Salient Features of Indian Society & Diversity: Diversity, religion, language and regions

Unity in diversity

Mains 2015 asked candidates to describe any four cultural elements of diversity in India and rate their relative significance in building a national identity. India is diverse in religion, language, caste, region, ethnicity, food, dress and festivals. Unity comes from a shared civilisation, the freedom struggle, the Constitution, a common market, and shared symbols such as the flag and the anthem. Unity is not uniformity: India keeps its differences and still lives as one nation.

Mains 2026 asked whether unity in diversity remains the defining feature of Indian society despite the challenges from communalism and regionalism, and Mains 2019 asked what makes the Indian society unique in sustaining its culture. Points: tolerance and assimilation over centuries, the family and community as carriers of tradition, festivals and pilgrimages that cross regions, and the Constitution, which protects the right of any section of citizens with a distinct language, script or culture to conserve it (Article 29(1)).

Census 2011, population by religious community (measured). Source: Registrar General of India, PIB, 2015.

Language. The Eighth Schedule of the Constitution lists 22 languages. The Constitution (71st Amendment) Act, 1992 added Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali; the 92nd Amendment (2003) added Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali. Prelims 2024 asked which languages the 71st Amendment added (Konkani, Manipuri, Nepali).

Classical languages. Six languages were classical earlier: Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia. On 3 October 2024 the Union Cabinet added Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali, bringing the total to 11 (PIB, October 2024). Prelims 2014 listed Gujarati, Kannada and Telugu and asked: “Which of the above has/have been declared as ‘Classical Language/ Languages’ by the Government? Prelims 2014 ” Answer: Kannada and Telugu, not Gujarati.

Regions, languages and cultural units

Mains 2017 asked whether, in the context of the diversity of India, the regions form cultural units rather than the states. Often yes: Bundelkhand, Mithila, Konkan, Malwa, Awadh or Bodoland share dialect, food and festivals across state borders, while one state may hold several regions. But states also build identity through language, administration and politics.

Mains 2019 asked whether we have cultural pockets of small India all over the nation. Examples: industrial towns like Bhilai, Jamshedpur and Bokaro, metros like Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi, cantonments and central-government colonies, where people of many states live and celebrate each other’s festivals.

Mains 2016 asked whether the formation of linguistic states strengthened the cause of Indian unity. Largely yes: it met popular demands, made administration and education possible in people’s own language, and removed a major source of conflict; but it also fed some sons-of-the-soil politics and boundary disputes.

Mains 2024 asked candidates to critically analyse the proposition that there is a high correlation between India ‘s cultural diversities and socio-economic marginalities, and Mains 2022 asked them to analyse the salience of ‘sect’ in Indian society vis-a-vis caste, region and religion. Some diverse groups (tribes, some minorities, some castes) are also poorer, but diversity itself does not cause poverty; history, geography and exclusion do. Sects (for example Lingayats, Sikh and Sufi orders, dera followings) can cut across caste and region and shape both faith and politics.