Current Issues – India Recap of the previous class Why India as Current Issues 2) How India is Connected to Current Issues – Global and International 3) The links between looking at one country and the global economy and the links to economic theory

Characteristics of the India and the Indian Economy and its links with and Implications for understanding Current Global Economic Affairs. Why did globalization happen and how? In India as elsewhere due to a Debt Crisis or Balance of Payments Crisis. Much had changed in India after the balance of payments crisis of 1991. Indian policies became more positive about promoting exports and allowing foreign capital to participate in the process of India’s growth. However a question that needed to be asked was whether these were induced by the crisis, or ideational changes within the policy elite, or both? Did institutional histories matter in explaining the relative success or failure in converting policy change to institutional changes favoring competition and efficiency in diverse sectors of the Indian economy?

We will look into and answer these questions because: 1) The period 1982 – 1991 has major implications for almost all developing countries especially Latin America but also Asia since they were all connected to and affected by the same economic event – The Debt Crisis 2) It has major implications not because Globalization happened but the manner in which it happened. If we take globalization as a process of integration to global economy then the question is does it / did it happen as a natural process or was it forced? 3) If globalization was forced how was it done and what implications does it have for the economy, society, politics and government? 4) If there are opposition to globalization (Stiglitz – Globalization and its Discontents) – why does it happen and how does it affect government and politics? 5) Does Globalization mean the same future for all countries – how much does their past affect their future- their past in terms of culture, history and society? Does culture, society and history matter? 6) What about Geography Nature and Ecology of a country?

All of it is important and we will return to these questions but let us take a trip into India’s past as we try to understand India’s future. Geography determines a country a lot – Hong Kong for example It is there for important to know much about the geography of a country. When we say India today we actually mean from the past, the territory that comprises India, Pakistan and Bangladesh together and even parts of Burma or Myanmar.

The geography of India is diverse, with landscape ranging from snow-capped mountain ranges to deserts, plains, rainforests, hills, and plateaus. The country lies between 8º4' and 37º6' north of the Equator and is surrounded by the Bay of Bengal in the east, the Arabian Sea in the west and the Indian Ocean to the south. The four major geographical regions of India are, the great Himalayan range, The Indo Gangetic Plain, The Desert regions and The Deccan Plateau and Peninsula. The rivers may be classified as follows, The Himalayan Rivers, The Deccan Rivers, The Coastal Rivers and The Rivers of the inland drainage basin. The climate of India is comprised of a wide range of weather conditions across a vast geographic scale and varied topography. The nation sees four seasons, i.e. summer, spring, autumn and winter.