[Feature: Changing India and Japan] Aspects of Contemporary Indian Society: Visible and Invisible Changes

Image: "Women waiting for the Delhi Metro" (Photographed by the author on March 19, 2014)

India has undergone rapid economic development and socio-cultural transformation, with the economic liberalization of 1991 serving as a major turning point.

The international community's gaze toward India has also changed significantly. India, which was previously often discussed in terms of "poverty" and "discrimination," has begun to attract attention in the 21st century through new keywords such as "rapid growth" and "emerging markets." From the perspective of its population of over 1.3 billion and expected economic growth, it has come to occupy an important position in international politics and economics as an emerging power capable of rivaling China. In reality, the Indian economy, which has been described as booming, has its ups and downs, and doubts have arisen regarding the reliability of economic growth rates and employment statistics published by the government. The latest economic growth rate (April-June 2019) was at a low level of 5.0%, and a trend of economic slowdown has been pointed out for five consecutive quarters. As concerns about a global recession grow, people are closely watching when and how the effects of the economic measures launched by the second Modi administration, which took office at the end of May 2019, will appear.

In addition to the economy, India is increasing its presence in the field of diplomacy. India shifted its foreign policy in the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union and has pursued a path called "all-directional collaborative diplomacy," which does not involve alliance relationships with specific countries. It is characterized by an emphasis on strategic collaborative relationships with major powers (the US, China, Russia, Japan, and the EU), and diplomacy and personnel exchanges between Japan and India are also becoming more active. 2012 marked the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and India, and in 2017, an agreement was reached between Indian Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Abe to make it the Year of Japan-India Friendly Exchanges. A direction for expanding personnel exchanges in various fields such as politics, economy, diplomacy, and culture was confirmed.

These trends are part of the "changing India" that is conveyed to us in Japan through media reports. So, what about the changes happening within Indian society? To capture them, long-term field research is essential. In this article, I would like to consider "visible and invisible changes" based on field research I have conducted since the 2000s. The aim of this article is to show problems in Indian society that are difficult to capture through statistical figures.

First, as a visible change, the living environment in urban areas can be mentioned. India has positioned infrastructure development, which is a basic requirement for economic growth, as an important policy and is proceeding with large-scale projects such as electricity, information and communication networks, roads, railways, subways, and water and sewage systems. In 2001, when I began my studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University Graduate School in the capital, Delhi, construction work was in full swing all over the country, and it was a time when I could truly feel India in a period of growth and fluctuation. In 1998, the National Highway Development Project was announced, and a 5,800-kilometer road connecting the major cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Chennai, called the "Golden Quadrilateral," was constructed (completed in 2012). Previously, people often went from Delhi to Agra, where the Taj Mahal is located, by express train, but with the improvement of road conditions, travel by car became possible (although traffic congestion is terrible). The situation in the sky has also completely changed. With the liberalization of domestic and international air transport routes in 1994, many private airlines entered the market. Due to competition between companies, the quality and price of services improved significantly, and while railways had accounted for the majority of means of travel to regional areas, the use of airplanes expanded among the middle class and above.

A change I felt more closely while living in Delhi was the spread of the Metro (subway). The construction of the Delhi Metro, widely known as a successful example of development assistance from the Japanese government, began in 1998, and the first section opened in 2002. Since then, new lines have opened one after another, and expansion work is still underway. The number of daily users is estimated at 4.7 million, and it has now become an indispensable means of transport for Delhi citizens. It has significantly changed the lives of women in particular, not only in terms of transport efficiency, easing congestion due to the increase in private cars, and environmental protection, but also in terms of public order and safety. Physically and psychologically, women have become able to go further.

Before the introduction of the Metro, public transportation mainly consisted of buses and three-wheeled taxis called auto-rickshaws. Buses are essential for the lives of students and the lower classes due to their low fares, but they have problems such as rough driving, taking a long time due to traffic jams, and a high risk of sexual harassment for female passengers. I myself heard many experiences of victimization from local friends and was careful not to use routes or time slots with few people. Even in the capital, Delhi, I think it was generally considered desirable for women to travel with friends or family (especially men). In easing these constraints, the emergence of the Metro played a major role in women's social advancement. More women have become able to decide for themselves "when, where, and for what purpose to go out," making it possible to attend universities further away and go out to work (although new problems such as increased congestion inside the cars have also emerged). At the same time, it goes without saying that improvements in information and communication networks (expansion of internet and smartphone users) and new consumption behaviors (increase in eating out and shopping malls) are supporting further changes for women. The accumulation of small daily decisions is thought to have a deep impact on people's awareness and way of thinking about society.

An environmental campaign called "Clean India" is a project that the current Modi administration is putting at the forefront. Launched in October 2014, it aims to eradicate the practice of open defecation by the 150th anniversary of Gandhi's birth in October 2019, and is working on installing toilets in 120 million households and developing and popularizing public toilets. According to the 2011 census, households without toilets accounted for 53.1% of the total (63.6% in 2001), and looking at regional differences, it can be seen that there is a large gap between urban (18.6%) and rural (69.3%) areas. The problem of open defecation in rural areas became known through the Indian film "Toilet: A Love Story" (Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, 2017), which was also released in Japan. It depicts the difficult situation of women who are forced to defecate in the open because building a toilet inside the house is avoided due to traditional Hindu social norms that consider excrement impure. "Clean India" should be commended in that such issues were almost never brought into the spotlight on a large scale before the Modi administration. However, the view cannot be denied that its aim may be nothing more than a political performance to appeal to domestic and international investors about hygiene improvements or to capture the support of Dalits (formerly untouchables). It lacks the perspective of overcoming the caste problem, which is fundamental to public health and Indian society.

In Hinduism, excrement and waste are considered the height of impurity, and jobs such as cleaning, laundry, and disposal of animal carcasses, where contact with them is unavoidable, have been limited to Dalits. Occupation and status consciousness are closely related. The Indian film "Court" (2014), released in Japan, depicts another tragedy related to toilet situations. Although it unfolds mainly as a courtroom drama, in the first half, there is an episode where "the body of a sewage cleaner was found inside a manhole in Mumbai" (the police claim it was "suicide"). In Indian society, it is clear that a "sewage cleaner" comes from the Dalit community at the bottom of the caste system. It is not well known in Japan that during the monsoon season (June-September), when rainfall increases, many cleaners who manually clean filth from unmaintained sewers lose their lives inside manholes. Sewage cleaners are day laborers, are not given sufficient equipment such as protective masks, and their working environment is extremely harsh and unhygienic. As an occupation that should be abolished from the perspective of human rights violations, a law prohibiting it was enacted in 1993, but in reality, it has not disappeared. There are also NGO reports that nearly 1,800 sewage cleaners have suffocated to death while working over the past 10 years. As a social issue, a movement from below by Dalit activists is being carried out with financial assistance from overseas human rights organizations.

Signs of social change can sometimes be seen while looking at such peripheral issues. An attitude of understanding Indian society by also paying attention to the state of people's consciousness will be required.