SONGSOPTOK INTERVIEW
FACES
AND FACETS OF GLOBALIZATION
“Globalization is the process of international
integration arising from the interchange of world views, products, ideas and
mutual sharing, and other aspects of culture” (Wikipedia)
SONGSOPTOK: What are you views about globalization? In
the country and the society you live in, is globalization a threat or an
opportunity?
ANINDA: Globalization is good for any
society. Liberalization is far better than protectionism. Despite being a leftist I am amply clear that religion n religious in the name of liberation / liberalism was
100% wrong, as was time-tested n history-defined. Because
any strictness is captivatingly
bad. Whatever oppression is happening in Islam is a conservative approach that keeps away the masses from globalization. Assameese people were
too conservative n
anti-globalization at a time.
Today all over India
there are many Assameese owing to
economic compulsion. Even today,
they are a bit conservative. And when
Hindu forces attack Christians / kill a
poor Muslim for beef eating or beef –stocking, when dalits are humiliated day n
night, we find, globalization is under threat. Personally, I foresee a lot of danger; economically I see
trade barriers of anti dumping n
safeguard duties as regressive steps, whether
India takes it or US. Similarly, when so many visa restrictions are imposed n green card holders are deported, you restrain the creative summation of masses
from flourishing n blooming. But, yes,
immediately n narrowly, globalization cuts opportunities. Bengalees lose job in
Bengal, Marathis go hungry in Mumbai; in
Rayalseema , we went to a society where
gold business of magnitude next to Mumbai was
concentrated with Telegu Vaishyas n nobody knew Hindi. Situation is far better
in Karnataka. We were the first Bengalee family there, but to our
surprise, we found they were
manufacturing Bangalore n Kanjivaram Silk saris n sending them to Uluberia n getting them back with zardousie work. All Park Street big saree shop catalogues were with that Janpati
shop, & we understood
globalization to get all those saris
at 50% of Park Street
rates. Had there been no globalization, we
Bengalees could not prosper outside Bengal n my Tamil n Marhwari friends , not in Kolkata, same for my Punjabi friends of
Kol… In fact, China has understood the
banes of one way globalization
domination of US n UK. By closing those
markets, ultimately it has ruined its
own home industry. So, in short,
Globalization is inevitable—today or
tomorrow. Tamils have to learn Hindi
. Today Bengal is stagnant but
Bangalore is growing because of
globalization. Yes, more than Kannadigas
, Tamils live in Bangalore today.
The presence of
Kannadigas in Andhra Pradesh (5.65 lakh) is seven times less than the presence
of Telugu population in Karnataka (36.98 lakh). Outside Karnataka, Maharashtra has the highest number of Kannadigas (12.54 lakh).
In Tamil Nadu, there are 10.45 lakh Kannadigas, while Goa and Delhi are home to
74,615 and 10,525 Kannadigas, respectively. There are 39 Kannadigas in
Lakshadweep.
The presence of
Biharis , Nepalis &
NE people more
in Bangalore than the reverse
trend signifies better globalization in Karnataka
SONGSOPTOK: To what extent is the society you live in globalized?
What are the outward manifestations, if any, in the everyday lives of the
citizens?
ANINDA: I live in Vijaynagar, once known as
Krishnadavaray’s empire. It is
one of the largest Iron ore belts
of India & fortunately quality of ore is better than Goa
/ Chitradurga. So, no of steel
industries are more here in Ballari-Hosapeta-Koppal belt, with
JSW’s no 1 plant of India, then
BMM, MSPL, Kirloskar, Kalyani etc. It is natural that our society is globalized much more than many
other places in South. A) In Muslim dominated Nizam belt of
Hyd-Karnataka incl Gulbarga/ Kalaburgi , Urdu has a definite influence like Telengana & so,
per se, it has
attracted more Hindi/ Urdu
population. But compared
to other industrial belts like
Kadappa ( cement), Kurnool(
Cement), Ranipet, Chittoor-Vellore,
Kanchipuram, Renigunta, Coimbatore etc,
this belt is too mixed in terms of
people from NE, Nepla, Gorkhas n
Modeshis, Bengalees, Oriyas, Marathis, Mallus, Tamils & Telegus, other than Marhwaris as the
main business community. Obviously Biharis
have a sizable presence , while
Even Punjabis n Gujjus are there. And a
lot of Chineese , Japaneese & Europeans n Americans also
stay for sizable time only
for job related purpose. It is not as global as
Bangalore / even Hyderabad that Africans & latin Americans
shall stay & a lot of Parsees,
Sindhris etc, but being
quite small place, this composition is enviable.
And what is the
demographic dividend? That there
are a no of big hotels &
restaurants in this small place,
from many corners you can reach by AC
Volvo/ Sleeper to Bangaluru/ Hydearabad
. Too many Bengalee n Oriya cooks & Bengalee chefs fulfil
the culinary needs n as told,
Khasi/ Assameese/ NE & Terrai
tribals & Silchari Bangals serve the most of security, peon, non technical unskilled
labor. Like Jamshedpur,
but in a much smaller way,
we celebrate Durgapuja with cultural fanfare, Ganesh Chaturthi, Janmashtami, Pongal, Onam,
Ugadi other than Eid, Xmas etc. In fact, non-Kannada fests are
more popular , as Kannada
fests are small but many , like
Rajyotsava, Barahalaxmi , Kanakdas,
Nagpanc hami etc etc . What is most striking is that in a much smaller way than Jamshedpur,
different cultures celebrate their languages incl classical. And also, compared to so many places I have stayed, the
food options n habits are
much more cosmopolitan. In
Jayashree Textile, Rishra, I’ve heard, u
r not allowed to cook non vegs. In most
Aditya Birla cos ‘ colony, co shall not
provide you with nonvegs.
Here those things cannot be imagined , as even bars are provided
by co, but yaa, no club
culture like Jamshedpur ever developed.
SONGSOPTOK: In your opinion, has the process of
globalization improved the quality of life in your country? In what way?
ANINDA: As said Tagore,
India has grown rich by giving n
taking from everyone. In India, at one
point, thru East India Co, center of activity ( or CG) shifted
to Kolkata & Renaissance happened
here. Gradually it drifted to Delhi & Mumbai.
And after they got saturated ,
cosmopolitan congregation shifted to Bengaluru. It is also over-saturated. Chennai , of late has attracted a lot of heat
to go back to old glories but got devastated by floods & probably cannot build up as promised
just on a vacuum of deep rooted infrastructural development . So,
the new zing thing is
happening with MNCs ,
partially in Hyderabad & hopefully more in Amravati. If all goes well, India
shall get a state capital fully developed by
Singapore n Japan n some other consortiums n that may be the best globalization example. Just look at
the Smart city initiative of GOI. From Eastern India, only Bhubaneswar succeeded n topped; Mysuru has gone up so well n Hubbali-Davangere-Belgavi. Mumbai
is behind Pune & Chandigarh
is no longer the Nebuchaand delight to the ecstatic eyes.
But like Chennai,
Gurgaon is also
created on a shallow foundation. In Chennai it is sea water
sewage system, while in Gurgaon , it is a medieval
Khaap system ‘s ugly face &
also Jaat problems cohabiting with
a posh utopian Gurgaon. And that’s
why Delhi is so unsafe compared to Mumbai n Bengaluru. However, intolerance has , of late,
risen in Bengaluru—last year , wrt NE
influx (
decreased soon) & recent attacks on
African students. Same things
happened in Delhi too, n got controlled. Crucial is, even after such happenings , foreigners’ choice of Bengaluru does not decrease, because of Bengaluru’s weather, infra n global lifestyle & today
it scores better than
Delhi n Mumbai in that.
How Sanghai became a
second Hongkong? How
Singapore topped in Eastern
world? How Kualalampur n Bangkok are
better than any of our metros ? Because
of globalization. And why
Kolkata is stagnant n
moribund? As it is unable
to attract global forces.
New technologies n amenities have enriched us since Dr Manmohan Singh
opened all doors; domestic industries learnt
survival strategies, those who
could not languished. So far so
good, but then there was
an event called Chinazitaion of
the world , which crushed steel industry of Europe & part of US
and even white goods n other
industries. Even Japan could not
impact GE/ GM / German auto n
machinery giants so massively. Globalization
today is good with cultural, eco n industrial uplift
embargoes / barriers put in ( like MRP on
steel imposed by MOC, GOI) . All of us
must act liberally to fusion western , eastern, classical,
commercial, third movement cultures.
SONGSOPTOK: One of the major effects of globalization is
the significant increase in the volume of trade and monetary transactions
between the different nations. Do you think that your country has benefited
from this? In what way?
ANINDA: As already
stated, India has become a global
power owing to this globalization
only. Unfortunately, both JSW & Tata Steel lost a
lot owing to Chineese impact, as overseas investments / Hindu industrial imperialism dream shattered. But cheap imports
have helped captive capital equipment, machinery / engg
industries , as well. India is one
of topmost IT SW exporters & US
fears us. Boston fears Bangalore, as Obama has mentioned so many
times. What has happened is a dip
in our mfg share , so Make In India program by PM Modi to make India globally
competitive. Can ever India overtake China??? A big question; but not only IT , other services
have also flourished to push services
to around 75% of our
GDP. And whatever services
we are importing are adding values to our lifestyle. In short, globalization is d key to survival, success, growth. And
those who want to be Gandhian immunes,
shall decay. But , yes, one must not
emulate n imitate blindly in a rat race
SONGSOPTOK: Do you think that globalization serve to make
the already strong economies even stronger and weaker economies weaker and more
dependent? Can you give us a few examples to illustrate your answer?
ANINDA: Aryans invaded
India, hitherto inhabited by
aboriginals n tribals. Even after
8k years of Aryan rule, there are pockets
full of tribals in states of
North East & Jharkhand n
Chhattisgarh , who are still suffering from the impacts of globalization in the hands of
the dikus, as they suffered from the British. This is
the dichotomy n dialectics of
globalization , whether in US ( for red Indians n Hispanics) or Australian aboriginals or the black natives, the niggars of apartheid South Africa, all have
suffered as weaker sects in the
hands of the mighty whites, the alien invaders. Muslims invaded Persia,
Babylon, Mesopotamia & today we
have Iraq, Iran, a Muslim Egypt , Turkey & the whole of Mid-east. Mongolia, Estonia, Uzbekistan are
all old civilizations under
Islamist wrapping . Even India’s Somnath to Kashi Viswanath n Mathura Krishna
Janambhumi temple n obviously the Ram Janambhumi suffered the wraths of
Nadirs & Ghajnis n Mehmuds n Babars … Khiljis n Hussein Shahs, Bahmanis n Aurangzebs
tried looting n destroying whatever
was ethnic Hindu treasure troves…
Even , within Hindu n Muslim clans , so many
weak kings were defeated
by strong ones. Sirajauddulla’s
defeat gave rise to
rise of East India Co & 1757—1857 saw
defeats of Hindu n Muslim kingdoms ( Peswas, Tipu, Rani Laxmi of Jhansi
) &
Mughals that defeated Marathas n Rajputs alike , got their economy
looted by the British co.
All of whatever we
stated above, makes a solid introduction for , how , as as Dadabhai Nawroji (
& this year Sashi Tharoor )
said, British drained Indian wealth –Poverty
n UnBritish Rule of India; so spoke RC
Dutta in his Political economic History
of India . Let us hear it from Mr Shashi
“The handloom weaver's
for example famed across the world whose products
were exported around the world, Britain came right in. There were actually
these weaver's making fine muslin as light as woven wear, it was said, and
Britain came right in, smashed their thumbs, broke their looms, imposed tariffs and duties on their cloth and products
and started, of course, taking their raw material from India and shipping back
manufactured cloth flooding the world's markets with what became the products
of the dark and satanic mills of the Victoria in
England That
meant that the weavers in India became beggars and India went from being a
world famous exporter of finished cloth into an importer when from having 27
per cent of the world trade to less than 2 per cent. Meanwhile,
colonialists like Robert Clive brought their rotten boroughs in England on the
proceeds of their loot in India while taking the Hindi word loot into their
dictionary as well as their habits. And the British had the gall to call him
Clive of India as if he belonged to the country, when all he really did was to
ensure that much of the country belonged to him. By
the end of 19th century, the fact is that India was already Britain's biggest
cash cow, the world's biggest purchaser of British goods and exports and the
source for highly paid employment for British civil servants. We literally paid
for our own oppression. And as has been pointed out, the worthy British
Victorian families that made their money out of the slave economy, one fifth of
the elites of the wealthy class in Britain in 19th century owed their money to
transporting 3 million Africans across the waters. And in fact in 1833 when
slavery was abolished and what happened was a compensation of 20 million pounds
was paid not as reparations to those who had lost their lives or who had
suffered or been oppressed by slavery but to those who had lost their property. Staying
with India between 15-29 million Indians died of starvation in British induced
famines. The most famous example was, of course, was the great Bengal famine
during the World War II when 4 million people died because Winston Churchill
deliberately as a matter of written policy proceeded to divert essential
supplies from civilians in Bengal to sturdy tummies and Europeans as reserve
stockpiles. One-sixth
of all the British forces that fought in the war were Indian - 54 000 Indians
actually lost their lives in that war, 65 000 were wounded and another 4000
remained missing or in prison. Indian taxpayers had to cough up a 100 million
pounds in that time's money. India supplied 17 million rounds of ammunition,
6,00,000 rifles and machine guns, 42 million garments were stitched and sent
out of India and 1.3 million Indian personnel served in this war. I know all
this because the commemoration of the centenary has just taken place. But not
just that, India had to supply 173,000 animals 370 million tonnes of supplies
and in the end the total value of everything that was taken out of India and
India by the way was suffering from recession at that time and poverty and hunger,
was in today's money 8 billion pounds. You want quantification, it's available.
World War II, it was even worse - 2.5 million Indians in uniform. I won't
believe it to the point but Britain's total war debt of 3 billion pounds in
1945 money, 1.25 billion was owed to India and never actually paid. Even
Scotts’ earnings from India is what brought prosperity to Scotland, even pulled
Scotland out of poverty. The railways and roads were
really built to serve British interests and not those of the local people but I
might add that many countries have built railways and roads without having had
to be colonalised in order to do so. They were designed to carry raw materials
from the hinterland into the ports to be shipped to Britain. And the fact is
that the Indian or Jamaican or other colonial public - their needs were
incidental. Indian
railways were built with massive incentives offered by Britain to British
investors, guaranteed out of Indian taxes paid by Indians with the result that
you actually had one mile of Indian railway costing twice what it cost to built
the same mile in Canada or Australia because there was so much money being paid
in extravagant returns .Britain made all the profits, controlled the
technology, supplied all the equipment and absolutely all these benefits came
as British private enterprise at Indian public risk. That was the railways as
an accomplishment.. British aid to India is about 0.4 per cent of
India's GDP.
Going by above, in short, Globalization happened, by force, when not by choice. For all weaker nations enslaved by
developed, stronger ones; mostly eastern nations of Mynamar/ Burma,
Ceylon/ Srilanka, etc were liberated
at a point of extreme poverty
by the beasty British; but
Dutches, Portugeese n French were no better humans . Africa to Cuba to West
Indies … even Japan ruined Korea..and all
of us know of Vietnam’s war of
freedom n Che’s struggles. Today’s
US is repentant for its extreme
blunders in Cuba n Iraq. Even
Afghanistan is paying price for US Army’s
excessive costs imposed.
It is Imperialism that
spread colonial globalization
of cultures n loots, and post independence, liberated
nations are begging
before US n other developed
nations with all offerings of their limited wealth ,
drenched out of their scanty remainder of wealth. But
what is the option with them? Vietnam was secluded, did it gain much?
Can Gandhism of
self-sufficiency n isolation from minimum
rat race see you in the line of riches? It is
post-globalisation that
China became to sole supplier
of all
electronic goods to the world n name it,
almost all mobile phones of d world come from China. IBM
& Apple made their global low cost
mfg hubs in China n so did others.
Bengaluru & Indian IT firms became
some of top Software employers in US
& most of jobs moved from
costly US to low cost India; and many
smaller South east Asian nations , proficient in English , owing
to costs lower than India, have won over
call center n some software services snatched from India. It is
not globalization that was
inevitable for all poor nations so far as LSDs had to be imported n paid thru nose. But it
is globalization impact that a no of
life saving drugs are being
exported from India at 10% of
those MNC prices.
We can summarize --
1.
India got its own MNCs post globalization.
2.
Some of them suffered huge
declines after economic downturns of US
n EU
3.
Kyoto protocol wants
to put on excessive restrictions
on polluted developing nations , which are not acceptable. Any immune
country cannot be so forced
4.
Post globalization, India got
nuclear power deals.
5.
Post globalization, Iran has
embarked on growth journey & is a
player in oil market to decide whether to curtain production.
6.
Globalization has put
restrictions thru GATT ( Remember
uncle Dunkle) on product n process patents of our own products , eg low cost drugs.
But mostly we are winners &
Indian products are winning US n
EU markets.
7.
Without globalization , probably Vietnam, Cuba, Philippines, Thailand , Taipei
could not prosper.
8.
Pre-globalization, Indian industrial giants were
looting us. One of the reasons of
today our having huge mobile density ,
multiple TVs in rural homes, high end refrigerators n washing machines
etc, massive computerization, multifarious
cars & inflation restrained
by way of cheaper foreign products /
cheaper products from MNC stable as mfd in India compared to
their desi rivals all n all of these is Globalization,
9.
Openness, knowledge n info…. All
gone up post globalization. Any Apple
phone launched is soon available in India. Even India is
hotspot for global launch of some brands. Why India the country of Ambassadors?? Take the choices USSR & east European nations had prior
to the fall of Berlin wall? And
compare with today.
10.
Today fall of Greece means fall of EU. Fall of Chineese economy means fall
of our Sensex.
11.
Our Jute
& tea industries
have suffered badly but coffee
flourished. Workers have died
but promoters have
minted fortunes by shifting to
better alternatives.
12.
Globalization is effective probably only if a nation can
utilize its resources with higher allocation in R&D by getting inspired by developed nations, so
that one way flow of technical knowhow & outflow of FE
against patented rights n
royalty n knowhow fees. Why can’t
the wind blow in opposite
direction?
13.
India must improve its deplorable status on Giving Index ; it must create
Bill Gates & Merc
Zuberbergs who can donate their
fortunes to developing nations.
14.
India must improve on Ease of Doing Business Index,
so that MNCs can set
shop here n generate employment.
15.
Globalization has allowed Harrods n Tescos n Wallmarts to loot d world , but today globalization , led also by some Bangalore guys ,
the start ups like Snapdeal,
Flipkart, Bluestone, Bigbasket, & so
many… as are competing
with Amazons , are making the retail MNCs feel the heat. Yaa,
our Bigbazar & AB Retail are also
closing some of brick n mortar shops.
16.
Govt’s focus in policy making should shift to
improvement on HDI , d Human
Development Index, & if rulers
are clear about zero oppression, cheaper global alternatives
can emerge. But policy
makers must be focused that
real education is essential commensurate
with needs n better health , nutrition etc. Globalization
should be an aid n alternative to attain that end.
SONGSOPTOK: What, according to you, is the role played by
the major multinational companies in of globalization? Do you think that the
entire process was actually put in motion by the large MNC’s for their personal
profits or do you think that there has been a trickle-down effect to the
economy of your country?
ANINDA: Let us take
examples of GE / Coca Cola/ Pepsi.
They drive away other players from market. But
it is also true that countries
with heritage , like India , have
created its own giants
too, whose products are
giving a run for money to some MNCs
, not only nationally, but internationally too. So we have
Dabur, we have Patanjali…. You see, nobody could think, Colgate could be
challenged, but Himalaya came, Red from
Dabur came; came Patanjali’s products… products have to be good… Take
Hindustan Lever… in food segment, they have challenges from ITC, even tea n
all, Tata has taken heat off
HUL’s Brookebond n Lipton. See, in Cement, where’s
ACC today n where’s Ambuja?? Some handful of highly paid officers in Geneva run the world
cement business of Holcim. But then,
what with Lafarge? They could not grow n
are now thinking of selling plants they bought from Tata to JSW. You are right when we see how tough Posco has been trying to enter ….but still Steel
of India is with Indian giants…. And in Cement, there are
so many players from soil….
We need to define how to brand
the likes of Vedanta &
Chhabrias, how to brand Arcelor Mittals…
are they global
or are they Indian?? You are
right, globalization is a ploy by
MNCs to enter our huge markets… and this succeeded in Africa , even Mid east &
even Latin America. But in India,
there has been Parle n so many
small biscuit players, there has been
Amul to beat Nestle/ FSL. Maggi
suffered set back.
Unchecked entry in the name of
technology must not be there. And what is the big fuss on technology?? U see, in cement, Ultratech is bought by
Aditya Birla… and FIIs
are just dragging our sensex
down by pulling off their moneys when we badly
need them. They do not
listen to Obama, Obama has to
listen to them… where are they when we need
lacs of crores in rlys?
Where are they in roads?
Actually, the
enormous windfalls that MNCs
have earned in poor
countries since they entered these at dawns of their
liberations, have dropped as stiff competition has grown at home thrashing inflation down. Nirma n then a no of local brands emerged in soap, shampoo, detergents. And that
is too crucial for any 3rd world nation. You have
to grow ur own brand, & what
Amazons, Maggis , Cadburys create, u
can grow over , emulate n excel and as
a poorly tested Maggi gets a ban
order, Patanjali n other atta noodles
thrive. This is like an MNC drug giant brings in a
drug & 1000s of small Indian
drug cos bring in cheaper versions by
copying formulae n u get 100 genetic
drug versions in mkt. Viagra is
too costly but Penegra , Edegra
are too cheaper with nearly same
effects.
It is not that all
MNCs have lost the previous monopolistic positions, but now
there are oligopolies n competitions gradually. In fact, the loot as in no- globalization era by MNCs was more in unholy connivance n alliance with ruling political powers.
Even PSUs take MNCs as
looting partners in so many
economies. HEC of USSR looted
India for long.
SONGSOPTOK: Many economists claim that globalization is a
major factor for disseminating knowledge and technology across continents and
borders within a very short time. Do you support this view? Has your country
benefited from this? Can you give us some examples?
ANINDA: Knowledge can
spread 2 way—on job & off job, ie thru technologu transfer by a R&D
rich nation , by its MNC, to its
Indian tech partner / tech buyer / process partner. But question remains as to, to what extent are the technologies
trfd? Coca cola n Pepsi drove out Parle n others long back, long
before globalization truly took off in India. Did India get d tech know
how? Certainly not. Till now
we are unable to mfg fighter jets, not even reasonably good
aircrafts. Let’s celebrate our rocket scientists ,
Agni-Prithvi n others of that sort;
let’s celebrate Mangalayan, but 2 astronauts of India had no opportunity of putting into action any
of their learning. So, Globalization
has hardly much to do with a nation’s high technology. Coming to education,
unless govt appropriates huge sums , as did USSR, it cannot succeed in science, forget space science. See, how much was the allocation of USSR
& China in sports science? Unless
u allocate that sum, what happens is , ur IITians , on whom u have spent
millions , are drained off by US n EU. Globalization or not, a country can buy tech from another. How many projects in industry / academics are running
on foreign technologies? How much
of cloth brands that we wear in
India are built on tech
purchased vis a vis just brand
purchase? But, yaa, in fields like mobile & electronics &
automobiles , we have home grown quite a lot
in last 2-3 decades. Now , come
to the case of building India. Since 2nd
5 year plan till now, whatever plant has
been set up in India in steel &
Cement, and after the decay of Howrah, the Glasgow of East, whatever foundry n engg
industry have home grown , whatever refractory bricks n castables we use, whatever special
ferro alloys we use , our cement mill, our raw mill, our coke ovens , our converters
& ladles, our raw mills & coal mills are mostly
imported . Mostly the ancillary
items are mfd in India after main capital equipments are imported
still. So, even after so many years of Globalization, many of our mining & core plant equipments are imported &
scenario has not much changed
since 1991, the Dr Manmohan Singh
era.
SONGSOPTOK: Do you think that globalization actually
breeds a homogenous culture? What, if any, has been the effect of globalization
in the cultural sphere of your country? In your opinion, has it been positive
or negative?
ANINDA: Homogenous /
diversified culture engulfed India long before this so-called
globalization. Mao did a
cultural revolution, India did not.
But our dramas / plays adopted Gorky, Brecht, Sophocles, Shakespeare ,Ibsen
long back. Long back
translation of foreign language novels n poetry n music overwhelmed us. Was that colonialism?
Was that Renaissance? Whatever it was, it got ingrained in our art , our sculptures, Tagore’s thought process, Vivekananda’s humanism , MN Roy’s Radical Humanism , Aurobindo’s involution all
came to us long before so called
globalization. Then, should we call colonialism a globalization initiative?
CPI was affiliated to CPSU &
CPI(M) started drifting towards
CP China . And CPI(ML) clearly
got attracted to Mao n Che. Cultural renaissance of Bengal cannot
be thought of excluding the IPTA
movement & the people’s choirs that came in under the socialist n communist
influences. And, being an open democratic nation , India could well participate in Bangladesh freedom struggle n
cultural initiatives related thereto ;
it could equally participate in Paul
Robson & Pete Segar , Gunter Grass n
Roma Rolland , Gogol & Pushkin, Dostovosky
n Tolstoy, Mikhail Sholokov n Russel n Nitjhe n Simone de Beauvoir , Jean-Paul
Sartre n Pushkin, Boris Pasternak n Godard,
Gune n Picasso, Van Gogh n O Henry, Somerset Maugham n Charles Dickens, Leonardo D Vinci n Victor Hugo ,all
those English poets like Keats, Tennyson, Frost…. English made it easier for India to breed Tagore, CV Raman. India could
come close to Khalil Zibran;
India could breed Mulk Raj Anand. So, whether it is the band culture, or 3rd
theatre or 3rd film movement ( art
films as opposed to commercial films)
are not really accredit able to any globalization efforts. Unlike
in USSR, in India Cine societies
n international film fests have a
history and although no fully Indian film has won an
Oscar, it has been common for our films
to get Golden Beer, Golden
peacock etc. Our novelists won Magsaysay , our films were regular to win accolades at Cannes &
Berlin. Our Ray, our Sen, our Ghatak, our Ketan, our Govind, our Benegal all
enriched Indian cinema long
before so called globalization, as
did theatre personalities Sambhu Mitra, Sriram Lagu,
Vijay Tendulkar, Ajitesh…So globalization
has not impacted cultural fusion badly / well.
SONGSOPTOK: What, in your
opinion, is the impact of globalization on environment? Do you think that the
capitalistic growth model used by the large multinationals have a negative
effect on the environment? In what way?
ANINDA: Environment can improve
with nuclear power or solar n
tidal power as base of economy.
Or even Hydel n Wind power. In fact, Nuclear power has its inherent
dangers. None of these need any special technology , except for
that with gradual decline in operating costs, solar firms overseas are able to
compete with thermal, which was not
imaginable hitherto. To that
extent, 3rd world needs
technology from developed
world,--to tap all renewable energies at cheaper costs. Coming to impact on environment, already we have cited about Kyoto protocol & India’s
objection. A country wanting to grow has to burn more carbon footprint
than its developed counterpart. Well, one can contend that Union Carbide
was d worst case of
environmental disaster by an MNC. But these are exceptions. Our Ganga is polluted, Jamuna
is polluted, Delhi is one of d worst polluted cities of d world. Beijing is d
most polluted city of d world. How many
of such polluting industries are
from MNCs?? In Cement, steel , power, most of pollution control equipments are from MNCs. Membrane tech of chemical plants is such a
value addition to replace
pollutive mercury. Today ETP-DMRO
of water recycling does not any more need much of MNC support. Per se,
industrialization n green tech do not go together, but to say that
MNCs are responsible for negative
impact on environment is an exaggeration.
Any industry destroys forests n ecology. Vedanta’s
Niamgiri project is stalled &
Vedanta is an Indian giant. Howrah foundries, Mumbai textiles, Delhi
SSIs all
are equally responsible for environmental deterioration & Ozone
depletion as the MNCs
SONGSOPTOK: Is it possible to imagine a world today with
an alternative mode of production and consumption? Is it at all necessary? If
so, will you share your ideas with us? How can we, as ordinary citizens,
contribute to such a model?
ANINDA: If we can restrain ourselves from rat race,
Gandhian model is an ideal one. Whatever
economic model may be tried out
by govts incl NDA Govt of India , whatever capitalist-rightist laissez faire
approach may come from Arvind Subramanyan & Pangharia, Senonomics is the
model to stay n prosper. As Angus Deaton also contended, HDI has to go up. So, for me, production ,
consumption n wealth creation need to
center around equity n greens of environment friendly n non polluting
industries. 130 crores’ nation needs
employment, which cannot come from MNC
s’ gigantic plants. We need
SSIs & MSMEs. And handicrafts & tourism. Power n wealth to people shall be able to enhance their purchasing power n
shall drive economic growth. Deficit
financed budget Should make way for welfare schemes to
generate employment.
ANINDA GHOSH: A CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT.
EXECUTIVE MANAGER OF JSW Steel Ltd. WRITER
& POET...
We sincerely thank you
for your time and hope we shall have your continued support.
Aparajita
Sen
(Editor: Songsoptok)
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