varnam

Mitchell Koss, a producer for Channel One News visited Guandong province of China a week back, and this is what he had to say

The era of Globalization makes each country alert to events happening around the world. If you see a favourable opportunity, you have to grab it. A great example of this is how two countries, each having a population of 1 Billion is dealing with trade in the wake of SARS

While traveling in Kerala the past month, I saw lot of handwritten posters all over the place asking people to be aware of the evils of globalization. According to these posters, which were written by various left-wing organizations, globalization is an evil ploy by the Americans to take over the world.

The book I am reading now, Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas L. Friedman explains three major factors for the spread of globalization

How BPO is changing India

One Bangalore bandh over Cauvery waters sent shock waves through the industry (a call centre should normally never close down), bringing forth so many queries from clients that chances are the political class will in future decide never to have bandhs.

Yet another evil of globalization. You will have to change your work culture, else due to the democratization of finance, the investment meant for your country can easily go to another country. That was why the IT minister of Karnataka told this to the Nasscom BPO Summit, "We will accept whatever your recommendations are and adapt our policy to the changing times".

The automotive industry is now turning to India for manufacturing low-cost, high-quality components.

Carmakers Around World Are Turning to India for Parts: The demand has come even from China, a rival to India in low-cost manufacturing. And the orders are flowing throughout India's auto parts industry, to subsidiaries of Ford, General Motors, Toyota Motor and other major carmakers; to global auto parts leaders like Delphi and Visteon; and to homegrown auto parts makers, including Bhart Forge and Hi-Tech Gears.

The auto parts exports is not comparable to the software industry yet. They are only 0.1 percent of the 1 trillion auto parts industry. The competition now is with countries like Mexico and Brazil which are the other low-cost manufacturing centers for auto parts.

A side effect of this globalization could be an improvement to the Indian legal system to provide stronger support for international business contracts.

There are various conspiracy theories regarding globalization, with the most popular one being that it is run by the White House. This is regularly repeated in various article in mainstream Indian media. But according to Thomas Friedman in his book The Lexus and the Olive Tree, the investment decisions are made by global investors who are looking for countries which can give better returns on their investment. So if United States does not give good returns on investment, then the global investor will move his money to any country which does.

Investors Flock to Cheap Asian Stocks: Foreign funds have been flowing into regional stock markets, with Taiwan in particular a favored destination and tech stocks among the most sought after assets. Of the five markets Nomura tracks, Thailand was the second most popular market, with stocks worth US$384 million bought by foreign investors since the start of the year. But in the last month more money has poured into Taiwan and South Korea. Within the Asia Pacific region, excluding Japan, fund managers were most positive on Taiwan stocks over the next 12 months, followed by India, South Korea, China and Indonesia. But they were underweighting Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and especially Australia.

Glen Reynolds, aka InstaPundit has a column up at TechCentral where he looks at the movement of labor from United States to Third World countries (which I prefer to call developing nations). He wonders why liberals are opposed to this

Outsourcing and Elections: It's true that corporations do this in order to maintain profits -- but they usually are pressed to do that by downward pressure on prices, brought about by competition, which means that they're not earning a windfall out of the deal, and the savings are passed on to consumers, another group that liberals are supposed to like. So it's odd that opposition to outsourcing would attract interest from "liberal" groups, though it clearly has.

He mentions India as one of the countries where most of the Tech jobs are vanishing. Today Oracle has big plans for India. But it is not just the tech jobs that are moving to India. Soon it will be the place where cartoons are made, and where your next auto part comes from.

Niraj made a post, The Developing World Like Globalization few days back citing the Pew Global Attitude Survey explaining why globalization is popular among poor nations. The Economist has an article which tells the same. The lesson learned is that:

Liberty's great advance: The countries that have succeeded in raising living standards rapidly, over long periods, have followed many varieties of economic policy and have lived under many different forms of government. What they have had in common, though, has been a policy of opening their economies to trade and to foreign capital. Countries that have opened their borders in this way have seen their incomes per head grow rapidly?much more rapidly than either the existing rich countries or those that have not globalised, either by choice or through lack of opportunity.

The article has a graph which shows that more globalized countries have a higher annual rate of GDP growth. Swaminathan S Iyer has an article in Times of India which tells how foreign capital is now transforming India into a global auto power.

Unanticipated consequences of FDI: But only after the biggest multinationals entered India did they seriously look at and help upgrade India?s tiny ancillary companies, which were (and in many cases still are) too small and unknown to meet global demand. MNCs will nurture your small and medium companies, and convert them into giant exporters. Ford, for instance, is using small and medium companies that most readers have never heard of, such as Cooper Tire, Visteon, and Synergy Dooray. A medium company called Motherson Sumi has won a huge export order of $125 million for dashboard components.

Global Auto Power is a strong word to use for a country which has only 0.1 percent of the 1 Trillion dollar auto parts market. But there are many positive signs in terms of employment which would not have been possible otherwise. The lessons is that "attract FDI and you will create exports, often in unexpected areas".

Recently we found out that "Asia is an attractive investment":http://varnam.org/blog/archives/000129.html now. We have some numbers now.

"Feature: Indian stock market in wonderland:":http://www.sulekha.com/redirectnh.asp?cid=312758 FIIs have pumped more than $2 billion into Indian stocks and bonds so far in 2003 compared to about $555 million in the whole of 2002, out of which over $700 million surged in the three weeks ending June 30. This is the fourth time in almost 10 years since India opened up to foreign investors that net FII inflows have crossed the $2 billion mark. Many FIIs have even started predicting that considering the current macro-economic situation and strong liquidity, this year may witness record inflows.

The Resident Idiot, a liar and supporter of murderers, gave the following advice to Congress(I) for winning the elections

What the party needs is a major realignment with India's social reality after more than a decade of rightward drift. The central aspect of that reality is the state of underdevelopment, deprivation, poverty and ignorance in which the bulk of the population lives even as it aspires to a life with freedom and dignity. This locates India's "natural" political centre of gravity on the Left. Only a left-wing programme charged by egalitarianism and progressive social policies can address the needs of the mass of the population.

And at the same time what is happening in the mothership ?

China plans to lay off some three million workers every year until 2006 as to streamline the bloated public sector units in the country, the state media reported on Friday.

China is also closing down loss making state owned enterprise. China has learned that for that country to survive in this era of Globalization, it has to stop wasting money and concentrate on wealth creation which in turn drives job creation. They are smart folks, who do not want to go the Soviet Union way and are accepting the Darwinian brutality of free-market capitalism.

China is now wearing what Thomas Friedman calls the Golden Straitjacket.

Within a week of each other, two earthquakes struck on opposite sides of the world -- an earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale in California and a 6.6 earthquake in Iran. But, however similar the earthquakes, the human costs were enormously different.

The deaths in Iran have been counted in the tens of thousands. In California, the deaths did not reach double digits. Why the difference? In one word, wealth.

Wealth enables homes, buildings and other structures to be built to withstand greater stresses. Wealth permits the creation of modern transportation that can quickly carry people to medical facilities. It enables those facilities to be equipped with more advanced medical apparatus and supplies, and amply staffed with highly trained doctors and support staff.

Those who disdain wealth as crass materialism need to understand that wealth is one of the biggest life-saving factors in the world. As an economist in India has pointed out, "95 percent of deaths from natural hazards occur in poor countries."

From an article by Thomas Sowell, via AnarCapLib

The World Social Forum 2004, currently being held in Mumbai, India is turning out to be just a place where people can vent their frustrations against Globalization, Americans, War, and everything else. In particular, the anger is against Globalization.

"The WSF, which believes in the possibility of another world, aims at bringing together organisations and social movements to build alliances to create a just world and to oppose imperialist globalisation that leaves the rich richer and the poor even more impoverished," he said. Rediff

But then I got this article by Johan Norberg by via Abhi nahin to kabhi?. Some exerpts

The contrast is especially clear on the Korean peninsula. It�s the same population, with the same culture, just having two very different political and economic systems. In 50 years, one of them went from hunger and poverty to Southern European living standards. The other one is still starving.

Take the discussion that�s going on now in Saudi Arabia about whether women should be allowed to drive, which they can�t legally do now. While it�s unlikely the situation there will change anytime soon, it�s progress just to have the discussion. People are saying it�s extremely costly to hire drivers, often from other countries, to drive women around. You can see how basic economics, basic capitalism, creates the incentive to give women more rights.

I think WSF should announce what their plan would be to generate employment, uplift people from poverty, create prosperity and the like. Just shouting anti-Bush slogans and assuming that the world will change is basically living in a fool's paradise.

Till last year the World Social Forum was funded by the Ford Foundation and this year they have been kept away. The Economic Times even had a headline which said This communist war brought to you by Ford Foundation, Oxfam

With war against globalisation on their mind, top Indian left leaders are reaching Mumbai this week for the World Social Forum which ironically is associated with champions of globalisation such as the Ford Foundation and Oxfam.

But then why was Ford Foundation asked to keep away from this years Forum ? The answer to that is given by Lisa Jordan of Ford in an interview with Casper Henderson

We are not supporting this year?s forum because the Indian Organising Committee (IOC), which represents a comprehensive attempt to bring together a large cross-section of Indian society, includes some groups who have objected to Ford?s activities in India since 1953 ? especially support for the Green Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s. They feel that contributions made by the Ford Foundation helped to prevent India from undergoing communist revolution.

So what happened during the Green Revolution and why are the communists so opposed to that ?

An estimated 4 million people died in what is known as the Bengal Famine in 1943. So when India became independent Food security was high on the agenda. This resulted in the Green Revolution which resulted in the continued expansion of farming areas, double-cropping existing farm lands, and using seeds with superior genetics.

The Green Revolution resulted in a record grain output of 131 million tons in 1978-79. This established India as one of the world's biggest agricultural producers. No other country in the world which attempted the Green Revolution recorded such level of success. India also became an exporter of food grains around that time. India One Stop

India paid back all loans it had taken from the World Bank and its affiliates for the purpose of the Green Revolution. This improved India's creditworthiness in the eyes of the lending agencies.

So India became self sufficient, people had food to eat. The Ford foundation helped in achieving this, and for this they have been asked to keep away.

Sandeep has fisked the article in Rediff by The Resident Idiot on the World Social Forum. In the article the Resident Idiot makes a comment that "But ordinary people there have suffered stagnation or a fall in incomes and economic security" in the past many years.

The number of jobs in India has increased tremendously in the past many years, entirely due to Globalization.

By some estimates, there are more IT engineers in Bangalore (150,000) than in Silicon Valley (120,000). Meta figures at least one-third of new IT development work for big U.S. companies is done overseas, with India the biggest site. And India could start grabbing jobs from other sectors.

By 2008, forecasts McKinsey, IT services and back-office work in India will swell fivefold, to a $57 billion annual export industry employing 4 million people and accounting for 7% of India's gross domestic product. Business Week

If we had followed the socialist ideology, this kind of growth would have never happened. So when the Resident Idiot writes that "But ordinary people there have suffered stagnation or a fall in incomes and economic security", it is an utter lie.

But then you can say, Software Engineers are not ordinary people, if they had not found jobs here, they would have migrated to other countries. For that refer to Arun Shourie's series of articles in Indian Express where he lists the achievements of Indian companies and the number of jobs created due to this global exposure. Just think about the number of people who could find a job and improve their living conditions.

The World Bank in it's report Poverty in the age of Globalization points out

For example, the incidence of poverty in India measured by the official poverty line fell from 57% in 1973 to 35% in 1998,..

There is compelling evidence that increased openness to trade and investment has played an important facilitating role in accelerating growth and poverty reduction in an increasing number of developing countries, hence in reducing overall global inequality.

Rajeev Srinivasan of Rediff had an article few days back on The Nehruvian Penalty:50 wasted years. In his article he puts numbers to show the growth wasted under the Nehruvian Socialist scheme of things. According to the numbers he quotes from a Goldman Sachs report, from 1960 - 2000, India was to grow at a rate of 7.5% (India's current growth rate is 8%), but instead grew at a rate of 4.5%.

In other words, the 3% shortfall has condemned a quarter of a billion people to grinding poverty. It is an economic crime against humanity. The blood, sweat and tears of a billion Indians, for one half century. Wasted. And what was the reason for the 3% shortfall? That, gentle reader, is the Nehruvian Penalty, the effect of the Nehru dynasty, India's Sorrow. Had it not been for the dubious and half-digested economic ideas eagerly accepted by Nehru and fellow Stalinists, India would have been far better off.

So Mr. Resident Idiot, it is under the socialist scheme that people and the nation suffered stagnation, or no income.

Yazad has a link to an article by Madhu Kishwar in which she says that NGOs who accept foregin aid grants should not be lecturing the world against Globalization.

There is something similarly comic about the AGBs warning us about the evils of globalisation despite their own politics being altogether dependent on international aid money. Most of the NGOs who have organised events at the World Social Forum could as well advertise their NGOs as being ��run with 100 per cent imported money.��

If the government were to impose similar restrictions on their receiving foreign money as they would like to impose on lesser mortals in the industrial sector and the farm sector, our NGOs would go screaming all over the world that their democratic rights and civil liberties are being violated. They want a jet-setting globalised politics for themselves but a closed-door economy for Indian farmers and industry.

The WSF meet was best summarized in this editorial in Hindustan Times, aptly titled If you believe in fairies

As these heart-felt cries show, the WSF is run by people who are finding their world collapsing around them. And the reason is simple. In the name of helping the poor, they seem to want to turn their back on the technology-driven world and return to an idyllic, even bucolic, past of self-contained communities. Instead of bemoaning the state of the poor, these nay-sayers should try to understand what has prompted Mr Lula to bid goodbye to their cherished �socialism� and, in India, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to wait with bated breath for a visit to West Bengal by the representatives of Gucci, a �greedy� Italian company. The problem with the votaries of the WSF is that, apart from being trapped by stale communist jargon, they are unable to offer a credible alternative vision to the world of private enterprise.

While America preaches free markets and then passes labor protection bills, Saudi Arabia is going the same route

The Saudi government began enforcing Saturday a decision to bar foreign workers from gold and jewellery shops in a move a leading economist said sends "a strong signal" that the retail sector will be "Saudized" to provide jobs for nationals.

Up to three million foreigners face the axe in the next decade after the Saudi government decided in February 2003 to limit the number of foreign workers and their families to less than 20 percent of the Saudi population by 2013. [via SIFY]

About 25,000 to 30,000 jobs are to be reclaimed by the Saudis by the current action. A large number of people affected will be from my home state of Kerala.

Thomas Friedman has an article explaining why the anti-globalization movement has lost its steam. To explain this, he uses the example of the recent elections in India.

To everyone's surprise, India's elections ended with the rightist Hindu nationalist B.J.P. alliance being thrown out and replaced by the left-leaning Congress Party alliance. Of course, no sooner did the B.J.P. ? which ran on a platform of taking credit for India's high-tech revolution ? go down than the usual suspects from the antiglobalization movement declared this was a grass-roots rejection of India's globalization strategy. They got it exactly wrong. What Indian voters were saying was not: "Stop the globalization train, we want to get off." It was, "Slow down the globalization train, and build me a better step-stool, because I want to get on." NY Times

When you talk about anything in India, you cannot come up with a simple theory. For example in my home state of Kerala, there was no rapid globalization movement. Kerala is already a globalized state with most of the revenues coming from NRIs. The problem there was the infighting between two groups of Congress, which caused most of the people to vote for the Communists. But in many other states Friedman's theory holds true. The prosperity advertised by the "India Shining" campaign did not reach the people who actually go out and vote.

The advice he has for the anti-globalization crowd is apt.

My own recent travels to India have left me convinced that the most important forces combating poverty there today are those activists who are fighting for better local governance. The world doesn't need the antiglobalization movement to go away now ? it just needs for the movement to grow up. It had a lot of energy and a lot of mobilizing capacity. What it lacked was a real agenda for helping the poor. Here's what its agenda should be: Helping the poor by improving governance ? accountability, transparency, education and the rule of law ? at the local level, by using the Internet and other tools to spotlight corruption, mismanagement and tax avoidance. It may not be as sexy as protesting against world leaders on CNN, but it is a lot more important. Ask any Indian villager.

It seems the Democrats have stopped harping on "Outsourcing is evil" message because the number of jobs lost was only a very small percentage.

THE FUROR OVER "offshoring" of jobs to countries such as India, so pronounced during the Democratic primaries, seems to have faded. With good reason: Last week the Labor Department published the first government effort to quantify the impact of offshoring, which tentatively suggested that it may be responsible for just 2.5 percent of the job losses in the first quarter of this year. Washington Post

Daniel Drezner has a detailed analysis of the Labor Department Report.

So, to conclude -- the percentage of jobs lost due to mass layoffs -- in turn due to offshore outsourcing -- as a percentage of total jobs lost through mass layoffs was not 3% -- it was a whopping 1.9%. If you drop out seasonal employment, the figure rises to 2.5%. So my back of the envelope calculations from a few months ago are an exaggeration. My apologies.

The caveats -- this data does not cover two other kinds of job loss via outsourcing -- 1) Those let go due to ousourcing when fewer than 50 people were let go; and 2) Those jobs created de novo overeas that may have been created in the U.S. instead were it not for the outsourcing phenomenom.

At the same time, this data also does not cover two kids of job gains via outsourcing -- 1) Those jobs created via insourcing, when a foreign firm hires U.S. workers; and 2) Those jobs created via the budgetary savings reaped from outsourcing.

The bottom line -- offshore outsourcing is responsible for a piddling number of lost jobs. Daniel Drezner

Thanks to the evil force known as Globalization, many people in Afghanistan are able to earn a living.

Worldstock has been selling products made in Afghanistan since the summer of 2002. This spring, Byrne and Kanishka traveled to Afghanistan where they contracted with 1,450 artisans and placed orders for more than $150,000.00 worth of goods. According to Kanishka, "We ordered an assortment of exquisitely handcrafted Afghan rugs, embroidery, leather goods, and jewelry." The first shipment of goods from Afghanistan will be available on Worldstock starting this week.

Minister of Commerce, Mr. Mustafa Kazimi, said, "Fourteen-hundred more people in Afghanistan -- 90% of whom are women -- are able to earn a living and care for their families thanks to Worldstock. In addition to being the largest source of private employment in Afghanistan, Worldstock is also the largest source of employment for women in Afghanistan and the largest exporter of Afghan handicrafts." Yahoo! News

Here is an interesting story of how technology and globalization are helping Afghanis learn about basic health. The technology is LeapPad, the point and talk books used by kids to learn to read.

The 42-page interactive books deliver health information through point-and-touch technology and are available in Afghanistan's two major languages, Dari and Pashto. Users point and touch pictures in the book and the book speaks, incorporating a literacy tool with the health information.

The books, based on Leapfrog's LeapPad interactive books, deliver information on 19 personal health subjects, including diet, childhood immunization, pregnancy, breast-feeding, sanitation and water-boiling, treatment of injuries and burns, and preventing disease.

Jim Marggraff, LeapFrog's executive vice president for worldwide content, said the LeapPad uses plain paper as an interface to a computer equipped with a proprietary chip developed by the company. Each book used in a LeapPad comes with a data cartridge, which synchronizes the paper book with the cartridge through a touch-sensitive screen the book is placed on. When a user touches text or pictures on the page, the book "reads" the text through a MIDI interface connected to the cartridge through the computer chip. [Computer World via Gizmodo]

Already due to this evil force known as globalization, many people in Afghanistan have been earning a living.

While the World Social Forum was going in Mumbai, India, Madhu Kishwar had written an article exposing the hypocrites behind that movement. Now she has a book: Deepening Democracy: The Challenges of Globalisation and Governance and Sulekha is carrying an excerpt of it.

Unfortunately, the very same AGBs who pant and fume at India opening up to foreign investments have very little objection to India being aid-dependent. They are in fact, upset at the recent feeble attempts of the Indian government to lessen India's aid dependence. There is something comic about representatives of the AGBs warning us about the evils of globalisation despite their own politics being altogether reliant on international aid money. They have no problem in being tied to the apron strings of international donor agencies to finance their politics, but they do not trust Indians to benefit from partnership in world trade. Their policy of 'No to Free Trade, Yes to Tied Aid' explains their real worth.[The Rhetoric and Reality of the Anti-Globalisation Brigades]

Ashok V. Desai has described India in 1865 when the first wave of globalization hit India creating a trade surplus.

Thus we see in the mid-19th century the first impact of globalization on India. Shipping technology changed; ships became larger and travelled further (steamers were just coming into use in 1865). With it, direction of trade changed; from trade within the Indian Ocean region, India began to trade more with Britain and China. Industrializing Britain and opium-eating China created new markets; as they expanded, India developed a massive export surplus. It did not know what to do with all that money, so it stashed away gold and silver. Was that deindustrialization? There may have been; but there was export-led growth too. For some of India�??s people, this must have been a golden era.[INDIA IN 1865]

In the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh debt-ridden farmers were committing suicides. Then came the elections and the IT savy Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu was voted out of power. His defeat was attributed to the fact that he did not take care of the non-IT population of his state. While the Chief Minister spent lot of time and energy in globalizing Hyderabad, his fault was in not bringing the wealth creating benefits of globalization to rest of the population.

One of the first acts of the new Govt. was to make electricity available for free. This did not stop the suicides. Free electricity did not bring people out of debt. The plight of the farmers have been blamed on globalization because government investment into agriculture fell as a result of Washington Consensus.

But the truth is that the plight of these farmers had little to do with a government bent on sending signals to investors. Rather, the indebtedness that was prompting such misery was a product of several vicious cycles. Many farmers have to rely on informal networks and oppressive moneylenders for their financing needs. And the government itself partly produced the crisis it was responding to. Sops in the form of free electricity had led to indiscriminate use of water pumps, producing a grave water crisis. Most of the indebtedness came from the need for inordinate expenditures to drill further for water. And cooperative banks, set up to provide cheap credit, made themselves insolvent by lending indiscriminately.[India balances needs of poor and investors]

Paul Blustein of the Washington Post has an article analysing the medal wins of various countries in the Athen Olympics with their GDP and how offers some lessons on how globalization distributes rewards among countries.

Driving that improvement, Warner and other experts agree, is China's transformation from a largely peasant-based economy to an industrial powerhouse. That has bestowed better health on millions of Chinese and given the government in Beijing the resources to fund a nationwide network of sports schools; as an extra incentive, the government provides cash bonuses for medalists, with a gold worth $24,000, and potentially much more in corporate donations.

But old-fashioned capitalist wealth offers ample compensation. The government bonuses given to Russians and Chinese can't compare with the multimillion-dollar contracts that top American athletes get from endorsing commercial products, as witnessed by the ubiquitous Visa ads featuring swimmer Michael Phelps.

Less famous members of the U.S. team can take advantage of deals offered by U.S. companies, such as Home Depot, which pays 49 U.S. Olympic team members a full-time salary with benefits for 20 hours of work a week, allowing plenty of time for training. U.S. Olympic training centers are equipped with laptops, video cameras and sensors designed to give athletes minutely detailed feedback on their technique. The Germans, meanwhile, have developed high-tech boats, bikes and bobsleds to give their athletes an edge.[Winners with wallets]

Can globalization help eliminate poverty ? How can the markets intervene and nudge Governments into making investments for this ? The Asian Development Bank has come up with a plan

Many Asian governments are cash-strapped and shackled by debt, thus not enough is spent on education, health care and other social services people in developed nations take for granted. Making less than $2 a day may put some food on the table, but it won't go far to pay for school. In other words, large portions of Asia's future workforces aren't being adequately trained to compete in the age of globalization. Multinational companies are depending on rising Asian incomes to bolster consumer spending and spur demand for cars, electronics, travel and myriad other goods and services. At the moment, developing Asia's growth is even helping Japan's much larger economy shake a 14-year slumber.

The Manila-based ADB is working to put the risks of poverty squarely on investors' radar screens. It's an intriguing strategy to nudge governments to make sure economic growth reaches the poor. If investors and companies increasingly voice concerns about poverty, officials in Beijing, Jakarta, Manila, New Delhi and elsewhere will find it harder to ignore it.[Poverty Is a Growing Risk to Asian Markets]

Foreign Affairs has a review of Martin Wolf's new book Why Globalization Works

To those who complain that increased openness to trade during the 1980s and 1990s has failed to deliver faster growth, Wolf points to the contrary experiences of China and India. Both countries witnessed significant jumps in their growth rates as they opened up their economies to international trade and foreign investment. As Wolf points out, "Never before have so many people-or so large a proportion of the world's population-enjoyed such large rises in their standards of living."

The first charge, commonly made by NGOS and student organizations in the United States, is easiest to dismiss. If multinational jobs are so exploitative, why do workers in Bangalore, and even in predominantly Marxist Kolkata (Calcutta), line up to take them? The answer, as Wolf painstakingly documents, is that multinationals pay their workers more and treat them better than do local companies. Among other data, he cites a study of 20,000 plants in Indonesia showing that the average wage paid to workers in foreign-owned plants in 1996 was 50 percent higher than in private domestic plants. Even after controlling for education levels, plant size, and other relevant variables, wages paid by multinational companies were 12 percent higher for blue-collar workers and 27 percent higher for white-collar workers. According to surveys by the International Labor Organization, moreover, allegations that foreign-owned plants in "sweatshop industries" (such as footwear and apparel) pay lower wages and provide inferior working conditions also turn out to be false.[The Miracles of Globalization]

There are six bills coming up in California State Assembly limiting outsourcing. This includes bill which restrict state jobs from being outsourced to requiring companies in California to mention how many employees work outside the country.

The Public Policy Institute of California had study on the effect of offshore outsourcing on the Californian economy and found that outsourcing actually created jobs in California. Gov. Schwarzenegger proudly told the Republican National Convention that

There is another way you can tell you're a Republican. You have faith in free enterprise, faith in the resourcefulness of the American people ... and faith in the U.S. economy. To those critics who are so pessimistic about our economy, I say: "Don't be economic girlie men!"[Text of Schwarzenegger's Speech at RNC]

In 1999, a McDonalds in France was dismantled by protestors just before it was to open. This was the idea of Jose Bove, a farmer, who found this was the ideal way to protest against globalization and became the poster child for the anti-globalization movement. He then turned his attention to genetically modified crops and one day in Brazil, he along with 1500 protestors tore the crops by their root. But then it seems farmers who have learned the benefits of these biotech crops have stopped listening to the anti-globalization crowd.

Despite the naysayers, perhaps the greatest testament to the Green Revolution's legacy is the growth of biotechnology in the Third World. From South America to Southeast Asia, farmers are discovering that biotech crops are so superior, they are willing to risk breaking existing laws to plant them. During the last year, Brazilian farmers more than doubled cultivation of genetically enhanced soybeans, with more than 150 million acres under production. And when local bureaucrats tried to over-regulate biotech cotton, Brazilian farmers smuggled in seeds from Argentina and Australia.

The same holds true in India, whose farmers have been planting biotech cotton despite overwrought bureaucratic regulations. But earlier this month, Indian Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said he would drastically cut the red tape. "The seed is the potential tool that can carry state-of-the-art technologies to every farmer," explained Sibal. "It can once again usher in a green revolution."

Biotechnology has even found grassroots support in France. When Bove recently showed up to destroy a field of biotech crops, he was met by a group of angry farmers who want an opportunity to plant these modern crops. As they know, unless Bove's movement meets some resistance, the scaremongers of the future (ironically, still stuck in the past) will continue their efforts to scare away impoverished countries from the very technology that can help feed their people. [Norman Borlaug's Legacy]

During the year of American declaration of Independence, China was the biggest economy of the world, followed by India. Now with both China and India opening up their economies, Economist Clyde Prestowitz thinks that 21st century could well turn out to be the Indian century.

But then it takes political will to sustain the current growth. For the current Indian Govt. this is all the more difficult because the Congress is supported by the Communists, who are anti everything. But the Trade Minister seems to realize what needs to be done.

India's main problem is the absence of world-class ports, cold-storage facilities and all-weather roads. "The biggest exporter complaint is the amount of time it takes to get your product from A to B," he said. One solution would be to open India's retail sector to foreign direct investment. Many multinational retail chains have beaten a path to Mr Nath's door since Congress took office in May. Economists argue that foreign investment would stimulate much greater investment in cold storage facilities and transport links.

But many lobby groups would fight tooth and nail to prevent a global chain store setting up in their city. "I would not rule out permitting foreign investment, especially if it were shown it was a net generator of employment," said Mr Nath. "My main concern would be to protect 'mom and pop' stores from closing."

"We know the direction we are heading - a freer and more dynamic trading environment," said Mr Nath. "It is just a question of filling in the details."[Infrastructure reform high on the list for India's new trade minister]

For a country the size of India, there is a limit to the employment that mom and pop stores can generate. Also the Govt. should not introduce artificial restrictions which will impede development. One such situation is coming up in 2005 when the Multi Fiber Agreement will end. When Indian planners began the five year plans in 1951, they were worried that the large scale expansion of cotton mills in Ahmedabad would put the small scale sector out of business. So they prevented the mills from expanding and modernizing and Indian exports could not even fill the quotas under the Multi-Fibre agreement. But in 2005, the Agreement will expire and there is fear in India that Chinese Mills will kill them in the global market. [from In Defense of Globalization]

In 2005 when the Multi-Fiber Agreement ends and quotas are removed for textile manufacture, many countries will be in trouble. One such country maybe Bangladesh whose business could be undercut by India and China. But it may not be developing countries that get affected, it could be United States too.

Meanwhile, here in the slowly beating heart of the remaining American textile industry, workers and owners of factories still operating along a stretch of Interstate 85 from Charlotte to Greensboro see the dawning of 2005 as a death sentence. More companies, they fear, will go bankrupt. More communities will wither like Kannapolis, and thousands more workers will be desperate for training, employment and health insurance.

In hopes of staving off the worst, politicians in the Southeast from both parties are taking advantage of the close outlook for the presidential election to win last-minute concessions from the White House that could slow the flood of imports from China.

Most experts expect that China, left unimpeded, will gain almost half the global apparel market. Its factories now make about 20 percent of the clothing and textiles sold in the United States; China is expected to capture as much as 70 percent of that market, potentially leading to the closing of half the surviving American mills and layoffs for tens of thousands more workers. [Textile Quotas to End, Punishing Carolina Towns]

In Jan, 2005 when the Multi Fibre Agreement lapses and it becomes a free for all in the global apparel market how are the Indian companies going to perform ? Are they geared to meet the challenge ? The Frontline takes a look at the knitted garment industry in Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu

THE industry, on the eve of the dismantling of the multi-fibre agreement (MFA) wears a different look now. The bigger units supply their wares to some of the leading retail chains in the developed world such as Wal Mart, Marks and Spencer, C&A and many others. Many of the products wear labels of some of the top brands. [Towards new frontiers]

Although the top factories have increased their capacities substantially, by and large the country is not ready for the post-quota advantage. "There is going to be a huge capacity crunch, looking at the volume of business coming our way," warns Hinduja.

The capacity crunch is the direct fallout of policies that encouraged the proliferation of small units with their inherent inefficiencies, at the cost of large-scale production. While China has created huge capacities and capitalised on economies of scale, India has an incredibly fragmented industry which is simply not geared to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing global industry. There are hundreds of thousands of powerloom units producing 90-95 per cent of the fabrics in the country, while the organised sector turns out just over 5 per cent.

"If we believe we can overrun the world on the strength of powerloom manufacturing and hand-processing units, then we are extremely naïve," says a textile industry analyst. [Too little, too late]

Every business leader in the US is now visiting India. Craig Barret, Intel's Chief Executive was there for a two day visit and was evaluating India for setting up a chip manufacturing center. Intel hired 800 people this year making the total employee count about 2400. Intel has invested $40 million so far and is planning to invest the same over the next two years.

The next person was Steve Ballmer, who too is bullish about India and made some commitments to serve the rural population of India. The only specific he provided was that Windows is being localized into 14 additional Indian languages. Currently it is available only in Hindi.

Unlike the Americans in the State Department, these businessmen do not find it necessary to make the obligatory visit to Pakistan. There no hyphenated equation with the neighbor nextdoor and the businessmen know where to put the money and where not to. If only the State Dept followed the instincts of the businessmen.

Globalization has the power to bring people out of poverty, but it also has the capability to push people who don't adapt into poverty.

The case study is the arrival of global food chains in Latin America. These chains after changing the way food is distributed have now started affecting the way food is grown and this has hit the small farmer as they are not able to produce according to the supermarket specifications.

Its feeble attempts to sell to major supermarkets illustrate how the odds are stacked against small farmers, as well as the uneven effects of globalization itself. Many small farmers in the region are getting left behind, while medium-sized and larger growers, with more money and marketing savvy, are far more likely to benefit.

Most fruits and vegetables in the region are still sold in small shops and open-air markets, but the value of supermarket purchases from farmers has soared and now surpasses that of produce exports by two and half times, researchers say.

The bottom line: supermarkets and their privately set standards already loom larger for many farmers than the rules of the World Trade Organization. [Survival of the Biggest; Supermarket Giants Crush Central American Farmers ]

Not too far from Palencia, in the city of Chimaltenango, is Aj Ticonel, an association of small farmers that has thrived because it has something Mr. Chinchilla's co-op lacked: a shrewd and enterprising businessman to run it.

But even for a savvy company like Aj Ticonel, success came not from supplying choosy supermarket chains but rather from its ability to exploit a global market.

Aj Ticonel sells three million pounds of mini-vegetables and snow peas for export to the United States, but only 80,000 pounds to supermarkets. Alberto Monterroso said he gave up on growing broccoli for La Fragua. He found the chain bought inconsistent amounts. "There are a lot of competitors here," he said, "a lot of small farmers trying to sell to them, so the prices are low."

The company's success has been built instead on sales of pricey vegetables for export. It now sells the same to La Fragua, and its membership has risen from 40 families in 1999 to 2,000 today.

Outsourcing has presented so many business opportunities for Indians, all you need is think creatively. The most obvious ones like IT, Auto Parts etc. are booming. Here is something different - remote teachers.

Twice in a week, Ann Maria, a sixth grader at Silver Oak Elementary School, California logs on to the internet from home after school hours. Ann is not chatting up her friends. She is connecting to her personal tutor, already online, armed with headset and a pen mouse sitting in a call centre like cubicle almost a timezone away in Panampillynagar, Kochi, Kerala.

Your neighbourhood tuition teacher, riding on the Information Technology Enabled Service (ITES) wave, has gone global and his monthly pay packet turned meatier __ the 17 teachers who work with the Growing Star Infotech (P) Ltd would testify. The firm a subsidiary of California-based Growing Stars Inc went online in January last year.

Growing Stars currently has a 57-seater facility, but feels it may need more space as they expand. The shift starts at 4.30 in the morning and ends by 12.30 pm. One reason for the high growth rate could be that personalised tuition in US is highly expensive. ``We started of with Indian students. But we have now around 60 American students and every one is happy because they are bettering the grades,'' says Bina. The only hitch is the accent of the tutors which is being taken care of with help from a language trainer. [US parents outsource maths tuition to teachers in Kerala]

Even though California is one of the largest economies in the world, when it comes to academic standards, they rank very low in the nation and there may be a market for more remote teachers.

Fighting globalization makes for a good political slogan, but smart politicians are the ones who know how to exploit globalization to uplift people out of poverty.

The Chief Minister said that developing countries have to face the twin challenge of adhering to the W.T.O.'s legal provisions and to secure a space for their products in the market. Referring to India's wealth of knowledge the Chief Minister said that India might have lagged behind in the race of progress due to foreign invasions and political slavery but she has now joined the race with renewed resolve.

A number of countries have progressed well by importing Indian agricultural products, spices, and medicinal plants. Indians should learn to be proud of Swadeshi and evolve a system to ensure that poor population should benefit from globalization. For this, he said, India artisans, weavers and farmers should acquire excellence in marking of their products besides improving their quality to international standards. The state governments should play the role of facilitator in this, he added.[India capable to withstand challenge of globalization: Gaur]

Globalization forces changes on you and if you can adapt you can survive. But then anticipating this and preparing for it is half the job.

Remember the World Social Forum folks who assembled in India last year to whine and dine about everything in the world, but mainly against America ? This year, the same folks are meeting in Porto Alegre, Brazil to continue whining. The speeches last year did not have any effect on the masses, so the WSF folks have decided to take it up a notch and work alongwith - Hizballah

Hizballah was described at the conference as �??one of the leading welcoming organizations [and] an example of successful, targeted, and organized resistance.�?� Ali Fayad, member of Hizballah�??s Central Council and chairman of the Academic Center for Documentation, stressed that Islam�??s message is one of unity and collaboration, not division, and that the conference was held in Beirut because Lebanon�??s resistance �??defeated the Reagan project for the Middle East in the 1980s . . . [and] liberated the land from occupation.�?�

Hizballah is not known for its antiwar or antiglobalization stance and had never before participated in such a conference. It was invited because a group of radical Italian leftists insisted on it. Entreaties of this sort were not without precedent: in March 2003, Nadia Desdemona Lioce, a leading member of the new Italian Red Brigades (Brigate Rosse), invited the �??Arab and Islamic masses, . . . natural allies of the metropolitan proletarian,�?� to �??take up arms at the heart of a unique and international axis at the side of the anti-imperialist Front Combattant in the face of a new offensive by bourgeois governments.�?� She saw in the �??Zionist-American aggression against Iraq . . . an imperialist will to cut down the principal obstacle to the Zionist hegemony�?� and �??to annihilate the Palestinian resistance.�?� [Hizballah and the Anitglobalization Movement: A New Coalition?]

Now we see the true colors of the Social Forum. Even the President of Brazil has defected to the dark side.

Related Links: What's funny and wrong about WSF, Why Ford Foundation was kept away from WSF

One organization calling itself Tamil Protection Movement decided that from now, Tamil movies should have only Tamil names. Their ire is against Kamal Hassan and S J Surya, both of whom are releasing movies with English names. Besides this, the organization also wants Tamil to be made the language of worship in temples and commericial establishments have Tamil names prominently displayed.

It has been our stand that Tamil films should have Tamil titles. It is true that many films have had English titles in the past. But this trend can�??t continue forever. In the last three years about 80 films have had English titles like Jeans, Run, Boys, and New. This is not a healthy trend. ['We will stop Mumbai Express']

It is just pure hubris to suggest that Tamil needs protection. This classical language has survived for many thousand years even when its contemporary language Sanskrit has declined in usage. Anti-[something] is a great way to grab attention and start a political movement (Ask Bal Thackerey).

While these few Tamilians are hugging the olive tree, Gujaratis are going the way of the Lexus (Reference: Lexus and the Olive Tree). The Gujarati Govt. decided to introduce English from Class I itself.

Speaking at the inauguration of prayer hall at Swaminarayan Gurukul in Chharodi, Mr. Modi said the controversy over teaching of English is unessential. There is no need to fear English if our sanskaras, culture and languages are vibrant, he added.

"Language is just a means of expression. We should be proud of our language and culture but that does not mean we should fear foreign language and not embrace it," he said.

He lauded the efforts of the Swaminarayan Gurukul in maintaining Indian values and culture while imparting education through English. The Gurukuls across the state have not compromised the culture, tradition and values of Gujarat so far, he added. [English will be introduced in class I : CM]

Of course, since Narendra Modi is introducing it, someone has to oppose it. Before anyone one else could jump on the issue, the RSS has scored the essential self goal.

Related Links: Yurt lit

Last month, there was a discussion on opening the skies between India and United States, thus allowing more flights between the two countries. India, in the mean time allowed its local carriers to fly to countries around India. But now in another exciting development, Indian private carrier, Jet Airways has been allowed to fly to New York.

While Jet Airways officials refused to comment on when they would launch the New York operations, the airline has been planning to acquire large wide-bodied aircraft like Boeing 777s, Boeing 747s and Airbus-340s.

The civil aviation ministry had on January 31 allotted a total of nine flights to the UK to Jet Airways and Air Sahara from March-April this year.

While Jet Airways was allotted seven flights to London Heathrow per week, Air Sahara has been allotted two to Gatwick.

Air India would be operating 24 services to UK and had applied for additional flights, instead of 18. Earlier this month, the two private carriers were allowed to carry out daily operations to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. [Jet gets nod to fly to New York]

Jet Airways with its excellent service and tasty Porotta (not Paratha) and Chicken Curry can give Singapore Airlines a run for its money. Singapore Airlines is minting money from their West Coast services to India and there is no reason why Indian companies should not get a share. Jai Globalization Bhagwan!

Related News: Jet IPO sold out in five minutes

1. Embrace Market Economy.
2. Red Carpet welcome to foreign investors.
3. Large scale private participation
4. Promote IT and Biotechnology
5. Close all sick PSUs
6. Get aid from World Bank and ADB

If I said this was the plan of Communists, you may not believe it. And even more unbelievable is that it comes from the Communists in Kerala. After systematically preventing any progress in Kerala, the Communists in 2005 have realized that they need to make it a prosperous state.

The CPM leadership in the state believes that its primary duty is to make Kerala a prosperous state. The leadership is realistic enough to realise that this cannot be achieved unless Kerala attracts a remarkable amount of capital to the state.

``Earlier, the party had adopted a to-be-or-not-to-be-stand on foreign capital and the aid from foreign agencies like the World Bank and the ADB. Now there is no ambiguity regarding this. The document will come out with more clarity in support of seeking aid from them,'' the sources said. [CPM bid to do a Buddha in Kerala]

As the forces of globalization sweeps through commie land, how do the comrades explain this to their cadres who have been bought up on a diet of anti-globalization slogans ?

Related Links: The Marx Bros INC (Thanks Ravikiran)

Jet airways has been given permission to fly to New York. Continental is going to start a non-stop flight between Newark, N.J and New Delhi. The Indian cabinet has approved replacing the 1956 Air Services Agreement with a new one between India and United States which will be signed by US Secretary of Transportation Norm Mineta and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel.

With the new accord coming into operation, Air India and other carriers will have additional ports of call other than existing ones like Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Newark (New Jersey).

"Now, we want to start services to Washington, Houston, San Francisco and other American cities," Patel told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.[Cabinet clears new air services agreement with US]

Yaay! San Francisco is in the list. Also as part of the agreement, more airports in India will be opened for direct flights. My dream of flying from SFO to Cochin International Airport might not materialize immediately, but it is now a possiblity.

The number of flights between India and England is also being increased exponentially. As per a new MoU, the number of flights/week is being increased to 130 (from 40).

Now in the original article, the minister was asked if the Jurrasic Party was consulted on this:

Asked whether Left parties have been consulted before firming up this accord, Patel said this was especially meant to give more air connectivity and point-to-point easier travel for the people of the two countries.

"It is in the interest of our country to see that there are more air services which will enable a free flow of traffic and help our tourism, trade, commerce and industry and also generate employment," he said. [