UPSC Mains 2018 GS Paper 1 Q19: model answer
‘Globalization is generally said to promote cultural homogenization but due to this cultural specificities appear to be strengthened in the Indian Society.’ Elucidate.
What the question wants
Explain the paradox that globalisation, though said to make cultures alike, has sharpened Indian cultural specificities.
How to structure it
Elucidate: explain the statement with examples.
- The homogenisation claim
- Evidence of homogenisation
- Why specificities grew stronger
- Examples
- Conclusion
How to think it through
Here is the paradox in one scene: a Marathi wedding livestreamed to cousins in New Jersey, with the menu ordered on Zomato. Global tools, local identity. When people feel the world rushing in, they hold their roots tighter. That reaction is your main argument.
Model answer
Coke Studio, a global music format, became a hit in India by reviving folk singers from Rajasthan, Assam and Punjab. A tool built to sell one global product ended up amplifying local sounds.
The homogenisation claim
Global markets, media and brands spread one consumer culture: same malls, same fast food, same English vocabulary.
Evidence of homogenisation
- Urban youth share global styles of dress, music and online slang.
- Malls and multiplexes look alike from Lucknow to Kochi.
- English and Hinglish advertising, global festivals such as Halloween in city schools, and similar diets of burgers and pizza.
- Small languages and crafts lose speakers and buyers, a real cost of homogenisation.
Why specificities have become stronger
- Reaction and identity: fear of losing roots makes people assert language, dress and ritual more consciously.
- Glocalisation: firms localise (McAloo Tikki, regional-language ads, Amazon in Hindi and Tamil).
- Technology as a carrier: YouTube, OTT and Instagram give regional cinema and folk forms a mass audience; Bhojpuri songs reach millions.
- Diaspora: Indians abroad revive festivals like Chhath, Durga Puja and Garba, and send that energy home.
- Political assertion: regional parties and movements defend language, as in protests over Hindi signboards in Karnataka.
- Markets for authenticity: GI tags (Banarasi saree, Darjeeling tea), handlooms and Ayurveda become global brands.
Examples
- Regional cinema (Kantara, Baahubali) outperforming many Hindi films.
- Yoga made global through the International Day of Yoga (2015).
- Regional food brands (Haldiram's, Kerala's appams on delivery apps) competing with global chains.
Conclusion
Globalisation has not erased Indian cultures; it has given them new stages. The same forces can, however, harden identities into exclusion, so the task is to keep the revival confident rather than defensive.
Draw: Arrows from 'global tools' pointing into 'local identity' boxes.
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
Glocalisation, cultural hybridisation, GI tags, diaspora, Coke Studio, International Day of Yoga.
Where most answers lose marks
- Writing only about Westernisation. The statement asks why specificities got stronger.
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Learn the concept
Question text as printed in the official UPSC Civil Services (Main) question paper. The model answer is original Battle IAS work; use it to learn structure, not to memorise.
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