M.S. Suresh
2004-03-12 18:38:45 UTC
Let me take your points one by one.
First, w.r.t. Srihari's bribe thing: hey, India is only a third or fourth most corrupt country in the world, so relax, we want to be a global leader in everything. Personally, yes, i have bribed, but to my horror, i have been "educated" that it is not a "crime" as it is not "illegal". What does anyone know about "Law" these days, hein? If you call a particular course of action as "bribe", then, to your horror, you will be "educated" that that is the most, rather the only "legal" thing to do. Quite a relief, that India is not the only country where bribing is rampant; bribe is a "phenomenon", a "way of life", a "religion" - follow it to get your job done, or "be damned and go to hell". Even Vijaykanth or for that matter Kamalahaasan in the movie "Indian" try their best to convey certain things, but hey, movies are different, realities are different; but hey, movies are based on realities
?!?! This subject would become a digression so i won't get into it.
To Varun's point. Purchasing power has got nothing "directly" to do with "Salary", there are too many dynamics in between. The concept of purchasing power can be illustrated by a mumbaikar Sales Manager who can afford an Opel Astra, whilst his madrasi counterpart at the same level cannot afford more than a Hero Honda, or even vice versa. Similarly, a Resto owner from Dallas can afford a second hand Mustaang, whilst his same level counterpart from New York can afford a Chrysler, or vice versa. When within a country there could be such huge differences, at an international level the scenario is completely different.
Purchasing power is influenced firstly by the "local" cost of living (province/state/city level), which is influenced by the "local" inflation rate (country level), which is inturn based on the exchange rate (inter-national level), which is further based on the FOREX reserves (of the victim country, India), which is inturn based on the trade deficits (again, of the victim country India), which is again based on the EXIM shelf.... we can go on and on with this; but in the context of a serious and critical situation that India is presently in, this discussion is pure academic nonsense, and Amartya Sen and other Rascals can get Nobel Prizes, and that is it.
A "salary" follows the same "inter-linked and yet matrixed route", but starts from another place, called "availability of local resources". Don't get me started on this subject, as this would take you guys on a economic, financial and sociological trip, which is certainly a digression at this point in time. Already this email is quite long, and i took half an hour to type it!
"Outsourcing" sprouted from the thinking of the "Core Competency" theory by CK Prahlad, a "smart" Coimbatorean from Michigan Univ., around a decade ago. As you can see, his starting note was all quite positive. However, during the present times, the chief driver for this outsourcing by USA to India has become the "exchange rate" and "exchange rate" alone. There is no other reason behind this. At the face of it, it is a win-win situation, but let us look at it once again very clearly: "for a given job, the American pays less if he hires an Indian to do it"; from the perspective of that American who pays, it costs him only a tenth. Will you daresay that there aren't any americans who know about Java and Javascript? Would you daresay that americans do not know how to answer or make telephone calls to their customers? Not that there aren't skilled people in USA, and yet, that American prefe
rs to engage the services of an Indian. Sty members give us a delicacy, sometimes it is even quite expensive; but what they eat is a little cheaper than what they give us as delicacies. Sad, but True!
Sundar, thanks for the hyperlink. You raise a question, for which the answer is blatantly and rudely obvious. Manmohan Singh laid the foundation which was played well by Murasoli Maaran. Now, Arun Jaitley, eventhough he praised Murasoli Maaran then, is now blaming him for having yielded into pressures by the international community that were unfavourable to India, and hence the unsuccessful talks in Cancun last year. (Haha, that is politics.) In an "utopic" situation, outsourcing can certainly help people in the lower rungs of the Indian society: Americans can open shops in the rural areas in India and provide for upliftment in the standards of living - hey, i am not talking about laptops, cellphones and concrete jungles; i am neither referring to WorldVision, ActionAid and OXFAM - they are a different "industry" altogether. I am talking about models that facilitate and implement small s
cale development strategies in line with the local Administration, for Cattle, Poultry, Crops and Grains that go with a fair price in both the rural and the urban markets. I am talking about workable models, which, unfortunately, need and require political clouts, men, muscle and money to materialize.
One advantage of that Utopia is, an economic equilibrium is either created or maintained, whilst still maintaining the cultural disparities.
I have been with NGOs for five years, and have been in the field, with the haves and the have-nots. I have spoken to the parents in Usilampatti who kill female infants and pledge their "young" children because they had borrowed money from the local bigwig. I have worked with the people in the fields of Shikaripara and Sohorgati who donot know what a TV is. You can argue that that was five years ago and that India is all shining now; sadly no, the situation has got only worse. What i propose to do with all my so-called "rich" experience is totally another topic, which is again, a digression.
Further, in the name of outsourcing, what are USA and UK doing in India? Empires like HP, MS... etc. open "concrete jungles" in uninhabited Sriperumbudurs and Naavalurs, creating "cultural shocks" among locals. Imagine, a villager in Naavalur, who is used to seeing a dirty town bus once a week, hears Toyotas and private jets whizzing by every ten minutes in a place he so fondly calls and owns as "his hometown". And mind you, that villager continues to live in his state of life, whilst in the neighbouring compound a hundred feet away, "economy grows", wherein software programmers are tethered to their workstations (oh no, that doesnot look like a cowshed or a sty) in a pressurized a/c glassed multistoreyed skyscrapper, sipping hot coffees in the rooftop cafeterias, whilst the neighbouring village women walk miles everyday for four pots of potable water. And this disparity is only getting
bigger and bigger, as the "economy grows" and India continues to shine.
Please take my points in the correct perspective. If i make a sweeping statement, it is because i have learnt the substance part of it the hard way and is well supported by facts and figures. I am very much in favour of Globalization, i am very much open to new ideas, i am very much open to "change". How we bring about this "change" is where i "cannot beg" to differ.
MSS
PS: Srihari, did you notice how many times i have used "unfortunate" here?!
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First, w.r.t. Srihari's bribe thing: hey, India is only a third or fourth most corrupt country in the world, so relax, we want to be a global leader in everything. Personally, yes, i have bribed, but to my horror, i have been "educated" that it is not a "crime" as it is not "illegal". What does anyone know about "Law" these days, hein? If you call a particular course of action as "bribe", then, to your horror, you will be "educated" that that is the most, rather the only "legal" thing to do. Quite a relief, that India is not the only country where bribing is rampant; bribe is a "phenomenon", a "way of life", a "religion" - follow it to get your job done, or "be damned and go to hell". Even Vijaykanth or for that matter Kamalahaasan in the movie "Indian" try their best to convey certain things, but hey, movies are different, realities are different; but hey, movies are based on realities
?!?! This subject would become a digression so i won't get into it.
To Varun's point. Purchasing power has got nothing "directly" to do with "Salary", there are too many dynamics in between. The concept of purchasing power can be illustrated by a mumbaikar Sales Manager who can afford an Opel Astra, whilst his madrasi counterpart at the same level cannot afford more than a Hero Honda, or even vice versa. Similarly, a Resto owner from Dallas can afford a second hand Mustaang, whilst his same level counterpart from New York can afford a Chrysler, or vice versa. When within a country there could be such huge differences, at an international level the scenario is completely different.
Purchasing power is influenced firstly by the "local" cost of living (province/state/city level), which is influenced by the "local" inflation rate (country level), which is inturn based on the exchange rate (inter-national level), which is further based on the FOREX reserves (of the victim country, India), which is inturn based on the trade deficits (again, of the victim country India), which is again based on the EXIM shelf.... we can go on and on with this; but in the context of a serious and critical situation that India is presently in, this discussion is pure academic nonsense, and Amartya Sen and other Rascals can get Nobel Prizes, and that is it.
A "salary" follows the same "inter-linked and yet matrixed route", but starts from another place, called "availability of local resources". Don't get me started on this subject, as this would take you guys on a economic, financial and sociological trip, which is certainly a digression at this point in time. Already this email is quite long, and i took half an hour to type it!
"Outsourcing" sprouted from the thinking of the "Core Competency" theory by CK Prahlad, a "smart" Coimbatorean from Michigan Univ., around a decade ago. As you can see, his starting note was all quite positive. However, during the present times, the chief driver for this outsourcing by USA to India has become the "exchange rate" and "exchange rate" alone. There is no other reason behind this. At the face of it, it is a win-win situation, but let us look at it once again very clearly: "for a given job, the American pays less if he hires an Indian to do it"; from the perspective of that American who pays, it costs him only a tenth. Will you daresay that there aren't any americans who know about Java and Javascript? Would you daresay that americans do not know how to answer or make telephone calls to their customers? Not that there aren't skilled people in USA, and yet, that American prefe
rs to engage the services of an Indian. Sty members give us a delicacy, sometimes it is even quite expensive; but what they eat is a little cheaper than what they give us as delicacies. Sad, but True!
Sundar, thanks for the hyperlink. You raise a question, for which the answer is blatantly and rudely obvious. Manmohan Singh laid the foundation which was played well by Murasoli Maaran. Now, Arun Jaitley, eventhough he praised Murasoli Maaran then, is now blaming him for having yielded into pressures by the international community that were unfavourable to India, and hence the unsuccessful talks in Cancun last year. (Haha, that is politics.) In an "utopic" situation, outsourcing can certainly help people in the lower rungs of the Indian society: Americans can open shops in the rural areas in India and provide for upliftment in the standards of living - hey, i am not talking about laptops, cellphones and concrete jungles; i am neither referring to WorldVision, ActionAid and OXFAM - they are a different "industry" altogether. I am talking about models that facilitate and implement small s
cale development strategies in line with the local Administration, for Cattle, Poultry, Crops and Grains that go with a fair price in both the rural and the urban markets. I am talking about workable models, which, unfortunately, need and require political clouts, men, muscle and money to materialize.
One advantage of that Utopia is, an economic equilibrium is either created or maintained, whilst still maintaining the cultural disparities.
I have been with NGOs for five years, and have been in the field, with the haves and the have-nots. I have spoken to the parents in Usilampatti who kill female infants and pledge their "young" children because they had borrowed money from the local bigwig. I have worked with the people in the fields of Shikaripara and Sohorgati who donot know what a TV is. You can argue that that was five years ago and that India is all shining now; sadly no, the situation has got only worse. What i propose to do with all my so-called "rich" experience is totally another topic, which is again, a digression.
Further, in the name of outsourcing, what are USA and UK doing in India? Empires like HP, MS... etc. open "concrete jungles" in uninhabited Sriperumbudurs and Naavalurs, creating "cultural shocks" among locals. Imagine, a villager in Naavalur, who is used to seeing a dirty town bus once a week, hears Toyotas and private jets whizzing by every ten minutes in a place he so fondly calls and owns as "his hometown". And mind you, that villager continues to live in his state of life, whilst in the neighbouring compound a hundred feet away, "economy grows", wherein software programmers are tethered to their workstations (oh no, that doesnot look like a cowshed or a sty) in a pressurized a/c glassed multistoreyed skyscrapper, sipping hot coffees in the rooftop cafeterias, whilst the neighbouring village women walk miles everyday for four pots of potable water. And this disparity is only getting
bigger and bigger, as the "economy grows" and India continues to shine.
Please take my points in the correct perspective. If i make a sweeping statement, it is because i have learnt the substance part of it the hard way and is well supported by facts and figures. I am very much in favour of Globalization, i am very much open to new ideas, i am very much open to "change". How we bring about this "change" is where i "cannot beg" to differ.
MSS
PS: Srihari, did you notice how many times i have used "unfortunate" here?!
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/iluIndia/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
iluIndia-unsubscribe-***@public.gmane.org
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/