2b - India Flashcards
What is the site of India?
- forms a large peninsula extending into the Indian Ocean
- vast land area of approx 3m km2
- coastline of over 7500km and borders with 6 countries
- Himalayas to north acts as a physical barrier
- rich in coal, iron ore, bauxite and agricultural resources
What is India’s situation?
- long coastline with major ports (Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata) facilitating global trade
- global trade hub - located between Europe, Africa and East Asia
- acts as a transit point connecting sea routes from Europe with countries in SE Asia
- dominant position in Indian ocean which offers close contact to Middle East, Africa & Europe from west Coast
- its east gives trading opportunities with Asian Tigers in SE Asia
What is India’s connectivity?
- transport including the Golden Quadrilateral Highway linking Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata
- major international airports in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore connect India globally
- ports in Mumbai, Chennai which are key for imports/exports
What is India’s political context?
- world’s largest democracy - in 2019 911m people registered to vote
- was the largest and most significant British colony with direct British rule between 1857 and 1947
- colonialisation exploited Indian economy resulting in exporter of cheap raw materials
- one of the founding members of United Nations (contributes 2nd largest number of troops) and the G20 industrial nations (which seek to find solutions to climate issues)
What is India’s social context?
- 2nd largest population with 1.5b
- has the world’s 4th and 5th largest cities of Mumbai and Kolkata
What is India’s context culturally?
- birthplace of 4 religions: hinduism, buddhism, jainism, sikhism
- has the world’s largest film industry of Bollywood producing over 1200 films each year
- has ancient cultures such as 5000 year old Hindu civilisations
What is India’s context environmentally?
- very bad environmental problems with land, air and water pollution being the world’s 3rd greatest emitter of GHG
- has 13 of the top 20 cities for air pollution
- rich biodiversity including 6% of the world’s bird and plant species, but these are threatened by economic growth
How has India’s economy changed from 1990 to 2019?
GDP has increased from $0.3trillion to nearly $3trillion
GNI per capita increased from $400 to $2000
India’s primary and secondary industry employ 70% of the workforce but contribute less than half of India’s GDP
Main exports have changed from commodities (eg tea, coffee) to refined petroleum, jewellery, cars
Main imports have changed from petroleum products, textiles, clothing, machinery to crude petroleum, gold, coal and natural gas
How has globalisation increased India’s development?
- India’s 12 major ports and over 20 international airports make it easier to transport goods so trade can increase
- some large TNCs eg Microsoft, Coca Cola outsource manufacturing and IT to India, bringing jobs, greater income from taxes and the latest technology and business practices
How has government policy increased India’s development through economic liberalisation?
- in 1991, India faced economic crises, high gov debt and in return for $2bn aid from the IMF they had structural reforms to open up their economy
- economic liberalisation resulted in a market economy where individuals can make their own decisions as opposed to previously where the government decided which industries produced what and where
- allowed globalisation to occur, reduced tariffs, encouraged FDI, relaxed corporation taxes, increasingly developed infrastructure (TNC attracted)
How has government policy increased India’s development through FDI?
- FDI is when TNCs such as Oracle invest in infrastructure to make production easier
- 100% FDI allowed in key sectors like telecom, IT, automobiles
- India became a top destination receiving $84bn - most coming from USA, Singapore
- India trying to attract more by relaxing rules on how much land, property etc foreign companies can own
- TNCs outsource secondary jobs to local companies, growing Indian businesses and paying wages to Indian workers -> gov income rises from bigger tax base and gov invests in services etc (positive multiplier effect)
How has government policy increased India’s development through education?
- In 2009, India made primary education free and compulsory with 96% of children enrolling for school with a more educated workforce fuelling development
- resulted in an improved literacy rate from 52% to 77% from 1991 to 2021
How have TNCs played a part in India’s growth?
- TNCs such as BT have led outsourcing - where a company moves services overseas due to cheap labour
- Outsourcing popular in India: call centres - most Indian call centre employees earn £3000 a year, software development - universities such as Bangalore provide technically qualified graduates who enable BT to develop, company administration - eg accounting
- TNCs outsource secondary jobs to local companies, growing Indian businesses and paying wages to Indian workers -> gov income rises from bigger tax base and gov invests in services etc (positive multiplier effect)
- BT bases their software development in Bangalore which has an experienced IT boom & the Indian gov offers reduced tax to attract companies here
How was rapid economic change caused urbanisation in India?
In 1990, 25% of India’s pop was urban but in 2019 this rose to 34%
Because of push factors of rural poverty and pull factors of urban jobs
RUM to cities like New Delhi
City growth - urban expansion due to construction of new apartments for single professionals
How has rapid economic change caused demographic change (fertility and death rate)?
Death rates (10 to 7) & infant mortality rates (fallen by over 55%) have decreased due to increased access to safe water supplies as waterborne diseased eg diarrhoea are one of the biggest child killers and rapid expansion of hospitals in rural areas
Fertility rate falling (4 to 2) due to more wealth and better ed
Educated urban women develop careers so later marriages and fewer children
Pop structure changes with majority now young - 30% under 14
How was rapid economic change caused caused different regions with different socio-economic characteristics?
Increased inequality
Urban core region in Maharashtra (W&S)
Highest GDP per capita of 2500
Econ growth from service industries, manufacturing, its port, entertainment
Multiplier effect & FDI prevalent, more money to invest
More development in coastal areas
Rural periphery of Bihar
GDP per capita of 700
80% work in low skilled jobs and half of households earn less than 80p a day
1/3 ppl complete primary school
86% pop is rural - many subsistence farmers trapped in a cycle of poverty
Traditional caste based society - poor often stay poor due to marrying
Landlocked location discourages FDI as no access to coast to export goods directly
What negative impacts does economic development have on different age and gender groups?
Women - most textile jobs are unskilled and since there’s no equal pay agreement, 70% of employees are young women on lowest pay
Many sweatshops discriminate against older women returning to work after raising children
India’s min wage lower 87% than UKs
Indias gov lets TNCs set up factories - Walmart, Zara buy theses clothes
Lack of regulations, safety (crime rose 20% against women since 2015)
Children in rural areas lack proper education due to lack of skilled teachers - nearly half of teachers have only completed secondary education
What positive impacts does economic development have on different age and gender groups?
All age groups have better health due to longer life expectancy, lower infant mortality rate etc
Women have better access to contraception and family planning advice
Women have better access to education - literacy rates increased from 34% to 59% in 2011 from 1991
Some age groups shave better ed - access to better paid jobs
What are environmental impacts of economic development and globalisation in India
Water pollution - poorly managed garbage and waste removal services (waste dumped in rivers), poor street drainage
>70% of India’s sewage flows into rivers
Air pollution - old public transport, urban traffic, coal-fired power stations, more factories - sulfur dioxide and smoke particles
>.5m ppl die from diseases related to air pollution a year & in New Dheli thick, toxic smog often forms
Loss of biodiversity - more land needed for food, cities and industry leading to land degradation
GHG - industrialisation leads to higher energy consumption, demand for fossil fuels, contributes to climate change (india releases 7% of all GHG)
How has rapid economic development changed India’s regional influence?
Its improved its relationships with its immediate neighbours by focusing on strengthening its relationship with ASEAN (made of SE asian countries)
3 wars with Pakistan since 1947
Both countries have nuclear weapons raising fears of future conflict
Kashmir is disputed between the two - water scarcity is a source of conflict as the main rivers of both countries rise in the mountains in Kashmir
HEP projects in India’s side could take irrigation from farming areas of Pakistan
How has rapid economic development changed India’s role in international organisations?
One of the founding members of UN - which works towards sustainable development
In 2021, became a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council
Belongs to G20 - group of the world’s largest economies including US - which aims to improve international cooperation in many issues
India’s government refused to phase out its coal use in the COP26 talks on climate change
How was rapid economic development changed India’s relationship with the US?
Used to have a poor relationship but this is improving
This is because the USA sees India as a huge market for renewables and nuclear energy because of increasingly wealthy people and growth of industry
USA expects economic development of India to increase trade, employment and economic growth in both countries
How was rapid economic development changed India’s relationship with the EU?
Good relations since they became strategic partners in 2004 agreeing to cooperate on certain issues
India and EU engaged in negotiations for a free trade agreement in 2022
EU is one of India’s biggest markets and trading partners
EU supports health and education programmes in India
What are costs and benefits of changing international relations?
Costs - tension with India and China as both have rapidly growing economies
Developed nations are concerned of losing economic power as India grows
Benefits - improved relations means India can cooperate with other countries on global issues eg climate change
FDI brings economic benefits to both involved countries
Global trade agreements mean that political actions eg sanctions are more effective
What are the costs and benefits of the role of foreign investment in economic development?
Brings wealth and jobs
Environmental problems - local communities concerned about amount of water extracted by Coca Cola bottling plants which led to plants in Kerala and Varanasi being closed
Large global retail chains can offer cheaper prices which can destroy the livelihood of Indian street traders
TNCs could withdraw business from India at any time
Explain ways in which its international role has changed
- india has increased its contribution of soliders to UN peacekeeping mission, largest contributor in the world
- now donates more aid than it receives, a result of rapid improvement to its GDP
- member of G20, responsible for stabilising economy
- takes important role in global efforts to reduce GHG by making commitments to global climate targets
