Emerging Society and Sociological Discourse in India

The sleepy, slow moving and traditional Indian society which has a historical past of several thousand years is undergoing through a process of rapid social change and unprecedented social transformations. The biggest change has been the emergence and strengthening of democracy. While people in several countries all over world are still struggling and clamouring for a democratic state and institutions, the Indian citizens are exercising their democratic rights strongly whenever occasion arises. The civil society in turn is also becoming stronger and empowerment of the marginalized sections of society such as women, tribals, dalits and the so called backward classes and communities is also taking place. Indian society moved from three percent “Hindu rate of growth” to eight percent in recent years, which was one of the highest in the world. This unprecedented economic growth not only led to the emergence of a massive middle class but also created lot of confidence in the masses about the capability and the strength of the Indian State as well as their own. However, this sudden economic growth and the consequent all round development while on the one hand raised all round prosperity and riches, it also led to the growth of inequality in society and to the marginalization of certain other groups which until recently did not felt marginalized. It is commonly said that while the rich are becoming richer, the poor are becoming poorer. Such a situation has also led to the increase of corruption in all walks of life. As such the Indian sociologists are facing several contradictory situations and are becoming conscious to focus their attention and to study the emerging phenomena and are trying to go beyond to what they have been studying for long and as such moving towards a new sociological discourse.