You have still not achieved a first world nation status yet. So hang in there, this empty pride now, only 8 years into the game of outsourcing, doesn't look too good. There are hundreds of other countries waiting in line to take this away from India. Wait, oh I know. You must be a malcontented commie. Go ahead, put that pen down..nay, get off the keyboard, and go start a business that competes with the West and employs Indians. No, you cannot? Watch them break ships with toxic content and radiation, watch them work night shifts in BPOs and lose their health, but can't do a thing other than fume on the blogs? Oops, sorry. There is such thing as dignity of labour, you know.
the way to prosperity does not lie in doing the work of others. the usa or japan did not become rich by oursourcing. but rather in building industry and the consumer market at home. in india the current british inherited education system and the leftist apathy towards enterprise is the number one culprit in the servile mentality of indians. there are resources to be exhausted and products to be developed in india itself for indians (and the world) - do that and india will be rich.
The author presents a few valid observations, but her inferences seem too lop-sided. Different occupations may present varied monetary rewards, but all jobs have the same quality. Her comment on the living conditions of Indians in the middle-east is true, but that does not mean their jobs are low quality. If an American does not want to do a nurse's job and a Malayali wants to do that, it is not the quality of the job, but the qulaity of the individual. An H1-B software professional has the same diginity as any American programmer, and let me assure you Sunanda that H1-B holders are paid reasonably well. If rediff can write half-truths to gain readership and it still call itself dignified, you should not blame a callcentre worker in Gurgaon for faking an accent
Re: All jobs have equal quality, all workers have equal dignity
by ebguy on Nov 09, 2008 09:33 PM
I find these comments appalling. In Jet Airways, they want to fire expat pilots first & keep local people employed. I understand H1-B also have dignified jobs but if you look deep into it, its at the cost of Americans loosing their jobs. Think about what will happen in India if jobs of couple Million people are outsourced!!Get real!!Americans are forced to teach professionals from India.How dignified is that?H-1B are paid properly because they dont stay on the project for long time. Common if you work in IT you know the real reasons why this is happening :))
indian by large very loyal,respect customs, try to save from what little they have, corporate india must do lot more in terms of taking up social programmes,govt must realise that time is running out should invest on basic infrastructure,health and hygiene, drianage, roads,modernising their cities,we have to devolope knowhows that are essential to rest of the world,we should not sell ourselves cheap.modernisation of our villages, developement in agriculture. sevice sector,manufacuring,good use of natural resourceses.education etc,we have taken more than 50 years after indipendence,while japan and middle east took half the time , we need to work as a nation,get our politicians accountable,eradicate goonda culture, bring educated youngsters on the political front, we have plenty of IAS's IIT's,graduates from prestigious institutions, law and order, corruption still works with a back drop of negativeness.still for all this we have come as far as we could, now some bold steps are required from our citizens.
yes..i believe in self respect. It needs to be used at the right place at the right time. When it comes to job/work, you should not use your self respect as a scale of where to work. Today because of self respect in choosing a job we have division in the country as low level jobs/high level jobs. Bcz of self respect at choosing any job, maid/butler etc is not given their due respect.
the only difference between a worker in India and a worker in US (be it any job) is the color of the skin of their manager. I am not quite sure how the nationality of the manager who they work for changes the perception of self respect.
we have not learnt from our past mistakes. These claims of self respect/ego are one of the reasons we have a divided society and thus we have so many clashes all over the place.
A little bit about self respect: 1. A person who earns a living be it US and India should be treated right and not exploited. The person should make sure that he/she is treated the right way. That is self respect. 2. A person who doesn't who doesn't lose his dignity at work is saving one's self respect. 3. A person, if abused for what he is, but has not lost faith and still believes in his root, is rooting for self respect.
your self respect is not proportional to who you work for, but a factor how you maintain it throughout whomsover you work for, irrespective of the color of the skin or nationality of the company.
There may be some merit in suggesting that Bush and Obama do come across as patronising in some of their statements. But the rest of the article is absurdity. The labour camps in middle east are filled with people from India who are no different from Bonded labour, who get as low as INR 2500-5000 per month - that is when the Sheikh decides to pay for it. While the H1B employees in the US may crib about the pay, they are often respected in their office environments. They take time to visit the great American attractions, they invite their families over, often own a dream car, have a chance to visit the pubs, are more educated, have the call home whenever they wish. If 4-5 of them share a apartment, it has to do with lifestyle issues rather than quality of life issues. The only disadvantage they have over their average middle-east counterparts is that they often are "not just a flight away" from home.
Re: That is why India will always LAG
by Guest on Nov 09, 2008 09:43 PM
U r right. What is originally our culture? Dont want to sound bad, but Nothing is our original culture today - all founded, discovered, by the west. it is easy to harp on our culture, but the fact is that all what we live today we use products which are originally created by the West. (We have to make peace with that.) Be it toothpaste,soap, computer, our academic degrees, our universities. BPOs call centers, whcih have given many youths a good income, are all the concept of the west. When once something is discovered in the west, be it technology, or operative procedures (some of the best surgeons are in India) of course, only then we indians do a fantastic job of incorporating it. The sad part is that why nothing is our own. Be it clothes, architecture of our houses, or offices, tv shows, reality shows, music, laws, etc. Thank god that the british came and ruled over us, or else we could be still learning in ashrams. We are ‘educated’ because all our today's degrees and universties are the concept of the west. Our study or learing was restricted to guru and student.
This article will indeed have a lot of people squirming in their seats, and the discomfort would come from the fact that its not merit that got them those jobs in the US or in an outsourcing company, but the lower cost of living in a third-world economy. On the face of it, we could portray this as India shining, but scratch deeper and you would see little difference in the sweat shop BPO and H1B workers and the labourers in the Middle East.
The key takeaways (to borrow an American phrase) here are this: we have been given an opportunity on a world stage to put so many of our people on American jobs, now its time to build the quality of the workforce so that we can take up quality work. Its not the time to sit around and criticize the current situation, but to bring our quality of work to international standards or better.
We need to remember that we are to the services industry what the Chinese are to the manufacturing world. In this the Chinese are doing a commendable job in ensuring that their products improve continuously and the world now cannot do without them. And its not a surprise to now see quality Chinese products (Ipod, Lenovo et al). What Indians need to do is to ensure that the next wave of outsourcing is not because we are the cheapest, but because we are the best.
We need to remember that there will always be some other country poorer than ours who will eventually take up the mantle of the back office of the world..
This article will indeed have a lot of people squirming in their seats, and the discomfort would come from the fact that its not merit that got them those jobs in the US or in an outsourcing company, but the lower cost of living in a third-world economy. On the face of it, we could portray this as India shining, but scratch deeper and you would see little difference in the sweat shop BPO and H1B workers and the labourers in the Middle East.
The key takeaways (to borrow an American phrase) here are this: we have been given an opportunity on a world stage to put so many of our people on American jobs, now its time to build the quality of the workforce so that we can take up quality work. Its not the time to sit around and criticize the current situation, but to bring our quality of work to international standards or better.
We need to remember that we are to the services industry what the Chinese are to the manufacturing world. In this the Chinese are doing a commendable job in ensuring that their products improve continuously and the world now cannot do without them. And its not a surprise to now see quality Chinese products (Ipod, Lenovo et al). What Indians need to do is to ensure that the next wave of outsourcing is not because we are the cheapest, but because we are the best.
We need to remember that there will always be some other country poorer than ours who will eventually take up the mantle of the back office of the world..
This article will indeed have a lot of people squirming in their seats, and the discomfort would come from the fact that its not merit that got them those jobs in the US or in an outsourcing company, but the lower cost of living in a third-world economy. On the face of it, we could portray this as India shining, but scratch deeper and you would see little difference in the sweat shop BPO and H1B workers and the labourers in the Middle East.
The key takeaways (to borrow an American phrase) here are this: we have been given an opportunity on a world stage to put so many of our people on American jobs, now its time to build the quality of the workforce so that we can take up quality work. Its not the time to sit around and criticize the current situation, but to bring our quality of work to international standards or better.
We need to remember that we are to the services industry what the Chinese are to the manufacturing world. In this the Chinese are doing a commendable job in ensuring that their products improve continuously and the world now cannot do without them. And its not a surprise to now see quality Chinese products (Ipod, Lenovo et al). What Indians need to do is to ensure that the next wave of outsourcing is not because we are the cheapest, but because we are the best.
We need to remember that there will always be some other country poorer than ours who will eventually take up the mantle of the back office of the world..
