From Global To Local In India By Alex Jensen
From Global To Local In India
From Global To Local In India
By Alex Jensen
“The Future
is Fast. We are Faster.” This ubiquitous billboard for a tech company
neatly captures the zeitgeist in modern-day Bangalore, and
rapidly-urbanizing India generally. Today, Bangalore's erstwhile
appellation as India‘s ‘garden city' seems sadly anachronistic. To
arrive at the Visthar Academy of Justice and Peace Studies on the
outskirts of Bangalore – where we would be lodging for the next three
days for the 3 rd Economics of Happiness Conference [http://www.theeconomicsofhappiness.org/conference-2014-india]
– requires a painstakingly slow creep through bumper-to-bumper traffic,
past glamorous shopping malls and an exploding, bewildering skein of
real estate developments, garbage mountains, and slums. The air quality
is truly mephitic from the collective emissions of millions of vehicles,
factories, and garbage fires. Such are some of the characteristics of
the modern Indian megacity, a rude foil to the Panglossian image of
progress presented by the official boosters of globalization,
urbanization and growth.
is Fast. We are Faster.” This ubiquitous billboard for a tech company
neatly captures the zeitgeist in modern-day Bangalore, and
rapidly-urbanizing India generally. Today, Bangalore's erstwhile
appellation as India‘s ‘garden city' seems sadly anachronistic. To
arrive at the Visthar Academy of Justice and Peace Studies on the
outskirts of Bangalore – where we would be lodging for the next three
days for the 3 rd Economics of Happiness Conference [http://www.theeconomicsofhappiness.org/conference-2014-india]
– requires a painstakingly slow creep through bumper-to-bumper traffic,
past glamorous shopping malls and an exploding, bewildering skein of
real estate developments, garbage mountains, and slums. The air quality
is truly mephitic from the collective emissions of millions of vehicles,
factories, and garbage fires. Such are some of the characteristics of
the modern Indian megacity, a rude foil to the Panglossian image of
progress presented by the official boosters of globalization,
urbanization and growth.
Conventional development – i.e.
western-style industrialization, urbanization, and consumerism – is
being foisted on India more intensively than ever by both Indian and
foreign governments and corporations. The advertised purpose of this is
to meet aggressive annual economic growth goals, dangling a shining GDP
in front of foreign investors who will come and spur the process forward
in a self-perpetuating cycle. Deeper still is the national political
obsession with the elusive quest to reach the promised land of
‘developed.'
western-style industrialization, urbanization, and consumerism – is
being foisted on India more intensively than ever by both Indian and
foreign governments and corporations. The advertised purpose of this is
to meet aggressive annual economic growth goals, dangling a shining GDP
in front of foreign investors who will come and spur the process forward
in a self-perpetuating cycle. Deeper still is the national political
obsession with the elusive quest to reach the promised land of
‘developed.'
Development, as these forces implicitly
conceive it, entails transforming India into a facsimile of modern
America – the ecological, cultural, psychological and other shortcomings
of that society notwithstanding. But, as author Aseem Shrivastava
remarked during the Economics of Happiness Conference, “What is
development really about? It is about the conversion of life into
money.” The methods used to do so in India are commonly brutal, with
various state governments using violent methods to wrest land from
villagers in order to set up regulation-free corporate enclaves known
as special economic zones [http://www.countercurrents.org/ind-bhaduri070107.htm].
conceive it, entails transforming India into a facsimile of modern
America – the ecological, cultural, psychological and other shortcomings
of that society notwithstanding. But, as author Aseem Shrivastava
remarked during the Economics of Happiness Conference, “What is
development really about? It is about the conversion of life into
money.” The methods used to do so in India are commonly brutal, with
various state governments using violent methods to wrest land from
villagers in order to set up regulation-free corporate enclaves known
as special economic zones [http://www.countercurrents.org/ind-bhaduri070107.htm].
As globalized development proceeds in
India, giant corporations like Reliance Industries, Tata, and
Bharti/Walmart are busy consolidating virtually every sector of the
economy, with the helping hand of the central and state governments (see
below). North American style supermarkets are spreading, and toxic
plastics and used cell phones are being discarded into the environment
as fast as the factories can pump them out. The impact on small farmers –
many of whom have been swept into the dragnet of ‘contract farming' –
has been particularly deadly. Through deceitful advertising and the
encouragement of development agencies, toxic chemicals and genetically
manipulated seeds have invaded Indian agriculture, enabling companies
like Monsanto-Mahyco to push thousands of farmers into debt and leading
to an epidemic of farmer suicides [http://www.counterpunch.org/2009/02/12/the-largest-wave-of-suicides-in-history].
Responding to the common claim, “if corporate seeds and chemicals were
so bad, why would farmers choose them?”, Kavitha Kuruganti of the ASHA (Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture) Network [http://www.lokashakti.org/pages/viewgroup/1101-Alliance+for+Sustainable+Holistic+Agriculture]
told us in an interview at the conference how the agribusiness
companies use dancing girls, Bollywood stars and many other highly
manipulative techniques to push their products on farmers, while
information on the hazards and risks is nowhere to be seen.
India, giant corporations like Reliance Industries, Tata, and
Bharti/Walmart are busy consolidating virtually every sector of the
economy, with the helping hand of the central and state governments (see
below). North American style supermarkets are spreading, and toxic
plastics and used cell phones are being discarded into the environment
as fast as the factories can pump them out. The impact on small farmers –
many of whom have been swept into the dragnet of ‘contract farming' –
has been particularly deadly. Through deceitful advertising and the
encouragement of development agencies, toxic chemicals and genetically
manipulated seeds have invaded Indian agriculture, enabling companies
like Monsanto-Mahyco to push thousands of farmers into debt and leading
to an epidemic of farmer suicides [http://www.counterpunch.org/2009/02/12/the-largest-wave-of-suicides-in-history].
Responding to the common claim, “if corporate seeds and chemicals were
so bad, why would farmers choose them?”, Kavitha Kuruganti of the ASHA (Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture) Network [http://www.lokashakti.org/pages/viewgroup/1101-Alliance+for+Sustainable+Holistic+Agriculture]
told us in an interview at the conference how the agribusiness
companies use dancing girls, Bollywood stars and many other highly
manipulative techniques to push their products on farmers, while
information on the hazards and risks is nowhere to be seen.
Far from representing the outcome of the
mythically rational or natural workings of the market, this form of
hyper corporate globalization – in India and everywhere else – is
directly underwritten by subsidies, tax breaks, land-seizures and
various other state giveaways and props, a.k.a. corporate welfare. Under
chief minister Narendra Modi (and the new Prime Minister of India) the
state of Gujarat has led the charge in aggressively dispersing this
welfare to India's richest one percent [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?289709].
As author Pankaj Mishra has written on the occasion of Modi's recent
electoral victory: “His record as chief minister is predominantly
distinguished by the transfer – through privatization or outright
gifts – of national resources to the country's biggest corporations. His
closest allies – India's biggest businessmen – have accordingly
enlisted their mainstream media outlets into the cult of Modi as
decisive administrator; dissenting journalists have been removed or
silenced.” [http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/16/what-next-india-pankaj-mishra].
mythically rational or natural workings of the market, this form of
hyper corporate globalization – in India and everywhere else – is
directly underwritten by subsidies, tax breaks, land-seizures and
various other state giveaways and props, a.k.a. corporate welfare. Under
chief minister Narendra Modi (and the new Prime Minister of India) the
state of Gujarat has led the charge in aggressively dispersing this
welfare to India's richest one percent [http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?289709].
As author Pankaj Mishra has written on the occasion of Modi's recent
electoral victory: “His record as chief minister is predominantly
distinguished by the transfer – through privatization or outright
gifts – of national resources to the country's biggest corporations. His
closest allies – India's biggest businessmen – have accordingly
enlisted their mainstream media outlets into the cult of Modi as
decisive administrator; dissenting journalists have been removed or
silenced.” [http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/16/what-next-india-pankaj-mishra].
Not to be outdone, the opposing Congress
Party under the leadership of Manmohan Singh (the Harvard-educated
economist who, as finance minister back in 1991 authored the
liberalization policies that flung India open to the needs of global
capital) has also been doing its utmost to increase the shareholder
value of big corporations. To take one of many examples, this government
has appointed the petroleum minister as environment minister (he holds
both titles still, without any apparent sense of irony), who promised
that “project-clearance files would leave his desk by 5 pm the very day
they were presented to him; there was no promise of upholding
environmental standards and safety.” As reported in a recent editorial
in Economic and Political Weekly , “This move indicates that
the Manmohan Singh government is desperate to send out the “right”
signals to the private sector and big capital.” [http://www.epw.in/editorials/crass-decision.html]
Among many other corporate-friendly priorities, this new environment
minister began pushing immediately for allowing unrestricted GMO field
trials and crop cultivation.
Party under the leadership of Manmohan Singh (the Harvard-educated
economist who, as finance minister back in 1991 authored the
liberalization policies that flung India open to the needs of global
capital) has also been doing its utmost to increase the shareholder
value of big corporations. To take one of many examples, this government
has appointed the petroleum minister as environment minister (he holds
both titles still, without any apparent sense of irony), who promised
that “project-clearance files would leave his desk by 5 pm the very day
they were presented to him; there was no promise of upholding
environmental standards and safety.” As reported in a recent editorial
in Economic and Political Weekly , “This move indicates that
the Manmohan Singh government is desperate to send out the “right”
signals to the private sector and big capital.” [http://www.epw.in/editorials/crass-decision.html]
Among many other corporate-friendly priorities, this new environment
minister began pushing immediately for allowing unrestricted GMO field
trials and crop cultivation.
These sops to industry by the Indian
state are in lockstep with the imperious lecturing of Western powers, in
particular the U.S. government (and international institutions
controlled by it like the World Bank and IMF), whose muscle is flexed in
India on behalf of what it terms promoting a sound investment climate,
euphemism for policy reforms needed to benefit conditions of
profitability for American corporations (e.g., agrichemical
corporations). The recently retired Ambassador Nancy Powell fulminated
earlier this year, with characteristic American state hubris, “For India
to return to faster growth, new policies and economic reforms need to
be put in place by the government in areas such as opening multi-brand
retail up to foreign direct investment.” What this amounts to is
personal stumping for Wal-Mart by the highest representative of the U.S.
government in India. U.S. officialdom in India issues variations of
this royal decree ad nauseum . Even US President Barack Obama
has taken up the cause of his country's needy retail giant, complaining
last July that “India has prohibited FDI in too many sectors such as
retail” [http://www.hindustantimes.com/business-news/allow-fdi-in-multi-brand-retail-us-to-india/article1-901536.aspx].
state are in lockstep with the imperious lecturing of Western powers, in
particular the U.S. government (and international institutions
controlled by it like the World Bank and IMF), whose muscle is flexed in
India on behalf of what it terms promoting a sound investment climate,
euphemism for policy reforms needed to benefit conditions of
profitability for American corporations (e.g., agrichemical
corporations). The recently retired Ambassador Nancy Powell fulminated
earlier this year, with characteristic American state hubris, “For India
to return to faster growth, new policies and economic reforms need to
be put in place by the government in areas such as opening multi-brand
retail up to foreign direct investment.” What this amounts to is
personal stumping for Wal-Mart by the highest representative of the U.S.
government in India. U.S. officialdom in India issues variations of
this royal decree ad nauseum . Even US President Barack Obama
has taken up the cause of his country's needy retail giant, complaining
last July that “India has prohibited FDI in too many sectors such as
retail” [http://www.hindustantimes.com/business-news/allow-fdi-in-multi-brand-retail-us-to-india/article1-901536.aspx].
Meanwhile, the organs of the media and
modern schooling continue their insidious assault on India's diverse
cultures, seducing and coercing ever more people away from their
land-based traditions and local economies into the global consumer
monoculture. A country with an ancient heritage of innumerable
sustainable, zero-waste local economies is now increasingly awash in
petrochemical pollution and gargantuan landfills, swelling megacities
and glittering shopping malls for the super-affluent. Also on the rise
are many of the less visible but equally devastating side effects of
this kind of development: depression, diet-related diseases (e.g.
obesity and diabetes), loss of languages, monoarchitecture (cement,
rebar, and tin), monoclothing (mass-produced sweatshop synthetics), and
worst, a deep internalization of notions of backwardness and a need to
catch-up to or ‘develop' like the United States and Europe.
modern schooling continue their insidious assault on India's diverse
cultures, seducing and coercing ever more people away from their
land-based traditions and local economies into the global consumer
monoculture. A country with an ancient heritage of innumerable
sustainable, zero-waste local economies is now increasingly awash in
petrochemical pollution and gargantuan landfills, swelling megacities
and glittering shopping malls for the super-affluent. Also on the rise
are many of the less visible but equally devastating side effects of
this kind of development: depression, diet-related diseases (e.g.
obesity and diabetes), loss of languages, monoarchitecture (cement,
rebar, and tin), monoclothing (mass-produced sweatshop synthetics), and
worst, a deep internalization of notions of backwardness and a need to
catch-up to or ‘develop' like the United States and Europe.
Despite the pace of ‘development' in
India, it is also true that much more of the vernacular, the
traditional, and the independent hangs on here than in many countries.
Even in the middle of major cities, large quantities of food and other
daily needs are still supplied from tiny independent local shops or
street vendors, and local craftsmen (weavers, potters, tinkers, tailors,
etc.) ply their trades in the enormous ‘informal' sector. Multinational
chain restaurants like KFC and McDonald's – while now ubiquitous in the
affluent parts of cities – have not displaced stubbornly popular local
eateries, and local alternatives to corporate junk food persist
everywhere. And in spite of economic, trade and development policies
that relentlessly conspire against them, small farmers still make up the
majority of the population, and most of the food is still provided by
them [http://www.countercurrents.org/shiva300407.htm].
India, it is also true that much more of the vernacular, the
traditional, and the independent hangs on here than in many countries.
Even in the middle of major cities, large quantities of food and other
daily needs are still supplied from tiny independent local shops or
street vendors, and local craftsmen (weavers, potters, tinkers, tailors,
etc.) ply their trades in the enormous ‘informal' sector. Multinational
chain restaurants like KFC and McDonald's – while now ubiquitous in the
affluent parts of cities – have not displaced stubbornly popular local
eateries, and local alternatives to corporate junk food persist
everywhere. And in spite of economic, trade and development policies
that relentlessly conspire against them, small farmers still make up the
majority of the population, and most of the food is still provided by
them [http://www.countercurrents.org/shiva300407.htm].
Because it still retains so much of the
traditional and land-based, India is arguably better-positioned than the
West to forge an alternative path to the future – one based on
principles of economic localization. Despite the grievous losses to seed
and food diversity occasioned by decades of imposition of industrial
agriculture, an enormous amount remains intact, as illustrated at a
recent seed festival [http://vikalpsangam.org/article/the-delhi-seed-festival-march-8-9-2014/#.U1HhC6LQ6zY] and an amazing Adivasi (indigenous) food festival
[http://devinder-sharma.blogspot.in/2014/03/the-forgotten-foods.html].
There is a vibrant sustainable food and farming movement to protect and
promote this diversity [see http://www.kisanswaraj.in/ ], and GMO trials can still be stopped here [see http://indiagminfo.org/ ]
(Monsanto's Bt cotton is the only commercially grown GMO, though the
aforementioned petroleum/environment minister is working overtime to
change that). Though the political establishment is dutifully working to
roll out the red carpet for the big boxes, corporate retail has yet to
fully penetrate, and faces formidable resistance from small shopkeepers
[see http://indiafdiwatch.org/ ]. Farmers and tribal groups are courageously agitating against industrial land take-overs in dozens of states [http://archive.tehelka.com/story_main42.asp?filename=cr180709the_peasant.asp].
traditional and land-based, India is arguably better-positioned than the
West to forge an alternative path to the future – one based on
principles of economic localization. Despite the grievous losses to seed
and food diversity occasioned by decades of imposition of industrial
agriculture, an enormous amount remains intact, as illustrated at a
recent seed festival [http://vikalpsangam.org/article/the-delhi-seed-festival-march-8-9-2014/#.U1HhC6LQ6zY] and an amazing Adivasi (indigenous) food festival
[http://devinder-sharma.blogspot.in/2014/03/the-forgotten-foods.html].
There is a vibrant sustainable food and farming movement to protect and
promote this diversity [see http://www.kisanswaraj.in/ ], and GMO trials can still be stopped here [see http://indiagminfo.org/ ]
(Monsanto's Bt cotton is the only commercially grown GMO, though the
aforementioned petroleum/environment minister is working overtime to
change that). Though the political establishment is dutifully working to
roll out the red carpet for the big boxes, corporate retail has yet to
fully penetrate, and faces formidable resistance from small shopkeepers
[see http://indiafdiwatch.org/ ]. Farmers and tribal groups are courageously agitating against industrial land take-overs in dozens of states [http://archive.tehelka.com/story_main42.asp?filename=cr180709the_peasant.asp].
Most critically, countless groups and
individuals are arising to confront the development monster – to
actively challenge its assumptions and impositions, and to regenerate
dying traditions and nontoxic local economies that rely on local
resources. And there is vibrant resistance and renewal work happening
all over the subcontinent that comprises, in essence, a massive
localization movement.
individuals are arising to confront the development monster – to
actively challenge its assumptions and impositions, and to regenerate
dying traditions and nontoxic local economies that rely on local
resources. And there is vibrant resistance and renewal work happening
all over the subcontinent that comprises, in essence, a massive
localization movement.
The Economics of Happiness Conference [http://www.theeconomicsofhappiness.org/conference-2014-india]
provided a platform from which to launch an exciting new part of that
movement, an India-wide initiative called Alternatives India ( Vikalp Sangam in Hindi) [http://www.vikalpsangam.org/].
The initiative asks this basic question: “As the world hurtles towards
greater ecological devastation, inequalities, and social conflicts … are
there alternative ways of meeting human needs and aspirations, without
trashing the earth and without leaving half of humanity behind?” Their
answer is a resounding yes, and they point to “a multitude of grassroots
and policy initiatives: from meeting basic needs in ecologically
sensitive ways to decentralized governance and producer-consumer
movements, from rethinking urban and rural spaces towards sustainability
to struggles for social and economic equity.” Alternatives India is a
platform to highlight, connect, and thereby strengthen the country's
diverse profusion of local initiatives that are charting a saner course
into the future for India. Perhaps the future of India is not fast and
faster after all, but slow and local.
provided a platform from which to launch an exciting new part of that
movement, an India-wide initiative called Alternatives India ( Vikalp Sangam in Hindi) [http://www.vikalpsangam.org/].
The initiative asks this basic question: “As the world hurtles towards
greater ecological devastation, inequalities, and social conflicts … are
there alternative ways of meeting human needs and aspirations, without
trashing the earth and without leaving half of humanity behind?” Their
answer is a resounding yes, and they point to “a multitude of grassroots
and policy initiatives: from meeting basic needs in ecologically
sensitive ways to decentralized governance and producer-consumer
movements, from rethinking urban and rural spaces towards sustainability
to struggles for social and economic equity.” Alternatives India is a
platform to highlight, connect, and thereby strengthen the country's
diverse profusion of local initiatives that are charting a saner course
into the future for India. Perhaps the future of India is not fast and
faster after all, but slow and local.
Alex Jensen is Project Coordinator at Local Futures – International Society for Ecology and Culture [http://www.localfutures.org/].Alex
has worked in the US and India, where he coordinated The Ladakh Project
from 2004 to 2009. He has collaborated on the content of Local Futures'
Roots of Change curriculum and the Economics of Happiness discussion
guide. He has worked with cultural affirmation and agro-biodiversity
projects in campesino communities in a number of countries and is active
in environmental health/anti-toxics work.
has worked in the US and India, where he coordinated The Ladakh Project
from 2004 to 2009. He has collaborated on the content of Local Futures'
Roots of Change curriculum and the Economics of Happiness discussion
guide. He has worked with cultural affirmation and agro-biodiversity
projects in campesino communities in a number of countries and is active
in environmental health/anti-toxics work.
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