UPSC Mains 2023 GS1 Q20: model answer

The 1991 reforms opened India to markets and global flows. Their effect on ethnic and communal identity has cut both ways.

How liberalisation has weakened narrow identities

• Migration to cities and mixed workplaces bring communities together.
• A new middle class shares consumer culture, careers and aspirations.
• Markets reward skill, not birth.
• Global exposure spreads values of individual choice.

How it has sharpened them

• Uneven growth: regional gaps fuel sons-of-the-soil demands and hostility to migrants, as against north Indians in Maharashtra and in parts of the North-East.
• Competition for jobs in a tight job market drives demands for local quotas (Haryana's 2020 law, later struck down) and reservation agitations by Jats, Marathas and Patidars.
• Displacement: mining and land acquisition in tribal areas strengthen Adivasi identity movements and fed Left-wing extremism.
• Insecurity: informal, insecure work makes people look to community networks for support.
• Cultural homogenisation by global media provokes assertion of language and religion.
• Social media spreads communal rumours fast, as in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots and later mob lynchings.
• Communal politics has become a tool for mobilisation in a crowded, competitive field.

Way forward

• Inclusive growth: jobs, skills and balanced regional development.
• Fair rehabilitation laws, such as the 2013 land acquisition law.
• Strict action against hate speech and fake news.
• Civic education in constitutional values.

Liberalisation did not create ethnic or communal divides, but its uneven gains gave them new fuel. Shared prosperity is the best antidote.