The idea of progress: Has progress been enough important in India to considerate that it is now a contemporary and progressive country?

INTRODUCTION

The notion I am going to talk about is « The Idea of Progress ». So, the Idea of Progress can be defined as an improvement, a development or a change. It can be a technical, scientific or social advance which contributes to making the world a better place.

This was the definition but to really understand this notion I will take as example: the situation of India, which has been a British colony, and which is now one of the largest democracies in the world. After a long period of poverty, India is now growing. So we can ask ourselves: Has progress been enough important in India to considerate that it is now a contemporary and progressive country?

We are going to show that this country full of contrasts and inequalities still can make progress and improve. In the first part, I will talk about India as a traditional land full of inequalities, then, I will talk about different aspects which show that India is a modern city which has made a lot of advances.

1) TRADITIONAL INDIA

- Inequalities in the Indian society:

Mostly based on the caste system: This organization has been in place for around 3000 years. So the Indian society was divided into five groups. At bottom of the system were the Dalits also called “the untouchables”. In a report Desmond Tutu was talking about the tragic situation of the untouchables in India : he explained that they were a group of 200 million fellow human beings completely rejected from the Indian society, they were considered impure and because of that they were segregated from schools and temples. Also they carried out the miserable tasks associated to disease and pollution, such as cleaning up after funerals and cleaning sewers…

Although the caste system has been officially abolished in 2004 but even after that there are still many inequalities between the different groups and discriminatory traditions against Dalits still prevail. Today, less than a third of the 200 million Dalits in India are literate and over 40 percent survive on less than 2 dollars a day. It's one of the most prominent forms of discrimination among citizens in India.

- Inequalities between men and women:

Women in India are often underprivileged and they don't play an important role in the society. Inequalities between men and women are very present in this country. Women in India suffer from a male dominated society; the girls are regarded as second-class citizens. And even if the government has taken many steps to stop the practice of gendercide, it is deeply rooted in the Indian society a lot of baby girls are unfortunately killed at their birth…

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