Vaibhav RawatAIR 25 · CSE 2020 · 258 wordsTheir whole copy
Opening
Religion & region are two most important elements of group identity. It provides a sense of belonging to a group & a sense of security & pride.
Religion as important element of group identity : -
Body · points
→ Religious groupings eg. RSS, Jamat-e-Islami → Religious institutions eg. Madrasas → Same culture & history → Same area of worship eg. Temple
Region as element of group identity : -
→ Common language eg. Kannada in Karnataka → Common issues eg. water stress in Marathwada → Same culture eg dance forms, music, movies → Same history
But, despite acting as an element of group identity, both religion & region also run the risk of deepening communal cleavages :-
- Hostile interests of religion & regions eg Hindu v/s Muslim during Independence
- Perception of injustice → eg Due to social economic backwardness
- Poor development of a region & religion → raises discontent among groups.
- Dominance of a particular religion in a region eg violence on Kashmiri Pandits in 1990
- Sense of a group reduces the fear of prosecution → as difficult to find culprit if joint action.
- Ill practices of religious leaders - Spreading hate to other religion eg ISIS
- Misinterpretation of religious texts → considering one's region or religion superior
Close · a way forward
Need is to promote communal harmony → by social, political & economic development of all religion & region, by setting up Early warning indicators (as in Malaysia) to prevent communal violence & using National fund of communal harmony to spread spirit of brotherhood & oneness
1 more topper’s answer to this question, part by part, and how they all approached it: open the question.