opportunities galore

sadhuji

A couple of news items in the recent past (last week to be more precise!) have surfaced that throw many accepted beliefs out of the window. These reports need to be studied by the various ministries involved and conduct some sort of manthan session to appreciate the fact that things are not really as bad as they are made out to be. The ministries are the ones for human resources and finance.

Yes, that should make one sit up and take notice.

The official number of educated unemployed in the country is mind boggling and the governments of the day, no matter which color they owe allegiance to, are troubled whenever the subject comes into the limelight. Therefore, when a report is published in one of the most prestigious of newspapers it surprised me. The heading of the report is ‘Indian geeks freelance their way to billions’. A rough estimate indicates that they earn at the rate of $5 per hour and, for a working day of 7 days spread out over 300 days in the year, each of them nets approximately $10,000 – translated into Indian rupees, it works out to nearly Rs 4.5 lakhs, without any outflow towards Income Tax! If the report is to be believed, (and there is no reason not to!) it seems there are more than one lakh software professionals who pursue this channel to line their nests. In all probability, they are registered with the Employment exchanges but prefer to retain the status of ‘Educated Unemployed’, for whatever reasons.

One more lucrative venture is that of being a part of the crowd on the TV shows. As a report under the heading of ‘Canned applause’ goes – co-coordinators pay anything from Rs 100 to Rs 400 for common guests,. The rate goes up to Rs 1500 per appearance for good looking ‘model crowd’. Once upon a time, film extras were roped in to make the crowd. Later with the advent of KBC, rules have changed, the crowds have learnt to demand for more and get them. The channels pay them handsomely and even accede to their requests.

Times have, indeed, changed. Junior artistes are not welcome any longer. The craze today is for well fed, well groomed members in the audience.

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mooning over a moon journey