Illegal immigration -- India-style

[one...two...tree 2,762]

By Andrew Leonard

Opening paragraphs I wish I'd written:

It's after sundown in Chandankiyari, a village near Bokaro in Jharkhand, and the only sound audible is of howling hyenas in the distance. But strain the ears and you catch snatches of a foreign movie playing. The film, strangely, is in Mandarin and it's for the benefit of the hundreds of Chinese workers here at the site for a steel plant. Watching one of their movies on the big screen is a relaxing way to end the day.

So begins an investigation conducted by by India's Outlook magazine into a sticky labor issue. (Found via ChinaDigitalTimes.) Chinese construction companies contracted to build power plants and steel mills and other big infrastructural projects in India are importing as many as 25,000 Chinese laborers to do much of the work -- and skirting or outright disobeying Indian visa rules that are supposed to only allow entry to "skilled workers."

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American technology professionals who look askance at Indian H1B visa immigrants as unfair, low-wage competition might want to hold off on indulging in their schadenfreude. The weird twist to this story is that, according to Indian workers, the Chinese workers get paid wages far higher than their Indian counterparts. So it's not exactly your standard case of cheap foreign labor exploitation.

However, Outlook did gain access into the Chinese walled residential compound. Built like a military base, it had air-conditioned barracks and amenities like a basketball court, a Chinese canteen and cable TV, among other facilities the Indian workers couldn't possibly dream of. As an Indian worker put it, "The Chinese get rum bottles, water bottles and we don't even have a tubewell." The compound is constantly guarded given the tensions with the locals.

Clearly, the Chinese, despite being famous for cheap products, do not come cheap. But the Indian management isn't complaining. R.S. Singh refused to divulge financial details but says the Chinese are very "cost-effective". "They'll set up this plant in 15 months whereas a plant of a similar nature would take an Indian enterprise eight years," he says. D.S. Rajan, director, Centre for China Studies, Chennai, agrees on that point. "They behave very well collectively with an inclination to complete projects in time. Indians tend to be more individualistic."

I suppose an economist could make a case that the overall welfare of the Indian people will rise faster than it would have otherwise if Chinese laborers build new roads and power plants and airports at an accelerated pace. But as we know from the U.S. example, arguments about the impact of outsourcing or illegal immigration on our collective prosperity tend not to make much of an impact on the individual who has been downsized or otherwise lost out competing in the job market with foreign imports.

But is international labour mobility something to be shunned? Not at the cost of resentment at home, says Rajan. "At no point should the locals feel that outsiders are taking away their jobs," he says.

OK...now you can plug in your schadenfreude meters.

http://www.salon.com/technology/how_the_wo...ion_india_style

[Ban Hammer 12,838]

who does india call for their tech support?

[scandal 951]

who does india call for their tech support?

Australia.

[spookyturtle 9,465]

who does india call for their tech support?

Australia.

Not true. No respectable Ausssie would associate with a third world country. When you're number one, you don't have to put up with that #######.

[justashooter 430]

The film, strangely, is in Mandarin

Clearly, the Chinese, despite being famous for cheap products, do not come cheap. But the Indian management isn't complaining. R.S. Singh refused to divulge financial details but says the Chinese are very "cost-effective". "They'll set up this plant in 15 months whereas a plant of a similar nature would take an Indian enterprise eight years,"

"They behave very well collectively with an inclination to complete projects in time. Indians tend to be more individualistic."

must be dubbed. most of the chinese films i've seen are in gunadonghua (cantonese).

chinese do come cheap. engineers work in china for $250 a month. labourers are $100 a month. just don't expect much value for the dollar. trust me, i know about this stuff. as for 15 months, the parts will be in place, but tell that to the guy the chinese steel fell on in the golden gate refurb. the original US inspectors on that shanghai manufacturer were thrown off the job for finding 60% of the welds on the project rejectable by AWS D1.5 standards. they were replaced by more lenient inspectors, and now it's raining cats and beams.

chinese work well collectively, as long as the graft is spread evenly enough.