1. Chloe Smith Andrew Simonson Josh Robertson

2.  Most Indian villages have changed little.  Only a few have running water and about half have electricity.  Clothing is still traditional  Most villages have also kept their traditional economies.  Crops are planted by hand and people make handmade goods in cottage industries which are small businesses run from the home.

3.  A growing number of villages have electricity, clinics, schools and telephones.  Some villagers buy factory made goods, and a few can even afford tractors.  Roads, buses, and television are bringing the village people closer to the outside world that used to be unfamiliar to them.  Recently, more and more television radar discs are sprouting up, and families will all crowd around one TV set.  As travel becomes easier, there is more and more urbanization.

4.  The government has taken to improving health care.  The government is also encouraging villagers to dig deeper wells which provide cleaner water.

5.  The Indian government is passing laws trying to eliminate the caste system  The laws do not affect the attitudes and traditions of the people however, so the caste system is still in effect  The Indians that are higher in the caste system can afford to have their kids educated, allowing them to hold the higher paying jobs

6.  People form different castes are starting to mix.  The untouchables are now occasionally aloud to get water from the village well and pray at the village temple, and their children are allowed to attend public schools  With urbanization, more people are living in cities, and it is less likely to know information about your neighbors in cities so lower caste Indians can get jobs easier

7.  After India’s independence, India’s population had a literacy rate of about 10% and less than half the children attended school  India’s government realized that education was an issue so they worked hard to improve education  Now, 80% of elementary kids get some schooling and 52% of India is literate  School is now required until kids are 14 years of age  Students that are in higher castes are more likely to go to college, however, there are a lot of people who have a college education, but no job which is causing a problem for the Indian government

8.  Marriage customs are changing in India, for example, people are marrying at a later age than they used to  Most marriages are still arranged, though the bride and groom will sometimes meet before the wedding, sometimes refusing the parents’ proposal  More and more city-dwellers are living in nuclear families and the educated young couples are setting up their own houses instead of living with the husband’s family

9.  Even though women are subordinate to men, the have a few legal rights  They have the right to vote, own property and to get a divorce and widows can re-marry  In most villages, women stick to tradition that expect them to be modest and remain silent  However a few, like Saroj, have become village leaders

10.  She married at nine  Had 14 children  “My first children did not live long,” she recalled. “ Later, seven more were born. And they are still alive. So again I became happy.”  She had to secretly help her husband build their new brick home because Brahman women were only aloud to work inside the house  When her husband died, she had to educate her two youngest children

11.  Being a Brahman, Saroj had to accept Hindu beliefs about her family’s superiority  She also held traditional views on women

12.  Regardless of her views, Saroj’s actions echoed modern goals  She was determined to ensure that her four daughters completed school  The government set up programs to educate women, and at that time, Saroj was chosen to head that group in her village  Neighbors called her “village Indira” which was supposed to suggest that she had no honor or modesty

13.  Thank you for watching our Power Point.  We hope you learned a lot.