Raising The Spectre Of Tipu Sultan, US Retail Chain Sets Up IT Department In Mysore
posted in Outsourcing News and Top Outsourcing deals |Source: www.business-standard.com
One wonders what the Tiger of Mysore, India’s first freedom fighter i.e. Tipu Sultan would have to say if he were around to find out that the Tier II city of Mysore is to have its first MNC, when the IT department of a US retail chain, Target, opens shop on a 21-acre site at Koorgahalli, next door to Infosys Technologies.
According to M. N. Vidyashankar, IT, BT and S&T Secretary of Karnataka government, Target will invest Rs. 65-crore within the first two years and hire 1,500-employees, while upping the employee headcount to 3,000 and raise its investment to Rs. 300-crore in the first five years,.
Target, which has a presence in 80-countries, has already had land allotted to it in KIADB’s new industrial area. Meeting Deputy Commissioner Selva Kumar, earlier in the day, Vidyashankar requested him to take possession of the land and hand it over to the company without delay, while informing reporters: “With Target setting up shop in Mysore, I am sure others will follow.”
And, in order to meet IT industry requirement for faster travel between the state capital and Mysore, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy has written to Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav requesting him to introduce a non-stop AC chair car between the two cities.
Confirming the fact, the IT secretary said: “We will take up the proposal to the logical end when we visit Delhi next week,” adding one train could leave Bangalore in the morning and the other in the reverse direction in the evening.
What would Tipu Sultan have to say to all this, Tipu Sultan who fought so bravely, so long and hard, fought to the finish, spilling his blood to give colour to the dusty brown of his native land, all to expel the cursed firangis, the intolerable British from his sacred motherland. A freedom fighter par excellence, he was a formidable foe the British had never confronted before. Refusing to compromise the main principles of his life, Tipoo refused to submit himself to the supremacy of any foreign power. His plan of action to free India from colonial shackles forms an illustrious chapter in Indian history, even as he used every means, energy, strength and resources for freeing his land and his people from the yoke of the British Raj. His maxim was: “It was far better to live like a lion for a day than to live like a jackal for a hundred years.”
Will he turn in his grave at this invasion from the West? Even, if he does, who will pay heed, as India Inc. in order to control the talent crunch sets up institutes, even as the West off-shores / outsources just about everything and anything they can. The lure of the dollar proves to be far stronger than faded echoes from the past.
As sectors like infrastructure, real estate, microfinance, animation and organised retail witness phenomenal growth, training institutes or job-specific courses to impart skills required for these businesses. This, even as BPOs, in order to control the high attrition rate, have come out with a novel idea to retain talent by offering employees opportunities for higher education , apart from offering the enhancing strength of the in-house trainings, with many BPO firms considering similar kind of alliances with educational institutions e.g. tying up with US-based Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (for offering courses to the employees) to Insosys BPO tying up Karnataka University, and Genpact’s agreement with Association of Certified Chartered Accountants.
No doubt, the lure of ‘paisa vasool’ will reduce the attrition rate, as BPO associates whose salary structure is relatively bad compared to other sunrise professions, will be provided with the scope of higher education, while working.
But, what are we to do about putting the spectre of Tipu Sultan to rest? Perhaps, the fact that his country is prospering from the trend of off-shoring / outsourcing, the fact that slowly the country is getting back on to its feet after being knocked under for a six by the departing British will allay his fears, put to rest his doubts at having firangis, walking on the sacred earth of Mother India, once again! Better luck this time, no British Raj or for that matter US Raj! But, with the US Navy hankering for a berth in Indian ports, will the doubts of Tipu Sultan and those who are in tandem with his thoughts and his emotions, be allayed!
If, the US Navy wants a presence in Indian waters, then no, we cannot push the angry spectre of Tipu Sultan in the background. We need to be alert and alive to the devious cunning of the West, if we don’t want another Afghanistan or Iraq or Philippines! Say no, to the presence of US forces, either on our shores, or in our waters, or in our skies, even as we rake in the big money dollars from US off-shored / outsourced projects!
Take a leaf out history’s book; learn a lesson from the past, all the control must be in Indian hands, even while we provide the West with our skills and our talent, albeit for a price!
