India is said to have a very rich heritage of traditions and culture. This culture has lately been perishing with more and more Indians especially younger generations inclining towards the woke culture. This shift has sparked a lot of controversies and debates in the country. In the past few decades, Indian society has become more and more influenced by the Western and woke culture. The older generation of our country has Indian culture deeply rooted inside them which is why it becomes difficult for them to accept the change. Whereas the younger generation is very rebellious towards the old narrow-minded views.
This is a burning topic and more and more factors are getting added to this with time.
What is Woke Culture?
The term "woke" originated in African American Vernacular English. It refers to being aware of the social injustices. The ‘Woke Culture’ involves active engagement in various issues such gender inequality, feminism, LGBTQ+ rights, etc.
Things which were considered taboo in Indian society few decades ago are now being openly discussed by youngsters and more and more social evils are being called out. Indians for a long time didn’t even realise much of the social evils they were committing. Many of these things are now being called out internationally. For example, body shaming someone was barely considered unfair by Indians in the older times but now this is strictly being called out everywhere. LGBTQ+ communities are getting more and more accepted in society unlike before, they are now being respected more in society. Many patriarchal traditions have been abolished recently due to this. Women feel more empowered than ever before.
In contrast, rich Indian moral values are now deteriorating in the younger generations, things as basic as respecting the elders are being rejected by the younger people. A higher number of youths are now completely dissociated from their parents emotionally, which has led to mental health problems in youth. A study conducted by UNICEF states that one out of every seven people aged 15- 24 in India suffers from depression and the major reason behind this is the lack of emotional connection with the people around them which has occurred due to conflict with beliefs of other people.
Younger generations get easily triggered if some other person has a belief contrasting to theirs. The youth is under the influence that they are being more tolerant to other people and acknowledging their struggles. However, older generations feel that the newer generations are mere snowflakes and can’t accept anyone’s differences or respect our traditions. This stays a grey area whether woke culture is benefitting the Indian society or not.