Thursday, July 3, 2008

Some random thoughts

The issue which is taking the whole country by storm these days is sky rocketing inflation. Now added to that are sever shortage of fuel and a indefinite truck strike which is set to create a sever shortage of essential commodities which in turn will raise the inflation again. And as has been the trend in recent times in movies and various talk shows , people are blaming IT companies and the economic imbalance it is creating in the society for all these. Is the blame game right? I feel no.

The Govt. has failed to capitalize on major opportunities of growth and employment generation and this is the major cause of the economic imbalance existing in the country today. Which sector of Govt. in the past 61 odd years of Indian independence has created as many job opportunities as the IT sector. And why is Govt. not coming ahead in implementing some of the key development projects in India for instance the interlinking of rivers which is all set to generate more than 2 lakh jobs and eradicate the problem of floods and drought. It is because of the petty politics of the parties where they pull each other's legs which is the main hindrance in the successful completion of such projects and not the economic imbalance created by the IT sector. IT sector pays more. Agreed. But the reason for the same is that an IT company initial investment is very minimal and the profits it earns are huge. No IT company pays employees as a charity. Hence, Govt. must concentrate on uplifting of other sectors for equal growth rather than trying to pull down IT's growth.

However, I feel that the IT cos and employees on their part have to be more socially responsible. Especially in the aspect of saving fuel. The entire world will face a very severe fuel shortage in near future with the current growth rate in all the sectors. IT cos should invest some amount of their research in fields to develop energy efficient computers which will cut down fuel usage. Also the employees should shed off their ego and refrain from using unnecassary ACs. I mean, you don't need AC at night 9 pm even in the sultring heat of Chennai in the bus or cab. And the lightning used in the IT cos is also a major concern for me. The lights are shielded with glass walls. All this is done just for a decoration purpose. But makes lights useless in terms of their primary role.
Also, the buildings should be constructed in a way to promote natural light to peep into. Many a times sitting in the office we do not realize what time of the day it is. And lastly, we employees can resort to some basic energy saving tips like shutting off the computer at EOD and switching off the monitor whenever away from seat. I know some companies have already started to work on these but majority still have not.

Lets save power and lets save the world.