List of Current Social Issues in India

India is a land of diversity. Every 100 miles, you will find a new language, traditions, food, clothing, and more. It is a melting pot of diverse notions. In no other country will you find such a diverse group of people living together in a society. It reflects a unique brand of a democratic society that stands apart from the rest of the world. However, this is not to say that everything is rosy. India has its own set of challenges, some rooted in orthodoxy and others rooted in preconceived notions, historical burdens, and deep-rooted conceits. Well, let’s take a look at the current social issues in India that we are facing nowadays.

What is a Social issue?

Without getting into the Sociological jargon, a social issue is a problem that affects many people within a society. These are recurring in nature. Thus, it is a group of common problems in present-day life that negatively affect a group of people and extend beyond individual inconvenience. More often than not, you can also identify a social issue if many people strive to solve it. The effects of social issues can either be on the individual’s personal or social life.

Given the nature of the issue, a social issue can be socio-political, Socio-cultural, and socio-economic too. It affects various paradigms of society in a way that is hard to distinctively bifurcate into silos.

Top 10 current social Issues in India

The set of current Social issues in any society reflects contemporary events, people’s behaviour, and current sentiments and sensitivity to a particular matter. Thus, it is crucial to understand the current social issues in India to understand the socio-political mood and inclinations of the general masses. Here is a list of current social issues in India. Some of these have been an issue for quite some time. Even though we have improved, there is still a lot of scope for further improvement.

Corruption

It has been a part of all societies and not just in India. However, this is particularly bad in India given the Corruption Perception Index Ranking 2023 of India. We are at 85th position and there is a lot of room for improvement. It affects the entire mechanism of democracy and hampers development accountability, and leads to the erosion of moral values in society.

High Unemployment

A rate of unemployment is not a single Social issue as it can spawn other correlated Social issues such as a high rate of crime and increased poverty. With the rising population, the impact of high unemployment is doubly felt by the section who are looking for opportunities.

Pollution

With rapid disorganized development without any regard for nature has rendered a situation where the harmful level of air pollution in the capital of India is a new normal. This is just one example. Most of the water bodies near metropolitan cities are polluted due to the discharge of sewerage systems.

Illiteracy

On the other spectrum of high unemployment is illiteracy which is still plaguing even after 75 years of independence. Some States are doing exceptionally well while a few are still lagging behind. The overall National Literacy rate is still below 80%.

Poverty

Depending on the various measures and criteria, the total percentage of poor in India is between 2.5% to 29.5%. Regardless of the stats, poverty was the topic when we got independence and still remains one of the biggest social issues we are still battling to this day. Though we have made tremendous strides in this area, there is a lot of room for improvement.

Poor Sanitation

A basic lack of infrastructure is evident if you go just a few miles outside any urban area. Even in this, poor sanitation facilities lead to various other social issues, such as open defecation. This overall lowers the standard of life and quality of life people should rightfully be enjoying.

Safety of Women

Pick a newspaper today, and you will not flip more than a couple of pages without stumbling upon a news article regarding the mistreatment of women. The safety of women became a national topic right after the Nirbhaya case. It led to various legislative changes boosting the safety of women. However, there is still a lack of implementation and more forward-thinking steps to tackle the issue.

Misinformation in Media

With the rise of Social media, communication has become easy. However, it led to a rapid wildfire of misinformation as well. There is literally no check over what is propagated as factual news in the facade of malicious propaganda by a few fractions of anti-social elements. This can become detrimental in an emergency scenario. A frequent Internet Ban is no permanent solution either.

Gender issue

Gender is one of the major social issues in India. It leads to many other problems such as crime against women, unequal representation of women, and much more. Even though women’s empowerment is at the forefront of the 21st century, there is still a lot to do in this direction.

Health issue

When it comes to health issues, a number of problems crop up in multifold directions. From foeticide or infanticide to drug abuse and simply the general lack of basic healthcare, health issues are quickly becoming one of the current social issues. One of the strong suits of IndinaisitsHuman resources. However, due to the deteriorating environment, unhealthy lifestyle, and more, the same strength can easily become a liability.

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