TECHNOLOGY: Norway Plans to Recruit IT Specialists from India

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Camilla Buzzi

OSLO, May 29 2001 (IPS) - Plans are underway in Norway to recruit qualified Information Technology (IT) specialists from India and Eastern Europe.

Norway lacks about 50,000 qualified computer experts, according to a recent study by the Norwegian School of Management (BI). The study estimates that the country will need about 12,000 new IT experts a year until 2003 in order to keep up with the growth in this sector in Europe.

In February, the Norwegian minister of business and trade Grete Knudsen revealed that the government is considering importing qualified IT personnel from India and Eastern Europe. She suggested that up to 5,000 people and their families would be allowed to settle in Norway for a period of up to five years.

But Terje Mikalsen, chairman of the board of IT-Fornebu, spent some time calming down widespread fears that a massive influx of Indians was underway in Norway.

The IT-Fornebu project is a cornerstone in Norway’s commitment to the ICT sector.

In 1999, the Norwegian parliament passed a law to develop a centre for knowledge and information technology at Fornebu, at the former Oslo airport, in the capital.

By 2005, IT-Fornebu will combine business, research and education activities as well as cultural facilities.

Knudsen’s proposal also sparked a discussion whether it’s appropriate for an industrialised country like Norway to import qualified labour from a developing country.

In 1995, the Norwegian authorities warned against the effects of labour emigration and brain drain from poorer countries.

The critics of the government’s proposal include Tore Linne Eriksen from the Centre of Multicultural and International Work at the Oslo University College. He is concerned about the long-term effect of the emigration of IT labour for the development of India’s own ICT-sector.

But researcher Amit Kumar Shrivastava from the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), argues that most of India’s best qualified IT graduates remain in the country, and that India is currently educating more specialists than the country needs.

During his visit to India on Apr 19-23, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg proposed “offshore development” as an option whereby Norwegian companies would “order” software from abroad.

“The IT revolution is not about bringing thousands of Indians to Norway, but about moving Norwegian work to India,” he pointed out during a visit to Wipro, an IT company, in Bangalore on India’s West coast.

Offshore co-operation already exists between Norwegian and Indian business. Since 1998, Wipro has been fixing the Norwegian Tax Office’s Y2K and developing new software for the agency.

The Department of Informatics (IfI) at the University of Oslo also entered into an exchange agreement with the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) during Stoltenberg’s visit. Under this agreement, students from either institute will receive part of their education at the other’s facility.

“We have every reason to be satisfied that IfI has developed such contacts. Traditionally, we haven’t had such agreements with countries like India. We consider this agreement a milestone,” vice-chancellor Inger Stray Lien was quoted as saying by the student newspaper Universita.

The new relationship between India and Norway could change the nature of relations between the two countries.

Historically the relations between India and Norway had been dominated by aid rather than by trade. India was Norway’s first bilateral aid recipient and one of its main aid partners until 1996.

In 2000, Norwegian aid to India stood at NOK 61.7 million (about 6.7 million dollars).

Business relations between the two countries have been limited. Norway’s involvement in Asia has largely centred on East and Southeast Asia, while India and South Asia have been left in the shadows.

Previous visits by Norwegian government representatives have not reversed this trend.

Trade between Norway and India decreased every year between 1997 and 1999. In 1999, total trade between the two countries stood at NOK 1.1 billion (about 118 million dollars).

Imports from India were down by 8 per cent between January 2000 and March 2001, while exports were down by 55.9 per cent, according to figures from the Norwegian Bureau of Statistics.

But now India seems to be developing into a potential market for Norwegian investors. Several leading Norway-based or Norwegian owned enterprises in the energy sector have been involved in projects in India, including GE Hydro, Kvaerner and Statoil. A number of their representatives accompanied Stoltenberg to India.

India has developed a hydropower capacity of 22,000 megawatts, less than Norway’s. The potential is more than 100,000 megawatts, says Per Andreas Berg, who is in-charge of global projects in GE Hydro.

GE Hydro – formerly owned by the Kvaerner Group and now part of General Electric – has been involved in the Uri Hydropower Corporation in Jammu and Kashmir State. The company also has placed a bid for the development of turbines for the Theesta hydropower plant in Sikkim province in Northeastern India.

Stoltenberg also witnessed the signing of an agreement that will allow Norway-based NCC International and German Hochtief to develop the Sawalkote hydropower project in Kashmir. The agreement is worth about NOK 6.5 million (about 700,000 dollars).

Anglo-Norwegian Kvaerner and its affiliates have been engaged in a number of activities in India, including the development of the Dabhol Power Project in Maharashtra State in Eastern India. The Dabhol gas power plant is owned by the American firm Emron and constructions are due to be ready by 2002. Kvaerner has been involved in a bid to expand the plant, a contract worth about NOK 1.8 billion (about 193 million dollars).

As a result of the growing Norwegian business involvement in India, Norwegian projects are also increasingly becoming the focus of controversies and conflicts.

This is characterised by the several hydropower projects in which Norwegians investments are involved, in particular in the strife-torn Kashmir region.

For instance, the well-known Indian writer Arundhati Roy criticised Stoltenberg during his visit for supporting hydropower development in India while opposing similar projects back home.

According to Shrivastava, “most projects in India, whether linked to hydropower, infrastructure or industrial development, are developed mainly in co-operation between local politicians, local elite and bureaucrats. Corruption is widespread, especially for administrative procedures at lower levels. Morals and ethics seldom play a prominent part in shaping the project”.

The most controversial Norwegian project in India is perhaps the one in Utkal Alumina. Utkal Alumina is a mining project for the development of bauxite and alumina – a component of aluminium – in Orissa in Eastern India. Norsk Hydro, the Norwegian firm involved in the project, is the largest shareholder which owns about 45 per cent of the shares. The other partners are Canadian Alcan and Indian Indal.

In India, confrontations between supporters and opponents of the project have ended in violence on several occasions, and culminated in a shooting incident on Dec 16, 2000 in the village of Maikanch during which the police shot several opponents of the Utkal Alumina project at a demonstration. Three people were killed while seven were seriously injured. Another 50 people were slightly injured. The incident is currently being investigated in anticipation of a trial.

In Norway, Norsk Hydro’s plans for Utkal Alumina have met with criticism from environmental and humanitarian groups.

Stoltenberg’s latest visit led to the decision to form a joint Indian-Norwegian commission for closer co-operation.

The commission will promote the exchange of knowledge and technology between the two countries in order to find means to strengthen the United Nations, eradicate poverty, promote trade and deal with issues related to the environment and the climate.

“In here lies a great potential for a new thinking and new dimensions in the relationship between India and Norway,” says Shrivastava.