Globalization has had a significant impact on Indian society, leading to both positive and negative effects. Some of the key effects of globalization on Indian society include:

Positive effects:

1. Economic growth: Globalization has led to an increase in India’s economic growth rate, with GDP growth averaging over 7% per annum in the past two decades. This has created new job opportunities and improved living standards for many Indians.
2. Increased foreign investment: Globalization has attracted foreign investment into India, particularly in the IT, pharmaceutical, and manufacturing sectors. This has led to the creation of new industries and jobs.
3. Access to global markets: Globalization has given Indian businesses access to global markets, enabling them to export goods and services to other countries.
4. Improved technology: Globalization has brought about rapid advances in technology, which has improved communication, transportation, and healthcare facilities in India.
5. Cultural exchange: Globalization has facilitated cultural exchange between India and other countries, promoting understanding and cooperation.

Negative effects:

1. Unemployment: While globalization has created new job opportunities, it has also led to job displacement in traditional sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing.
2. Income inequality: The benefits of globalization have not been evenly distributed, leading to increased income inequality between the rich and the poor.
3. Brain drain: Many Indian professionals have left the country to work abroad, leading to a brain drain and a shortage of skilled workers in certain fields.
4. Cultural homogenization: Globalization has led to the spread of Western culture, threatening traditional Indian customs and values.
5. Environmental degradation: The rapid economic growth driven by globalization has led to environmental degradation, pollution, and climate change.
6. Rise of consumerism: Globalization has promoted consumerism, leading to an increase in materialism and a decrease in spiritual values.
7. Impact on traditional industries: Globalization has disrupted traditional industries such as handicrafts, textiles, and agriculture, leading to job losses and poverty among rural communities.
8. Increased cost of living: The influx of foreign goods and services has increased the cost of living in India, making it difficult for many people to afford basic necessities.

To mitigate the negative effects of globalization, the Indian government has implemented policies such as:

1. Social protection programs: To reduce poverty and income inequality.
2. Infrastructure development: To improve transportation and communication networks.
3. Education and skill development: To increase the employability of Indian workers.
4. Protectionist policies: To protect traditional industries from foreign competition.
5. Sustainable development: To promote environmentally friendly practices.

In November 2022, India launched India’s first national repository for life science data, the Indian Biological Data Centre (IBDC) at Faridabad, Haryana. The IBDC is mandated to archive all life science data generated from publicly funded research in India. The data center is supported by the government through the Department of Biotechnology (DBT). Due to the heterogeneity of life science data, the IBDC is being developed in a modular nature wherein different sections would typically deal with particular types of life science data.

Its objectives are:

• Besides archiving life science data, the IBDC shall also develop highly curated data sets in order to facilitate knowledge discovery in various domains of life science. It would also perform quality control and management of the data life cycle.
• It would provide an IT platform for perpetually archiving biological data in the country.
• Development of standard operating procedures for storing and sharing of data as FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) principle.
• Development of web-based tools/ APIs for data sharing/ retrieval.
• Organization of training programs on Big Data analysis and benefits of data sharing.

Significance of the IBDC:

• Aids modern research: Modern biology has become data-intensive and data-dependent, often requiring integrative analysis.
  • However, in the absence of any central data repository for life sciences and biotechnology data in India, both data-sharing and data-dependent research are restricted.
• Securing data: There is a lot of sensitive human and biodiversity data that needs to be stored securely and in a manner that is accessible to appropriate scientists. The IBDC will provide a platform for this.
• Ensuring data availability for all: At present, most Indian researchers depend on the European Molecular Biology Laboratory and National Centre for Biotechnology Information databases for storing biological data.
  • Also, the datasets present there do not represent the Indian phenotype, which is very different, and solutions based on others’ data might not be optimal. The IBDC will help develop ‘Indian data for Indian solutions’.
• Studying zoonotic diseases: The database currently stores the genomic sequences of crops such as rice, onion, tomatoes, etc. With genomes of humans, animals, and microbes present in the same database, it will also help researchers in studying zoonotic diseases.
• Research for new therapies: The database will store the 25,000 sequences of mycobacterium tuberculosis.
  • This will help in understanding the spread of multi-drug and extremely drug-resistant TB, and aid the search for targets for new therapies and vaccines.

Thus, the IBDC will act as the major repository for life science data emerging from India, and will constantly strive to serve the requirements of the global scientific community.

Invisible warfare can be understood as a battle of misinformation and perception. It is conducted through non-kinetic military actions, which have minimal involvement of brute force. They are fought with soft forces of diplomacy, social engineering, cyber-attacks, and sanctions. Due to the incorporation and usage of technology in its conduct, invisible warfare is also referred to as ‘fifth-generation warfare’ or ‘non-kinetic warfare’.

Following are the challenges invisible warfare poses to India’s internal security:

• Threat to critical sectors: Infrastructures like banking and telecom have become vulnerable to malware attacks, crypto-jacking, phishing attacks, etc. It can compromise the strategic information of the nation. E.g., Cosmos bank cyber-attack, UIDAI information hijack, AIIMS ransomware attack, etc.
• Data tracking and information hijacking: The import of foreign-made software and service provisioning have increased exponentially. These are often laced with inbuilt malware, which can easily sabotage the system and may lead to information transfer. E.g., Gionee case of malware implantation.
• Misinformation and fake news: Propaganda and misinformation can be used to sow seeds of discontentment and suspicion in the mind of the citizenry against the government, which can adversely impact the overall peace and security of the nation.
• Damaging the country’s social fabric: Intentional circulation and release of communally charged videos create religious animosity that can disturb communal harmony.
• Promoting secessionist tendencies: India has long faced the brunt of provoking narratives by neighboring countries. These are to incite disenchantment among border states through coveted and diplomatic narrative building. States of erstwhile J&K, Punjab, and Arunachal Pradesh have seen instances that threaten the unity of the country.
• Global espionage and spying: Penetration of digital technology has made India highly vulnerable to global espionage and spying attempts. International forces have already spread their web of technological espionage across the country. E.g., espionage on Bharat Biotech, SII (during COVID-19 vaccine development) by Chinese hacker Stone Panda.

Steps taken to tackle challenges of invisible warfare:

• National Cyber Security Strategy: It proposes a three-pronged approach- people, processes, and technology.
  • For people, it mandates increasing cyber hygiene, and the number of cybersecurity professionals.
  • For processes, it proposes SOPs, a management plan for a cyber crisis, and privileges to ensure that minimum access is given to users.
  • The technology vertical would address the need for firewalls, installation of intrusion prevention systems, behavioral analysis tools, network segmentation, and creation of offline backups.
• The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In): It is the national bureau for event response, including evaluation, prediction, and alerts for cybersecurity breaches. It offers technical support and guidance on how to recover from computer security incidents.
• The Cyber Swachhta Kendra: It aims to create a secure cyberspace by identifying botnet infections in India and alerting, and facilitating the cleaning process along with securing the systems of end users to avoid future infections.
• NATGRID: It is an integrated intelligence master database structure that links databases from several security agencies within the Government of India. It collects detailed patterns obtained from numerous organizations and makes them easily accessible to security agencies around the clock.
• Stringent regulations and strategies: The Ministry of Home Affairs has approved the creation of the National Counter Ransomware Task Force.

India has one of the highest numbers of internet users. With the ever-changing cybersecurity landscape, a good security plan is needed which must include regular technology upgrades, awareness, skilling, and reskilling of all stakeholders.

The Indian road network is expanding at a tremendous pace with record-breaking construction of 30 km of road per day. India is on course to build more national highways during the decade ending 2025 than it has cumulatively built between 1950 and 2015. This has become possible due to streamlining of financing of infrastructure in the road sector:

• The Model Concession Agreement in the road sector has standardized provisions on conditions to be met by public and private sectors, user fees and their escalation, dispute resolution, etc. providing a balanced risk-return framework.
• There is viability gap funding (VGF) for economically viable projects that do not reach the threshold of financial viability. In fact, the highest VGF among all infrastructure sectors has gone to the road sector.
• The sector has also pioneered brownfield asset monetization in India, with the first toll-operate-transfer (TOT) transaction taking place as early as 2018, which has produced handsome returns.
• The sector has pioneered InvITs, which has helped raise thousands of crores of investment. It has enabled regular income (via dividends) and long-term capital appreciation for investors.
• Several initiatives such as the adoption of the HAM model, the National Infrastructure Pipeline, National Asset Monetization Plan have also boosted investment.

The money spent on building roads has more than doubled since the financial year 2015-16. India has the highest number of PPP road projects in the developing world, at 501 (valued at $92.5 billion) in 1990-2021. However, private investment has played a limited role. Despite the fact that the total investment in the road sector has grown at a CAGR of 22% from 2014-15 to 2020-21, the share of private investment has declined from 37% in 2014-15 to only 7% in 2020-21. The limited private investment has been due to a number of impediments such as:

• Financing constraints: A big chunk of NPAs in Banks is from this sector. The share of NPAs out of total advances in the road sector increased from 1.9% in 2013 to 20.3% in 2017.
  • Although the sector is relatively stable and clean now, banks are still wary of lending to the road sector PPP projects, making it difficult for private players especially mid-sized companies with weaker balance sheets to raise finances for road projects.
• Lengthy land acquisition and clearance process: Delays in pre-construction activities (such as land acquisition, relocation of religious structures, encroachment removal, utilities shifting, and cutting of trees) have been a deterrent due to the resulting escalation in the costs.
• The stretched balance sheet of Indian developers: This is due to a number of factors, including overaggressive bidding which leads to a reduction in the rate of project completion and an increase in NPAs; and pending claims to the NHAI on breach of concession agreement resulting in companies refraining from participating in BOT projects due to potential losses. Moreover, the existing debt burden of Rs. 60,000 crores at the project level does not provide room for absorbing future risks.
• Other factors: Other factors such as poor pre-project assessment of traffic and changing macroeconomic conditions have resulted in less-than-expected returns from projects making it difficult for existing players to continue and new players to enter the sector. Private investment into building a robust infrastructure is the key to making India a $5 trillion economy by 2025. Thus, efforts are required to promote sector-specific financing platforms, deepening of the existing corporate bond market, and streamline clearance processes.