Effect of globalisation on Indian society- II

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

Indian Classical music has gained worldwide recognition.

Western music is becoming very popular in our country.

Fusing Indian music along with western music is encouraged among musicians.

More Indian dance shows are held globally.

The number of foreigners who are eager to learn Bharatanatyam is rising.

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. Globalisation 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

Globalisation 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 liberalisation.

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 globalisation.

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-globalisation 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. Liberalised 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 globalisation 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 globalisation 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 liberalised policies and legislative structure.

Let us glance through a few situations that have arisen in India post liberalisation

• Shifting of Agriculture worker to industry sector
• Urbanisation –People are shifting from rural to urban areas.
• Opening up of trade market –export import boom.
• Big open saturated market for products
• A growing market for high quality and low price product
• Gradual increase of organised retail chain.
• Growing number of Merger and Acquisitions.
• Lucid license policies for overseas Multinational Corporation.
• High growth rate is showing economic prosperity in India.
• Indian Market leaders going global.

But there are certain negative impacts occurred aftermath the globalisation impact in India, which are as follows –

• Unequal distribution of wealth disparity in income.
• Rapid privatisation government driven public sector units are on sale.
• Uneven growth in respect of different sectors.
• Extreme mechanisation is reducing demand for manual labours.
• Both employee and consumer exploitation are on rise by private sector.

Conclusion

Overwhelming impact of globalisation 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 recognised 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 Globalisation 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 Globalisation. In the end we can say that, every step of movement towards economic, political and cultural modernisation, taken by the state in India, is responded to by the people with an enhanced sense of self-consciousness and awareness of identity.

Cultural modernisation, sponsored by the forces of globalisation, 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 globalisation.

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 modernisation and globalisation.