Trends of modernization in India is visible through the following:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → People can form satsang groups through whatsapp
Note: The given answer is as per the official NTA Answer Key. However, Option (4) can also be considered correct, as explained below.
Option (1) People can form caste based associations — Incorrect. Modernity assumes that the associations in which people live and work are based on choice, not birth. A caste association brings people together by the caste they were born into; it shows caste taking on a new political role as a pressure group, not the shift from birth to choice.
Option (2) Matrimonial advertisements have specific caste / community based sections in newspaper and websites — Incorrect. Caste sections in matrimonial columns show that marriage is still arranged within caste boundaries. Endogamy, the practice of marrying within the caste, has remained largely unaffected by modernisation.
Option (3) People can form satsang groups through whatsapp — Correct as per NTA. Under modernisation people are influenced not just by local but by universal contexts, and what one does is decided by one’s own wish rather than by family, caste or community. A WhatsApp group is a modern form of communication, and people join it by choice, wherever they live. Modern forms of communication and organisation have even given rise to new kinds of religious organisations, and a satsang group on WhatsApp is one such case.
Option (4) People can sit together in public places — Can also be considered correct. Modernity assumes that people associate on the basis of choice, not birth, and under caste rules people of different castes were kept apart. People of every caste sitting together in buses, trains, schools and other public places is therefore a break from the old rules of contact, so this option can also be considered a sign of modernity. It is, however, now a plain part of everyday life and names no new form of association or communication, while Option (3) shows both marks of modernity at once: a group formed by choice, through a modern medium (WhatsApp), wherever people live.
NCERT (2025-26): “Modernisation and Secularisation … In other words it means that people are influenced not just by local but universal contexts. How you behave, what you think is no longer decided by your family or tribe or caste or community. What job you wish to do is decided not by the job your parent does, but by what you wish to do. Work gets based on choice, not birth. On whom you are depend on what you achieve, not by who you are. A scientific attitude gains ground.” “However even in the past, a view that assumed that modern ways would necessarily lead to decline in religious ways has not been entirely true. You will recall how western and modern forms of communication, organisation and ideas led to the emergence of new kinds of religious reform organisations.…” “…Not surprisingly, it was in the cultural and domestic spheres that caste has proved strongest. Endogamy, or the practice of marrying within the caste, remained largely unaffected by modernisation and change. Even today, most marriages take place within caste boundaries, although there are more intercaste marriages.…” |