 Hello everyone, my name is Deeksha Jain and I secured the 22nd Rankin Civil Services Examination 2018. So, let us talk about what is globalization? Globalization is a multi-dimensional process and what does it include? Increasing interconnectedness and interdependence between different countries and people of different countries of the world. It involves flow of capital, IT, technology, cultural influence, labour, trade, commerce, ideas and everything. So, it is a multi-dimensional process. It has many aspects like economic aspect, cultural aspect, social aspect, etc. Let us talk about some characteristics of globalization. First it is characterized in terms of the expansion of markets, expansion of free market economy. So, we can see that now more the barriers between countries are reducing. India recently signed the trade facilitation agreement in which a lot of tariffs will be reduced and globally also tariffs are being lowered so that better trade can happen between countries. Number 2 expansion of trade commerce and services. So, today companies in India for example, BPOs in India can provide service to people from the US. Services, products, everything is travelling across the world and that is a major feature of globalization. Number 3 is emergence of international institutions and their growing influence. We can clearly see this in major organizations like United Nations or World Trade Organization, World Bank, IMF. A country's decisions are no longer just based on its domestic factors what these institutions have to say do matter. For example, Pakistan has been going through a financial crisis. So, if it wants aid from World Bank and IMF then it has to follow certain rules. The FATF has wanted that if it does not improve its terror surveillance and its action against terrorism, it will be blacklisted and it will get lower finances from these institutions. So, the influence of these international institutions has increased so much because of globalization. The next is the role of transnational or multinational companies. So, today we are all avid users of Facebook and WhatsApp and whatnot and all of their companies from USA, we are buying phones made in China in South Korea. So, the influence of these multinational giants has become so much even Flipkart was recently for example, bought by Walmart. So, the multinational giants are gaining more and more importance because of globalization. The next is rise of global democracy. So, today if there is a violation of democracy in any country then it is not unnoticed by other countries. Whatever action a country takes even a monarchy like Saudi Arabia, the actions that it takes will also have global ramifications and that is because the world has in fact come together and no country can work in absolute isolation. So, there are various aspects or various dimensions of globalization. The first one is economic dimension. The economic dimension of globalization includes liberalization and privatization. Protectionist economies are slowly going back although there has been you know because of as a reaction to globalization protectionist sentiments have been rising. So, that is there at the same time if you talk about globalization it characterizes more liberalization and privatization. In the social dimension, labor relations have altered. For example, in India there is a lot of contract labor which has been employed by MNC's gender relations have altered. The effect of globalization on certain sections of the society we will be doing in detail. So, I am not going there right now even class consciousness relations between family, families are becoming more nuclear. Social changes are also happening because of globalization. Next is the cultural dimension. Today a part of it is that McDonaldization of culture because all of us are eating through multinational fast food chains and at the same time the Indian culture is also getting a global platform. So, we might have increasing demand for Indian food in other countries. So, both these aspects are part of globalization. There is another dimension which is the political dimension. In the political dimension what we have seen is that the classical idea of sovereignty of a state that a state has the exclusive jurisdiction over the matters in its own country is not holding that true anymore because now as I spoke about this earlier international institutions have a say in what a country is doing. Other countries also have a say because some countries are weak but even strong countries you know which don't need any help in terms of their defense. They want to keep good relations with other countries to maintain their trade and their connectivity with other countries. So, any decision that they take is now governed by international relations considerations as well. And so, the political dimension of the sovereignty of a state has been alluded to some extent by globalization. Apart from that there have also been humanitarian interventions in terms of for example, if there is a crisis in Yemen or in Syria, then the world is concerned about it. There is a lot of humanitarian intervention through NGOs through United Nations etc. So, even human rights is an issue in which other countries are playing more and more important role in terms of what is happening within a country. So, now let us talk in detail about the effects and impact of globalization on Indian society. There have been positive impacts as well as negative impact. For example, in the economic side if we look at it in the positive side we have more inflow of capital, we have more remittances, there is more employment creation because of globalization, better wages, there is progressive tax reform has happened. We have a more open and competitive economy than we had pre-1991. On the negative side our agriculture has faced the setback with more focused people are leaving agriculture and going to the service sector and manufacturing. There has been adverse impact on labour force. I had spoken about contract labour earlier also. So, a lot of rigid labour laws that were there earlier to sort of save money, lot of contract labour has been appointed are not as carefully taken care of as a proper labour who is working through a labour organization, working on a non-contract basis would be. So, that has been a negative impact on the lives of these people. Also, economic impact of globalization is the increasing socio-economic inequalities. Now, if we move to the social impact, so let us talk about the impact on women. On the positive side more opportunities of employment for women. The women's movement which was very strong internationally has also come to India. For example, the Mitu movement which started in US, a strong force in India as well and increasing gender equality has also been noticed with the coming of globalization. There has been more emphasis on gender justice on having proper laws for example, you had the sexual harassment law in 2013. So, all these have come post globalization. Legal and institutional framework has improved for gender equality. But if you look at the negative side, then there has been increasing women trafficking and there has been a commodification of women in media, cyber bullying and cyber attack on women as well which was not there earlier. There has been feminization of agricultural labor because with globalization the jobs came to the urban areas and all the men left and the women were left behind and they have to take care of the family as well as take care of their fields. So, there has been a feminization of agricultural labor which has had a negative impact on women. Increasing consumerism and false notions of beauty have I mean you know a lot of women are also facing problems because of these heightened notions of beauty. For example, some years ago the zero figure was something that people were aiming for and there was actual bad health impact on women because of this and it was an idea that came to India through other countries. Another aspect would be that majority of women even after coming of globalization have been working in the informal sector. So, their rights have not been as properly codified and taken care of as they would be if they were working in the formal sector. If we move to the next social group, it would be impact on children and senior citizens. So, on the positive side, legal and institutional protection has increased. We have a national institution for taking care of senior citizens also. There has been more information and knowledge access. So, children are learning very fast. They have all the information of the world. They do not have to sit in a library and look for it. They can just Google it. Sensitization of society with respect to child rights as well as senior citizens rights has been there because of globalization. On the negative side, there has been increasing violence and aggression towards both the groups. Cases of child pornography, etc., have also been there on the internet which are deeply damaging to children. There has been in ways decline of parental authority, addiction to video games in children has been also seen. The role of senior citizens in the family is also decreasing because of the atomization of society with the coming of new technology. So, for example, the children are so engrossed in the video games and social media that they do not have time to interact with their grandparents and the grandparents also feel a sense of loss. So, to that extent, yes globalization has had a negative impact on these two sections. At the same time, for senior citizens especially and even for children, globalization has led to better institutional care. World-class medical facilities have come to India to major cities and they are percolating to other smaller cities also. So, better medical care and safety in many ways has also been ensured. In terms of other social impacts, we have also seen empowerment in caste. There has been decline of untouchability, idea of pollution and purity. So, globalization has brought certain democratic values to India as well in the ideological sphere and the hold of religion in today's youth has also been reducing. So, that is also one aspect of globalization. If we talk about the cultural sphere, then globalization on the one hand has spread modern technology, introduced for example, global cuisines and global culture to India and taken Indian culture to the global stage. And a lot of social media, television, etc. has global television, etc. has reached India because of globalization. There has been modernization in agriculture, in organizations as well as industry. So, that has also led to a certain development of an urban culture which is a mix of both westernization as well as the Indian ethos. There has been an expansion of democratic ideas like freedom, equality, human rights, etc. And on the negative side, we also see a commercialization of culture, culture which used to be in the private sphere is now being tapped by commercial institutions and in ways it has not been seen as good because it is being exploited. And there has been a disappearance of folk culture and music with the coming of global music. For example, folk music, culture, language, etc. are slowly disappearing. There has been a growth of consumerism in India as well. And there is a very interesting quote on the part to modernization, India became westernized only. So, one, there has been a concern that only the superficial aspects of western society in terms of western culture, food, etc. are being adopted more quickly than some of the positive aspects like gender empowerment or caste empowerment, etc. So, globalization all in all is a mixed bag and there have been reactions to globalization across the world and in India with more and more protectionist policies coming our way. So, when we look at globalization we should look at both the negative and positive aspects of it. And for UPSC that is especially very important. So, that will be all about globalization and its effects. Thank you so much.