KSLU Solved Question Papers
Indian Society: Continuity and Change
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 2
2011 Jun Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 2 Indian Society: Continuity and Change 2011 Jun Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
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Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2011 Jun examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2011 Jun examination, reproduced as Karnataka State Law University set them, in the order it set them. Long reading passages are shortened to their first and last lines and our summary; the original paper prints them in full. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 3 hours · Total marks 100 · 20 questions answered
Instructions printed on the paper
- N.B. (1) Answer all 5 Questions. (2) One essay type and one short note question from each unit have to be attempted. (3) Figures to the right indicate marks. (4) Answers should be written either in English or Kannada completely.
How to use this volume
Solve the paper first, under exam conditions and against the clock. Then read the answers here and mark your own. Reading a solution before attempting the question feels productive and teaches very little, because recognising an answer is not the same as being able to write one.
Q1
Unit I
(a)'Despite diversity, India has enjoyed a sense of unity in various spheres". Explain.[15]
Answer
For full marks, cover: the meaning of the concept and why India is the classic case; the dimensions of diversity, with facts; the sociological explanations of how unity is produced (Ghurye, Srinivas, the great and little traditions, Karve, Ambedkar); the bonds of unity in culture, institutions, syncretic tradition, history, economy and the Constitution; the strains on unity; a critical evaluation of whether the concept is a description or an ideal; a conclusion.
The meaning of the concept
Unity in diversity describes a society in which many distinct groups keep their own identity and yet share a common sense of belonging. Diversity means real difference: of language, faith, caste, region, custom and even physical type. Unity means a set of bonds strong enough to hold these differences inside one society and one state.
The concept must be separated from two other ideas. It is not uniformity, where differences are erased. It is not mere coexistence, where groups live side by side without any shared loyalty. Indian unity lies between these: the groups remain different, but they are linked by shared values, institutions and history.
India is the classic case in sociology. Few societies combine so many languages, religions and castes within one democratic state that has lasted for more than seventy-five years.
The dimensions of diversity
| Dimension | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Language | 22 languages in the Eighth Schedule; 121 languages with ten thousand or more speakers in the 2011 Census |
| Religion | Hindus a little under 80 per cent, Muslims a little over 14 per cent in 2011, with Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis |
| Caste | Thousands of endogamous jatis, ranked differently in each region |
| Dimension | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Tribe | Scheduled Tribes a little over 8 per cent of the population in 2011 |
| Region | Distinct histories, cuisines, dress and festivals in each state |
| Geography | Mountains, deserts, plains, plateaus, forests and coasts |
| Kinship | Patrilineal north, cross-cousin marriage in the south, matrilineal Nairs and Khasi |
Each of these lines of difference cuts across the others. A Kannada-speaking Muslim, a Kannada-speaking Lingayat and a Tamil-speaking Lingayat share some identities and differ in others. This crosscutting is itself one reason why no single division has been able to break the society apart.
How sociologists explain the unity
1. G. S. Ghurye: cultural unity. Ghurye, the founder of Indian sociology at Bombay, argued that a common Hindu cultural tradition had spread across the subcontinent over centuries. Sanskrit texts, shared rituals and the institution of caste gave India an underlying cultural unity. He saw tribes as part of this wider Indian civilisation.
2. M. N. Srinivas: Sanskritisation as a unifying process. Srinivas showed that castes and tribes across the country adopted Sanskritic customs, deities and ideas such as karma and dharma. This spread of a shared vocabulary of values created cultural links between regions and groups far apart.
3. Great and little traditions. Following Robert Redfield, McKim Marriott described Indian civilisation as an interaction of two levels. The great tradition is the textual, all-India tradition; the little traditions are the local folk cultures. Local deities were identified with all-India gods, and all-India festivals took local forms. This two-way flow produced a civilisation that is one and many at once.
4. Irawati Karve: common institutions. Karve showed that kinship rules vary from zone to zone, yet caste endogamy, the joint family and a shared heritage run through every zone. The same institutions take regional forms everywhere.
5. B. R. Ambedkar: the warning about fraternity. Ambedkar reminded the Constituent Assembly that political equality would sit beside social and economic inequality. He argued that unity without fraternity, a sense of common brotherhood across castes, would remain fragile. His view turns the concept into a task: unity must be built through social justice.
The bonds of unity
Cultural and religious bonds. Sacred rivers, mountains and shrines form a sacred geography that covers the whole land. Pilgrims cross every regional boundary. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata were retold in almost every Indian language, by Kamban in Tamil, Pampa in Kannada and Tulsidas in Hindi. The same stories therefore shape moral imagination from Kashmir to Kerala.
Syncretic traditions. The Bhakti and Sufi movements crossed the lines of religion and caste. Kabir and Guru Nanak drew followers from Hindu and Muslim backgrounds. Sufi shrines such as the dargah at Ajmer are visited by people of all faiths. Hindustani music, Urdu poetry and Mughal architecture are the shared creations of more than one community.
Common social institutions. Caste, the joint family, arranged marriage within the caste and the village community are found in every region, in local forms. A Bengali and a Kannadiga may speak different languages, yet each understands the other's family obligations at once.
Historical bonds. Large empires, such as the Mauryan, Mughal and British, brought much of the subcontinent under one administration at different times. The national movement then gave Indians of every region a shared struggle, shared leaders and shared symbols.
Economic bonds. A single market, railways, highways, ports, migration for work and a common currency tie every region to the others. Each region depends on the others for food, raw materials and markets.
Constitutional bonds. The Constitution creates one citizenship, an integrated judiciary, an all-India civil service and a common election system based on adult franchise. Fundamental rights protect religious and cultural minorities. Federalism gives states self-rule, while Parliament holds the Union together. Article 51A(e) makes it every citizen's duty to promote harmony "transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities".
A worked illustration
Consider a single city street in Bengaluru on a festival evening. A Tamil-speaking family is lighting lamps for Deepavali. Next door a Malayali Christian family has hung a star for the coming Christmas. A Muslim tailor from Uttar Pradesh is finishing clothes for both families. A Kannadiga shopkeeper sells sweets to all of them and speaks four languages in an hour.
Each family keeps its own language, faith and food. None has given up its identity. Yet all of them use the same buses and vote in the same election. Their children learn the same Constitution at school, and they cheer the same national team. Their lives are tied by work, law, neighbourhood and shared public symbols. If a quarrel arises, they go to the same police station and the same court.
This street is unity in diversity in miniature. It also shows what can break it: a rumour, a riot or a politician who turns one family against another. The bonds are real, but they need daily care.
The strains on unity
Communalism, casteism, regionalism and linguistic disputes have repeatedly tested Indian unity. Insurgencies in parts of the North East and in Jammu and Kashmir, and left-wing extremism in central India, have drawn on local alienation. Uneven development between states breeds resentment. These strains show that unity is a continuing process, not a fixed possession.
Yet the record also shows remarkable resilience. Linguistic reorganisation of states from 1956, once feared as divisive, gave regional identities a secure place within the Union. Many armed movements ended in political accords.
A critical evaluation
Is the concept a description or an ideal? Critics make three points.
- Unity on whose terms? Subaltern and Dalit scholars argue that the "cultural unity" described by Ghurye and others is largely the culture of the upper castes. The unity may conceal the subordination of Dalits, tribes and women.
- The danger of uniformity. Appeals to unity can be used to pressure minorities to give up their distinct practices.
- Unity under strain. Periodic violence shows that the bonds can fail.
The answer is that unity in diversity is both a description and an ideal. It describes a real feature of Indian society: shared values, crosscutting identities and common institutions have kept the society together. It is also an ideal written into the Constitution, which must be realised through equality and fraternity, as Ambedkar insisted.
Conclusion. Unity in diversity means that India's many languages, religions, castes, tribes and regions are held together. The bonds are shared culture, syncretic traditions, common institutions, history, economic interdependence and a Constitution that protects difference. Ghurye, Srinivas, Marriott and Karve explained how this unity was produced, and Ambedkar showed why it must rest on fraternity and social justice. The concept is not a claim that Indians are alike. It is the recognition that India has learnt to remain one society precisely by allowing its people to remain different.
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