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No industry’s an island

One keeps reading statements made by software industry personnel and representatives of various associations that the Indian software industry does not really need any help from the government and would prefer them to just stay back and not interfere. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” seems to be their motto in this regard. Most recently, I read similar statements made by people from the BPO industry in the article “Indian BPO firms constrained by lack of data protection laws” [EC, April 26]—something to the effect of data security laws in India not being important because the BPO players adhere to all security requirements of their Fortune 100 clients. Then there was a statement made by Jerry Rao, chairman of software association Nasscom, in an interview published in your sister publication Financial Express—he was quoted as saying, “We do not need any help from policy makers. We do not need any help from the government… We do not need subsidies. We are not looking for handouts. This industry has not grown like that and will not grow like that.”

I think it’s ironic that statements like these come from an industry that’s lobbied for every concession, tax break and incentive under the sun, right from its inception. Nobody denies that the software industry deserves all it has got but let them at least acknowledge that they have been treated favourably. The software exports industry may be a law unto itself, but I am sure that like me, there are many many Indians who would like to see foolproof laws for protection of data, privacy, online commerce, etc. Let the industry engage with the government to make this a reality, rather than claiming to be an island that needs help from no one.

-Sudip S Sikdar
Jamshedpur

Call centres woo seniors

This is in reference to the article ‘ITeS industry: Age no bar’ (IT People issue dated May 17, 2004). The article gives an interesting insight into recruitment trends in the ITeS industry. It belied the myth that the sector has opportunities for only the just-out-of-college youngsters. However the article has a drawback—it does not have case studies of 40 or 50 year olds who are working in the industry. Maybe, a few housewives or retired people could have been spoken to. It would have made an interesting read about how they entered the industry and are faring at the workplace. Looking forward to another article highlighting career choice for seniors.

-Rakesh Gupta

Taking stock

This is with reference to stock market reports in Express Computer. The information, though good, is outdated by the time your publication appears in print. Surely, you are aware that business dailies carry more information about the stock market every single day, and minute-by-minute updates of stock markets are available on financial newswires like Reuters, Bloomberg and Crisilmarketwire. I therefore suggest that you replace this plain vanilla report of dry facts with an analyst's view of the performance of IT stocks.

-George Orthumparambil

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