Globalization and health: A case study of Punjab

oleh: Reetinder Kaur, A. K. Sinha

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: University of Bucharest 2011-05-01

Deskripsi

Globalization is an extremely complex phenomenon and it is the interactive co-evolution of multiple technological, cultural, economic, institutional, social and environmental trends at all conceivable spatio-temporal scales. The commercialization of agriculture in Punjab through the Green Revolution led to the effects, which were far-reaching and irreversible. The Green Revolution replaced indigenous agriculture with modern agriculture led to the use of high yielding seed varieties leading to a loss of indigenous varieties of various crops; the contamination of soils and water systems from the use of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, modern irrigation systems and dependency on modern machinery and technology. The data is collected from various secondary sources and arranged into three sections. The first section of the research paper deals with concepts of globalization and health. The theoretical framework relating globalization and health is the content of second section. The impact of globalization, in the form of Green Revolution technologies on the health in the Indian state of Punjab, is the content of last section. The research paper proposes a theoretical model for health impacts of globalization in Punjab. The proposed model indicates that the globalization led to three kinds of changes in context of Punjab, namely, economic changes, socio-cultural changes and environmental changes. All these changes had profound effects on health such that the people of Punjab are battling health problems including a noticeable rise in cancer cases, kidney ailments, pre-mature ageing and infertility.