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Mass Westernization in India.

ANUBHA SAGGAR.

Being the head of the human resource development department of India for the

 past years, I can¶t¶ completely disagree with ms.Sanchari because westerntechnologies have brought betterment in India. Information and money flow more

quickly than ever. Today better technologies are being used for education,

lifestyles and advanced networking. In the Indian context, westernization has

improved literacy rates, infant mortality rate education systems etc but on the other 

hand,excess of the west has led to a dramatic decrease in Indian sales in the world.

In my opinion, western culture is establishing its strong base in India and

gradually wiping the Indian culture. It had already made its presence in Metro¶s &

is now slowly heading towards other parts of India. Westernization has greatly

affected our traditions, customs, our family and our respect for others. The conceptof joint families is fast, decreasing everyone wants to remain aloof from

others. This is not to discourage westernization, but to control its influence in

India. People are blindly following the western culture without knowing its

consequences. There¶s no harm in taking good things from western but this does

not mean that we should completely adopt it and misrepresent our identity. It is

understandable that India is growing in every field and there is necessity of 

knowing all the cultures and their traditions. We have to preserve our identity,our 

authenticity.We can¶t lose something that makes us stand out from the crowd. One

thing should be always kept in mind that western world is looking towards India

for its rich Cultural heritage.

The current state of India¶s artisans is a matter of grave concern. These proud and

skilled artisans were once the backbone of the Indian economy, providing much of 

the goods and services that our people needed. Today, these very artisans have

 been marginalised by the westernization of society. Though some have managed to

adapt to changing times, and a few have even thrived, most of them live in abject

 poverty with no prospects for a better tomorrow. The powerful marketing

machinery that is a concomitant of such an order progressively expands markets

for "modern" goods and services at the cost of the µartisans¶ markets. The number 

of persons in India engaged in traditional crafts was conservatively estimated at 9.5

million in 1961, reduced to 7.4 million in 1980 and might just be five million at the

turn of the century. The sales of the Indian weaving industry have gone down by

30% .People don¶t really know about what they are missing in their own culture,

they just want imported clothes because they are advertised well. School children

today are in only interested in listening to English songs. They are a strict NO to

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classical music. The Sari industry is hit hard due to recession as well for other 

reasons for some time now. The cheap Chinese imitations being one of them.

Indian women still love saris though wear it on some special occasions

only.Gowns and dresses are gaining popularity faster than the traditional six yards

which are often described in the west as µsix yards of shackles¶.Eastern Inida¶s

only surviving tribe-apaysi are on the verge of extinction because of 

westernization.Only 25%of their original population is left which is an alarming

decrease.What I mean to say here is that there is No doubt that the western

culture is versatile .Westernization has surely benefitted us but we must also see to

it that our traditions and culture don¶t suffer because of it. We should feel proud

that we are Indian s and we have such a rich cultural heritage which is very rare

and should carry this forward with raised heads.