“india that is bharat shall be a union of states.”
Article 1 of indian
constitution holds in its breath the deepest meaning when it combines the
culturally or ethnically or linguistically organized different states under the
ambit of a country coined with reference to its modern and ancient used
name.this is the exemplary beauty of Indian pluralism that has its impression
among the minds of constitution makers.but still it needs to be seen that how
much this diversity in unity and unity in diversity have been successful in
making this land of multiple colours truly a paradise on earth?
Plurality
itself means the existence of multiple within the ambit of a unit.it can be
multiple races religions languages dialects culture dance music festivals and
much more.india is truly a land of plurality in all its aspects.the most
important thing about this land is the canvassing of all colours of life
painted by the common folks or experts time to time in the form of celebrations
of joy and happiness.
The whole issue of plurality is holding relevance today more than ever
because of the threat this diversity is facing from the unity.globalisation has
opened up new vistas and is spearheading towards homogenization.the worry is
that the end point of this homogenization is westernization combined with the
culture of consumerism.in such a scenario importance of plurality enjoyed from
he days of Indus valley civilization
needed to be emphasized.
To observe the whole issue of pluralism it needs to be seen that why
pluralism is important for india along with what are the major obstracles
coming in its way?not only this,solutions of obstacles also need to be found so
as to make pluralism as a binding thread of this country.
Pluralism’s importance in political sphere of the country arose from the
strengthening of democracy,harmony and equality.the relationship between
democracy and pluralism is quite unique because one person one vote and one
vote one value concept of Indian democracy holds equality between persons from
different cultures or background together and when they started feeling the
equality between them ,then they start believing in Indian democracy that offers
them equality.for example the various demands of linguistically based states
division show this effect.the apt Indian decision makers respected this
pluralism and so acceded to the demand of respecting language based states
while on the other hand,western Pakistan had not been able to tap the
pluralistic energy of people of eastern Pakistan and so result is the creation
of bangladsh in 1971 after a war.
Political importance of pluralism has its further origin from the role
played by pluralism in historical context which resulted in deep ingraining of
pluralism in minds of people.it can be seen by just a cursory look at
historical Indian development like this country had seen the growth of mughal
art rajasthani art pahadi art tanjore paintings pala school of art modern
Bengali school of paintings and much more.not only this,folk art simulating the
regional variations also stepped alongside like manjusha paintings or madhubani
paintings,panihari songs etc etc.the whole end result of historical importance
of pluralism is that Indian history is full of large plethora of
art,architectural styles,paintings,music,dance,regional histories that india is
proud of.
Historical
and political pluralistic tendency have nuptial tie with the economic
importance of pluralism.its well known fact that before the arrival of fiat
currency ,it’s the barter system that holded its sway over the day to day life
of a common man.there use to be labourers artisans shoe makers enetertainers
and many more in the village life.result is that a village or a group of
villages were self sufficient in their existence,if viewed economically.in
today’s india, economic pluralism shows up in the form of a sizeable middle
class,a few rich class and vast poor class and beauty of concept of pluralism
lies in the fact that all these classes have relation with each other like rich
class set factories ,then poor class work in them as labourers and workers
while middle class occupy managerial positions and govt jobs.though the peoples
in these classes regularly migrate from one to other class but broad contours
remain the same.
Though political historical and
economic importance of pluralism is very much to be noted but it’s the social
pluralism which use to eb getting showed up more often.social pluralism in
india is through the existence of different religions castes ethnicities in
india.not only this ,gender pluralism is also having its share in india.india
is a place where the existence fo all religions whether it be hindu muslim sikh
Christian parsi or any other,its considered pertinenet for its very existence of
a nation and that get mentioned in constitution.when it comes to pluralism in
sphere of caste,then india have always been divided into chaturvarna system
though its very unfortunate that with time,the caste of a man started being
defined as basis of birth rather than work.when it comes to ethnicity then
india is a aplace where Aryan Dravidian and tibeto Burmese ethnicity has its
coexistence.the whole importance of social pluralism lies in the simple fact
that inspite of all these variations,people are contributing towards growth and
development of a nation which then pass on to as progress of each other.its the
india in which people from minorities had holded the important positions like
of president and prime minister,from minority ethnicity have contributed to the
tallies of medals in the international sports events,from lower castes had
emerged a leader who had drafted the constitution of india.
Pluralism
after showing its importance in all the external facets of country ,also showed
its effect on individual psychology.whenever a common man of this great country
looks around and find the existence of greatnesss and humbleness alongside,his
mind gets comfort with proud he or she felt.this was the proud which was
exemplified by swami Vivekananda as a form of atma shakti .this is the
psychology which had given rise to martyrs like bhagat singh sukhdev rajguru
and chandrshekhar azad and many more.this
is the mindset which is responsible for making the people of this
country to defend it and to sacrifice for it if the need arises.
But pluralism have not always been gloomy for india.it has its own share
of problems that have arisen because of misinterpretation of the concept of
pluralism for personal benefits.
Communal
tensions and riots are the result of one such misinterpretation.the atmosphere
in many parts of country have become so much communally charged that every year
nearly 100 people die of communal riots.the whole existence of Pakistan and
dreadful partition was based on this misconception of different interests for
different religions.the situation becomes volatile when this concept of different
interest changes into antagonistic interests.anti sikh riots of 1984 and anti
muslim riots of 2002 reflect this mindset.
The pluralism faces its other problem from other misinterpretation in
the from of regionalism or son of soil theory.this means the exploitation of
having different culture,different language ,different outlook for different
treatment.india’s first prime minister described this tendency as a sure shot
path to civil war.the misconception lies in the fact that some people consider
diversity as a threat to them while the root cause of cut throat competition
for jobs and balanced regional development is ignored.political exploitation of
this issue results in violence against outsiders and then it becomes a threat
to Indian unity.
Pluralism is facing its third threat from none other than the philosophy
of today that is globalization.internet has been now a days a major medium of
expression.english is the dominant language of internet and so peoples are
mistakenly believing that speaking English is only available civlised way of
talking and in such a mad race,local languages and dialects are ignored.culture
of consumerism is though commercially using the pluralism,but its also
responsible for the syndrome of status
symbol which means some dominant cultural things become associated with one’s
status while others are just ignored.
In
democracy,pluralism has come up with another problem and that is long time
taken in decision making which means that in Indian democracy ,no decision is
taken until and unless every one is taken on board for decision making.this
time lag has resulted though in participative decision making,but counter view
of even one group can jeopardize the whole exercise of decision making.the
coalition govts of our times are full of these time lags due to which Indians
will power to fight the problems of poverty,unemployment,malnutrition etc have
surely weakened.
But as there is always a light at the end of tunnel,so is there a way to
solve the problems coming in way of our pluralisms which is our treasure earned
throughout centuries.its our duty to not let anyone plunder this treasure.
Education is one such way through which the roots of pluralism can be
strengthened.that education which teaches the values of tolerance and rational
thinking instead of any prejudice or stereotyping can make the pluralism as an
asset to this country.the mother has an important role in this regard as its
only through the aid of mother that a society can dream of an ideal society.the
children should be taught that there were change in
outlook,views,language,culture does not mean that anyone else is less human
than them.this is only possible long term solution.
In
the overall context of education,the govt or a nations should not forget the
balanced regional development which can douse the fire of exploitation of
pluralism at the hand of few opportunistic elements.the most important
measurement of this is the distress migration experienced from a region.this is
possible through theuse of a region’s resources for its own benefit.for example
assam has quite a large stores of oil.setting oil refineries in assam to give
employment to local people and to boost demand supply circle can result in
regional wise development.such type of development should be replicated in
whole country.
Solution
to the problem of globalization and homogenization can come from the idea of
glocalisation which means globalization attuned to the local cultures.for
example Punjab is a famous for phulkari.instead of dominance of western
clothing on its market,if the phulkari is promoted for dressing and for export
potential through beautiful designs,then it can work wonders.the need of the
hour is to have an out of the box
thinking so that pluralism becomes an asset to the nation.
Having said that it can be seen that pluralism has its political
importance by way of strengthening of democracy,historical importance through
rich plethora of culture,economic importance through self sufficiency,social
importance through peaceful coexistence and individual importance through
tendency of self confidence.though
pluralism has threats in the form of communal tensions,globalization aided
homogenization,regionalism yet it can be solved via rational
education,glocalisation concept and balanced regional development.
Pluralism is the jewel in the
achievements of india and this jewel must be preserved because its shine is
what makes india look different in the
constellation of nations.this jewel’s shine was expressed through the words of
mk gandhiji when he said that-“I shall work for an india in which the poorest
shall feel that its their country in whose making they have an effective
voice,an india in which there shall be no high class or low class,women will
enjoy same rights as men.this is india of my dreams.”its hopeful that
pluralism’s inheritance will be preserved by us Indians,not for its value but
for its worth which will be expressed when the view of a little girl coming out
of a school in the most backward area of country,with a smile on her face and
mind sharper than yesterday,becomes a reality.
