The hue and cry among Indian techie companies on visa tightening - The positive side

Not many of us may be familiar with the name Zoe Lofgren Immigration Bill. But the impact seems to be worrying for many. There have been lots of news about this bill through which US president Donald Trump's administration potentially making life difficult for work visa holders (the H1B, L1) to continue working in US and in issuing fresh work visas. Very recently, many of the Tech stocks took a beating in Indian stock markets. The BSE IT Index took a 2.5% beating and more may be in store. Is this a wake up call or a an unfair punishing?

Back in  1990 when US started allowing computer engineers as a skilled person to get a work permit there, Indian engineers and Indian IT companies started booming. Skills were available at a fairly cheap cost and the IT companies used it effectively to place their employees co-located in US at their customer site and Indian Software industry happened. Though as more folks started entering the fore giving competition among Indian companies and giving a bidding advantage to the US vendors, the cost for a given quantum and quality of work played a big role. Innovative ways were used to mutually benefit both the IT companies and the vendors which resulted in huge cost savings. The downside - many Americans were found to be losing jobs to young Indians in the 20-s. These Americans are typically in their 40-s and find it difficult to find another job at the same salary. The phase 'Getting Bangalored' was coined, it almost made it to the dictionary.

Cut to the present. The hue and cry in America about losing jobs became so much, not just among the IT industry folks, but in general on manufacturing as well. The newly elected president made it a campaign promise to restrict foreign workers and he won. Sticking to his words, he is trying to table a bill. It may take almost a year to pass after tabling, but the general worry among those Indian software engineer with an American dream has become more now. Obviously.

US is only trying to ensure the workers coming in through these work visas be paid on par with American counterparts. The doors are not getting closed. Aren't the Indian IT guys now mature enough to show an improved 'value' on the job compared to American counterparts? Given that the Indian IT industry started 25 years back, may I say that the cheap labor alone should not be the reason for getting it done by Indian workers in US? The values that Indians can bring in can be any or all of :

1. Do more quantum of work than American counterpart at the same quality - Should be doable
2. Use the cheaper labor back home in India and get the job done as a 'package deal' and not as a 'headcounts deal'
3.  Fill up the shortage of skilled labor in US and compliment them
4. Create more market at home. If IBM, Cisco, Accenture do more business in India, why can't an Indian consulting or a product company do better?

There are other theories as well, as I read in one of my Facebook friend's post - it might be considered a conspiracy theory......better yet it might be a better explanation of what the President is really doing. That is.... testing the limits of his power early on.... determining what government agencies follow his directives and eliminate or neutralize the opposition within government branches....stretching is expectations by say 20% more than what he intends and then making little compromises

I see that as the president of US, he is doing the right in one way in protecting American citizens' jobs. I also see this as a good opportunity for Indian IT industry in waking up to innovate and create new markets.

I hope we respond positively to this wake up call and not cry about unfairness!

Jallikkattu - The Pros and Cons

Jallikkattu (ஜல்லிக்கட்டு), also known as Eru Thazhuvuthal (ஏறு தழுவுதல்) is bull taming sport played around Pongal time in the month of January in many districts across Tamil Nadu. It had been a sport played traditionally to measure and celebrate the courage of young men. Though there are references of the same in Sangam literature (kalithogai - கலித்தொகை and in other places), many of us grew up in the memory of watching it in Sivaji Ganesan's Veera paandiya kattabomman where the protagonist takes a bull to marry his lady love VellaiyammaL.

Well, that is all about a bit of old history. Off late, this has been a very sensitive topic discussed and covered in the media these days. It is quite an emotional topic these days, more emotion invoking than the lesser emotional ones like that of failing rains, farmers' suicides, even demonetization woes.

Back in 2006, an order was passed by Madras High Court, Madurai , on a pettition filed to revive the bullock cart race, also called Rekla race. In another case in the same year, another petitioner, father of a man whose son lost his life in 2005, approached the same court. Taking note of these, an order was issued by single Judge, banning all sort of such bravery 'sports' causing cruelty to animals.

In 2007, a division bench heard the appeal and allowed Jallikattu with conditions related to the health and treatment of the bulls. These conditions include -

• Bulls and owners must register in advance of their participation
• Bull tamers should be tested for alcohol consumption
• Bulls shouldn't be given alcohol or steriods
• Written permission from district magistrate

There were tug of war between animal welfare activists and the people who wanted to conduct the event. State government got permission to conduct the event with 'conditions' mentioned above, in 2012. However, in most places where the event was conducted, the conditions were hardly followed. Not just the safety of the bulls and the tamers, but even the security of the obervers were thrown in thin air. Few watchers of the events were injured as well.

This time, the animal welfare activists collected solid evidence - photographs, video clips, recordings, etc and approached Supreme Court. The organizers of Jallikattu were probably overconfident and failed to make a convincing case. No wonder, the court struck down the events completely.

And now, we have these debates and heated discussions.

Many of us who have seen video clippings of the event being conducted at many places or have been close to observing the events know the shoddy security arrangements for audience. A pathetic barricade which will typically be pushed to its limits by hundreds of people rushing to get a closer look, a lonely bull running for its life an a bunch of young brave fellows running behind it almost causing a stampede among themselves at times.

Not fair to compare with bull fighting arenas of Spain. No offence, but the experience of observing this so called bravery sport can be at best called pathetic, compared to what they do in such events in places like Spain.

Whether it is acceptable or not to conduct this event, I am more convinced now, to say that we are not really prepared to arrange an event to the level that gives a fair observers view, a fair chance for every bull tamer and a fair chance for the bulls as well (not even one event per district can qualify, let alone the multiple village level events).

Indeed I may open a Pandora's box here. Keep your constructive views coming in.