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Running Head: India - A Developing Force in the World

India
A Developing Force in the World

Abhishek Gandhi
Professor Walter Barwick
Sociology 300
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Abstract
India is a very diverse country in terms of its society, culture, religions and

economy. Since its economic reforms were instituted in the early 1990s,

India is a growing economic force to be reckoned with in the 21st

century. It also achieved status as a nuclear state in May, 1998.

Despite its emerging economic and political influence in the world, it is

still considered a Less Developed Country (LDC). It is still struggling

with many societal differences from the past, such as its caste system,

and recently emerging issues with terrorism. India also has to deal with

religious tensions between its majority Hindu religion and minority

religious groups such as the Muslims. As India continues to develop, the

way in which these concerns are dealt with will have a major impact on

India's economy and standing in the world.

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Introduction

The name India is derived from the ancient Persian name for the Indus

River. The Harappan culture developed in the Indus River valley more than

5,000 years ago. It is one of the world's oldest civilizations. Modern Indian

society emerged from the Harappan civilization.

The Republic of India is located in the Indian subcontinent of Asia. Its

geographical area is the seventh largest in the world. India is a peninsula,

surrounded by the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. India

takes up 2.4% of the world's land area, but sustains over 15% of the earth's

population. India's population is the second largest in the world behind China.

This overpopulated country is also the world's largest democracy.

Many religions have originated in India, including Hinduism, Jainism,

Buddhism and Sikhism. Further, Islam and Christianity also have deep roots in

this country. India became a British colony in the 1800's, and gained its freedom

in 1947 after an Independence Movement led by Mahatma Gandhi. India has

progressed but has still been plagued with different social issues, such as

language and ethnic barriers, gender inequality, high rates of poverty, severe

pollution and discrimination based on the caste system. India's political

problems include border conflicts with Pakistan and China, and clashes

between Hindu nationalists and secular political groups. Nevertheless,

internationally it is currently being supported by major world powers, such as

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the US and Japan. This is due to India’s emergent economy, stable government

and its secure political relationships with the rest of the world.

Indian Society

Indian society is complex to an extent perhaps unknown in any of the

world's great civilizations. The intricacies of the Indian social structure have

been challenging to academics over many centuries. Living within the Indian

nation are vast numbers of different regional, social, and economic groups each

with different cultural practices. These differences are especially pronounced

between the Hindu majority and the large Muslim minority.

Ancient Indian society was organized into the caste system. The four

major castes are Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra. The Brahmins were

the priests and the philosophers. They were the specialists in the spiritual life of

the society, and played an advisory role. The Kshatriyas were the nobility of

feudal India, including the kings, their vassals, and the warriors. Their general

function was to guard and preserve society. The Vaishyas were the

businessmen and merchants, and their function was to drive the economy of

the Indian states. The Shudras were the farmers from the Indian villages and

countryside. Their function was to provide enough food to sustain the entire

population of the Indian states. Living outside the caste system were the

"Untouchables" who would be responsible for handling waste and dead bodies

as well as working with the skin of dead animals to turn into leather (considered

an "unclean" task). Indian law has forbidden discrimination on the basis of

caste since 1948, shortly after independence, but caste discrimination is still
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prevalent, especially in rural areas where many remain uneducated.

Government efforts to reduce caste discrimination have met with limited

success. The growth of the Indian economy has done more than anything to

eliminate caste discrimination in the cities, as those of every caste get more

opportunities for education and skilled jobs and prosperity spreads throughout

the society.

Education in India

India's literacy rate is still only 61% (U.S. Dept of State, 2009). This is in

large part due to the poor educational facilities in the rural areas of the country,

where most of the population lives. Gender inequality also plays a factor, as

girls have lesser access to education than boys in the rural areas. Societal

expectations on "appropriate" gender roles for boys and girls lead to a greater

emphasis on boys going to school so they can support their family and girls

staying at home and learning how to take care of a family.

This grim educational picture from the rural villages of India contrasts

sharply with the status of education found in India's cities and urban centers,

where about 30% of the population lives. In the cities, any family that can afford

it will send both their boys and girls to school and college. Education is seen as

the best path to a future of prosperity for not only these children, but for the

family as a whole. Therefore, a greater emphasis on education is seen in the

urban areas. Recently released surveys state that India produces more
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physicians and engineers every year than any developed or developing

countries, (BBC, 2007).

Healthcare in India

The health care system in India is a combination of 2 different health

care models. The first is run by the government in order to provide access to

care for all, especially in the rural areas. Access to government run health

centers is free. The other model is a for-profit system of private hospitals.

These are located mostly in urban areas. For those who can afford it, the

private hospitals provide a high level of care that is comparable to the care

received in the West.

Government-run health centers serve most of the basic primary

healthcare needs in the rural areas. In 1991, India had about 22,400

government-run health centers, mostly in the rural areas, and 11,200 hospitals,

located mostly in urban areas. By 2005, the number of primary health centers

more than doubled to 52,700 and the number of hospitals increased to 25,900,

with the largest increase in the remote, rural areas (BBC, 2007). Government-

run health care attempts to redirect more difficult cases to the urban hospitals,

while providing routine medical care to the vast majority in the countryside

through its health centers. The primary health centers face many challenges

working with the rural population. The patients tend to overlook preventive

care, while this is a major focus of the primary health center. Also, in trying to

implement government policies that focus on family planning programs, these

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primary health centers sometimes alienate the local population, who still prefer

large families. A range of studies have shown that in both cities and villages,

people would rather pay and seek the more sophisticated services provided by

private physicians rather than utilize government-run facilities, (Health care in

India, 2005).

Religions in India

The majority religion in India is Hinduism, practiced by 81.4% of the

population. Islam is the most common minority religion in India, practiced by

12.4% of Indians. Other minority religions in India include Christianity, Sikhism,

Buddhism, Jainism and Zoroastrianism, which make up the other 6.2% (U.S.

Dept of State, 2009). Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism are major

religions that originated here. Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Judaism and Islam

also had great influence in India since their introduction to the subcontinent

(Reddy, 2003). The Indian government is decidedly secular, honoring all faiths

according to the Indian constitution.

Despite the Hindu majority, there is a great deal of tolerance for those of

other faiths, but there are ongoing tensions between Muslims and Hindus.

These tensions have persisted for centuries and were only exacerbated when

British India was partitioned into India and Pakistan at independence in 1947.

Religious extremism is very prevalent on both sides, with riots breaking out in

different parts of the country from time to time. The religious tensions between

Hindus and Muslims are rooted deep in the past, but they are having a big
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negative impact on the present and on the future of India. Economic growth

has been negatively affected by these occasional riots which are propagated by

religious fundamentalist groups. Despite the many strides forward India has

made in the last few decades, development has still been hampered by

religious extremism.

Political Conditions in India

According to its constitution, India is a sovereign, socialist, secular,

democratic republic. Like the United States, India has a federal form of

government. However, the central government in India has greater power in

relation to its states, and has implemented a British-style parliamentary system.

The President is the head of state, but the Prime Minister is the head of the

government. The legislative branch of the Indian government is the Parliament,

which consists of the upper house called the Council of States and the lower

house called the House of the People.

India participates in the South Asian Association for Regional

Cooperation (SAARC), which promotes collaboration in rural development,

technology, science and culture, agriculture, terrorism, narcotics, population

control, and health. The end of the Cold War dramatically affected India's

foreign policy. India had a close relationship with the USSR, but the fall of the

Soviet Union led to a shift in alliances between India and other world powers.

India and the US are now fostering diplomatic and economic ties. India remains

a leader of the developing world.

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Border disputes with India's neighboring countries have been going on

since independence in 1947. The northeast border with China is still in dispute

and led to war with China in 1961. As of now, India and China are attempting to

resolve this border issue through diplomacy and talks. The issue of Kashmir

emerged with the partition of the subcontinent based on a "two nation's theory"

at the time of independence. The king in Kashmir at that time was Hindu and he

decided to merge his state with the Republic of India, although the majority

population in Kashmir was Muslim. As a part of India, Kashmir is critical in the

defense of India from foreign invasion. This dispute over Kashmir has triggered

two wars between India and Pakistan in 1947 and 1965, and the Kargil conflict

in 1999 (U.S. Dept of State, 2009). Since losing these wars, Pakistan has

instituted a policy of proxy war against India, including training and supplying

Muslim militants in Kashmir, and even encouraging terrorist activities in the rest

of India (Dikshit and Schwartzberg, 2007). Since the 1980s, India has faced a

rising tide of terrorist activities, including attacks on the Indian Parliament and

the Mumbai attacks of 2008. The dispute over Kashmir has taken on greater

significance since India and Pakistan both became nuclear powers in 1998

(Strategic Security Project, 2002). India maintains that its nuclear arsenal is for

defense purposes only (Pakistan has not agreed to any similar policy), (India

Profile, 2003). So far, this has held true, but if the Kashmir dispute once again

leads to war, the consequences could be devastating to both countries and to

the world.
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Economic Development of India

Economic reforms passed by the Indian Parliament in 1991 transformed

India into an economic powerhouse. The reforms included deregulations of

many industries, including information technology, and increasingly liberal

foreign investments and exchange regimes. These reforms also reduced tariffs

and other trade barriers, opened and modernized the financial sector, made

significant adjustments in government monetary and fiscal policies and added

more safeguards for intellectual property rights.

India is believed to be the world’s second fastest growing economy with

an average growth of 8 percent per year starting 2004. India attained 9.6%

GDP growth in 2006, 9.0% in 2007, and 6.6% in 2008. Current growth for the

fiscal year 2009 was lower than expected due to global economic downturn, but

is still greater than 7% (US Dept of State, 2009). The growth of the economy of

India in general is closely behind the US and the Republic of China. Currently,

the US is India's largest investment and trading partner with a 13% share, and

bilateral merchandise trade topped nearly $50 billion. India's total inflow of US

direct investment was estimated at more than $16 billion through 2008 (US

Dept. of State, 2009).

The rise in foreign portfolios and direct investment inflows led to an

overflow of capital in the Indian markets. The employment opportunities

increased drastically along with salaries of educated and skilled workers. This

resulted in an expansion of the middle class in the cities. Their purchasing

power and standard of living increased substantially. Economic development

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and investment has resulted in greater prosperity for many educated Indians in

urban areas, but this prosperity has not spread very far into the rural areas yet.

Government policies have had to focus on not just large scale industries in the

cities and their effect on economic development, but also on small scale

industries as well. Small scale industries are very prevalent in India, especially

in the rural areas, and government support (through bank financing and loans)

of these industries will bring about much of the prosperity seen with large scale

industries, but at a much slower pace. Other changes in government policy to

include infrastructure development and to decrease bureaucratic delays and

corruption could help speed up the spread of prosperity to rural India. The

World Bank plans to double aid to India to almost $3 billion a year to improve

infrastructure, education, health and rural livelihoods, (IMF, 2009).

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Conclusion

India is a country that is living in three different centuries - the 19th, the

20th and the 21st century, all at the same time. Due to rapid pace of economic

development, there are now two different Indian societies in existence. One is a

society that lives in the cities and is educated and westernized, with a higher

standard of living and with a global outlook. The second is a society that lives in

the rural areas of India, made up of mostly uneducated/unskilled poor, with a

more traditional Indian society, lower standard of living and with a more

provincial outlook. The gap between these two societies in India is very large

and at times seems insurmountable. The prosperity of the cities is slowly

seeping into the rural areas, and hopefully one day the gap between these two

divisions in Indian society will no longer exist (or be much smaller).

However, for India to achieve these advances, there are many disputes

and issues which need to be resolved. Indian society will need to move past

the divisions created by caste discrimination. India's educational and healthcare

system will have to be augmented and expanded to include all its population.

Religious tensions will have to be addressed and resolved to some satisfaction.

Political tensions with neighboring countries will have to be attended to as well -

hopefully through diplomacy rather than war. India's size, population, and

strategic location give it a prominent say in the international community, and its
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military prowess, growing economic strength, and technical and scientific

capability give it added weight in world affairs.

References

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