WHITHER LABOUR RIGHTS

Forced exits in the IT sector and forced work in smaller shops and factories are two worlds that make one story of India's growth trajectory

- Jagdish Rattanani

India's IT services sector has been a star performer. It has turned raw engineers into seasoned professionals and seized contracts and opportunities across the globe. On the other hand, India's small and medium enterprises (SME) sector is the silent backbone of the economy. If IT is about a fewer number of firms with millions of employees, the SME sector is all about millions of firms each with a smaller number of workers. Together, they offer two lenses on India's growth story. Both contribute to making India the fourth largest economy in the world -- a point of fact that has been fashioned into a matter of pride.

But this happy story has a twist to it. Seen through the lens of layoffs that are now in the news, the big and the small both offer a picture that is less pretty, and in part maybe downright ugly.

In the IT services sector, where the workforce is being trimmed, regulators can no longer ignore the allegations of forced resignations, downright threats and abuse of due process. Not all that is being alleged is true, but equally the complaints are not without substance. Protests and social turmoil have come faster than expected.

If this is one side of an India story that takes a stand against layoffs, there is a lesser-known story of workers who want to be laid off and freed of their horrible work burdens but are not allowed to go home.