Beyond Layoff

After recent 'warnings' from China, the US President Donald Trump signed a bill into law that calls for building an American consulate in Lhasa and checks Beijing’s interference in selecting the reincarnated new Dalai Lama. Amid recent discussions on stimulus and defense spending bills that were approved by US congress and went to US president for his signature was the Tibetan Policy and Support Act of 2020 (TPSA) . The new law bars the United States from opening new consulates in China until it is allowed one in the Tibetan capital Lhasa and authorizes funding to groups that promote cultural preservation, education and environmental sustainability in the Himalayan region. The law also calls on United States tol impose sanctions on officials "who directly interfere with the identification and installation of the future 15th Dalai Lama of Tibetan Buddhism".  This is a significant move as America undergoes political transition and a new president and his administrat

In a historic decision, China on Sunday removed the two-term limit on presidency, clearing the decks for the all-powerful President Xi Jinping to rule the world's most populous country for life. Scrapping the 35-year old rule brought by "paramount" leader Deng Xiaoping to prevent the country from returning to one-man rule like that of Mao Zedong, China's largely ceremonial parliament amended the Constitution by lifting the two-term limit. With term limits gone, Xi can rule China until he retires, dies or is ousted. President Xi Jinping (image: online media) He is already dubbed as the country's next Mao, founder of modern China who ruled from 1949 until his death in 1976. Of the 2,963 deputies (lawmakers) of the Chinese parliament, three abstained and two voted against the proposal to amend the Constitution. China watchers say the country, which has a one-party rule, could well be headed for a single-man rule. Xi, who succeeded Hu Jintao in 2012 a

People are wondering about the state of Indian IT. A number of media articles are claiming "Up to 600,000 IT engineers are likely to be laid off in the next 3 years. (link)" Why is this happening? First things first, this is not the time to panic over headlines, especially when there are a lot of rumors that are circulating. Journalists – even those with little understanding of the business of IT - are having a field day churning out articles with sensational headlines. Many articles are focused on Trump administration’s policies and restrictions on visa and immigration. Some are parroting claims by leaders of software services companies that productivity gains and automation of tools and processes needs a lesser number of people. Some analysts are also claiming the need to reskill on emerging technologies including big-data, AI, bots-and-robots etc Some of this may be true, but doesn’t explain the churn of tens of thousands of jobs. There are a couple of black-swan