Saturday, January 2, 2010

Jobs that we lost to technology - a warning!

We all are living in a dynamic world. What we see today may not be a part of us tomorrow. This has proved to be a very suitable statement in the jobs market. We have come a long way. The technology is moving so fast that when we tell our children about what we were doing 20 years ago, they may wonder as if they heard some ancient fairy tale.

Sometimes we ourselves forget some facts and act to be ignorant unconsciously. This happened to me when I saw a digital movie posture hanging out of a theatre. It was not too many years ago when we used to find hand-painted postures all around us. I am sure we will still find those postures in the remote rural areas. However, the question that bothers me is how the painters who used to create those postures reacted when they lost their livelihood to technology. This comes as a warning to the people who are still in a profession that is going to surrender itself to technology in the near future.

There are many more jobs that have gone obsolete, forcing huge number of people to accept another profession and to start from the scratch again. Introduction of all the new world machines – computer, phone, television and many more starting from the tailoring machine to the Bulldozer ate up jobs one way or the other. What we learnt from our past is to have a foresight and choose a career that should not give in to technology in a complete sense until we retire. But of course, we will have to adopt technology in the newest form though it will be a tough job to accept an all-in-all revolution. So the bottom line is “get updated”.

Outsourcing offspring!

The Indian subcontinent was ruled by some western countries for nearly 200 years. During the foreign rule,Indians made to work for the rulers, produce goods for the rulers and pay taxes which had to be largely spent for the betterment of the rulers. Poor farmers paid taxes and soldiers fought battles for the rulers. Then came the time when the region achieved its independence from foreign rule. However, the good news came at the cost of a partition, creating two countries – India and Pakistan.

Now, let’s talk about India.For some years after independence, people worked in the country for themselves. But a point came when they started leaving their motherland in search of better lives. And, where they went? It’s to serve the same people who ruled them for nearly 200 years. Indians worked in western countries and paid taxes to the respective countries, which was used for the betterment of the employers. However, perhaps importing people proved to be costly for the western world. The so-called first world countries then came up with the idea of business process outsourcing(BPO). The phenomena introduced the theory of working for a different country while staying in one’s own country. Lots of Indians got employed in the BPOs to fulfill the demand from the western countries. The BPO system was introduced to Indians in the fifth decade of their independence.

So let’s recollect everything in the chronological order. First, Indians worked for the foreigners in India. Second, Indians worked for themselves in India. Third, Indians worked for foreigners abroad. Fourth, Indians worked for foreigners in India.

So what’s next? Now, the foreigners are so fond of India and Indians that they can’t do without them. And, the age of surrogacy has given the western countries another opportunity to get their work done. This time, they got a chance to produce their children in India,who would work for them in their own country. Yes, the trend of lending wombs of Indian women to produce children for the parents residing in western countries has started in the seventh decade of the country’s independence. Just see where the trend will lead to!