India is a culture rich place i.e. famous for its rich heritage and culture. Well, culture of a place also includes our traditional industries. Since the ancient times, traditional industries and related economic activities have flourished in India and were the life support of the people. But slowly and gradually these industries started vanishing and in the present day are on the verge of extinction. What caused this change? Was this change a sudden one? Is it good for our country? Let us see.

The major cause of this change was globalization and yes the change was a gradual one; not a sudden one. Not sticking with the definition here; on broader terms, Globalization simply refers to big industries (of all types) taking over the basic industries in our country. The next question which arises is that which type of industries are we talking about?

Well, the answer to this question is very simple. We keep reading in the books that in India, the traditional industries flourished but most of us are not aware what kind of industries we are talking about. We are talking about the traditional industries of cotton and jute, handloom industries, the art of making bangles, handicrafts and many more. Now that we know the industries which were affected, let’s see when and how the change was caused.

When India was a free nation (i.e. right before the ships of any foreign traders touched our ports), the country was dominated by basic industries and ruled by kings. When the first foreigners, i.e. the Portuguese touched our ports, they didn’t try to change anything around here. Rather they appreciated our culture and respected it. Complications arose when the British came. Our land was divided among many kingdoms and hence we failed to recognize our true potential. The British just took the advantage of it and saw how our traditional industries were the foundation of our civilization. This was where they attacked us and brought us tumbling down, crushed our industries and established their dominance over us.

The British used their own goods and goods from other places including India. With our industries gone; they started introducing their own goods in our country like confectionaries, apparels, crafts etc. Some naïve Indians saw this as the development of our nation, but the truth was something else. In my own words:
“A developed nation is not one in which the poor have cars, it is one where the rich use public transport”
which here means that the roots which are shared by all the people, if cherished will help us develop. Abandoning the old roots and adopting the new ones just doesn’t work. Same was the case with India. People were grateful to the British for globalization but they failed to notice their true intention behind this.

Go in a market or a city. All we see is foreign goods (mostly) dominating the markets. No one even looks up to the small industries now left to rot in the villages. I agree that we are at an advantage because of globalization but we just fail to see the other side of the coin to realize how w globalization has ruined many rural households who are now vulnerable groups.
In the words of Jimmy Carter:
“If you're totally illiterate and living on one dollar a day, the benefits of globalization never come to you.”

Well that’s true. The benefits of globalization are only enjoyed by the upper strata of the society.
It is not that globalization is all bad. It has its own plus points. Some of them can be that we are now in pace with the world and from our outer shell, we look almost developed. The national income is higher and people are more and more developing. Yes, the nation is growing. If we are to develop new roots, it is essential that we are in contacts with the origin, or we are sure to fall to the ground.

Globalization has helped us, no doubt but instead of affecting just the rural households, it has affected the entire nation. The children crave the flavor of the foreign globalized goods and are not even interested in the food cooked at home. As a result we see flailing health and weakness eating into the whole nation.
With globalization we are able to interact with the entire world taking points out of their culture. But as it is the human nature, we are tempted towards the bad aspects of each culture corroding our own culture even further. As a result we see falling moral values among us.

Throughout the world there are many people who are in full support of globalization. In the words of Kofi Annan:
“Arguing against globalization is like arguing against the laws of gravity”

With globalization, weare contributing to the growth of foreign industries. With each foreign good we buy, we are helping the company’s CEO to buy a new Lamborghini. The smaller industries have nowhere to go and hence are restricted to the villages, or simply the places with stunted growth. As a result; the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.

“Where globalization means, as it so often does, that the rich and powerful now have new means to further enrich and empower themselves at the cost of the poorer and weaker, we have a responsibility to protest in the name of universal freedom.”
                                                                                                                                          -Nelson Mandela

Now as we approach the end, we see that both the sides are supporting themselves. But it is up to us to draw a conclusion and put an end to all the confusion generated by the different arguments. We see that globalization has strengthened our new generation although we cannot neglect the fact that how it has managed to decay our roots. Globalization is a necessary evil, with both good and bad aspects, it is essential for our growth. Although some modifications can be made to original idea. One change that can be made is that we can start contributing to the growth of the traditional industries so that it can serve as a viable replacement option, a much better one for the generations to come. If we also encourage the smaller industries, we are assured all- round development and the people who have cried for long can finally smile. Maybe it is just the time for an old touch.
“With the looks of the things, what the people might need is a little old fashioned”
                                                                                                       - The Avengers (Marvels Pvt. Ltd.)
So in conclusion globalization is good for us but only if it is implemented in the modified form i.e. by strengthening  our roots and not dissolving them so that our country is at the top of the world, with its reins in our hands.

“I will develop and grow by the support of my ancestors and not by eliminating them; the latter would only make me weaker.”