Indian Cultural Diversity
Notes
- India's diversity runs across language, religion, ethnicity, region, cuisine, dress, art forms and festivals. The unifying thread is "Unity in Diversity".
- Languages:
- There are 22 languages in the 8th Schedule.
- Language families: Indo-Aryan (about 75% of speakers), Dravidian (about 20%), Austroasiatic (Munda) and Tibeto-Burman.
- Classical languages (11, after Oct 2024): Tamil (first, 2004), Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese, Bengali.
- Tribes: 705 Scheduled Tribes, including 75 PVTGs.
- Religions: Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism are the main ones. Zoroastrianism (Parsis) and Judaism are also present.
- Constitutional provisions:
- Art. 29: protection of language, script and culture of minorities.
- Art. 30: minorities' right to establish educational institutions.
- Art. 343-351: official language provisions (Hindi is the official language of the Union, with English as an associate language).
- Art. 350A: mother-tongue instruction at the primary level.
- Art. 350B: Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities.
- Art. 51A(f): duty to value and preserve our composite culture.
- Integrating mechanisms: pilgrimage circuits, epics (Ramayana, Mahabharata), Bhakti and Sufi movements, shared festivals, Zonal Cultural Centres, Sangeet Natak Akademi, Sahitya Akademi, Lalit Kala Akademi, and Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat.
Key points: Remember that Classical status is not automatic for 8th Schedule languages. Maithili, Dogri, Bodo and Santali are in the 8th Schedule but not classical.