Who is exploited?

People say "Gone are the times when underdeveloped and developing countries were being exploited by the developed nations". Does this statement imply that no-one in this world is exploited or the developed are being exploited by the under-developed and developing nations. Recently, I read an interesting article on globalization and realized that the line between exploiting and getting exploited is getting thinner and thinner. Sounds queer! Ain't it!! Consider the case of Tata Consultancy Service's American subsidiary, America International. The case goes back to year 2003, the period when internet was booming. To revive its operations and be up to date, the Indiana state came out with a bid to upgrade the state's computer systems that process unemployment claims. Guess What... Tata won from its nearest competitors i.e. Deloitte and Accenture by a whopping $8.1 million. What was the position of Indiana based firms? Well, none of the firms was in a position to bid for this project. It was too big for them to handle.

As expected, after America International won the bid, the Indiana politics came into picture.Republicans resented. Democrats gave up. The final result- Project was divided into smaller bites so that local firms may bid. Sounds good for Indiana firms, but costly and inefficient for state.Who bears the extra cost? Without any doubt, the Indiana citizens. What happened to America International? Undoubtedly, they were paid a check for around $1 million for the services they carried out till the time their bid was cancelled. The overall effect - TATA lost a huge business. The state of Indiana had to pay more and got an inefficient system in return. The citizens of Indiana had to get a double hit for they were the ones who suffered in the whole tussle- their money was wasted on an inefficient system and a penalty fee that was paid to Tata. The question still looms- Who is exploited in the whole process?

Magazine Contents Layout

Creativity on the Web

IDEA SHELL

MOZAIC

A photo mosaic is a single image composed of many smaller images. Usually, the many smaller images are arranged in such a way as to give the illusion that a larger overall image is visible when seen from a distance.

COPERNICUS STUDIOS

Based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, Copernicus Studios Inc. is an artist-driven animation production studio. Their production pipeline involves using proprietary, streamlined digital processes, developed and perfected in combination with world-class hand drawn animation and design expertise.

MARY SWENSON: A SCRAPBOOK

Mary is a talented photographer and writer. Her blog posts are short but include elegant, colorful and stunning photographs along with a few thoughts on her images, some of which read like little poems.

GO YOUR OWN ROAD....

The Entrepreneur: Re-Defined

Simply speaking, an entrepreneur is the owner of an enterprise. But in principle, not the ownership but the spirit of enterprise, is what forms the essence of an entrepreneur. Initiative, resourcefulness, survival instincts and appetite for risk form the core of any entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurs and enterprise culture are invaluable resources for any economy and act as true long run differentiators. U.S.A. with its highly enterprising culture and climate has been the innovation and entrepreneurial hub for a few decades now. India, on the other hand, though not far behind in skill sets,  does lack congenial political and bureaucratic climate. However these constraints have not restrained the global onslaught of Indian entrepreneurs, instead learning experiences from India and culture of ‘Jugaad’ has catapulted many into the global league.

Making the world a better place

As India steam-rolls on its journey to make it large on the global map, a myriad of developmental initiatives need incubation and nurturing to support the nation’s path to prosperity.Let us come to a specific problem that needs hasty redressal. India is notorious for its roads, especially in post monsoon periods when let alone non-motorable roads, even the motorable ones are teeming with pot-holes, making driving not only arduous but also risky.

The root cause leading to pot-holes is attrition between the bituminous road surface and the stone-chips, provided to offer better grip, which causes the stone-chips to get washed away during the monsoons. An ingenious way to get past this is to impregnate bitumen with plastic. This can be cheap and environment friendly given the quantum of waste plastic generated throughout the country. Plastic infused bitumen has very strong bonding with stone-chips and is more resistant to water percolation, making it far more suitable for Indian conditions.