Answer: 

Introduction:

Globalization means growing interdependence and integration of economies, societies and cultures from across the world. It is brought about by cross border trade of goods, services and technology and flow of investment and people.

In the human world ‘resource’ is anything that can be used to fulfill our needs and wants. Often some resources are abundant while others scarce in every nation.

Body:

The relations between globalization and new technology in the world of scarce resources have varied facets. The positive aspects can be seen as follows:

• Globalization has made it possible to access scarce resources: Globalization has led to easier access to new technologies to all the regions of the world.
  • Example: Lithium is present only at certain places, but it is extracted and sent to far away places and is being used in electronic gadgets globally. India is one of the biggest users of electronic items.
• Globalization has made it possible for nations to move beyond one’s resource restrictions: The technologies of the developed countries are being transferred & used in the developing & least developed countries.
  • Example: Technology is the reason why water-scarce countries in West Asia are able to satisfy their needs. Globalization allows for this technology to be shared with other countries facing water-scarcity like India.
• Easier to extract maximum potential of scarce resources and reduce the demand for certain resources: Globalization can help to increase the efficiency of resource use by allowing countries to specialize in the production of certain resources and trade them with other countries. This can help to reduce the overall demand for resources.
  • Example: New technologies such as renewable energy sources can help to reduce the reliance on non-renewable resources, such as fossil fuels.
• More power to consumers: Globalization has allowed for greater competitive markets which ultimately benefits the customer with respect to improved quality of goods and services and reduction in cost.
  • Example: Internet has become the mainstay of today’s society as it has become cheap and India is one of the biggest internet users.
• Uniform standards: Development of technology along with globalization has made it possible to develop uniform standards that allow for greater interoperability and wider reach of products.
  • Example: Mobile phone technology has uniform standards that allows for phones manufactured anywhere to be used anywhere globally. Similarly, solar panels, pharmaceutical products, etc are produced in India for the world because of uniform standards.

There are some negative aspects as well:

• Resource curse: Globalization has made scarce resources captive to the market forces. The poorer third world nations sitting on huge resource wealth are being exploited for feeding the extravagant life of the developed world.
  • Example: African nations feed resources to the Western world. Within India, areas in poorer States feed the resources needed to run industries based in cities.
• Inequality widens: Most of the benefits of globalization are reaped by the rich who are the owners of technology. The rich become richer while the poor are unable to access the new technology or its benefits. This may also lead to conflicts. The Oxfam report highlights the rising inequalities in the countries and within the countries.
• Environmental degradation: Increased demand for certain resources, such as water and land, can lead to resource depletion and environmental degradation. Growing resource scarcity can trigger zero-sum competition between countries. Various climate change reports highlight the destruction.
• Techno-nationalism: The rise of new technologies in the globalized world is leading to techno nationalism wherein advanced countries dominate third world countries through AI, IoT etc.

 Conclusion:

Technology will continue to play an integral role in supporting globalization. The scarcity challenges need to be understood as an integrated whole, not as separate issues. Thus, India needs to swiftly embrace emerging technologies and should be more ambitious in developing cutting edge technology to escape techno-colonialism of advanced countries and to address its socio-economic problems. India needs to adopt policies and practices that will maximize the benefits from and reduce the negative impacts of globalization and adoption of new technologies.

DOWNLOAD PDF