Is the gist of an incoherent article published in the “bold” and “fearless” Tehelka. The incoherence is sure to give the Resident Idiot a run for his money. While the Resident Idiot calls these souls Cyber Coolies, this enterprising author calls them a New Dalit Elite, whatever that means. It does however, mean something; according to the author, the Dalit Elite is summed up in these words:

I dislike the term cyber coolies used for this sophisticated labour force. That is a prejudiced outsider’s view. I think I have a better term. The dalit elite. I call them dalits because they share the primary condition of invisibility.

There you are! With all reforms and talks of reforms of bringing the Dalits to the mainstream, this man seems content to stick and use the label of Dalit in the same vein that the Resident Idiot used for the term Coolie: conveying a sense of indignity.  

I tried to figure out–with my limited faculties–what the author wants to say: unless I’ve got it wrong, he stresses on the brutality of call centre jobs, and directs his angst against the “ferocious realities of international capitalism.” Understandable. However, what’s the need for him to make baseless comparisons?

The facts. There are more prisoners in the state of California than in the UK, France and Spain all put together.

More facts (courtesy Encarta):

Area of California=423,971 sq km

Population=35,141,470

Area of Spain=505,990 sq km out of which 88% is water leaving only a land area of 60718.8 sq km

Population =  38,872,268.

Area of United Kingdom = 130,410 sq km

Population = 58.8 million

Area of France= 543,965 sq km

Population=  60,424,213

Dude, try to use statistics better the next time around.

And sample the following piece of superb logic.

Private corporations run prisons and the state pays a fee for each prisoner. Prisoners then work for the corporation for a low wage. Prisoners are paid $1.20-1.30 an hour (the same rates as most call centres in India) and the great advantage of having prison labour is that they are never late for work! If competition drives market value to the consumers benefit then in the international labour market prisoners in America become one important factor in defining labour value and price.

Never mind education, skills, experience, and other factors. If we are to believe this guy, Indian call centre workers=criminals lodged in US jails. Can I say that people employed in Indian call centres are criminals because the only thing that both these groups have in common is the wage rate? What if say tomorrow some other industry in India “sucked up the US jobs like the call centres have done at present?” Will this man apply the same “prisoner” logic? Taking the Indian call center worker=criminal/prisoner logic further brings me to a question: what label do we then apply to the corporations that employ these call center workers?

And another blatant display of ignorance (intentional?).

Prisoners and convicted felons in the US have rights equivalent to slaves.

The 14th Amendment of the US Constitution has some words on this issue.

Until relatively recently the view prevailed that a prisoner ”has, as a consequence of his crime, not only forfeited his liberty, but all his personal rights except those which the law in its humanity accords to him. He is for the time being the slave of the state.” … This view is not now the law, and may never have been wholly correct…In 1948 the Court declared that ”[l]awful incarceration brings about the necessary withdrawal or limitation of many privileges and rights”…”many,” indicated less than ”all,” and it was clear that the due process and equal protection clauses to some extent do apply to prisoners. More direct acknowledgment of constitutional protection came in 1972: ”[f]ederal courts sit not to supervise prisons but to enforce the constitutional rights of all ‘persons,’ which include prisoners. We are not unmindful that prison officials must be accorded latitude in the administration of prison affairs, and that prisoners necessarily are subject to appropriate rules and regulations. But persons in prison, like other individuals, have the right to petition the Government for redress of grievances. . . .” [...]  Prisoners have a right to be free of racial segregation in prisons, except for the necessities of prison security and discipline. They have the right to petition for redress of grievances, which includes access to the courts for purposes of presenting their complaints, … and to bring actions in federal courts to recover for damages wrongfully done them by prison administrators. And they have a right, circumscribed by legitimate prison administration considerations, to fair and regular treatment during their incarceration.

Get a life, man!