Wipro Technologies is at it yet again

Wipro Technologies, one of the so called elite IT services companies of India, is at it yet again. During the slowdown of 2000-2001, Wipro first offered fresh graduates jobs and later of reneged on its offer leaving hundreds of aspiring young graduates high and dry.

A few days back with the economy showing signs of slowing down globally, Wipro announced that it would make its work week a 6-day week and a work day a 9 hr day to compensate for the falling value of the US Dollar against the Indian Rupee. Real assholes. When the economy was up and Wipro was raking in the moolah, they never thought of shortening the work week or descreasing the number of hours per day.

And now they are at it again. Recently Wipro handed out job offers to hundreds of new engineers for the post of Project Engineer. Their initial pay package was set between Rs 2.75 – 3.00 lacs per annum. After a few days Wipro sent the poor guys another letter stating that due to the current global economic crisis the company cannot recruit them as Project Engineers, rather they would have to join in the BPO/call center business. Also their salaries would be reduced to Rs 1.2 – Rs 1.6 lacs per annum. What the f@#!^&% hell!!!!!!

The new graduates were obviously miffed and they went looking for answers from the HR department of the company. Arrogant as most HRs are in India, Wipro’s HRs informed them that it was a take-it-or-leave-it offer. Again, what the…….!!!!!!!!!!

Ladies and gentlement, Wipro has proved itself to be a repetitive offender and from the way it deals with its prospective employees it shows what kind of value system the company imbibes. There’s a lot of talk about foreign companies exploiting Indian labour and why won’t they when our own home grown companies are engaging in it? Is there nothing that can be done against such companies?

Cunning, over hyped Infosys and its trickery

Infosys likes to be in the news always, don’t they? They have an uncanny ability to make the most mundane of events appear game-changing. They keep on talking about how they have the best management team in the world and the best people working for them but still they are not considered in the big league. That league is still dominated by the likes of Accenture, IBM, CSC, etc.

With 100,000 employees, Infosys is surely a very big company but my point is that they are not as great as they proclaim themselves to be. The only great Indian software services company that I respect is Tata Consultancy Services. Compared to TCS, Infosys still has a lot to achieve. I know that the Infosys or rather “Infy” zealots would be abusing me after reading this but hey, truth is always bitter. Wipro is another biggie, but ever since they mulled increasing work hours due to the slowdown, they lost it.  Come on now, when the going was good Wipro did not think of reducing the number of hours per week, did they?

Anyway, recently Infosys made headlines by announcing that they are offering their employees an option of going on sabbatical to pursue “philanthropic” ambitions. During this period Infosys is going to pay their employees 50% of their salaries. A BIG BAG OF BULLSHIT. That’s what it is. The truth is, like most of the companies, Infosys is also feeling the pinch of a declining global economy. These are just steps to stem the rot. The over hyped Infosys management is at it once more. During the lull periods of 2001-2002, Infosys made offers to candidates, then deferred those and finally took the offers back!!! This from a company that prides itself for its management. The fact is Infosys is also in trouble but they cannot admit it without having their stock prices decline steeply.

Many Indian software professionals consider Infosys to be better than TCS. I never understood in what way. Compensation wise they are comparable. TCS generates more profit per quarter than Infosys. TCS has a larger global presence compared to Infosys. TCS has a wider service portfolio compared to Infosys. The most important thing of all, TCS has more projects than Infosys.

Personally, I feel Infosys should be investigated by regulators. Why  would a company that announces huge profits every quarter have to resort to cheap tactics liked forced sabbaticals? There is definitely something not right there. And yes, believe me, this so called optional sabbatical is going to be forced down the throats of many pretty soon. Can we consider this forced sabbatical as an innovative management strategy?

USA wants to help terrorists

With the economy in shambles, costs mounting and the Iraq situation nowhere near to being over, the US is in an unprecedented situation. People in the country are being forced to cough up more money to live their lives. Jobs are hard to come by with unemployment reaching new highs.

But in spite of this the current Bush administration wants to help its dear darling friend Pakistan. Pakistan is the state that offers refuge to some of the world’s most dangerous terrorists like Bin Laden. Pakistan is a country that allows dangerous underworld gang leaders like Dawood Ibrahim to stay within its boundaries and lies to the world about them. Pakistan is a country that maintains training camps for dreaded terrorists. Pakistan is the country that is thwarting US advances to capture and wipe out the Al Qaeda. Despite damning evidence, the US government still wants to help Pakistan.

This time the US government wants to help Pakistan upgrade its F-16 fleet. The premise is that it would help in the fight against terror in the borders of Afghanistan. The total cost of the upgrade is $891 million. Of this Pakistan would be paying $414 and the rest would be bourne by the US. Thats more than half the amount!!! Reportedly already around $200 million has been arranged by the US and for rest its waiting on the congress. Can US afford to do this? Shouldn’t the US invest this money into its economy?

Even after providing Pakistan with financial and millitary help through the years what has Pakistan given back? Has it helped in curbing terrorism? No. Has it helped the US in capturing the Al Qaeda? No. Has it handed over the dangerous fugitives that it harbours to the countries requesting extradition? No. So why then does the US want to help Pakistan? What is in it for the US?

Of course the money that Pakistan gets from US is used more for funding terrorism than for any other purpose. So indirectly US is actually helping the terrorists in Pakistan and terrorism on the whole.

US gas prices should stay high

It is a known fact for quite some time now that the United States of America are going through probably one its worst economic slowdowns ever. Add to that the rising fuel costs and the situation worsens further. Luckily in the last week or so fuel prices have gone down providing a bit of relief to the people. But is it good in the long term? I think not.

Fuel prices should stay up – around $4.2. Before everybody starts abusing me I would like to offer an alternative plan that’s going to provide benefits in the long term. I am no economist but one of the many who have been hit hard by the rising cost of fuel and the associated rise in cost of living. 

The US consumes almost 25% of the world’s gas supply. In the present situation a futuristic energy policy is much needed. What we need is more vehicles running on alternative fuel. Yes, hydrogen and batteries are all great but they are not the best that we can use. That honor goes to CNG – compressed natural gas. It is possible to run vehicles on CNG. The current engines can still be used. All we need is a conversion kit. Such kits are quite widely available. CNG has been proven to run heavy motor vehicles like buses. Check out the CNG powered public buses that ply the roads of New Delhi, India. Not only is CNG an inexpensive alternative to gasoline its also cleaner and overall better for the environment. 

Here’s what we should do. Keep the price of fuel at around $4.2 per gallon. Offer subsidized CNG conversion kits to the public. For transport companies and trucks offer gasoline at a lower price. Reduce the price of aviation fuel. 

Keeping the general price of gasoline high would force people to reduce consumption. But in order to allow them the same or greater level of mobility offer them CNG conversion kits at a subsidy. This way people would still be able to use their cars and pick-ups and that too at a very affordable price. 

Keeping the price of gasoline low for transport companies would help keep the cost of goods transportation low. This would translate into lower prices for consumers.

Reducing the price of aviation fuel will give a boost to the tourism industry as it would bring down the cost of tickets thereby encouraging more people to travel.

In effect by keeping the price of gas high for the general public the country as a whole can profit more.