Scarecrows of India

By Gemini AI

A few days back, the US-based healthcare technology firm CorroHealth laid off 800 members of its staff in Kerala without prior notice. The most absurd part of it is that the announcement was made over the office audio system on 3 July just as the employees reported for their usual shifts. “Today is your last day,” the announcement said as the employees were asked to log out of their systems and leave their offices.

Passwords died instantly.

Within minutes of the announcement, employees’ access to all internal servers, client databases, and corporate email accounts was entirely deactivated, blocking them from saving their work or communicating internally. The cold, mechanical act is what caught my attention. What do people mean to systems today?

In corporate accounting, human beings are classified under “human resources” or “operational expenses.” “Resources” can become “undesirable expenses” at any time. Such expenses will be cut at any time, without notice.

I was reminded of Urdu writer Surendra Prakash’s short story titled ‘Scarecrow.’ An old farmer named Hori puts up a scarecrow to guard his crops. When the crops are ready, the scarecrow comes alive and cuts off one-fourth of the yield as his share for guarding the field. The story ends with Hori sacrificing himself as the next scarecrow.

The scarecrow is created to protect the farmer, but ultimately the farmer exists to sustain the scarecrow. Institutions are meant to take care of humans, but they become the masters eventually. This happens with most of our institutions: the state, bureaucracy, religion, markets, corporations, technology…

Prakash’s story raises the pertinent question: How often do our own creations begin to control us? The farmer works, and the scarecrow claims a big share.

Governments are meant to protect the citizens. What actually happens is taxes increase, regulations multiply, institutions expand, and officials serve the institutions rather than the people. The protector becomes the ruler. And the ruler keeps an army of guards around him to protect him from the people!

CorroHealth may not get away with their deed easily because Kerala hasn’t yet accepted Modi’s Industrial Relations [IR] Code, 2020. This new Code heavily tilts the scales in favour of corporate employers. Any firm with less than 300 employees can lay off staff as they please, according to this new regulation. That CorroHealth had more than that number is a different matter. That’s why the company immediately paid 2-3 months of salary as compensation to the laid-off staff when their act became controversial.

In fact, Modi’s IR Code is hostile to workers in many ways. It makes it incredibly difficult for unions to make demands from employers. Protests like strikes and mass leave have become illegal by this code. Moreover, workers will have to pay heavy fines if they resort to such acts at all. The corporate firms are given the liberty to terminate the services of any staff as they please in the name Fixed-Term Employment (FTE). Also, anyone earning more than INR18,000 per month in a firm cannot claim any labour safeguard.

In spite of all these, Modi remains popular in India. Many Indians believe that Modi is an incarnation of God Vishnu!