Today, many decisions on key issues that affect large parts of the world are
taken by institutions of global governance. A good example is the issue of climate
change. Initially, the issue of reducing carbon emissions were left to individual
countries. However, it was soon found that if one country were to attempt to reduce
carbon emissions, industry could just shift to another location where there are
lower regulations. Consequently, the issue of carbon emissions and
climate change has to be tackled bycountries together
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We read earlier that the liberalisation of foreign trade and investment in India
was supported by some very powerful international organisations. These organisations
believe that barriers to foreign trade and investment are harmful. Trade between
countries should be ‘free’ without any barriers. World Trade Organisation (WTO) is
one such organisation whose aim is to liberalise international trade. Started at the
initiative of the developed countries, WTO
establishes rules regarding international trade, and sees that these rules are
obeyed. Nearly 150 countries of the world are currently members of the WTO
Though WTO is supposed to allow free trade for all, in practice it is often
seen that the developed countries have unfairly retained trade barriers. On the
other hand, WTO rules have forced the developing countries to remove trade
barriers. An example of this is the current debate on trade in agricultural
products.
What has been the effect of globalisation on the lives of people?
Globalisation has been of advantage to consumers, particularly the well-off
sections in the urban areas. There is greater choice before these consumers who
now enjoy improved quality and lower price products. As a result, these people
today enjoy much higher standards of living than was possible earlier. Among
producers and workers, the impact of globalisation has not been uniform
Firstly, MNCs have increased their investments in India, which means investing
in India has been beneficial for them. MNCs have been interested in industries
such as cell phones, automobiles, electronics, soft drinks, fast food or services
such as banking in urban areas. These products have a large number of well-off
buyers. In these industries and services, new jobs have been created. Local
companies supplying raw materials etc. to these industries have also prospered