Question

Give examples of a few conflicts that the Indian government might face. How does it resolve these conflicts?

Answer 1

India is a land of cultural, religious, linguistic and geographical diversity. Differences based on these will inevitably lead to conflict between individuals and groups. Following are some of the most common conflicts faced by the Indian government:

1. Religious conflict - One community can object to the rights and rituals of another community, leading to conflict. An example of one such religious conflict in India is the destruction of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in 1992 and massacres in Gujarat in 2002.

In such a case, the government sat down with the representatives of both the communities and tried to reach a solution accepted by all. The government also took the help of police to control the situation.

2. Another common problem is that of sharing the water of a river flowing between two states. For example, water distribution of river Kaveri was disputed between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

In such a case, the central government intervened and solved the dispute.

3. Language conflicts: A number of languages are spoken in India. After independence, huge debates took place against the adoption of Hindi as the official language. This plan was mostly opposed by the non-Hindi speaking states of south India.

To avoid such situations ahead, the government recognised several languages as scheduled instead of labelling any single language to be the official language.