Overpopulation[edit]

Further information: Family planning in India and Demographics of India

Crowds in a Chennai street.

The population of India is an estimated 1.27 billion.[1][2][3] Though India ranks second

in population, it ranks 33 in population density. Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister

of India, had implemented a forced sterilization program in the early 1970s but the

program failed. Officially, men with two children or more were required to be

sterilised, but many unmarried young men, political opponents and ignorant, poor

men were also believed to have been affected by this program. This program is still

remembered and regretted in India, and is blamed for creating a public aversion

to family planning, which hampered Government programs for decades.[4]

Economic issues[edit]

Further information: Economy of India

Poverty[edit]

Main article: Poverty in India

See also: Widening income gap in India

2014 Poverty rate chart comparing India to select countries based on World Bank's May 2014 PPP

method.[5]

India suffers from substantial poverty. According to World Bank's estimates on

poverty based on 2005 data, India has 456 million people, 41.6% of its population,

living below the new international poverty line of $1.25 (PPP) per day. The world

Bank further estimates that 33% of the global poor now reside in India. Moreover,

India also has 828 million people, or 75.6% of the population living below $2 a day,

compared to 72.2% for Sub-Saharan Africa.[6][7][8][9]

Official figures estimate that 27.5%[10] of Indians lived below the national poverty line

in 2004–2005.[11] A 2007 report by the state-run National Commission for Enterprises

in the Unorganized Sector (NCEUS) found that 25% of Indians, or 236 million

people, lived on less than 20 rupees per day[12] with most working in

"informal labour sector with no job or social security, living in abject poverty."[13]

Sanitation[edit]

Main article: Water supply and sanitation in India

Millions depend upon the polluted Ganges river.

Lack of proper sanitation is a major concern for India. Statistics conducted by

UNICEF have shown that only 31% of India’s population is able to utilise proper

sanitation facilities as of 2008.[14] It is estimated that one in every ten deaths in India

is linked to poor sanitation and hygiene. Diarrhoea is the single largest killer and

accounts for one in every twenty deaths.[14]Around 450,000 deaths were linked to

diarrhoea alone in 2006, of which 88% were deaths of children below five.[14] Studies

by UNICEF have also shown that diseases resulting from poor sanitation affects

children in their cognitive development.[15]

People without access to proper sanitation facilities more-often-than-not defecate in

public or in rivers. One gram of faeces could potentially contain 10 million viruses,

one million bacteria, 1000 parasite cysts and 100 worm eggs.[16] The Ganga river in

India has a stunning 1.1 million litres of raw sewage being disposed into it every

minute.[16] The high level of contamination of the river by human waste allow

diseases like cholera to spread easily, resulting in many deaths, especially among

children who are more susceptible to such viruses.[17]

A lack of adequate sanitation also leads to significant economic losses for the

country. A Water and sanitation Program (WSP) study The Economic Impacts of

Inadequate Sanitation in India (2010) showed that inadequate sanitation caused

India considerable economic losses, equivalent to 6.4 per cent of India’s GDP in

2006 at US$53.8 billion (Rs.2.4 trillion).[18] In addition, the poorest 20% of

households living in urban areas bore the highest per capita economic impacts of

inadequate sanitation.[19]

Recognising the importance of proper sanitation, the Government of India started

the Central Rural Sanitation Program (CRSP) in 1986, in hope of improving the

basic sanitation amenities of rural areas. This program was later reviewed and, in

1999, the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) was launched. Programs such as

Individual Household Latrines (IHHL), School Sanitation and Hygiene Education

(SSHE), Community Sanitary Complex, Anganwadi toilets were implemented under

the TSC.[20]

Corruption perceptions map for Indian states based on a Transparency International survey in 2005.

Darker regions were perceived to be more corrupt.[21]These corruption indices have been changing.

Bihar perceived as among most corrupt in 2005, was among least corrupt in 2011.[22]

Through the TSC, the Indian Government hopes to stimulate the demand for

sanitation facilities in its less-urbanised areas, rather than to continually provide

these amenities to these area's residents. This is a two-pronged strategy, where the

people involved in this program take ownership and better maintain their sanitation

facilities, and at the same time, reduces the liabilities and costs on the Indian

Government. This would allow the government to reallocate their resources to other

aspects of development.[23] Thus, the government set the objective of granting

access to toilets to all by 2017.[24]

To meet this objective, incentives are given out to encourage participation from the

rural population to construct their own sanitation amenities. In addition, the

government has set out to educate its people on the importance and benefits of

proper sanitation through mass communication and interpersonal communication

techniques. This is done through mass and print media to reach out to a larger

audience and through group discussions and games to better engage and interact

with the individual.[25]

Corruption[edit]

Main article: Corruption in India

Corruption is widespread in India. India is ranked 95 out of a 179 countries

in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, but its score has

improved consistently from 2.7 in 2002 to 3.1 in 2011.[26]

In India, corruption takes the form of bribes, tax evasion, exchange

controls, embezzlement, etc. A 2005 study done byTransparency International[unreliable

source?] (TI) India found that more than 50%[dubious – discuss] had firsthand[dubious –

discuss]experience of paying bribe or peddling influence to get a job done in a public

office.[27] The chief economic consequences of corruption are the loss to

the exchequer, an unhealthy climate for investment and an increase in the cost of

government-subsidised services.

The TI India study estimates the monetary value of petty corruption in 11 basic

services provided by the government, like education, healthcare, judiciary, police,

etc., to be around Rs.21,068 crores.[27] India still ranks in the bottom quartile of

developing nations in terms of the ease of doing business, and compared to China

and other lower developed Asian nations, the average time taken to secure the

clearances for a startup or to invoke bankruptcy is much greater.[28]

Education[edit]

Further information: Education in India and Literacy in India

Literacy rate map of India, 2011.[29]

Initiatives[edit]

Since the Indian Constitution was completed in 1949, education has remained one

of the priorities of the Indian government. The first education minister Maulana

Azad founded a system of education which aimed to provide free education at the

primary level. Primary education was made free and compulsory for children from 6-

14, and child labour was banned. The government introduced incentives to

education and disincentives for not receiving education – for instance, the provision

of mid-day meals in schools were introduced.

Many similar initiatives echoed, and the largest of such initiatives is Sarva Shiksha

Abhiyan, which actively promoted “Education for All”. In line with this, the United

Progressive Alliance (UPA) aimed to increase their expenditure on education to 6%

of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from values fluctuating about 3% through their

National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) in 2004. The Right of Children to

Free and Compulsory Education Act was also imposed in 2009. Despite these

initiatives, education continues to persist as an impediment to development.

Issues[edit]

While many schools were built, they had poor infrastructure and inadequate

facilities. Schools in the rural areas were especially affected. According to District

Information System for Education (DISE) in India in 2009, only about 51.5% of all

schools in India have boundary walls, 16.65% have computers and 39% have

electricity. Of which, only 6.47% of primary schools and 33.4% of upper primary

schools have computers, and only 27.7% of primary schools have

electricity.[30] Learning in poorly furnished schools was not conducive, resulting in

poor quality education.

Furthermore, the absence rates of teachers and students were high, while their

retainment rates low. The incentives for going to school were not apparent, while

punishment for absence was not enforced. Despite the government’s decree on

compulsory education and the child labour ban, many children were still missing

classes to go to work. The government did not interfere even when children missed

school.

Also, online country studies publications by the Federal Research Division of the

Library of Congress stated that “it was not unusual for the teacher to be absent or

even to subcontract the teaching work to unqualified substitutes”.[31] This

exacerbates the problems of the lack of qualified teachers. Currently, the student-

teacher ratio remains high at around 32, which is not much of an improvement since

2006 when the ratio was 34.[32]

Economic and social disparities also plague the fundamentals of the education

system. Rural children are less able to receive education because of greater

opportunity costs, since rural children have to work to contribute to the family’s

income. According to the Annual Status of Education in 2009, the average

attendance rate of students in the rural states is about 75%. Though this rate varies

significantly, states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar had more than 40% absentees

during a random visit to their schools. In the urban states, more than 90% of the

students were present in their schools during a visit.

Opportunity for youth[edit]

Take India, one of the youngest countries in the world, where youth accounted for

20% of the total population in 2011, according to the Registrar General of India.

However, youth unemployment remains high in India. [33]

Violence[edit] Religious violence[edit]

Main article: Religious violence in India

Further information: Hindutva, Hindu nationalism, Islamic Extremism, Khalistan

movement, Islamic terrorism and Christian terrorism

See also: Anti-Christian violence in India, Anti-Christian violence in

Karnataka and Religious violence in Odisha

A railway station in Punjab during large-scale migration that followed the partition of India along

religious lines.

Constitutionally India is a secular state, [34] but large-scale violence have periodically

occurred in India since independence. In recent decades, communal tensions and

religion-based politics have become more prominent.

In Jammu and Kashmir, Since March 1990, estimates of between 250,000 to

300,000 pandits have migrated outside Kashmir due to persecution by Islamic

fundamentalists in the largest case of ethnic cleansing since the partition of

India.[35] The proportion of Kashmiri Pandits in the Kashmir valley has declined from

about 15% in 1947 to, by some estimates, less than 0.1% since the insurgency in

Kashmir took on a religious and sectarian flavor.[36] Many Kashmiri Pandits have

been killed byIslamist terrorists in incidents such as the Wandhama massacre and

the 2000 Amarnath pilgrimage massacre.[37][38][39][40][41]

In 1990s, violent attacks on Christians in India were reported.[42] The acts of violence

include arson of churches, forced conversion of Christians to Hinduism, distribution

of threatening literature, raping of nuns, murder of Christian priests and destruction

of Christian schools, colleges, and cemeteries.[43][44] The Sangh Parivar and related

organisations have stated that the violence is an expression of "spontaneous anger"

of "vanvasis" against "forcible conversion" activities undertaken by

missionaries,[43][45][46] a claim described as "absurd" and rejected by scholars.[43]

Between 1964 and 1996, thirty-eight incidents of violence against Christians were

reported.[43] In 1997, twenty-four such incidents were reported.[47] In 2007 and 2008

there was a further flare up of tensions in Odisha, the first following the Christians'

putting up a Pandhal in land traditionally used by Hindus and the second after the

unprovoked murder of a Hindu Guru and four of his disciples while observing

Janmashtami puja. This was followed by an attack on a 150-year-old church in

Madhya Pradesh,[48] and more attacks in Karnataka,[49]

Terrorism[edit]

Main article: Terrorism in India

[show]

V

T

E

Terrorist attacks in India (since 2001)

The regions with long term terrorist activities today are Jammu and Kashmir, Central

India (Naxalism) and Seven Sister States(independence and autonomy

movements). In the past, the Punjab insurgency led to militant activities in the Indian

state ofPunjab as well as the national capital Delhi (Delhi serial blasts, anti-Sikh

riots). As of 2006, at least 232 of the country’s 608 districts were afflicted, at differing

intensities, by various insurgent and terrorist movements.[50]

Terrorism in India has often been alleged to be sponsored by Pakistan. After most

acts of terrorism in India, many journalists and politicians accuse Pakistan's

intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence of playing a role.[51]

Naxalite Maoist insurgency[edit]

Main article: Naxalism

Areas with Naxalite activity in 2007 (left) and in 2013 (right).

Naxalism is an informal name given to communist groups that were born out of

the Sino-Soviet split in the Indian communist movement. Ideologically they belong to

various trends ofMaoism. Initially the movement had its centre in West Bengal. In

recent years, they have spread into less developed areas of rural central and

eastern India, such as Chhattisgarh andAndhra Pradesh through the activities of

underground groups like the Communist Party of India (Maoist).[52] The CPI (Maoist)

and some other Naxal factions are considered terroristsby the Government of

India and various state governments in India.[53]

Caste related violence[edit]

Main articles: Caste system in India, Caste politics in India and Caste-related

violence in India

Crime rates against Dalits, women and overall population, per 100,000, from 2001 to 2011.[54] The

overall crime rate in the United States was 2610 per 100,000 people in 2012.[55]

Over the years, various incidents of violence against Dalits, such as Kherlanji

Massacre have been reported from many parts of India. At the same time, many

violent protests by Dalits, such as the 2006 Dalit protests in Maharashtra, have been

reported as well.

The Mandal Commission was established in 1979 to "identify the socially or

educationally backward",[56] and to consider the question of seat reservations and

quotas for people to redress castediscrimination. In 1980, the commission's report

affirmed the affirmative action practice under Indian law whereby members of lower

castes were given exclusive access to a certain portion of government jobs and slots

in public universities. When V. P. Singh Government tried to implement the

recommendations of Mandal Commission in 1989, massive protests were held in the

country. Many alleged that the politicians were trying to cash in on caste-based

reservations for purely pragmatic electoral purposes.

In 1990s, many parties Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Samajwadi Party and

the Janata Dal started claiming that they are representing the backward castes.

Many such parties, relying primarily on Backward Classes' support, often in alliance

with Dalits and Muslims, rose to power in Indian states.[57] At the same time, many

Dalit leaders and intellectuals started realizing that the main Dalit oppressors were

so-called Other Backward Classes,[58] and formed their own parties, such as

the Indian Justice Party. The Congress (I) in Maharashtra long relied on OBCs'

backing for its political success.[57]

Bharatiya Janata Party has also showcased its Dalit and OBC leaders to prove that

it is not an upper-caste party. Bangaru Laxman, the former BJP president (2001–

2002) was a Dalit. Sanyasin Uma Bharati, former CM of Madhya Pradesh, who

belongs to OBC caste, was a former BJP leader. In 2006 Arjun Singh cabinet

minister for MHRD of the UPA government was accused of playing caste politics

when he introduced reservations for OBCs in educational institutions all around

http://www.photius.com/countries/bhutan/society/bhutan_society_social_system.html

The social problems in India today have their roots in the diversity of religion,

language, region, culture and caste. Attachment to one’s region, language, religion

is a natural sentiment but when these attachments grow to an extreme level to breed

intolerance for other religions, regions or languages, problems are bound to rise.

In common parlance religion and secularism are juxtaposed as op-positional forces

and communalism is viewed as the degenerate manifestation of religion. Thus, the

term communalism is used pejoratively and is believed to be a negative social force

in contemporary India. Communalism has come to be perceived as the tendency on

the part of a religious group to affirm that it is a political entity.

The social problems in India have risen because of a growing intolerance of divergent

views. What has gone wrong with the Indian society and culture where tolerance was so

deeply embedded in people’s consciousness ?

Communal Divide in India, partly of course, resulted from the involvement of masses

of people in the freedom struggle, divided along communal lines, ensured the

descent of communal tension of the elite level to the base of society.

Since Independence India has experimented with an extremely modern political

system, namely, multi-party parliamentary democracy based on universal adult

franchise. However, this very modern system in India is often operated with pre-

modern units of mobilization.

Thus the choice of candidates by most political parties is dictated by the caste or

communal or linguistic composition of constituencies and these identities are freely

used in mobilizing votes and support.

Caste is not a natural institution, but caste attachment based on kinship is one of the

most fundamental factors to reckon with in the Indian society. Caste system is a

major social problem in India. Practically all other religionists in India, sometimes

including atheists, go by caste considerations even when they do not subscribe to

the theory of caste system. Thecaste system is the root cause of poverty in India . The

other caste based problems in India are untouchability, caste conflicts, reservation

policy, caste barriers and casteism.

Communalism manifests itself when attachment to one’s religious community spills

over to other spheres of life and blinds people to the basic need to maintain

harmonious social relations with people of all religions. Communalism in India has

resulted in communal riots of increasing frequency in different parts of India. In India,

there is need of Communal harmony in India.

Language problem in India manifests itself in the form of dislike of other languages

and linguistic groups, claim of superior status to one language compared to others

and imposition of Hindi and Sanskrit on unwilling people. When linguisim

demonstrates itself through political actions and programmes, linguistic fanaticism

results. Language riots, anti-Hindi agitation, anti-English agitations are the

manifestations of the language problem in India.

Prevalence of racism in subtle forms is proved when some Aryans assert their

superiority over the native races of India and propagate the view that their culture is

the basic culture of India. Differences in dresses, food habits, feasts and festivals,

folk arts and classical arts etc. are natural and healthy signs of regional diversity in

India. But dislike of people of other states and regions, sons of the soil theory,

interstate border and river disputes etc. are the manifestations of regionalism. The

problems arising out of diversity in India can be effectively dealt with only if the

modern norms of equality and social justice are not merely preached but effectively

practiced. Wrong interpretation of the natural attachment to one’s language, region

and culture as something inherently bad has to be given up even while promoting

the secular values of equality and social justice. India is a large country and there is

need of Unity in Diversity in India.

Equality of opportunity in education and employment, equal promotion of all

languages and cultures by the state and reduction of inequalities are important

components of equality; whereas reservation of seats and posts for backward

classes, protection to minorities, prevention of exploitation of the people of one

region by outsiders etc. are essential components of social justice.

Some of the practical steps that may be taken to promote national integration are:

o use of formal education to inculcate the spirit of tolerance;

o informal education through schools and media to promote national integration; and

o familiarizing the people of one state with the traditions arts and literature of other states.

The Indian nationalist perspective advocates that the multiplicity of cultural identities

should be dissolved in favor of a uniform ‘nation’ identity, the content of which is

essentially political. The nationalist perspective seeks to establish the hegemony of

the state.

There is need of social and communal harmony in India, where there is coexistence

of different cultures within the same nation. India is a country of Unity in Diversity. No

culture is inferior of superior, and hence the need and possibility of the coexistence

of social cultures in India.