In your opinion has the linguistic organisation of states helped or harmed India?

The linguistic organisation of states has helped India because it has strengthened the unity and integrity of the country. Interstate conflicts arise time to time but these are disposed or compounded with mutual discussions and with intervention of the central governments. For an instance, Punjab was reorganised on linguistic basis in April, 1966. In course of reorganisation, Himachal Pradesh being hill area, the Hindi region of Punjab was transferred to that state. Since then, this state has progressed leaps and bounds in terms of agricultural production and industrialisation.

Nation—an entity difficult to define.

(i) Many nations are founded on the basis of shared religion, language, ethnicity, history or regional culture but it is difficult to say that each nation will possess all these constituents. Eg. India. Here is found cultural diversity, ethnic diversity and diverse religions.

(ii) There are languages, religions or ethinicity used across the many nations but those cannot make a nation Eg. English is spoken in almost all countries and there are Christians but that do not form a nation there.

(iii) Thus, we see that conceptually there seems to be no hard distinction as any of the other types of community can one day from a nation but conversely, no particular kind of community can be guaranteed to form a nation.

On the basis of the above three points, it is easy to describe the nation as common cultural, historical and political institution form collectively, an entity of nation but difficulty arises in giving its precise and accurate definition.

Relationship of nation and state in modern society.

(i) Nations are communities that have a state of their own.

(ii) There is one to one bond between nation and state i.e. one nation-one state or one state-one nation.

(iii) Establishment of democracy and nationalism are the sources of a state formation in modern society. The nation is the most accepted for a state while the people and the ultimate source of legitimacy of the nation. It means state needs nation more than a nation needs a state.

(i) Cultural diversity may go beyond the loyalty to the nation or nation state because people have stronger sense of identity with their community i.e. ethnic, religious, linguistic community.

(ii) Recognition of cultural diversity may lead to social fragmentation and a harmonious society in that circumstances, cannot be created.

(iii) Assimilation policy of state may also become harmful. Hence, states resort to either suppressing these diverse identities or ignore them in the political domain.

(iv) Cultural diversity leaves no particular way for the state to implement strictly policies of assimilation and integration. The former try to erode cultural differences between groups. (i.e. ethnic, religious or linguistic) but it is difficult through passing any legislation as it would certainly be protested by one or other group. The latter seeks to assert a single national identity by attempting to eliminate ethno-nation and cultural differences from public by drawing them in the private domain but in that effort, the majority group who will become predominant shall have to bear the brunt of strong protest from other minority groups.

The culture is a compound word that embeds with it. language, religion, sect, race or caste and even a particular region too. The differences in these constituents are called cultural diversity. India is a diverse country in terms of culture consciousness because here are spoken 1632 different languages and dialects. So far twenty-two languages have been recognised in 8th schedule of the Constitution. Again, there are religions like Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity etc. The Hindus also are internally or regionally specific, plural in beliefs and practices and divided by castes and languages. Here also lies diversity in topography Eg. mountain, plateau, desert, plains, marshy regions. There is diversity in dress, eating manners, rites, rituals, customs, etc. On the basis of these differences we can state that India is a very diverse country.

It is identity of an individual on the basis of his birth and belonging to a particular family that stands somewhere in social hierarchy and kinship. It's social stratification that gives an individual a particular identity i.e. his name, caste, surname etc. Community identity is formed through process of socialisation that involves a continuous dialogue, negotiation and even struggle against significant others (these directly involve in our lives). Like our parents, family, kin group and our community. Thus, community identity is determined by the accidents of birth and do not involve any choice on the part of the individual concerned.