Influence of lockdown on IT hub Bengaluru a 12 months after, Telecom Information, ET Telecom

Bengaluru: Life has come full circle for Nawaz (title modified), because the COVID induced lockdown completes a 12 months. The coronavirus took a lethal toll on this 47-year-old software program engineer in Bengaluru, thought-about the Silicon Metropolis of India with most IT companies working right here.

“I misplaced my job first after which my father in September final 12 months as a consequence of coronavirus,” Nawaz instructed .

The IT skilled, who’s now jobless, mentioned demonetisation had initially affected his employer agency after which the GST dealt a ultimate blow.

He had been working as a freelancer for varied companies until the lockdown was imposed.

“After lockdown the businesses stopped giving me any job and I used to be fully depending on my father’s pension,” Nawaz mentioned.

Dealing with a mid-career disaster, Nawaz couldn’t land a good job.He tried his hand on enterprise, solely to endure big losses.”I do not know what to do subsequent,” Nawaz mentioned.

In keeping with the Karnataka State IT/ITeS Workers Union (KITU), no less than 20,000 software program engineers misplaced their jobs in Bengaluru.

“We’re preventing the case of 47 IT workers who misplaced their jobs.Their matter is pending earlier than the labour commissioner however others haven’t approached,” a senior workplace bearer of KITU instructed on the situation of anonymity.

In keeping with her, many IT giants in Bengaluru retrenched IT professionals in bulk final 12 months in the course of the COVID lockdown whereas there have been pay cuts in lots of IT/ITES companies.

That is apart from the layoffs in varied different manufacturing sectors within the state.

Karnataka had in December final 12 months seen unprecedented violence on the Apple Inc contractor manufacturing agency Wistron at Narasapura Industrial Space in Kolar the place workers went on rampage over wage associated points.

Wistron was shut since then and reopened solely just lately.The corporate eliminated its vp for the poor dealing with of the scenario.

There was a lockout on the Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) owing to labour strike for a lot of months. The logjam ended solely firstly of March.

The pattern was not restricted to the non-public sector alone.

Workers of the state highway transport companies too went on a strike for nearly three days final 12 months with varied calls for together with pay on par with the state authorities workers.

The strike had introduced town to its knees and compelled the federal government to provide you with an assurance that their calls for could be met.

AITUC state basic secretary D A Vijay Bhaskar mentioned within the garment sector about two lakh staff, 3.5 lakh within the industrial sector, particularly within the vehicle sector, and about 3 lakh development staff engaged on contract with main builders misplaced their jobs as a consequence of COVID induced lockdown.

“There’s a big variety of folks from unorganised sector who too have been rendered jobless within the final one 12 months.”

“Many corporations are giving half wage even in the present day to their workers as they may not get better financially,” Bhaskar mentioned.