By “Voice behind the movement” - Feb 24th, 2008 at 7:38 am EST

“The future President Barack Obama’s economic policy should prioritize stimulating the national economy and address the U.S. citizens’ urgent need for jobs and the deteriorating housing market.

Corporations should assume responsibility to stimulate the national economic growth.

In addition, the new administration should provide the corporations, incentives to invest in the local economy.

Corporations in return, should facilitate programs for employees and workers to increase productivity.

The health care costs shared by companies now could be explored to enhance benefits to all parties concerned.

The fair trade policy must be pursued with other economic powers to ease the burden on the United States.

Further, the economies with surplus budgets such as China, Japan, and Saudi Arabia…should be encouraged to import goods and services from the United States to relieve our nation from the current multi-trillion dollar economic deficit.

The innovative technology institutes and organizations should be recognized and rewarded for their contribution to the economy and the international community.

Title: U.S. is at its best when its doors are open to the world

By Som Mittal, President of the National Association of Software and Service Companies, or NASSCOM.

“With domestic unemployment hovering in the double-digits, creating and protecting jobs will certainly be his primary focus.

Yet those of us in the technology industry fear that during this time of trial, the specter of shortsighted protectionist measures may once again be at the forefront, to the detriment of technological innovation, U.S. competitiveness and sustainable growth.

Fortunately, it appears that Obama and his administration have taken a strong stand against the closing of America’s doors to foreign students and skilled workers in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, sector.

I’ve never been inhibited to defend the victim, otherwise the underdog in the constantly changing human narcissist behavior.

If the situation was reversed with India in severe economic crisis and the American Indians not excluding myself, return to India to compete with the locals, I would share the same opinion on this issue.

Pursuing the safe and popular option is easier than taking risks and be vilified for adhering to the moral principles.

I would like to refresh the memory of Mr. Som Mittal and alike that, for economic reasons, the favorite candidates during the 2008 Presidential campaign among the Indian electorate in the United States was not, the unknown candidate, the then Senator, Barack Hussein Obama.

But, indeed the safe bets were placed on the then Senator, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator John McCain.

Perhaps, could it be the reason for Mr. Som Mittal and the Indian diaspora to remain complicit to the candidate of their choice then Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s gaffe in a political parody referring to India’s father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi as “him running a gas station?”

Even though, the controversial remark made available across the net and the networks in the United States and India.

Where was the outcry against the leading U.S news organization, ‘The Washington Post’ publishing the story in an obscure section in the back page?

I suppose, it matters only when the issue is related to a personal economic gain, notwithstanding the view from an “Indian female” perspective.

Relevantly, I took flak from the Indian shores for the unique position i.e. a Hindu woman staunchly backing an alleged “Muslim” candidate.

Likewise, the former President George W. Bush and the Vice President Dick Cheney was more popular in India than in the United States or any other part of the world, because of their benevolent ‘outsourcing,’ license to corporations, freely encouraging jobs to be shipped overseas.

Other than the globalization promotion, the Bush administration authorized the civilian nuclear deal to India, triggering anxiety in the Indian sub-continent with the nuclear rival Pakistan.

Again, I repeat that my specific task is to represent the people in the United States and around the world.

Having clarified that, wherever there is inequality, injustice and human rights violation it’s incumbent upon human beings to dissent and condemn such actions.

I’m no exception to the rule.

I have been speaking loud and clear much to the annoyance of the author Mr. Mittal and others, whose narrow vision is centered on the sole purpose i.e. profiteering at the expense of fellow citizens in the United States and the country of origin or vice versa.

United States is a nation of immigrants. Its strength and success is entirely attributed to the immigrants’ extraordinary qualities from every corner of the world.

It would be oxymoron to have United States reject the prospects from foreign brainpower, apart from being hypocritical on my part to say the least.

Unequivocally, the brilliant and the best, not exclusive to India but across the globe have made it possible for the United States to be the competitive force on the face of the earth.

Considering that the United States is the global economy’s engine and the largest consumer base, the prolonged economic recession hit with an alarming unemployment rate exacerbate the consumer spending.

Yet, these oligarchs in their myopic mind frame ignore the ripple effect on the emerging economic powers like China, India, Brazil and the rest of the world.

The hue and cry over the American job protection signifies the modern Indian business philosophy submerged in the ‘globalization’ mania that forbids the major corporations and their networks to look beyond their profit margin and foreign currency reserves for the government.

In globalization, corporations are mainly attracted towards nations with weak labor standards and environmental regulations.

The respective governments being more interested in earning foreign exchange have increasingly become complacent with the multinational organizations’ industrial and corporate policies that blatantly abuse the human capital, viz. the citizens of their domicile.

Globalization poses a significant threat to farmers and the entrepreneurs in the local industries with the big corporations eliminating the farming and the local manufacturing base.

It’s evident in the remote locations and densely populated parts of India with,

China pushing food produces across the Indian borders and,

‘Taj Mahal,’ souvenir being ‘Made in China’ replacing the label ‘Made in India,’ symbolically Agra, Uttar Pradesh, the home of the world marvel and one of the poorest states in India.

Importing software engineers, programmers and professionals in biomedical science by the Indian companies operating under the nexus group NASSCOM have been reportedly in non-compliance of the labor laws applicable to any employee in the United States.

Commonly, these Indian IIT graduates hired on contract basis are brought to the United States, specifically to the Bay Area and paid nominally as compared to the American employee.

These Indian professionals huddle together in a modest accommodation, as they are unable to afford separate housing due to insufficient salary compensation that does not meet the California cost of living. They aren’t entitled to health benefits and other perks applicable to the American workforce.

The Indian company providing the staff and the hiring corporations are the ones thriving in the venture at the underemployed Indian graduates cost.

Meanwhile, the American workforce is displaced by the Indian employees, and subsequently the Indian workforce is exploited by the conduit companies and the corporations.

Alternatively, the corporations setting up call centers and outsourcing administrative, technical tasks to India have a greater opportunity to get away by paying next to nothing to the skilled workers, besides being exempt from equal wage protection and standard labor laws.

Here in the United States, the anger towards the underpaid Indian workers from the U.S workforce is fomented by the left and the right without holding the profiteers, the big corporations responsible for the problem. It simply creates a cultural war between people with the guilty parties continuing the business as usual.

Once been an Indian employee for a foreign corporation in New Delhi, India and presently the family relatives continuing the trend in the multinational corporations, the conditions are getting worse where the workforce are typically engaged in a ‘bonded slave’ environment with no sick leave, overtime or bonus for working on weekends and national holidays.

Indian government bureaucrats in partnership with foreign corporations have culminated the multinationals’ labor law violation.

Another factor for the Indian workforce to endure the foreign corporate dominance in the Indian Labor market is, the extensive nepotism and domestic corruption prevalent in the private and public sector.

Indian employers in the government and private industry could clean up their act in this respect by recognizing the talent in the country and offer jobs to the youth on merit basis instead of ‘solicitation,’ from a politician or business entity and stop reserving jobs for their immediate relatives.

Then India could win the Nobel Prize in Science rather than Indians winning it as the U.S or U.K. citizens, the precedence in India’s hiring practices have been driving the brightest offshore, since India’s independence.

On the graduates part – those arriving for higher studies and settling in the United States, there is a loyalty issue prevalent in most economic immigrants from around the world.

They leave their country of origin where they obtained the educational foundation and upon achieving their Indian, Chinese and American dream, a majority of Indian and Chinese expatriates left the United States at the dawn of the economic recession.

As a result, the massive exodus to the country of origin leads to series of crisis in cities like Shanghai and Bangalore. They range from real estate inflation to traffic congestion and angst among the locals over there.

So, those who are questioning my loyalty, I ask them,

Where is the loyalty to the country that’s preparing you with the potential and the one that’s providing you the lifetime guarantee to a secure future?

The truth of the matter is, these economic immigrants’ loyalty lies with neither country. They impulsively follow the money trail originating from the economic status in the native and temporarily adopted nation.

Socially, a majority of them fail to return the favor even to the parents mortgaging their life for these individuals’ education and future, only to be betrayed and abandoned in their old age.

Every Indian city and town has heart-breaking tales from the parents let down by their own offspring after being provided until their adult life.

What’s missing in the heated discussion and furor is,

The inherent danger in allowing the foreign corporations to control the vast dynamic workforce in India, reminiscent of the East India Trading Company arriving in India that ultimately led to the colonization by the British rule for over two hundred years.

Only difference between then and now is, there was a noble soul by the name Mahatma Gandhi to seek freedom from foreign rule.

With the rich Indian culture gradually eroding due to the heavy western influence and,

The children in India growing up knowing their bollywood idols and not remembering the leader’s name who gained independence, is a travesty in the obsession with globalization.

Given the widespread greed and self-interest stemming from the corrosive materialistic desire reflective in my critics, I don’t see another Mahatma Gandhi willing to sacrifice if history were to repeat itself.

I strongly recommend the Indian and the United States residents regardless of the ‘outsourcing,’ impact on their career, to watch an independent, low budget movie made by the U.S filmmakers,

Titled - “Outsourced,” that poignantly reveals the victims and the beneficiaries in the globalization era.

The movie could be streamlined through Netflix on to the computers and the television.

Having elaborated on the pros and cons of the globalization,

Is it a crime to ask human beings to display empathy when one is hurting and the other is prospering, with the prosperous side insisting on depriving the depleted side for greed driven motives?

India being my soul where I grew up with strong cultural values and learned the purpose of life, I could not be anything but proud of the astonishing feat it has achieved since freedom and pray for its eternal progress and prosperity.

However, some Indians’ reaction for my concern towards the citizens in my adopted home, the United States that I equally respect and revere, is pejorative to put it mildly.

In an irony of Indian politics, the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by none other than a Hindu, Nathuram Godse in defiance towards the leader’s plea to Hindus and Muslims to stop killing each other, a relentless effort by Gandhiji to transcend religion until his demise.

Reverting to the Indian mythology when the divine incarnate Lord Ram’s spouse, Devi Sita, was falsely accused of infidelity and once again banished to the forest after being held captive for fourteen years, imparted a moral message not to rush to conclusions on human character.

Subsequently, Lord Krishna was hurled with verbal attacks as the ‘butter thief’ and a womanizer by his critics during his presence on earth to save humanity from the spell of “Maya,” the negative force representing materialism.

Centuries might have passed for the epic Ramayana, the events related to Lord Ram’s kingdom, and Mahabharata with Lord Krishna as the preacher, but very little have changed in terms of human conduct mired by ignorance hindering in their distinction between illusion and reality.

Being born on Janma Ashtami, the day Lord Krishna took birth in the holy land, India, I’m here to fulfill my obligation to humanity.

I sign off with the reminder that the Karmic effects, deeds performed through thoughts and words, will determine the destiny in Kaliyuga, the present Iron Age.

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant