AmreekanDesi

Till a few years back, here’s how terrorists operated. They picked a target, decided whether they want to bomb or shoot, implement the plan and kill a bunch of people, and soon the world would get to know about it. There would be news for a few days and then people would move on.

With the advent of modern news channels, things have changed.

Now the terrorists’ job has become easier, thanks to 24 hour live coverage on TV. Now they need to begin their attack, and wait till media persons arrive. Then they start playing to the media.

Earlier their actions affected a few hundred, maybe a few thousand people, but now millions of people can watch in real time all the gruesome details, and the message is spread far and wide. As much as we appreciate information sharing, this is one arena where too much information is counter productive. Not only is the terror message delivered far and wide, and repeatedly, but they get assistance from television channels beaming live coverage of operations against them.

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That is the exact headline of this article i found on the Times of India website. The headline was interesting. Don’t we keep hearing people cry all the time about the ever rising IT salaries?

A closer look turned into disappointment. Disappointment and Disenchantment. Disenchantment with how media people just write anything whether or not it makes any sense.

Heard a lot about constantly swelling tech salaries in India and how this is undermining India’s IT edge. The rising salaries may be “bleeding” Indian IT cos, but they are still far from the global level, as the Mercer’s 2007 IT Pay around the World survey shows.

Based on gross annual total cash, IT staff at all levels are paid the most in Switzerland, where the IT Manager job pays an average of $140,960 annually. The same job level in Denmark (the second-highest-paying country) pays $123,080, while Belgium (third) pays an average of $121,170. The UK and Ireland are ranked fourth and fifth, with an average pay of $118,190 and $108,230, respectively. In the United States, the average IT manager earns $107,500 a year compared with Canada (ranked eight) at $93,340.

Talking of low paying countries, Bulgaria, Philippines, Indonesia, India and Czech Republic pay the lowest annual total cash packages to their top IT personnel on a global level. The survey found that IT managers in Vietnam, Bulgaria and the Philippines receive the lowest pay, respectively, at $15,470, $22,240 and $22,280 a year. Indian IT managers were fourth from the bottom, earning an average of $25,000.

Beats me how salaries can be compared across countries and currencies. Indian IT Managers earning $25k translates into Rs 10,00,000 (10 lakhs) which by any standard is a lot of money in India. This salary would probably compare with a $100k salary in the US, despite being a fourth in absolute terms.

Has anybody heard about the concept of purchasing power parity? I know many people who wouldn’t even be in the US if they could get a 10 lakh salary in India. But still, the US ranks sixth from the top and India fourth from bottom.

Sucks being an Indian IT guy!!