Protest rally at Infosys demanding jobs for locals

Protest rally at Infosys demanding jobs for locals
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: About 200 Kannada activists held a protest Tuesday at Infosys' campus in the electronics city here demanding more jobs for local youths.

Activists of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (Karnataka Protection Forum), a fringe chauvinistic outfit, raised slogans against Infosys chairman N R Narayana Murthy and director T V Mohandas Pai for not employing enough Kannadigas in operations across the state.

"Even contracts for catering, security and transport services are given to outsiders. At least, these contracts should be given to Kannadigas," KPF president T A Narayana Gowda told reporters during the protest, held to draw the company's attention.

The IT bellwether has software development centres in Bangalore, Mysore and Mangalore in Karnataka, where about half of its 40,000 employees work.

The protest was held more than a week after the state government withdrew its call to the IT industry to employing more locals, as a quid pro quo to address their concerns, including infrastructure development in Bangalore.

Infosys officials declined to comment on the protest.

At an earlier meeting between the state government and IT honchos on improving the city's infrastructure, the latter had clarified their recruitment policy was based on merit, as the industry operated on a global scale in a competitive environment.

"IT firms should not only encourage the use of Kannada in their offices, but protect our culture and heritage instead of aping the West," Gowda pointed out.

The hour-long protest was held peacefully under tight security, with scores of policemen present at the Infosys corporate office on the outskirts of the city.

Captains of the IT sector claim for every software or hardware engineer employed, four-to-five indirect jobs are created in terms of support facilities and related services.