Analysis of India’s Culture- An Essay
Culture integrates diverse social norms, identities, attitudes, beliefs, families, food, and music (Clifton, 2017). Culture is an ever-changing activity that completely absorbs people’s ways of life from one period to another. The culture of India, as postulated by most historians, is among the oldest, richest, and unique in the world (Clifton, 2017). The Indian culture is more dynamic and full of intriguing cultural heritage. India has a balanced and delightful blend of philosophy, politics, operations, military activities, and infrastructure that form its history and culture. Every Indian entity is aesthetically interwoven in the fabric and values of the Indian customs, values, and ways of life that are inseparable (Clifton, 2017). The essay analyses the Indian culture in terms of politics, infrastructure, military, and operations.
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The political culture concept in India comprises of belief, custom, art, law, knowledge and other federal government capabilities that get acquired by all society members. According to (Aurobindo, 2004), “Political culture is defined as a factor which explains different patterns of political opposition.” The political culture of India has transitioned through varied transformations since the pre-independence period until the contemporary era (Aurobindo, 2004). Today, the government of India has decentralized their fiscal powers to subnational governments. As a result, public services provision expenditures have declined. India remains as the world’s most heterogeneous federation and is subject to decentralization effects. Since the early 1980s, India has experienced a reduction in state consumption to social goods and services (52.9 percent in 1980s to 35.4 percent in 1990s). The fiscal decentralization of Indian government contributes to the heightened expenditure on debt servicing (Barnett, 2015). The government of India pays little attention to the political factors that increase debt servicing. Election timing relates to fiscal expenditure. The country has a constitutional democracy that has a parliamentary government system. Currently, India has over 700 million eligible voters.
During the Indus civilization of 2700 to 1500 BC, India established on the world’s earliest urban societies. There was a diverse trading economy that supported its development. Walled citadels advanced into elaborate moats, Palisades, and walls to cover medieval cities and multitudes of Iron Age against any danger (Cohn, 2017). The cities and towns developed in India contained eight historic types some of which included medieval seaports, administrative centers, medieval fortified towns, and new industrial centers such as Gwalior, Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune, Bharuch and New Delhi. Infrastructure architecture has been developing distinctively in regional styles which influence Tamil kingdoms, Turkic, and Persian invaders.
Today, India is the second largest populated country in the world and enjoys a rich cultural history. However, most Indian people are under-nourished and very poor, lacking infrastructure, proper food, employment, shelter, and water (Cohn, B. S. (2017). Despite this, most prominent leaders in the world come from the country. There is a wide gap in Indian infrastructure which has been contributed to by politicking, corruption, regulatory risk, and macroeconomics instabilities. As a result, education lags behind the accepted standards in the country. There is high poverty to most Indian populations due to lack of employment opportunities and limited federal government support. Private participation does not exist in India, and this hinders infrastructure development (Cohn, 2017). The main interlinked causes of poor structures in the road, banking, real estate, and banking project in India are insufficient funding by the government in the early stages of structuring, and inefficient project preparation.
India has one of the most determined, focused, and brave military forces. According to De la Cadena, M. (2010) cultural anthropology journal, “environment has emerged as a critical area of the security paradigm.” The Indian military forces have a huge concern about environment security. According to historians, the Indian Armed Forces got formed in 1776, governed by the East India Company of Kolkata. In that period, the Army constituted of 9 army bases and 53 cantonments across the country. Research shows that the Indian Army is mostly composed of volunteer soldiers, and the state has the maximum number of people willing to join the troops (Barnett, 2015). The federal government of India is mandated to offer adequate finances to fund the military engineering and construction projects across the country. Also, the military forces of India have a cavalry regiment, and the troop walks Army horses.
There is also Assam rifles forces that serve to protect and guard the country against external attacks. The Army of India leads in troop contribution to the UN peacemaking operations. In this regard, the federal government of India provides adequate resources to the Armed forces to ensure that peace prevails in the country and its borders (De la Cadena, 2010). Worldwide, India gets ranked as the 5th biggest military spender in military equipment and tools. The biggest weaponry systems used by the Indian Army include MRSAM systems, self-propelled caliber track, M777 ultra-light howitzer, fighter jets, ATG Missiles, Minesweepers and Attack helicopters. The federal Indian government finances for these military systems and tools.
There is a high degree of perceived inequality among the Indian people. Those holding power positions demonstrate pride and their ranks openly to the marginalized. The society suffers from inadequate social amenities and poor paying jobs. The top government officials together with the wealthy people do not tolerate any complaint or blame against them by the low social class people for any wrong superiority acts (Kidambi, 2016). There is little or no tolerance of vibrant and varying opinions due to the enormous gap between the social classes. The culture of India does not allow the society to express their emotions openly.
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Instead, the people of India show aggression and hard work in order to resolve these problems and exercise self-dominance and reliance in their day to day operations. Trade and business operations define the Indian people (Kidambi, 2016). The country has rich resources, and traders transact gold, sapphires, spices, woods, and diamonds to earn a living. Today, commerce has risen in the country’s business operations. According to the Buddha, “each person should reach a state of self-reliance and peace known as Nirvana by accepting spiritual discipline and rejecting the sensory world.” When interpreted in operational activities by both the rich and poor Indian people, every individual has the responsibility to save his/her humanity through hard work and self-sacrifice.
Other than religion, economy, music, and dance; the Indian culture is also characterized by a set of operational variables, political variables, military variables, and infrastructure variables. The politics, military, operations, and infrastructure trends of Indian history shape its culture. Today, the Indian culture boasts of the inspiring and mind-opening wisdom evidenced in the old epics such as Mahabharata and Ramayana. However, its large population ponders the quality of shelter, infrastructure, education, and employment opportunities in the country. Therefore, the federal government of India should balance its expenditure on national projects so as to preserve its rich cultural history.
References
Aurobindo, S. (2004). The renaissance in India and other essays on Indian culture.
Barnett, M. R. (2015). The politics of cultural nationalism in South India. Princeton University Press.
Clifton, J. A. (2017). The Invented Indian: Cultural fictions and government policies. Routledge.
Cohn, B. S. (2017). Notes on the History of the Study of Indian Society and Culture. In Structure and change in Indian society (pp. 3-28). Routledge.
De la Cadena, M. (2010). Indigenous cosmopolitics in the Andes: Conceptual reflections beyond “politics”. Cultural anthropology, 25(2), 334-370.
Kidambi, P. (2016). The making of an Indian metropolis: Colonial governance and public culture in Bombay, 1890-1920. Routledge.