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ethnic differences, thereby preserving the aspirations of multiple groups in a dominant culture.
A false assumption is sometimes used to promote assimilation into a common Indian culture, as the focus is kept mainly on ethnic differences. The false assumption is that inequality can be resolved by creating a common culture, achieved only through assimilation. A spotlight on ethnic similarities will preserve and advance each other's culture. Picture the bridge of righteous living and the coalitions based on non-violence and peaceful coexistence as cultural universals underlying our subcultures. Whole cultures cannot be bridged and should not be bridged. It should be sufficient to connect components common to different cultures. Joint families can be a cultural universal, for example.
The unit of the Indian village community has not been the individual but the joint family. A very important feature of this social unit has been that all property was held in common. The joint family system and kinship pattern could not be effectively relocated to the cities from villages, and it affected continuity between cultures, which was significant in enabling the family to socialize the child in the formative years.
The book calls for the first allegiance of an individual to his or her conscience, then to his or her family, next to the wider circle of kin, the community, and the society. A life based on righteousness and primarily around the family, and secondarily encompassing social and public life, is the hallmark of a great nation. The family-centred approach promotes particularistic values, and strong ethnic identification as attachment to family, village, state, and religion. This attachment, however, gets transformed into primary tasks for the individual, and encourages national politics. Many young Indian leaders, notwithstanding their localized psychological attachment, are using their ethnic
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