of Islam, Sikhism, Jainism, Christianity, and Hinduism in each part of the country. Within the Hindu temples there is a great variety of images of the deities, some skilfully carved in stone, some cast in bronze or silver, and some modeled in terra-cotta or wood. Painting was an ancient accomplishment, although the climate has not been conducive to preservation. One can still see second and third-century wall paintings and monumental Buddhist sculptures in caves in Ajanta (Madhya Pradesh). Despite Islamic prohibitions on the representation of the human face, painting and drawing flourished under the Moghul emperors. Realistic portraits, historical scenes, and botanical and zoological subjects were evoked with a sensitive line and a subtle pallet of colors during that period. Painting in oils dates back two centuries, to the time when the first European portrait painters began to work in India. Today there are many professional graphic artists, some inspired by old Indian traditions and some by modern abstract expressionism. Art schools, public exhibitions, and coffee-table books are the means of reaching their public today, while religious patronage has practically evaporated. Performance Arts. India has the largest film industry in the world. In 1996, 683 feature films were certified by the Board of Censors. Although television came to even rural India more than twenty years ago, the cinema remains the major popular visual art form. In 1996, India had 12,623 cinemas, with an attendance of ninety to one hundred million weekly. Radios are widespread, primarily as a source of light music, but not as a major source of information. The State of the Physical and Social Sciences India has long had government-sponsored national research organizations for the sciences, including the Archaeological Survey of India (1861), the Botanical Survey of India (1890), the Census of India (1867), the Ethnological Survey of India (1901, later the Anthropological Survey of India, 1946), the Geological Survey of India (1851), the Indian Forestry Service (1865), the Indian Medical Service (1786), the Indian Council of Medical Research (1912), the Indian Meteorological Department (1875), the Linguistic Survey of India, and the Zoological Survey of India. The antecedent of all these institutions was the Survey of India (1832), which did the first scientific mapmaking of the subcontinent. There has been an annual Indian Science Congress, a national conference, which began as the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science in 1876. With independence, an overarching bureaucratic organization came into being, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, as well as an Atomic Energy Commission and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. To avoid centralization of these organizations in and around Delhi and Bombay, regional institutes of technology were set up in a number of large cities. The government also supports four national academies: the Indian National Science Academy in New Delhi, the Indian Academy of Sciences in Bangalore, the National Academy of Science in Allahabad, and the Indian Science Congress Association in Calcutta. Other centrally supported research councils include the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, the Indian Council of Historical Research, the Indian Council of Philosophical Research, the Indian Council of Social Sciences Research, and the National Council of Educational Research and Training. 17 Bibliography Achaya, K. T. Indian Food: A Historical Companion , 1994. Basham, A. L. The Wonder That Was India. Rev. ed., 1963. ——. Cultural History of India , 1975. Berreman, Gerald D. Caste and Other Inequities: Essays on Inequality , 1979. Bishop, Donald H., ed. Indian Thought: An Introduction , 1975. Bonnefoy, Yves, and Wendy Doniger, eds. Mythologies , 1991. Bose, Sugata, and Ayesha Jalal. Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy , 1998. Burrow, Thomas, and Murray B. Emeneau. A Dravidian Etymological Dictionary , 2nd ed., 1984. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. The Wealth of India: A Dictionary of Indian Raw Materials and Industrial Products , 1948–1990. Dumont, Louis. Homo Hierarchicus: An Essay on the Caste System , 1970. Embree, Ainslie T., and Stephen Hay, eds. Sources of Indian Tradition. 2nd ed. 1970. Farmer, B. H. An Introduction to South Asia, 2nd ed. , 1993. Garrett, John. A Classical Dictionary of India Illustrative of the Mythology, Philosophy, Literature, Antiquities, Arts, Manners, Customs, etc. of the Hindus , 1973. Gole, Susan. Indian Maps and Plans from Earliest Times to the Advent of European Surveys , 1989. Government of India. India 2000: A Reference Annual , 2000. Hawkins, R. E. Encyclopedia of Indian Natural History , 1986. Hockings, Paul ed., Encyclopedia of World Cultures. Vol. 3: South Asia , 1992. Hutton, John H. Caste in India: Its Nature, Function, and Origins , 1963. Johnson, Gordon, et al. eds. The New Cambridge History of India , 1987. Keay, John. India Discovered: The Achievement of the British Raj , 1981. Kramrisch, Stella. The Hindu Temple , 1980. Kulke, Hermann, and Dietmar Rothermund. A History of India , 1986. Kumar, Dharma, Tapan Raychaudhuri, et al., eds. The Cambridge Economic History of India , 1982. Majumdar, R. C., H. C. Raychaudhuri, and Kalikinkar Datta. An Advanced History of India , 1961. —— et al., eds. The History and Culture of the Indian People, 2nd ed. 1970–1988. Maloney, Clarence. Peoples of South Asia , 1980. Mandelbaum, David G. Society in India , 1970. Masica, Colin P. Defining a Linguistic Area: South Asia , 1976. Mehra, Parshotam. A Dictionary of Modern Indian History 1707–1947 , 1987. Mitchell, George, and Philip Davies. The Penguin Guide to the Monuments of India , 1989. Mode, Heinz, and Subodh Chandra. Indian Folk Art , 1985. Muthiah, S., ed. A Social and Economic Atlas of India , 1986. Queneau, Raymond, ed. Histoire des Littératures: I. Littératures Anciennes, Orientales et Orales , 1956. Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli, and Charles A. Moore, eds. A Source Book in Indian Philosophy , 1957. Rapson, E.J., et al. eds. The Cambridge History of India , 1922–1947. Robinson, Francis, ed. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives , 1989. Rowland, Benjamin. The Art and Architecture of India, Buddhist /Hindu /Jain , 3rd ed., 1967. Schwartzberg, Joseph E., ed. A Historical Atlas of South Asia , 1969. Sebeok, Thomas A., et al. eds. Current Trends in Linguistics: Vol. 5. Linguistics in South Asia , 1969. Shapiro, Michael C., and Harold F. Schiffman. Language and Society in South Asia , 1981. Sindh, R. D. India: A Regional Geography , 1971. Sivaramamurti, Calambur. The Art of India , 1977. Smith, Vincent A. The Oxford History of India , 1958. Srinivas, M. N., M. S. A. Rao, and A. M. Shah, eds. A Survey of Research in Sociology and Social Anthropology , 1972–1974. Stutley, Margaret, and James Stutley. Harper's Dictionary of Hinduism: Its Mythology, Folklore, Philosophy, Literature, and History , 1977. Thapar, Romila, and Percival Spear. A History of India , 1965–1966. Turner, Jane, ed. "Indian Subcontinent." In Jane Turner, ed., The Dictionary of Art , 1996. Tyler, Stephen A. India: An Anthropological Perspective , 1973. Watt, George. The Commercial Products of India, Being an Abridgement of "The Dictionary of the Economic Products of India," 1966. Williams, L. F. Rushbrook, ed. A Handbook for Travellers in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh & Sri Lanka (Ceylon), 22nd ed. , 1975. 18 Yule, Henry, and A. C. Burnell. Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical, and Discursive , rev. ed., 1968. —PAUL HOCKINGS 19  Banyan India’s caste system remains entrenched, 75 years after Independence September 11, 2021 The Economist THE EVIL of India’s caste practice is almost as old as the gods, and is the most noxious and evolved example today of how humans attempt to impose superiority and suffering on others by virtue of their birth. Hindu texts speak of four tiers, or varnas, making up a broader caste pyramid in society. On top are the Brahmins or priestly caste, the Kshatriyas or warrior class and the Vaisyas or merchant class. At the bottom come the Shudras or labouring castes. The rest do not even count: outcastes. The British Raj incorporated varnas into its imperial system of rule, perpetuating the caste system, with the outcaste “untouchables”, now known as Dalits, facing immense discrimination for their “polluted” labours, including the removal of human waste. To their credit, the founders of the Indian republic confronted the iniquity. The affirmative action enshrined in India’s constitution, mostly written by a Dalit intellectual, B.R. Ambedkar, was a world first. The “reservation” policy is a prodigious quota system for public jobs, places in publicly funded colleges and many elected assemblies. The purpose is to give a leg-up to Dalits, who account for 232m of India’s 1.4bn population today, as well as to the 120m-odd adivasis, tribal groups who live mainly in remote parts of the country. These are the “scheduled” castes and tribes. Affirmative action has since expanded. A commission of inquiry in the 1980s deemed 52% of Indians to be members of a new category, “other backward classes”, eligible for reserved places. The Supreme Court subsequently ruled that no more than 50% of public jobs in all could be reserved. But states often breach the limit. Other castes are lobbying to be classified as backward and so eligible for quotas. They include groups that sociologists describe as “dominant”, such as the landowning Patidars of Gujarat, the Jats of Haryana and the Marathas of Maharashtra. Some of their protests in recent years have been both huge and violent. And just last month a desire for expanded reservations was behind a political delegation to Delhi from the northern state of Bihar that called for a national census on caste. 20 A motivation for such landed castes, says Himanshu, a development economist at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, is stagnating farm incomes following relatively prosperous decades. Meanwhile, slowing economic reforms mean that urban opportunities for young people coming from the countryside are limited. Unemployment is high. Cushy jobs in government become the main hope for advancement. But the absurdity only grows. With unofficial surveys of caste suggesting that over half of the country might count as “backward”, the portion of the population claiming to be eligible for reservation potentially exceeds 80%—implying affirmative action not for a minority but for the majority. It is not clear how many socio-economic problems reservations have solved—not least because successive governments have been singularly incurious about their efficacy. The measures have fostered a lower-caste bourgeoisie. Yet strong economic growth after 1990 has done much more to reduce poverty. Meanwhile, inequality, both between and within caste groups, has actually grown. Intermarriage between castes remains rare. Housing segregation by caste is rife. You can be lynched for marrying above your caste, refusing to work for the local landed castes or even drinking from the village well. Meanwhile, the three uppermost varnas have most of the plum public and private jobs. Of the top 89 civil-service posts, only four are not held by high-caste Hindus. The toxicity of caste even extends to other religions. The forebears of nearly two-thirds of India’s Catholics are Dalits who converted to escape stigma. Yet among four cardinals and 31 archbishops, only two are of Dalit origin. Perhaps India’s quotas programme is better than its absence. But, argues Dipankar Gupta of the Indian School of Public Policy in Delhi, the right response to deep-seated poverty, inequality and discrimination ought to be comprehensive social programmes covering such areas as housing, health and education, not special programmes designed for various minorities. And so the suspicion grows that reservation policies, however well-intentioned, help perpetuate caste iniquities. Even low-caste activists tend to fight for better rights for their caste than for an end to a pernicious system. As for politicians, affirmative action is a far easier option than getting to the root of India’s enduring injustices. 21 Change Comes Slowly for Religious Diversity in India March 11, 2009 Religious diversity has been a defining characteristic of India’s population for centuries. The country has no official state religion, but religion plays a central role in Indian daily life through its temple ceremonies, festivals, pilgrimages, family religious traditions, and the like. While Hinduism has been the dominant religion for several thousand years, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Jainism, and Sikhism have also flourished. Religion is taken far more seriously in India than it often is in the West and by virtually the entire population. It is often difficult for a foreigner to fully appreciate religion’s importance in this officially secular country. Followers of India’s religions, particularly Hindus and Muslims, have created what Indians call “communities,” groups who largely coexist peacefully but live and worship in separate social circles. Accordingly, when violence does break out between groups, it is referred to as “communal” violence. Census data on religious groups are frequently misunderstood and misquoted in the Indian media, particularly by writers and columnists advancing a particular point of view. Some non-Muslims, in both national and regional political parties, worry that faster population growth among Muslims will cause a societal imbalance in the Hindu-majority country.1 Thus, it is worthwhile to look at the actual numbers before considering this issue further. Communities Growing at Different Rates According to the 2001 Census, 81 percent of the 1,028 million people enumerated in India were Hindu, leaving 200 million people who adhere to other religions (see Table 1). Hindus are the majority in all the larger states, except for Jammu and Kashmir, where they accounted for 30 percent, and Punjab, where Hindus make up 37 percent. In the other states, Hindu majorities ranged from 56 percent in Kerala to 95 percent in Himachal Pradesh. Nationally, Muslims are the next largest religious group, outnumbering all other religious groups taken together. In 2001, among every 1,000 Indians, there were 134 Muslims but just 23 Christians, 19 Sikhs, eight Buddhists, and four Jains. Unlike Hindus and Muslims, Christians, Jains, and Sikhs are concentrated in a few states. The four southern states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka accounted for half of the Christian population of the country. Sikhs are concentrated in the Punjab, which accounted for 76 percent of the 19.2 million Sikhs in 2001. Buddhists are mostly confined to Maharashtra, where 73 percent of India’s 8.0 million Buddhists live. Many Buddhists are from the Dalit, or Untouchable, Hindu caste who converted to Buddhism (which does not have castes) in the belief this will negate their low caste status. Table 1 India’s Population by Religious Community, 1961-2001 Hindus 367 83.4 550 82.6 828 80.5 Muslims 47 10.7 76 11.4 138 13.4 Sikhs 8 1.8 13 2.0 19 1.9 Jains 2 0.5 3 0.5 4 0.4 Religion c d d d 1 0.1 not stated 22 a Religious breakdown of 297,853 residents of North East Frontier Agency not available. b Excludes Assam, where 1981 Census was not held. c Rounds to less than 1 million. d Less than 0.1 percent. Sources: Census of India, various years. Four major states—Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan—accounted for 72 percent of the 4.2 million Jains. Jains are the only religious community that is concentrated in cities and towns rather than in rural areas. Between the 1991 and 2001 censuses, India’s population increased by 21.5 percent, but this growth was not equal among the religious groups (see Table 2). One group, Parsis, actually declined in numbers. (All population-change figures cited here exclude the state of Jammu and Kashmir because the 1991 Census could not be conducted there.) Muslims recorded the most growth over the period—29 percent—while Sikhs (after Parsis) grew the least, 17 percent. In addition to Muslims, three religious communities grew faster than the total population: Jains (26 percent), Buddhists (23 percent), and Christians (22 percent). Like Sikhs, Hindus had a growth rate below the national average. Table 2 Selected Population Characteristics by Religion, India, 2001 Population Population Urban Increase Ages 0-6 Percent of (percent) (percent) Population 1991-2001 Christian 22 Christian 14 Christian 34 Sex Ratio Female Female (females per Literacy Labor Force 1,000 males) Rate Participation ages 0-6 (percent) Rate (percent) Muslim 950 Christian 76 Christian 29 Source: Census of India, 2001. Differing growth rates can be a cause for alarm but the actual figures show that the changing balance is much less significant than it first appears. Looking at the absolute numbers, Hindus increased by 140 million between 1991 and 2001, while Muslims grew by 37 million. Even over the 40-year span between the 1961 and 2001 censuses, the Hindu proportion of the total population showed a scant decrease, from 84 percent to 81 percent. The Sikh proportion remained unchanged throughout the entire period at 2 percent. Thus, census data show that, decades from now, India’s religious makeup will look very much as it does now. And, with the use of family planning rising among all groups, the prospects for further stabilization are quite real. 23 Social and Economic Differences Still, significant social differences remain, as shown in Table 2. Female literacy ranges from 91 percent among Jains to 53 percent among Hindus and 50 percent among Muslims. The Muslim population is slightly younger than other groups because of somewhat higher fertility, with the under-7 age group accounting for 19 percent of the population. Jains are often among India’s most successful businesspeople and their level of urbanization and literacy reflects this. Finally, the sex ratio of the population ages 0 to 6 sheds light on the degree to which the preference for male children results in sex-selective abortion. A “normal” sex ratio is about 950 girls per 1,000 boys, and it is near that level for Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, and Others. The below-average ratio for Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs signals a strong preference for male children.2 Some of the social and economic differences among religious communities are reflected in local and national politics and occasionally lead to violence.3 But in general, India’s record on religious toleration for the past 40 years has been remarkable, particularly in view of efforts by some radical groups to upset it. Further, terrorism, often intended to incite communal violence, has done nothing of the sort.4 Census data and population trends suggest that there will be no major upheaval in India’s makeup; and demography, after all, is destiny. 1.​ Maseeh Rahman, “Hindus Urged to Curb ‘Muslim Threat’ by Having Big Families,” The Guardian (London), Nov. 20, 2003; and Vinod Kumar, “Indian Census and Muslim Population Growth,” Kashmir Herald 4, no. 4 (October 2004), accessed online at http://kashmirherald.com, on March 9, 2009. 2.​ O.P. Sharma and Carl Haub, “Sex Ratio at Birth Begins to Improve in India” (2008), accessed online on March 11, 2009. 3.​ “Where Invisible Threads Frey,” The Economist, Dec. 13, 2008, accessed through nexis.com, on March 11, 2009; Rahman, “Hindus Urged to Curb ‘Muslim Threat’ “; and Philip Reeves, “India’s Muslim Population Outpacing Hindus,” National Public Radio, Sept. 18, 2004, accessed online at www.npr.org, on March 9, 2009. 4.​ Henry Chu and Mark Magnier, “For Muslims in India, an Uneasy Calm,” Los Angeles Times, Dec. 14, 2008, accessed through nexis.com on March 11, 2009. 24  A Study of Gender Inequality in India The International Journal of Indian Psychology ISSN 2348-5396 (e) | ISSN: 2349-3429 (p) Volume 2, Issue 3, Paper ID: B00344V2I32015 ​ http://www.ijip.in | April to June 2015 Priti Jha1, Niti Nagar2 ABSTRACT: This study considers the gender inequality that exists among every region, social class and prevents the growth of Indian economy from improving the lives of Indian people. The reality of gender inequality in India is very complex and diversified, because it exists in every field like education, employment opportunities, income, health, cultural issues, social issues, economic issues etc. An attempt has been made to find out those factors which are responsible for this problem in India. So, this paper highlights the multi-dimensional context of gender inequalities prevalent in India. Overall, the study indicates the inequality in economic, social, cultural and legal biasness which are of a great challenge for policy-makers and social scientists to establish proper equality in the entire social field. The researchers have tried to suggest some relevant strategies and policies implication for reducing this gender inequality and to promote the dignified position for Indian women. Keywords: Gender Inequality, Economic, Social & Cultural issues After the World War II, in the post modernization era, one of the issues which had attracted the attention of the policy makers and social scientists was gender issues and concerns. Gender issues mean the discussion on both men and women, though women who suffer from gender inequality. From all gender issues, gender inequality is the most prevalent in India. Consideration of gender inequality is now common in Government, Non-Government organizations, and in the politics in India. The policy makers are strongly believed that a positive commitment to gender equality and equity will strengthen every area of action to reduce poverty because women can bring new energy and new sights. A lot of debates are going on women and their development since last few decades. Thus, several national and international organizations are trying to promote the advancement of women & their full participation in developmental process & trying to eliminate all forms of inequality against women. The importance of feminism has been steadily growing and gaining intellectual legitimacy. GENDER INEQUALITY:- Gender Inequality means disparity between men and women in different social, economical & political, cultural and legal aspects. This problem is simply known as gender biasness, which in simple term means the gender stratification or making difference a male or a female. According to the United Nations Development Program‟s Human Development Report (2013), India ranks 132 out of 187 countries on the gender inequality index- lower than Pakistan (123). The report states that all countries in South Asia, with the exception of Afghanistan, were a better place for women than India, with Sri Lanka (75) topping them all. 25 Types of Gender Inequality: - According to Nobel Laureate Prof. Amartya Sen (2001), there are seven types of gender inequalities at present in India. Here is a brief explanation of all the types of gender inequality. 1) ​ Mortality Inequality:- In this, Inequality between women and men directly involves matters of life and death, and takes the brutal form of unusually high mortality rates for women and a consequent preponderance of men in the total population, as opposed to the preponderance of women found in societies with little or no gender bias in health care and nutrition. 2) ​ Natality Inequality: - In this kind of inequality a preference is given to boys over girls. It is ardent in many of the male dominated societies and these manifests in the form of parents wanting their newborn to be a boy rather than a girl. With the availability of modern techniques to determine the gender of foetus, sex selective abortions has become common in India. 3) ​ Employment Inequality: - In terms of employment as well as promotion at work women often face greater handicap than men. This is clearly exemplified as men getting priorities in getting better work opportunities and pay scale than their female counterparts. 4) ​ Ownership Inequality: - In many societies ownership of property can also be very unequal. Since ages the traditional property rights have favored men in the most parts of India. The absence of claims to property can not only reduce the voice of women, but also make it harder for women to enter and flourish in commercial, economic and even some social activities. 5) ​ Special Opportunity Inequality: - Even when there is little difference in basic facilities including schooling, the opportunities of higher education may be far fewer for young women than young men. Indeed, gender biasness in higher education and professional training can be observed in India. 6) ​ Basic-Facility Inequality: - Even when demographic characteristics do not show much or any anti-female bias, there are other ways in which women can have less than a square deal. 7) ​ Household inequality: - There are often enough, basic inequalities in gender relations within the family or the household, which can take many different forms. Even in cases in which there are no overt signs of anti-female bias in, say, survival or son-preference or education, or even in promotion to higher executive positions, the family arrangements can be quite unequal in terms of sharing the burden of housework and child care. HISTORY OF GENDER INEQUALITY If we highlight ancient India, an Indian woman was in the position of high esteem and was pronounced by the word of maata (mother) or Devi (goddess) in the Vedas and Upanishads. Same as Manu Smriti, woman was considered as a precious being and in the early Vedic age, girls were looked after with care. Then practice of polygamy deteriorated the position of woman and in the medieval period, the practices of purdha system, dowry system, and sati system came into being. But with the passage of time, the status of woman was lowered. After the development of science and technology, female feticides is being practiced by large number of people.This has also led to a drop in the female ratio. The Indian census 2011 state wise shows that Kerala represent the highest sex ratio with 1084 females per 1000 males while Haryana represents the lowest sex ratio with just 877 women per 1000 males. Then the dowry became popular and it was the starting period of female infanticide practices in few areas. 26 In India, a sex-selection phenomenon has been in place since the 1980s, with men born during this period now at marriageable age. Then the urbanization since the 1990s where a lot of families and men have moved to cities to look for work. People are much wealthier but at the same time there‟s pressure to produce sons as an heir, so educated, wealthy families are now more likely to have sex selection. These entire factors are coming to play and creating this toxic mixture, which has turned violence against women into a bigger issue today. The origin of the gender inequality has been always the male dominance. At least in India, a woman still needs the anchor of a husband and a family. Their dominating nature has led women to walk with their head down. It was all practiced from the beginning and is followed till date. In the case of a woman‟s reservation in parliament, the opposing parties believe that women are born to do household tasks and manage children and family. In many parts of India, women are viewed as an economic and financial liability despite contribution in several was to our society, economy and by their families. The crime against women is increasing day by day. Domestic Violence, Rape, Sexual harassment, molestation, eveteasing, forced prostitution, sexual-exploitation, at work places are a common affair today. So, it‟s an alarming issue for our country. The major reasons for the gender inequality are identified as the need of a male heir for the family, huge dowry, continuous physical and financial support to girl child, poverty, domestic – violence, farming as major job for poor and the caste system. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Jayachandran, S. (2014), has presented the roots of gender inequality in developing countries. This paper also discussed the several mechanisms through which the economic development could improve the relative outcomes of women & gender gaps can be reduced as country grows. Dunn, D. (1998), has focused on the situation of women in scheduled castes and tribes groups which are considered to as „weaker sections of people‟ and granted special safeguards and concessions under the Indian Constituents. This paper represented a descriptive picture of scheduled caste and tribe women‟s status in Indian society and also suggested that socioeconomic development plays an important role to reduce the disadvantage of scheduled group women. Thomas, R.E. (2013), has highlighted his paper with the state of gender based inequality in the modern India. It has presented gender inequality with the help of some facts & figures and representing the inequality practiced in India & its comparison with other Asian & Western countries. Chaudhary, & Sarkar, D. (2012), has tried to find out some factors i.e. educational status, work participation, level of gender inequality, of the Cooch Behar, a district of West-Bengal, India and suggested some relevant strategies implication for reducing this gender inequality to promote the deprived women of this district. Raju, E. (2014), has examined the gender discrimination in India on the basis of demographic, social, economic and political context. The paper has broadly discussed the issue of gender inequality, women empowerment& reproductive health among women of India. Some measures under taken b the International and national organizations were also discussed in this paper. Rustagi, P. (2005), has concluded the weal potential of economic growth & increasing women‟s economic participation towards eliminating gender inequalities in income & wages, unless supported b concerted efforts at altering attitudes towards women‟s role & contribution that are harbored by different agents within the labor market. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 27  1) ​To identify the factors which are responsible for gender inequality. 2) ​To give suggestions to reduce gender inequality. FACTORS BEHIND GROWING GENDER INEQUALITY There are so many factors which are fully responsible for gender inequality in India. These factors are as follows:- ECONOMIC FACTORS Ø Labor participation: - There is wage inequality between man and woman in India. A substantial number of women enter the labor market after thirties, generally after completion of their reproductive roles of child bearing and rearing. Ø Access to credit: - There are large disparities between men and women in terms of access to banking services. Women often lack collateral for bank loans due to low levels of property ownership and micro-credit schemes have come under scrutiny for coercive lending practices. Ø Occupational inequality: - Women are not allowed to have combat roles in military services. Permanent commission could not be granted to female officers because they have neither been trained for command nor have been given the responsibility in India. Ø Property Rights: - Although women have equal rights under the law to own property and receive equal inheritance rights, yet in practice, women are at a disadvantage. The Hindu Succession Act of 2005 provides equal inheritance rights to ancestral and jointly owned property, the law is weakly enforced. Ø Women’s inequality in proper inheritance:-Women are insignificantly deprived of their proper inheritance culturally and religiously as well. The religious constitution doesn‟t give women equal inheritance; there is a segregation of giving the property to women as they will not be given the property as men can have. Though Islamic constitution permits women having at least half of the property as man, society is reluctant to give the desired property to women let alone giving the equal share. Ø Employment inequality: - Some common inequalities that take place in the workplace are the gender-based imbalances of individuals in power and command over the management of the organization. Women are not able to move up into higher paid positions quickly as compared to men. Some organizations have more inequality than others, and the extent to which it occurs can differ greatly. In the workplace the men usually hold the higher positions and the women often hold lower paid positions such as secretaries. SOCIAL FACTORS Ø Education: - The female literacy rate in India is lower than the male literacy rate. According to census of India 2011, literacy rate of female is 65.46% compared to males which are 82.14%. Ø Health:- On health issue, the gender inequality between women‟s and men‟s life expectancy and women live compared to men in good health because of lots of violence, disease, or other relevant factors. Ø Patriarchal Society: - Most of India has strong patriarchal custom, where men hold authority over female family members and inherit property & title. It is the custom where inheritance passes from father to son, women move in with the husband & his family upon marriage & marriages include a bride price or dowry. 28  Ø Dowry: - The dowry system in India contributes to gender inequalities by influencing the perception that girls are a burden on families. Such belief limits the resources invested by parents in their girls and limit her bargaining power within the family. Ø Gender-based violence: - Gender-based violence such as rape, sexual assault, insult to modesty, kidnapping, abduction, cruelty by intimate partner or relatives, importation or trafficking of girls, persecution for dowry, indecency and all other crimes are practiced on women. These crimes show the high degree of inequality in India. Ø Women’s inequality in decision making: In India, Women have less authority than men to legal recognition and protection, as well as lower access to public knowledge and information, and less decision-making power both within and outside the home. This is also one of the reasons for inequality in gender. CULTURAL FACTORS Ø Old age support from sons: - A key factor driving gender inequality is the preference for sons, as they are deemed more useful than girls. They are supposed to support the old age security of their parents. Ø Patrilineality system: - It is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is traced through his or her father's lineage It generally involves the inheritance of property, names, or titles by persons related through one's male kin. Ø Role of sons in religious rituals: - Another factor is that of religious practices, which can only be performed by males for their parents' afterlife. Sons are often the only person entitled to performing funeral rights for their parents. Ø Son Preference: - Boys are given the exclusive rights to inherit the family name and properties and they are viewed as additional status for their family. Moreover, the prospect of parents „losing‟ daughters to the husband‟s family and expensive dowry of daughters further discourages parents from having daughters. There is a strong belief that daughter is a liability. LEGAL & POLITICAL FACTORS According to the Constitution of India, both men and women are equal in the eyes of the laws and hence they have equal rights. But, unfortunately, legal & political bias has prevented the law to attain the success of equality in gender. This is another reason for inequality in gender. ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION: - From the above factors, we can interpret that economic, social, cultural, legal and political factors are responsible for gender inequality in India. India needs to deactivate the gender Inequality. The needs of the day are trends where girls are able not only to break out of the culturally determined patterns of employment but also to offer advice about career possibilities that looks beyond the traditional list of jobs. It is surprising that in spite of so many laws, women still continue to live under stress and strain. To ensure equality of status for our women we still have miles to go. Man and Woman are like two wheels of a carriage. The life of one without the other is incomplete. SUGGESTIONS: - There is a solution of every problem. For reducing gender inequality in India, we should offer high level of education to girls and increase women empowerment. We should also give them opportunity in active politics & social activities so that social integration in Indian society can be made. Government should make policies & strategies regarding stopping the sex identification & abortions. In context of above NGOs can also play an important role to eradicate Gender Inequality. Politicians should frame out policies for increasing social welfare development 29 regarding this issue. The Campaign of our Prime Minister Mr. Narender Modi “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” can be successful, when the mindset of Indian society will be changed towards women. REFERENCES:- 1. ​Barro, Robert J., and Jong-Wha Lee (1994): Sources of Economic Growth, CarnegieRochester Conference on Public Policy, 40: 1-46. 2. ​Berta – Esteve – Volast, (2007), “Gender discrimination and Growth: Theory and Evidence from India,” London, London School of Economics and Political Sciences. 3. ​Kabeer, N (1999) 'From Feminist Insights to an Analytical Framework: An Institutional Perspective on Gender Inequality' 4. ​Razavi, S (2003), 'Women's changing roles in the context of economic reform and globalization'. Background paper for EFA Global Monitoring Report 2003/04 5. ​Santosh Ranganath N., Kama Raju T. (2009), “Gender Development in India: Dimensions and Strategies”, Management Trends, Vol. 6, No. 1 & 2, ISSN: 0973-9203, pp. 120-126 6. ​Seguino, Stephanie. (2006). “Gender Equality and Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Analysis”, World\ Development, Vol. 28, No. 7, pp. 67-71. 7. ​Singh, Ajit and Ann Zammit. (2007), “International Capital Flows: Identifying the Gender Dimension”, World Development, Vol. 29, No. 7, pp 1249-1268. 8. ​Sunden, Annika and B. Surette. (2008), “Gender Differences in the Allocation of Assets in Retirement Savings\ Plans”, American Economic Review, Vol. 88, No. 2, pp. 207-211. 9. ​UNESCO, Gender and Education for All: The Leap to Equality- Summary Report (2003) (hereinafter referred to as UNESCO Summary Report) at p1, available at http://www.efareport.unesco.org/ UNICEF Basic information and gender equality: http://www.unicef.org/girlseducation/ index_statistics.html 10. Velkoff, Victoria A. (1998). Women‟s Education in India. Report by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Washington: GPO, http://www.census.gov/ipc/prod/wid-9801.pdf 11. Wilson, D (2003) Human Rights: Promoting gender equality in and through education. Background paper for EFA GMR 2003/4 ​ 30  The role of women in Hinduism: Becoming leaders of patriarchal traditions Monica Munoz - Illinois Wesleyan University​ Abstract “Religious space often requires a spatial separation of men and women that comes with the associated power differentials” (David, 2009). This separation of power can be seen in many religions today although there are also religions, such as certain protestant churches, that present a more equal statues between women and men. This paper, however, will only focus on the diverse Hindu religion, specifically on the role and status of Hindu women. Through the study of mostly scholarly journals and some books, and by focusing on Hindu women’s domestic and temple worship, rituals, and their portrayal on Hindu texts, I aim to answer: What is the role of Hindu women in Hinduism? From a female perspective, it is important to explore this question because women used to have a submissive and weak role in the past. However, I have found that as time progresses women are becoming more powerful leaders in Hinduism. I. Background: Hinduism and Women Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world with an estimate of 851 million people identifying themselves as Hindus. It is the dominant religion in India, Nepal, and South Asia, and it is very diverse in that it does not have a single founder or holy text, and that there are many different branches of Hinduism. Since Hinduism is one of the biggest religions of the world it is significant to explore the role that women play in developing and practicing this religion. In order to understand this role, Hinduism first needs to be explained a little bit more. As mentioned before, there is no single text that Hindus use. In fact there are many Vedas, which are the oldest scriptures of Hinduism. The four main classic Vedas are Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, and Atharva Veda. These collections consist of hymns, rituals, and philosophical works. These Vedas are consulted in order to obtain liberation from the cycle of birth and death and for the worship of deities. Hindus recognize a single supreme deity or God and view other Gods and Goddesses as manifestations of that supreme deity. The most common deities are Vishnu, Shiva, and the Goddess, who appeared later on as the first female supreme deity. The Goddess plays a significant role in the development and worship of Hindu women since it is portrayed as a powerful and supreme female. Ⅱ. Overview: The Increasing Role of Hindu Women in Hinduism The influence and role of women in worship, Hindu texts, and society has been increasing in modern day. In worship, Hindu women participate in the daily Puja, domestic worship, and the temple worship. It is argued in this paper that although women’s participation in the Puja is significant and somewhat powerful, their role in temple worship has not always been significant. However, participation and leadership in temple worship has been developing more and more in modern times, especially in the west. Just as with worship, the role of Hindu women in rituals can be seen, in some aspects and at simple sight, as inferior to men’s. However, Hindu women have some specific rituals that are conducted only by women, just as there are some rituals that are conducted only by men. If one looks at how women are portrayed in Hindu texts, one needs to take into account that there is a powerful female deity that is seen by many Hindus as the supreme deity and that there are many female contributions to these although some negative aspects still exist. Therefore, as time progresses and Hinduism develops more, the role of women in Hinduism is increasing in status and is advancing to becoming more equal to men’s. III. Depiction of Women in Worship and Traditional Rituals 31 The main kind of worship that is conducted by Hindu women today is the daily domestic Puja which gives Hindu women a positive and somewhat powerful role in Hinduism. Although there is different kinds of Pujas or worship, the daily Puja is a domestic worship in which the whole family participates to express devotion to a certain deity