Crackdown driven by FEAR

Date: Tuesday, May 20, 2003 7:59 PM

JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

www.ZaZona.com

Here are some Indian guys that make a great comedy team.

Our first humorist is the infamous NASSCOM president Kiran Karnik.
NASSCOM is short for the National Association of Software and Service
Companies. NASSCOM represents about 700 Indian companies and is
registered as a lobbyist with the US Senate. http://www.nasscom.org

Second we have Vinay Deshpande, chairman of Encore Software. Encore
Software is located in Bangalore, India.
http://www.ncoretech.com/encore/contactus.html

A TATA Consultancy Services spokesman was brought in to add more color
to the show. TATA is the largest Indian owned bodyshop.
http://www.tata.com

The skit opened when Karnik said that opponents of outsourcing work to
India have a "misplaced fear" of losing jobs.

If that wasn't enough of a belly roller, Deshpande put in a real jab
when he said, "These are warning signs. I feel this is the start of a
backlash. The bottom line is we are taking away jobs from others."

Accentuating Deshpande's point, the TATA spokesman agreed.

The skit ended when Karnik bashed Deshpande and the TATA guy over the
head with a pot of steaming curry.

This article appeared on Straits Times Interactive
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg

Crackdown on Indian IT workers driven by FEAR

by V.k. Raghunathan

Fear of outsiders after the insecurity caused by 9/11

Fear that immigrants are taking away jobs from locals

Arrests of hundreds of computer professionals in Malaysia, Indonesia
and the Netherlands the start of a backlash

NEW DELHI - Insecurity, rising unemployment and concerns that

immigrants could be taking away local jobs are being blamed for the
recent excesses and backlash in some countries against Indian computer
professionals.

'The general ambience of insecurity after Sept 11 is contributing to

suspicions about outsiders and leading to some excesses with regard to
checking of visas,' Mr Kiran Karnik, president of India's National
Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), told The
Straits Times.

'In many countries, this has been accentuated by increasing

unemployment rates and concerns that immigrants are taking away local
jobs.

'The widely publicised success of the Indian IT industry, the

substantial and visible presence of Indian professionals in some
countries, stories about large-scale outsourcing of work to India and
consequent fears of job loss - all these are bound to have some degree
of backlash.'

Commenting on the recent arrests of Indian IT professionals in

Indonesia, Malaysia and the Netherlands over visas, Mr Karnik said that
the incidents were 'abhorrent' but not part of a conspiracy.

'They were very different incidents, taking place in rather different

countries, triggered by distinctly varied causes. I do not see any
link, overall design or hidden hand behind them.'

But Mr Vinay Deshpande, chairman of Encore Software, told AFP

recently: 'These are warning signs. I feel this is the start of a
backlash. The bottom line is we are taking away jobs from others.'

A spokesman for Tata Consultancy Services agreed.

He said: 'We are witnessing an economic slowdown with job losses

taking place around the world. The backlash has its roots in social
problems, including unemployment, being faced by many countries.'

An External Affairs Ministry spokesman said last month that such

incidents smacked of 'economic protectionism' and were 'neo non-tariff
barriers' that came in the way of the free flow of services and
professionals across the world.

Another factor for such incidents, he said, was the ambiguity and

different interpretation of the visas given to Indian IT professionals.

'People, for instance, have used business visas to work on problems

and offer on-site solutions to their clients in other countries. This
is because there is no other category of visa. But some countries have
objected to this,' he said.

Nasscom, the spokesman said, had urged the Indian government to

discuss at multilateral and bilateral levels the possibility of issuing
a new category of visas to meet the requirements of the IT
professionals.

As for the opposition in the United States and other countries to the

outsourcing of work to India, Mr Karnik said it was based on misplaced
fears.

'We are correcting the impression that outsourcing is bad for the

country. Outsourcing is helping foreign companies to survive by
managing costs,' he said.

The argument is that if a company is facing difficult times, it has to

cut costs.

It can outsource part of its work and get it done at lower rates.

This will bring in revenue for the work done and result in cost

savings.

For instance, according to Mr Karnik, unions opposed to British

Telecom's decision to get part of its work - telephone number enquiries
- done in India are now convinced that it would be good for the
company.

However the battle is not over. Some American states - New Jersey,

Connecticut and Washington - are seeking to adopt legislation to ban US
firms from outsourcing their work.

Nasscom, the voice of the Indian IT industry, is working with its US

counterparts to persuade these states to reject such legislation.

There has been some success in New Jersey, where the Bill is now on

hold.

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