'A distinctive feature of Indian society is its heterogeneity': Hamid Ansari

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Vice President Hamid Ansari said that a distinctive feature of the Indian society is its heterogeneity, and added that the past six decades have witnessed immense changes in social and political perceptions in societies the world over.

"A distinctive feature of Indian society is its heterogeneity. The historian Ramachandra Guha depicts our recent history as 'a series of conflict maps' involving caste, language, religion and class and opines that conflicts relating to these 'operate both singly and in tandem'," he said here on Friday while delivering a public lecture on 'Identity and Citizenship' at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, during the last leg of his three -nation tour.

"The past six decades have witnessed immense changes in social and political perceptions in societies the world over. Theories and practices of assimilation, one national mould and the melting pot have been discredited and generally abandoned. Instead, evolving perceptions and practical compulsions lead individual societies to accept diversity and cultural pluralism," he added.

Speaking about minority rights, he said: "The question of minority rights as a marker of identity, and their accommodation within the ambit of citizenship rights, remains a live one in India."

Vice-President Ansari reached London on October 31, after visiting Cuba and Peru, and was received by the Prince of Wales Fellow, Dr. Farhan Nizami and other officials at London's Heathrow Airport.