The Outsourcing industry came to India almost way back in the 1980s with some European airlines bringing their back office operations to India. In the last two decades the industry has seen an unprecedented rise and is providing employment to almost millions in the country yet there are some who are still deciding if its advent has been for the good or the bad. The rise of outsourcing in India is often associated with the death of its rich culture and values however it’s not fair to single out the industry.
Over the years India has been changing and the outsourcing Industry has only been a part of this change. No outsourcing organization has an induction program aimed at training its employees on consumption of drugs, extra marital affairs, casual sex or the likes. The availability of high disposable income in the hands of the youth may account for such activities. In India where poverty has been an issue for years and continues to be, the outsourcing industry came as a huge relief. It provided employment opportunities to even those who could not complete their education after their twelfth standard. It came as a ray of hope in the lives of retired personnel from the armed services, women with no vocational background or formal degrees and physically disabled people. Its advent gave business and increased avenues in the supporting industries like catering, training and development, transport vendors and security agencies. The role of outsourcing in the progress of the Indian economy can be substantiated by the fact that the government is planning to initiate a separate ministry for it.
The prime reason for the outsourcing industry to be categorized as the Indian value killer is that men and women work together in odd shift timings. Then again, which industry doesn’t? The hospitality industry does, the manufacturing industry does and the hospitals run round the clock as well, so why are these not branded? The youth is moving away from our values and culture because their thinking and outlook towards things are undergoing a drastic change. The influence of the West is at its all time high and it has nothing to do with any industry. The lifestyle and ideologies of an average college student in a metro may not be any different from a young outsourcing employee, so are we saying that there’s something wrong with our education system as well? This debate has been going on for a long time and will probably go on forever however it is for us to decide if we look at the right side of things and work on the wrong or look and highlight the wrong side of things and ignore the right.
