In The News

Globalisation's Strange Bedfellows

Alison Maitland December 12, 2005
In an unusual move, Unilever, the global consumer goods giant, has partnered with Oxfam to study its impact on local populations and businesses in Indonesia, with a view to showing that globalization is not necessarily a bad thing for developing countries. Oxfam was allowed unprecedented access to Unilever's Indonesian workers, and also looked at the impact of its consumer sales in that...

India Gains Credibility as an Emergent Export Titan

Jo Johnson December 1, 2005
For years, analysts dismissed the prospects of India's manufacturing sector. India had been left behind by the wave of manufacturing off-sourcing that enriched China and Southeast Asia, and critics argued that India's best hope of catching up with its neighbors lay in the service sector. Those critics are falling silent, however, as 1990s economic reforms finally begin to spur...

India Concern to Design IBM Chips

Saritha Rai November 21, 2005
India is already well known as the center of software development outsourcing, but following an I.B.M. agreement, it may soon be recognized as a hub for microprocessor design as well. I.B.M. has announced that the first design center for Power Architecture chips outside of the company’s walls will be HCL Technologies, an Indian outsourcing company. The move is part of a strategy to set up...

Musharraf's Islamist Challenge

November 10, 2005
Islamist groups have long used charity to boost their support amongst poor Muslims. They are now coming to the aid of the millions left homeless, injured, or hungry by last month's devastating earthquake in Pakistan—to great effect. Refugee camps run by organizations like Jamaat-i-Islami, Pakistan's most powerful Islamist group, feature far better medical care than their state-run...

Painful Truth of the Call Centre Cyber Coolies

Amelia Gentleman October 31, 2005
Over the recent years, India’s ability to earn contracts from Western companies looking to outsource services has been seen as a globalization success story. Call centers, where Indian employees handle questions and offer support to Western consumers have become a major new industry in India, and have been portrayed as providing “good salaries and new career opportunities in the developing world...

Kashmir: Amid Tragedy, Peace Beckons

Ahmed Rashid October 17, 2005
For half a century, India and Pakistan have disputed ownership of Kashmir. Now that a devastating earthquake has reduced the cities and towns of Kashmir to rubble, the opportunity – and necessity – for peace between the two nations is greater than ever before. On the Pakistani side of the border, the enormous devastation has left at least two million people without homes. On the Indian side,...

"The Private Sector Is India's True Face – Open, Pragmatic"

Saumya Roy October 11, 2005
In an interview with Outlook India, Newsweek International editor Fareed Zakaria shares his thoughts about globalization and international politics, particularly with regard to India, China, and the United States. Zakaria opines that action is needed in order to bridge the gap between Washington policy wonks and the general public so that more Americans can learn about the rest of the world and...