INDIA: A Diverse Country

Indian culture is one of the most ancient cultures present in the world. The country is quite diverse and is home to several communities, each of whom has their own culture and traditions. It is this combination of various amazing cultures that make India one of a kind. The Indian cultural diversity is what makes India unique and beautiful.

The vast differences in the customs, traditional beliefs and rituals can be witnessed across every state of India. The festivals, the art forms, and to an extent, even the dressing style of the people are quite different in Northern India when compared to those in Southern India. While most of the Indian women wear the saree, the style of draping the saree varies in different parts of India. This difference can be seen, not only among different states but also among the various communities within the same state. The people differ considerably in the social habits. They differ in their dresses, customs, food habits and manners. Different kinds of festivals are observed in different parts of the country by different categories of people. The people of India speak different languages. There are in India separate group of people with their own language. Each of these people’s has its own literature. More than 200 different languages are used in India. The principal languages of India are Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali, Oriya, Assamese, Gujarati, Marathi, Sindhi, Urdu, Punjabi, Tamil, Telegu, Malayalam, Kashmiri and Kannada.

Thinking of oneness: A Nightmare

A century ago millions of people saw the dream of a free India, a country where all the people of so much diversity in language, religion, social status, community and tradition would live in peace and harmony this dream came true in 1947 when our country got its independence. A part of our ancestors dream was respect and protection of diversity which was written into the Constitution. The leaders wanted a constitution for all Indians which guaranteed their rights and protect them.

India is home for more than 1.3 billion people and if there is some level of discrimination towards a particular section of the society then the integrity of India may face many challenges. Time and again, history has shown that if the ruling group i.e. government is partial towards a certain group then the unity of people comes under great danger. The Act is in complete violation of Article 14 (Right to Equality) as our constitution specifically prohibits any kind of discrimination on the basis of religion. When this republic was being built by our founding fathers, this factor was considered to be one of the major pillars of the country. Conflicts between people can be created by political parties. Political leaders fight elections on the lines of cast, community and religions, they may divide the people on communal basis to use them as their vote banks. These tendencies are very harmful and unhealthy for any society. Riots may take place between different sections of our country which will eventually lead to bloodbath and destruction of our motherland. Situations like these are nothing but a nightmare!