A Gradual Move Towards Inclusivity

Surprising results from several states—on religion and employment, for instance—point at softening attitudes on old divisions. The most liberal of our communities reside in all corners of the country

- By Ravinder Kaur

India today magazine has introduced a new survey to track the attitudes of Indians towards crucial aspects of socio-economic behaviour that impact everyday lives. The results are tabulated along rural-urban and gender axes. A unique aspect of the survey is that a ‘Domestic Behaviour Index’ has been created that ranks Indian states across various parameters.

One set of questions aims to understand where rural/ urban people, men and women, and various states stand on diversity and discrimination. The survey asks five questions to understand how liberal/ illiberal we are on some everyday as well as critical attitudes and choices. Briefly put, the questions are: 1) whether an employer should have the right to decide not to employ a person of a certain religion; 2) should people have the freedom to choose a spouse of another religion; 3) should people have the freedom to choose a spouse of a different caste; 4) should discrimination based on food-habits be allowed and 5) comfort or lack thereof of living with neighbours from different religions.

We delve into the responses to discern if attitude shifts have occurred in recent decades. It is important to note that surveys provide us with a snapshot at a point in time and poll a limited sample; hence, they can only capture “partial truths”. The word limit of an article also prevents one from deeper sociological analysis. Nevertheless, here are some observations on what the survey reveals on diversity and discrimination.