Years ago India and Pakistan declared themselves nuclear powers. At the time, Indian National Minister L.K. Advani warned Pakistan that one wrong move would result in a sub-continental Hiroshima. The hostile Indian stance, coupled with the aggressive Pakistani position, seemed like both countries would surely wage war for the first time in 17 years. There were some efforts at diplomacy -- in February 1999, both countries signed the "Lahore Declaration," a promise to end the conflict peacefully. But three months later, the Indian army patrol encountered fierce combat by Pakistanis in Kashmir. Things haven't looked rosy until now. On Nov. 26, 2003, both sides agreed to a general ceasefire. The countries have restarted the old Pakistan-India cricket matches, and they have resumed air and train links. This ceasefire, however, isn't your traditional one. It wasn't wrought by traditional means; rather, it was brought about by General Electric.
Remember all that fuss about outsourcing, all that warm air emanating from our politicians? Yeah, well, outsourcing may be bad for the United States, but that's fodder for another article. Outsourcing has been a good thing for India and Pakistan. Think back to the Y2K days. America recognized it had a problem: It needed someone to fix computers, do it on the cheap and speak English. Step forward, India. As New York Times columnist Tom Friedman argues, Y2K was the "mating dance" between India and America. After the Y2K bug was outsourced for fixing in India, the smart folks in the subcontinent came back, knocking on America's door: "Now that we've fixed your washing machine, how about your air conditioner, lawn mower and furnace?" Soon, India wasn't fixing a small glitch but America's IT industry.
Furthermore, it isn't an anomaly that few Indian Muslims have been found in the terrorist round ups. The detainee camp in Guantanamo Bay has few to no Indians, and the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks didn't include Indian Muslims. Maybe this is because India has magnificent Muslim role models. The president of India, the richest man in India (45th in the world) and several Bollywood actors and actresses are Muslim. Indian kids growing up want to follow in the steps of their role models. And their role models aren't just the folks in politics or in the movies. Their other role models, their parents, are the folks who work in businesses and call centers.
Calling center jobs are highly prestigious in India. To work for a multinational adds luster to your life. General Electric has created 20,000 jobs in India since the late 1990s. GE's CEO Jeff Immelt '78 said at the Greener Ventures Conference at Tuck that India represents the future, and that America needs to re-think how it does business because technology is getting cheaper.
These jobs don't just allow folks a better job but a stake in the world. When you're working 9 p.m. to 5 p.m. or odder hours like 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., you start to become invested in the world. In other words, all the folks who work for GE realize that they are now part of GE's International Supply Chain. If they miss a day of work -- or months of work because of a war between Pakistan and India -- then they will lose their paychecks. This new generation of Indians doesn't want to blow the world up because there is something at stake.
Don't just listen to me. Here's how GE describes its new technology center in Bangalore: "The John F. Welch Technology Centre, Bangalore, is General Electric's first and largest research and development center outside the United States. An integral part of GE Global Research, the United States' $80 million infrastructure at John F. Welch Technology Centre is a hub of technology." GE pours in $80 million (3,561,600,000 rupees) to Bangalore. Almost everyone in Bangalore understands that a safe India means more investment.
Therefore, Bangalore calls Delhi: "Dear Prime Minister Vajpayee, Please resume talks with Islamabad. It's in our nation's best interest for foreign investors to think of Mother India as reliable and safe. For Krishna's sake, we don't need to blow up our Holy Cow of outsourcing over a squabble with the Pakistanis."
This ain't imagination at work. GE really does bring good things to life.
