ALL IN THE CHANGING FAMILY
THE perceptions of the emergence of India on the world stage are so dominated by the high growth rates the country has achieved in recent years that the social dimension of this process has been largely ignored. While there is the occasional celebration of the new social ethos in some urban centres, there is little effort to understand the underlying social change in its entirety. And when social tensions do blow up, quite literally, in our face, we treat it as no more than an aberration; a leftover from a backward past. All that is needed then is a tougher law here, or an increased allocation there.
But if we were to pause for just a moment to look at the patterns that are emerging, it is quite evident that the problem is not one of backwardness alone. The most striking social tensions are in the most economically developed parts of the country, whether it is Delhi, Mumbai or Ahmedabad. And the methods used to exploit these tensions, what with the mobile phone detonators and e-mail messages, are certainly not vestiges of backwardness.
It should be obvious then that development brings its own conflicts. Some of these conflicts can be traced to the widening gap between those who benefit from development and those who dont. Sixty-one years of democracy has ensured that no group, no matter how weak, will be willing to quietly accept a less fortunate fate. And as competition among these groups grows, their demands reach levels that cannot be met by government doles.
What makes matters worse is that even those who benefit from development find themselves facing new conflicts. To cite just one example, the garment industry in Bangalore benefited from globalisation even before the current information technology induced spurt in growth. But globalisation has also meant a search for a more docile and yet energetic workforce. These twin demands are met by young women workers. Not surprisingly, around 85 per cent of the workers in this industry are women.
This feminisation of labour has its implications both in the factory and in the society outside. Since most of the supervisors remain men, the conflict in the workplace between labour and supervisors gets a strong gender dimension to it. This pattern does not help trade unions either, as unions are typically dominated by men. Outside the workplace, it alters gender relations within the family. The woman is now an earning member even if she does not have full control over the income she earns. The change within the family can get particularly striking when it is the womans job that has led the family to move from the village to the city.
The increased role for women even if it is only as labour in some globalised industries should, in theory, lead to greater gender equality. But reality is not quite that simple. The womans job often only means more work as she still has to do all the work at home. And since the advantage of the wifes salary goes to the husband, parents can still decide that the girl child is a burden. Economic growth then does not necessarily improve sex ratios.
And such tensions are not isolated cases. Kerala, which once prided itself on its high education and health services levels despite a low growth rate, has got on to the high growth path. That growth has been accompanied by increased alcoholism and domestic violence. And the burden of growth is not being felt by women alone. The state also has a high suicide rate amongst men.
Far from recognising these emerging social tensions and developing the institutions needed to address them, the general response has been to merely watch as traditional institutions are no longer able to deal with new situations. In some typically Indian way, this has led to an enormous burden being placed on the family. The family is being asked to take on roles it never did in the past. When a worker has to move from a village to the city, she has to find a relative with whom she can stay until she finds her feet in the urban environment.
With much of Indian business, including some of its most modern companies, being family controlled, business disputes too sometimes find a role for the family. When two brothers who have finished the task of dividing their inheritance have a business dispute, there is soon speculation that the mother will be called in. And when political parties find their traditional systems falling apart, they too are converted into family-based structures.
To expect the Indian family to take on these additional burdens that should normally be the role of other institutions may be a trifle too optimistic. There are already signs that the family could crack under the pressure. And once the family loses its ability to restrain those who cannot cope with the change around them, we can expect social pressures to turn into even more violent conflict.
NARENDRA PANI Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies