Change thou name is IT December 17, 2007
Posted by Divakar in Uncategorized.trackback
The latest edition of the ‘Outlook’ the weekly magazine has run a long article about how people in the IT industry are deteriorating the living standards of cities like Bangalore and how others are suffering bearing the brunt because of that.Being in the IT industry myself for the past 1 1/2 years and having experienced first-hand all the harassment I thought I’ll contribute my 2 cents to it,and hence my first blog,which was due for a very long time.
Lets dig deeper into the subject :
Accusation no.1 : IT people responsible for rising prices of real estate,commodities.
Reason : Good salaries,Extravagant spending,Splurging money,Overpaying without proper enquiry.
My point of View : Yeah agreed.The economy is booming,if that’s the correct term to use.People are getting richer.And hence spending has increased which naturally leads to demand and the result the increase in costs.But is the IT industry the sole reason for it?I think this needs some introspection.With due respect to Captain Vijayakanth I m forced to give some statistics here.Out of 1.1 billion people in India,IT/ITES employs only a hint above 1 million.This comes to approximately 0.1% of the total population.And the total revenues generated by this industry is close to $40 billion.Now the question is ,people who belong to this 0.1% of the entire population ruining the entire country?No. People outside are led to this delusion by the media and the politicians.With the BJP’s “India Shining” campaign and the tv channels and newspapers continuously tracking the growth of the Sensex which the ordinary man was led to believe reflects the growth of the nation created an illusion that India is truly developing.And with the IT industry growing at a scorching pace,it was directly equated to the booming economy.
True.Everything began to grow after three great minds,our PM,PC and Ahluwalia,came together and decided to liberate the economy from the clutches.But the bitter truth is that it hasn’t reached the grass-root level.The large middle-class benefited from it.But the even large poor are yet to taste its fruits.But before that happened our politicians decided to gain political leverage from it. And hence all the hype about rich pay packets and heavy cash at disposal.One thing led to another and people decided to milk out whatever excess money people in the IT industry have.And naturally everything became costlier.So who is at blame?The politicians,the media or the people who are being accused when they had only a little role to play in this?I m not speaking for the IT people.But I know how they are being treated.In a new place like Bangalore,when the autowallah asks for an exorbitant fare the innocent me doesn’t realise that he is trying to rob my pocket.I end u paying whatever he asks and I indirectly contribute to the rising fare?Or if the house-owner says 15k per month and 10 months advance flat,should I fight against it,when I have no place to stay,and this is easier for me to to get to office in the morning,or surrender meekly to his demands contributing to the rising real estate prices?Of course some people want to flaunt their new found wealth.But that is what human nature is all about.And only a small percentage of people fall under this.
A no. 2 : No contribution to the society.
R : Leading a greedy life .I dont care about others as long as I’ m fine attitude.
MPOV : Let me ask the readers one thing.How many sectors are there in this country? There is Banking,Agriculture,Insurance,Manufacturing,Automobile,Hospitality,Consumer Goods,Services,Airlines and finally comes IT.Out of all these how many of them have actually given back what they got from the society?Yeah. The TATA’s have pioneered in this.But apart from them what else have others done?A bigger pardon for my ignorance here,but I feel that there is an unnecessary finger pointing in this case.I do see a lot of social initiatives,awareness programs,contributions taking place in the company I m working for.But this has not caught the fancy of others.At the end of the day everyone has their own lives to live,each one has to earn his/her bread.I m not being selfish here.And I m very much for the cause of uplifting the poor.But why blame only the IT people.The society is to be blamed.The corrupt bureaucrats who dont deliver the govt projects to the people are to be blamed.If the system works the way it is supposed to work then we wont have anything to crib about.
A no. 3 : No cultural sense.Detorierating our culture and values by blindly aping the west.
R : Globilization.Western Impact.Not enough awareness about our culture.
MPOV : I quite agree to this.In an attempt to lead an affluent life influenced by the western countries,we are slowly losing our own identity.Right from the food we eat,to the clothes we wear to the movies we see we are heavily influenced by foreign countries.But it didn’t start all of a sudden.It started when Britishers introduced their education system here.When they rewrote history books to make us feel ashamed of our very own ancestors.When they introduced Videshi products.There was firm resistance to this during the freedom struggle.But after that we became lax.We started believing that anything from outside India is way better than the same thing with the “Made in India” tag.MTV revolutionised the way youngsters dressed.Jeans became the in thing.Led Zeppelin and Eminem became gods.Having coffee at Barista was considered cool.And saturday nights are wasted if not spent at the local pub.These are the effects of globilisation.We welcomed it with open arms.And now we have to face the consequences.
People have the right to decide how they live.That’s what fundamental rights are all about.But we have to take responsibilty to preserve our identity.To preserve our culture.Lets not forget that the moment we lose it we become nothing.The rich heritage we have can only be envied by others. Lets rather be proud of it.
A no.4 : The traffic woes in the cities are due to IT people.
R : Everyone has a car or a 2-wheeler which in turn congests the roads leading to havocs.
MPOV : The short-sightedness of the politicians who rather than improving the roads and the transport system were busily debating if Ram was a Civil Engineer or a Mechanical Engineer(No offence meant to anyone.Jus pun intended).If everyone can afford a car we should be proud about it.We could afford what our father or grand-father couldn’t.This is in line with the Darwanian theory of evolution.We are becoming better.I dont want to get into globla warming and pollution which is a rather lengthy topic.But the bottomline is the country is on the road of development. We need better infrastructure for a better future.Without improving that blaming the users is utterly meaningless.
To sum it up,today industry means IT industry,nice pay means he/she is with IT,if the people are not socially responsible then it’s because of IT,if there are malls and pubs it’s because of IT and even in one of the television talk shows they want only IT people to participate.THis should change.Our perceptions should change.The media should be more reponsible.And the politicians should be far sighted.And above all eveyone should be responsible for himself/herself and to the society.Without this happening we are doomed.
The 1st one to comment on your 1st blog post …
you should feel honored ???? aww…don’t be….what are friends for…!
ok now getting down to the topic at discussion, you have made 4 points..for the 2nd point, i will show the finger to any1 who brings that topic to me..the 3rd one is a valid point of concern, with us losing our identity and aping the westerners just for the coolness factor (parents talking to 3 year old kids in English? I will shoot them in their bottom if i had my way…)..the 4th point is also not a major concern, although the company buses can be a real pain at times..
But the 1st point is where I beg to differ…while the 1 million employed in IT/ITES may not form the whole cause for the price inflation thing, they contribute significantly. Take for example, Chennai. we can safely assume that it has an IT population of 1 lakh. And they are not concentrated in one single place, but they are spread throughout the city. So when they go to a particular place and wish to rent a house, they have the capacity to cough up a high amount as a rent as they have deep pockets. So the rent automatically shoots up once 10 or 15 houses in that area are rented out that way. And because of these 10 houses, the remaining 100 houses follow suit. And what follows is anybody’s guess….And if that place they want to rent is near their workplace, the 10 becomes 100 and the rent just shoots through the sky, which a common man cannot afford.
The same goes for everything. No one realises that for every software engineer there are 1000s who do not have a high income. From Share autos to Cinema theatres, the prices are increased regularly because someone keeps paying that amount without asking a qn…and the rest have no choice left…
Political leverage or not, the disparity in income levels are rising by the day and without a proper system in place, the ordinary man will be left running like crazy just to find a roof above his head that he can afford…
good one!
then y did u buy a “nike” jerkin….could have gone in fro a cheaper one!
y is that u always prefer buying expensive branded clothes… u can gone in for moderate ones!
not to hurt u…
just thoght to pen down wat i felt….
@ Ezhil
I m reiterationg what I said earlier.Do you think we all want to contribute to price rise?If the owner of the house is demanding 15k p.m is it his fault or is it our fault?Large scale migration is happening due to this IT boom.And in a new place,you are forced to pay such high rents as you dont’t know anyone else who can haggle on behalf of you.The real culprits are the greedy landlords who want to loot our hard earned money and since we can afford it we are surrendering to their demands.
@ Priya
I always go for quality rather than quantity.True.I m brand conscious.But that is not because I want to show off.But because we have the additonal assurance of a quality product being delivered to us.And I m ready to shell out as long as I can afford it and it meets my expectations.I donrt find anything wrong in that.
Enna Koduma Sir ithalaammmm ,,,,, Singamae summa irunthathu pothum vanga intha BLOG ku and post ur comments,, we are waiting for ur comment,,,
EhilZ ( plz join in any political party ,thala vijayakanth party would be better.. for ur comment lines
So the rent automatically shoots up once 10 or 15 houses in that area are rented out that way. And because of these 10 houses, the remaining 100 houses follow suit. And what follows is anybody’s guess….And if that place they want to rent is near their workplace, the 10 becomes 100 and the rent just shoots through the sky, which a common man cannot afford.
and final la thangal kuravarum karuthu ennavoooooooooo
Y this unwanted statements ,, vanthama BLOG ka pathama ponama ,,,,, atha vittu ,,, MUDIYALA ,,,
and finally DIVA — Enna da,,,,,, nalla thaana da Vettula iruntha
,,, Punch dialogue laam sollureyae da
“quality rather than quantity”
how can u say like this ,, namma stay panni irukura veetu condition na patthaduku appuram nee ippadi solli irukuriyae da ,,, GREAT ,, KEEP GOING ,,
i thnk our guys wil come into Attack,,, waiting for a good comment by our Singam …
Dei bossu..blog-la comment adikara alavuku periya aal aayitiyaa nee…naan enna karuthu solla varennu therinja nee apdiye adha folow panna poriyaa….illala….appuram aendaa….aen……enna koduma saar idhu…
Diva evlo feel panni ezhudhiyirukaan..avana poyi kalaasariyedaa bossu…andha pinju manasu enna paadu padum…enda bossu, unaku bungalaa kuduthaa mattum nee apdiye pakkaava maintain panniduviyaa…unga veetla oru hall thavara 3 store room vechitu nee ivlo pesara…
I don’t want to dig deep into each of your points of view, but overall I too feel IT professionals should modestly accept and bear the brunt of all the accusations. I’ve personally heard complaints from so many people speaking from their heart that the IT sector is the reason for many of their woes. We’ve heard chemistry professors grumbling that students are not taking science these days. I’ve heard bankers tell that IT professionals are preferentially treated for loans.
True it’s IT which is contributing majorly to the GDP and India’s rise in status as a spending country. It’s the situation in all developing countries that we’re talking about. But nations must realise they should provide the same benefits to other sectors as they’re providing the IT sector. Or else we could very well in the next 100 or 150 years face a severe dearth of scientists, mathematicians, etc who’re more important to the betterment of the world than IT professionals. It’s indeed saddening that the world has become so computer-centric.
I don’t think we deserve the kind of money that we earn. “Noyaama nungu thinradhu”ntu solvaangalla, adhu namma velai dhaan. Yaen namma Boss’a ye eduthukko. Idhuvaraikkum enna pannirukkaan, illa enna mana ulaichal dhaan paathurukkaan, avan 4 lakhs pakkathula sambaadhichitaan. Adha vechi 4 kudumbam 2 varsham vaazhndhurukkum. He he… sorry boss, avana kalaasa sonna ungala kalaasiten… I’m no better either. Just because I’m in a project doesn’t mean I’ve earned the money. What’s even more pathetic is that our projects are aimed at serving filthy rich clients for a filthy huge price and for a filthy dumb cause. This is what the accusers implicitly mean when they say we contribute nothing to society.
To sum up, it can’t be denied we’re all riding on a wave which we’re hoping will never fall. As more and more people jump onto the bandwagon the load’s one day or the other gonna give. Let’s better be prepared for that.
Ezhil ,,, dai Blog la comment adikurathu enna permission vanganumma enna ,, illa blog la comment pannravan laam peariya aala ,, appadi patha nee enna collectorra , commissioner ra illa IPSya , DGP ya , DIGya illa inspector ra ,, neeyae oru thandamma irukura our keavealamaanavan ,, ithulaa veerappu vera ,,
Thambi ,, ponga thambi ,, naanga irukura veetu oru rattha boomi ,,,
ollunga US pora valaiyaa paarura ,,
Dei bossu…unnoda image total damage….singam kekara kelvikellaam neen badhil solluda….illa, vedham pudhidhu padathula satyaraj andha chinna payankitta irundhu kannathula ara vaangara maadhiri oru stunt kaatuvaane…adhayaavadhu pannu…
well… i felt i had to put some things in perspective before i actually start critiquing your first blog…
first of all…yes, indian economy is “booming” and spending power, and all that crap goes along with it…so demand is high and hence by pure economics “prices” have increased, not necessarily the costs
second of all…”is the IT industry the sole reason for it”…. well, it’s not the sole reason, it’s surely the dominant reason… as any economist will tell you, GDP is the surrogate of a country’s well being and GDP is calculated under 3 major heads – agricluture, industry and services. at present, services (IT/ITES, hotels, aviation, financial services, transportation, construction etc) form around 60% of the GDP (growing at >10%!), while industry (manufacturing, mining, power etc) and agriculture each account for 20%… case in point is, GDP is the total income/production/expenditure of an economy and as you can see our economy is predominantly a service-based-one now, helped largely by the 4 behemoths- infosys, tcs, cts and wipro…hence it is infact true that IT industry is directly related to the good performance of the economy..and the SENSEX (the 30 share index has all these companies!, and sensex is the surrogate of how well the important companies in the economy are performing and valued)… (of course, of late manufacturing is driving the economy…)
so your point about just 0.1% of population contributing to the growth of india is the wrong metric to talk about here…
third of all….about the traffic woes…again it has to do with macro economics… till 1991 we were a socialist economy with many industries under government control and restrictions for foreign players to enter india.. so was the case in the automobile industry..while government was going about building infrastructure (roads) for this closed economy we met with balance of payment crisis in 1991 and ultimately had to liberalise many sectors.. foreign automobile players entered india, more variety and more spending power meant more cars and bikes on indian roads… but the infrastructure that was developed till 2000 was nowhere enough for all the cars and two wheelers that people were buying… hence the woes…i.e. one sector develops at a rapid pace but the other sector which it is dependent on (here infrastructure) is not developed…just as the case in aviation industry….we opened it up…but there aren’t enough airports and there aren’t any world class airports
third of all…..
okay having put some of the things in perspective…let me see what i think about what you have written….
I read the outlook magazine…seriously, if you ask me, i will say that bangalore’s charm has been robbed by the “presence” of IT companies there… one can’t blame the IT companies alone… in a free market everyone works for profits…IT companies did the same… while it may have given jobs for millions and leapfrogged india into the international arena…it had these effects of polluting, congesting one city… as they say, i see it as “you-can’t-get-something-without-losing-something”… having said that one can’t let it happen for ever.. the IT companies should move their operations out of bangalore and reduce the dependency on bangalore…
“no contribution to the society”…yeah, true, as i said before, in a capitalist society (towards which india is slowing moving) social welfare takes a backseat, why else do you see such a skew in income distribution in india? (sivaji dialogue “rich get richer, poor get poorer”)…we have the richest guy in the world here and we also have one fourth of the population under poverty!… either we have to go back to pre-1991 era to become socialist society again or worse, become a communist society so that wealth is distributed by the state… OR… our current system has to be super-efficient, free of corruption etc etc… CSR, narayana murthi donating funds to NGOs and all that is just crap and grossly inadequate….true, they are important for the company’s image… and that’s all there is to it…
globalisation and westernisation….hmmm….well, times have changed, i am sure even the author of that article in outlook has sent his children abroad for education… this is pure hypocrisy… as you have pointed out, human tendency is to seek new comfort and better ways of living…if the author wants to stick to indian values tell him to not watch football or tennis or listen to simon and garfunkel and wear only dhotis… lifestyle is personal choice, indian values and culture should be held in heart and followed in the right spirit…that doesn’t mean that we should be blind to other cultures and lifestyle… case in point is, one should not adopt the bad of a different culture… say, drugs and sexual orgies…he he
anyway… it was a real good blog about some the burning issues in our society now… keep ‘em coming…
Without going into the other points, another point I wld like to add:
We produce thousands of Engineers every year groomed for the IT field at a rate hugely higher than the quality work this industry (in India) has to offer us. At this rate, after a few years awhat mostly we ll have is bored and disoriented minds. Its set in the minds of people that Engineering\IT is the fast track course for quick money. Given that, this trend is quite unstoppable and is disturbing.
@ Bharani
Spoken like a true Manager
@ Ramya
Yeah this is another issue.Recently there was a accusation that IT is robbing all the Civil/Mechanical/Electronics engineers.Everyone wants quick bucks and IT seems to be the easiest way.Have to wait and see how long this is gonna continue.