Oral anglais bac India

India - Idea of progress

intro:

The idea of progress basically consists in believing that the world can become better in terms of art, science, technology, liberty and quality of life and has shaped the most of Western civilisation’s vision of history. Progress implies changes, some evolution from an old order with old traditions to a new order which is not necessarily embraced by all, as it may shake up deeply-rooted, highly respected conventions and beliefs.

India is one of the many emerging countries. Since 1947, date of its independence, the country is on march. It developped socially, economically and culturally. We will focus on these 3-close-knit-changes, basing ourselves on the place of women in the India society.

To what extent can we say that india is a country on the march?

first of all, we’ll see that india is a country ruled by culture and traditions. yet, india is a progressing and changing country. finally, we’ll analyze the limits to this progresses

I’ll illustrate what i say with an excerpt from Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda, “changing india” by Anand Giridharadas and my personal document, a chart showing explicitly women’s place in the indian political life.

India, a country ruled by culture and traditions

Religion is rampant in India. Indeed, 80;5% of the population in Hindu, which is more than majority. In comparaison, 13,4% are Muslims, 2,3% are catholics. Hindus basically believe in a single soul named Brahman, divided into different lesser gods such as Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the preserver) and Shiva (the destroyer) but also in reincarnation (the eternal soul) and karma. Since a huge majority of indians are hindus, it explains why religion has such an impact in the daily lives of the indians and why it is part of their way of life. They believe in both animal (the cow is a sacre and humans, that explains why most of Hindus abstain from eating meat. For example, eating beef is forbidden. With this in mind, a lot of Indians are vegeterian.

Religion, Hindus priest specifically, had also divided society with its caste system : developed more than 3000 years ago, the society is categorised into four great hereditary social classes, which still survive today. The Brahman caste is the highest. At the other end of the social ladder, the Dalits (or Untouchables) are not even member of a caste : they are called outcastes. The caste can’t be changed : when you are born into one, even if you marry someone who’s from another caste, it cant be changed. Dalits are very discriminated : they are only allowed certain jobs such as cleaner, cobblers… Actually they are dehumanised in every possible way. This discrimination has disappeared in cities but it still exists in rural areas where they are obliged to use specific places, schools, temples… in other words they can’t mix with other people.

This discrimination is also foundable through women’s life. Cases of violence against women are common practice. They’ve increased by 40 percent from 2012 to 2016, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. A woman was raped every 13 minutes, a bride was murdered for dowry every 69 minutes, and six women were gang-raped every day in India in 2016.

Also linked to religion, one of the biggest problem is the dowry tradition. The family of the wife-to-be gives a “dowry” or gift to the future husband’s family on marriage. If after the marriage, the woman’s family dares to not keep the promise, the bride is subject to torture, in the worst case death. the brides commits suicide in order to escape the harassment of in-laws. This tradition explains why many parents do no want to have daughters. Families are eager to have sons who are financially more attractive. Indeed, they can look after the family business, the family name and also take care of their parents when they’re old.

This idea is well illustrated in Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda. Kavita has gave birth to a girl and she’s compelled by her husband to abandon her . According to Jasu, her husband, there are 3 reasons why they can’t

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