Hi Vivian, I too don't know what Selma is talking about, perhaps its another one of those birds-eye observations of hers. (HA HA, can't help harping on Selma's Achilles heel!)
In my limited experiences, I have rarely seen a person working a strict Nine-to-SIX being derided for it. I follow it religiously (oops), as I follow a 12 hr "Work"- 12 hr "Play" schedule, "work" including the time I step out of the house to leave for work and stepping in back after work, and "Play" including sleep/hygiene/food/family/social life. Since Bangalore traffic has already reached insane levels, travel to work and back takes 3 hrs, so its a nine-to-SIX for me. But I digress. I used to be "exploited" when I used to work for a German client, but I put my foot down then and there was no negative fallout. Now that I work for an American client, I feel sorry for them as I notice my counterparts in the States work longer hours than myself, and they envy the number of holidays we, here in India, have. I, however, blame them for their longer work hours to their unusually long lunch breaks and in-between shopping errands. But again, I digress. Coming back to Selma's view of India's "Work Culture", HR practices in Indian MNC's at least, have taken giant leaps, and in my experience, ARE employee friendly. However, smaller companies and public companies, which employ far greater numbers still have a long way to go in this arena. Anyway, my reason for participating in this thread was not really for the above discussion, but for the statement that you made: "I sincerely hope that the trickle down effect of India's expanding economy is reaching the common man." I too share your hope in this regard. In my small sphere of influence, I see this working quite well. In Bangalore, a lot of small businesses and services have mushroomed up to cater to the growing IT sector population and the burgeoning amount of money being circulated. However, this is only Bangalore. Recently, my hopes were dashed when I read a report where it mentioned that while India's GDP grew at an average rate of 6% over 11 years after the 1991 reforms, its poverty declined by only 0.74%!!! Read more about this here: India's economic boom fails to impact poverty: NSSO survey: http://www.infochangeindia.org/PovertyItop.jsp?section_idv=7 India Ranks 93 of 119 Countries on Global Hunger Index: http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/141570/1/8522 While it is clear that Socialist economics is a disproved and failed one, clearly Capitalism, which is often labeled as "evil" has little effect on reduction of disparity. But that is the "Bare-faced" Capitalism that we're talking about, based on the monetarist school of thought (free from Government intervention). "Human-faced" Capitalism, which is based on the Keynesian school of thought (LIMITED restrictions/intervention by Government), and of whom our Manmohan Singh is a great proponent of, is what can bridge the divide. As I have stated on Goanet before, I care not only for where we stand economically by 2030, but where we stand on the Human Development Index (HDI). Right now we are at 127. Whether or not Manmohan Singh and P. Chidambaram are slowly but surely seeding the annual budgets with their Human-faced Capitalistic ideas without the Communists taking notice is a mystery, but poverty IS decreasing a LITTLE faster at a rate of 0.79% over the last few years, which still keeps the candle of hope flickering on. Which reminds me of a prissy forward I received a few days ago called "Four Candles", on the lines of Mervyn's mushy "The Dash": http://www.tomslighthouse.net/lighthse/foot17.htm Cheers, Aristo. On 11/11/06, Vivian D'Souza <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Dunno about Selma's experiences. Labor in Goa is now at a premium. If you > want a day laborer, you better be able to pay the price they quote and all > the extras they demand. > .... > I sincerely hope that the trickle down effect of India's expanding > econcomy is reaching the common man. Inevitably there are regional > disparities. The labor pool in Goa is made up mostly of migrants from > across the Ghats in neighboring Karnataka where > there are pockets of extreme poverty. ------------------- Sema wrote: If we expect multinationals and huge Indian companies to employ adequate number of people to preform required services, we are mistaken. Infact, Indian companies revel in the fact that they can gnaw at the inherent insecurity that resides in every working Indian soul, and make a single employee do the work of atleast 3 people. This exploitative trend then translates into a "work culture". Working long hours, burning the midnight oil and the candle at both ends becomes the expected norm. Anyone who dares to leave at end of office hours is condescendingly labeled a "nine-to-five" man and further advances in ones career are all but closed to such an individual. Indian companies have never felt the need to have a social conscience nor the demographic pressure to be employee friendly. Although in recent years some advances have been made in the sphere of human resource management, the greater emphasis is still on "working like a dog" and making one's personal life secondary to the needs of the company. _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
