Describe any four cultural elements of diversity in India and rate their relative significance in building…

Question

Describe any four cultural elements of diversity in India and rate their relative significance in building a national identity.

Ghissu Editorial · Accepted Answer

Language, religion, festivals and arts, and cuisine and attire are four cultural elements of India's diversity, but they build national identity unequally. Language ranks first because linguistic states (1956) and the 1967 compromise retaining English turned a feared fault line into a federal bond.

**Introduction**

Census 2011 recorded 121 languages and six major faiths, yet scholars call India a "state-nation" whose identity was built by accommodating diversity. Each cultural element must be judged by how much it binds and how much it divides.

**Four Cultural Elements of India's Diversity**

1. **Language**: Twenty-two Eighth Schedule languages span four families, and states were redrawn on linguistic lines in 1956.
2. **Religion**: Hindus formed 79.8% and Muslims 14.2% in Census 2011, with Bhakti-Sufi traditions such as Ajmer Sharif bridging faiths.
3. **Festivals and performing arts**: Regional forms from Onam to Bihu coexist with shared heritage like the Kumbh Mela (UNESCO, 2017) and Garba (2023).
4. **Cuisine and attire**: Food and dress change every few hundred kilometres, from millets in the Deccan to the mekhela chador in Assam.

**Rating Their Role in National Identity**

SKETCH: pyramid | Rank in Building National Identity
- Language
- Festivals and arts
- Religion
- Cuisine and attire

1. **Language ranks first**: Linguistic states and the 1967 amendment to the Official Languages Act, which kept English after the anti-Hindi agitation, turned a feared fault line into a federal bond.
2. **Arts carry nationalism**: Vande Mataram and Abanindranath Tagore's Bharat Mata gave the freedom movement shared symbols.
3. **Religion is double-edged**: Kabir and Guru Nanak bind people, but Partition shows its divisive power, so it unites only within secularism under Articles 25-28.
4. **Daily culture binds softly**: Food and dress shape regional identity, though khadi became a national symbol.

**Conclusion**

Elements India accommodated, like language, strengthened national identity most, while religion remains double-edged. Unity in diversity rests on the fraternity of Article 51A(e) and on schemes like Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat.

Describe any four cultural elements of diversity in India and rate their relative significance in building a national identity.

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Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India23 questions

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