Sudipta Bhawmik

The phenomenon of job outsourcing has been the topic of discussion in all circles these days. The high tech and IT sectors are specially affected by the outflow of high paying jobs to India and China. Initially it was only the relatively low paying jobs like call centers, medical transcription services were moving to India. But now highly skilled jobs like IT, semiconductor chip design, accounting and financial analysis jobs are also moving to India. But we all know that this is a natural phenomenon. High cost jobs will move to low cost areas. The laws of physics are equally applicable to economics and finance, at least in this case. It is fruitless to try to resist this flow. My question is how we, the so-called non-resident Indians are or NRIs are reacting this phenomenon? Are we happy that after all these years the Indian economy and high technology sector is booming? After all, many of us have stayed back in this country with the excuse that India did not have the opportunities and challenges to justify our education and training. Many of us believed that our intellectual and professional capabilities were too superior to be wasted in India. But those excuses do not hold water any more. So shouldn’t we be happy that after all these years we can now think about going back to our homeland?
Or are we feeling a bit threatened? Maybe we are feeling that the comfortable and luxurious life that we have built for ourselves in this land of opportunity is suddenly under an ominous threat. Any day our employers may decide to outsource our jobs to India to be done efficiently at one fifth the cost. We may have to give up our high paying jobs for some low paying alternative. Besides, the improving economy in India is also depriving us of our financial edge. The Indian professionals now earn enough to make them at par on purchasing power with any US employed professional. Moreover they enjoy many other amenities like house keeper, cook, chauffer etc. Do we sometimes feel a tinge of jealousy? But neither can we go back so easily. Our roots have started to grow in this country. Our children are used to the American life. We have built our social lives here. Can we uproot ourselves once again? I guess we are in a strange dilemma.
How do you feel about this issue? Send in your comments.