A Plethora of Ideas about the Future of Work in India

Hello folks,

Today's blog is a Fictional Satire set in the Indian context of the Future of Work, especially to answer the currently hypothetical but futuristically real question :

"What will happen to jobs after near or total Automation?"

I present to you solutions by different political and entrepreneur groups:

1. Congress: Let us all Spin the Charkha! Bapuji told us long time ago, he was a true visionary who saw this day was coming a century ago! Mahatma Gandhi ki Jai! Also, in the background we will play Gandhiji's favourite bhajan while we spin the charkha and do a kadi ninda of all the technologists who made us see this day! On second thoughts, lets not "play" the bhajan, let us sing and clap our hands, that way we will not have to use any of this Evil Technology.

All our past leaders have always opposed technology for this very reason! We strongly condemn this wave of automation technology in particular and technology in general which has cost us our jobs and unemployment is now at 100%. This country is now doomed under the present leadership of XYZ. Down with XYZ and Long Live Our Dynasty, oops we meant Party!

2. BJP (Tech Entrepreneurs): What If we put a generator on each and every charkha and feed the electricity back to the grid? We would solve the employment problem and the electricity generation problem in one stroke! We'll pay 1 Rupee per hour of work on the charkha, hard work will be rewarded and harder work will be rewarded harder!

Also, since this will become commoditized service and there will be growing demand for such charkhas by unemployed folks the supply of workers will keep rising and as the demand of electricity will remain constant rates are projected to eventually fall to 10 paise/hour. Cheap and clean power to the people!

3. Software Services Moguls: Let's put out an advertisement for 300,000 jobs tomorrow! Lets Buy land in Hinjewadi, set up a Charkha Centre with 300,000 charkhas! We will pocket the 1 Rupee/Hour given by the electricity company and payout 35 paise/Hour rate per employee for their highly valued and passionately provided services! And rates are projected to fall eventually, so let us have a clearly defined Exit Policy as well (Oops! For non performers we meant) Let us also start an industry body called CHARKHACOM to lobby (bully) the government agencies to agree to our demands. After all we are generating much needed employment for the youth of this country and we deserve our share of the pie (pound of flesh). Let us also start an open to all forum where some of our senior leaders mentor youth on Entrepreneurship and Leadership in Technology(????)!

"Technology" is the solution to our problems and India will become the next Technology Superpower within exactly 25 years! ~Official Release by CHARKHACOM!

Now for the list of demands:

1. We will need a fully automated train from Hinjewadi to the city.
2. Tax sops!
3. Padma Bhushan Awards for Our beloved Industry Pioneers!
4. etc. (we'll make this up as we go along)

4. Rashtrawadi:
Did someone just say LAND? Saathiyon Rath Nikalo, Hinjewadi me nayi___________ aayi hai!!!

5. Left Front:
Bhookh Hartal! (Actually, at this point they steal a line from a BJP PM) "Na hum khud khayenge na hum kisi ko khaane denge!"

Hamari mange puri karo, warna kursi khali karo! Down with Automation! Down with Technology! (Sound of charkhas crashing and burning in the background and a sight of hands waving red flags....manually)

Jo humse takrayega, woh mitti me mil jayega (veiled warning to dissenting non-union employees and contractors who report to work)

6. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)
( In a squeaky voice) Sab mile hue hai jee! Mere paas sab saboot hai! Bijli ka bill maine hi kam karwaya hai! Muze vote de do mai ek ek ko theek karke rakh doonga!

7. Parents of (now unemployed) Youth:
We told you to choose Medicine instead of Engineering, but you did not heed our advice!

Thanks for laughing readers! As for for those who cried after reading this sordid view of the future in this country, my vote goes to you!

~Milind K. Thombre
(An Idle Man In a Workers Paradise)

The Future of Work

Sea of Managers

Readers every day in India these days we hear about Layoffs, especially in the IT/ITES and software fields. People seem to place the blame on external factors when this happens. Sometimes it is true and politics is at play, but quite often it is not.

What has brought about this nemesis? On an average, Entrepreneurs insist that the blame lies with the employee. Sometimes they claim the issue is about political factors(Donald Trump's anti-outsourcing policies etc). Again, this is a tendency to pin blame elsewhere when the finger should be pointing inwards! The entrepreneur refuses to invest in the employees training and development, instead, giving him/her more non-technical "responsibilities".

The gullible employee on the other hand feels this is a "way to the top" and begins to take on more "responsibility"(non technical work). Sometimes the managers give the coders such a hard time while they are coding/doing technical work that the coders revolt and try to become managers themselves. Suddenly we have more and more (and more) managers and fewer coders left in the fray. This becomes a dangerous irrational situation and the entrepreneur is forced to "take a tough decision". {Actually, the average entrepreneur does not really care until the customer tells him that his people are not technical enough for the project}

Donald Trump and the Offshoring S(c/h)am

Average Entrepreneurs try to deflect the blame from themselves by saying US anti-outsourcing policy has resulted in this mess. Do Indian workers really need to worry if outsourcing stops? Many competent ones can in fact get a H-1 and move to greener pastures for many times their Indian salary which the entrepreneur paid them. Donald Trump is a blessing in disguise for many such competent techies! It is the Entrepreneur himself who is in trouble now, not techies, and for once the shoe is on the other foot!

Automation

The other real reason jobs are disappearing is because of automation not politics! Automation continues its onward wealth creating march as more and more jobs disappear. Thousands of people working in call centers will be replaced with  single scaleable chatbot that will run on cloud and answer questions for users who were anyways fed up with fake foreign accents. This is just a canonical example and many jobs and industries are going to be disrupted by automation in the next few years. 

Examples of potentially obsolete jobs are taxi drivers, even low end IT jobs, Massively online open classrooms are already disrupting conventional education to some extent or supplementing it. Russia has now built the first AI battle tank, even the future of war is going to change.

Lets ban Automation! some will say. We are losing our jobs! To them I have this to say: "Even if you close your eyes and sit in one place the world continues to move forward!"

There are several issues that Government is going to need to address like taxation on automation, Universal basic income etc.

Advice to Youngsters

What then is the advice I have for budding coders?

1. Improve your technical competence continuously
2. Continue to build great software regardless of what people around you are saying. Managers may go about saying "You are just a coder", but please know that they are faking it themselves
3. Learn to say "NO" when you are given non-technical work to do("Responsibilities").
4. Teach other like minded coders and learn from them, continuously
5. Continue to invest in your own education.
6. Understand that the goal of any business that employs you is creation of wealth for its investors and not guaranteeing you a job.
7. God helps those who help themselves

8. Understand that "the few will always rule the many" and try to become the few!
9. Believe that all you really need to succeed is food, shelter, a laptop and a broadband plan, not employment/career etc.