Words of wisdom from India

[sirgalahad2010]

R. Seshasayee (president of the Confederation of Indian Industry, CII):

"Mandatory reservation in any form is not conducive to competitiveness of the industry. It is not acceptable. We are an externally engaged economy. If such a law (the Indian govt's proposed legislation to introduce an affirmative action programme to reserve jobs in the private sector for the socially disadvantaged due to the caste system) is brought in, these MNCs might say why should we set up shop here and they will move out. If the legislation is only for domestic industry, it will still be detrimental".

Saroj Kumar Poddar (president, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, FICCI):

"The issue will have to be addressed at the root and this cannot be done merely through reservation...Indeed, the result of introduction of quota system in the private sector could be contrary to the intentions of a well-meaning government".

Azim Premji, head of Indian software giant Wipro:

"We have no alternative but to hire the best talent available within India and the best talent available globally to man our positions. We compete with global companies. We are primarily in the service business... Service business is highly people-dependent. People make you (the company) successful or the people make you less successful".

The Indian govt is also considering legislation to widen affirmative action by reserving college seats for students belonging to socially underprivileged sections in coveted professional courses like engineering, medicine and management. This seems to be just as controversial as the other proposed measure to reserve jobs in the private sector for the "socially disadvantaged".

Now I may be wrong, but I don't mind betting RM100 (to be donated to the St Vincent de Paul Society in Msia) that this topic wasn't covered in the Msian papers.

[Joe Gomez]

THE RM100 IS YOURS TO KEEP, sirgalahad2010
Not a breath in the media ....... not a single breath ......
You know people with brains learn from observing and listening to smarter people ......
Fools learn the hard way ............
Malaysia is destined to take the latter course ...... at a price to be paid by every man on the sttreet ....
Stand by and watch the policy makers squirm, sir, when the proverbial, "stuff" hits the fan .....

[sirgalahad2010]

Well, the Msian powers-that-be seem determined to learn the hard way...

Just saw a report that Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will set up an Asian banking technology centre in Spore to serve financial institutions in Asia.

TCS has its Asia-Pacific hq in Spore where it employs around 300 IT professionals and support staff.

I have been asking my contacts in the IT industry why TCS did not set up its Asia-Pacific hq in Msia, given all the incentives offered by the MSC. No prizes for guessing the answers given!

In any case, I will make a donation to the St Vincent de Paul Society in JB. They really need the money and they do a damn good job of serving the desperately poor.