GLOBALISATION PUSHING INDIA’S RURAL ECONOMY

Presented by
Mr.Shrikant Boddula, student MMS,SSCMR,Bhiwandi.

ABSTRACT
Globalization refers to widening and deepening of international flow of trade , capital, labor,
technology, information and services. It involves liberalization of national and global markets in
the belief that it will result in higher growth rate and human welfare. Globalization has changed
the priorities of government in the sense that rural development programmes have been
neglected. Rural industries are the biggest victims of globalization. Flow of foreign goods has
blown a death knell to most of the rural industries. Weavers and other traditional rural artisans are
facing wrath of the situation. They are slowly disappearing from the rural areas. Some of them
have either migrated to the cities or have changed their occupation. Liberalization and
privatization have resulted in jobless growth over a period of time. Low quality of education,
health and other infrasturctal facilities have relegated the rural people into the backyard. The
digital revolution has given ample scope for more opportunities to the upper caste and creamy
layer of the Indian society. Moreover, unemployment is alarmingly high among the educated
rural youth.
The challenges of rural transformation should be discussed in the framework of the changing
world economic structures as discussed above. The researcher mentioning about some of the
specific issues that deserve immediate and special attention.
While we speak about rural transformation we should consider the following dimensions-1.
Financial revolution
2. Social revolution
3. Human resource revolution
4. Governance revolution
5. Institutional revolution
6. Value revolution
Economic revolution-
With increasing attention to the process of urbanization in the country, rural economy has
continued to remain backward. We have still many rural areas where minimum facilities of
development are not available. It is in this background that our esteemed president Sri A.P.J
Abdual Kalam has envisaged that we should launch a special programme designated as PURA-
providing urban amenities in rural areas. The researchers feel that effective fulfillment of the
PURA programme would bring about the required economic transformation in the rural areas.
The full potential of development in the rural economy of India is not realized even though India
is essentially rural economy. The adverse effects of excessive urbanization are now being felt
almost in all parts of world.
Social revolution-
The societal structure in the rural areas is undergoing significant transformation due to migration
of labor from the rural sector to the urban sector, the demographic characteristics of the rural
areas has significantly changed over the past several years. The gender composition, age
composition and the skill composition of the rural economy have also been changing. These
shifts in the social characteristics have a bearing on the nature and the pattern of economic
development in the rural areas. In view of the greater exposition to the life styles in the world, the
rural society is experiencing expansion of expectations and shifts in consumption patterns. All
these are creating a serious drift in the life style causing gap between the expectations and the
realities. Even the rural society is fast losing its age old characteristics of honesty, caring for
others, social harmony etc. There is need for an integrated approach to the analysis of social
transformation in the rural areas.
Human resource revolution-
The human resource development in the rural areas is another major issue of transformation.
With increasing competition both from the national and the international sources there is an
urgent need for up gradation of the skills of the human resources in the rural areas. In view of the
recent decentralization of governance in the form of panchayat raj institutions, the urgency of
such human resource developments has become much more intense. The problems of general
bias, population growth etc. can be dealt with only when the human resources in the rural areas
equipped with the necessary skills and abilities. Adoption of new technologies and pursuit of
diverse economic activities could be possible only when human resources are adequately
equipped.
Governance revolution-
As stated above, the induction of Panchayat raj institutions is one of the major changes in the
system of governance in the country. This new modality of governance has the advantage of
strengthening people’s participation in the governance. It is also an effective modality for
strengthening participatory democracy in the country. However, the capabilities of the people in
the rural areas for making this new experiment successful are still inadequate. Suitable steps are
required to make this governance transformation effective and purposeful.
Institutional revolution-
The issues of institutional transformation are related to the various forms of transformation that
are discussed earlier. The efficiency of resources use would obviously depend upon the
Institutional infrastructure. We should work out an integrated framework of the institutions
required in the rural areas to make economic and social transformation purposeful and useful for
the welfare of the people. This is an area of further research and analysis.
Value revolution –
The researcher already mentioned in the previous paragraphs that the society is facing significant
challenges due to the erosion of cherished human value. We have reached a critical situation in
which old values are getting eroded but no new values are getting established. The cost of
transition from the old to the new seems to be very high and unbearable in the context of the
welfare of society. We have also the crisis of the absence of role models and leadership to
demonstrate the advantages of right kind of values in the society. Often ”value’ does not appear
as the variable to be considered in our models of development. We are more familiar with the
monetary values of the variable and not the “human values’ which we should cherish for true
happiness and peace. This is again an area for research and analysis in a multi-interdisplinary
framework.
Conclusion –
In the post-liberalization period, there has been a marked improvement in some indicators such as
foreign exchange reserves, physical infrastructure (like telecommunications and roads), and stock
market boom in recent period, IT revolution and prospects of 8 percent growth. Due to these
improvements, there is a feel good factor in the form of ‘India Shining’.
Globalization of the economy, including agriculture, offers an opportunity to correct for the ‘anti
agriculture’ bias in Indian trade policies that have been in existence since the 1950s. With this,
the hidden ‘implicit taxation’ on agriculture would go down and the agricultural sector would get
an opportunity to respond favorably to these signals. Agriculture can move on to a higher growth
trajectory if supply side bottlenecks are freed and a protective cover is accorded to the poor, at
least for some time, If this happens, agriculture can propel growth in other sectors too on a
sustainable basis, while promoting intersectional and interpersonal equity. If, however, reformers
busy themselves with globalization exercises and are complacent about supply side problems or
in restructuring the PDS, globalization can prove to be a threat and stall the process of reforms in
other sector too. Billion of rupees spend every year in the country without proper care of natural
resources. The most neglected part in education. The poorest among the poor be targeted for good
quality of education so that they develop their awareness about the use of the available meager
resources. The policy makers in the country took various decisions for the basic education and
access to heath for the rural poor, but the achievement falls behind the targets. Decades passed
and the masses still living in the quagmire of poverty. The degree of success depends upon the
vision of reformers and the priority they accord to going beyond markets and ushering in
institutional and price reforms on the supply side.

Notes and References

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