do it. think it. blog it! ... a twisted world

Wednesday May 18, 2005

I have heard from all my fellow desi countrymen, family, friends... everybody that India would be an IT superpower in the next 5 to 10 years. Well, Who the HELL are we kidding ? Ourselves ?. I've heard that line for the last five years, and nothing much has changed since then. Yes, I bet that there would be a whole lot of preachers who would come by and explain at length what India has achieved in the last five years, and there's no denying that. But an IT superpower!!. I guess the term superpower needs to be redefined. Why are we tooting the IT superpower horn time and over? Is it because the number of IT folks in India superceed the number in the U.S. ??

Well, The number of Indian farmers superceed that of other countries too, SO why dont we proudly claim that our country would be the agricultural superpower? we could take over the worlds agricultural produce, we could take over the worlds cattle, we could take over world politics, stock markets, railways, taxicabs, 7-Eleven's, the alcohol industry, tobacco, imitation products, everything...

IF population and headcount/numbers is what makes one a superpower, India already IS one. I am not doing the "India Sucks" campaign here, but am ranting on the fact that we like to pat ourselves on our back. For what?? I read a article on "Blue Collar Roots, White Collar Dreams" by Carol Fey a while back. It's so very true.

Would I like to see India emerge as a superpower? Absolutely !!, but the difference between reality and dreams is humongous. I believe that the whole IT Outsourcing deal has made some Indians so proud that they have hit the ceiling. Yes, Outsourcing is good, it's cool, it's great; BUT does being at the receiving end of the outsourcing ordeal make a country a superpower ?. I Wish...

Atanu Dey has posted a nice article on "India's IT Companies which did gain some heavy traction from the Indian community. Well, I guess Atanu had the bandwidth to take on the intelligent shots.

When I visited India around 2 months ago, I was not too shocked to see that in the So Called IT superpower organizations of TODAY; the management and control processes were pathetic and employees were exploited to the maximum possible extent. Not to forget the slick Indian IT guy with an accent. Working In India needs one to adapt to a cultural shift, I was told. Well, What I saw was that the work culture in India is based on mutual distrust. Computers with no disk drives, no usb ports, no CD rom/DVD drives, badge access IN and badge access OUT, all in the pretext of CMM Level 5 certification. Every employee had to account for the number of pens, pencils, paper sheets that they used !!!

I guess that's a culture to be proud of ?, and that sure makes us a superpower I guess ?

If ranting was all I wanted to do, I could go on and on...

But I guess the simple message I want to put across with this post is : "Grow Up People, Stop bragging and show that the so claimed Intelligence that we have is real.". Guess time will tell a whole new story.

Comments:

I think you are totally wrong here. India will surely be an IT superpower, we already are. Like you said,time will sure tell.

And if we pat ourselves on the backfor it, whats wrong with it? isnt the US doing the same ?

and on your point of work culture, yes, true that security is critical to BPO's. and CMM level 5 certification enables us to obtain outsourcing deals. it's a process to ensure that information is secure and can not be compromized. why does one need disk drives, cd drives at work ? to watch movies and do personal work? or work ?

Posted by Rakesh Das on May 19, 2005 at 08:54 AM EDT #

Your arguments do seem a little over the top. Many MNCs are operating in India and I do not think they would flourish (and keep being a part of their parent structure) if they had no processes in place. The process of any nation reaching 'superpower' status is gradual, it takes resources. India is getting investment and very importantly, it is developing/getting a pool of people with global exposure. Many R&D labs are being set up there. These are not trivial issues. Creative power is being given impetus/opportunity and there will be greater flowering of its potential.

Posted by Umang on May 19, 2005 at 12:13 PM EDT #

Hi Umang

I'd have to agree with you that my arguments may be a little bit over the top here. But the intention is not to diminish whats being done in India, but rather to point out that <strong>we</strong> like to claim way more than what we can achieve.

India has issues with power, sewage, traffic, weather, politicians, mafia, corruption etc.. I dont see that ever going away, and as long as all those factors remain, regardless of the amount of revenues generated or the intelligence pool in IT, we're far far behind in the race towards being a superpower

We love to sit here in the US/UK/AU/CA and talk about racism!!, why aint there no racism in india? we still draw huge barriers betwen cultures. we really do.

When we in India generate humongous revenues from the information technology sector, and invest in talents in this sector, I BET that the other nations are not sitting tight, they are making their own investments too.... it's a cycle... it's evolution

If we agree that we are lagging behind others by a marginal 5 years today, nothing much is gonna happen 5 years from now. If we see or predict advancements in 5 years, so do all other nations... I believe that 5 years from now we would still be 5 years behind

So being a "superpower" takes more than just a few MNC's investing in a country.

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