It is quite mesmerising to see that India is making an effort to get recognised as a socially progressive nation than a regressive one, as considered earlier. Nonetheless, if we look into a broader aspect, it is observed that the country has failed to adopt the liberal approach towards various social issues in the nation.
For many, it was a day of celebration on September 6, 2018, when a five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and comprising Rohinton Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud, and Indu Malhotra pronounced their verdict that decriminalised same gender sex between two consenting which will be marked as a moment of pride in the Indian history.
Do you really feel it is a matter of pride in a country like India where two extreme contradictory-minded people are playing a key role in pulling down the liberal approach towards every section of the society? On one side, the nation is going gaga over the legalising of gay sex, while on the other hand, people are turning their heads away from the inter-caste marriages, hence later, leading on to honour killing. Looking at the current scenario in the country, I don’t think that our nation is leading towards a path wherein there is a sigh of relief for people to have their freedom of choice with the increasing cases of honour killing happening these days in the name of casteism, religion etc., not only in the rural areas but also in the metro cities where you can find abundance of educated and literate individuals.
Today’s generation believes that this stereotyped caste system is a major hindrance for India’s economic and social development. Will the caste system ever be eliminated from our society? Will the politicians and media cease to politicise sensitive matters such as honour killing, caste system, and many more issues just for their beneficial purposes?
I am sure, everyone must have at least one story to share about their friends, relatives or any known person, who might have faced such situation where a boy and a girl ended up not being together either because of caste discrimination — either inter-caste or sub-caste differences or even due to a different religion.
Apart from that, our society somehow disagrees to accept the fact that a girl might be elder in a relationship. On the contrary, it is awful to see incidents where an old man is marrying a teenager. Why a place for such kind of hypocrisy, suppression, and gender discrimination still exists even in the 21st century? For many, especially today’s youth may not have the same wavelength considering their way of living is more in a bubble of glamour and social media, where all of these seems to be quite admissible, although if you come back to the reality, you can detect the exact opposite situation in your vicinity itself. As even in a city like Mumbai, you come across such cases every now and then.
Just with legalising gay sex, the battle to conquer liberality in the nation does not end; it is just the beginning to the fight against various social and political discrimination happening in the name of castes and religions. Though with the next generation carrying a broad-minded outlook towards social issues that gives a ray of hope for India to become a progressive society by getting rid of narrow-minded systems in the near future.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
Well i get ur point but see 1 can change the thinking of population more thn 57℅ after they have their own values ethics culture religion in countries like india we have 3 crores god as well as goddess u follow on 1008 of them which means u r just 0.001℅ of them so next generation might take the stand and hope by 23rd century u might get it done