IT firms avoid Osmania University
By Bala Shah

For most Americans and Europeans, India’s tech heart is Karnataka and its capital city and India’s Silicon Valley Bangalore.  But in the tech industry, Andhra Pradesh and Hyderabad have equal importance.  For some time, it seemed that Andhra may even surpass Karnataka.  Now, rocked by civil unrest, Andhra Pradesh is losing some of its shine.

In the last few months, the prosperous state of Andhra Pradesh has been rocked by the separatist movement of Telangana. The Telangana region, which includes tech hub Hyderabad, is mired in poverty and lack of development despite the fact that two Indian Prime Ministers – Mrs. Gandhi and Mr. Rao – won elections from this part of India. The advocates for Telangana believe they can only enjoy equality and prosperity when they break away from Andhra Pradesh and set up their own State. 

The agitation for Telangana has been vocal and sometimes violent. As tech hub Hyderabad is part of Telangana, the IT and BPO companies operating here have become nervous.  Every time there is a strike and violence, techies and call centre agents cannot make it to work. Some employees have formed pro and anti groups affecting the morale of some IT-ITES companies. Investors and managers in America dislike political instability and may move offices to Pune, Bangalore and even Gurgaon.

Techies are not the only ones who are nervous.  The students of one of South India’s most prestigious university Osmania are victims as well.  Osmania has been operating for more than 80 years and has the highest rating of 5 stars by the NAAC. Osmania University alumni include former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, Ex Home Minister and current Governor Shivraj Patil, tech guru Sanjiv Sidhu, cricketing guru Harsha Bhogle and many more.

Osmania University has a highly regarded engineering and computer science department which supplies skilled techies to the booming IT companies in the state.  But because Osmania University was one of the hubs for the campaign for Telangana, some tech firms have stopped calling to recruit fresh graduates.  Deccan Chronicle is reporting

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The agitations for a separate Telangana state that occurred in the Osmania University campus have affected campus placements this academic year. OU Engineering College, which recorded 95 per cent placements last year, could only place half its students this time. Every year firms select engineering students in the first semester of their final year. Of the 300 engineering students in the OU campus, only 150 have ended up getting jobs this time.

IT firms usually visit the campus for selections in the month of December, but with the university closed for the last two months, none of the firms turned up.

Sources in the IT sector say that software firms are cautious about hiring students involved in agitations. They are even planning a five-year ban on students who have police cases pending against them.
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