India’s movement toward independence occurred in stages prompted by the inflexibility of the British and, in many instances, their violent responses to peaceful protests. Many attribute the Indian Revolt of 1857 (known by the British as the Sepoy Mutiny) as the first battle in the struggle for Indian independence.

The 1857 Indian Revolt revealed the miscalculations of the British in understanding the social and cultural issues important to Indians. Indian soldiers called sepoys (from the Hindi sipahi) grew increasingly uncomfortable with the British encroachment on India’s states and provinces as the English East India Company expanded its influence in the region. In addition, poor wages and harsh policies made nationals increasingly tired of the British presence in India.

In 1885, the Indian National Union was formed, which became the Indian National Congress and had as its goal the moderate position of seeing more locals in political representation. The Indian National Congress (INC) was created to help ease the tensions in the British relationship with Indians after the Sepoy Mutiny. In the beginning, the INC did not contradict British rule, but in the face of increasingly egregious acts by the government, the INC came to identify with the independence movement. The INC would dominate Indian politics and house many of the early leaders of the independence movement including Gopal Krishna Gokhale, leading those in favor of dominion status and Bal Gangadhar Tilak, leading those who saw self rule as the only option. Throughout the impendence movement leaders emerged from among the Congress’ membership including Mahatma Ghandi, the leader of the non-violence movement, as well as Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of the new nation.

The push for independence occurred in three interconnected stages: the noncooperative movement, the civil disobedience movement, and finally the “Quit India” movement. None of these stages were rigidly defined; they naturally flowed into one another as a result of contemporary events. The foundational principles of the noncooperative movement included resisting the British by not buying imported goods, refusing to pay taxes, and not working for the British, rather than violence as a means of gaining independence.

A major turning point occurred in March 1930 with the Dandi March, which sparked the civil disobedience movement. In what many consider a stroke of political savvy, Gandhi chose the British taxes and regulations on salt as the issue around which to stage a protest. Every Indian, whether aristocrat or peasant, knew the value of salt, which was used as a preservative. Gandhi’s highlighting of the British monopoly on salt production helped showcase the issue of native choice in daily life. In a strategic move, Gandhi and seventy-eight supporters undertook a twenty-three-day journey by foot to Dandi, a coastal region where salt was abundant. Upon their arrival, Gandhi made natural salt, thus violating the British law that only imported salt could be used or purchased. Illegal salt was being made all over the country, and many Indians, including Gandhi, were being imprisoned for doing so. Salt thus became a symbol for the injustice and oppression of the British Empire. After the Dandi March, the entire nation became more aware of the fight for sovereignty from British rule.

When the British conceded independence to India, it came with such swiftness that many of the unresolved tensions were swept aside, only to come bursting forth later. Lord Louis Mountbatten (1900–1979), the last viceroy of British India, who was in good standing with Nehru, granted the demands of the Muslim League to create a separate state, Pakistan, for Muslims. Increasingly uncomfortable in Hindu-dominated India, many in the Muslim League had agitated for the formation of a separate Muslim state. At the time of his assassination in 1948, Gandhi opposed the partitioning of India, but the speed of independence overshadowed such concerns. Violence ensued as Hindus attempted to cross newly created borders into India, while Muslims fled to Pakistan, resulting in many deaths and clouding India’s long-awaited freedom from the British Raj.

Indian society is a pluralistic society with a complex social order characterized by a multitude of ethnic, linguistic, religious, and caste divisions. It comprises people living in rural, urban, tribal setting and all sections which carry the ethos of Indianness.Amid the complexities and so much diversity among the nation, widely accepted cultural themes, the feeling of oneness, brotherhood, and values of constitution binds individuals and enhance social harmony and order.

MEANING OF SOCIETY-

Sociologist Peter L. Berger defines society as “a human product, and nothing but a human product, that yet continuously acts upon its producers.”It consists of groups of human beings who are linked together utilizing specific systems and customs, rites, and laws and have a collective social existence.

INDIAN SOCIETY AND ITS FEATURES-

1). Indian culture has been modified continuously, with times making India a composite culture.

2).Indian society was a stratified society from ancient times.The division of society into Aryans and non-Aryans was mentioned in Rig Veda. The Aryan society was further divided into four groups based on the pursuit of occupations.

3). The confrontation of Hindu and Muslim culture led to a synthesis with interesting results and mixed culture as a result of Sufi writings, the bhakti movement, Kabir Panth.

4).India today (after independence) amalgamated different caste groups religions, race tribes, linguistic groups. It glorifies the ideals of liberty, equality, fraternity as its goals in a secular, socialistic framework.

SALIENT FEATURES OF INDIAN SOCIETY-

1). Multi-Ethnic Society–

An ethnic group or ethnicity is a category of people who identify with each other, usually based on a common language or dialect, history, society, culture or nation.A society with the co-existence of a wide variety of racial groups is a Multi-ethnic society. India is home to almost all racial profiles.

2). Patriarchal Society–

Patriarchy is a social system in which men hold primary power and enjoy greater status than women.In this system, men make all decisions in both society and their family unit, hold all positions of power and authority and are considered superior.

3). Family-

The family forms the basic unit of social organization.It is the most immediate group a child is exposed It is in the family a child learns language, the behavioural patterns, and social norms in his childhood.

Family is a basic, definite, and enduringFamily is formed by the companionship of the husband, the wife who procreate children.

DIVERSITY-

Diversity is differences in racial and ethnic, socioeconomic, geographic, and academic/professional backgrounds. People with different opinions, backgrounds (degrees and social experience), religious beliefs, political beliefs, sexual orientations, heritage, and life experience.

India is the oldest civilization in the entire world. In this long journey of 5000 years, we were ruled by many rulers, belonging to different religions and cultures. Further, a lot of people migrated from other countries, and India accepted them with open hearts. Due to this exchange, we can observe a lot of diversity in terms of religion, culture, race, and religion in our country. However, despite all these diversities, India remained united even in dark hours and faced all the crises with a united spirit. The thread which binds all Indians together is known as “Unity among diversity”. In this article, we will explore the meaning of Unity in diversity in India, the types of diversity in India, what is diversity, provisions of unity in the constitution, its importance and the hurdle in achieving unity.

The unity in diversity is defined as the spirit of brotherhood without any discrimination.The term “Unity in diversity” implies the feeling of oneness or togetherness even after having a lot of diversity. Its spirit unites the people together and this bond shows the path of righteousness. This Diversity can be in the form of religion, colour, caste, creed, cultural practices, etc. In our country, these diversified traits are not seen as a conflict, but they are the varieties that enrich our society and the nation. It is used as a symbol of harmony and unity among people belonging to different religions or cultural backgrounds.

Every year 22 April is celebrated as Earth Day across the world.  Earth Day symbolizes the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. The theme of this year Earth Day 2022 is Invest in Our Planet.

We all are surviving and eking out our livelihoods from this earth so the earth is nurturing us and we must be grateful to earth. In all religions,​the importance of earth has been highlighted.  In Hindu ‘Bhumi Puja/Pujan’ is known to many. In general,​it means the tradition of offering prayers to Mother Earth before beginning construction work.

A few lines about the earth on Earth Day I am highlighting from the website nationalgeographic.com for the benefit of readers.

With a radius of 3,959 miles, Earth is the fifth largest planet in our solar system, and it’s the only one known for sure to have liquid water on its surface. Earth orbits the sun once every 365.25 days. Since our calendar years have only 365 days, we add an extra leap day every four years to account for the difference.

Though we can’t feel it, Earth zooms through its orbit at an average velocity of 18.5 miles a second. During this circuit, our planet is an average of 93 million miles away from the sun, a distance that takes light about eight minutes to traverse.   Almost 70 percent of Earth’s surface is covered in oceans of liquid water that average 2.5 miles deep. These bodies of water contain 97 percent of Earth’s volcanoes and the mid-ocean ridge, a massive mountain range more than 40,000 miles long (nationalgeographic.com).

According to the website earthday.org/ for Earth Day 2022, we need to act (boldly), innovate (broadly), and implement (equitably). The Great Global Cleanup is a worldwide campaign to remove billions of pieces of trash from ​neighbourhoods, beaches, rivers, lakes, trails, and parks — reducing waste and plastic pollution, improving habitats, and preventing harm to wildlife and humans. It is also evident from the website that the fashion industry is responsible for over 8 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions.  Sustainable Fashion refers to a clothing supply chain that is ecologically and socially responsible. Now is the opportunity to shift the industry and consumers away from the fast fashion model and toward sustainable practices in sourcing, production, distribution, marketing, and consumption. While discussing Earth Day a case from Hyderabad may be referred (earthday.org/).   

In the context of Earth Day, a case from Hyderabad, India may be highlighted.  Pragati Resorts was established by a dynamic Telugu person Dr. G.B.K Rao presently CMD of the Pragati Resorts Group gets enormous credit as this bio-diversity park was established in 1994 near Hyderabad city which was totally barren with the awful climatic conditions before 1994. The water in the area was at an awfully low level due to the mining of limestone which made the land unfit for cultivation even. Dr. G.B.K Rao selected the land-based on three criteria – i) it is away from the city and also away from the highway, ii) the area is totally non-cultivable /barren, and iii) totally very low level of water. Now, the area has been turned into heaven and the people call it “Pragati is Heaven on Earth”. Around 800 varieties of herbal heritage and medicinal plants, other rare mother plants, and trees inter alia are Kalpavriksha (also known as Kalpataru), have been planted in Pragati. This is spread over an area of 2500 acres.  In the Resorts, there is a provision of ‘Amrutha Ahaaram’ (meaning Amrita/lifesaving foods), and this special 3-day package has been designed to boost immunity levels naturally to fight against any type of virus or bacteria.

On Earth Day, 2022 a famous name from India who is an eminent environmentalist also should be mentioned. He is Professor K. Purushotham Reddy, a former Professor of Osmania University, Hyderabad. In many forums across the country, he has highlighted the importance of the environment for the survival of human beings by discarding the water, air, and noise pollution.  And for this, he organized peaceful agitation also to save mother Earth.

On Earth Day, 22 my Salute to the people, who have been working to make Earth Clean and Green and also helping to make it free from pollution.  In this regard, two names which I have already mentioned, I am reiterating Dr. G.B.K Rao and Professor K. Purushotham Reddy. 

Policy Implementation is the soul of Administration and Public Policy, one of the problem with Policy making in India is extreme fragmentation in the structure that fragmentation fails to acknowledge the action taken in one area have implications on another and may work at Cross purpose with policies of other sector. Implementation is not automatic that is more structured and scheduled. Implementation works as make or break the deal of Public Policy.

Effective implementation requires a chain of command, and the capacity to coordinate and control; often there are shortfalls in this exercise, more so in a developing country like India. Problem in the implementation of Policy are common in all countries, be they developed or developing. Even with relatively good administrative structure, Public Policy does not have it’s intended impact due to conceptual and political problem. Implementation deficit may be due to insufficiency of the requisite resources – of time, money or manpower.
Let’s discuss the implementation problem under the headings:

1) Conceptualization Issue of Policy Implementation

Conceptual Problem become the most crucial step in Policy Implementation that holds the high capacity to hinder the implementation. Understanding the nature of contextual problems, acknowledgement to those kind of policies and procedures which can address the inside problems. These conceptual problem majorly related to Policy design and anaylsis conflicts.

• Policy Design Conflict

Hogwood and Gunn stressed if at the stage of Policy design, attention is given to potential problems of implementation; successful outcome will increased. In order to avoid major shortcomings in implementation take care of few preposition that prescribed by Hogwood and Gunn and Policy makers must ensure that:

A) Adequate time and sufficient resources are made available to the programme

B) No constraints in terms of overall resources, and even at each stage in the implementation process.

C) Policy must based on valid theory of cause and effect.

D) Single implementation agency that need not depend upon other agencies for success.

E) Good communication among co – ordination, various elements involved in the programme

The problem of Policy design in Poli design include ambiguous and ill – defined objective and inappropriate measure to achieve the stated goals. Lack of adequate political will, sufficient social support are other reason. For example, National Water Policy (NWP) adopted by Water Resource Council in 1987 was a wanted step in the direction of evolving national consensus. But, because of poor design remained unimplemented. NWP lacks the blue print

• Policy Analysis Conflict

Implementation of Public Policy has also been hampered by conceptual weaknesses of Policy anaylsis. For instance, National health Policy (1983) was adopted without considering alternative Policy option. This inability to set priorities and evolve appropriate strategies for reduction in health problems by the state department

• Policy Statement Conflict

Policy statement announced by the government contain ambiguous and contradictory terms, posing problems in implementation. The implementers at the field level often face a variety of issues because the policy statement lack clarity. Consequently, implementers use their own discretion while implementing them or they refer the statement back to the higher paths of Administration for clarification.

2) Political Pressure

Political Pressure in implementation always been evident and complex. This kind of pressure cannot let bureaucracy to work efficiently.

• Centralisation of Policy Process

Tassel between Central and state government relation has affected the policy implementation process adversely. Environment protection is heavily centralized. Although the central government has been enthusiastic in adopting innovative population, health, education and environmental policies and programmes as a result, health or environment quality has hardly improved in terms of availability of safe water, clean air, and provision of healthy living conditions.

• Unionisation of Bureaucracy

Another important of failure of Policy implementation is due to the Unionisation of civil services, at the lower level in particular. This has destroyed not only the work culture and discipline, but it also demoralized considerably the supervisory levels into withdrawal and promoting them to take least resistance. Higher and middle levels of bureaucracy are not so powerful and marginalized to give any relief to citizen in cases of corruption. Further, political interference by the political executive has compounded the marginalisation of higher bureaucracy thereby undermining it’s capacity to implement Public policies effectively.

• Politics of Interest Group

Many times, it is observed that the policies are not implemented because of to satisfy the interest groups. For example, several industries have little concern about environmental consequences of sitting decisions; industrialist influence the environmental Policy implementation process either directly or through business lobbies and representative of the business interests concerned. Pressure by industrial association during consideration of Environmental Protection Act in parliament resulted in a weakening of government and also forced the government to delay enforcement of enacted legislation. They are links with elites of ruling parties. It’s is, common for exertion of political influence in the environmental Policy process.

3) Bureaucratic Incompentency

Christopher Hood uses the term ‘Perfect administration’ in comparison to comparison to ‘Use of Perfect Competition’. He defines ‘ Perfect administration’ as a condition in which external elements of resources availability and political acceptability combine with administration to produce Perfect policy implementation.

• Lack of Adequate Institutional Capacity

The institutional structure and administrative capabilities for implementation of environmental laws and policies, for example, by no means Adequate in terms of political, social, and economic problem. Institutional structure includes the whole system of rules and regulations by which administrative tasks and responsibilities are clearly defined and juxtaposed with the capabilities of the administrators concerned. Let’s understand by example, when 30 industrial units, including few MNCs in West Bengal failed to comply with environment laws, the supreme Court had to play the role of the executive. In 1995 two judge bench of supreme Court expressed ” these multinational concerns have huge resources yet they are not bothered about protecting the environment”.

• Lack of Personnel and Financial Resources

Many policies will diffuse because of insufficient staff and lack of financial resources. Policies in developing nation have not been implemented in full scale owing to lack of trained staff. Well structured policies fail to attain the proper goals without competent Personnel. Implementation implies allocating personnel resources to the appropriate tasks and activities tasks and activities, motivating them to do well rewarding them for action. Regardless of their status, specialized knowledge, experience and qualifications, the programme personnel need to work as a cohesive team for the purpose of achieving policy results.

• Working under heavy pressure of Time

Pressure of time often creates the implementation gap. While fixing the time frame, the policy formulators do not take into consideration the prevailing conditions. The implementation agencies under pressure are unable to fulfill the targets allocated under the said Policy.

• No Administrative Will and Motivation

Without the conscious cooperation of implementers, nothing can be done. It is responsiblity of government to ensure the working conditions for implementers so that they will not lost their interest. Social policies have remained unimplemented largely for lack of administrative will and motivation. In current environment, officials are not likely to feel enthusiastic about implementing policies. Even when officials willing to implement environment laws, government undermined by manoeuvre of industrial bigwigs. Many of them fall to the dominance of economic interests and monetary temptations end up in formal enforcement of the regulation.

• Cooperation and Coordination

Poor coordination and missing links among the administrative agencies have stood in the way of adequate and appropriate Policy actions. For example, at the administrative level, different department are concerned with implementing policies related to poverty alleviation programme. Gap in Policy implementation are found in population and family planning programme.

• Lack of people’s participation

Public involvement in Policy Implementation such as education, population control, health, pollution control and forest conservation etc have tremendous pressure on administrative staff to cultivate results. By demonstration, protest and Public has tried to offset the power base of interest groups and lobbies that influence Policy Implementation in their favour.

The strength and endurance of the people’s movement for implementing and enforcing regulations have not been a link to that vests interest.

Conditions for proper implementation

W. William inakes an attempt to identify ways in which Policy failure can be prevented. He exhorst policy makers to pay more attention to implementation capacity like must underline few questions:

I) How capable are Policy makers in developing meaningful guidelines for and assistance to implementers?

II) How capable are implementers to do their work efficiently?

III) How well implementer articulated the Public Policy?

Mazmanian and Sabatier formulate a sufficient conditions of effective implementation;

I) The enabling legislation mandates Policy objective that are clear and consistent or at least provides substantive criteria for resolving goal conflicts.

II) The leaders of the implementing agency possess substantial managerial and Political skills. They are committed to statutory goals.

III) The programme is actively supported by organized constituency groups and key through out the implementation process, with the courts being neutral and supportive.

IV) The relative priority of statutory objective is not undermined overtime by emergence of conflicts of Public policies or by changes in relevant socio – economic conditions that weaken the statute’ s casual theory or political support.

Conclusion

Policy Implementation requires a wide variety of actions, including issuing Policy directives that are clear and consistent; creating organisational structure and assigning personnel with the information and authority necessary to administer the policies; coordinating personnel, resources and expenditure to ensure benefits for target groups and evaluating actions of personnel regarding implementation. Therefore, serious efforts are required for Policy Implementation at the level of Policy making itself, because it’s starts from beginning right from the policy making stage.

There’s tremendous gap between Public opinion and Public Policy – Noam Chomsky