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.
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