You are on page 1of 7

NATIONAL INTEGRATION

What does national integration mean ? National integration l combining or


bringing together all the people in the country I tingle whole. It also implies
doing away with all the trifling wees that keep people divided into various
groups or sections. ! an integration is based on the sentiment that we all belong
to Bmon whole. It is this sentiment that makes us proud of our e, and binds all
people in one common bond no matter what op te, religion or language and
social custom may be. It is a strong force that creates unbreakable ties among
the people, l Identify themselves as a part of a single whole. This positive t
helps people in developing an outlook, which is free from considerations and
which makes a person subordinare his terest in favour ofi the larger interest of
the community and country. It includes a desire to defend the interest of the try.
It encourages people to contribute to the welfare, peace prosperity of the
country as a whole. We belong to India, lift is ours is the very basis of this
sentiment. National integra-~ II a psychological process involving the
development of a feeling of unity, solidarity and cohesion in the hearts of the
people, a sense of common citizenship and a feeling of loyalty to the nation. In
another way one can refer it to the animated sympathy or feeling of one for the
other and the warm-hearted love and sympathy of one Indian for others, who
live in this large country. It is a subjective factor and there is no barometer to
measure or indicate its intensity. It has, therefore, been a matter of controversy
whether India has the national integration.

There are some people who think that India has never existed as a unified,
undivided and indivisible unit in the past. Sir John Seeley said that India was
not a political name but only a geographical expression like Europe or Africa.
Sir John Strachey wrote : This is the first and the most essential thing to learn

about India that there is not and never was an India or even any country of India
possessing, according to European ideas, any sort of unity, physical, political,
social or religious. No Indian nation, no people of India of which we hear so
much. As late as 1930, the Simon Commission referred to India as a
conglomeration of races and religions. It is not only foreigners but many
Indian thinkers also believe that India never existed as a nation and there was no
national integration in India in any period of her history. So far as foreigners are
concerned, they appear to be biased against India and her peoples capacity for
unity. And only such Indians, as havejborrowed their theories and tenets from
the West, can refuse to recognise the existence of a single well-knit unit in the
past. Even a general survey of Indian religion, philosophy, mythology, legends,
art, literature and architecture will make it abundantly clear that India existed as
a single homogeneous, well-united nation in the past. May be there are
diversities, but they should not be mistaken for disunity. This diversity is a
special feature of Indias unity, it provides colour to Indian life. All the
discordant isms, that have no doubt succeeded in creating certain spells of
unfortunate trends towards disintegration, have their origins outside India and
have been imported into India by vested interests. Before that India continuedlto
be the torch-bearer to entire humanitya nation with & rich sonorous music of
unity.

If we look back and analyse our history, culture and heritage, the first thing that
strikes us very forcibly is the underlying spirit of our fundamental unity in
diversity in all times and ages. The concept of India as a well-knit, composite
and homogeneous entity, transcending all her external diversities is an eloquent
theme that runs throughout our literature, epics and folklore. During the Hindu
period religion and language .played a pre-eminent role in fostering national and
emotional integration. Religion occupied an enviable position as an agent of
unity. The common devotion of the people to religion evoked affinity and
sympathy for each other. The rise of new religions like Jainism and Buddhism
and new sects like Shaivism and Vaishnavism created a few short intervals in
the total allegiance of Indians to Hinduism. Invocation to the rivers Ganga and
Jamuna as also to Krishna and Kauvery is common to the rituals performed by
the Hindus all over the country. Similarly , the concept of Aasamudra Himalaya,
that served as a perennial , flame of inspiration to the sages, poets and rulers
alike, has been iBOther sound factor in accomplishing the task of uniting all
people BtO one whole. Sanskrit and Pali as eminent languages played mrivalled

roles in strengthening national integration in ancient ndlu. The barriers of caste,


race, language or region did not exist br any material purpose. The Vedic sage
Vasishtha was the son of a prostitute ; Valmiki was an untouchable and Kabir
was brought Up in a muslim weavers family. These persons occupy high and
teemed positions in our community all over India. The four Ninths established
by Shankaracharya at four corners of the country, nmely Shringeri, Puri,
Dwarika and Badrinath are unshakable pillars of Indias emotional unity. It is
clear that the evils of Caiteism did not exist in those days. Do the temples of
Tanjore not long to every Indian ? Is every Indian not proud of Ajanta and lora
paintings. The Meghadoot of Kali das brought the South and um North under
one canvas.
During the medieval period a new society appeared in India !With its distinct
religion, customs and traditions. But the Bhakti vement preached an
understanding among the people practising jrent religions and observing
different customs. The great _lkti reformers like Kabir, Nanak, Chaitnya,
Tukaram belonged I all. Akbar, the Great Mughal, who ruled practically the
whole f India as one unit, practised toleration,
L And yet it is also a fact of history that the centrifugal and Jllparous forces
existed and they raised their heads again and again D disrupt our countrys
unity. These forces sapped the strength of I Country and made India weak and
disunited. With the establish-^_jOt of the English rule the. unity and
understanding that had ,] Milted for ages, though certainly weakened by certain
factors, was I Badly shaken up. We all know full well how the Britishers played
tM game of divide and rule. They separated the Muslims from , thi
mainstream of national life and made them believe that they were distinct from
the Hindus. In Hindu community itself they created wedge between the
scheduled castes and others. They pitched the English educated urban class
against the rural masses. Simultaneously it was under the British rule that a
number of new factors WW introduced which were of great help in national
integration. fUpld means of transport and communication, a common language,
.Uniform laws, a common form of government and common cause of freedom
of the country helped the growth of the nationalist movement in India, which
engendered an emotional fervor tending tO strengthen the forces of national
unity. It was a feat of extra Ordinary national unity that India won her
independence from one Of the most powerful nations of the world.India is a
land of very tolerant people, who believe in secular ideas. Tolerance, secularism

and accommodation have been the most admirable characteristics of Indian


culture. This explains the flowering and flourishing of all religions in our
country side by side, without any interference or encroachment by one upon the
other. In this true perspective of Indias cultural heritage, the Constitution of
Independent India provided for a* strong Central Government to keep the
divisive and disintegrating forces under firm check. The Constitution also
assures equality and security to all classes of persons regardless of their caste,
creed, religion, language, place of birth and domicile. It made India a secular
state, guaranteeing equal freedom to all its citizens to profess, practise and
propagate their religions without any interference. Safeguards and reservations
were specially provided for linguistic minorities and Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes. Our Constitution recognised Hindi as the official language of
the Union. A number of other steps have been taken to promote national
integration and also to check the tendencies that endangered the fundamental
unity of the country. A few of them are integration of princely states,
organisation of All India Services, implementation of Five-Year Plans for
removing regional imbalances in development and promotion of cultural
exd^pges between different regions of the country.

Today India is a free country and a great deal of progress has been achieved in
many directions. But it is a pity that the spirit of unity and accommodation,
which had made our people think and believe that they were one family and
nation appears to have evaporated. Fissiparous- forces, though held in check,
repeatedly raise their ugly head in one form or the other. New forces of
fanaticism threaten to destroy the cherished ideals of one country and one
people. Passions are inflamed in the name of language, Regionalism and
separatism are threatening to balkanise the country. Communal passions are
whipped up. Loyalty to caste and community is given priority over devotion to
the motherland.
There are a large number of factors that militate against the efforts of national
integration. The most formidable obstacles are : linguism, communalism and
regionalism.
India is a multi-lingual country. The language controversy started with Hindi
being given the status of the official language of the Indian Union. The people
of the South revolted against it and threatened to go out of the Union if Hindi
was imposed upon them. The Constitution of India was amended to meet their
demand. The plea of the South is that recognition of Hindi as the only official

language will by implication and in effect create conditions for the domination
of one linguistic group over all others. The language issue is a very sensitive
one. We must not forget how passions were aroused on minor issues concerning
reorganisation of states on the linguistic basis. The linguistic fanaticism is bad,
but it has
153
i to be tamed with love, understanding and accommodation, not adopting rigid
attitudes and postures. Some solution to the Sblem which may be acceptable to
all linguistic groups must be Dived. Imposition of any language by force will
only worsen the itlon.
Communalism is onother serious problem, that needs a perma-It solution. There
have been communal riots in the country "B and even after the partition of
India. It is a poison that has roots in our polity. India cannot make any headway
in lleving the goal of national integration if communalism is allowed i raise its
head again and again without any check. It will need long and sustained effort to
eradicate the evil of communalism. I WOuld be wishful thinking to suppose that
pious resolutions of I National Integration Council will restore communal amity.
It llential to strike against the forces that sustain the poisonous of communalism.
Apart from removing all misgivings among minority community regarding their
language, a law should be id to ban all propaganda that fosters the spread of
communa-The legislation banning communal propaganda should also je for
severe penalties for publication or dissemination in any manner, of false reports
calculated to rouse communal IS.
Casteism is another evil that stands in the way of complete ~1 integration.
The most shameful feature of the caste system existence of untouchability,
practised against the people of led castes. The social oppression to which the
people g to scheduled castes are subjected is one of the blackest |! the fair name
of India. Our Constitution abolished un-lility and the Untouchability (Offences)
Act was passed in .king the practice of untouchability a penal offence. But tice
still persists in our society in several shapes and forms. ;|Uch a vast section of
our population is forced to live in rrible conditions of virtual apartheid, one
can very well i how ironic and meaningless the talk of national integration
JOUnd to the so-called untouchables. A hard struggle lies I, for those who seek
to integrate these poor and unfortunate I into the main body of Indian society.
T^ie ultimate solution pernicious and inhuman problem of casteism lies in the
out of the radical agrarian reforms in the interests of the , which would
eliminate all vestiges of feudalism, rapid ialjsation of both the urban and rural
areas and spread of (B scientific education.

Regionalism is another obstacle in the way of national integra-Aggressive


regionalism has gravely undermined the feeling of Of the people. It creates a
parochial outlook and narrow-It is primarily a socio-economic problem, related
to Wnoval of the obstacles in the development of the people to their own
genius and culture. The extremely uneven economic development of the
different regions of India has created tensions and jealousy between the states as
to which should get priority in the matter of new projects and industries. These
tensions have their origin in genuine grievances of the regions and states that
have deen denied fair shares of projects and industries in the overall structure of
development. The only way to do away with this imbalance in the development
is to reduce and eliminate these disparities gradually. The National Integration
Conference in its September-October 1961 meeting expressed the following
opinion on this issue. The Conference recognised the importance of regional
balance in economic development as a positive factor for promoting national
integration. The Conference felt, therefore, that the rapid development of
economically backward regions in any state should be given priority in national
and state plans at least to the extent that a minimum level of development is
reached for all states within a stated period. While this problem is not only an
economic one, there is no doubt that a rapid and balanced economic
development calculated to wipe out regional disparities would go a long way
towards promoting national integration.
Our leadership has been fully aware of the need and urgency of national
integration as well as the factors hindering the advance towards this goal. The
great national leader and first Prime Minister of India Shri Jawaharlal Nehru
asked our people as early as in October 1955 not to become parochial, narrowminded, provincial, communal and caste-minded. He referred to these
tendencies as petty attachments and termed them great obstacles which stood in
the way of national integration. With a view to furthering the cause of national
integration, a National Integration Conference was first called by the then Prime
Minister Shri Nehru in 1961. The Conference set up a National Integration
Council to review all matters pertaining to this vital question and to make
recommendations thereon. A statement of the National Integration Conference
said, Indias unity in the midst of diversity was stressed. In the course of a long
history, people of different races, religions and languages made their own
contribution to the building up of India. But in spite of this diversity, India had
always had a basic unity and a peculiar and distinctive identity. Even though the
achievement of political unity and freedom have confirmed this unity, various
fissiparous and disruptive tendencies, such as com-munalism, casteism,

regionalism and linguism, tend to disrupt the solidarity of the people. These
disruptive tendencies have to be controlled and countered. While certain group
loyalties on a religious, regional and linguistic basis may continue, these should
be subordinated to the national interest.
The National Integration Council was constituted in 1968 against the
background of communal riots and regional tensions. The Council held a
meeting in June 1968 in Srinagar. Apart from adopting a Declaration of
Objectives the Council made certain specific recommendations to strengthen the
forces of integration.
level Integration Councils were set up to give effect to the laration of the
Objectives. Although the Council has not met since |8, the Standing Committee
and other committees set up by the ttncil held several meetings from time to
time. A Steering Cpm-Ittee constiituted under the chairmanship of the then
Prime Minister it In August 1973 to consider among other things the future role
id task of the National Integration Council.
The challenge before us now is how do we consolidate the Progress made so
far in this direction to forge strong and durable i link! to cement national unity
and integration. The problem is I Wflous and tinkering with it will not do.
Though efforts to remove 1 the obstacles have succeeded in a certain measure,
much more f ^required to be done. The need of the hour is to take all possible
asures in all seriousness to eliminate the obstacles that come in way. If this is
neglected or not done, the consequences may be pAiiasterous.

You might also like