Page 169 - DSOC402_SOCIOLOGY_OF_KINSHIP_ENGLISH

Unit 22: Development Cycle of Family in India

the social laws from the British period to the present, we will find that many laws have affected Notes
the joint family system a lot.
For workers welfare, Britishers made “Indian working-Re-imbursement” act 1923, “Minimum
Wages Act” 1948 abolished economic dependence on joint family just after independence. “Hin-
du Education and Wealth Act” 1930 was enacted, which allowed a Hindu, to earn money his
own education that would be his personal wealth, irrespective of the burden beared by joint
family. This started differences between joint family and personal wealth. In 1937, British govt.
made a law, which gave wife a limited power of possession on her husbands wealth. She would
inherited all his property after husband’s death and had a limited power until he is alive, but
after wife’s death that property belongs to husband’s family.
In 1929, the Sharda Act had banned child marriage. According to this act, the age capability
should be 18 years for boys and 14 years for girls. This act had many objectives. But its biggest
objectives was to give opportunity of educaton. This act had an impact on personal relationships
in the joint family.
After independence, Nehru was intended to prepare a “Hindu Code Bill”. If it turned into a law,
this would have been affected the structure of joint family system. But it was not a law only a
thought.
The proposal, presented by Nehru in that Bill, shaped in various laws but in frictions. For ex-
ample “ Inheritance law” 1956 passed in which boys and girls had equal rights on their father’s
property. These bills challenged the inheritance system of joint family and dependence of wom-
en on others, before it get passed and became a law.

6. Urbanisation
If we look at history of the cities, we would know that civilisation developed near the cities.
The cities like Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi developed their civilisation in its reference.
People tend to move to cities from villages, this happens always. In the means time, people tend
to leave agriculture and craft to other occupations. The density of population is much in urban
areas. The population shows diversity, occupations shows big differences and this results into
migration of people from rural to urban areas. And it results into — family disintegration. One
more character of urbanisation is its limited space to live.
If we look upon years after independence, people left villages to cities for higher education and
for business activities too. It is a visible trend that a man takes his wife and children to city and
establish his own first family. Another is, man lives in the city leaving behind wife and children
in the joint family. Many studies shows that big joint families are being disintegrated due to
migration from village to towns or to cities. This result is based on population census. Accord-
ing to it, the cities has big percentage of first family. Residential planning is a big problem in the
cities, if it acquired that is to be very little. The survival of a big family in such a small place turns
very difficult.

Self Assessment.

Choose right option:
4. Before ____________________ rule, currency was not in circulation.
a. British b. Mugul c. Hindu
5. Occupations were very limited in ____________________ age.
a. British b. Mugul c. Hindu dynamism.
6. __________________ Rule changed education system and it affected joint family system.
a. Mogul b. British c. Hindu

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 163