Many social evils prevailed in the Indian society from 19th century till the start of 20th century. Sati system, Female infanticide, Caste System, Dowry System, Child Marriage, restriction on marriage of widow were some of the main social evils. Indian social reformers took various steps to remove these social and religious evils from Indian society. Actually it is very difficult to remove prevailing social evils without the efforts of reformers efforts.
Following were the impacts of efforts of social reformers to fremove social evils from society :
1. Reform Movements: Many reform movements were started by social reformers to remove social evils. Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj, Namdhari Movement, Singh Sabha, Rama Krishna Mission, Aligarh Movement etc. gave a great contribution in it. Just because of the efforts of these movements, many social evils weakened to a great extent such as Sati system, Polygamy, Child marriage, Purdah system, Caste system, etc.
2. Legal Efforts: Indian social reformers stressed a lot and that’s why, the British government passed many laws to eradicate socio-religious movements :
(a) Lord William Bentick passed an Act in 1829 A.D. called ‘Sati Prohibition Act’ and declared the Sati Pratha illegal. He also passed laws against child infanticide and human sacrifice during his tenure.
(b) In 1856 A.D., ‘Widow Remarriage Act’ was passed and Widow remarriage was declared legal.
(c) Child marriage was also declared illegal in 1891 A.D.
3. Advent of Sense of Nationalism: Sense of nationalism was arosed among general masses, just because of the efforts of Indian social reformers. With this it became possible to form a new India.
