I visited Mt Vernon today. It is the home of United States' first president General George Washington. The mansion and grounds are somewhat interesting. But I found their museum / education center to be truly wonderful.
It was in the museum at Mt Vernon that I discovered exactly for how long the American War of Independence went on: eight years, from 1775 to 1783.
Just EIGHT years! By contrast, the first war of Indian Independence happened in 1857. The British had already colonized many parts of India for years before then. It would be 90 - NINETY - f-ing more years after that first so called war for India to get its independence. How many more humiliated, killed, enslaved during that time? How much of India's wealth shipped to Britain, while India was impoverished, famines caused and millions killed?
In fact, we don't (CAN'T) even call India's bid for freedom a war. We only call it a struggle. Like a slave's struggle for freedom.
Nearly 62 years after we got independence, as I sit here and type this, my heart burns! We had to 'struggle' to get the freedom that should have been ours by right. An ancient civilization, which had already had many great and vast empires, a land which had raised countless armies of its own, a land of millions of people - such a land had to struggle for over a century before becoming independent. An independence which came with the cost of partition, a cost paid for by the life and blood and property of millions.
By contrast, America's army that fought in their war of independence was relatively young. It was outnumbered by the British army 10-to-1. The American population (not counting the Native Americans) was extremely small, compared to the Indian population. They WON their independence in just eight years. They did not wait for any f-ing British to grant them independence. They just declared it and they stuck to their guns.
As we drove back from Mt Vernon, I kept telling to myself: "No wonder India is where it is, compared to where America is".
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Brilliant Indian Politician gets M Phil from Cambridge University in 9 Months!
The Hindustan Times reports that the Congress Party of India has served a legal notice to The New Indian Express for publishing a report on the Truth about Rahul's M Phil.
Rahul, of course, is Rahul Gandhi aka Raul Vinci, the general secretary of the Congress Party of India.
The Hindustan Times article has this interesting information about the legal notice:
It would be sweet if the Congress Party's legal notice results in the truth about Rahul's education being settled once for all. That would be quite an irony. But I am not holding my breath for that any time soon.
Bonus video: Dr Subramaniam Swamy talking about Rahul Gandhi's citizenship and education -
Rahul, of course, is Rahul Gandhi aka Raul Vinci, the general secretary of the Congress Party of India.
The Hindustan Times article has this interesting information about the legal notice:
A copy of the letter of Professor Alison Richard, vice-chancellor of University of Cambridge, was attached to the notice. The letter said Rahul was a student of the university as a member of Trinity College from October 1994 to July 1995 and was awarded an M. Phil in Development Studies in 1995.Apparently, Rahul Gandhi's performance at Cambridge was so brilliant that he earned an M Phil degree in just 9 months! The same Rahul Gandhi who had to get into Delhi's St Stephen's college, under sports category and failed out from there. The same Rahul Gandhi who got into Harvard after a huge monetary donation and was kicked out from there after only 3 months for not being able to perform. The same Rahul Gandhi whose Cambridge University certificate shows that he failed a subject (reproduced in The New Indian Express article.
It would be sweet if the Congress Party's legal notice results in the truth about Rahul's education being settled once for all. That would be quite an irony. But I am not holding my breath for that any time soon.
Bonus video: Dr Subramaniam Swamy talking about Rahul Gandhi's citizenship and education -
Sunday, April 19, 2009
India's New Face: Narendra Modi in The Atlantic
Over the years, I have read many articles about Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat state in India. Most of these articles are written by prejudiced reporters with a blatant (read unhidden, undisguised, obvious) motive to show Modi in a bad light. Despite their prejudices and motives, these journalists can't help reporting about the fabulous job Modi is doing in Gujarat and his highly efficient, corruption-free administration. In fact, Modi's governance is so clean and his quotes are so straight-forward, the reporters have to jump through hoops, indulging in mental and verbal gymnastics in their attempts to show Modi in a bad light. The result is that the journalists end up contradicting themselves within the span of a single article, revealing their own prejudices and casting a shadow on their own authenticity. The latest to join this line of journalists is The Atlantic magazine's correspondent Robert D Kaplan in his April 2009 edition article about Mr Narendra Modi: India’s New Face.
The Atlantic article about Mr Narendra Modi is no different from other articles which hold Modi responsible for the 2002 riots in Gujarat: unsubstantiated accusations and insinuations, with absolutely no evidence. To date, I have not read a single article or report which lays out in detail what it was that Mr Modi or his administration was supposed to do and failed to do, during the 2002 riots. Sure, there are overarching statements that Modi should not have let so many people get killed. But there has never been a detailed, chronological list in any article which says, Modi's administration should have done X1 at time-point Y1, and X2 at time-point Y2 and so on. Bear in mind that since India's independence in 1947, there have been numerous other riots - religious and otherwise, there have been countless other killings - by terrorists and criminals, there have been mass deaths of thousands and millions - by droughts, storms and other calamities both natural and man-made, and there has even been an ethnic cleansing - of Kashmiri pandits from their homeland. These things have taken place in every corner of the country. So, it is not as if India's central and state governments have had unblemished track records in preventing or handling these incidents. In fact, the track record of every administration in India has been pathetic when it comes to facing riots, killings and tragedies. Keeping this in mind, why single out Modi's administration alone, nay Mr Modi alone, as the instigator supreme of all communal riots? The irony here is that the initial provocation for the Gujarat riots was the burning of 57 Hindu pilgrims in a train at Godhra.
At the beginning of this post, I mentioned how journalists who set out to bad-mouth Modi end up contradicting themselves within the span of the same article. Mr Kaplan's article in The Atlantic provides some prime examples of this phenomenon, which I shall shortly demonstrate with quotes taken directly from the article. Perhaps, Mr Kaplan thinks that he is providing a fair and balanced perspective. Perhaps, that is what he set out to do. But the contradictions in his article do not appear fair and balanced precisely because he has let so much of his own prejudices and unsubstantiated accusations color the article.
Quote: He [Modi] said he wasn’t interested in talking about politics, just development. Of course, politics represents freedom, and his momentary lack of interest in politics was not accidental. Modi’s entire governing style is antidemocratic, albeit quite effective, emphasizing reliance on a lean, stripped-down bureaucracy of which he has taken complete personal control, even as he has pushed his own political party to the sidelines, almost showing contempt for it.
Since when did politics equate to freedom alone? And, not wanting to talk about politics equates to being anti-freedom? Is Modi using the power of the army or the police or anti-social elements to administer effectively? No. All his unrivalled administrative authority comes from the absolute trust and faith his citizens have in him. If this is not the very definition of the democratic zenith, what is? So, how can Mr Kaplan term Modi as "antidemocratic"? Due to the "stripped-down" bureaucracy of Modi's administration? When did a vast, blundering bureaucracy become an essential defining feature of democracy? This is the symptom of prejudiced reporting - term efficient administration based on the citizens' support as being antidemocratic. If Mr Kaplan had been truly neutral, he'd have praised Modi for doing what almost no other political leader in India's modern history has been able to do so far. As for the antidemocratic charge, Mr Kaplan himself goes on to say: Is Modi a fascist? Although episodes in his political career and his role in the events of February 2002 suggest as much, the answer is, ultimately, no.
Quote: “There was no Kalinga effect on Modi,” Hanif Lakdawala, a Muslim who runs a human-rights NGO, told me. He was referring to a war fought in the third century B.C. by the Mauryan Empire under King Ashoka against the kingdom of Kalinga on the eastern coast of India. Ashoka’s forces slew 100,000 civilians. Yet the slaughter left Ashoka with so much guilt that he dedicated his life thereafter to nonviolence and the peaceful development of his empire.
In the very next paragraph, there is a contradictory quote: By all accounts, after the riots, he [Modi] manically dedicated himself to development, sleeping less than four hours every night, up at 5 a.m. to check his e-mail and read the local papers, visiting about 3,000 of the 7,000 villages in the state, and empowering the lowest reaches of its bureaucracy through his slogan, “Less government, more governance.”
In other words, after the 2002 riots, Modi did dedicate himself to the "peaceful development of his empire". There has not been a single incident of sectarian violence in Gujarat since the 2002 riots. Elsewhere in the article Kaplan writes, "Gujarat had experienced 10.2 percent annual GDP growth since 2002." This is a classic example of "peaceful development" that any state or country in the world (including the US with all its current economic troubles) would envy.
Quote: Whether it be the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the threat posed by Iran, possible chaos in Pakistan, or Islamic terrorism in Kashmir and in India itself, the global situation reminds Hindus—the overwhelming majority of Indian voters—how much they have to fear from Muslim radicalism, and how much Modi signifies a bulwark against it: not through any specific act nowadays, but through the whole aura of his no-nonsense rule.
So, Mr Modi provides a 'bulwark' against Muslim radicalism and terrorism by nothing more than a 'no-nonsense rule'. What? No middle-of-the-night arrests? No extraordinary renditions? No illegal tapping of citizens' phones? No torture of prisoners? No prison camps outside the borders? Nobody losing their habeas corpus rights? Mr Modi is able to provide a bulwark against radicalism and terrorism simply with a 'no-nonsense rule'? Shouldn't he receive high praise for that? Note that even Western governments including the ones in Europe and the United States are having to deal with Muslim radicalism and terrorism. If what Mr Kaplan writes about Mr Modi's no-nonsense rule is true, it would appear that the Western governments might benefit from learning from Mr Modi!
Quote: Sophia Khan, a human-rights worker, put it bluntly: “He’s a fascist man. We Muslims don’t exist for him. Our neighborhoods are called mini-Pakistans, while the Hindus live where the malls and multiplexes are.”
Another quote: His [Modi's] machine-like efficiency, financial probity, and dynamic leadership of the government bureaucracy have made Gujarat a mecca for development, garnering more internal investment than any other state in India. Migrants, both Hindu and Muslim, from throughout India have been streaming into Gujarat to find work at its expanding factories.
So, if Muslims are able to find jobs (and a better life) in Gujarat, how can someone claim that Muslims don't have good living conditions in Gujarat? The truth is that both Hindus and Muslims have bad as well as good living conditions in India. It is not a function of people's religion. And what do they mean by Muslims "don't exist" for Mr Modi? Do they mean that Mr Modi does not give any special considerations to Muslims or pander to them as a vote bank, like many other politicians in India do? He treats everybody equally and that is a good thing!
Quote: What I encountered in interviews with victims of the 2002 violence was not so much radicalization, but alienation from India, evidenced by their withdrawal into their own communities, their reluctance to venture among Hindus.
What Mr Kaplan does not seem to realize is that this withdrawal and ghettoization of Muslims does not have anything to do with Mr Modi or the Gujarat riots. This is a phenomenon that is observed in most countries where Muslims exist in substantial numbers, but are not the majority. They form ghettos and don't mingle with the other communities, don't take active participation in national life and discourses. This has been observed in UK, France and other Western countries also. Where is Mr Modi's influence in those countries? Was there a 2002 Gujarat riot in those countries also?
Quote: Modi demonstrates how the century can also go very wrong when charismatic politicians use modern electoral tactics and technology to create and exploit social divisions...
Contradictory quote: In fact, Modi has recently gone after the very Hindu nationalists who put him in power, arresting some members of a Hindu-chauvinist group.
Modi got members of some Hindu group arrested? That doesn't sound to me like a person who wants to create and exploit social divisions. That sounds to me like a person who treats everyone equally.
Mr Robert Kaplan seems to have some confusing, theories about why there are any communal tensions between Hindus and Muslims in modern India. One of his claims is that the globalization of India's economy and the opening up of the country to outside world is causing Hindus and Muslims to seek greater self-identity, which is in turn leading to communal tensions. Interesting, but WRONG. A full analysis into the Hindu-Muslim tensions in the Indian subcontinent is beyond the scope of this blog post and my meagre grasp of the matter. So, I will end this post with some quotes in Mr Kaplan's article which speak of the good things about Mr Modi and his administration:
- After taking over the chief ministership in the wake of a disastrous earthquake, in 2001, he has been reelected twice, becoming Gujarat’s longest-serving leader. During his visits to villages, pregnant women regularly touch his feet so that their newborn will be like him. He is so honest that gifts for him are regularly deposited in the state treasury—a far cry from the corruption and nepotism that are so routine in Indian government. Even those Indians who despise Modi’s politics acknowledge his skill and power.
- “I heard you were interested in development here, so here are your answers.” What he gave me was not the usual promotional brochures, but long lists of sourced statistics put together by an aide. Gujarat had experienced 10.2 percent annual GDP growth since 2002. It had eight new universities. In recent years, almost half the new jobs created in India were in Gujarat. The state ranked first in poverty alleviation, first in electricity generation.
- As Atul Tandan, director of the Mudra Institute of Communications, in Ahmedabad, told me, “You have to separate Modi’s political ideology from his management ability. Because there is not a hint of corruption about him, Modi is effective because people believe his decisions are only results-oriented.” Even many Muslims have come to respect Modi for cracking down on the gambling and criminal rackets that have infested some of their communities.
- "I have converted economic development into a mass-movement psychology.” His [Modi's] words echoed through the empty room. “I have a toll-free number where callers hear my recorded voice and can make complaints against the government, and the relevant department must respond within a week.”
- He rolled off his accomplishments: “modern roads, private railroads with double-decker containers, 50,000 kilometers of fiber-optic networks, 2,200 kilometers of gas pipelines, 1,400 kilometers of drinking-water pipelines to 7,000 villages, 24-hour uninterrupted power in rural areas, the first Indian state with private ports, a totally integrated coastal-development plan, two LNG [liquefied natural gas] terminals and two new ones coming on line.”
And finally, the money quote: Vimal Ambani, a prominent, liberal-minded Gujarati businessman, told me, “At the end of the day, Modi still offers the best model for governance in India.”
The fact is that Mr Narendra Modi is the best leader in today's India. He has a proven record of economic development and corruption-free, efficient governance, which cannot be matched by any leader in India's democratic history. His self-less service is beyond any kind of doubts or aspersions. Similar rulers from India's ancient history are still celebrated in Indian folklore and history books. I see no reason why Mr Modi should not be given a chance to replicate his success in Gujarat at the national level, as the Prime Minister of India. BJP, Mr Modi's party, should have nominated him as their prime ministerial candidate in the 2009 general elections. They should have realized that Mr Advani is past his political peak (and, I don't mean in age) and he does not have anything revolutionary to offer to the country. Anyway, what's done cannot be changed now. But I hope to see Mr Narendra Modi at the helm of India's national government sooner than later.
Tailpiece: For another article which similarly sets out to show Mr Modi in a bad light, but can't avoid talking about his good points, read the two-part Rediff Special on The Talented Mr Modi.
Update: I learnt today that Mr Narendra Modi has recently started blogging. You can find his blog here - http://www.narendramodi.com .
The Atlantic article about Mr Narendra Modi is no different from other articles which hold Modi responsible for the 2002 riots in Gujarat: unsubstantiated accusations and insinuations, with absolutely no evidence. To date, I have not read a single article or report which lays out in detail what it was that Mr Modi or his administration was supposed to do and failed to do, during the 2002 riots. Sure, there are overarching statements that Modi should not have let so many people get killed. But there has never been a detailed, chronological list in any article which says, Modi's administration should have done X1 at time-point Y1, and X2 at time-point Y2 and so on. Bear in mind that since India's independence in 1947, there have been numerous other riots - religious and otherwise, there have been countless other killings - by terrorists and criminals, there have been mass deaths of thousands and millions - by droughts, storms and other calamities both natural and man-made, and there has even been an ethnic cleansing - of Kashmiri pandits from their homeland. These things have taken place in every corner of the country. So, it is not as if India's central and state governments have had unblemished track records in preventing or handling these incidents. In fact, the track record of every administration in India has been pathetic when it comes to facing riots, killings and tragedies. Keeping this in mind, why single out Modi's administration alone, nay Mr Modi alone, as the instigator supreme of all communal riots? The irony here is that the initial provocation for the Gujarat riots was the burning of 57 Hindu pilgrims in a train at Godhra.
At the beginning of this post, I mentioned how journalists who set out to bad-mouth Modi end up contradicting themselves within the span of the same article. Mr Kaplan's article in The Atlantic provides some prime examples of this phenomenon, which I shall shortly demonstrate with quotes taken directly from the article. Perhaps, Mr Kaplan thinks that he is providing a fair and balanced perspective. Perhaps, that is what he set out to do. But the contradictions in his article do not appear fair and balanced precisely because he has let so much of his own prejudices and unsubstantiated accusations color the article.
Quote: He [Modi] said he wasn’t interested in talking about politics, just development. Of course, politics represents freedom, and his momentary lack of interest in politics was not accidental. Modi’s entire governing style is antidemocratic, albeit quite effective, emphasizing reliance on a lean, stripped-down bureaucracy of which he has taken complete personal control, even as he has pushed his own political party to the sidelines, almost showing contempt for it.
Since when did politics equate to freedom alone? And, not wanting to talk about politics equates to being anti-freedom? Is Modi using the power of the army or the police or anti-social elements to administer effectively? No. All his unrivalled administrative authority comes from the absolute trust and faith his citizens have in him. If this is not the very definition of the democratic zenith, what is? So, how can Mr Kaplan term Modi as "antidemocratic"? Due to the "stripped-down" bureaucracy of Modi's administration? When did a vast, blundering bureaucracy become an essential defining feature of democracy? This is the symptom of prejudiced reporting - term efficient administration based on the citizens' support as being antidemocratic. If Mr Kaplan had been truly neutral, he'd have praised Modi for doing what almost no other political leader in India's modern history has been able to do so far. As for the antidemocratic charge, Mr Kaplan himself goes on to say: Is Modi a fascist? Although episodes in his political career and his role in the events of February 2002 suggest as much, the answer is, ultimately, no.
Quote: “There was no Kalinga effect on Modi,” Hanif Lakdawala, a Muslim who runs a human-rights NGO, told me. He was referring to a war fought in the third century B.C. by the Mauryan Empire under King Ashoka against the kingdom of Kalinga on the eastern coast of India. Ashoka’s forces slew 100,000 civilians. Yet the slaughter left Ashoka with so much guilt that he dedicated his life thereafter to nonviolence and the peaceful development of his empire.
In the very next paragraph, there is a contradictory quote: By all accounts, after the riots, he [Modi] manically dedicated himself to development, sleeping less than four hours every night, up at 5 a.m. to check his e-mail and read the local papers, visiting about 3,000 of the 7,000 villages in the state, and empowering the lowest reaches of its bureaucracy through his slogan, “Less government, more governance.”
In other words, after the 2002 riots, Modi did dedicate himself to the "peaceful development of his empire". There has not been a single incident of sectarian violence in Gujarat since the 2002 riots. Elsewhere in the article Kaplan writes, "Gujarat had experienced 10.2 percent annual GDP growth since 2002." This is a classic example of "peaceful development" that any state or country in the world (including the US with all its current economic troubles) would envy.
Quote: Whether it be the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the threat posed by Iran, possible chaos in Pakistan, or Islamic terrorism in Kashmir and in India itself, the global situation reminds Hindus—the overwhelming majority of Indian voters—how much they have to fear from Muslim radicalism, and how much Modi signifies a bulwark against it: not through any specific act nowadays, but through the whole aura of his no-nonsense rule.
So, Mr Modi provides a 'bulwark' against Muslim radicalism and terrorism by nothing more than a 'no-nonsense rule'. What? No middle-of-the-night arrests? No extraordinary renditions? No illegal tapping of citizens' phones? No torture of prisoners? No prison camps outside the borders? Nobody losing their habeas corpus rights? Mr Modi is able to provide a bulwark against radicalism and terrorism simply with a 'no-nonsense rule'? Shouldn't he receive high praise for that? Note that even Western governments including the ones in Europe and the United States are having to deal with Muslim radicalism and terrorism. If what Mr Kaplan writes about Mr Modi's no-nonsense rule is true, it would appear that the Western governments might benefit from learning from Mr Modi!
Quote: Sophia Khan, a human-rights worker, put it bluntly: “He’s a fascist man. We Muslims don’t exist for him. Our neighborhoods are called mini-Pakistans, while the Hindus live where the malls and multiplexes are.”
Another quote: His [Modi's] machine-like efficiency, financial probity, and dynamic leadership of the government bureaucracy have made Gujarat a mecca for development, garnering more internal investment than any other state in India. Migrants, both Hindu and Muslim, from throughout India have been streaming into Gujarat to find work at its expanding factories.
So, if Muslims are able to find jobs (and a better life) in Gujarat, how can someone claim that Muslims don't have good living conditions in Gujarat? The truth is that both Hindus and Muslims have bad as well as good living conditions in India. It is not a function of people's religion. And what do they mean by Muslims "don't exist" for Mr Modi? Do they mean that Mr Modi does not give any special considerations to Muslims or pander to them as a vote bank, like many other politicians in India do? He treats everybody equally and that is a good thing!
Quote: What I encountered in interviews with victims of the 2002 violence was not so much radicalization, but alienation from India, evidenced by their withdrawal into their own communities, their reluctance to venture among Hindus.
What Mr Kaplan does not seem to realize is that this withdrawal and ghettoization of Muslims does not have anything to do with Mr Modi or the Gujarat riots. This is a phenomenon that is observed in most countries where Muslims exist in substantial numbers, but are not the majority. They form ghettos and don't mingle with the other communities, don't take active participation in national life and discourses. This has been observed in UK, France and other Western countries also. Where is Mr Modi's influence in those countries? Was there a 2002 Gujarat riot in those countries also?
Quote: Modi demonstrates how the century can also go very wrong when charismatic politicians use modern electoral tactics and technology to create and exploit social divisions...
Contradictory quote: In fact, Modi has recently gone after the very Hindu nationalists who put him in power, arresting some members of a Hindu-chauvinist group.
Modi got members of some Hindu group arrested? That doesn't sound to me like a person who wants to create and exploit social divisions. That sounds to me like a person who treats everyone equally.
Mr Robert Kaplan seems to have some confusing, theories about why there are any communal tensions between Hindus and Muslims in modern India. One of his claims is that the globalization of India's economy and the opening up of the country to outside world is causing Hindus and Muslims to seek greater self-identity, which is in turn leading to communal tensions. Interesting, but WRONG. A full analysis into the Hindu-Muslim tensions in the Indian subcontinent is beyond the scope of this blog post and my meagre grasp of the matter. So, I will end this post with some quotes in Mr Kaplan's article which speak of the good things about Mr Modi and his administration:
- After taking over the chief ministership in the wake of a disastrous earthquake, in 2001, he has been reelected twice, becoming Gujarat’s longest-serving leader. During his visits to villages, pregnant women regularly touch his feet so that their newborn will be like him. He is so honest that gifts for him are regularly deposited in the state treasury—a far cry from the corruption and nepotism that are so routine in Indian government. Even those Indians who despise Modi’s politics acknowledge his skill and power.
- “I heard you were interested in development here, so here are your answers.” What he gave me was not the usual promotional brochures, but long lists of sourced statistics put together by an aide. Gujarat had experienced 10.2 percent annual GDP growth since 2002. It had eight new universities. In recent years, almost half the new jobs created in India were in Gujarat. The state ranked first in poverty alleviation, first in electricity generation.
- As Atul Tandan, director of the Mudra Institute of Communications, in Ahmedabad, told me, “You have to separate Modi’s political ideology from his management ability. Because there is not a hint of corruption about him, Modi is effective because people believe his decisions are only results-oriented.” Even many Muslims have come to respect Modi for cracking down on the gambling and criminal rackets that have infested some of their communities.
- "I have converted economic development into a mass-movement psychology.” His [Modi's] words echoed through the empty room. “I have a toll-free number where callers hear my recorded voice and can make complaints against the government, and the relevant department must respond within a week.”
- He rolled off his accomplishments: “modern roads, private railroads with double-decker containers, 50,000 kilometers of fiber-optic networks, 2,200 kilometers of gas pipelines, 1,400 kilometers of drinking-water pipelines to 7,000 villages, 24-hour uninterrupted power in rural areas, the first Indian state with private ports, a totally integrated coastal-development plan, two LNG [liquefied natural gas] terminals and two new ones coming on line.”
And finally, the money quote: Vimal Ambani, a prominent, liberal-minded Gujarati businessman, told me, “At the end of the day, Modi still offers the best model for governance in India.”
The fact is that Mr Narendra Modi is the best leader in today's India. He has a proven record of economic development and corruption-free, efficient governance, which cannot be matched by any leader in India's democratic history. His self-less service is beyond any kind of doubts or aspersions. Similar rulers from India's ancient history are still celebrated in Indian folklore and history books. I see no reason why Mr Modi should not be given a chance to replicate his success in Gujarat at the national level, as the Prime Minister of India. BJP, Mr Modi's party, should have nominated him as their prime ministerial candidate in the 2009 general elections. They should have realized that Mr Advani is past his political peak (and, I don't mean in age) and he does not have anything revolutionary to offer to the country. Anyway, what's done cannot be changed now. But I hope to see Mr Narendra Modi at the helm of India's national government sooner than later.
Tailpiece: For another article which similarly sets out to show Mr Modi in a bad light, but can't avoid talking about his good points, read the two-part Rediff Special on The Talented Mr Modi.
Update: I learnt today that Mr Narendra Modi has recently started blogging. You can find his blog here - http://www.narendramodi.com .
Monday, January 09, 2006
Operation Hijack Bangalore
There is an unmistakable conspiracy afoot to hijack the Bangalore agenda, and so far the bad guys are winning.
I don't know where to start or how to go about writing on this subject in an organized and structured way. So, I will just jot down a bunch of questions/points and then expand on them one by one. Following are the questions/points which will be covered in this blog post:
1. What is Bangalore or Bengalooru? What is the background?
2. What is the Bangalore agenda?
3. Who are the hijackers and why are they doing it?
4. Hijacking the Infrastructure agenda.
5. Perception of the IT industry by non-IT folks.
6. Bangalore Demographics and Kannadiga angst.
7. Hijacking the Kannadiga agenda.
8. Reservation for Kannadigas in IT industry.
9. The anti-IT paradox.
10. Targetting Infosys.
11. Why should Bangalore be protected as the technology capital?
What is Bangalore or Bengalooru? What is the background?
Bangalore is the capital city of the Karnataka state in southern India. Among all the cities of the world, Bangalore is second only to the United States' Silicon Valley, in terms of popularity for its technical industry. Almost every major tech company of the world (from Google and Yahoo to Microsoft, IBM, Texas Instruments, etc.) and of India (from heavyweights like Infosys and Wipro to very small, hardly heard of companies) have their presence in Bangalore. Bangalore has turned out to be the capital of the world tech-work outsourcing industry, resulting in the addition of a new word into the English language: Bangalored! Playing host to technology companies is not new to Bangalore. For decades, Bangalore has hosted the headquarters of some of India's biggest companies such as HAL, ITI, HMT, BEL, BHEL, BEML, ISRO, etc. The technology industrial base of Bangalore accelerated the ascension of India as a major player in the world's technology market. It has made valuable contributions to the economic growth of Indian. Sometime in the far future, this very industrial base of Bangalore will be recognized in history as the core engine of India's renewed world dominance in the modern times.
Sustaining and growing such a large industrial base is not possible without having good educational institutions. As such, Karnataka state and Bangalore region have one of the highest concentrations of educational institituions in India. It is also not possible to support such a huge industrial presence by the local population alone. Moreover, Bangalore is relatively close to the borders of neighboring states Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh. Hence, there is a large presence of non-Kannadigas (non-natives of Karnataka) in Bangalore. It is estimated that over 70% of the city's residents are non-Kannadigas.
Among all the cities of India, Bangalore is the most favorable city for non-local people. A non-Kannadiga can live in Bangalore for decades, without learning the local language and have no difficulties at all. Locals of Karnataka are some of the nicest, accomodating ("adjusting" in local slang) and least parochial people in India.
Bengalooru is the correct pronunciation of the name of the city whose anglicized name is Bangalore.
What is the Bangalore agenda?
It is quite simple really: To provide for the healthy sustenance and improvement of living conditions for all the residents and businesses of the city, particularly the vast and highly successful technology businesses.
The above deceptively simple statement covers everything including cost of living, infrastructure, environment, people-friendly policies & processes (from being able to party late into the night to respecting and supporting the local language and local culture), business-friendly environment, and security (from criminals as well as terrorists).
Who are the hijackers and why are they doing it?
The Number 1 hijackers of the Bangalore agenda are the local politicians. They are doing this for two reasons:
1. Simply because that is what politicians do: try and grab power, and then stay in power by hook or crook. Principles be damned. Welfare of the citizens is flushed down the drain. They have no interest in nor inkling of the long-term strategy for the development of their constituency, city, state and the country's welfare.
2. There is lot of money, power and prestige associated with being in power in Bangalore, as the ruling party of Karnataka state. The many successful companies in Bangalore pay a huge amount of tax to the state's coffers. Any political party at both the state and national levels would like to get their hands on those huge funds.
Hijacking the Infrastructure agenda:
One of the most visible problems in Bangalore today is that of infrastructure. In particular, the road, traffic and drainage situation. Most of Bangalore's roads were never designed nor built for the kind of traffic they are experiencing today. Except for streets used for purely residential access or streets in remote locations, most of Bangalore's roads experience rush hour traffic during all hours of the day (except very late in the night) and on all days of the week. The noise and environmental pollution levels is staggering. The waste of time and fuel, as well as the stress levels due to dealing with such traffic is high. The dangers on the roads are very real (see: Accident Statistics for Workers of Electronics City, Bangalore).
The need of the times is for the road and traffic issue to be high on the city officials' sights. There has to be definitive short-term and long-term plans to deal with the current and future traffic growth. The situation has to be constantly monitored and periodic changes/progress made. If the government agencies are doing these things, the public are not aware of them. What we have seen so far is an Outer Ring Road around Bangalore and a few flyovers, which have definitely helped, despite having some issues of their own. What else is being done? There seems to be a bankruptcy of ideas and a dearth of action. Meanwhile, the traffic in the city is bursting at the borders of the roads.
In this situation, a mass transit system for the city is an emergency necessity. It has to be developed and implemented on a war-footing. Instead, the Bangalore Mass Rapid Transit project is progressing at a snail's pace. As per the out-dated homepage of the project, construction was supposed to start in June-July 2005, two years after the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation submitted the "DPR" (Detailed Project Report?) to the Government of Karnataka. It took all of two years to just get "in-principle" approval from the Planning Commission of India, another approval from the Pre-Project Investment Board and yet another approval from the Karnataka State Cabinet! In May 2005, H. D. Deve Gowda, objected to the project and sought fresh debates about the cost and feasibility of the project, about the choice of a light rail vs an elevated rail system! Over two years since the project's inception, after all the approvals were received, just before construction is supposed to begin, a debate was called for!
As per the current estimate, the project is to be implemented in 5 years from the start of construction. We can safely add a conservative 2 more years to this estimate owing to the pace at which things get done in India. At this rate, the project could be expected to be completed in the year 2012. If Deve Gowda's call for fresh debate had worked, it would have added another year or two to the project. What would be the traffic situation in Bangalore by the year 2014?
I am not an expert on mass transit systems to know if the questions and concerns Deve Gowda raised were valid. However, I do feel that the cost of delays to the project is far higher than any additional cost the city would incur by choosing one system of mass transit over another. I feel that Deve Gowda, who is a coalition partner of the current ruling party in Karnataka, but who frequently acts as if he is in the opposition, was trying to hijack the infrastructure development efforts to gain attention and political mileage.
Even worse than the story of Bangalore's roads and mass transit system is the story of Bangalore International Airport! Check out this page: Bangalore International Airport Watch. See the number of times the start and end dates have been struck and changed. The oldest start date is Oct 2002, the newest July 2005. The oldest end date was in 2003 and the newest one is in 2006. The ex-prime minister, Mr A B Vajpayee, performed the ground-breaking ceremony in Jan 2002. This ceremony is supposed to be the traditional starting of construction, but the construction has not started until three years later in 2005! A difference of 3 years. Three years may not seem to be a lot, but when you consider that the project was conceived in 1991, you get an idea of how long the project has been delayed before it could merely start!
During all that time, there were endless delays, along with the entry and exit of many a player and partner, because of political games. Many governments have come and gone, ministries have risen and fallen, chief ministers and prime ministers have appeared and disappeared. None of them could expedite the project and give Bangalore a good airport it deserved. Meanwhile, the airport project continues to be used for scoring political points as shown by the recent fall-out between Narayana Murthy and Deve Gowda. In my opinion, even if Narayana Murthy decided to quit when Deve Gowda accused him of not achieving much as the Chairman of the Bangalore International Airport Limited, he should have at least given a proper response highlighting his achievements. His exit, not fully explained, only darkens the issue, rather than shed any light.
Even the location of the airport well beyond the northern border of Bangalore is suspect. Most of Bangalore's technology companies, which form one of the biggest clientele of air travel to and from Bangalore are concentrated in the southern part of Bangalore. It would have made sense to build the airport closer to this region. Building it in some place along the Mysore road, would have not only been closer to the tech companies of Bangalore, it would have helped the development of the Bangalore-Mysore corridor as well. Instead, the airport is coming up in a place which requires travellers from southern Bangalore to travel all the way across or around the city, and then travel some more distance before reaching the airport. This will also have an adverse impact on the traffic situation in the city. I have read reports which alleged that the airport is being constructed to the North of Bangalore because vested interests (including Deve Gowda and his family) own large tracts of land in that area, and they wanted to increase the value of their land holdings.
With real initiative, the Bangalore International airport project would have been completed a long time ago. Not only that, with true vision, the airport would have been conceived as a major hub to the Indian subcontinental region, rather than being designed as just another Indian destination. Imagine how much more profitable the airport and the supporting businesses would have been if it could have been built as a hub where international flights and passengers could lay over enroute to the East and the West! That is the vision which should have driven the Bangalore International Airport project. Instead, the project seems to be driven and delayed in turns by the selfish interests and petty politics.
The Bangalore mass transit system, the Bangalore airport and other infrastructure initiatives in Bangalore are not coming up due to political initiative. They are coming up despite political obstacles and hijacking. Each of them has a long and labored birth, and by the time they become operational, the needs of the city would have grown well beyond the levels that these projects were supposed to address.
Bangalore Demographics and Kannadiga angst:
As I had mentioned above when describing Bangalore's background, a large part of the city's population consists of non-Kannadiga immigrants from other states. Even among people born and brought up in Bangalore, many people are from a non-Kannadiga background. This has been the case in Bangalore for a long time.
In any part of the world, when the percentage of immigrant population rises, there is bound to be some discontent among the local people. The immigrant populations take up the available land and resources, they drive up the cost of living and essential commodities, they bring in their own culture and languages which may result in the erosion of the local language and culture. In a city like Bangalore where the immigrant population reaches 70% or more, these things happen on a much higher scale.
The immigrants have not been very sensitive to Bangalore, its local people and their culture either. At best, they show apathy, disinterest and indifference to the Kannada language and Kannada culture. At worst, they behave in a way which hurts the local sentiments. The businesses which serve the residents of Bangalore gear their products and marketing towards the predominantly non-Kannada people. Often, they totally ignore the Kannada people. It is easy to perceive this as an in-your-face disrespect and insult towards Kannada language. Some very recent examples of such behavior include:
1. Sales and marketing people who cannot or will not speak Kannada in many of Bangalore's big retail businesses.
2. Lack of Kannada language programming on Radio City, Bangalore's popular FM channel.
3. Citibank's refusal to accept a document from a Bangalore-based customer (myself), because it was attested in Kannada. I will blog about this in a separate post.
4. Negative feedback and opinion expressed by a lot of non-Kannada residents of Bangalore to the issue of correcting the name of the city to Bengaluru or Bengalooru.
Understandably, such factors create dissatisfaction and distress among the locals of Bangalore and the Kannada populace of the rest of Karnataka. They are witnessing their own language and culture facing erosion in their own state capital. They cannot be expected to sit quiet.
It is worth noting here that a similar erosion of Marathi language and culture in Mumbai led to the formation of the very parochial Shiv Sena party, which has harassed non-Marathi people over certain issues, which has tried to use force in imposing Marathi language and culture in Mumbai, and which has tried to prevent non-Marathi people from filling certain employment openings in Mumbai.
Hijacking the Kannadiga agenda:
The dissatisfaction and angst of the Kannadigas is hijacked and subverted by certain politicians towards their own political ends and to settle petty scores. This is so obvious that I am surprised the Kannadigas don't see it themselves. Ideally, the primary agenda of a Kannadiga movement would be to protect and enrich the Kannada language and culture. Sadly, this agenda is hijacked my short-sighted people, achieving little or no constructive purpose for Kannada language and culture. Such hijackings only result in destruction and bad name to the Kannadiga movement. Examples of such actions:
1. Violence against Tamil and other immigrants during the Kaveri water dispute between Karnataka and Tamilnadu. The violence did not contribute to any resolution of the dispute. It badly affected many lives, brought a bad name to Bangalore and the Kannadiga movement.
2. Violence and unrest in the Bangalore city when anything happens to the popular movie actor Dr Rajkumar. Whether Dr Raj was kidnapped by a forest brigand or even when he falls ill at times, violence erupts in the city as if such violence would protect or serve Dr Raj's interests. Such violence only results in loss of public life and property.
3. The recent protest in front of Infosys office in Electronics City, Bangalore. The activists demanded priority and reservation for Kannadigas in filling job openings. This was once again an unproductive and misguided move. More about this in a subsequent section below.
It is unfortunate that under the instigation of certain short-sighted politicians with vested interests, the Kannadiga movement in Bangalore today has an element of anti-IT industry stance in general and an anti-Infosys attitude in particular. This is a pure and simple hijacking of the Kannadiga agenda.
Perception of IT industry by non-IT folks:
Today, Bangalore has become synonymous with India's IT industry. Any discussion of Bangalore's issues should include a discussion of its IT industry.
The IT industry in Bangalore and the rest of India came in quietly, under the radar. At first, the public and the central or state governments hardly noticed them. Why would they? Most IT shops were small. They did not occupy large spaces nor did they employ too many people. They did not bring in any large machinery, nor did they ship out any visible voluminous products in trucks. However, the IT companies could not be hidden for long. They were booking extraordinary profits (compared to other industries), earning in foreign currency, growing rapidly with buildings appearing all over the city like mushrooms on wet ground, and they were starting to employ more and more people! Before anybody could blink 10 times, the IT industry shed its new bride's veil and captured the attention of the whole nation like an extremely bright and beautiful new daughter-in-law captures the attention of the whole family. The IT industry in India could grow the way it did not because of government support, but rather because of the absence of government interference. In the beginning, the IT companies needed practically nothing from the government. The government hardly took notice of their existence. The industry grew free and happy. Due to its extraordinary success, predominantly by and for the middle-class people, the IT industry was the darling and pride of everyone in Bangalore.
However, the rapid growth of Bangalore's technology businesses, has resulted in an even more rapid growth of Bangalore's population and the accompanying problems. Cost of living in Bangalore is one of the highest in the country. The real estate market is skyrocketing. The traffic is bursting at the seams. What used to be the Garden City has now become a highly polluted city. The local people feel that the high-growth technology industry of Bangalore has contributed to these not so nice changes. In a leap of logic which is incomplete, inaccurate and fuelled by mischievous vested interests, the non-IT people of Bangalore have started to blame the technology companies as the root cause of Bangalore's woes. These companies are viewed as being apathetic to local people and their conditions, driven by a pure profit-motive. They are thought to have arm-twisted the government into giving them too many facilities and breaks at the cost of the development of the rest of Bangalore city and Karnataka state.
Read the following translations of Ravi Belagere's articles to get a glimpse of the thoughts and attitudes of the non-IT people in Bangalore towards its IT companies:
1. An Open Letter to Sudha Murthy
2. Nobody here is bitten by a (mad) dog to raze the city and rebuild it!
Reservation for Kannadigas in the IT industry:
Background info 1.: Dr Sarojini Mahishi Report and related info.
Background info 2.: FAQ on Discrimination of Kannadigas in IT industry.
I am in no position to comment on the general accuracy of what is presented in the FAQ above regarding the discrimination against Kannadigas in the IT industry. What I can say based on my 8 years in the industry, working for a Bangalore-based IT company is that, I have personally seen no region-based or language-based discriminations in the groups that I have been involved with. There are a couple of points though:
1. During the early part of my career, in the late 90's, I noticed that almost all the desktop and network support engineers working in my company were from Kerala. I don't know if this was because my company had hired a Kerala-based contractor to provide desktop and network support, or if the person recruiting for that group favored people from Kerala. This started to change during the early part of 2000s, and people from other regions started to appear in this group.
2. I have also heard from one friend that in the department he worked for, in this same company, there was preferential treatment given by the managers to "people whose names ended with -an" (tamilians).
My experience with human nature in general and with Indians in particular suggests that there is indeed some truth to region-based and language-based favoritism from managers and recruiting personnel. To what extent this is true, I cannot say.
Suppose we accept as truth that there is indeed a preferential treatment given to people from certain regions. The solution to that problem is not to shift the preferential treatment to people from another region. The solution is to remove any preferential treatment at all, and let people compete purely based on their merits. This is the proper way of doing things. Giving priority or reservation to any particular group of people would be counter-productive. It does nothing but replace one problem with many more.
Consider the following three main scenarios in which a company recruits most of its employees:
1. Specific requirement: When an IT company needs a person with a particular skill-set and experience to fill a specific project requirement, it cannot and will not wait to discriminate based on the person's caste, gender, region or language. There is a dearth of good people in the industry and no company can afford to get bogged down by such petty considerations. Doing so would be detrimental to the company's competitiveness and ability to deliver on the project.
2. Campus recruitment: I have spent the first quarter century of my life in Bangalore. I have spent the first half of my career in Bangalore. During all that time, I have personally come across no instances of a good college or a good student left out from campus recruitments by good companies. There are far too many companies in Bangalore and they are all looking for good people. It is natural that they would look for good people across the country. Karnataka does not have enough good colleges or good students to satisfy the recruitment needs of all these companies. If the companies had to comply with any reservation rules for Kannadigas or local people in any part of the country, they might end up having to fill the numbers with less-than-good candidates and this is not good for the entire industry as a whole.
3. General recruitment of experienced candidates: Occasionally, companies have general recruitment drives for experienced candidates. A combination of factors from points 1 and 2 above apply in this case also. Companies cannot make it a practice of preferring candidates from particular region or language without suffering serious adverse effect on their competitiveness and morale.
It may be true that the majority of the people employed in the IT industry of Bangalore are non-Kannadigas. However, I don't think it is true that deserving Kannadigas are not being employed. I am sure that every deserving Kannadiga gets an IT or ITES (IT-enabled Services) job in Bangalore sooner or later. S/he need not even travel to other states, unless s/he wants to.
If companies in Bangalore are forced to comply with any reservation policies to recruit only locals of Karnataka, they would have no choice but to move to more liberal and favorable places. Bangalore and Karnataka would lose out when that happens. This is not a threat or a blackmail. This is a case of simple economics. And please don't tell me that it is a good thing if IT companies move out of Bangalore. More about this later.
Coming back to the topic on hand: Just as it is not possible for companies to implement and follow a practice of giving priority to Kannadigas to fill vacancies, it is not possible for them to give preference to candidates from any other regions as a matter of general policy or practice. Read that again carefully. To repeat, it is not possible for companies to give preferential treatment to any other regional group (North Indians or Tamilians) for the same reasons mentioned above. So, if they are getting such partial treatment, it is only happening in occasional instances by specific managers or HR personnel, and not in general. That is definitely quite bad, but it is not as bad as Kannadigas in general being discriminated against.
What companies can and should do, is to put specific checks and balances in place to ensure that no such region- or language- or caste- based preferential treatment is given to anyone. There must be strict audits and severe penalties for individuals and companies who violate this rule. There must be internal and external boards to handle individual complaints when such practices happen.
The government can certainly pass such a law based on equality. But can a government that is run by political parties, which come to power playing caste-, region- and language-based politics have the guts and will to implement such laws? I doubt it. Once again, this is the case of the country's progressive practices being hijacked by political forces.
The anti-IT paradox:
The anti-IT stance of the non-IT Kannadigas in Bangalore is a fascinating study in the paradox of the average Indian's attitudes and opinions under the influence of politicians and vested interests. A similar paradox is played out in most other issues in India, when politicians hijack the agenda for their own narrow gains. Consider the following:
1. The non-IT Kannadigas in Bangalore are distressed by the deteriorating living conditions in Bangalore. The IT leaders in the city are also dissatisfied by the very same conditions. Yet, when an IT leader like Naranayana Murthy of Infosys gives out a statement criticizing the conditions in Bangalore, the non-IT Kannadigas get angry and worked up. It is hard for me to understand why they should get angry when Mr Murthy criticizes the very same things they don't like. If Mr Murthy's statements force the government to take notice and provide better infrastructure, the non-IT Kannadigas would benefit from it just as Mr Murthy and his organization would. Incidentally, around 7-8 years ago, the current Hosur Road was in a very bad condition. The road was improved by the government only after Mr Murthy's colleagues from Infosys and other IT companies staged a symbolic protest on Hosur Road with road repair tools, claiming to repair the road on their own. Now, everybody in the region enjoys the benefit of an improved road. Not just the IT industry.(It is a different matter that even this much improvement is not enough for that accident-ridden road).
2. The non-IT Kannadigas have been told that the IT industries have arm-twisted and blackmailed ("Give us this, or we will move our companies elsewhere!") successive Karnataka governments into providing special facilities to them. The reality is that, the government has not provided any special or extra facilities to the IT companies. What little has been done for the IT companies covers the bare necessities for any business to function. Especially when compared to what governments in other countries provide to all citizens, and when compared to what governments in other states are willing to provide.
3. The non-IT Kannadigas have also been told that providing facilities to the IT industry has drawn the government's attention and resources away from the rest of Bangalore and Karnataka. The implication here is that, if the IT companies had not forced the government, it would have diverted its attention and resources towards the improvement of the rest of Bangalore and Karnataka. Anybody who has grown up in India and believes this implication is extremely naive, if not downright stupid! Everybody in India knows how lazy and bigoted the political class is. If they could have their way, the politicians would all go to their legislative offices and chambers, take a restful nap and go back to their homes. Whatever little developmental efforts they directed towards the IT companies and their neighborhoods came after a lot of demanding and cajoling, pushing and pulling. Will any intelligent Indian truly believe that if the IT companies had not been provided anything, the government would have used those resources for the development of the rest of the city or state? No! A resounding N-O! The politicians would have just wasted away part of the money and pocketed the rest!
Points 2. and 3. above describe not-so-clever excuses provided by the politicians for not working to develop their constituencies. It is unfortunate that the Kannadigas have accepted such excuses and allowed themselves to be fooled.
4. The IT companies are accused by the non-IT people of not doing enough for the society. They are becoming the favorite whipping boys when any lack is perceived anywhere. Is there a lack of sufficient relief efforts when a natural disaster strikes? Blame the IT companies for not caring enough to share some of their hard-earned wealth! Is the infrastructure situation in Bangalore deteriorating on a daily basis? Blame the IT companies for not doing enough to improve the infrastructure situation. Does Narayana Murthy say that 75 percent of the fresh engineering graduates in the country do not have employment-worthy skills? Blame the IT industries for not improving the academic quality in India!
What the non-IT people should realize is this:
(i) It is not the core business of the IT companies to provide disaster relief, improve infrastructure, improve the quality of academic education in India. Certainly they can help and contribute towards these efforts. However, these are the core businesses and responsibilities of other organizations and agencies. There are other people who should take the responsibility for these and they can approach the IT industries for help and partnership. The IT companies will not deny the right approach. Is it fair to blame the IT industries for not doing something which is not their core business? Is it fair to let go of other people - like politicians and the government - whose core business it is to work towards the development?
(ii) The IT industry in India and in Bangalore is relatively new. Most of the achievements by the older companies have happened just in the past 10-15 years. Is it fair to expect them to not only earn good profits, pay their employees well and improve the general economy of the country in that short period of time, but also to directly work for the improvement of the living conditions of the city? If the IT companies are expected to do this, then what are the governments for?
(iii) Big companies like Infosys and Wipro have very well-organized and formal systems and processes to work for social causes.
Once again, I suspect that it is the work of the politicians and vested interests in shifting the blame to the IT industries for things they have failed to achieve. As it happens so often in India, people are gullible enough to believe the politicians and blame the IT industries.
5. The non-IT Kannadigas say that the IT industries have brought too many people from outside the state to Bangalore and this has led to all the woes of the locals: skyrocketing cost of living, crumbling infrastructure, heavy traffic and pollution. While it is true that the rapidly growing IT industry in Bangalore facilitated these changes for the worse, the industry is not the root cause of all these problems. This is something incidental which has happened in the past in other boom towns and will happen in the future also, anywhere in the world. Take the example of Silicon Valley of the USA to which Bangalore is often compared. Just like Bangalore, Silicon Valley had and has a large immigrant population. Just like Bangalore, the cost of the living has gone up there, and the local culture and living conditions have been affected. Whether the effect of such a growth is positive or negative on the city depends to a large extent on how the city administration handles the growth, in partnership with the businesses. In the best of circumstances, in the slowest of growth periods, Indian administrations cannot cope. It is not surprising that they have not been able to keep up with the pace of Bangalore's growth. Hijacking the infrastructure improvement efforts, as I described earlier, only contributes to this deterioration. The non-IT people should think a little more and view the problems with a broader vision. Then they would realize that they cannot blame the rapid growth of the IT industry alone. They would realize that the greater accountability lies with the city and state administrations.
6. The non-IT people view the IT industries as an exclusive and elite layer of the society which takes all the good stuff from the society, without giving anything back. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The truth is that the IT industry and its people are intricately woven into the fabric of the society. They are not working and living in a vacuum. The money that the IT industry pumps into the city's economy has created many times more jobs than the number of direct IT jobs. I would not be surprised if for every IT employee in Bangalore, there are at least 2 non-IT jobs created. Of these 2 non-IT jobs, at least one to one-and-half jobs would be within the Bangalore city itself. The other half to one job may be in the rest of the country. Even if the IT industry did not participate in any of the social welfare and improvement activities, just this single fact of pumping money into the economy and creating more jobs is a commendable achievement.
7. The non-IT people think that if the IT companies threaten to leave Bangalore and setup shop elsewhere because of the bad infrastructure situation in the city, it is quite alright. They think that the people of the city will not starve if the IT companies leave. Well, there is some truth in it. But it is also true that the millions of jobs which support the IT companies will go out of Bangalore. The general economic well-being of the region will come down. When that happens, Bangalore will not go back to being the peaceful and clean Garden City it once was. Human history shows us that when cities decline, they don't go back to being the peaceful self-sustained villages they once were. Instead, they decline into an uninhabitable and ugly wasteland of crime, poverty and disease. I am sure neither the non-IT people nor the IT folks nor any other well-wishers of Bangalore would like that happening to the city.
8. The non-IT people also think that the IT companies won't leave Bangalore all that easily because they would face similar problems in other cities and states; Bangalore, despite its infrastructure issues, is still a better place than most other states in India. This may also be true. But it is not just other cities and states in India which are vying for a piece of Bangalore's IT action and business. Other countries in Asia and elsewhere are also vying for pieces of the same pie. And they may have a stronger will and better sense to provide the kind of atmosphere which would facilitate the happy co-existence of the technology companies with the local population.
Everyone of the 8 points I have written above regarding the anti-IT stance of the non-IT people in Bangalore represents a paradoxical opinion and attitude of the Indian public. They seem to be opposing the very things which would bring them more benefits, with which they should be partnering. The people are sentimental and their sentiments are so easily hijacked by the unscrupulous politicians. Their emotions and energy are used by the politicians to shirk responsibility and accountability, to shift the blame onto others, and to achieve their own selfish ends. The public are by turns naive and unaware as well as willing and active participants in this hijacking.
Targetting Infosys:
In this hijacking saga of Bangalore, Infosys, one of the foremost IT companies of Bangalore and India, has been a special target of the non-IT Kannadigas. Infosys as an organization and Narayana Murthy, one of the founders of Infosys and its chief mentor, as an individual, have come under a lot of criticism. Such criticism is often short-sighted, shooting off the mouth type of statements which reveal a basic lack of understanding of the issues. It is hard to believe that just a short two to three years ago, almost everyone in Bangalore spoke of Infosys and Naranayana Murthy with pride. There are several reasons for targetting Infosys and Narayana Murthy. Following, I believe are the main reasons:
1. From the beginning, Infosys and Narayana Murthy have both been media-savvy. They have never been shy of the media, and in fact, have actively cultivated the media. In the old days, the technology reporting by the Bangalore edition of the Times of India was little more than organizational announcements composed in the offices of Infosys. As such Infosys has a high visibility in Bangalore as well as in India among all the IT companies. Especially for the non-IT people of Bangalore, Infosys is the face of the IT industry. So, it naturally becomes the target of their anti-IT sentiments.
2. Being the poster-child of India's and Bangalore's IT industry, Infosys and Narayana Murthy are looked upto by a lot of people in the country. Their words hold a lot of weight and influence. Especially when compared to the words of mere politicians. As such, when Narayana Murthy talks about the conditions of Bangalore, of India, about the performance of the governments and politicians, he gets a lot of bandwidth in the media, and the public attention that goes with it. Naturally, the politicians hate this. They cannot respond to Narayana Murthy's criticisms by solid performance because such honest and effective responses are beyond their meagre imaginations and corrupt capabilities. So, the only easy short-cut they have is to discredit Infosys and Narayana Murthy in the eyes of the public. They are trying every trick at their disposal to achieve this. So far, they have been successful in taking along the non-IT Kannadigas on this anti-Infosys and anti-Narayana Murthy ride. Fortunately, the rest of the populace is not affected by this... yet.
3. There is a more sinister reason for targetting Infosys and that is purely political. Infosys has not only been media-savvy, they have also actively engaged the government, especially the Government of Karnataka state. The state government partnership with Bangalore's IT industry in general and Infosys in particular was at its closest during the tenure of ex-chief minister of Karnanataka, Mr S M Krishna. During that time, the Bangalore Agenda Task Force was formed as a partnership between the government and the private industries to improve the governance of Bangalore. The task force was actively led and driven by the senior management of Infosys. Although the current ruling coalition government of Karnataka is led by the Congress party to which S M Krishna belonged, the ruling ministers, including the current chief minister of Karnataka, are not exactly his friends. Moreover, Deve Gowda and his party, who are the main coalition partners in the current government are quite opposed to S M Krishna and they consider him as their main rival. In a bizarre attitude of my enemy's friend is my enemy, Deve Gowda and his ilk consider Infosys and its managers to be their rivals since they were/are friendly with S M Krishna. In fact, some people believe that Deve Gowda's group is apprehensive about Infosys trying to engineer a come back of S M Krishna to power in Karnataka. Hence, they are trying their best to create trouble for Infosys and its management, particularly, Narayana Murthy.
Why should Bangalore be protected as the technology capital?
Why should Bangalore be protected as the technology capital of India? Why should any one city gain such a title and associated importance? Wouldn't it be better for the technology companies to be spread out all over the country so that it is beneficial to the local populations as well as to the companies themselves?
These are good questions to ask. There is an element of truth to them. Many companies are indeed located in other places across the length and breadth of India, and this will continue into the future, provided India continues to be an attractive destination for the technology businesses. The pie of IT businesses is too large to fit in any one city, be it the silicon Valley of the US or Bangalore of India.
However, when certain types of people or organizations come together in a particular place, sometimes they create a certain magnetic energy, a unique synergy, which attracts more and more similar people or organizations to the same place. Such a core group becomes the engine of accelerated growth. The resulting progress is far greater than it would have been if the people and organizations were spread out and did not come together in one place. This is a phenomenon that is observed in all fields, all over the world, including in the field of art, literature, academy, manufacturing, etc.
This is exactly how Bangalore became the technology capital of India, and accelerated the growth of India's technology industry. An industrial base was kick-started in Bangalore by the Indian government decades ago. More and more people have built on that base and the existing human capital of the region, and this has resulted in Bangalore becoming the technology powerhouse it is today. And the good fortune of Bangalore is spreading to other parts of the country. How many companies - foreign and Indian - initially setup shop in Bangalore, and then branched out to other parts of India? How many companies came to India lured by Bangalore, and then setup shop in other places of India? I don't know the exact numbers, but there must be hundreds of them. It is precisely in this way that Bangalore has helped spread the IT business to the rest of the country.
If there had been no Bangalore as we know it, perhaps the growth of the technology business in India might not have been quite so fast. I am not saying there would have been no growth. There would certainly have been growth. Only, we might not have experienced this kind of momentum and acceleration. In the fast-changing technology business, momentum and acceleration is extremely important. Losing momentum can and does often lead to total failure. Precisely for this reason, it is very important for both the Karnataka state and India as a whole to protect and preserve Bangalore's position as the technology capital of India by helping develop a conducive atmosphere there. Conducive to the people and businesses.. If Bangalore loses, the whole country loses. It is as simple as that.
Conclusion:
Bangalore is like an aircraft which is being hijacked by the terrorists who are disguised as the pilots. These pilots are the politicians who should ideally be flying the aircraft to safe heights of success. The residents of Bangalore - both the local people and the immigrants, and the industries of Bangalore are the passengers on the aircraft. The leaders of Bangalore's industries are like the stewards and navigators on the aircraft. The pilots are doing a bad job of flying the aircraft, they are leading it through turbulent zones and causing distress to all. Yet, they have cleverly manipulated a section of the passengers, the non-IT folks, into thinking that the stewards and the navigators are causing all the problems. These non-IT folks are directing their ire at the stewards and navigators, who only want to help the passengers. When this plane crashes, the hijacking pilots, the terrorist politicians, will easily escape with their safety gadgets and parachutes. The rest of us will suffer. The need of the hour is for all the stakeholders to participate in the development efforts as responsible partners, instead of targetting each other, playing the blame game and contributing to the general deterioration.
But then the story of this hijack is not unique to Bangalore. This has been played out in other parts of India, with other issues. Will Bangalore and its people be able to shake off the same old Indian instincts and responses and rise above? It is all upto each one of us.
I don't know where to start or how to go about writing on this subject in an organized and structured way. So, I will just jot down a bunch of questions/points and then expand on them one by one. Following are the questions/points which will be covered in this blog post:
1. What is Bangalore or Bengalooru? What is the background?
2. What is the Bangalore agenda?
3. Who are the hijackers and why are they doing it?
4. Hijacking the Infrastructure agenda.
5. Perception of the IT industry by non-IT folks.
6. Bangalore Demographics and Kannadiga angst.
7. Hijacking the Kannadiga agenda.
8. Reservation for Kannadigas in IT industry.
9. The anti-IT paradox.
10. Targetting Infosys.
11. Why should Bangalore be protected as the technology capital?
What is Bangalore or Bengalooru? What is the background?
Bangalore is the capital city of the Karnataka state in southern India. Among all the cities of the world, Bangalore is second only to the United States' Silicon Valley, in terms of popularity for its technical industry. Almost every major tech company of the world (from Google and Yahoo to Microsoft, IBM, Texas Instruments, etc.) and of India (from heavyweights like Infosys and Wipro to very small, hardly heard of companies) have their presence in Bangalore. Bangalore has turned out to be the capital of the world tech-work outsourcing industry, resulting in the addition of a new word into the English language: Bangalored! Playing host to technology companies is not new to Bangalore. For decades, Bangalore has hosted the headquarters of some of India's biggest companies such as HAL, ITI, HMT, BEL, BHEL, BEML, ISRO, etc. The technology industrial base of Bangalore accelerated the ascension of India as a major player in the world's technology market. It has made valuable contributions to the economic growth of Indian. Sometime in the far future, this very industrial base of Bangalore will be recognized in history as the core engine of India's renewed world dominance in the modern times.
Sustaining and growing such a large industrial base is not possible without having good educational institutions. As such, Karnataka state and Bangalore region have one of the highest concentrations of educational institituions in India. It is also not possible to support such a huge industrial presence by the local population alone. Moreover, Bangalore is relatively close to the borders of neighboring states Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh. Hence, there is a large presence of non-Kannadigas (non-natives of Karnataka) in Bangalore. It is estimated that over 70% of the city's residents are non-Kannadigas.
Among all the cities of India, Bangalore is the most favorable city for non-local people. A non-Kannadiga can live in Bangalore for decades, without learning the local language and have no difficulties at all. Locals of Karnataka are some of the nicest, accomodating ("adjusting" in local slang) and least parochial people in India.
Bengalooru is the correct pronunciation of the name of the city whose anglicized name is Bangalore.
What is the Bangalore agenda?
It is quite simple really: To provide for the healthy sustenance and improvement of living conditions for all the residents and businesses of the city, particularly the vast and highly successful technology businesses.
The above deceptively simple statement covers everything including cost of living, infrastructure, environment, people-friendly policies & processes (from being able to party late into the night to respecting and supporting the local language and local culture), business-friendly environment, and security (from criminals as well as terrorists).
Who are the hijackers and why are they doing it?
The Number 1 hijackers of the Bangalore agenda are the local politicians. They are doing this for two reasons:
1. Simply because that is what politicians do: try and grab power, and then stay in power by hook or crook. Principles be damned. Welfare of the citizens is flushed down the drain. They have no interest in nor inkling of the long-term strategy for the development of their constituency, city, state and the country's welfare.
2. There is lot of money, power and prestige associated with being in power in Bangalore, as the ruling party of Karnataka state. The many successful companies in Bangalore pay a huge amount of tax to the state's coffers. Any political party at both the state and national levels would like to get their hands on those huge funds.
Hijacking the Infrastructure agenda:
One of the most visible problems in Bangalore today is that of infrastructure. In particular, the road, traffic and drainage situation. Most of Bangalore's roads were never designed nor built for the kind of traffic they are experiencing today. Except for streets used for purely residential access or streets in remote locations, most of Bangalore's roads experience rush hour traffic during all hours of the day (except very late in the night) and on all days of the week. The noise and environmental pollution levels is staggering. The waste of time and fuel, as well as the stress levels due to dealing with such traffic is high. The dangers on the roads are very real (see: Accident Statistics for Workers of Electronics City, Bangalore).
The need of the times is for the road and traffic issue to be high on the city officials' sights. There has to be definitive short-term and long-term plans to deal with the current and future traffic growth. The situation has to be constantly monitored and periodic changes/progress made. If the government agencies are doing these things, the public are not aware of them. What we have seen so far is an Outer Ring Road around Bangalore and a few flyovers, which have definitely helped, despite having some issues of their own. What else is being done? There seems to be a bankruptcy of ideas and a dearth of action. Meanwhile, the traffic in the city is bursting at the borders of the roads.
In this situation, a mass transit system for the city is an emergency necessity. It has to be developed and implemented on a war-footing. Instead, the Bangalore Mass Rapid Transit project is progressing at a snail's pace. As per the out-dated homepage of the project, construction was supposed to start in June-July 2005, two years after the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation submitted the "DPR" (Detailed Project Report?) to the Government of Karnataka. It took all of two years to just get "in-principle" approval from the Planning Commission of India, another approval from the Pre-Project Investment Board and yet another approval from the Karnataka State Cabinet! In May 2005, H. D. Deve Gowda, objected to the project and sought fresh debates about the cost and feasibility of the project, about the choice of a light rail vs an elevated rail system! Over two years since the project's inception, after all the approvals were received, just before construction is supposed to begin, a debate was called for!
As per the current estimate, the project is to be implemented in 5 years from the start of construction. We can safely add a conservative 2 more years to this estimate owing to the pace at which things get done in India. At this rate, the project could be expected to be completed in the year 2012. If Deve Gowda's call for fresh debate had worked, it would have added another year or two to the project. What would be the traffic situation in Bangalore by the year 2014?
I am not an expert on mass transit systems to know if the questions and concerns Deve Gowda raised were valid. However, I do feel that the cost of delays to the project is far higher than any additional cost the city would incur by choosing one system of mass transit over another. I feel that Deve Gowda, who is a coalition partner of the current ruling party in Karnataka, but who frequently acts as if he is in the opposition, was trying to hijack the infrastructure development efforts to gain attention and political mileage.
Even worse than the story of Bangalore's roads and mass transit system is the story of Bangalore International Airport! Check out this page: Bangalore International Airport Watch. See the number of times the start and end dates have been struck and changed. The oldest start date is Oct 2002, the newest July 2005. The oldest end date was in 2003 and the newest one is in 2006. The ex-prime minister, Mr A B Vajpayee, performed the ground-breaking ceremony in Jan 2002. This ceremony is supposed to be the traditional starting of construction, but the construction has not started until three years later in 2005! A difference of 3 years. Three years may not seem to be a lot, but when you consider that the project was conceived in 1991, you get an idea of how long the project has been delayed before it could merely start!
During all that time, there were endless delays, along with the entry and exit of many a player and partner, because of political games. Many governments have come and gone, ministries have risen and fallen, chief ministers and prime ministers have appeared and disappeared. None of them could expedite the project and give Bangalore a good airport it deserved. Meanwhile, the airport project continues to be used for scoring political points as shown by the recent fall-out between Narayana Murthy and Deve Gowda. In my opinion, even if Narayana Murthy decided to quit when Deve Gowda accused him of not achieving much as the Chairman of the Bangalore International Airport Limited, he should have at least given a proper response highlighting his achievements. His exit, not fully explained, only darkens the issue, rather than shed any light.
Even the location of the airport well beyond the northern border of Bangalore is suspect. Most of Bangalore's technology companies, which form one of the biggest clientele of air travel to and from Bangalore are concentrated in the southern part of Bangalore. It would have made sense to build the airport closer to this region. Building it in some place along the Mysore road, would have not only been closer to the tech companies of Bangalore, it would have helped the development of the Bangalore-Mysore corridor as well. Instead, the airport is coming up in a place which requires travellers from southern Bangalore to travel all the way across or around the city, and then travel some more distance before reaching the airport. This will also have an adverse impact on the traffic situation in the city. I have read reports which alleged that the airport is being constructed to the North of Bangalore because vested interests (including Deve Gowda and his family) own large tracts of land in that area, and they wanted to increase the value of their land holdings.
With real initiative, the Bangalore International airport project would have been completed a long time ago. Not only that, with true vision, the airport would have been conceived as a major hub to the Indian subcontinental region, rather than being designed as just another Indian destination. Imagine how much more profitable the airport and the supporting businesses would have been if it could have been built as a hub where international flights and passengers could lay over enroute to the East and the West! That is the vision which should have driven the Bangalore International Airport project. Instead, the project seems to be driven and delayed in turns by the selfish interests and petty politics.
The Bangalore mass transit system, the Bangalore airport and other infrastructure initiatives in Bangalore are not coming up due to political initiative. They are coming up despite political obstacles and hijacking. Each of them has a long and labored birth, and by the time they become operational, the needs of the city would have grown well beyond the levels that these projects were supposed to address.
Bangalore Demographics and Kannadiga angst:
As I had mentioned above when describing Bangalore's background, a large part of the city's population consists of non-Kannadiga immigrants from other states. Even among people born and brought up in Bangalore, many people are from a non-Kannadiga background. This has been the case in Bangalore for a long time.
In any part of the world, when the percentage of immigrant population rises, there is bound to be some discontent among the local people. The immigrant populations take up the available land and resources, they drive up the cost of living and essential commodities, they bring in their own culture and languages which may result in the erosion of the local language and culture. In a city like Bangalore where the immigrant population reaches 70% or more, these things happen on a much higher scale.
The immigrants have not been very sensitive to Bangalore, its local people and their culture either. At best, they show apathy, disinterest and indifference to the Kannada language and Kannada culture. At worst, they behave in a way which hurts the local sentiments. The businesses which serve the residents of Bangalore gear their products and marketing towards the predominantly non-Kannada people. Often, they totally ignore the Kannada people. It is easy to perceive this as an in-your-face disrespect and insult towards Kannada language. Some very recent examples of such behavior include:
1. Sales and marketing people who cannot or will not speak Kannada in many of Bangalore's big retail businesses.
2. Lack of Kannada language programming on Radio City, Bangalore's popular FM channel.
3. Citibank's refusal to accept a document from a Bangalore-based customer (myself), because it was attested in Kannada. I will blog about this in a separate post.
4. Negative feedback and opinion expressed by a lot of non-Kannada residents of Bangalore to the issue of correcting the name of the city to Bengaluru or Bengalooru.
Understandably, such factors create dissatisfaction and distress among the locals of Bangalore and the Kannada populace of the rest of Karnataka. They are witnessing their own language and culture facing erosion in their own state capital. They cannot be expected to sit quiet.
It is worth noting here that a similar erosion of Marathi language and culture in Mumbai led to the formation of the very parochial Shiv Sena party, which has harassed non-Marathi people over certain issues, which has tried to use force in imposing Marathi language and culture in Mumbai, and which has tried to prevent non-Marathi people from filling certain employment openings in Mumbai.
Hijacking the Kannadiga agenda:
The dissatisfaction and angst of the Kannadigas is hijacked and subverted by certain politicians towards their own political ends and to settle petty scores. This is so obvious that I am surprised the Kannadigas don't see it themselves. Ideally, the primary agenda of a Kannadiga movement would be to protect and enrich the Kannada language and culture. Sadly, this agenda is hijacked my short-sighted people, achieving little or no constructive purpose for Kannada language and culture. Such hijackings only result in destruction and bad name to the Kannadiga movement. Examples of such actions:
1. Violence against Tamil and other immigrants during the Kaveri water dispute between Karnataka and Tamilnadu. The violence did not contribute to any resolution of the dispute. It badly affected many lives, brought a bad name to Bangalore and the Kannadiga movement.
2. Violence and unrest in the Bangalore city when anything happens to the popular movie actor Dr Rajkumar. Whether Dr Raj was kidnapped by a forest brigand or even when he falls ill at times, violence erupts in the city as if such violence would protect or serve Dr Raj's interests. Such violence only results in loss of public life and property.
3. The recent protest in front of Infosys office in Electronics City, Bangalore. The activists demanded priority and reservation for Kannadigas in filling job openings. This was once again an unproductive and misguided move. More about this in a subsequent section below.
It is unfortunate that under the instigation of certain short-sighted politicians with vested interests, the Kannadiga movement in Bangalore today has an element of anti-IT industry stance in general and an anti-Infosys attitude in particular. This is a pure and simple hijacking of the Kannadiga agenda.
Perception of IT industry by non-IT folks:
Today, Bangalore has become synonymous with India's IT industry. Any discussion of Bangalore's issues should include a discussion of its IT industry.
The IT industry in Bangalore and the rest of India came in quietly, under the radar. At first, the public and the central or state governments hardly noticed them. Why would they? Most IT shops were small. They did not occupy large spaces nor did they employ too many people. They did not bring in any large machinery, nor did they ship out any visible voluminous products in trucks. However, the IT companies could not be hidden for long. They were booking extraordinary profits (compared to other industries), earning in foreign currency, growing rapidly with buildings appearing all over the city like mushrooms on wet ground, and they were starting to employ more and more people! Before anybody could blink 10 times, the IT industry shed its new bride's veil and captured the attention of the whole nation like an extremely bright and beautiful new daughter-in-law captures the attention of the whole family. The IT industry in India could grow the way it did not because of government support, but rather because of the absence of government interference. In the beginning, the IT companies needed practically nothing from the government. The government hardly took notice of their existence. The industry grew free and happy. Due to its extraordinary success, predominantly by and for the middle-class people, the IT industry was the darling and pride of everyone in Bangalore.
However, the rapid growth of Bangalore's technology businesses, has resulted in an even more rapid growth of Bangalore's population and the accompanying problems. Cost of living in Bangalore is one of the highest in the country. The real estate market is skyrocketing. The traffic is bursting at the seams. What used to be the Garden City has now become a highly polluted city. The local people feel that the high-growth technology industry of Bangalore has contributed to these not so nice changes. In a leap of logic which is incomplete, inaccurate and fuelled by mischievous vested interests, the non-IT people of Bangalore have started to blame the technology companies as the root cause of Bangalore's woes. These companies are viewed as being apathetic to local people and their conditions, driven by a pure profit-motive. They are thought to have arm-twisted the government into giving them too many facilities and breaks at the cost of the development of the rest of Bangalore city and Karnataka state.
Read the following translations of Ravi Belagere's articles to get a glimpse of the thoughts and attitudes of the non-IT people in Bangalore towards its IT companies:
1. An Open Letter to Sudha Murthy
2. Nobody here is bitten by a (mad) dog to raze the city and rebuild it!
Reservation for Kannadigas in the IT industry:
Background info 1.: Dr Sarojini Mahishi Report and related info.
Background info 2.: FAQ on Discrimination of Kannadigas in IT industry.
I am in no position to comment on the general accuracy of what is presented in the FAQ above regarding the discrimination against Kannadigas in the IT industry. What I can say based on my 8 years in the industry, working for a Bangalore-based IT company is that, I have personally seen no region-based or language-based discriminations in the groups that I have been involved with. There are a couple of points though:
1. During the early part of my career, in the late 90's, I noticed that almost all the desktop and network support engineers working in my company were from Kerala. I don't know if this was because my company had hired a Kerala-based contractor to provide desktop and network support, or if the person recruiting for that group favored people from Kerala. This started to change during the early part of 2000s, and people from other regions started to appear in this group.
2. I have also heard from one friend that in the department he worked for, in this same company, there was preferential treatment given by the managers to "people whose names ended with -an" (tamilians).
My experience with human nature in general and with Indians in particular suggests that there is indeed some truth to region-based and language-based favoritism from managers and recruiting personnel. To what extent this is true, I cannot say.
Suppose we accept as truth that there is indeed a preferential treatment given to people from certain regions. The solution to that problem is not to shift the preferential treatment to people from another region. The solution is to remove any preferential treatment at all, and let people compete purely based on their merits. This is the proper way of doing things. Giving priority or reservation to any particular group of people would be counter-productive. It does nothing but replace one problem with many more.
Consider the following three main scenarios in which a company recruits most of its employees:
1. Specific requirement: When an IT company needs a person with a particular skill-set and experience to fill a specific project requirement, it cannot and will not wait to discriminate based on the person's caste, gender, region or language. There is a dearth of good people in the industry and no company can afford to get bogged down by such petty considerations. Doing so would be detrimental to the company's competitiveness and ability to deliver on the project.
2. Campus recruitment: I have spent the first quarter century of my life in Bangalore. I have spent the first half of my career in Bangalore. During all that time, I have personally come across no instances of a good college or a good student left out from campus recruitments by good companies. There are far too many companies in Bangalore and they are all looking for good people. It is natural that they would look for good people across the country. Karnataka does not have enough good colleges or good students to satisfy the recruitment needs of all these companies. If the companies had to comply with any reservation rules for Kannadigas or local people in any part of the country, they might end up having to fill the numbers with less-than-good candidates and this is not good for the entire industry as a whole.
3. General recruitment of experienced candidates: Occasionally, companies have general recruitment drives for experienced candidates. A combination of factors from points 1 and 2 above apply in this case also. Companies cannot make it a practice of preferring candidates from particular region or language without suffering serious adverse effect on their competitiveness and morale.
It may be true that the majority of the people employed in the IT industry of Bangalore are non-Kannadigas. However, I don't think it is true that deserving Kannadigas are not being employed. I am sure that every deserving Kannadiga gets an IT or ITES (IT-enabled Services) job in Bangalore sooner or later. S/he need not even travel to other states, unless s/he wants to.
If companies in Bangalore are forced to comply with any reservation policies to recruit only locals of Karnataka, they would have no choice but to move to more liberal and favorable places. Bangalore and Karnataka would lose out when that happens. This is not a threat or a blackmail. This is a case of simple economics. And please don't tell me that it is a good thing if IT companies move out of Bangalore. More about this later.
Coming back to the topic on hand: Just as it is not possible for companies to implement and follow a practice of giving priority to Kannadigas to fill vacancies, it is not possible for them to give preference to candidates from any other regions as a matter of general policy or practice. Read that again carefully. To repeat, it is not possible for companies to give preferential treatment to any other regional group (North Indians or Tamilians) for the same reasons mentioned above. So, if they are getting such partial treatment, it is only happening in occasional instances by specific managers or HR personnel, and not in general. That is definitely quite bad, but it is not as bad as Kannadigas in general being discriminated against.
What companies can and should do, is to put specific checks and balances in place to ensure that no such region- or language- or caste- based preferential treatment is given to anyone. There must be strict audits and severe penalties for individuals and companies who violate this rule. There must be internal and external boards to handle individual complaints when such practices happen.
The government can certainly pass such a law based on equality. But can a government that is run by political parties, which come to power playing caste-, region- and language-based politics have the guts and will to implement such laws? I doubt it. Once again, this is the case of the country's progressive practices being hijacked by political forces.
The anti-IT paradox:
The anti-IT stance of the non-IT Kannadigas in Bangalore is a fascinating study in the paradox of the average Indian's attitudes and opinions under the influence of politicians and vested interests. A similar paradox is played out in most other issues in India, when politicians hijack the agenda for their own narrow gains. Consider the following:
1. The non-IT Kannadigas in Bangalore are distressed by the deteriorating living conditions in Bangalore. The IT leaders in the city are also dissatisfied by the very same conditions. Yet, when an IT leader like Naranayana Murthy of Infosys gives out a statement criticizing the conditions in Bangalore, the non-IT Kannadigas get angry and worked up. It is hard for me to understand why they should get angry when Mr Murthy criticizes the very same things they don't like. If Mr Murthy's statements force the government to take notice and provide better infrastructure, the non-IT Kannadigas would benefit from it just as Mr Murthy and his organization would. Incidentally, around 7-8 years ago, the current Hosur Road was in a very bad condition. The road was improved by the government only after Mr Murthy's colleagues from Infosys and other IT companies staged a symbolic protest on Hosur Road with road repair tools, claiming to repair the road on their own. Now, everybody in the region enjoys the benefit of an improved road. Not just the IT industry.(It is a different matter that even this much improvement is not enough for that accident-ridden road).
2. The non-IT Kannadigas have been told that the IT industries have arm-twisted and blackmailed ("Give us this, or we will move our companies elsewhere!") successive Karnataka governments into providing special facilities to them. The reality is that, the government has not provided any special or extra facilities to the IT companies. What little has been done for the IT companies covers the bare necessities for any business to function. Especially when compared to what governments in other countries provide to all citizens, and when compared to what governments in other states are willing to provide.
3. The non-IT Kannadigas have also been told that providing facilities to the IT industry has drawn the government's attention and resources away from the rest of Bangalore and Karnataka. The implication here is that, if the IT companies had not forced the government, it would have diverted its attention and resources towards the improvement of the rest of Bangalore and Karnataka. Anybody who has grown up in India and believes this implication is extremely naive, if not downright stupid! Everybody in India knows how lazy and bigoted the political class is. If they could have their way, the politicians would all go to their legislative offices and chambers, take a restful nap and go back to their homes. Whatever little developmental efforts they directed towards the IT companies and their neighborhoods came after a lot of demanding and cajoling, pushing and pulling. Will any intelligent Indian truly believe that if the IT companies had not been provided anything, the government would have used those resources for the development of the rest of the city or state? No! A resounding N-O! The politicians would have just wasted away part of the money and pocketed the rest!
Points 2. and 3. above describe not-so-clever excuses provided by the politicians for not working to develop their constituencies. It is unfortunate that the Kannadigas have accepted such excuses and allowed themselves to be fooled.
4. The IT companies are accused by the non-IT people of not doing enough for the society. They are becoming the favorite whipping boys when any lack is perceived anywhere. Is there a lack of sufficient relief efforts when a natural disaster strikes? Blame the IT companies for not caring enough to share some of their hard-earned wealth! Is the infrastructure situation in Bangalore deteriorating on a daily basis? Blame the IT companies for not doing enough to improve the infrastructure situation. Does Narayana Murthy say that 75 percent of the fresh engineering graduates in the country do not have employment-worthy skills? Blame the IT industries for not improving the academic quality in India!
What the non-IT people should realize is this:
(i) It is not the core business of the IT companies to provide disaster relief, improve infrastructure, improve the quality of academic education in India. Certainly they can help and contribute towards these efforts. However, these are the core businesses and responsibilities of other organizations and agencies. There are other people who should take the responsibility for these and they can approach the IT industries for help and partnership. The IT companies will not deny the right approach. Is it fair to blame the IT industries for not doing something which is not their core business? Is it fair to let go of other people - like politicians and the government - whose core business it is to work towards the development?
(ii) The IT industry in India and in Bangalore is relatively new. Most of the achievements by the older companies have happened just in the past 10-15 years. Is it fair to expect them to not only earn good profits, pay their employees well and improve the general economy of the country in that short period of time, but also to directly work for the improvement of the living conditions of the city? If the IT companies are expected to do this, then what are the governments for?
(iii) Big companies like Infosys and Wipro have very well-organized and formal systems and processes to work for social causes.
Once again, I suspect that it is the work of the politicians and vested interests in shifting the blame to the IT industries for things they have failed to achieve. As it happens so often in India, people are gullible enough to believe the politicians and blame the IT industries.
5. The non-IT Kannadigas say that the IT industries have brought too many people from outside the state to Bangalore and this has led to all the woes of the locals: skyrocketing cost of living, crumbling infrastructure, heavy traffic and pollution. While it is true that the rapidly growing IT industry in Bangalore facilitated these changes for the worse, the industry is not the root cause of all these problems. This is something incidental which has happened in the past in other boom towns and will happen in the future also, anywhere in the world. Take the example of Silicon Valley of the USA to which Bangalore is often compared. Just like Bangalore, Silicon Valley had and has a large immigrant population. Just like Bangalore, the cost of the living has gone up there, and the local culture and living conditions have been affected. Whether the effect of such a growth is positive or negative on the city depends to a large extent on how the city administration handles the growth, in partnership with the businesses. In the best of circumstances, in the slowest of growth periods, Indian administrations cannot cope. It is not surprising that they have not been able to keep up with the pace of Bangalore's growth. Hijacking the infrastructure improvement efforts, as I described earlier, only contributes to this deterioration. The non-IT people should think a little more and view the problems with a broader vision. Then they would realize that they cannot blame the rapid growth of the IT industry alone. They would realize that the greater accountability lies with the city and state administrations.
6. The non-IT people view the IT industries as an exclusive and elite layer of the society which takes all the good stuff from the society, without giving anything back. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The truth is that the IT industry and its people are intricately woven into the fabric of the society. They are not working and living in a vacuum. The money that the IT industry pumps into the city's economy has created many times more jobs than the number of direct IT jobs. I would not be surprised if for every IT employee in Bangalore, there are at least 2 non-IT jobs created. Of these 2 non-IT jobs, at least one to one-and-half jobs would be within the Bangalore city itself. The other half to one job may be in the rest of the country. Even if the IT industry did not participate in any of the social welfare and improvement activities, just this single fact of pumping money into the economy and creating more jobs is a commendable achievement.
7. The non-IT people think that if the IT companies threaten to leave Bangalore and setup shop elsewhere because of the bad infrastructure situation in the city, it is quite alright. They think that the people of the city will not starve if the IT companies leave. Well, there is some truth in it. But it is also true that the millions of jobs which support the IT companies will go out of Bangalore. The general economic well-being of the region will come down. When that happens, Bangalore will not go back to being the peaceful and clean Garden City it once was. Human history shows us that when cities decline, they don't go back to being the peaceful self-sustained villages they once were. Instead, they decline into an uninhabitable and ugly wasteland of crime, poverty and disease. I am sure neither the non-IT people nor the IT folks nor any other well-wishers of Bangalore would like that happening to the city.
8. The non-IT people also think that the IT companies won't leave Bangalore all that easily because they would face similar problems in other cities and states; Bangalore, despite its infrastructure issues, is still a better place than most other states in India. This may also be true. But it is not just other cities and states in India which are vying for a piece of Bangalore's IT action and business. Other countries in Asia and elsewhere are also vying for pieces of the same pie. And they may have a stronger will and better sense to provide the kind of atmosphere which would facilitate the happy co-existence of the technology companies with the local population.
Everyone of the 8 points I have written above regarding the anti-IT stance of the non-IT people in Bangalore represents a paradoxical opinion and attitude of the Indian public. They seem to be opposing the very things which would bring them more benefits, with which they should be partnering. The people are sentimental and their sentiments are so easily hijacked by the unscrupulous politicians. Their emotions and energy are used by the politicians to shirk responsibility and accountability, to shift the blame onto others, and to achieve their own selfish ends. The public are by turns naive and unaware as well as willing and active participants in this hijacking.
Targetting Infosys:
In this hijacking saga of Bangalore, Infosys, one of the foremost IT companies of Bangalore and India, has been a special target of the non-IT Kannadigas. Infosys as an organization and Narayana Murthy, one of the founders of Infosys and its chief mentor, as an individual, have come under a lot of criticism. Such criticism is often short-sighted, shooting off the mouth type of statements which reveal a basic lack of understanding of the issues. It is hard to believe that just a short two to three years ago, almost everyone in Bangalore spoke of Infosys and Naranayana Murthy with pride. There are several reasons for targetting Infosys and Narayana Murthy. Following, I believe are the main reasons:
1. From the beginning, Infosys and Narayana Murthy have both been media-savvy. They have never been shy of the media, and in fact, have actively cultivated the media. In the old days, the technology reporting by the Bangalore edition of the Times of India was little more than organizational announcements composed in the offices of Infosys. As such Infosys has a high visibility in Bangalore as well as in India among all the IT companies. Especially for the non-IT people of Bangalore, Infosys is the face of the IT industry. So, it naturally becomes the target of their anti-IT sentiments.
2. Being the poster-child of India's and Bangalore's IT industry, Infosys and Narayana Murthy are looked upto by a lot of people in the country. Their words hold a lot of weight and influence. Especially when compared to the words of mere politicians. As such, when Narayana Murthy talks about the conditions of Bangalore, of India, about the performance of the governments and politicians, he gets a lot of bandwidth in the media, and the public attention that goes with it. Naturally, the politicians hate this. They cannot respond to Narayana Murthy's criticisms by solid performance because such honest and effective responses are beyond their meagre imaginations and corrupt capabilities. So, the only easy short-cut they have is to discredit Infosys and Narayana Murthy in the eyes of the public. They are trying every trick at their disposal to achieve this. So far, they have been successful in taking along the non-IT Kannadigas on this anti-Infosys and anti-Narayana Murthy ride. Fortunately, the rest of the populace is not affected by this... yet.
3. There is a more sinister reason for targetting Infosys and that is purely political. Infosys has not only been media-savvy, they have also actively engaged the government, especially the Government of Karnataka state. The state government partnership with Bangalore's IT industry in general and Infosys in particular was at its closest during the tenure of ex-chief minister of Karnanataka, Mr S M Krishna. During that time, the Bangalore Agenda Task Force was formed as a partnership between the government and the private industries to improve the governance of Bangalore. The task force was actively led and driven by the senior management of Infosys. Although the current ruling coalition government of Karnataka is led by the Congress party to which S M Krishna belonged, the ruling ministers, including the current chief minister of Karnataka, are not exactly his friends. Moreover, Deve Gowda and his party, who are the main coalition partners in the current government are quite opposed to S M Krishna and they consider him as their main rival. In a bizarre attitude of my enemy's friend is my enemy, Deve Gowda and his ilk consider Infosys and its managers to be their rivals since they were/are friendly with S M Krishna. In fact, some people believe that Deve Gowda's group is apprehensive about Infosys trying to engineer a come back of S M Krishna to power in Karnataka. Hence, they are trying their best to create trouble for Infosys and its management, particularly, Narayana Murthy.
Why should Bangalore be protected as the technology capital?
Why should Bangalore be protected as the technology capital of India? Why should any one city gain such a title and associated importance? Wouldn't it be better for the technology companies to be spread out all over the country so that it is beneficial to the local populations as well as to the companies themselves?
These are good questions to ask. There is an element of truth to them. Many companies are indeed located in other places across the length and breadth of India, and this will continue into the future, provided India continues to be an attractive destination for the technology businesses. The pie of IT businesses is too large to fit in any one city, be it the silicon Valley of the US or Bangalore of India.
However, when certain types of people or organizations come together in a particular place, sometimes they create a certain magnetic energy, a unique synergy, which attracts more and more similar people or organizations to the same place. Such a core group becomes the engine of accelerated growth. The resulting progress is far greater than it would have been if the people and organizations were spread out and did not come together in one place. This is a phenomenon that is observed in all fields, all over the world, including in the field of art, literature, academy, manufacturing, etc.
This is exactly how Bangalore became the technology capital of India, and accelerated the growth of India's technology industry. An industrial base was kick-started in Bangalore by the Indian government decades ago. More and more people have built on that base and the existing human capital of the region, and this has resulted in Bangalore becoming the technology powerhouse it is today. And the good fortune of Bangalore is spreading to other parts of the country. How many companies - foreign and Indian - initially setup shop in Bangalore, and then branched out to other parts of India? How many companies came to India lured by Bangalore, and then setup shop in other places of India? I don't know the exact numbers, but there must be hundreds of them. It is precisely in this way that Bangalore has helped spread the IT business to the rest of the country.
If there had been no Bangalore as we know it, perhaps the growth of the technology business in India might not have been quite so fast. I am not saying there would have been no growth. There would certainly have been growth. Only, we might not have experienced this kind of momentum and acceleration. In the fast-changing technology business, momentum and acceleration is extremely important. Losing momentum can and does often lead to total failure. Precisely for this reason, it is very important for both the Karnataka state and India as a whole to protect and preserve Bangalore's position as the technology capital of India by helping develop a conducive atmosphere there. Conducive to the people and businesses.. If Bangalore loses, the whole country loses. It is as simple as that.
Conclusion:
Bangalore is like an aircraft which is being hijacked by the terrorists who are disguised as the pilots. These pilots are the politicians who should ideally be flying the aircraft to safe heights of success. The residents of Bangalore - both the local people and the immigrants, and the industries of Bangalore are the passengers on the aircraft. The leaders of Bangalore's industries are like the stewards and navigators on the aircraft. The pilots are doing a bad job of flying the aircraft, they are leading it through turbulent zones and causing distress to all. Yet, they have cleverly manipulated a section of the passengers, the non-IT folks, into thinking that the stewards and the navigators are causing all the problems. These non-IT folks are directing their ire at the stewards and navigators, who only want to help the passengers. When this plane crashes, the hijacking pilots, the terrorist politicians, will easily escape with their safety gadgets and parachutes. The rest of us will suffer. The need of the hour is for all the stakeholders to participate in the development efforts as responsible partners, instead of targetting each other, playing the blame game and contributing to the general deterioration.
But then the story of this hijack is not unique to Bangalore. This has been played out in other parts of India, with other issues. Will Bangalore and its people be able to shake off the same old Indian instincts and responses and rise above? It is all upto each one of us.
Friday, September 23, 2005
Nobody here is bitten by a (mad) dog to raze the city & rebuild it!
In my previous post, I had mentioned that there was a follow-up article by Ravi Belagere, who had written the original letter to Sudha Murthy.
Here is the original Kannada version of that follow-up article: Nobody here is bitten by a (mad) dog to raze the city & rebuild it!
Given blow is my unofficial translation of the article. Similar to the previous letter, the Kannada version of the article is in down-to-Earthy everyday colloquial language of Bangalore. Hence, I have tried to retain the same style and mood in my translation.
Nobody here is bitten by a (mad) dog to raze the city & rebuild it!
Excerpt: 'If a Kannadiga raises his voice today, IT bosses will go away to Hyderabad. Then what will become of us?' Let the people who are shouting thus, know one fact: Even the Telugus, Marathis, Bengalis and people of Madhyapradesh know to raise their voices. Then will Azim Premji build the IT industry in the sky? The (apt) response to the arrogance of IT bosses is here...
by Ravi Belagere
The open letter I wrote to Sudha Murthy has heard responses ranging from, 'your head is not right', to trash, bull shit, nonsense, fu.. you man. Kannadiga IT engineers from different countries of the world have expressed their response to this publication.
You probably know. One of the foremost Kannada journalists S. K. Shaamasundar (we call him Shaami) has taken on the responsibility of thatskannada.com. Therein, every week, my column named 'Suryashikaari' is published. Many a time, Shaami selects one of my articles published in 'Haai Bangalore!' and publishes it on his portal. The letter I wrote to Sudha Murthy was so published a couple weeks ago. Kannadigas all over the world are able to read it. Hence, responses from corner corner of the world. IT workers from nearby Infosys, Wipro and other organizations have also sent their responses.
'Your argument is definitely right. We will also come to the protest against the IT bosses. Let us know immediately, the venue, time, date and other details of the protest.' The friends from IT industry have written thus too.
There are also other thousands of readers who have joined their voices to the voice of the magazine. I have browsed all the opinions. Honored all of them. 'Look here Belagere, what you have written is meaningless. It is ridiculous. It is trash. I don't have time to explain how it is meaning. Understand? For just know this. Your argument is meaningless' - this type of meaningful(!) mails have come. I laughed and kept quiet.
But the real and useful response has come from Sudha-akka's 'Infosys' side only! They have given 5 million dollars for America's Katrina disaster relief. Similarly, they have decided to give 5 million rupees to the Chief Minister's relief fund for the victims of North Karnataka's flood. The collection of that money has already started on Infosys campus. If an open letter brings this level of results, what is happier than that? Thanks to Sudhakka. But the problem is not related to Infosys alone. I wrote that letter keeping Sudha Murthy as the center because she is a daughter of a Kannada house. I have made that clear in the letter itself. This problem is not limited to just helping out the people of North Karnataka.
The IT bosses came to Bangalore because they felt it is suitable for establishing the IT industry. Our government started to lay out the red carpet to them because they started to come. The demands-pressures-threats-black mails of the IT bosses had started even from the time Deve Gowda and J. H. Patel were chief ministers. Looking at it that way, Patel himself got irritated and declared like a half-revolutionary, half-scoundrel, "If you want to stay, you may stay. If you want leave, you may leave. If you are not here, will we die starving? If we open ten cabaret joints, the wealthy who will come, will come!" At that time Chandrababu Naidu was (in power) in Andhra.
Administering the state like a typical IT company CEO, Naidu borrowed crores of rupees for the same infrastructure and made the roads of Hyderabad. The IT industry also flourished well there. However, by the time Chandrababu Naidu realized what a big chasm the IT industry created between the city and country lifestyles, the naxalites had risen up in the villages and woods of the Andra. The Raayalaseema movement demanded a separate state itself. The naxalites bombed the car of Naidu himself which came to Tirupati. At that time the IT industry was shaken up.
Such things have not happened in Karnataka until now. The people of Bangalore are peace lovers. Among the IT companies here, even one does not have a trade union. Bangalore is not attacked by floods. It is not hit by the heat. It is a guaranteed airconditioner which works without being switched on. Just a few months back, there was Chief Minister SM Krishna here who behaved as if he was born to the IT bosses. The things that the bosses signalled with their feet, he did them with his tongue. Starting from giving ten years of tax holiday, he snatched thousands of acres of land from farmers and gave them to the IT bosses and stood in front of them with folded hands as if to ask, 'Do you want anything more'. It is then that the real blackmail of the IT bosses started. As per their orders, SM Krishna built roads in Bangalore, using the money which would have been enough to build roads in all the towns and cities of Karnataka. He built flyovers which are not of a naya paisa use and at the same stage brought Indraloka itself for his IT bosses, vowing to turn Bangalore into a Singapore.
The IT bosses are asking for that very same thing. Dharam (Dharam Singh, current chief minister of Karnataka) is shaken and frightened.
World Bank's report is not necessary to bring the government to the street and slap it on the face. The roads here are not good, there are frequent power cuts, there are traffic jams and again, if it rains the low lying areas get flooded - you know this type of problems? These exist in any city like Bangalore, in any third-world country of the world. Mumbai, which was built with better planning than Bangalore, and which grew with grandeur, got caught in the rains recently and struggled to survive.
When an America like America could not bear the hit of Katrina and came down to the position of begging in the street, of what account are Bangalore's Bhoopasandhra, Shivanahalli, Ketamaaranahalli? As you know all the dailies from The Times of India to the Vijaya Karnataka are publishing reports, complaints, rants about the roads of Bangalore on a daily basis. Even after these magazines publish these reports for years, the bad roads, open pits and manholes, flooding areas will always exist in Bangalore. That does not mean they should not be written about.
On the one side, when we have the man who has no houses, no roads, no food to eat, who has lost everything in floodwaters, who is begging for at least an overhead shelter, there is no need to offer warm water for the feet and welcome the IT bosses who order, "Immediately build for us a road which will enable our cars to reach the airport in 5 minutes without any obstructions".
Life here is growing amidst broken streets, dirty gutters, traffic jams, a public life which is shattered by even a light rain, unnecessary traffic density. New things bloom. Our children study and become smart. America invites them and gives them jobs. Infrastructure doesn't mean just roads, toilets, airports, right?
But let us take this opportunity of the issues raised by the IT bosses and criticize our people also a little. What did you do with the road tax we paid? You started a projects of thousands of crores five years ago? How much did you eat out of them? Where are the people who said they would turn Bangalore into a Singapore, released crores of rupees for that? Let them give accounts. Let us gather all the MLAs and corporators of Bangalore in one place and ask them, how many crores worth of work was done in their jurisdictions, their areas? When were the bills approved? What is the state today of the roads built yesterday? What is the state today of the houses they stayed in yesterday? How many times did you become a minister? How many times MLA? From which ward how many times did you win as a corporator? How much work was done? What is your wealth then and now?
Let us begin this habit of demanding accounts at least due to the excuse of the issues raised by the IT bosses. Bangalore should not become Singapore for the sake of the bosses coming from Singapore: it should become so for the sake of the man of this land. If the IT boss wants to come sit here and do business, he should protect and respect the laws and regulations of this place, the social well-being, regional honor, etc. India is not a country like Thailand which is living based on prostitution, to present a throne to every boss who comes and destroy the fabric of our society.
Despite all this, a few rogues among the IT bosses talk thus: 'Not a bad idea. Send a few MPs, MLAs, corporators to Gurgaon, Hyderabad or Mumbai to learn what infrastructure means. Is this thing called Bangalore really a city? It should be totally razed down and rebuilt.'
These words were said by Jack Anderson of a company called NOVASOFT. Before this, an idiot had said that Bangalore should be brought under the Central Government's rule. There are people who have called Bangalore a dead city. But all the people who spoke like this know: All the foreign companies based in Gurgaon are getting work done with their factories full of police. If there is a traffic jam in Calcutta, it takes eight hours to clear. In Hyderabad, if the naxalites burst even a single bomb, Azim Premji's shop closes doors. Which IT boss will make an umbrella for Mumbai's rains? Non sense.
We shall provide facilities for the businessmen and industrialists who come to the city. That is a different matter: Nobody here is bitten by a (mad) dog to raze the city and rebuilt it for his sake. Let pimps like Yediyurappa (BJP leader from Karnataka), who shoot off their mouth shouting, ''If a Kannadiga raises his voice today, IT bosses will go away to Hyderabad. Then what will become of us?', realize one thing: even Telugus, Marathis, Bengalis, people of Madhyapradesh know to raise their voices.
After that, will Azim Premji build the IT industry in the sky?
-- Translation of the article ends --
The letter to Sudha Murthy and the above article together provide interesting insights into the opinion of the average non-IT Indians towards the IT industries.
The angst of the man on the street is understandable. From their perspective, all they see of the IT industries is this: Organizations which employ mostly non-local people, who mostly speak English, who are paid very high. These people move in from outside, increase the population in the city, drive the demand and costs of everything very high. The local public doesn't really know or understand what these organizations do. All they know is that these companies do something for foreign countries, and contribute little or nothing to their own country or locality.
In the case of traditional hardware factories, the local population knew what the factories manufactured. They could see how they contributed to the locality and the country. Most of the people employed were from the local communities. They could see how the factories helped the local community develop. The factories seemed to care for their employees beyond just paying them. They appeared to care for the local communities beyond just using their resources. Not so in the case of IT companies.
The chasm, it appears, is more than just in payscales of the IT workers and the traditional industrial workers. The capitalist-style focus of the IT companies almost exclusively on the profits, with little or negligible care for the personal lives of their employees, and the state of the communities in which they are located, is not helping matters at all!
Here is the original Kannada version of that follow-up article: Nobody here is bitten by a (mad) dog to raze the city & rebuild it!
Given blow is my unofficial translation of the article. Similar to the previous letter, the Kannada version of the article is in down-to-Earthy everyday colloquial language of Bangalore. Hence, I have tried to retain the same style and mood in my translation.
Excerpt: 'If a Kannadiga raises his voice today, IT bosses will go away to Hyderabad. Then what will become of us?' Let the people who are shouting thus, know one fact: Even the Telugus, Marathis, Bengalis and people of Madhyapradesh know to raise their voices. Then will Azim Premji build the IT industry in the sky? The (apt) response to the arrogance of IT bosses is here...
by Ravi Belagere
The open letter I wrote to Sudha Murthy has heard responses ranging from, 'your head is not right', to trash, bull shit, nonsense, fu.. you man. Kannadiga IT engineers from different countries of the world have expressed their response to this publication.
You probably know. One of the foremost Kannada journalists S. K. Shaamasundar (we call him Shaami) has taken on the responsibility of thatskannada.com. Therein, every week, my column named 'Suryashikaari' is published. Many a time, Shaami selects one of my articles published in 'Haai Bangalore!' and publishes it on his portal. The letter I wrote to Sudha Murthy was so published a couple weeks ago. Kannadigas all over the world are able to read it. Hence, responses from corner corner of the world. IT workers from nearby Infosys, Wipro and other organizations have also sent their responses.
'Your argument is definitely right. We will also come to the protest against the IT bosses. Let us know immediately, the venue, time, date and other details of the protest.' The friends from IT industry have written thus too.
There are also other thousands of readers who have joined their voices to the voice of the magazine. I have browsed all the opinions. Honored all of them. 'Look here Belagere, what you have written is meaningless. It is ridiculous. It is trash. I don't have time to explain how it is meaning. Understand? For just know this. Your argument is meaningless' - this type of meaningful(!) mails have come. I laughed and kept quiet.
But the real and useful response has come from Sudha-akka's 'Infosys' side only! They have given 5 million dollars for America's Katrina disaster relief. Similarly, they have decided to give 5 million rupees to the Chief Minister's relief fund for the victims of North Karnataka's flood. The collection of that money has already started on Infosys campus. If an open letter brings this level of results, what is happier than that? Thanks to Sudhakka. But the problem is not related to Infosys alone. I wrote that letter keeping Sudha Murthy as the center because she is a daughter of a Kannada house. I have made that clear in the letter itself. This problem is not limited to just helping out the people of North Karnataka.
The IT bosses came to Bangalore because they felt it is suitable for establishing the IT industry. Our government started to lay out the red carpet to them because they started to come. The demands-pressures-threats-black mails of the IT bosses had started even from the time Deve Gowda and J. H. Patel were chief ministers. Looking at it that way, Patel himself got irritated and declared like a half-revolutionary, half-scoundrel, "If you want to stay, you may stay. If you want leave, you may leave. If you are not here, will we die starving? If we open ten cabaret joints, the wealthy who will come, will come!" At that time Chandrababu Naidu was (in power) in Andhra.
Administering the state like a typical IT company CEO, Naidu borrowed crores of rupees for the same infrastructure and made the roads of Hyderabad. The IT industry also flourished well there. However, by the time Chandrababu Naidu realized what a big chasm the IT industry created between the city and country lifestyles, the naxalites had risen up in the villages and woods of the Andra. The Raayalaseema movement demanded a separate state itself. The naxalites bombed the car of Naidu himself which came to Tirupati. At that time the IT industry was shaken up.
Such things have not happened in Karnataka until now. The people of Bangalore are peace lovers. Among the IT companies here, even one does not have a trade union. Bangalore is not attacked by floods. It is not hit by the heat. It is a guaranteed airconditioner which works without being switched on. Just a few months back, there was Chief Minister SM Krishna here who behaved as if he was born to the IT bosses. The things that the bosses signalled with their feet, he did them with his tongue. Starting from giving ten years of tax holiday, he snatched thousands of acres of land from farmers and gave them to the IT bosses and stood in front of them with folded hands as if to ask, 'Do you want anything more'. It is then that the real blackmail of the IT bosses started. As per their orders, SM Krishna built roads in Bangalore, using the money which would have been enough to build roads in all the towns and cities of Karnataka. He built flyovers which are not of a naya paisa use and at the same stage brought Indraloka itself for his IT bosses, vowing to turn Bangalore into a Singapore.
The IT bosses are asking for that very same thing. Dharam (Dharam Singh, current chief minister of Karnataka) is shaken and frightened.
World Bank's report is not necessary to bring the government to the street and slap it on the face. The roads here are not good, there are frequent power cuts, there are traffic jams and again, if it rains the low lying areas get flooded - you know this type of problems? These exist in any city like Bangalore, in any third-world country of the world. Mumbai, which was built with better planning than Bangalore, and which grew with grandeur, got caught in the rains recently and struggled to survive.
When an America like America could not bear the hit of Katrina and came down to the position of begging in the street, of what account are Bangalore's Bhoopasandhra, Shivanahalli, Ketamaaranahalli? As you know all the dailies from The Times of India to the Vijaya Karnataka are publishing reports, complaints, rants about the roads of Bangalore on a daily basis. Even after these magazines publish these reports for years, the bad roads, open pits and manholes, flooding areas will always exist in Bangalore. That does not mean they should not be written about.
On the one side, when we have the man who has no houses, no roads, no food to eat, who has lost everything in floodwaters, who is begging for at least an overhead shelter, there is no need to offer warm water for the feet and welcome the IT bosses who order, "Immediately build for us a road which will enable our cars to reach the airport in 5 minutes without any obstructions".
Life here is growing amidst broken streets, dirty gutters, traffic jams, a public life which is shattered by even a light rain, unnecessary traffic density. New things bloom. Our children study and become smart. America invites them and gives them jobs. Infrastructure doesn't mean just roads, toilets, airports, right?
But let us take this opportunity of the issues raised by the IT bosses and criticize our people also a little. What did you do with the road tax we paid? You started a projects of thousands of crores five years ago? How much did you eat out of them? Where are the people who said they would turn Bangalore into a Singapore, released crores of rupees for that? Let them give accounts. Let us gather all the MLAs and corporators of Bangalore in one place and ask them, how many crores worth of work was done in their jurisdictions, their areas? When were the bills approved? What is the state today of the roads built yesterday? What is the state today of the houses they stayed in yesterday? How many times did you become a minister? How many times MLA? From which ward how many times did you win as a corporator? How much work was done? What is your wealth then and now?
Let us begin this habit of demanding accounts at least due to the excuse of the issues raised by the IT bosses. Bangalore should not become Singapore for the sake of the bosses coming from Singapore: it should become so for the sake of the man of this land. If the IT boss wants to come sit here and do business, he should protect and respect the laws and regulations of this place, the social well-being, regional honor, etc. India is not a country like Thailand which is living based on prostitution, to present a throne to every boss who comes and destroy the fabric of our society.
Despite all this, a few rogues among the IT bosses talk thus: 'Not a bad idea. Send a few MPs, MLAs, corporators to Gurgaon, Hyderabad or Mumbai to learn what infrastructure means. Is this thing called Bangalore really a city? It should be totally razed down and rebuilt.'
These words were said by Jack Anderson of a company called NOVASOFT. Before this, an idiot had said that Bangalore should be brought under the Central Government's rule. There are people who have called Bangalore a dead city. But all the people who spoke like this know: All the foreign companies based in Gurgaon are getting work done with their factories full of police. If there is a traffic jam in Calcutta, it takes eight hours to clear. In Hyderabad, if the naxalites burst even a single bomb, Azim Premji's shop closes doors. Which IT boss will make an umbrella for Mumbai's rains? Non sense.
We shall provide facilities for the businessmen and industrialists who come to the city. That is a different matter: Nobody here is bitten by a (mad) dog to raze the city and rebuilt it for his sake. Let pimps like Yediyurappa (BJP leader from Karnataka), who shoot off their mouth shouting, ''If a Kannadiga raises his voice today, IT bosses will go away to Hyderabad. Then what will become of us?', realize one thing: even Telugus, Marathis, Bengalis, people of Madhyapradesh know to raise their voices.
After that, will Azim Premji build the IT industry in the sky?
-- Translation of the article ends --
The letter to Sudha Murthy and the above article together provide interesting insights into the opinion of the average non-IT Indians towards the IT industries.
The angst of the man on the street is understandable. From their perspective, all they see of the IT industries is this: Organizations which employ mostly non-local people, who mostly speak English, who are paid very high. These people move in from outside, increase the population in the city, drive the demand and costs of everything very high. The local public doesn't really know or understand what these organizations do. All they know is that these companies do something for foreign countries, and contribute little or nothing to their own country or locality.
In the case of traditional hardware factories, the local population knew what the factories manufactured. They could see how they contributed to the locality and the country. Most of the people employed were from the local communities. They could see how the factories helped the local community develop. The factories seemed to care for their employees beyond just paying them. They appeared to care for the local communities beyond just using their resources. Not so in the case of IT companies.
The chasm, it appears, is more than just in payscales of the IT workers and the traditional industrial workers. The capitalist-style focus of the IT companies almost exclusively on the profits, with little or negligible care for the personal lives of their employees, and the state of the communities in which they are located, is not helping matters at all!
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
An Open Letter to Sudha Murthy (Translation)
The original Kannada version of this letter by Ravi Belagere, dated 5th Sept 2005, can be found here: Sudha Madam, do something to flood affected people...
Given below is my own unofficial translation. The Kannada version is in down-to-Earth everyday colloquial language of Bangalore. I have tried to retain the same mood in my translation also.
The author seems to be quite displeased with Bangalore's IT industry. He is merely using the incident of the floods in North Karnataka as an excuse to express his deeper angst against the industry. I admit that it is quite despicable if the IT industries of Bangalore did not rise up to help the affected people in North Karnataka, even after being aware of it. However, the general rant against the IT industry in Bangalore exhibits a dangerously narrow focus, a lack of deeper understanding of the issues involved and an absence of honest accountability. It also, of course, shows a politician in the making!
The irony is that the same IT power this author seems to so despise, has given him the tools (the computer) and the power (the Internet) to publish his belligerent and arrogant rant, giving him more exposure than he would have otherwise deserved or gotten.
The translation follows.
To Sudha Murthy, the eldest daughter of Infosys
Excerpt: Sudha-akka (akka = older sister), you were the ones to bring home the bundle from the first labor of liberalization. Is it enough for the society to have engineers alone? We need farmers, teachers, mechanics, auto-drivers, barbers, cobblers, potters, laborers, everyone. If the farmer suffering from the attack of the floods gives up his plow today, will you eat dollars tomorrow? Will you eat computers? Please help out the farmer, and reduce your sins...
by Ravi Belagere
Greetings to Madam Sudha Murthy.
Recently, if Deputy Chief Minister M. P. Prakash had not given that kind of a statement, there would have been no need to write this kind of a letter to you. "I called all the IT company folks and spoke to them, Ravi. The entire North Karnataka is devastated by the attack of the floods. They have been beaten and washed away. There is no water to drink. Cows and calves are dead. Houses have collapsed. At this time, being richer than anybody else, you IT companies should lend a hand. Adopt a few villages. Build houses. During times like these, the affected people get 10-20 thousand rupees to help them rebuild their houses. We will give those funds also to you. Add your funds to those funds and build houses for the homeless. The government requested this of all the principal companies. As a Deputy Chief Minister, I personally requested. Having said, 'We will come back on this issue', they got up and left, and none of them have called us. They have not contributed a single rupee," said M. P. Prakash.
There was pain in his voice.
Sudha Madam, I believe you will understand why I have left out all the other companies and am writing this letter only to you. You are Kannadigas. An elder daughter of our land, our house. You read and write. You will understand the difficulties of the women in Belgaum who have lost their homes and belongings. One reason is that, you will spread the message of this letter in English to others in Infosys, and similar IT-BT organizations. The second reason is that, being a Bangalorean, a Kannadiga myself, I have the right to write such a letter to you. I am explaining in advance that the intention of this letter is not to hurt you.
You probably don't know. The people of North Karnataka lost their houses by the attack of the floods. But by the attack of our IT companies today, we are not able to find houses in Bangalore. Houses which were available for Rs 3000 rent, have Rs. 15000 - 18000 rent today! Leasing houses has been stopped for many seasons by now. Having brought the culture of service apartments, your IT industry has pushed the rent to Rs. 1500 per room per day. If there is any nursery school in Indiranagar with a donation of less than Rs. 30000, can you show it to me? Observe how high the price of beer in pubs is. Real Estate stands on a ladder, even higher than the sky. Just 7 years ago, I had bought a site for Rs. 400 per sq ft. It costs Rs. 3800 today. From where did you come and why did you come to our Bangalore?
After you have come, out of the 100 streets which were constructed in Bangalore, 75% are in your IT industrial areas. Just as every river flows towards the ocean, every fly-over of Bangalore stands facing your offices. When we think of building a good school in Bangalore which demands no donation, with good lady teachers - we don't find lady teachers at all. Reason: even if you find girls who talk just one-and-three-fourth sentence English, your call centers kidnap them.
The lady teacher who was supposed to teach thousands of students, works day and night, getting verbally abused by some big-headed client in America, any way he chooses (to abuse). The reason is just this. Our schools give a salary of 5-6 thousand. Call centers pay 8 thousand. The boys of our IT companies, the ones who returned from 1-2 months stay in America, talk like smart-asses- "You too pay higher. Teachers will stay with you." If we have to give high salaries, as usual, we have to break the heads of our students' parents. How costly have you made our sites, houses, schools, hotels? Where did you come from and why did you come madam?
Day before yesterday M. P. Prakash was saying: "our IT people were urging, 'Build a fast, direct road from the IT park in Whitefield to Hosur road, to be able to travel in a few minutes. Give 139 crores for that. Release it today itself'." What do you have to lose? If there is a mild rain, the areas of poor Bangaloreans like our Tyagarajanagara, Sampangiramanagara, Shastrinagara, drown away. Our Mayor Narayana Swami does not have a single paisa in his pocket to build rain water drainage for those (areas). But let water enter two houses in Bommanahalli? The sons of Saraswati (goddess of learning) for your IT industry, the Times of India, gives out a special report that day. The reason is that, Bommanahalli is the cradle of your IT industry. The rest of Bangalore is just a (begging) bowl for you.
Accept without hesitation. You have not done anything to Bangalore till now. Someone (probably your people) was recently making a speech that, "Bangalore has a place on the map of the world because of Narayanamurthy." A proud Kannadiga like me who was standing there responded, "Yo! Before Narayanamurthy did that, did Bangalore have a place on the map of the moon? Sit down, I say." But I am not saying that your husband Narayanamurthy has not done anything. But he has done everything good to America. He has done it very professionally. If we look to see if he has done anything for Bangalore, we find that he has diverted all the facilities which were supposed to be available for the entire Bangalore, to your IT parks, and once again done the great job of delighting your American clients.
But madam, before this, when Tata-Birla-Kirloskar and others built their factories in small small towns, they would also build a park, a road, a temple and such for those towns. You are ulta! You swallowed our park, road, lake, temple and made your IT park beautiful. Why the heck did you come?
You know talks such as, thousands of our boys have jobs because of you, they have visited and returned from foreign countries because of you? There is no talk more meaningless than that! You selected our boys from our college campuses, sent them to America and made them work as low rate coolies. Did you do that as a favor to us? Instead of that, if you had constructed an Infosys engineering college in every district, given free seats to smart boys from poor homes without charging a naya paisa, made them into engineers and sent them to America... madam, you husband-wife would have ridden in this year's Dasara ambaari (elephant procession), instead of the gods.
After using every facility of this state, and realizing that to be insufficient, your IT industry blackmailed the government declaring that, "We will go away to neighboring Hyderabad." You were the ones to bring home the bundle from the first labor of liberalization. Is it enough for the society to have engineers alone? We need farmers, teachers, mechanics, auto-drivers, barbers, cobblers, potters, laborers, everyone. If the farmer suffering from the attack of the floods gives up his plow today, will you eat dollars tomorrow? Will you eat computers?
Neither M. P. Prakash nor this state's most unfortunate citizen are asking you for alms. You are being warned that you have sucked the essence of this land, and so repay your debts. You are of one type (onthara). You are like the British, who are among us and of our own color, madam! If your insensitivity, your anti-town policies, blackmails continue like this, the days may come when we will have to start a movement to say, "You go to America". Before that I am giving you a signal. To Bangalore, Tamilians came, Malayalis came, Telugus came - oohoom! It did not feel so heavy when anybody came. When you came, you IT people? You became a burden to the whole Earth.
Understand your responsibility a little. Come to the help of your neighbors. When the tsunami waves struck somewhere, we are the big-hearted poor Kannadigas, who made truckloads of chapatis and took them from here. You are staying here. You are also eating chapatis: ours. At least build houses. Construct roads. Get a pair of bullocks to the poor farmer. Get clothes to school children. It is not just the government which is sitting, believing your, "We will come back to you on this issue." The devastated farmer sits looking at you with hopeful eyes.
Read this in English to your IT people and tell them, "This guy is some boor. He has written like this," Sudha-akka. I am like your younger brother. Don't be offended. You are our house daughter. Did you not do anything even after I said all this? That is okay. When you come this way, come to our house, take kunkuma (sindoor) and go: to America.
PS: There is also a follow-up article by the same author (again in Kannada): Nobody here is bitten by a (mad) dog to destroy the town and rebuild it (for visiting businessmen, industrialists). I suppose you can guess that this article is even more belligerent towards the IT industry!
Update on Sept 23, 2005: My translation of the follow-up article is available now.
Given below is my own unofficial translation. The Kannada version is in down-to-Earth everyday colloquial language of Bangalore. I have tried to retain the same mood in my translation also.
The author seems to be quite displeased with Bangalore's IT industry. He is merely using the incident of the floods in North Karnataka as an excuse to express his deeper angst against the industry. I admit that it is quite despicable if the IT industries of Bangalore did not rise up to help the affected people in North Karnataka, even after being aware of it. However, the general rant against the IT industry in Bangalore exhibits a dangerously narrow focus, a lack of deeper understanding of the issues involved and an absence of honest accountability. It also, of course, shows a politician in the making!
The irony is that the same IT power this author seems to so despise, has given him the tools (the computer) and the power (the Internet) to publish his belligerent and arrogant rant, giving him more exposure than he would have otherwise deserved or gotten.
The translation follows.
To Sudha Murthy, the eldest daughter of Infosys
Excerpt: Sudha-akka (akka = older sister), you were the ones to bring home the bundle from the first labor of liberalization. Is it enough for the society to have engineers alone? We need farmers, teachers, mechanics, auto-drivers, barbers, cobblers, potters, laborers, everyone. If the farmer suffering from the attack of the floods gives up his plow today, will you eat dollars tomorrow? Will you eat computers? Please help out the farmer, and reduce your sins...
by Ravi Belagere
Recently, if Deputy Chief Minister M. P. Prakash had not given that kind of a statement, there would have been no need to write this kind of a letter to you. "I called all the IT company folks and spoke to them, Ravi. The entire North Karnataka is devastated by the attack of the floods. They have been beaten and washed away. There is no water to drink. Cows and calves are dead. Houses have collapsed. At this time, being richer than anybody else, you IT companies should lend a hand. Adopt a few villages. Build houses. During times like these, the affected people get 10-20 thousand rupees to help them rebuild their houses. We will give those funds also to you. Add your funds to those funds and build houses for the homeless. The government requested this of all the principal companies. As a Deputy Chief Minister, I personally requested. Having said, 'We will come back on this issue', they got up and left, and none of them have called us. They have not contributed a single rupee," said M. P. Prakash.
There was pain in his voice.
Sudha Madam, I believe you will understand why I have left out all the other companies and am writing this letter only to you. You are Kannadigas. An elder daughter of our land, our house. You read and write. You will understand the difficulties of the women in Belgaum who have lost their homes and belongings. One reason is that, you will spread the message of this letter in English to others in Infosys, and similar IT-BT organizations. The second reason is that, being a Bangalorean, a Kannadiga myself, I have the right to write such a letter to you. I am explaining in advance that the intention of this letter is not to hurt you.
You probably don't know. The people of North Karnataka lost their houses by the attack of the floods. But by the attack of our IT companies today, we are not able to find houses in Bangalore. Houses which were available for Rs 3000 rent, have Rs. 15000 - 18000 rent today! Leasing houses has been stopped for many seasons by now. Having brought the culture of service apartments, your IT industry has pushed the rent to Rs. 1500 per room per day. If there is any nursery school in Indiranagar with a donation of less than Rs. 30000, can you show it to me? Observe how high the price of beer in pubs is. Real Estate stands on a ladder, even higher than the sky. Just 7 years ago, I had bought a site for Rs. 400 per sq ft. It costs Rs. 3800 today. From where did you come and why did you come to our Bangalore?
After you have come, out of the 100 streets which were constructed in Bangalore, 75% are in your IT industrial areas. Just as every river flows towards the ocean, every fly-over of Bangalore stands facing your offices. When we think of building a good school in Bangalore which demands no donation, with good lady teachers - we don't find lady teachers at all. Reason: even if you find girls who talk just one-and-three-fourth sentence English, your call centers kidnap them.
The lady teacher who was supposed to teach thousands of students, works day and night, getting verbally abused by some big-headed client in America, any way he chooses (to abuse). The reason is just this. Our schools give a salary of 5-6 thousand. Call centers pay 8 thousand. The boys of our IT companies, the ones who returned from 1-2 months stay in America, talk like smart-asses- "You too pay higher. Teachers will stay with you." If we have to give high salaries, as usual, we have to break the heads of our students' parents. How costly have you made our sites, houses, schools, hotels? Where did you come from and why did you come madam?
Day before yesterday M. P. Prakash was saying: "our IT people were urging, 'Build a fast, direct road from the IT park in Whitefield to Hosur road, to be able to travel in a few minutes. Give 139 crores for that. Release it today itself'." What do you have to lose? If there is a mild rain, the areas of poor Bangaloreans like our Tyagarajanagara, Sampangiramanagara, Shastrinagara, drown away. Our Mayor Narayana Swami does not have a single paisa in his pocket to build rain water drainage for those (areas). But let water enter two houses in Bommanahalli? The sons of Saraswati (goddess of learning) for your IT industry, the Times of India, gives out a special report that day. The reason is that, Bommanahalli is the cradle of your IT industry. The rest of Bangalore is just a (begging) bowl for you.
Accept without hesitation. You have not done anything to Bangalore till now. Someone (probably your people) was recently making a speech that, "Bangalore has a place on the map of the world because of Narayanamurthy." A proud Kannadiga like me who was standing there responded, "Yo! Before Narayanamurthy did that, did Bangalore have a place on the map of the moon? Sit down, I say." But I am not saying that your husband Narayanamurthy has not done anything. But he has done everything good to America. He has done it very professionally. If we look to see if he has done anything for Bangalore, we find that he has diverted all the facilities which were supposed to be available for the entire Bangalore, to your IT parks, and once again done the great job of delighting your American clients.
But madam, before this, when Tata-Birla-Kirloskar and others built their factories in small small towns, they would also build a park, a road, a temple and such for those towns. You are ulta! You swallowed our park, road, lake, temple and made your IT park beautiful. Why the heck did you come?
You know talks such as, thousands of our boys have jobs because of you, they have visited and returned from foreign countries because of you? There is no talk more meaningless than that! You selected our boys from our college campuses, sent them to America and made them work as low rate coolies. Did you do that as a favor to us? Instead of that, if you had constructed an Infosys engineering college in every district, given free seats to smart boys from poor homes without charging a naya paisa, made them into engineers and sent them to America... madam, you husband-wife would have ridden in this year's Dasara ambaari (elephant procession), instead of the gods.
After using every facility of this state, and realizing that to be insufficient, your IT industry blackmailed the government declaring that, "We will go away to neighboring Hyderabad." You were the ones to bring home the bundle from the first labor of liberalization. Is it enough for the society to have engineers alone? We need farmers, teachers, mechanics, auto-drivers, barbers, cobblers, potters, laborers, everyone. If the farmer suffering from the attack of the floods gives up his plow today, will you eat dollars tomorrow? Will you eat computers?
Neither M. P. Prakash nor this state's most unfortunate citizen are asking you for alms. You are being warned that you have sucked the essence of this land, and so repay your debts. You are of one type (onthara). You are like the British, who are among us and of our own color, madam! If your insensitivity, your anti-town policies, blackmails continue like this, the days may come when we will have to start a movement to say, "You go to America". Before that I am giving you a signal. To Bangalore, Tamilians came, Malayalis came, Telugus came - oohoom! It did not feel so heavy when anybody came. When you came, you IT people? You became a burden to the whole Earth.
Understand your responsibility a little. Come to the help of your neighbors. When the tsunami waves struck somewhere, we are the big-hearted poor Kannadigas, who made truckloads of chapatis and took them from here. You are staying here. You are also eating chapatis: ours. At least build houses. Construct roads. Get a pair of bullocks to the poor farmer. Get clothes to school children. It is not just the government which is sitting, believing your, "We will come back to you on this issue." The devastated farmer sits looking at you with hopeful eyes.
Read this in English to your IT people and tell them, "This guy is some boor. He has written like this," Sudha-akka. I am like your younger brother. Don't be offended. You are our house daughter. Did you not do anything even after I said all this? That is okay. When you come this way, come to our house, take kunkuma (sindoor) and go: to America.
PS: There is also a follow-up article by the same author (again in Kannada): Nobody here is bitten by a (mad) dog to destroy the town and rebuild it (for visiting businessmen, industrialists). I suppose you can guess that this article is even more belligerent towards the IT industry!
Update on Sept 23, 2005: My translation of the follow-up article is available now.
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