Indian Society (Social Processes and Changing Dynamics) by Smriti Rao

Model Answer

Question #1. With rising income and urbanization, over nutrition has become a serious problem. Discuss the causes and implications of over nutrition in India.

Approach:

• Introduce by writing a few lines about urbanisation and over nutrition.
• Discuss various reasons which contributed to the problem of over nutrition.
• Highlight consequences of overnutrition
• Conclusion

Hints:

While undernutrition remains high in India, over nutrition too is becoming an emergency which is a form of malnutrition (imbalanced nutrition) arising from excessive intake of nutrients, leading to accumulation of body fat that impairs health. Dramatic changes in lifestyle and dietary patterns due to urbanisation and other factors in recent decades have contributed to an increasing prevalence of over nutrition in India.

Status of over nutrition in India:

• As per the recent findings of the National Family Health Survey-4 (2015-16), 31.3% of urban women were in the category of overweight or obese (BMI of or more than 25.0 kg/m2).
• Around 26.3% of urban men belong to the category of overweight and obese. Non-communicable diseases.
• National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau (NNMB) survey reiterate that while chronic energy deficiency is decreasing, the intake of micronutrients and certain food groups continue to be below the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) set by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
• While the median intake of protein, iron and thiamine has declined over time, the intake of calcium and vitamin C has improved. Over time, the consumption of cereals and millets is gradually decreasing at households while the consumption of vegetables and fruits is increasing slightly.
• In rural areas too, around 10 and 13 per cent of men and women are overweight/obese.
• Although obesity is most common among the wealthy, international agencies have noted the emergence of increased weight among the middle class and poor in recent years.
• As per the report one in every nine schoolchildren in India is suffering from over nutrition.

Reasons responsible for over nutrition:

• Excess caloric intake: Due to the unrestricted access to energy-dense foods at various platforms like school cafeteria.
• Lack of physical activity: Overindulgence in indoor leisure activities and enhanced transportation systems.
• Factors w.r.t lifestyle changes: Commuting to school by bus or car instead of walking or bicycling, aggressive advertising by transnational fast-food and cola companies are some of the practices which predispose children to obesity.
• Socio-cultural environment: Food habits of individuals are closely related to their social structure, urbanization, psychosocial stress, increasing affluence, social capital and aggressive marketing.
• Peer influence: Peers in the society/schools influence individual habits at large, specifically food and physical activity habits. For children, there is a societal pressure for academic performance and parental concerns (primarily safety concerns) that seriously affect their physical activities.
• Inadequate awareness among parents: Overprotection and forced feeding by parents, false traditional beliefs about health and nutrition, low knowledge about nutrition in parents and caregivers also contribute to obesity.

Consequences of over nutrition:

• Spread of non-communicable diseases: Over nutrition has several implications on cardiometabolic conditions, leading to chronic non-communicable diseases. India stood second in the list of countries affected with type 2 diabetes (from 5.9% in 2000 to 10.4% in 2017) - presently around 72 million people are affected (as per Diabetes Atlas).
• Concomitantly, hypertension also increased to 29.2 per cent in 2014 Thus, as compared to three decades ago, people of all age groups across all geographic regions in India are at higher risk of such cardiometabolic conditions condition.
• Developmental delays: Overnutrition can also impair a young child’s physical and mental development. Cognitive impairment resulting from over nutrition may result in diminished productivity in academic performance.
• Poor maternity health: over nutrition puts women at a greater risk of pregnancy-related complications and death in some cases.
• High out of pocket expenditure: In India , out of pocket expenses account for about 62.6% of total health expenditure - one of the highest in the world. It can further increase due to the issue of over nutrition.

Conclusion:

Without addressing the issues associated with over nutrition in India, it will be difficult to prevent the rising burden of chronic disease epidemics, especially because over nutrition is the prime reason for fat accumulation in human body. Although reduction in the intake of sugar, salty and fatty foods is recommended widely, more steps are in needed to promote appropriate lifestyles and dietary intakes for the prevention and management of over-nutrition and obesity.

Question #2.  Analyze the trends of change and continuity in the marriage and family system in India. How far is globalization responsible for these changes?

Approach:

• Introduce by giving the significance of marriage and family system in Indian society ( 50 words)
• Elaborate on what has changed and what has remained constant under subheadings of marriage and family system ( 140 words)
• Conclusion ( 60 words)

Hints:

Family system can be seen as an economic provision to satisfy needs, emotional basis, as an influential group and as an instrument of social regulation. A striking feature of Indian family system is the existence of joint family system. It shows features like largeness in size, owning of joint property, sharing of common residence, practicing of common religion etc.

Marriage is an institution in India. Various types of marriages are followed in our country monogamy being followed at large. As the society has advanced marriage has gone through various changes, while some things remain constant. Even values attached to it have changed tremendously. 

Change and continuity in marriage and family system in India and effect of globalization:

Changes in Family System

• Globalisation has led to greater mobility of people and more interactions among people of different cultures thus impacting the values and culture of people. Eg live-in relationships in metro cities are a new trend before marriages so as to make better decisions while choosing partners.
• Increasing mobility of younger generation in search of new employment and educational opportunities has weakened the family relations. This has affected the earlier idealized nation of ‘family’ as the caring and nurturing unit for children, the sick and elderly. It has also led to increase in female headed family units in rural areas because males often migrate in search of work.
• Younger generation, particularly those with higher education and jobs no longer believe in sacrificing individual interest to family interests. This is reflected in changes in marriage system.
• Since women now are more educated and many are financially independent, they have greater say in household decisions. Here impact of globalization can be seen in form of boom in IT related jobs. Women form a large part of this sector. Well employed women in urban areas face increased pressure to handle dual duty of earning livelihood as well as household chores.
• Partner relationships and parent child relationship-Married men and women are staying separately at far off places on account of their jobs. Single parents are also found in the society. Not only the conjugal relationships but also the parent – children relationships has also undergone a tremendous change. In most of the working – couple families, parents are not able to devote time to meet and interact with their children as working in night-shifts is common in BPO, KPO and call centre jobs.

Changes in Marriage system

• Selection of partner: Earlier it was the prerogative of the parents or the guardians. Under impact of liberal values, individuals have started choosing their own partners according to their likes and dislikes.
• A new trend is emerging in the process of mate selection wherein social media dating sites are widely being used to find compatible partners.
• Marriage is not compulsory: Some men and women do not believe in the ancient religious values and therefore do not consider marriage to be necessary.Earlier marriage was considered to be a duty for a man to lead a fulfilled life.
• Inter-caste Marriage: Inter-caste marriages were prohibited. It is now legally permitted. With the increase of co-education, women education and the democratic ideal of equality and liberty, inter-caste marriages are now considered to be signs of forwardness.
• Changes in the Aims of Marriage: The main objective of Hindu marriage was Dharma. In recent years, the order of aims of marriage has undergone change wherein individuals are looking for marriage as way to have an understanding partner to fulfill physical and emotional needs.
• Provision for Divorce: The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 has introduced a significant change in the institution of Hindu marriage by permitting divorce under certain specific circumstances.
• Stability of Marriage: The hindrance on divorce made the institution of family and marriage stable and enduring. Due to the enactment of marriage and family legislations and many other factors the divorce rate in India has been steadily increasing.

Despite the above changes some things still remain constant such as-

• Marriage is not a social contract among Hindus. It is still sacrament for Hindus. Mutual fidelity and devotion to partner are still considered to be an essence of marriage.
• Social evils like child marriage, dowry system, and domestic violence are still prevalent.
• Weddings in India are still considered as an event to display social status of families specially in urban India. Lavish weddings in India often witness celebratory firings and unnecessary extravagance.
• The guidance of elders is considered important while choosing marriage partners and in many cases even cherished.
• LGBTQ community, divorcees, single mothers etc are still looked down upon in society.
• Values like Mutual fidelity and devotion to partner are still considered to be an essence of marriage.

Conclusion:

To cope up with the changes brought by globlisation and other changes, it is the responsibility of every citizen to impart with our Indian Value system to our young ones & kids the importance of Indian culture, joint family and its values so that our next generations may be saved from some negative effects of globalization while at the same time benefit from positive values of modernization. Henceforth it can be concluded that every step of movement towards economic, political and cultural modernization, taken by the state in India must be responded by the people with an enhanced sense of self-consciousness and awareness of identity.