Alternative modernity
Topic: Preamble and the Philosophy of the Constitution · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 10 "The Philosophy of the Constitution"
Meaning
Alternative modernity is a mixed culture. It forms when modern Western ideas meet Indian traditions, and the result is different from both. Class 11 NCERT uses the idea to answer the charge that the Constitution is an "alien document", meaning foreign and borrowed. NCERT says drafting the Constitution was "selective adaptation and not borrowing". Indians made modern ideas their own and used them to fight injustice inside their own traditions.
Example
In the Constituent Assembly on 17 November 1949, K. Hanumanthaiya complained that they wanted "the music of Veena or Sitar" but got "an English band". NCERT's reply is that Indians had already made modern ideas their own. Rammohan Roy began this. As early as 1841, Dalits in north India were suing landlords in the new courts.
Don't confuse with
- Westernisation / borrowing: this means simply copying Western models. Alternative modernity means picking modern ideas and reshaping them to fit Indian conditions.