ECONOMIC,SOCIAL AND CULTURAL IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION ON INDIA

ECONOMIC,SOCIAL AND CULTURAL IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION ON INDIA
(This Paper was presented in the National Seminar on "Globalization: The New Challenges to the Indian Society on March 6-7, 2010 at Satavahana University, Karimnagar - India)  

                                                                                                              -Dr.SVijayKumar

                               Globalization is the buzzword in the contemporary world. Broadly speaking, the term ‘globalization’ means integration of economies and societies through cross country flows of information, ideas, technologies, goods, services, capital, finance and people.   Cross border integration can have several dimensions – cultural, social, political and economic.  In fact, cultural and social integration even more than economic integration. The focus of this paper is to study the impact of globalization on economic, social and cultural fabric of India.

                         Globalization has made countries to realize that nations can no longer be cocooned in their own cultural or economic nests but invariably be part of the larger picture which takes into account the competencies, interests and the dependencies of economies world -wide. The zeal of globalization has even forced Governments to be tuned to the merits of a Global economy.

                       In Economics we have views on pro-globalization by Jagdish Bhagwati etc. who build on the economic notion that free trade helps everybody and lift the poor out of poverty, while we have the anti-globalization views by the likes of Vandana Shiva, Arundhati Roy, etc.,who see globalization as a way for multinational corporationss and multilateral institutions (World Bank, IMF) to change the rules all over the world to ensure better markets for the rich countries.
                      India opened up its economy in the early nineties following a major crisis of foreign exchange crunch that dragged the economy close to defaulting on loans. The response was a slew of domestic and external sector policy measures partly prompted by the immediate needs and partly by the demand of the multilateral organizations. The new economic policy introduced by our present Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, who was the then Finance Minister radically pushed forward in favour of a more open and market oriented economy.

                      Major measures initiated as a part of the liberalisation and globalization strategy in the early nineties included scrapping of the industrial licensing regime, reduction in the number of areas reserved for the public sector, amendment of the Monopolies and the Restrictive Ttrade Practices Act, start of the privatization programme, reduction in tariff rates and change over to market determined exchange rates.

The Economic impact due to Globalization:

1. Globalization has given nations greater access to global markets, technology, financial resources and quality services and skilled human resources.

2.  Improvement in and greater access to quality goods and services and an exponential increase in the volume of trade.

3. Access to global capital resources via the stock market and international debt depending on the economic potential of nations and their markets.

4. Access to technologies depending on the nations responsiveness to respect to protection of IPR and the responsible usage of technologies.

5. Access to the world markets to the skilled human resources from nations with inherent intellectual and technical capabilities (the outsourcing of IT, Pharma, BPO and KPO work).

6. Increase in exports of goods and services in which nations have their respective competencies.

7. Increased access to better and qualitative education.

8. Increased the purchasing capability of the nation through the creation of a sizeable middle class which is hungry for quality goods and services while there coexists a large poor class whose time is yet to come. One would expect that the fruits of liberalization and globalization would have a trickle down effect through the collection of taxes and revenues by Government due to increased trade and commerce.

The SOCIAL impact due to Globalization:

1. The free flow of Information both general and commercial.

2. Globalization has through greater exposure liberalized our attitudes, reduced our biases and predispositions about people, situations and communities worldwide.

3. The advent of Information, Communication Technologies (ICT),

Nations have built greater awareness of themselves and the other countries and cultures of the world.

4. One can see in India that inhibitions have been diluted because of the advent of media and the medium of entertainment. This has also naturally had some affect on the old cultural values with the focus now being on consumerism and success..

5. The experience in India is of relevance because of the greater cultural and literacy diversity between states and the economic divide between the urban and rural areas of India.

6. There has been a tremendous increase in consumerism, for goods and services whether necessary or perceived.

A distinct change in life-styles with rapid adaptation to worldwide trends.

         The winds of globalization have been speeded up in this era of an Information Society and the increasing usage of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Greater awareness of markets and knowledge of Capital resources have opened up the floodgates of International competition and trade. The world today is a closer place due to these technologies which is indirectly fostering Globalization. But again for those citizens who do not have adequate literacy levels, the digital divide is proving to be further detrimental to their progress.

RURAL POOR:

               In the villages, farmers are not much aware of global economic system. Most of the food crops are converted into cash crops. Sugar cane farmers are getting advance loan from banks and MNCs. They used to supply hybrid seedlings, fertilizers and highly advanced equipments. This equipment utility reduced the human labour force. Hence the rural people are shifting from place to place for want of labour for their livelihood. Natural manure is replaced by synthetic fertilizers. As there is a shift from food crops to export crops, the prices of food items went on high, and the poor people couldn't buy from their meager income. Similar trend continued for clothing, housing, transportation, health etc. So people were forced to consume less of even basic necessities.

                   Deaton (2003) opines that more than one fourth of the World's poor live in India. India's economic liberalization in the early 1990s resulted in high rates of growth, whether it reduced the numbers of poor or benefit only increasingly wealthy urban elite is a question. Because of growing inequality, consumption by the poor couldn't rise as fast as average consumption and poverty reduction was only about two-thirds of what it would have been had the distribution and consumption remained unchanged (Deaton, 2003). The gap between rural and urban areas widened because of the vast differences in the levels of literacy, availability of living facilities such as water, drainage, housing, power, lighting, food and transport etc.

TRIBAL:

                   There is an urgent need for improving the social and economic conditions of the tribal community and to solve their problems. India has failed to have a national policy of tribal development, to provide them with basic facilities like clean drinking water, education, employment and access to health facilities. Due to widespread corruption and negligence, there was ineffective implementation of programs for development of tribal communities. The tribal became ousters due to the construction of large dams. They lost their habitats and livelihood. Tribal women had to walk several kilometers for safe drinking water. Thousands of them die every year due to starvation and epidemics. As the tribal are uneducated and ignorant, land protection was not possible for them. When foreigners are allowed to exploit their traditional knowledge about medicinal plants their livelihoods are in danger.

MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS:

                   Due to globalization food items are being exported to India in the form of increased consumption of meat, western fast food, sodas and cool drinks, which may result in public health crisis as speculated by certain researchers. The rich biodiversity of India has yielded many healthy foods prepared from locally available organisms. But the marketing by MNCs with large advertisement campaigns lead the people to resort to their products (Mascarenhas, 2003).  

Changes in social and cultural life:

Access to television grew from 10% of the urban population (1991) to 75% of the urban population (1999) and to 90% (2009).

Cable television and foreign movies became widely available for the first time and have acted as a catalyst in bulldozing the cultural boundaries.

All these technologies have changed perceptions and dreams of ordinary people.

Unmarried boys and girls are sharing same apartment and staying away from their parents.

Indian youths leaving education in mid-way and joining MNC's

There has been a increase in the violence, particularly against women.

Scientific and technological innovations have made life quite comfortable, fast and enjoyable.

More availability of cheap and filthy material (CD's or DVD's of Hollywood movies, porn movies, sex toys, foreign channels like MTV) in the name of liberalization.

In India, land-line or basic phone was a prestige symbol few years back but now you find people riding bicycle with a mobile in hand, talking or listening music or even clicking cameras of their phones targeting pretty girls or ladies.

Society has become more open compared to its earlier conservative look due to exposure to other cultures through DTH or cable network.

This has contributed to dating, celebration of friendship days/valentine day, modeling, fashion shows, rising number of call girls and make them more prone to sexually transmitted diseases.

People are less worried for government jobs as MNC's and private or public sector are offering more lucrative jobs.

Extension of internet facilities even to rural areas.

In place of old cinema halls, multiplex theatres re coming up.

Old restaurants are now replaced by Mc. Donalds. Fast food and Chinese dishes have replaced juice corners and Parathas.

More inflow of money has aggravated deep rooted problem of corruption?

More scandals and scams compared to pre-globalization era.

Girls being blackmailed by their ex-boy friends using MMS

Ban on TV channels for showing sex and violence violating all norms

Girls/women being raped in moving vehicles or being blackmailed through new technology of photography, mobile camera, internet etc.   

There is deterioration in social values as evident from less respect for ladies, older people.

The Merits of Globalization are as follows:

There is an International market for companies and for consumers there is a wider range of products to choose from.

Increase in flow of investments from developed countries to developing countries, which can be used for economic reconstruction.

Greater and faster flow of information (through TV, Internet) between countries and greater cultural interaction has helped to overcome cultural barriers.

Technological development has resulted in reverse brain drain in developing countries.

India gained highly from the LPG model as its GDP increased to 9.7% in 2007-2008. In respect of market capitalization, India ranks fourth in the world.

The Demerits of Globalization are as follows:

The outsourcing of jobs to developing countries has resulted in loss of jobs in developed countries as a result, now they are following protectionism measures, for example USA is stopping BPO.   

There is a greater threat of spread of communicable diseases.

There is an underlying threat of multinational corporations with immense power ruling the globe. For smaller developing nations at the receiving end, it could indirectly lead to a subtle form of colonization.
Exploitation of labour by offering low wages

Even after globalization, condition of agriculture has not improved. The share of agriculture in the GDP is only 18%. The number of landless families has increased and farmers are still committing suicide.

Global recession impact on Indian economy resulted in loss of jobs in IT Sector.

            Swami Vivekananda, who foresaw the hazards of globalization and impact of MNC culture in India as early as in 1893 when he spoke at the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago. Here are the golden verses for you,"'Shall India die? Then, from the world all spirituality will be extinct, all sweet-souled sympathy for religion will be extinct, all ideality will be extinct ; and in its place will reign the duality of lust and luxury as the male and female deities, with money as its priest, fraud, force, and competition its ceremonies, and human soul its sacrifice. Such a thing can never be'. Precisely such a terrible thing is taking place in India today on account of the inexorable and immutable process of Globalization".

 Conclusion:

               The process of globalization is not new. The globalization of the economic, social and cultural structures happened in all ages. Earlier the pace of such a process was so slow that we hardly noticed it. However, today with the advent of the information technology, newer means of communication have made the world a very small place. Not only the pace of the globalization process, but the penetration and integration of the changes induced in our day to day life has made the impact of globalization many fold higher. With this process the world has become one huge market place.

              But seeing the positive effects of globalization, it can be said that very soon India will overcome these hurdles too and march strongly on its path of development.

                                       R E F E R E N C E S

1.     Article on “Theorizing Globalisation” by Douglas Kellner – web source: http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/papers/theoryglob.htm

2.    Wikipeida The free Encyclopedia- web source: http://en.wikipedia.org./Westernization

3.    Article on “Brave New MC World” by Carla Binion – web source: http://www.peace.ca/bravenewmcworld:htm

4.    Doing Business in India: A cultural perspective –                                web source: httm://stylusinc.com/business/India/business_india.htm

5.    Herald Tribune – the world’s daily newspaper – Globalisation brings new cultural traits to India, by Thomas Fuller - web source:

6. Bhargava P and Dave A, Inequalities in Rural Development: study of Rajathan, Southern Economist, February 1, 2003, P5.

 7. Buggi C, Reddy S and Gowda G, Impact of Globalization on Agrarian class structure. Its implications of Indian villages. Third Concept, January 2001, P 17-19.

8.  Deaton A. Is World Poverty falling? Southern Economist, January 2003, P. 21.

9.  Mascarenhas M. Unpalatable truth. The Hindu, June 22, 2003 p.1.

10. Mohammed C and Nazar M, The Role of Multinational corporations, Southern Economist, February 1, 2003. P.24