UPSC Mains 2021 GS Paper 1 Q20: model answer

India's median age at marriage for women has risen to about 19 (NFHS-5), and yet over nine in ten marriages remain within caste (IHDS-II). That is Indian society: continuity and change at the same time.

How continuity is maintained

• Family and kinship: respect for elders, joint responsibility.
• Religion, rituals and festivals renew shared values.
• Caste and community networks enforce norms.
• Adaptation: traditions take new forms (online pujas, destination weddings with traditional rites).

Changes taking place

• 1. Nuclear families and urban living.
• 2. Inter-caste and love marriages rising; later age at marriage.
• 3. Women's education and employment; changing gender roles.
• 4. Weakening of ritual caste hierarchy, alongside political caste identity.
• 5. Individualism and consumerism through markets and the media.
• 6. Secular and legal values: rights, the Constitution, courts.
• 7. Digital life reshaping communication and community.

Examples of continuity through change

• Online matrimonial sites preserve caste and community preferences in a digital form.
• Festivals such as Chhath and Ganesh Chaturthi have spread with migrants to Mumbai, Delhi and abroad.
• Care for parents survives, now backed by the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007.

Forces of change

• Constitutional values, court judgments (decriminalising homosexuality, 2018; triple talaq ban, 2019) and media reshape norms.
• Rising female labour in services and digital work changes household decision-making, though slowly.
• Elderly parents living alone in cities, and the growth of old-age homes, show the strain on the duty of care.

Bottom line

Indian society maintains continuity through flexible institutions that absorb change. The challenge is to keep values such as care and community while shedding discrimination.