One can not study present without considering the past associated with it. People all the time tries to explain the societies only in the present context, they often try to explain people action basing their knowledge in the present scenario, however that is a completely distorted way of looking at it, any conclusion about present so reached will be wrong. People's action in present time can never be explained by breaking the continuity of fabric of time. It is just like declaring that earth is flat while walking on it, because we are so close to it we can not come to a truthful conclusion about it, if you want to examine something you should must maintain a distance to it then only your judgement will be unbiased one. Likewise if just pick a portion of historical timeline that too which is so close to us, and try to analyze it without associating events of that time with its past we will come to all wrong conclusion because that would not present a complete picture to us.
So we can not at any time separate past, present and future and analyze them separately without taking other in consideration. It does not matter what the condition are, may be society has gone through a big revolution or a huge shift in the general consciousness of people, but still any event in the history, irrespective of how much big it is, can not dissect historical timeline.
I think people often do this mistake while analysing Indian history. In the recent history of India, the year 1947 is considered watershed moment as it separate India from a slave country to Master of its own destiny, but that is not all, it also separates the political consciousness of India into two parts. Anything prior to 1947 is considered history and is not included in debate on any issue in the 21st century India. However that is where the problem lies, it is true that we ourselves framed new identity for us on that day, but really that identity was formed on the papers and considering the size of India with all its diversity that constitutional identity still has not sink into the psyche of common man of India even after 72 years of independence.
So, 15 August 1947 may have cracked the historical timeline of India into two parts but only Politically, Socially you can not produce an abrupt change in the society. And hence any political discussion in India right now can be isolated one but any social issue can not be discussed just taking into account incidents after 1947. But unfortunately that is how important social debates or discussion proceeds in India and hence most of the time they end up with wrong conclusion without knowing about it.
You must see the big picture at all time.
Temporal distance with history gives us better overview of the situation.
At any time Human behavior can not be studied without considering the Past associated with it