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Globalisation and Social Change The spread of multinational companies and the opportunities opened up by the information technology revolution has created in the metropolitan cities in India a class of upwardly mobile professionals working in software companies, multinational banks, chartered accountancy firms, stock markets, travel, fashion designing, entertainment, media and other allied fields. These high-flying professionals have highly stressful work schedules, get exorbitant salaries and are the main clientele of the booming consumer industry. T hreat to many Indigenous C raft and Literary T raditions and K nowledge S ystems Yet another link between cultural forms and globalisation is evident from the condition of many indigenous craft and literary traditions and knowledge systems. It is, however, important to remember that modern development even prior to the stage of globalisation did make inroads into traditional cultural forms and occupations based on them. But the sheer scale and intensity of change is enormous. For instance about 30 theatre groups, which were active around the textile mills area of Parel and Girgaum of Mumbai city, have become defunct, as most of the mill workers are out of jobs in these areas. Some years back, there were reports of large number of suicides by the traditional weavers in Sircilla village of Karimnagar district and in Dubakka village in Medak district, both in Andhra Pradesh. These weavers with no means to invest in technology were unable to adapt to the changing consumer tastes and competition from power looms. Similarly, various forms of traditional knowledge systems especially in the fields of medicine and agriculture have been preserved and passed on from one generation to the other. Recent attempts by some multinational companies to patent the use of Tulsi, Haldi (turmeric), Rudraksha and Basmati rice have highlighted the need for protecting the base of its indigenous knowledge systems. B ox 6.6 The condition of our dombari community is very bad. Television and radio have snatchedawayourmeansoflivelihood.Weperformacrobaticsbutbecauseofthe circus and the television, which have reached even in remote corners and villages, nobody isinterestedinourperformances.Wedonotgetevenapittance,howeverhardweperform. People watch our shows but just for entertainment, they never pay us anything.They never bother about the fact that we are hungry. Our profession is dying. (More 1970) 87 Reprint 2026-27