If I have read my detective stories right, the first thing the sleuths look for when solving a a murder is the motive. Who gains from this person being dead? If the husband gets to inherit the wife's fortune, he goes to the pokey.
Now, today's DH has a story on the front page. Kannada activists storm Infosys. It set me thinking. Who gains from this?
One gainer will be the Kannada Rakshana Vedike whose members "stormed" Infosys. They get publicity from this protest against a extremely well-known and respected company, morale-boost for the organisation, possible cash payments for the protest. That may sound cynical. After all, they might have been really concerned about the lack of jobs for Kannadigas. But I don't remember them doing any protesting for solving real problems - for instance, the poor state of government schools, health care, horrible conditions in poorer sections of the city. I did a Google search for their name. Their main campaigns have been protesting against other language films, and the Playwin lottery:
Kannada rakshana vedike members attack other language films.
The Hindu Business Line : Playwin lottery office attacked in Bangalore.
One could argue that their raison d'etre is to fight for language related campaigns. I say then they should change their raison d'e. Nothing is going to happen till there is universal education.
There is a bigger gainer though. The government. How? It provides a counter for the demands of the IT industry. This already started happening in the case of the proposed boycott of the IT.com event by the Bangalore IT firms recently. It is a straightforward issue - You crib against Bangalore infrastructure, we will hang the Mahishi report implementation sword over your head. But can governments carry out such protests? I'm sure not, but a nudge here and a hint there by individuals within the government can probably result in some such thing undoubtedly. The conspiracy theorist in me simply refuses to go to bed.
Kannadigas will not gain - much more than now. Infosys has people from many parts of the country. Kannadigas are also present, but they were selected entirely on their merit. The IT industry has made it clear that such reservation would not be possible. If Infosys agrees to non-merit based reservations to any non-trivial degree for its core business it has to watch its competitors take away some or all of its business and shut shop eventually. It would not be surprising if the company chooses to relocate to better climes rather than face that. And language-based reservations for its core business is what the activists want. Not blue-collar work.
So there. This is what I have been able to detect (or is it deduct?). Honestly.
Now, today's DH has a story on the front page. Kannada activists storm Infosys. It set me thinking. Who gains from this?
One gainer will be the Kannada Rakshana Vedike whose members "stormed" Infosys. They get publicity from this protest against a extremely well-known and respected company, morale-boost for the organisation, possible cash payments for the protest. That may sound cynical. After all, they might have been really concerned about the lack of jobs for Kannadigas. But I don't remember them doing any protesting for solving real problems - for instance, the poor state of government schools, health care, horrible conditions in poorer sections of the city. I did a Google search for their name. Their main campaigns have been protesting against other language films, and the Playwin lottery:
Kannada rakshana vedike members attack other language films.
The Hindu Business Line : Playwin lottery office attacked in Bangalore.
One could argue that their raison d'etre is to fight for language related campaigns. I say then they should change their raison d'e. Nothing is going to happen till there is universal education.
There is a bigger gainer though. The government. How? It provides a counter for the demands of the IT industry. This already started happening in the case of the proposed boycott of the IT.com event by the Bangalore IT firms recently. It is a straightforward issue - You crib against Bangalore infrastructure, we will hang the Mahishi report implementation sword over your head. But can governments carry out such protests? I'm sure not, but a nudge here and a hint there by individuals within the government can probably result in some such thing undoubtedly. The conspiracy theorist in me simply refuses to go to bed.
Kannadigas will not gain - much more than now. Infosys has people from many parts of the country. Kannadigas are also present, but they were selected entirely on their merit. The IT industry has made it clear that such reservation would not be possible. If Infosys agrees to non-merit based reservations to any non-trivial degree for its core business it has to watch its competitors take away some or all of its business and shut shop eventually. It would not be surprising if the company chooses to relocate to better climes rather than face that. And language-based reservations for its core business is what the activists want. Not blue-collar work.
So there. This is what I have been able to detect (or is it deduct?). Honestly.
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