Globalization
The term ‘Globalization’ is itself self-explanatory.
It is an international platform for maintaining evenness in the living mode of
the people all over the world. Globalization is the resultant of the
interchange of worldly views, opinions and the various aspects of the culture
everywhere around the world. This is the means for providing the international
arena for intermingling of people from different sectors, culture and dialects
and learns to move and approach socially without hurting and affecting each
others’ prestige.
In 20th century India both society and population
have changed. India is experiencing several processes of change, such as
demographic transition, industrialization and urbanization, skill development,
social mobility, legal changes and greater assertion of autonomy. Among them
effects of globalization are very significant and far reaching. The term
globalization means International Integration. The concept refers to free flow
of labor and capital across international borders.
Effects of Globalization on Indian
Culture
There are various effects of globalization on Indian
culture, experienced in different aspects of the people’s daily lives. Although
globalization started way back, it has impacted the cultural beliefs and
practices of the people of India in different ways. According to many people,
globalization has led to the contamination and erosion of the people’s cultural
traditions. However, there are also those who think that globalization is a
blessing, which has contributed positively to the development of Indian
culture.
The Main Effects of Globalization on the
Indian Culture
There have been varied opinions on the effects of
globalization on Indian culture. Although it might not be easy to measure the
exact impact, there are clear indications that can be seen by a majority. This
article will discuss the positive and negative impacts of globalization on the
culture of the Indians.
Just like in other nations, the Indian culture is
characterized by diverse religions, languages, traditions, foods, art, and
architecture among other elements. Over the years, the people of India have
been believed to be welcoming and accommodating. This is one of the reasons the
country has continued to attract visitors from various parts of the world. As a
result of the integration of other cultures, especially Western, the Indian culture
is no longer what it used to be. In fact, globalization has affected almost
every aspect of the people’s culture.
One of the key areas of the Indian culture that has
been affected by globalization is the social values of the people. Before the
tide of globalization, Indians treated visitors as God, with a lot of warmth.
Besides, elders were accorded high respect in society and the people were so
attached to their traditional festivals, which were celebrated in pomp and
color. Today, it is quite hard to see such huge social gatherings among
Indians. The current generation exercises a lot of restraint and mainly
interact based on wealth and financial status. A greater part of their social
values has been consumed by other cultures and the cheerful display of
togetherness is no longer evident in most cases.
In the traditional Indian society, the main
religions were Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism. The people were not
accustomed to religions like Christianity, which is now practiced by many
Indians. When British Imperialists came into India, they tried to convince the
people that Christianity was the only true religion that all should adopt.
Although some Indians have opposed the ideas till today, quite a number of them
have abandoned their traditional religions and shifted to Christianity, Islam
among others. In fact, the newly converted Indians have not only been able to
change their faiths but also a greater part of their cultures. In fact, there
is also quite a number of Indians who have totally abandoned the concept of
religion.
Through globalization, Indians have been able to
access information through the internet and other means of communication. This
information has been instrumental in shaping the lifestyles of the people,
based on modes of dressing, food, entertainment among others. Indians have
their traditional way of dressing which is recognized globally. However, many
people today no longer conform to those modes of dressings. The youth are the
ones mostly affected by this since many of them today dress according to the
fashion trends dictated by the West. In fact, almost every Educated Indian now
believes that something can only be presumed fit if it is approved by a Western
authority.
The traditional Indian society held the institution
of marriage in very high regards and things like divorce were unheard of. In fact, divorce was considered a taboo in the Indian culture, condemned in all manners possible. However, there are
several cases of divorce and separation among married couples in India today.
Considering the effects of globalization on Indian
culture discussed above, it is can be concluded that globalization is a
double-edged sword that cuts on both sides. To some extent it is a good move,
which has opened avenues for new opportunities for growth and development to
the people. On the other hand, globalization has also significantly hurt
various elements of the people’s cultural beliefs and practices. However, the
effects mainly depend on perceptions and the content or ideas that people
consume.
Globalization and its impact
Globalization has a wide role to play worldwide. It
has left back its footprints at every sphere of life. Not only in India, but
the interchange of world views and ideas has resulted in a major transformation
of the lifestyle and living standard of people globally. Indian culture is no
bar to this transformation process. Our deep rooted traditions and customs have
loosened up their hold with the emergence of globalization. India has a rich
cultural background and pride of its culture is famous throughout the world.
Globalization has not only inculcated the westernization in India, but
conversely the Indian culture has also spread its impact globally. Culture and
traditions of any geographic region hold a special significance with respect to
its uniqueness and that is the differentiating factor for a population within a
geographic boundary from the other. This uniqueness has been disturbed to the
varying degrees in lieu of globalization. Such an impact is very much
pronounced when they hit a developing country like India.
Let us put some light on the impact on globalization
in India.
1.
Global
exploration:
Globalization initiated with the masses travelling to other geographic areas
for exploration, then with the interest of travel and enjoying the personal
space, then came the era of searching employment opportunities anywhere on the
globe to win the contest of ‘survival of the fittest’. With the advancement of
human approach, the globalization started on rooting its footprints at every
place. In today’s era the various means of telecommunication, social media, and
most importantly the Internet has a big role to play in the spread of
globalization.
Globalization
has both positive and negative impacts throughout the globe. Right from the
environmental challenges from the climatic influence, the air, water soil
pollution etc., to the cyber crime; globalization has a huge contribution to
all the ill-effects of scientific advancements. May it be business, trade, and
work exposure or the economic and financial status of the country; no field is
left behind the reach of globalization.
2.
Indian Culture: The culture of any country does
not only portray the region and language of the region, but it starts with the
mindset and mentality of the residing citizens. Indian culture is quite rich
with respect to its heritage and resources, and more importantly due to the
welcoming approach of its citizens. India is bouquet of flowers varying
religion, dialect, edibles, tradition, custom, music, art and architecture etc,
bundled into a single unit of patriotism and unity. The common factor within
all these diversities is the Indian mindset of welcoming, greeting, celebrating
in a united way with immense affection and togetherness. This is the rich
essence of the Indian culture that has attracted many foreigners to stay back
in India and mingle into its eternal fragrance.
When
we analyze this rich culture with the globalization point of view, we can find
many punch holes of westernization and mixing of other traits and cultures into
our beautifully woven blanket. Let us closely analyze the impacts of
globalization on Indian culture:
3.
Family Structure: Let us start with the key attraction
of Indian joint family culture. The joint families have become a strange
surprise to the Indians especially to those residing in the metropolitan cities
in the small flat culture with the nuclear families blooming up like mushrooms
in the rain. We have lost the patience to get adjusted into the joint family,
imbibing the values of the elders and getting the young ones brought up under
the shadow of their grandparents. Children have started treating grandparents
like guests or visitors, and such an upbringing is one of the main reasons of
increasing old age homes, as those children consider their own parents as
burden in their state of adulthood.
4.
Marriage Values: Similarly, marriages have also
lost their values. It is very much evident from the increasing number of
divorce cases and the extra-marital affairs reported every now and then.
Marriage used to be considered as bonding of the souls which will be linked
even after the death; but today marriage is like a professional bond or a
so-called commitment to share life without compromising their self-interests.
The ego factor into the Indian youth is again a product of globalization.
5.
Adultery: Both the genders were kept at a
distance, with lot many restrictions and limitations to the approach for ages
in our culture. With the emergence of globalization and western culture, youth
have start mixing up well with each other. The friendly approach and the
socializing feature is worth appreciable. But the total breakout of
restrictions has adulterated the Indian mindset, playing up with the physical
relationship. This has given birth to new relationships in India like live-in
relationships. Also the increased cases of rape and sexual abuse cases are a
result of the perverted mind which again the imported values very much alien to
our mother culture.
6.
Social Values: We have the incorporated values
of treating the guests as God, warm-hearted welcoming, greeting elders with due
respect and a celebrating every small festival with great colour of enjoyment
and togetherness. Such a wide gathering with full hue and light can hardly be
seen today. People have highly restricted themselves in social interaction. The
interaction in present generation is highly diplomatic considering the
financial status and wealth. We have lost our social values and cheerful
blessing of togetherness. The present generations are happier celebrating
Valentine’s Day rather than Holi and Diwali.
7.
Food, Clothing and Dialect: Indian food,
clothing and languages are varied with respect to different states. The food
varies in its taste, but every food has its own nutrient value and every region
is specified and rich in its medicinal preparations with the home remedies.
Even the clothing varies in different states which is very much particular in
maintaining the dignity of woman. The varies cuisines from all over the world
though have different flavours to add, still the food ingredients that have
inflicted with much popularity are the junk food items which has increased the
health disorders in the country. Again the dressings like the suitings for the
males are an inappropriate match for the Indian type of climate. The female
dresses are again a way of distraction to the perverted minds.
Even
the Indians are not very much in favour of promoting their mother tongue or our
national language. Instead the youth today consider it to be a shameful
condition to speak in their national language Hindi. The way the foreign
languages are getting prevalent in India like the French, German and Spanish,
right from the school level, is the example of how much we provide importance
to Indian languages in comparison to the foreign ones.
8.
Employment and the Agricultural Sector: India was
predominantly an agricultural based country. With the advanced globalization
and cropping up of MNCs, the farming has lost its prime value in India.
Agricultural science has the least focus amongst the youngsters who consider
farming as a shameful profession and look down upon the same. Employment
through MNCs has lucrative deals attracting the bulk of manpower who are
working for the other countries as their customer care representatives. We are
losing our health and our status and slowly getting to the age of economic
slavery due to these MNCs. This is what the globalization has provided Indians
through their emergence.
To conclude we can call Globalization as a slow
spreading risk factor that has covered almost the entire country with its
severity. With some positivity of having a generalized knowledge of the culture
throughout the world and the happening and incidences globally, still the major
negative impacts are quite alarming for our country. Hence, we need to more
very cautiously with the globalization process preserving our nation’s pride
and maintain our cultural prestige.
Economic Impact
Positive Impact:
1.
Trade with other countries tremendously increased.
Exports and imports boomed due to opening up of trade markets.
2.
Global food chain / restaurants.
3.
Liberalization of Indian markets for foreign
players. This has increased the inflow of men, money, material, labour,
technology etc from foreign countries to India.
4.
Markets expanded. Many of the Indian industries have
global markets and India serves as a market for many foreign companies.
5.
Globalization is responsible for the growth of many
industries in India and especially software industry.
6.
Growth of MNC’s (Multinational Corporation).
7.
Globalization has given nations greater access to
global markets, technology, financial resources and quality services and
skilled human resources.
8.
Improvement in and greater access to quality goods
and services and an exponential increase in the volume of trade.
9.
Access to global capital resources via the stock
market and international debt depending on the economic potential of nations
and their markets.
10.
Access to technologies depending on the nations
responsiveness to respect to protection of IPR and the responsible usage of
technologies.
11.
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).
12.
Increase in exports of goods and services in which
nations have their respective competencies.
13.
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 co-exists a large poor class whose time is yet
to come.
14.
Shifting of labour force from agricultural sector to
industrial sector and thus reducing disguised employment in agricultural sector.
15.
High quality and low cost products flooded
Indian markets increasing consumers’ choices.
16.
Growth of organized retail chain.
17.
Just few years back in India land phone was a
prestige symbol but now mobiles can be seen in the hands of many rich and poor
people.
18.
In agricultural sector new varieties of farm
equipment, new agricultural practices, applications of biotechnology like
drought resistant, pest resistant varieties etc are indirectly due to
globalization.
19.
Indian companies adopting international standards in
the areas of accounting, inventory management, Human resource, marketing,
customer relationship management practices etc.
20.
Increase in flow of investments from developed
countries to developing countries, which can be used for economic
reconstruction.
21.
India gained highly from the LPG (Liquefied
Petroleum Gas) model as its GDP (Gross Domestic Product) increased to 9.7% in
2007-2008.
22.
The free flow of Information both general and
commercial.
Negative Impact
1.
Rich poor divide increased due to unequal
distribution of wealth.
2.
Ethical responsibility of business diminished.
3.
Tribes are unable to integrate in the era of
globalization and they are facing many problems due to industrial expansion
like land alienation, loss of livelihood, displacement etc.
4.
High growth but problem of unemployment.
5.
Price hike and inflation of every daily usable
commodities.
6.
Native traditional industries in India got badly
affected as they are unable to compete with foreign players.
7.
Government driven public sector units are in sale
due to increased privatization.
8.
Growth in different sectors became uneven.
9.
More inflow of money has aggravated the problem of
corruption.
We cannot say that the impact of globalization has
been totally positive or totally negative. It has been both. Each impact
mentioned above can be seen as both positive as well as negative. However, it
becomes a point of concern when, an overwhelming impact of globalization can be
observed on the Indian culture.
Every educated Indian seems to believe that nothing
in 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. This should be checked, to
preserve the rich culture and diversity of India.
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