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Friday, March 17, 2006

Globalisation and the fuss-Part I


Globalisation and the reactions to it have been well documented and published across internet portals and various books.
I don't want to take sides, but with all the criticism that has been heaped on Globalisation and its fallouts, I see merits in it. Well, maybe not in the present WTO/World bank conceived forms, but in a socially responsible form.
Depending on how you percieve Globalisation, it could mean no economic borders, free trade, free flow of information and so on. A teddy bear made in some dingy factory in Wuhan, China is later purchased by a parent in Munich, Germany. Callers from Sacremento , California enquiring about technical problems of their wireless router will get answers from call centers in Bangalore, India. This kind of cross global exchange of products and information would not be have concievable without globalisation. So why do critics have problems with this kind of exchanges? The argument is that the process is benefitting the big multinational corporations while the poor have been left behind. Some countries have benefited -Read India and China-, while many developing or poor countries have seen their local economies collapse leading to more misery of their downtrodden.
I think the solution here is not to place hurdles in the globalisation process, rather modify or alter the process to benefit the humble of the society. It has to made a sacred principle or an industry dictum of having corporate social responsibility. Every company or organisation profiting in the globalisation process should take developmental approaches that benefit the poor of their region, or be involved with governments in public-private partnerships to improve infrastructure. In this manner , the rewards of globalisation will not just remain in few hands but trickle down to the marginalised.
It has never foreborne good for a society if the divide between the rich and the poor gets wider and wider. It leads to increased rates of crime and social strife. But if this gap can be filled with dollops /heaps of corporate/governmental largesse, why place a spoke in the globalisation wheel. I will talk about the impact of information flow in todays age in the next globalisation blog.

1 Comments:

At 10:50 PM, Blogger ancient clown said...

Hello:
To get to the END of any circle you must first go to the beginning and step out or rise above it.
CAIN & ABEL
your humble servant,
Ancient Clown

 

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