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Globalization
is touted by some as a win-win arrangement for
every country that participates in it and opens
it markets. A sweet poison tastes sweet first
and kills you later. So, the first taste of
Globalization that India had was incredibly
sweet. When everyone was so inebriated by the
sudden glut of consumer items that had been
forbidden in a closed economy, any hint that
this glut was going to be harbinger of economic
shackles was unwelcome. However, reality has now
begun to sink in. I was very delighted to read
an article by a reader lamenting the erosion of
India’s manufacturing capability by under-priced
Chinese imports. I see him as an individual who
is among the first few to open his eyes and
realize that this sweet potion of Globalization
actually does considerable harm!
Yes, now apples from New Zealand, America,
Australia and China are available in India.
Everyone has a Korean cell phone now. That is
the visible carrot. Let’s see where the looming
invisible stick is. With the Corporations
invading India, the small entrepreneurs is
becoming history. Small retailers can not
compete with Wal Marts and Reliance Marts. You
will see them going out of business one by one.
They are screaming, but their cries are being
drowned by the cheers of those who are still
gloating on the carrots of globalization. Now
the fruit seller and vegetable seller goes door
to door selling his ware. The huge Marts will in
near future buy the produce straight from the
farms. So now, the hundreds of small business
owners will be replaced by one obscenely wealthy
individual who will employ the small farmers as
farm workers and pay them ridiculously low
wages.
Globalization brings in its wake a perverted
kind of capitalism. Capitalism is good when it
encourages small entrepreneurs to set up shop
and earn a buck. In this 21st century perverted
kind of Capitalism, the wealth gets siphoned off
to a few ridiculously rich individuals who use
privileged accounts in market trading, IPO
grabbing and, at worst, Enroning the savings of
the middle class.
The China dimension of this whole thing also
merits examination. Globalization is good only
if the same labor laws and business practices
apply to the entire market. Indian workers can
be paid less than American workers. How can
workers in more conscientious societies compete
with China where prison labor works night and
day like animals in manufacturing ? How can you
compete in a Global market with a country where
every thing produced abroad is copied or pirated
? How can you compete in a Global market with a
country that flaunts trade practices and
undercuts prices to kill competition elsewhere ?
America taught China how to make steel. Chinese
made shackles out of that steel and have not
only put it on the feet of the Americans but
also on the feet of Indians! India has reasons
to worry. A lot of instability is being created
in India. The disparity between the rich and
poor is wider than ever. China is cutting
India’s manufacturing capability by undercutting
prices and killing off Indian Industry. The
Maoist problem is growing. Pakistan sits like a
vulture on a dead branch eager to grab a
mouthful.
What was true thirty years ago is true today.
India’s population must drop. But that is a
truth the markets don’t want to hear. If the
population dropped, the houses would become
cheap. The economy would suffer. So to keep the
balloon of the economy filled up with hot air,
the people of the world (not only Indians) breed
like rabbits. America is up to 300 million from
100 million over a few decades.
Obviously this is a complex problem with not one
solution to it. Globalization is fuelled by the
rich who will suck the most profit and use the
cheapest labor wherever they can find it. Our
laws have to be made carefully to keep the hands
of the large corporations businessmen off at
least half of the market share. But then, when
they will start choosing the Political Leaders,
influencing elections and owning the media, they
will make the rules through lobby groups and
people, like goats, will believe what they are
told. Right now it is time to make merry with
Chinese pichkaris, kirpans, diyas, fireworks and
maybe even Chinese printed Ramayans! But wait !
who reads that book anyways these days ?!
Everyone is busy making money faster than it
gets devalued. Run mouse run... the harder you
run the faster the treadmill will turn backwards
and you will stay where you are!
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Comments: |
Every thing has positives and
negatives, and it's very easy to
complain. Remember the days when
most graduates had to stay
unemployed waiting for a
non-existent govt. jobs? At least
now some have a job in Reliance
sales office or a BPO.
Yes capitalism grows on greed but
the alternative i.e. communism led
to slave like exploitation worse
than capitalism and gross violations
of human rights. Can we forget
countries like East Germany and
USSR?
For one I'll rather have cheap
Chinese manufactured goods/Korean
mobiles and cheap Indian software
(btw, remember Americans and British
whine about Indian cheap labour too)
as compared to waiting for a govt
babu to sanction a phone line in 15
yrs or a rubbish Bajaj scooter for
which people had to wait for 2
years. - SP - Mar. 31, 2007
I see that my point is lost on Mr.
S.P. This is but obvious. For most
people in India, there are only two
things to compare each other - the
exploding market today and the
doldrums of the days of closed
markets. When you compare the two
and have to choose one. Of course,
today's India is far better.
My article focused on Globalization,
not Capitalism. I did speak on the
subject of Capitalism and praised
it. I, however, cautioned that there
can be many forms of Capitalisms.
Capitalism should not be
monopolistic and business should not
be allowed to spill into Government
(which in practice is very
difficult). Now is the time to shape
the business and labor laws in India
that will shape society tomorrow.
Globalization, again, is a good
concept in sprit. Excess produce
should find its way to other parts
of the world where there is a demand
for it. However, this too can be
misused by using prison labour and
undercutting prices to kill off
industries in another country.
It is hard to see the problems when
one is inside India and has not seen
the ills of economies that have
evolved past the stage India is in
today. Believe me. India is at the
crossroads. We can become orderly
like Singapore or become like
Thailand. It depends on the path we
choose now. - Aarcee - Apr. 1,
2007
Fat salaries, excellent food,
luxurious life styles, world class
products, electronic gadgets,
computerized banking, etc. Etc.
India has it all for it's educated
people. In the past many people
educated in India left the country
for these things. Today many are
returning, taking up jobs, employing
helping hands and leading royal
lives. They are getting a better
deal in their own home country than
else where. This reverses brain
drain and India stands to gain.
The ever increasing number of rich
need an ever expanding services
sector. This sector creates millions
of jobs for the not so educated
people. The greater paying capacity
thus generated means more money to
the farmers and the big & small
business people. In short, fast or
slow, the whole society is getting
pulled up the economic ladder. This
creates a gigantic middle class
which is hungry for a better life
and the luxuries that come with it.
Needless to say, China and India are
the future markets of the entire
world.
While I agree that some order has to
be brought in this complex, chaotic
development scenario, still I think
India is broadly on the right track.
- Rajesh - Apr. 2,
2007
Oh Mr. Aarcee it may be obvious to
you that I did not get your point
but in my humble opinion we should
try to look what we do before
blaming the Chinese for prison
labor.
do you happen to know of bidi
industry where children work as
slaves, or for that matter carpets
which we export (made by children)
or crackers at Sivakasi. Did you
forget the child zari workers of
Bombay. Lets correct these before we
call ourselves a conscientious
society. If you think it's only
Chinese who indulge in piracy then
please open your eyes because
pirated version of every
software/movie/game on this earth is
freely available on streets of
India.
Have you ever wondered how tomatoes
are so cheap in Patna sometimes Rs.
2/kilo-that's because the poor
farmer never gets anything for
growing it and continues to be a
bandhua majdoor all his life.
Whereas if a supermarket chain buys
it, it gives a better price compared
to the exploitative middleman/zamindaars
(as Pepsi was doing in Punjab for
many of the products it bought from
farmers directly).
Every time I pay £1 for 250 grams of
tomatoes my heart bleeds for the
farmers of Bihar. Imagine if
Reliance/Wal Mart buys these even at
Rs. 10/20 per kg from a Bihar farmer
and exported, the Bihari farmer
would be much better off.
The advantage of internet and
globalisation is that we have more
information and see the double
standards of the so called civilised
west - their food subsidies make
hundreds of poor farmers die of
hunger in Africa. Globalisation was
always there but it was only the
countries of west who were selling
their wares to rest of the world,
whereas now the Chinese and to some
extent Indians are doing the same
and reaping rewards (I wouldn't call
it rat race if someone gets paid for
their hard work).
Singapore is almost an autocracy and
is better administered than Thailand
, so I wouldn't compare them.
Yes we are at crossroads and the
direction we'll take will decide our
future and that's why we should keep
our eyes and minds open and try to
achieve for our nation what the
developed world takes for granted -
roti, kapda, makaan. - SP - Apr.
2,
2007 |
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