Globalisation: Opportunity or Threat?

 

 

            Globalisation: Opportunity or Threat?

Globalisation dates back to the voyage of the courageous sailors such as Vasco D gamma, Christopher Columbus. Globalisation has progressed through trade, travel, migration, cultural exchanges and spread of knowledge. In India, globalisation dates back to the ancient period in which India had trade and cultural relations with the countries such as Sri Lanka, Greece and Persia. Now-a-days, globalisation has become a catchword. It has initiated the process of integration of the whole world into a global village, a huge global market, overcoming all types of barriers i.e., trade, political, geographical barriers. It is noteworthy that changes in technology, in international politics, in international trade, have accelerated the process of globalisation. 

Globalisation is transforming trade, finance, employment, migration, technology, communications, the environment, social systems, ways of living, cultures, and patterns of governance. The growth of technology and globalisation mutually reinforce each other. International interdependence is growing, and to some extent and partially, so is international integration.

In simple economic terms, globalisation refers to the process of integration of the world into one huge market. The European Commission has defined globalisation as “the process by which markets and production in different countries are becoming increasingly interdependent due to dynamics of trade in goods and services and flow of capital and technology.”

 In simple words, globalisation may be termed as the process driven by interconnectedness of the countries in the form of trade activities, flow of financial and human capital, transfer of technologies. “Globalize or perish” is buzzword synonymous to “Do or Die”, which conveys that there is no alternative to globalisation and everybody must learn to live with it.

Opportunities to India and other developing Countries

Globalisation has created a number of opportunities to those who are competent, ambitious and real businessmen. The UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) Report 2000 says “Globalisation expands the opportunities for unprecedented human advances …..” The white paper 2000 published by the U. K. government observed “Globalisation has created unprecedented opportunities for sustainable development and poverty reduction.”

India and other countries have derived the benefits by globalising their economies in the following areas, i.e., advanced technology, foreign capital, creation of job opportunities, competitive environment, exploitation of natural resources, quality products and services at reasonable prices. Opportunities are there and what is required is to explore them and exploit them for the betterment of the country, the people. India and China are having rich human resources. i.e., software professionals, hardware technologists, management professionals and skilled persons in different areas, which are in great demand in the developed countries. As per NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Service Companies) estimates the US, Germany and other developed countries annually require 50,000 software professionals from India.

India’s fast flourishing industry, i.e., Information Technology has not only brought valuable foreign exchange but created confidence among the entrepreneurs and access to global economy. Indian software export, which was to the tune of $ 4 billion in the year 2000-01, has reached US $320 billion in the year 2022-2023. Indian software professionals, if they continuously upgrade their skills, have tremendous opportunities in global market.

India and other countries like China, Bangladesh and Pakistan etc. have good opportunities in agricultural and allied products exports, as these countries are endowed with good climate, fertile land and adequate manpower. India can dominate in export of tea, coffee, sugar, seeds, flowers, fruits, vegetables, dairy products, fish and meat etc. provided, it uses modern technology, quality management techniques and provides finance at lower interest rates.

It is noteworthy that inspire of ongoing recession and trade and non-trade barriers, Indian agriculture exports have shown remarkable growth by 26.7% during 2000-01 and 25% in current financial year (2022-2023).

Globalisation has accelerated the growth of foreign capital investment by the MNCs (Multi-National Corporations) bringing with them advanced technologies, efficient management, work culture and access to the global market which certainly has contributed to the economic development of the poor countries. These countries should prepare themselves to participate actively in emerging global trading system and grab the opportunities for their benefits. If they remain isolated in the ongoing process, they may be marginalized in the new world order.

India, having abundant reservoir of medicinal plants and trees could dominate Ayurvedic Medicine market in the years to come, if she emphasises on Research and Development in this area and enacts favourable patent rules as per WTO (World Trade Organisation) commitments. India has innumerable opportunities in the neighbouring countries like China, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and other developing countries in the following areas i.e. agricultural and allied activities, construction materials, Chemicals, medicines, management consultants, chartered accountants, software / hardware technology, diamond processing etc. India can prove itself a real Asian Tiger if she builds up greater competencies, discipline in all sectors, acquires the highest quality and stronger internal market intelligence with the help of available network of technology institutions, management personnel, engineering companies and information technology professionals.

Threats to India and other developing countries   

  Recent studies show that globalisation has posed threats to employment, livelihoods of poor people, environments, and human security. Globalisation is synonymous to competition and strength. Naturally, in the process of globalisation, the developing countries and the least developing countries, still unprepared for accepting the challenge of global market, are lagging behind of the developed countries. It is a reality that globalisation has provided the developing countries an access to the world market but at the same time they are being restricted through various trade and non-trade barriers by the developed countries. Can over populated countries like India and China overlook serious implications of rising unemployment? Adding to the fire fuel, the developed countries are tightening their immigration rules to restrict the flow of job seekers from poor countries on the ground of national security

Obviously, the developed countries intend to transfer capital and goods freely for exploiting maximum benefits but restrict free flows of human capital. Is globalisation working for the betterment of the poor people living in the world? In India, there are more than 30 million people facing malnutrition problem being fed under the PDS (Public Distribution System). The PDS is under stress and about to cripple because of scrapping the subsidies as per WTO commitments. 

In recent years, the pharmaceutical sector has become the most controversial sector because of TRIPs (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) commitments. The TRIPs give absolute monopoly to the innovator MNCs for her invented drug for 20 years, which safeguards the profitability of the MNCs keeping the user of the drugs at the mercy of the MNCs. How could the poor countries like India and others fight against the epidemics of AIDS / HIV, Diabetes, T.B and other hazardous diseases with poor resources? It is noteworthy that the US has been continuously stressing that all the WTO member must abide by the TRIPs commitments to safeguard its $ 400 billion pharma sector. 

Moreover, various NTBs (Non trade barrier) permissible under WTO commitments are being used by the US, the EU and Japan to protect their domestic products. Indian Agricultural products (i.e. cereals, tea, spices, coffee, fruits etc.) fish, pharmaceuticals, iron & steel etc. have been facing NTBs, e.g. sanitary and phytosanitary measures which are strategically applied by the developed countries. For instance, Indian Tea was prohibited entry in Germany because of the pesticide residue. The EU blocked the groundnut exports from India due to content of aflatoxin. 

The US has initiated most of the anti-dumping cases on Indian exports. Recently, Japan has rejected Indian Mango because it is not as per international standards. It can be easily observed that, so far, the developed countries have been on receiving end while the developing countries on giving end in the process of globalisation. The developed countries are having high level support systems to agriculture, industry and trade, while the developing countries cannot support these sectors due to financial constraints. In recent years, the viability of agricultural exports of the developing countries got a setback, because of high domestic support high exports subsidies and various trade and non-trade barriers imposed by the developed countries. The developed countries are imposing different sanitary measures for restricting the imports of milk and milk products, vegetables, fruits, meat and fish. The worst hit community in the globalised world is the workers, small and marginal farmers. There have been cases of suicides of the farmers even in advanced states like Maharashtra, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka!

The developing countries, i.e. India, Pakistan, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Uganda etc. are the worst hit by the global competition and have expressed, their concerns regarding food security and livelihood and particularly safeguard the interests of the poor, small and marginal farmers. In India, more than 7 lakh SSIs (Small Scale Industries) and 900 companies have been closed and this has rendered millions of workers jobless and crores of rupees blocked. India’s share in global trade is drastically lower i.e. 1.8 percent. It is true that, in spite of all the above discussed threats and challenges before backward economics, they have to integrate themselves with global economy because there is no alternative to globalisation. 

Conclusion 

Globalisation process has got momentum and nobody can stop it now. Majority of the countries have come together under umbrella of WTO, the accelerating organization for globalisation. More than 144 member countries have agreed to abide by WTO commitments. We Indians, while globalizing ourselves should follow the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi i.e. “I do not mind to keep windows open but I don’t want the wind to blow off my feet.”

India and other developing countries must strengthen their competencies, find out weaknesses and remove them immediately, explore and exploit the strengths for accelerating the pace of development. It is also the need of the hour that a common forum of all the developing countries should be set up to discuss the issues regarding global trade and oppose unitedly unjustifiable trade and non-trade barriers. Strength respects strength! So, Indian companies should make linkages with global companies to exploit the benefits of advanced technology and innovative management techniques i.e., quality circles, just-in-time systems, multi-skilling and customer orientation. At the same time, we must preserve and nourish our culture while globalizing our economy.

Let us hope India becomes a strong global leader in 21st Century.