Poverty, Inequality and Permeability to Globalization Effects : A Study of Select Villages in Udalguri Subdivision of Assam

Globalization is a deliberate decision to open up a national economy to the forces of product, factor and money markets, followed by a sequence of requisite policies and actions. The Indian economy shed off its 40- year long license and quota regime and went in for globalization in the early 1990’s. However, globalization of the Indian Economy has been defensive, based on the decadence within and the pressure from without. The rural segment of the Indian economy, in particular, lacks in the social spirit and prowess, so much needed to benefit from globalization. Acute poverty is the major structural reality that makes the rural areas of India impermeable to the effects of globalization. To exploit the possibilities and opportunities that globalization has opened up, one has to produce, which in turn requires investible funds, infrastructure and links to the market. Poverty cripples the very foundations of these possibilities. Therefore, under the prevailing conditions, one cannot expect the rural areas to be much permeable to the effects of globalization. This study is based on the primary data collected from seven villages of Assam. Our findings show that the globalization effects have not entered into the rural areas of Assam in any significant sense.