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ANAND PARTHASARATHY’S TECH BLOG |
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| Why skip Bangalore, Mr President? |
US President Barack Obama is to visit India for four days, starting November 5. He will land in Mumbai and then move to Delhi. He will not visit Bangalore – or any other city where the story of Indian Information Technology is being written. And thereby hangs a tale.
When President Clinton came to India in 2000, he was said to have planned a visit to Bangalore – but switched to Hyderabad, reportedly through the strong lobbying of Chandra Babu Naidu, the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, who was aggressively promoting the state and had just persuaded Microsoft to make ‘Cyberabad’, its development capital in India.
When President George W. Bush came visiting in 2005, he too, made Hyderabad a pit stop on his circuit. So it can be fairly said that a halt in one of India’s IT-savvy centres would be a reasonable choice for any visiting American president – as indeed it has been, for the heads of so many other nations. ( I know this from personal experience: We in Bangalore are inured to traffic restrictions almost every other week, as a visiting potentiate and his motorcade head for ‘must see’ campuses like Wipro or Infosys. )
So why is President Obama breaking a well-established tradition? The Bangalore-headquartered Deccan Herald newspaper, foresaw this happening over a month ago. It said, quoting official sources “…The President deliberately avoided Bangalore, ostensibly for political reasons… a visit to the tech hub would have seen him facing demands from the IT czars to revoke certain policy decisions taken by his administration including the recent visa fee hike”, and added: “Political circles say, for Obama, visiting Bangalore would be akin to sending a message affirming US faith in the Bangalore-based IT and BPO companies, something that is opposed to Obama’s political line”.
One never knows with any certainty, how these decisions are arrived at -- and if indeed, this was a consideration with those in the US and India, who helped make the President’s itinerary. But given the fact, that the concerns of the Indian IT industry about the perceived anti-free trade practices of the US government, are on the short list of subjects for formal discussion during the President’s visit, it is strange that he is ducking a splendid opportunity to address these concerns in the most direct way -- by showing up in Bangalore and sharing the American government’s view on outsourcing with those most affected by it.. on their home turf.
The so-called IT Czars are not rabble-rousers who might embarrass the President with any overt angry gestures; they are shrewd business persons and decent folks.. CEOs and CIOs who would have turned up in sober lounge suits, if only the President’s handlers had thought to organise an informal meeting with them. Talk to the ones in India, most affected by this particular facet of American policy; try and convince them of your own compulsions – and give a fair hearing to their own views… that would have been what we have come to know and admire as the “American” way, the “Presidential’ way, to face criticism and dissent, head on. It would have won President Obama, respect, even some appreciation of his outsourcing policies, where it matters most.
We have an American expression for the way he or his advisers, are sadly, taking on the Bangalore Challenge. It’s called chicken.
Link to related stories:
Obama likely to skip Bangalore
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/95227/obama-likely-skip-bangalore.html
Obama to avoid Bangalore during India tour
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/112888/obama-to-avoid-bangalore-during-india-tour.html
India to take up outsourcing issue with Obama
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/infotech/ites/India-to-take-up-outsourcing-issue-with-Obama/articleshow/6752739.cms
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IT HAPPENED IN INDIA |
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IT’S FOR YOU… IT NEWS YOU CAN USE |
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AVAILABLE IN INDIA: PRODUCT REVIEW |
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INDIA IT… THE NUMBERS THIS WEEK |
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Shock! India will replace the US as the world’s largest direct-to-home (DTH) market in the next six months
Shock! IDC quarterly tracker shows Nokia’s leadership in Indian handset market under strong pressure.. read also Nokia’s rebuttal Details of these and all the other India-specific numbers in our exclusive Snapshot: http://www.indiatechonline.com/snapshot.php
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EVENT WATCH |
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8th Asian Network for Quality Congress New Delhi, October 19-22 2010,
Hosted by Quality Council of India (QCI) and Indian Society for Quality (ISQ)
http://www.anq2010.org/
Amazon Web Services Cloud Computing Event Dr. Werner Vogels, Amazon CTO, on how to leverage the AWS cloud to drive key differentiated benefits for your organization
New Delhi Oct 19, Mumbai Oct 20 and Bangalore, Oct 26 2010
http://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/events/
India: Knowledge and Professional Services to the World - The Next Decade” Bangalore, Oct 26 2010, Westend Hotel
All India Management Association
www.aima-ind.org
CAT-iq developers conference, Eindhoven The Netherlands October 19-20
Next to telephony (with HD-Voice) CAT-iq will be used for home automation/connected home, smart grid and in ultra low power use.
www.catiqconference.com
4th Global Summit on Entertainment and Media ( Animation, Gaming and Media) Chennai, October 28-29 2010, Royal Meridien Hotel
http://www.assocham.org/events/focus2010/index.php
Bangalore IT.biz: Bangalore, October 28-30 2010, Hotel Lalit Ashok
www.bangaloreit.biz
CII Karnataka Annual Manufacturing Conference: Manufacturing for the Digital Age Bangalore , October 28-29 2010, Chancery Pavilion Hotel
The Conference features speakers from organisations that have tools and techniques to offer in this domain so that participants gain insight, knowledge and experience of industry .
http://fs9.formsite.com/CIITN/images/Programme_-_Manufacturing_Conference_2010.pdf
Connecting the Next Billion: Regulator’s Summit Jakarta, Indonesia, Nov 2 2010
www.connectingthenextbillion.com
FICCI Higher Education Summit 2010 New Delhi, November 11-12 2010, Federation House, Tansen Marg
www.ficci-hes.com
4th Annual Connecting Rural Communities Asia 2010 Forum Jaipur, November 16-18 Le Meridien
Organized by Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO). The theme for the conference is Broadband Access for Rural Communities.
http://www.events.cto.int/CRCAsia2010
WiMAX Forum South East Asia Regional Conference Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Nov 22-25 2010, Ritz Carlton Hotel
http://www.wimaxforumsea.com/2010/WiMaxForumSEA/en
Computer Society of India Annual Convention November 25-27 2010
Mumbai, Taj Land’s End
http://www.csi-2010.org/
Outsourcing & Managed Services for Telecoms World Summit 2010 Singapore, Dec 1- 2 2010, Swissotel Merchant Court
Scheduled to be presented are 15 Case Studies on Network Outsourcing-Key Success Factors, IT Infrastructure Outsourcing, Business Process Outsourcing, Customer Care & Call Center Outsourcing – and panel discussions on Reaping the Best Benefits in Adopting Outsourcing & Managed Services and Business Model to Optimise ROI for Telecom Operators. ( see details of Indian parrticipation in News You can Use section above)http://www.symphonyglobal.com/index.php/event/page/outsourcing_and_managed_services_telecoms/overview National Conference on E-Government & E-Societ (NCEGOVS-2010) Allahabad Dec.11-12, 2010
Jointly Organised by Computer Society of India (Div. III – Sc. Applications & CSI-Sig on E-Governance)Computer Society of India, Allahabad http://csi-allahabad.org/
Are you organising an upcoming conference or trade show in the Middle East/Asia/Pac region that will interest the Indian infotech community? Send us the details in a mail to feedback@indiatechonline.com with Event Watch in the subject line and we will be happy to feature it in this section.
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TECHIES TIMEPASS |
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BOOK REVIEW:India’s Silicon Plateau: Development of Information and Communication Technology in Bangalore;
R C Mascarenhas; Orient Black Swan; hardback; Rs 525 Bangalore is the peg on which author Mascarenhas – Principal Fellow, department of Political Science, Melbourne University, Australia – hangs a well reasoned work that highlights the political, historical and institutional factors, the role of central and state governments, India's ‘mantra’ of import substitution and its often challenged but resilient infrastructure for science and technology in academia and , industry, which all contributed to creating the Indian IT brand. He would like us to believe that the IT saga has its origins much further back from the early 1990s when it was booted into global notice. He acknowledges and marshals facts that testify to the role of lynchpin that Bangalore played in this saga.
The author seems to have depended on The Hindu as his best source of information about how India did IT and having served with that newspaper, for over 15 years as their IT reporter and Editor I am of course thrilled that Mascarenhas has generously acknowledged his dept to so many of the Indian IT-related stories that I wrote over the years. Even without that selfish reason aside, I would recommend the book very strongly to anyone who needs to understand the genesis of the Indian model of IT innovation and services. A reading will be particularly beneficial to those in the US administration and her elected houses who see in Bangalore and India, a convenient punching bag to appease those who are looking for a scapegoat for that nation’s current employment problems --Anand Parthasarathy
Online buy link: http://www.orientblackswan.com/display.asp?categoryID=27&isbn=978-81-250-3708-8 |
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POSTED 2010-10-18
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