The misery of the IT professionals in West Bengal has intensified due to lockdown. Image Courtesy – DNA India
The misery of the IT professionals in West Bengal has intensified to a great level due to lockdown imposed by the government and it has been continuing through months. Though the IT sector in Kolkata was not in a good position prior to the lockdown period, the situation has become very critical now. Other job sectors like the manufacturing sector had been severely affected by lockdown.
The lockdown has also created a perplexing situation for the labourers working in the unorganized sector in India. Due to construction activities in the cities and stagnation in the factories, their employment has ended. Even in the villages also, they do not have many opportunities for employment.
More than 14 crore people have lost their job at the time of lockdown in India. Economic experts believe that to provide food to these workers, governments should directly help them financially. But this option cannot be adopted over a long period of time. Therefore, with necessary restrictions work should be allowed to operate in areas in which the risk of coronavirus infection can be reduced. This will enable the labourers to get work as well as improve the economy.
An economic expert says that lockdown is not a cure for coronavirus. It is like a pause button, which gives governments some extra time to prepare to combat coronavirus. He alleges that the government has not used this time better. There is a need for 20 lakh corona testing every day in the country, whereas we have been able to do only nine lakh tests so far.
Read: Experienced professionals are compelled to leave Kolkata
Statement of the International Labour Organization
International Labour Organization has reported that people all over the world have been unemployed due to coronavirus. The employment sector may decline by about 10.5 per cent throughout the world. More than 10 million full-time jobs could be included in the total figure and it might be increased if the situation of lockdown persisted for a prolonged period. Countries, where the coronavirus has led to a condition of confinement due to lockdown, may suffer the most damage.
According to a business media report, about 1,07,80,000 (10.8 million) people have lost their jobs since March 25, 2020 due to the lockdown in India. The industries where people have lost jobs include Travel and Tourism, Hospitality, Aviation, Automobile, Transport, Retail, IT and Startups.
The Corona epidemic has affected worst in the travel and tourism industry. Industry sources revealed that 55,00,000 (5.5 Million) jobs have been lost in the travel and tourism profession so far. According to an estimate, around 20 million people work in the travel and tourism industry. Similarly, 1 lakh 50 thousand people work in the IT sector. Nearly 1 lakh people work in startup companies.
The financial experts say that as far as the loss of employment is concerned, the situation is going to remain for 6 to 7 months. However, future layoffs can be curbed only when the lockdown is completely eliminated and the corona vaccine becomes available in the market.
Read: Comparison of working hours in India with other countries
The misery of the Kolkata IT industry is unbearable
The misery of the IT professionals in West Bengal has intensified to a great level due to lockdown imposed on account of coronavirus outbreak. The IT industry in West Bengal was not at all in a good position since the last decade during the last stage of Left-front tenure. After coming to the power in West Bengal, the Trinamool government led by Ms Mamata Banerjee could not have done any distinguishable improvement in the Information Technology sector.
Approximately 50 lakhs of youth become eligible for the job every year in West Bengal after passing out of the examinations. But, there are not enough vacancies in the Information Technology sector to provide job to everyone. No other Technology Giant has established their business since the Mamata Banerjee government took charge of the administration. So the misery of the IT professionals intensified, especially to those who are experienced for at least 10 years.
No significant improvement in IT sector during the last decade
We have noticed in several newspapers that tech giant like Infosys has agreed to prepare set-up in Kolkata. But, the time has already passed 9 years since 2011 when the Trinamool Congress deleted the Left-front government from the scenario of West Bengal politics. Nearly 50 lakhs of unemployed fresh youth and also the existing experienced IT professionals who are already working in small and medium IT companies in Kolkata and suburbs have no option to choose better opportunities.
But, if you look at the younger generation at Bangalore, Gurgaon, Chennai, Delhi, they have multiple options like Infosys, Accenture, Cisco, Mindtree, Hitachi, Siemens, Cognizant, Capgemini, Wipro, TCS, IBM, Oracle, HCL, Mu Sigma, Amazon, Dell, HP, Tech Mahindra, SAP, Samsung R&D, Robert Bosch, Thomson Reuters, Honeywell, CGI Inc., Mphasis, EY, Nokia, Deloitte, Intel, Huawei, Goldman Sachs, Flipkart, Microland, Sonata Software, Netcracker technology, TESCO Hindustan PVT Ltd, Larsen and Toubro Infotech, EdgeVerve, Microsoft, KPMG, Philips, Societe Generale, Google, NTT Data Global Delivery Services, Intuit etc.
Existing IT companies are taking full advantage of the crisis
The existing IT companies which are operating in Kolkata and other suburb areas of West Bengal are now taking the advantage of employing experienced IT professionals in low salaries. The tendency has always been prevailing there in the IT industry at Kolkata and suburbs just because of the non-availability of the Tech Giants. This kind of situation does not happen in Bangalore and other cities because a lot of options are there for experienced IT professionals.
So, it is completely a picture of despair for the IT professionals in West Bengal and not at all good for the younger generations also. Where science and technology are like jewels for the modern civilization, then, lack of job opportunities in this sector will never boost-up the people of West Bengal ahead of other Indian states. Brain drain will be an unpreventable matter in this situation, and that is also the loss of the state.
Reference: Inventiva, Money Control, Economic Times, Amar Ujala, National Herald India, DNA India
