India & the World: Globalisation and its discontents

Globalisation and its discontents

“Discontents” simply means problems that make people unhappy. Past topics that use this theme: “South Asian societies are woven not around the state, but around their plural cultures and plural identities” (2019), useful for regional identity and connectivity, and “Technology as the silent factor in international relations” (2020). The theme also helps with economy and technology essays.

What globalisation gave

Think of your phone. It may be designed in one country, use chips made in another, be assembled in India and run apps written by programmers in Bengaluru. That is globalisation. Since India opened its economy in 1991, it brought:

• Trade and jobs: IT services and manufacturing created millions of jobs.
• Technology: faster spread of mobile phones, the internet and new medicines.
• Cheaper goods: more choice for consumers at lower prices.
• Cultural exchange: yoga, Indian food and cinema travelled abroad; world music and sport came home.

Its discontents

• Job losses in some sectors: factories closed where cheaper imports arrived.
• Inequality: between countries and within them. Skilled city workers gained more than farmers and informal workers.
• Cultural homogenisation: local languages, foods and crafts being pushed aside by one global style.
• Fragile supply chains: the pandemic showed that when one factory or port shuts, shelves empty across the world. A supply chain is the path a product travels from raw material to your hands.
• Environmental costs: long-distance shipping and flights add pollution.

A balanced outline

Globalisation is not ending but changing. Countries now build regional supply chains closer to home, digital trade grows (services sold online across borders) and green trade grows (solar panels, batteries). India’s path: open but resilient. Build manufacturing and skills, protect the vulnerable with safety nets, and help shape fair global rules.

• Hook: a weaver in Varanasi who sells to buyers abroad online, and a toy maker who lost sales to cheap imports. Same globalisation, two stories.
• Meaning: globalisation creates winners and losers.
• Gains: jobs, technology, choice, ideas.
• Discontents: inequality, job loss, fragile supply chains, culture, environment.
• Counter-view: close the borders and protect everything.
• Reply: closing off makes a country poorer and slower; the answer is to share gains fairly, not to stop trade.
• Conclusion: open doors, strong walls: trade with the world while protecting the weakest at home.

Indian examples you can use

• IT services: Indian software firms serve clients worldwide, creating jobs for millions of young graduates.
• Generic medicines: India supplies affordable medicines to many countries, earning the name “pharmacy of the world”.
• Diaspora: Indians working abroad send money home that supports families and the economy.
• Make in India and PLI schemes: efforts to make more goods at home, such as mobile phones, so India is not dependent on one supplier.

Words worth explaining in your essay

Protectionism means shielding local industry with taxes on imports. Resilience means the ability to bounce back from shocks. Deglobalisation means countries pulling back from global trade. Use each with its meaning inside the sentence, so your essay stays easy to read.

Mistakes to avoid

• Writing only praise or only criticism.
• Forgetting people: always show who gains and who loses.
• Using numbers you are unsure of. Use examples instead.
• Ignoring culture. Globalisation is also about languages, food, music and how young people see the world.
• Ending with fear of the world. End with confidence: India can gain from the world while staying itself.