In India, the correct way to drive the vehicle is on the left side of the road like the British. Which process does this example indicate?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → process referring to the changes brought about in Indian society and culture as a result of the British rule
Option (1) process by which common people imitate the lifestyle of upper class — Incorrect. This describes sanskritisation, in which a ‘lower’ caste imitates the customs and lifestyle of the ‘upper caste’ to rise socially. Driving on the left is a British rule of the road, not the custom of an Indian upper caste.
Option (2) process referring to the path of development that much of West Europe has taken — Incorrect. This is modernisation in its wider sense: the path of development of west Europe or North America, which other societies were expected to follow. The example is not about following a path of development, but about a practice handed down by British rule.
Option (3) process referring to the changes brought about in Indian society and culture as a result of the British rule — Correct. M.N. Srinivas defines westernisation as the changes brought about in Indian society and culture as a result of over 150 years of British rule, at the levels of technology, institutions, ideology and values. India drives on the left because the British did, and the rule stayed after they left.
Option (4) process of industrialisation driven by British rule — Incorrect. Industrialisation is the growth of machine production in factories. A rule about which side of the road to drive on has nothing to do with how goods are produced.
NCERT (2025-26): “Westernisation … M.N. Srinivas defines westernisation as ‘the changes brought about in Indian society and culture as a result of over 150 years of British rule, the term subsuming changes occurring at different levels…technology, institutions, ideology and values’.…” “Modernisation and Secularisation … In the early years, modernisation referred to improvement in technology and production processes. Increasingly, however, the term had a wider usage. It referred to the path of development that much of west Europe or North America has taken. And suggested that other societies both have to and ought to follow the same path of development.” |