Ramadoss draws IT ire for 'slur' on BPO lifestyle

FACT OF THE MATTER: Nasscom says Ramadoss' remarks on BPO workers paint a negative image of the industry.

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New Delhi: Do BPO workers in India actually lead a hazardous lifestyle as to drop dead on their desks, suffering heart attacks? Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss definitely thinks so.

“It is shocking to see 22-year-olds dropping dead on their desks, suffering heart attacks. IT is India’s flagship sector and it is the government’s duty to protect its image and its employees,” the Times of India quoted Ramadoss as saying on Thursday.

But the BPO industry and the National Association of Software and Services Companies or Nasscom has taken strong exception of Ramadoss’ comments, saying it’s deeply distressing to hear the Union Health Minister comment like this.

In fact, Nasscom described the comments as a generalized slur on the half-a-million youngsters working in the BPO industry. “These young people work hard, with sincerity and dedication, and are well and fairly paid for that. We do not see how this translates into ‘wanting to make a fast buck’, as the minister reportedly said,” the IT industry body said.

Proposing an IT workplace health policy to tackle the problem Ramadoss claimed “tenagers straight out of school and college, looking to make a fast buck, are collapsing in front of their computers. Executives in their early 30s are suffering heart attacks and a large number of them have frequent chest pain, high blood sugar and high cholesterol levels.”

In the face of it, with the proposed health policy Ramadoss clearly is trying to crack the whip on the BPO sector.

He even quoted a research done by his ministry to claim that the stress level, mental disorders, cardio-vascular diseases, divorce rates and daytime sleepiness among call centre employees was tremendously high.

Nasscom, however, will take none of it. “It is our view that the personal life-style of adults is — as long as it is within the law — for them to choose. We no not think it is for companies or for the government to interfere in the personal life of adult Indians.”

The software association also said that the BPO workers ‘party the rest of the time’, after working ‘half the day’ is a grossly unfair generalisation of what a few — probably very few — do. These, and allegations of “bad diet, excessive smoking and drinking” are exaggerations that demean BPO employees, it alleged.