Culture Wise India
Noël Gama
Travellers often underestimate the depth of cultural isolation they can face abroad, particularly in a country with a different language. To many people, India may seem a relatively easy option, with its historic ties to Britain, widespread use of English (the country’s lingua franca) and hundreds of thousands of annual visitors. However, sooner or later, most newcomers find certain aspects of Indian life alien – not least it’s caste system, religions and stark regional differences – and some come unstuck as a result. Culture Wise India will help you understand India and its people, and adapt to the Indian way of life. Most importantly, it will enable you to quickly feel at home.
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Extracts from the book…
Bureaucracy
If you thought French or Spanish bureaucracy was impenetrable, you need only take a look inside a typical Indian government office, where armies of civil servants plough their way through stack upon stack of papers, files, folders and binders under the slowly churning blades of ceiling fans – any faster and the dusty papers would start flying about the musty room. Don’t be surprised if you’re asked to write out an application to obtain an application form – only to discover that the said form is in the personal custody of a clerk whose whereabouts are unknown.
Efforts at improving the system and expediting paperwork have been made, such as the introduction of one-stop offices called ‘Single Windows’. Here all kinds of information and documentation are available and you can apply for anything and everything – whether it’s for an employment or residence permit, a business or driving licence, tourist car registration plates, the import of funds or the payment of taxes. However, you’ll still need to make regular visits to ‘chase up’ your applications if you don’t want to wait for ever.
Computerisation of records and processes has also been successfully implemented in the cities and most large towns, but the apathy of civil servants (see below) is more difficult to overcome.
Here are some tips for dealing with Indian red tape:
- More important than finding out the opening hours of the relevant office or the time the official concerned ‘signs in’, is to discover what time he’s actually in his office.
- Always make a duplicate of everything for your own records.
- Expect to spend days, weeks, even months, on ‘follow-up’ trips to government offices.
- Accept bureaucratic obstacles as part of life in India – just as the Indians themselves do.
- Remain calm and polite at all times.
India doesn’t yet have a full-fledged system of personal identification for its citizens. Although a Multinational National Identity Card (MNIC) programme was launched in 2003, its target of providing 2mn adult citizens in 12 states with identity numbers and cards is still a long way off. In the meantime, the ration card issued by the Civil Supplies department is used for the purpose of identification, although Indians aren’t obliged to carry their ration cards. Foreigners, on the other hand, should always carry their passport and visa or photocopies.
Working Women
Women are flying high in India. During the last 25 years, the government has amended several laws that discriminated against women, and ratified international conventions such as the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. A policy for the Empowerment of Women, drafted in 1996 but still awaiting enactment, proposes that women should occupy 118 seats in the Indian parliament.
Globalisation has provided opportunities for the educated middle-class woman in fields earlier perceived as male domains, e.g. flying. More and more women pilots are being inducted into airlines and, according to the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), some 40 per cent of programmers in the information technology (IT) sector are women. In the corporate sector, women managers and entrepreneurs are on the rise, although there are few women at the top. Nevertheless, women constitute a mere 4 per cent of registered workers, while almost 80 per cent of women in regular work are (unregistered) agricultural workers.
Sexual discrimination is prohibited, and a woman doing similar work to a man and employed by the same employer is legally entitled to the same salary and other terms of employment. However, while the law is upheld in the professional and highly skilled sectors, unskilled women, particularly in agriculture and other ‘unorganised’ fields, are usually paid 35 per cent and sometimes 50 per cent less than men for the same work.
Nevertheless, women are accorded respect in most organisations. Foreign women aren’t discriminated against and foreign women in senior positions have no problems with their subordinates as it’s the hierarchy that counts – a boss is a boss, whether male or female, Indian or foreign. You should always dress modestly with the least possible exposure of skin, and avoid anything that may be interpreted as flirting or showing interest in male colleagues.
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PRICE: £10.95
PUBLICATION: May 2009
EDITION: 1st
PAGES: 224
BINDING: paperback
SIZE: 200 x 130mm
COLOUR PHOTOS: over 100
