Claim: Governments must ensure that their major cities receive the financial support they need in order to thrive.Reason: It is primarily in cities that a nation's cultural traditions are preserved and generated.Write a response in which you discuss

“20 per cent of the data explains the 80 per cent population”. Does this apply universally? Of course not. When it comes to deciphering the culture of a nation, its major cities cannot be used a sample to understand the whole population, i.e., a nation. The prompt claims that major cities must be financially supported by Governments since these are places where cultural tradition are generated and preserved. However, in my opinion, I would strongly disagree with it and would contend that major cities are just there to represent the economic development of a nation but they are silent on traditional values and culture. The reasons supporting my view are presented in the following paragraphs.

Firstly, do the food habits and festivities uniform across major and minor cities which are essential part of a culture? It is not. For instance, the city of Kolkata; a major city, in India celebrate Durga Puja as cultural festival while its nearby cities such as Howrah and Jalpaiguri celebrate Diwali on the same day. These two festivals are enjoyed in totally different manner and for different purpose as well. Further, the food which is served during special occasion such as Holi also differs in major and minor cities. For example, people abstain from having non-veg food during Holi in Raipur, a minor city, whereas in Ranchi, a major city, people practice sacrifice of a goat and savor non-veg food. Therefore, the culture which is defined by food habits and festivals cannot be judged just by major cities. It matters because financial support is irrelevant since culture in major and minor city is different and which one is traditional, is hard to come by.

Secondly, do religion and congregation of people signify culture since they are believed to have an influence on culture? It is not. For instance, in Delhi, a major city, it is hard to find people belonging to one religion. Some have faith in Hinduism while others have in Islam. Even its major cities such as New Delhi and West Delhi also have incongruity in practice of religion. Further, the race and community of people, had defined a culture and if by following the same reasoning, it cannot be used to support the argument. For instance, in Mumbai, a major city, people stay here because of job and education and therefore, have come and settled to this location since pre-independence era. And these people are different in their manners, tone, level of education etc. therefore, significantly obscuring the cultural understanding. Even if these cities were supported by Government, it would have not helped researchers to understand the traditional culture. It is appreciable since relocation of people from one place to another place has made the culture complicated and difficult to understand.

Thirdly, the language spoken by the denizens and clothes used by them define the culture only if they are same across the city. If not, cultural understanding is impaired. For instance, in the city of Bengaluru, a major city, it is not possible to say that Kannad is the cultural language of this city since it is considered as hub of jobs, people from all across India have come and settled here and they speak all different languages, making it hard even for natives to know who is from where. Further, the sartorial styles of people in the city of Hyderabad, a major city, is widely disparate. For example, some people use loincloth, some use modern pants and trousers while some use traditional wide bottom pants. Therefore, here, the study of culture on the basis of sartorial can give misleading results. It is significant because Government support for major cities actually deviating the researchers from the actual tradition that is preserved in minor cities.

Of course, some would argue that major cities can be used to judge the culture of a nation such as major city of London can be used to infer the culture of whole UK. But is applicable and valid only because there are homogeneity in whole UK in terms of education, religion, faith etc. However, if it comes to a nation where more than 20 languages are spoken and where diversity exists even within 15 miles, the support by Government to help the major cities thriving will not help preserve the culture but rather erode the culture that is preserved in minor cities but due to not having paid enough attention, it is moribund. In conclusion, Government must support minor cities in order to preserve culture.