Globalization
“Critics of globalization contend that,
even if increased trade promotes material prosperity, it comes with a high
spiritual and cultural cost, running roughshod over the world’s distinctive cultures
and threatening to turn the globe into one big, tawdry strip mall.”
Socialization
of people for improving business and financial activities across the globe can
be referred as globalization. It is not a new phenomenon as people kept
searching new places and avenues to increase their business activities as
evident by explorations of Vasco-digamma, Columbus and East India Company.
Bitter experiences from East India Companies & British rule makes Indian
little bit cautious for adventures of globalization. This has been the root
cause for delay in liberalization in India. In literary terms, globalization
has been defined in several ways as evident from definitions reproduced below.
In the initial sense of the term, globalization refers to the spread of new
forms of non-territorial social activity (Ruggie, 1993; Scholte, 2000). To make
term more clear, Globalization has been defined as the process of rapid
integration of countries and happening through greater foreign trade and
foreign investment. In essence, it refers to increased possibilities for action
between and among people in situations irrespective of geographical
considerations as per the definition of social theorists. Developed countries
have been trying to pursue developing countries to liberalize the trade and
allow more flexibility in business policies to provide equal opportunities to
multinational firms in their domestic market. International Monetary Fund (IMF)
and World Bank helped them in this endeavour. Liberalization began to hold its foot
on barren lands of developing countries like India by means of reduction in
excise duties on electronic goods in a fixed time frame. Indian government did
the same and liberalized the trade and investment due to the pressure from
World Trade Organization. Import duties were cut down phase-wise to allow MNC's
operate in India on equality basis. As a result globalization has brought to
India new technologies, new products and also the economic opportunities.
Despite bureaucracy, lack of infrastructure, and an ambiguous policy framework
that adversely impact MNCs operating in India, MNCs are looking at India in a
big way, and are making huge investments to set up R&D centers in the
country. India has made a lead over other growing economies for IT, business
processing, and R&D investments. There has been both positive and negative
impact of globalization on social and cultural values in India. There is no
denying of the fact that globalization has brought cheers to people's life by
opening new vistas of employment. It has also made inroads in the cultural
heritage of this country.
Due to economic liberalization and globalization, the world
has become a “global village”. There is increasing interaction between people
of different countries. As a result food habits, dress habits, lifestyle and
views are being internationalized. The influence of globalization on such
aspects are analysed under the following heads
RELIGION
India is the birth place of Dharmic religions such as
Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Dharmic religions, also known as
Indian religions, are a major form of world religions next to the Abrahamic
ones. India is one of the most religiously diverse nations in the world, with
some of the most deeply religious societies and cultures. Religion still plays a central and definitive
role in the life of most of its people. Despite the strong role of religion in
Indian life, atheism and agnostics also have visible influence along with a
self-ascribed tolerance to other faiths.
Impact
Along with Christian religion came the rest of British or
Western culture, thought and customs and the gradual end of traditional ways of
life. Thus our traditional religions and cultures were gradually subverted or
eliminated. The new Indian converts to Christianity were encouraged not only to
give up their religion but their culture, which often had religious or
spiritual implications as well. A good Indian Christian convert would dress
like an Englishman and emulate English manners in all things. Thus in India the
Hindus who converted to Christianity were encouraged to think, behave and live
like Englishmen.
SOCIETY
The traditional Indian culture is defined by relatively
strict social hierarchy. From an early age, children are reminded of their
roles and places in society. Several differences such as religion divide
culture. However, far more powerful division is the traditional Hindu
bifurcation into non-polluting and polluting occupations. Strict social taboos
have governed these groups for thousands of years. Among developing countries,
India has low levels of occupational and geographic mobility. People choose
same occupations as their parents and rarely move geographically in the
society.
Family:
India for ages has had a prevailing tradition of the joint
family system. Arranged marriages have the tradition in Indian society for
centuries. Overwhelming majority of Indians have their marriages planned by
their parents and other respected familymembers, with the consent of the bride
and groom. Although women and men are equal before the law and the trend toward
gender equality has been noticeable, women and men still occupy distinct
functions in Indian society. Woman's role in the society is often to perform
household works and pro bono community work.
Greeting:
Namaste, Namaskar or Namaskaram is a common spoken greeting
or salutation in the Indian subcontinent. When spoken to another person, it is
commonly accompanied by a slight bow made with hands pressed together, palms
touching and fingers pointed upwards, in front of the chest.
Festivals:
India, being a multi-cultural and multi-religious society,
celebrates holidays and festivals of various religions. The 3 National holidays
in India, are the Independence Day, the Republic Day and the Gandhi Jayanti,
Popular religious festivals include the Hindu festivals of Diwali, Durga puja,
Holi, Rakshabandhan, Dussehra, Ramzaan etc.
Impact
1. Nuclear families are emerging.
2. Divorce rates are rising day by day.
3. Men and women are gaining equal right to education, to
earn, and to speak.
4. ‘Hi’, ‘Hello’ is used to greet people in spite of
Namaskar and Namaste.
5. American festivals like Valentines day, Friendship day
etc. are spreading across India.
CUISINE
The multiple families of Indian cuisine are characterized by
their sophisticated and subtle use of many spices and herbs. Though a
significant portion of Indian food is vegetarian, many traditional Indian
dishes also include chicken, goat, lamb, fish, and other meats. Cuisine across
India has also been influenced by various cultural groups that entered India
throughout history, such as the Persians, Mughals, and European colonists.
Though the tandoor originated in Central Asia, Indian tandoori dishes, such as
chicken tikka made with Indian ingredients, enjoy widespread popularity.
Impact
Indian cuisine is one of the most popular cuisines across
the globe. Historically,Indian spices and herbs were one of the most sought
after trade commodities. Pizzas, burgers, Chinese foods and other Western foods
have become quite popular.
CLOTHING
Traditional Indian clothing for women are the saris and also
Ghaghra Cholis For men, traditional clothes are the Dhoti, Kurta. In southern
India men wear long, white sheets of cloth called dhoti with shirts. Women wear
a sari draped over a simple or fancy blouse. This is worn by young ladies and
woman. Little girls wear a pavada.
Traditionally, the red bindi (or sindhur) was worn only by
the married Hindu women, but now it has become a part of women's fashion.
Impact
Indo-western clothing, the fusion of Western and Sub
continental fashion is in trend. Wearing jeans, t-shirts, mini skirts have
become common among Indian girls.
PERFORMING ARTS
Music
The music of India includes multiples varieties of
religious, folk, popular, pop, and classical music. India's classical music
includes two distinct styles: Carnatic and Hindustani music. It remains
instrumental to the religious inspiration, cultural expression and pure
entertainment.
Dance
Indian dance too has diverse folk and classical forms.
Bharatanatyam, kathak, kathakali mohiniattam, kuchipudi, odissi are popular
dance forms in India. Kalarippayattu or Kalari for short is considered one of
the world's oldest martial art. There have been many great practitioners of
Indian martial Arts including Bodhidharma who supposedly brought Indian martial
arts to China.
Impact
1. Indian Classical music has gained worldwide recognition.
2. Western music is becoming very popular in our country.
3. Fusing Indian music along with western music is
encouraged among musicians.
4. More Indian dance shows are held globally.
5. The number of foreigners who are eager to learn
Bharatanatyam is rising.
6. Western dance forms such as Jazz, Hip hop, Salsa, Balley
have become among Indian youngsters.
Education and
Employment
School buildings are available in few villages but number of
teachers is inadequate in primary schools. Benches, boards and other facilities
are of sub-standard quality. There is, however, one positive development that
girls are attending the schools in the villages. Also the number of students
attending graduate and post graduate courses is increasing but awareness among
students from rural areas lacks towards technical education and that is the
single reason that most of the students from rural areas are unable to secure
employment.
Technology, Culture
and Social Values
Technology has failed to percolate to villages in absence of
electricity and other communication infrastructure. Few people know about the
internet. However, well-to-do families have availed DTH and dish TV facilities.
Mobile connections are increasing in rural areas but at slower pace. There are
no small scale industries in villages to provide employment to educated youth.
India’s real culture is still preserved in rural life. New advancement of technology
has not much influence in rural areas. People still prefer to wear dresses of
old fashion and celebrate festivals in old styles. Folk dances and folk songs
are still popular among villagers. Culture is still untouched and unaffected by
western influence. Globalization has no impact on rural life as standards of
living are suboptimal but migration of people is taking place and poor people
are moving to urban areas in search of employment.
Agriculture
Globalization does not have any positive impact on
agriculture. On the contrary, it has few detrimental effects as government is
always willing to import food grains, sugar etc whenever there is a price
increase of these commodities. Government never thinks to pay more to farmers
so that they produce more food grains but resorts to imports. On the other
hand, subsidies are declining so cost of production is increasing. Even farms
producing fertilizers have to suffer due to imports. There are also threats
like introduction of GM crops, herbicide resistant crops etc.
Other changes in
social and cultural life
· Access to television grew from 10% of the urban population
(1991) to 75% of the urban population (1999).
· 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, and resulted to rising number of call girls and makes 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.
· People are more wary of the world events and have a direct
opportunity to participate in world politics and economy. As a result of this,
a new middle class has emerged. This class is a fusion of Indian and western
value system. It is unique and characteristic of globalization.
· Extension of internet facilities even to rural areas.
· In place of old cinema halls, multiplex theatre is 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 being raped in moving vehicles
· There is deterioration in social values as evident from
less respect for ladies and older people.
IMPACT OF
GLOBALISATION ON INDIAN BUSINESS CULTURE
The Indian economy had been booming for the past few years.
The country held great promise for the future. Liberalized foreign policies had
unleashed the entrepreneurial spirit of its people and many multi-national
firms, attracted by the dusty plains of Deccan, had already set up big offices
throughout the nation.
The foreign culture can have both positive and negative
influence on people and business firms. New ways of thinking and working may
develop leading to higher efficiency. A few examples of impact of foreign
culture on business practices are given below:
· Indian companies adopting international accounting
standards.
· Just-in-time and other more efficient techniques of
inventory control.
· Flexitime and new practices of human resource management.
· Social responsibility and business ethics ideas.
· Improvement in corporate governance practices.
· Customer relationship management practices.
· Inflow of foreign funds.
· Healthy competition with foreign products.
The business sector in India is highly promising in the
present scenario. The impact of globalization has changed the business
procedure in India in terms of psychology, methodology, technology, mindset
work culture etc. Newer challenges, newer opportunities are day-by-day in front
of Indian industries, which are profitable and prospective.
The fundamental scope of doing business in India is lying
with its people. The huge population of India has created a large unsaturated
market of consumers. This is one of the reasons why global companies are very
much interested in doing business in India. In the post globalization era this
scope has increased immensely for global multinational companies as Government
of India has also played a very crucial and supportive role in this respect
through liberalized policies and legislative structure.
Let us glance through a few situations that have arisen in
India post liberalization
1. Shifting of Agriculture worker to industry sector
2. Urbanization –People are shifting from rural to urban
areas.
3. Opening up of trade market –export import boom.
4. Big open saturated market for products
5. A growing market for high quality and low price product
6. Gradual increase of organized retail chain.
7. Growing number of Merger and Acquisitions.
8. Lucid license policies for overseas Multinational
Corporation.
9. High growth rate is showing economic prosperity in India.
10. Indian Market leaders going global.
But there are certain negative impacts occurred aftermath
the globalization impact in India, which are as follows –
1) Unequal distribution of wealth disparity in income.
2) Rapid privatization government driven public sector units
are on sale.
3) Uneven growth in respect of different sectors.
4) Extreme mechanization is reducing demand for manual
labours.
5) Both employee and consumer exploitation are on rise by
private sector.
Conclusion
Overwhelming
impact of globalization can be observed on the Indian culture? Every educated
Indian seems to believe that nothing in Hindu India, past or present, is to be
approved unless recognized and recommended by an appropriate authority in the
West. There is an all-pervading presence of a positive, if not worshipful,
attitude towards everything in western society and culture, past as well as
present in the name of progress, reason and science. Nothing from the West is
to be rejected unless it has first been weighed and found wanting by a Western
evaluation. “Swami Vivekananda foresaw the dangers of Globalization as early as
in 1893 when he spoke at the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago. To quote
his soul-stirring words: '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. In the end we can say that,
every step of movement towards economic, political and cultural modernization,
taken by the state in India, is responded to by the people with an enhanced
sense of self-consciousness and awareness of identity. Cultural modernization,
sponsored by the forces of globalization, is resented if it encroaches upon or
does not promote the core cultural values of society, its language, social
practices and styles of life. The vigour of the renewed sense of self-awareness
generated among the members of the local cultures and communities is such as to
succeed in making adaptive reconciliation with the forces of globalization. The
linkages both visible and invisible, defining the cultural interdependence
among communities and regions in India which have existed historically,
reinforce instead of threatening the national identity. These bonds seem to
become stronger as India encounters the forces of modernization and
globalization.
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