Software Industry & Bonded Labor

Prolonged & coercive servitude

Case 1 Freshers & IT aspirants are taken into training by some companies who have an agreement with a bigger firms. This contract trains an IT aspirant who are more often than never misguided in to joining a training course which may last between 3 months and 6 months and the nature of the training is that it is full time and for that reason many trainees leave their current job. After the training, the trainees are given opportunities for interview and if they are selected, they are hired as contractors to bigger companies. These contractors are then forced to sign a contract that may last up to 36 months and as a security the aspirants certificates are taken into custody The trainee most probably is not briefed on this point before he pays the training fees that may cost up to a lakh rupees after which the fee is not refundable under any circumstances. During the contract period, even in a professional setup, the trainee is not given much of privileges what usually other employees benefit including but not limited to casual leave, privilege leave etc., maternity leave is however granted uselessly since the aspirants are usually very young when they join. For any reason if the aspirant finds another job during the contract period, he is required to forfeit his certificates or pay up a big sum of money as compensation. Though the trainees enter into the contract out of his own accord, most of the hitches are made known only after he spends over 6 months of training. During the course as a contractor, he/she is paid significantly less compared to his peers. This defeats at least 2 declarations of the United Nations committee and at least one law laid down by the Indian Constitution The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1930 Forced labor convention along with Article 23 of the Indian Constitution

Case 2 Many software MNCs have the policy of Notice Period after an employee request for a separation. This period historically has been both beneficial for both employers and employees. This period is a reflection for the employee if he requires to rethink on his decision and gives the employer an opportunity to get a replacement employee who can be trained by employee who decides to leave. However, this period is now becoming very difficult for employees in certain MNCs which has mandated a compulsory period of 3 months (90) days to leave failing which he will not receive his experience letter. This makes it very difficult or in some cases impossible for other companies to hire him or her. These standards should be considered as a bonded labor

Case 3
Implementation of policies that make IT industry seem in semblance with a sweat shop may require people with skills to leave but the case 2 indicated above makes it very difficult for him/her to make the decision.

Case 4 Acquiring skill sets by wanton use of pirated software as a personal study tool and by training institutes make eligible and honest candidates stand down the crowd This leads to overall lack of professionalism in a workspace environment <incomplete>

Case 5 Encouraging the use of pirated software by colleges or educational institutes (including premier engineering institutes) who has made it compulsory for IT & Computer Sciences students to submit a

project usually within 6 months. The hassle for fulfilling this requirement is most often mitigated by 2 methods as described below 1) Those who have the skill set and own a computer a) A very small percentage actually buy the software b) Most of them download pirated software including the OS A programming tool like Microsoft Visual Studio, if it is a web project Adobe Dreamweaver or Microsoft Expressions and most usually a combination of a variety of tool including word processor like Microsoft Word for documenting this project 2) Those who have the skill set but does not own a computer a) They either team up with category (3) or b) go to a net center where they download the tools illegally and complete the project 3) Those who dont have the skill set but owns a computer a) They either team up with category (2) or b) Use category (3) 4) Those who neither have the skill set or a computer a) This category employs the service of a project center that has customized projects for seekers. (i) Resuse projects across different colleges and departments (ii) Build a new project from scratch While reused projects are cheaper to buy, a customized and build projects are relatively expensive but in all cases they entire project including the project documentation is built using pirated software

Mitigation Methodologies No current and I am on 10% so will discuss later Call me as soon as you get this