Society
Is there a specific way to define Indian society?
India
Traditional Indian society is sometimes defined by social hierarchy. The Indian caste system embodies much of the social stratification and many of the social restrictions found in the Indian subcontinent. Social classes are defined by thousands of endogamous hereditary groups, often termed as "jātis", or "castes". India declared the caste system and untouchability to be illegal in 1947 and has since enacted other anti-discriminatory laws and social welfare initiatives. At the workplace in urban India and in international or leading Indian companies, the caste related identification has pretty much lost its importance. Family values are important in the Indian tradition, and multi-generational patriarchal joint families have been the norm in India, though nuclear families are becoming common in urban areas. An overwhelming majority of Indians, with their consent, have their marriages arranged by their parents or other family members. Marriage is thought to be for life, and the divorce rate is extremely low. Child marriages are common, especially in rural areas; many women in India wed before reaching 18, which is their legal marriageable age. Female infanticide in India and female foeticide in India have caused a discrepancy in the sex ratio, as of 2005 it was estimated that there were 50 million more males than females in the nation. However the recent report from 2011 shown improvement among the gender ratio. The payment of Dowry, although illegal, remains widespread across class lines. Deaths resulting from dowry, mostly from bride burning, is on the rise. Many Indian festivals are religious in origin; among them are Chhath, Christmas, Diwali, Durga Puja, Bakr-Id, Eid ul-Fitr, Ganesh Chaturthi, Holi, Makar Sankranti or Uttarayan, Navratri, Thai Pongal, and Vaisakhi. India has three national holidays which are observed in all states and union territories: Republic Day, Independence Day, and Gandhi Jayanti. Other sets of holidays, varying between nine and twelve, are officially observed in individual states. Throughout India, many people practice customs and religious rituals, such as "samskara," which is a series of "personal sacraments and rites conducted at various stages throughout life."