[Jewelry making - Article 00284] - Re: [Orchid] India among lowest cost producers of jewelry

[sangeetha weisburg]

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    I have tried to stay out of this discussion but feel I have to put
    in my 0.2 cents now.... 

    1) Thanks to Umesh for figures on the diamond jewelry industry in
    Mumbai, I would have no way of knowing them. But I want to point out
    that you need to take into account the lower cost of living in India
    vs the US and the fact that a US dollar is equivalent to Rs.46 - 47
    right now. $100 goes much furthur in India than here. When I first
    looked for employment upon arrival in the US almost seven years ago
    I never put down the salary I earned at my last job in India. It was
    quite a good salary and enough for basic living, but converted to
    dollars was barely $100 a month and sounded ridiculously low. My
    first job in the US paid me $32k a year. I am not saying that
    workers in India dont deserve to be paid more, just that the
    situation there is different than here. 

    2) In my opinion Americans are not the only ones hurt by the
    outsourcing. I can only speak of India but there I know it is
    hurting the retired and those already struggling. The younger
    generation is paid far more by the multinationals that employ them
    than their parents ever were. This is especially true of the
    software industry. Since there is a section of society that can
    afford to spend more, everything has gone up in price. The cost of
    even basic commodities like bread & milk have gone up several fold.
    In the seven years since I came to the US, the price of bread has
    increased 3-4 times. The ordinary man has a hard time coping. I have
    personal experience of this with a brother in the software industry
    earning hand over fist while my retired father worries about
    managing on his savings. In the US older persons have atleast a
    theoretical chance of reemployment; in India it is very difficult to
    find a new job once you are older (by which I mean 40 years & up).
    The multinationals have also introduced the concept of health
    insurance to India so now the first thing the doctor asks you is "Do
    you have insurance?" If you do he can make more off of you. Doctors
    fees are increasing & so is cost of medications & tests. The focus
    has shifted from the traditional healing to money making. All this
    hurts the common man just as much there as it would here. Please
    know that the Indian who takes on those outsourced jobs has the same
    concerns you have - feeding & clothing his family, keeping a roof
    over their heads, educating the kids. He/she is not on a personal
    mission to deliberately destroy your livelihood. And just so you
    know, Indians have long complained about the US stealing our brain
    power by enticing educated youth (especially doctors & engineers)
    overseas after the Indian government & taxpayers have subsidized
    their education till the college level and so given them the
    foundations for success.

    3) Also, please know that the average parent in India, as over here,
    wants the best for his/her child. I have seen poor parents in India
    work several jobs round the clock to feed & educate their children.
    It is no coincidence that these very parents will do their level
    best to teach their children atleast rudimentary English. They
    recognize that speaking English opens doors to a better future for
    their kids. But food is a more basic need than education, a hungry
    child does not make a good student. Moreover a hungry child has no
    strength to fight disease and a lower chance of surviving any
    illness. So should a parent send a child to work to put food on the
    table that might keep them all alive for better times or send him to
    school while his siblings starve? Hard choice for any parent
    anywhere. If they could, yes, they would send the child to school.
    Wouldnt you? But life can be hard and I dont think anyone has a
    right to judge them without being in their shoes. I also think we
    need to remember that most artisan skills were traditionally handed
    down from parent to child. There have been discussions on Orchid of
    how skills and knowledge are being lost because there is no one to
    hand them down to. I am not saying that we should not strive to
    create a safer environment. But consider that it may not be a lack
    of desire but rather lack of finances and other reasons that stand
    in the way. 

    4) The last thing I want to say is in response to Gerry. I want to
    thank him for being willing to doubt all the horror stories the US
    media puts out about other countries, for having faith in the basic
    goodness of human beings everywhere. When I announced I was marrying
    an American most people told me I was nuts. Didnt I know Americans
    divorced their wives almost as soon as they had married them? They
    had no family values, they were always unfaithful, my marriage
    wouldnt last even a year, on & on & on. (In case you are shocked to
    hear this, I should tell you that the only exposure most Indians
    have to American culture is Hollywood movies, MTV and third-rate
    soap operas). Yes, as an Indian married to an American I have had to
    face a good deal of bias/discrimination here. Including restuarants
    that did not want to serve me food and doctors who did not want to
    accept me as a patient. All because I was a colored woman with a
    white man. And after my son was born, people kept mistaking me for
    his nanny. It has been a difficult journey. But on the flip side I
    have made many staunch friends here, most people have been amazingly
    loving and generous with me. So please do continue to take media
    news with a pinch of salt, if not more. Not everything you hear is
    true and my people are not monsters. By and large they are
    good-hearted people more inclined to help than harm, just like the
    average American. They are not that different from you. 

    Thanks for letting me get all that off my chest, whew! 

    Raji 
    (who will be celebrating her 7th wedding anniversary in a couple
    months...)

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