The Faulty Globalization of India

Globalization is a broad term that has had different meanings at different times. The earliest forms of Globalization could arguably be the slave trade and Imperialism. European nations traveled to Asia, the Americas and Africa and took resources and people for their own purposes. After colonialism fell apart the Western world did not vanish from the lives of the former colonies, but instead had established trading routes and rules. Globalization in the modern sense has many positive connotations. Trade relations are improved throughout the world. The job market is growing in nations like India, due to outsourcing, which hurts the U.S. but furthers the development of India. The internet and other technologies have brought a new level of communication between people throughout the world. Friendships are created through internationally played computer games, jobs, and business relationships are thriving due to the connections. India is a nation that blurs the line between being a developed nation and a 3rd world country. Globalization is partially responsible for the disparity between the highly developed side of the country, with its parliament, democracy, high rise cities, Western materialism, and the devastating slum life that is depicted so elegantly in “Slumdog Millionaire.”

“Slumdog Millionaire” is a movie made by British filmmaker Danny Boyle. His representation of India is not an authentic vision of India, but rather, a Westernized view. However, Boyle seems aware of this as is demonstrated by Jamal’s statement to American tourists after he is beaten up by a cab driver, that now they saw the “real India.” This line is reminiscent of another Western vision of India, E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India, where British tourists want to see the “real India,” resulting in tragedy. The movie’s strength lies in showing the two different India’s in existence. The movie takes place mostly in Mumbai and the city is split between the slums, and the “regular,” or familiar to Westerners, existence of everyone else. Boyle and his crew moved into the slums and pulled out a few of the “attractive” or more Western looking kids to act in his movie, leaving behind the rest. It was stated that some of the proceeds of the movie would be put in a fund to try to improve living conditions in the Mumbai slums. The movie brings exposure of the lifestyle so many Indians are afflicted with, but stays away from the politics of why people are living this way.

India has made incredible progress in becoming a modern nation. Simon Gikandi, in his article “Globalization and the Claims of Postcoloniality” says, “Unsure how to respond to the failure of the nationalist mandate, which promised modernization outside the tutelage of colonialism, citizens of the postcolony are more likely to seek their global identity by invoking the very logic of Enlightenment that postcolonial theory was supposed to deconstruct” (630). After the departure of Great Britain from India in the mid 20th century, India did not return to its Islamic Imperial government. The Mogul Empire was demolished with the Western invaders, and the nation was secularized. India simply emulated the Western style of government by becoming a democracy with a parliament, and president. Although the colonial structure was broken, India was left to adopt the structure for itself, which legitimizes Gikandi’s statement.

Globalization has done more for India than supplying it with a form of government. It has changed the face of its major cities, provided jobs, enhanced the life of many of its citizens, and created a culture of consumerism. From Western standards, these are positive changes that are improving life for Indians, and making India a viable partner in international trade and politics. The downside to globalization is that India has not adapted its culture along with the technological and globalization developments. Millions of people are still caught by their caste and are unable to improve their condition of life. Too many people are still simply trying to survive and are denied education and jobs.

The caste system dates back to ancient India and was not given up after the British invasion. Keeping the social structure the way it was benefitted the colonizers because so many people were of a poor caste, that it was easy to replicate the system by creating the British as the new highest caste. This enabled Britain to maintain social control over Indians for a century, along with the military and government support. In order for the caste system, and essentially the slum situation, to persist it “needs to reproduce the conditions of its existence, and it will have to do this by engaging with identity, interests, consciousness, and reproduction of means of production and reproduction” (Natrajan 239). India is using its money to further develop what is already developed, rather than dismantle the cultural issues that are keeping most of the country in poverty. Ultimately, for India to truly join the successes of the West, they will have to confront their internal poverty and provide its citizens with proper housing, jobs, health care, education, and etc. There is a radical difference between those who have been “globalized” and those still living traditional lives.

One example of a people that have been left out of the benefits of globalization is the nomads of India. As their country develops all around them they are shunned by society. Even lower caste Indians despise these nomads and consider them “gypsies,” a pejorative term throughout the world. These nomadic peoples have practiced the same lifestyle for millennia. Their livelihoods consist of traveling occupations such as being blacksmiths, shepherds, hunting and gathering, “salt traders, fortune-tellers, conjurers, ayurvedic healers, jugglers, acrobats, grindstone makers, storytellers, snake charmers, animal doctors, tattooists, [and[ basketmakers” (Lancaster). The reputation of nomads suffered under British rule and Indians adopted the Western attitude toward them. The government keeps pushing them farther out from the cities and forces them to live in their own private slums on the outskirts of towns. India should focus on its nomad population and find ways to recognize their contribution to society and accommodate their needs. Instead, they are viewed as less than human, much the same way the British viewed Indians, Africans and Native Americans.

The problem of child labor is directly attributable to globalization. Factories and sweatshops are often filled with child employees, who make a very small amount of money. Parents are forced to send their children to work because they are doing all they can to survive and they can’t keep up with their debts. As manufacturing has grown, both for Western and Indian consumption, the labor has been provided by India’s poor, with little or no access to what they are producing. The West conquered this problem in the early 20th century, although according to Zehra F. Arat there are 2 million child workers in the United States today (180). This is an example that the problem never disappears, but it can be controlled. Another problem that exists because of the lack of regulation in the slums is child prostitution. So many young girls are forced into prostitution in order to survive and the government is not doing enough to prevent this kind of abuse.

India is going through a type of identity crisis. They are not beholden to Europeans any longer and are attempting to raise their status in the eyes of the world. They have partnered with companies in the U.S. and other Western nations looking for cheap labor. They have a Western style government. The have a strong military. They have an elite consumer class who are living lives similar to that of Americans in terms of materialism and interests. But they also have the situation of most of their population is poor, some irreparably so. This is quite literal. In America one can go to school, work hard and apply oneself, and usually this has a good outcome. In India, one needs a miracle, such as the children who were arbitrarily picked from the slums to be in a big- budget, big attention grabbing movie. Why those specific kids? What about all the millions who live that life everyday, throughout generations? India needs to solve these problems before the whole nation will truly be part of the global international community.





Works Cited

Arat, Zehra F. “Analyzing Child Labor as a Human Rights Issue: Its Causes, Aggravating Policies, and Alternative Proposals.” Human Rights Quarterly 24.1 (2002): 177-204. Project Muse. Web. 14 May 2010.

Gikandi, Simon. “Globalization and the Claims of Postcoloniality.” The South Atlantic Quarterly 100.3 (2001): 627-658. Project Muse. Web. 21 April 2010.

Lancaster, John. “India’s Nomads.” National Geographic. (2010): n. pag. ngm.com. Web. 14 May 2010.

Natrajan, Balmurli. “Caste, Class, and Community in India: An Ethnographic Approach.” Ethnology 44.3 (2005): 227-241. JSTOR. Web. 14 May 2010.