The Other Side of Outsourcing

I watched this excellent feature regarding outsourcing in youtube - The Other Side of Outsourcing presented by Tom Friedman, an American author and columnist.

The story showed the booming IT/ITES sector in India, the westernised youth, RSS, NGOs and finally Slums. Tom has covered almost all the relevant aspects of globalisation in India and really showed the ground reality in India.

I have no doubt that the outsourcing is a boon to Indian economy and particularly for the ever growing youth population. It helped to solve the unemployment problem for the educated middle class to a great extend. Apart from direct employment, it has positive influence in the entire economy, as it provides indirect jobs such as cab drivers, support staff, canteen venders, construction workers etc. The government is also getting richer, thanks to the corporate and income taxes. The land value and the rents went up as a result and the standard of living changed for the better. I am also one of the beneficiaries of outsourcing as I have managed to steal a 'British Job'.

As the video suggests, the untapped talent of India is huge. Our education system is highly competitive and that to an extend developed a youth population who are focused on what they are doing. As the youth gets dispensable time and dispensable money, they tend to deviate from the family bonds, which is a little concern for me. The kind of turbulent personal relationships in western world should not repeat in India. A very valid point by Dr. Anathamurthy, regarding the family bonding in India. It takes care of social security in India. Unfortunately, we are inheriting the demerits of westernisation as well.

Tom decided to cover outsourcing after the outbreak of protests against it in western countries. We can make out that he had genuine concerns about the loss of American jobs. However, the answer was given by Azim Premji . he openly said that west can't have double standards as they enjoyed the benefits of globalisation and open market by selling their products here which has resulted in closure of many indigenous businesses and los of jobs. Now its our turn to benefit from it, and I am afraid Americans will have to be innovative to face competition.

RSS acts as the moral police which opposes any kind of westernisation to safe guard Indian culture. Their reaction against valentines day is absolute rubbish. I believe that its the people who should decide whether to celebrate it or not. Expression of love is nothing wrong as we should not forget that Kama Sutra originated here. You cannot impose culture to anyone. I don’t think our culture, which is thousands of year old, is fragile and needs upliftment. Ours is a secular state and no one has the right to question people's choices.

What we should not do in this bright rosy word of outsourcing is to forget the majority population who are still struggling. The people in slums who doesn't have basic education, shelter, food and sanitation is something which the society and government have to concentrate on. As Indians shows optimism of becoming super power we should not forget that major portion of our population are still in villages. The upliftment of socially backward people and brining them to the main stream is the most important task. I would like to salute the NRI who gave wings to the dreams of those poor students. We should not close our eyes on the fact the sections in the lower class need a dramatic upliftment if India has any chance of becoming a developed country, forget about "Super Power". Apart from flyovers and 6 line roads, there are lot of things which we need to focus on. Education is the most important aspect as we have huge talent which goes unnoticed due to lack of proper education.
Please have a look at teach India and participate. Lets also contribute to this society rather than sitting in our cozy bed room and blogging about it!

Gulf and Communism

The inspiration for this post is a movie named Arabikatha, another excellent movie from Sreeni. The film is about the struggles of a communist in Dubai. Sreeni just lives as 'Cuba Mukundan' in the movie.

Gulf and Communism - Two factors that has a significant influence in life of Keralites. Every malayalee is one way or the other impacted by these two at one point or the other. Communist leaders like AKG and EMS has played an important part in the party's efforts for the upliftment of the lower classes of the society. Lands were recovered from feudal land lords and distributed to poor. Significant efforts were made to improve education and basic health care. Its a crime to forget their contributions to the society, especially to the deprived class, who were treated as slaves at a time. The played a vital part in creating a 'Kerala Model' , which was studied with interest even by foreigners.

However, as we all know Kerala's economy is struggling due to lack of Industries in the state. The fingers will defenitely point towards the red flag. Their aggressive revolts against industries has not just stopped foreign investors, even keralites moved out of the state to start business.



This is where, we should understand the significance of Gulf in Kerala's economy. The money which is pouring from the desert to this small state, was the only single force which backed our economy. Countless malayalees are working in desert now, with their hearts filled with memories of their homeland (God's own country).Their hard work has ensured their families back home,a good life with all the basic facilities. Their interaction with near and dear ones are only through telephone, or during their visit once in two years or so.

The communists today can amass significant wealth (which is against their policies), can run companies (they are against capitalism!), can use laptops (they are the first ones to oppose computer!) also! So hopefully they will change their policy and welcome industries, and bring back those people who work far away from home. Lal Salam.