BPO Employee: Satyagraha for Democracy
By Suneetha

Santhosh Min B is a crusader for democracy in the BPO and IT sectors. And his crusade has cost him his job, which doesn’t leave him defeated, but he continues to campaign against forces hampering the democratic process in India. Santhosh, who worked as a claims analyst at the BPO, WNS, had been in the news recently for a couple of interesting reasons.

Santhosh was the poorest candidate to contest the Lok Sabha polls with a declared asset of Rs.511.38 in hand, no immovable property to declare and an Almirah for a symbol.  He tried to contest without a symbol, was not allowed to do so and was one of the people who argued for a ‘None of the above’ option on the list of the candidates contesting the elections. He was also known as the Green Candidate, since he had proposed a green manifesto promising to divert the Metro Rail route to save Lalbagh and Lakshman Rao Boulevard on Nanda Road in Jayanagar. He is one of the founding members of the environment group Hasiru-Usiru.

Santhosh did not campaign for his candidature. He lost the elections after having polled just 1178 votes.

Meanwhile he was being noticed by the management at the WNS BPO office. He had written to ask permission to contest the elections which brought in a suspension order at work. When he wrote to the management asking for a voting holiday, it was refused and he complained to the returning officer about it. Santhosh attributes the low voter turn-out in Bangalore South constituency to the huge number of BPOs in the area who did not declare a holiday to support the voting process. He even wrote to the Election Commission about it.

Subsequently, when he returned to work in April, he was charge sheeted, and post-inquiry was turned out of his job in July. The reason? Contesting the Indian elections is a non-business activity!

Santhosh hasn’t lost heart, he resorted to the classic way of protest handed down by the Father of the nation and launched a Satyagraha before his WNS office. He pitched a tent right in front of the office building and stood with placards displaying his complaints. His Satyagraha has now concluded and all the while he was maintaining a simple diet of fruit juice and dry nuts.

Techgoss spoke to Santhosh and here is our conversation.

Techgoss (TG): First of all, do tell us what happened so far? We would like to hear it from you.
Santhosh (SMG): It is difficult to condense but in one line it all started on the 26th of January 2009 and pauses at 15th August 2009. It was providence that enabled me to participate in the electioneering process. I believe I gave it my best shot and all that transpired seems suspended in history. The Satyagraha was a poll promise; I have done this to demonstrate our democratic values and the freedom we possess. The goal was to create awareness amongst working people that it was their duty to vote and a warning to MNCs that if they fail to declare a paid holiday on voting day then they are not only violating the law but also suppressing a basic human right. Having contested the elections to the 15th Lok Sabha I was expecting an increase in the polling percentage. I was shocked that there was a 10% decrease in Bangalore South constituency. I was proactive and had reported to the Returning Officer 6 days before voting that MNCs were not declaring a paid holiday on April 23, 2009. But no action was taken. WNS was also forewarned about the violation but they chose to ignore it. No person can erase the fact that I now have a sworn duty to uphold the constitution and the Satyagraha was just to reinforce this idea.

TG:  Participation in the democratic process makes for a healthy, vibrant society. You were courageous enough to push for a better political system.  But you seem to have been penalized for that. What is your take on this?
SMB: It was an expression of the free spirit that I exude and I was not someone who will let go of an opportunity that showed up at my doorstep. I believe I am eternal optimist and it cannot be better articulated than Milton’s words from Paradise Regained, “to hope till hope creates from its own wreck the dashed hopes it contemplates”. I had no notions of the things that I could do and focused on all the essentials that went into electioneering. Leadership was a natural thing and I had a strong vision that was my guide. I may be simplifying it a bit but the experiences are cherished and make the vision ever more strong. WNS was just a catalyst in the whole process. On reflection I feel that destiny has a good grip over the actions born out of free will. I am inclined to forgive but I will never forget. The charge sheet of misconduct thrust upon me for contesting elections was just a series of mistakes that they kept committing. Humans are fallible and it was a natural corollary that once they made a mistake they had to go all the way to cover it up. The whistleblower is always victimized. This is the nature of the industry. I had no qualms of the actions that I was forced to take. Lessons will have to be learnt and if they still underestimate my prowess then they are incorrigible. I will continue to rejoice this new found freedom.

 
TG:  Do you regret joining the political process?
SMB: This question loses its meaning after my previous answer. I am just loving it.

 
TG:  What is your Satyagraha all about?  Is there any chance that WNS will work out a settlement with you?
SMB: The Satyagraha was to establish the Truth. I was bearing witness to the violations of human rights, suppression of democracy and transgression of our freedoms. WNS can never negotiate with me as I do not have a relationship with them anymore. Moreover Democracy is non negotiable. Never!

 
TG:  When you stood for the recent elections, you only had a few hundred rupees as your assets.  How are you managing now?
SMB: I am a minimalist and sustenance is not impossible, you just need to make up the mind. I had Rs.511.38 in my account on 31st March 2009. If I was to just sit and cry over my predicament then I think I would have died of dehydration by now. I consider myself very lucky and blessed. I will brave any difficulty with equanimity.

 
TG:  Do you see a long term future in the IT/BPO industry or in participatory politics?
SMB: The service industry is here to stay.  It will take another 50 years and numerous more recessions to get it to a full stop. All the present day conventional industries are linked by this sector so a natural death will involve the complete stop of all industry which can only happen if an Asteroid hits us. Politics is no longer a sacred work. People have attached wrong connotations to it now. People should understand that politics can only cleanse itself if people participated with full sincerity and a put the nation ahead of themselves. But I blame the architect of the new economic policy and NASSCOM for the present situation that we find ourselves in. The Government and industry will have to do lots of soul searching to set themselves right.

 
TG:  What has been the response to the Satyagraha from the company/colleagues/public/press?
SMB: Satyagraha was an eye opener. Never knowing the dynamics of such a political tool, I had to learn every step of the way. The groups I have been associated to were very useful in guiding me through it. On the 6th August, 2009 the company as usual tore up my placards and incited people to throw away my tent. I had to struggle to regain the public space and then, it was my dream project rolling like a well oiled machine. My colleagues know me well and were excited to see me there. But the new friends that I made in the 9 days were very energizing. All the people I spoke to were provoked and it did not take any convincing to make them aware of the grave violation that they had been through. Since I was doing a “Bear Witness Satyagraha” I had people who came up to me and offered food and money which I had to politely decline. There was one person who hugged me when I told him of the purpose. I got calls from my colleagues and I had to teach a colleague the meaning of Satyagraha (the new generation has lost touch with our independence struggle). I would like to thank my friends who took care of my hygiene and hunger. I was disappointed with the press. But still thank with all humility for the coverage I got. I perfectly understand the circumstances that they work from. Helen Keller’s words “life is a daring adventure or it is nothing” will typify my effort. I created an email address altruist.min@gmail.com so that people could express themselves. The “Pride of India” tree adorns the spot where I camped and the tree was planted at 12 midnight, 14th August 2009. The dawn of freedom had arrived but the struggle for liberation continues.

Santhosh’s campaign for the right to vote is being noticed, and the state machinery is said to be looking into this gross violation of democratic rights where voters were kept from exercising their right to vote.
 

(Quite separately, Techgoss had published the following story on August 11, 2009)

WNS: Only $1 million net in first quarter
By Annie Paul

NASSCOM lists WNS Global Services as holding the second position among the top 15 BPO Exporters in 2008 – 2009.  The same NASSCOM report places WNS on the 13th place among the Top 20 IT/BPO in employee numbers.  WNS was established in 1996 and has over 215 global clients.  So, how come this pure play BPO only had a $1 mill net in the first quarter of 2009?

Along with the captives, the crisis clouds are cast on pure play 3rd party BPO service providers who are finding it difficult to reduce costs and sustain margins. Genpact, India's largest BPO, with its second quarter results announced a revision in their revenue guidance from 10-15% to 6-9% for 2009. EXL Service Holdings announced a drop of 10% in revenues and 50% in profits for second quarter. And now, PE firm and principal shareholder Warburg Pincus with 50% stake and Nalanda Capital with 12.3% stake are looking to exit WNS Global Services from their portfolio in a hurry.

WNS, one of the largest pure-play 3rd party BPO providers in India with 21000+ employees reported $1 million net on a top line of $136 million for the 1st quarter of 2009. It could manage a net profit of only $9.5 million over annual revenue of $459.9 million for 2008. A key challenge is to repay the $200m loan taken to finance the purchase of Aviva Global Services in 8 semi-annual installments. Techgoss had learnt that the CEO's seat lies vacant with the 'soft move out' of co-founder Neeraj Bhargava at a strategic time. Already some of the top management in the BPO is desperately hunting for new roles which are in line with the predictable cost cutting measures adopted internally by WNS. Infosys and Cognizant are fast moving in to strengthen their BPO armory with WNS ammunition.

The economic crisis and IT-BPO companies have put pure play BPO’s like WNS, EXL and Genpact on the back-foot while competing for BPO deals and impacted their capacity to generate cash. This could potentially affect WNS position to make repayments for the Aviva deal and very well be the reason for Warburg and Nalanda looking to make an exit. EXL closes 2008 with a year on year revenue decline of 3.1%. Who’s next?