It was like any other late night drive to the workplace. At least, that was what the 24 year old Prathiba Srikant Murthy-an employee of Hewlett Packard Global Delivery Application Services in Bangalore-might have thought of while leaving the house for work in a replacement vehicle driven by a new driver at around 2 a.m. on that fateful night. No one in the BPO industry had ever imagined that such a fate awaited her. Even Prathiba, for sure, didn't suspect any foul play when she called her colleague, Pavan in office to confirm that she is on her way to log in at the intended time of 3.30 a.m.

It is only a couple of days back the NASSCOM-McKinsey report announced that Indian ITeS sector had grown from $4 bn in 2002 to $17 bn by 2005. The report cheered everyone in the industry by stating that offshore IT and BPO exports tripled over the last five years. The industry is agog with predictions that India will soon become the preferred destination for global BPO and jobs will grow from one million to 10 million. All those connected with the BPO industry in one way or the other were indeed getting ready to capitalize on the prospect.

Amidst such high spirits, the news of the rape and gruesome murder of Prathiba by the taxi driver is the least expected. It sent chill wave across the country ahead in the grip of cold wave. It aroused loud protests, and of course, rightly. Call center employees took to streets protesting against the horror inflicted on the sanity of the nation. They all demanded adequate measures for security, particularly for women employees who incidentally said to constitute around 40% of the total BPO employment. Accusations and counter accusations were galore. Employers allege that the police were lax in their night patrolling. Police allege that it is the responsibility of the employers to check the antecedents of the drivers before hiring them for such sensitive jobs. Indeed the DCP of the south Bangalore commented on Prathiba's murder: "It was clear security lapse by the company". In the maze of these accusations what distinctly surfaced is that the reaction of our society at large is not in proportion to the heinous crime inflicted on the fair face of humanity. To be honest, we must admit that majority of us just passively received it as any other bad news of the day. And this is very unfortunate of a society in which its members are known to greet each other with Namaskar which implies "God in me welcomes the God in you"-a physical, mental, and intellectual surrender to that symbol of higher and it certainly does not even economically augur well for a country which wants to come to grips with itself.

Treasury Management Magazine, Hewlett Packard, Global Delivery Application Services, Indian ITeS Sector, BPO Industry, Cultural-Transitions, Business Enterprises, Close-knit Communities, Transportation Securities, International Development, Security Agencies, Social Responsibilities.