Manage globalisation: Yashwant Sinha
India has to learn to manage the process of globalisation since there is no keeping it out, says former FM Yashwant Sinha

By Shubhdarshani Mitra
Globalisation and inclusive growth — the former of the two terms is often described as a wolf; an inevitable monster; a double-edged sword and is debated largely for its role in the inclusive growth of a nation. The term ‘inclusive growth’, which has been incorporated in the eleventh five-year plan, fundamentally means growth across various sectors of the economy.

While the term ‘globalisation’ has been chanted for quite sometime now, there seems to be a sudden enthusiasm and concern whether it is leading to ‘inclusive growth.’ At a recent three-day seminar on 'Globalisation and inclusive growth' organised by BIMTECH in New Delhi, various facets of the terms were discussed.

Former finance minister Yashwant Sinha, sharing his understanding of the term with the audience, said that the interaction between people of various nationalities is called  globalisation.

Sinha, giving an affirmative response to the question of whether globalisation is leading to inclusive growth, remarked on its inevitability. He said:

"World comes at your doorstep, you don't go out…Therefore it's unavoidable, it's inevitable.”
However, he acknowledged that neither in the developed world nor in developing countries has the phenomenon  been accepted. “There is globalised opposition to globalisation. It is not acceptable because there are certain issues with it,” he said.

Sinha said that the reason behind this apprehension is largely economic but not ‘merely’ economic.
"When we talk of economic globalisation, the debate somehow comes to just one aspect and that is our foreign investment. In India about one per cent of the total investment is foreign investment, the rest is our own domestic saving," Sinha said.

He added that if we ignore the political aspects of globalisation or the socio-cultural aspect, we will be making a great mistake in understanding the whole process of globalisation.

The former FM also lashed at the concern over East India Company coming to the country, saying the 'East India company syndrome' is the voice of the diffident. He came strongly against the apprehension that the East India Company will make us slaves again.

"This is the concern of those who lack self-confidence. There cannot be a Chilean Ayandeh in India who can be thrown out of power," he said.

Sinha's concern was totally different, of that of the management of the process itself. He felt that today's globalisation is different from anti-West, anti-American and anti-capitalist globalisation. The present globalisation is the Asian globalisation.

"The process of globalisation has to be managed. That has to be done by ourselves. It is a national responsibility to manage the process of globalisation. We have to be prepared for the inevitability of globalisation," he said.

Globlisation has been described as a wolf and someone said, “You have invited the wolf to dinner, so might as well learn to dance with it.” Sinha seemed to be in consent with the thought. He said since there is no way to keep it out, we should be looking at making the best out of the opportunity.

“There are least developed countries, there are countries which are more developed than us, and there are countries which have less developed capacity. There, we need to ensure that we help in capacity building,” he said.

Sinha concluded that globalisation is not stopping our inclusive growth, we are ourselves responsible for our growth.

Others present in the seminar included TK Arun of Economic Times, Dr BB Bhattacharya, vice-chancellor, JNU, renowned economists Dr VR Panchamukhi, Prof JBG Tilak, Prof Nagesh Kumar and Prof Sri Prakash and H Chaturvedi, director, BIMTECH.