O J’s Corner

Finally we have had it. The foundation stone was laid on November 16 for the much-haggled Smart City project at Kochi.

The $35 billion –project aims to build up a floor space of 8.8 million square feet in the years to come.

The on-again, off-again project had got embroiled in controversies as its agreement was being signed during the fag-end of the UDF’s Oommen Chandy-led government. The-then Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan, who is currently the Chief Minister, had vehemently opposed the terms. Therefore, the UDF Government had not signed the agreement.
Achuthanandan, after coming to power, re-negotiated the terms and arrived at ostensibly better terms. The plus point appears to be that the State-owned Info Park need not be given over to the Smart City company. Also the ban sought on other IT companies to spread their wings in the vicinity of the Smart City has been scrapped.

Kochi is, therefore, emerging as the IT City along with Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Pune. Cyberabads in India concentrate mostly on BPO- Business Process Outsourcing- works. In other words, these are outside works. Our boys and girls need not migrate to the US, UK or European countries to do their work. Sitting in cosy computer rooms in our own cities they can double as the workers the foreigners would have been forced to draft in their countries.

Our IT cities are becoming sleepless cities. Our boys and girls work all the time of the day and night, in various shifts. The Americans get an edge here. They can offload the work sheets in the evening, which is morning here. Our boys and girls do the work and send it back, which the Americans receive in the nick of time. That is the advantage of the time zone. The Americans would have to dole out plenty of dollars for a job done there. But the BPO offers them cheap labour.

Those who have working knowledge of English and who are tech-savvy can secure jobs in the BPO sector in IT cities. People think everything is hunky-dory in IT cities in the internet era. It could be far from that.

Labour laws are not applicable in IT cities, Info Parks, Techno Parks, Smart City etc. Eight hours’ work, eight hours’ entertainment and eight hours’ sleep do not work out for the jobbers. Boys and girls sit up during day and night, in shifts, before the computer screens finding ways to tackle the knotty problems plaguing the Americans etc.

Celebrated companies chalk out ways to provide enjoyment to the hard-working youth who concentrate on the computer just like those who watch out on radar screens in submarines. Their attempt is praise worthy.However, in course of time, their vision get impaired, brains get over-worked, their body and mind get clogged with work-sheets.

But then, why do our youth go in for these jobs? They have no other go. Opportunities for white-collar jobs are few and far between. Okay, the youth should work vigorously, earn and save the money for a rainy day, when they would find it difficult to work.


An important issue confronting BPO work is with regard to safety and security, particularly for the girls employed in IT companies.

On November 1 night, 22-year-old Jyotikumari Ramanand, working for Wipro’s Hinjewadi, Pune, BPO office was picked up by the driver of the cab contractor retained by the company. She never reached office. She was raped and killed by the cab driver and his accomplice.

On December 13, 2005, 28-year-old Pratibha Murty who worked for HP Global Soft in Bangalore, met with the same fate.


Three days after the Pune incident, Preeti Ganguly, a 24-year-old girl of the Belapur branch of the BPO, was stalked and mugged when she reached her flat at the Railway colony at Dadar.

For cost-cutting, companies engage contract cabs for ferrying employees from workplace to residence and vice-versa. They can save a lot of money, but the lives of the girls are in danger. Company car drivers can also turn evil, but the comparative cruelty is less on the part of the direct drivers of the company.

We need jobs, we need good remuneration, but we must not be carried away by the sheen of the computer front.

An employment satisfaction survey conducted among 1,760 BPO employees from 20 firms across the country shows that the number of women staffers has been declining. The women staff strength was 36 per cent in 2005. It is only 32 per cent this year.

The point is, we have no other go. Our unemployed youth have to be pick up remunerative jobs. But then, their safety, security and well-being on all fronts should be taken care of. Cost-cutting would not help..