Whom do I ask this question to? Should I ask the Chief Minister of Karnataka Sri S M Krishna? Or should I ask people of Karnataka? Or should I ask myself?

Yes, I definitely feel so. I know that many of you would get annoyed with this answer. But the tragedy is that this is true. To the world Bangalore is known as the Silicon Valley of Asia and is also known as the fastest growing city in Asia. But let's just try to look on the other side of this growth.

Is this growth a boon to Kannadigas or a curse to Kannadigas? I have been working in Information Technology industry for nearly 6 years now. In these years, I had the opportunity to work for many companies. Believe me, none of these companies I worked for had more than 10 per cent of the staff who were Kannadigas. Is it that Kannadigas are not fit to work in IT industry or IT-related industries? Is it that Kannadigas are not intelligent and smart enough to work in these industries? Well some times I feel so. Or else why would a company (for which I was working) take pains to go all the way to Thiruvananthapuram, conduct campus interview and recruit fresh graduates and get them to Bangalore. Bangalore is supposed to have 100-plus Engineering colleges and I think that more than 15,000 Engineering students from Karnataka pass out every year. Aren't these students fit enough to get a job in Bangalore (Karnataka)?

At my work place I have to search for people who can speak Kannada. Isn't this an unfortunate situation? Do we have to search for our fellow men in our own land? Coming out of the office, I went to a juice shop and asked him for a mango juice in Kannada, the guy replied back to me in English. I asked him as to whether he knows Kannada. He smiled at me and said, that he knows Hindi, English, Malayalam, and Tamil but not Kannada. This made me realise that not only this is the scene in Information Technology industry but also outside this industry.

There are about 300 recognised IT firms in Bangalore, but it is sad to note that very few companies are headed by Kannadigas, like Infosys (Narayana Murthy) and Phoenix (Suresh Bangalore). This means not only that Kannadigas are unfit workers but also are unfit to head companies.

I was transferred to Chennai from my previous company. To my surprise people were conducting technical discussions in Tamil. When I told a colleague about this, he told me that not only the technical discussions were held in Tamil, but technical interviews were also held in Tamil.

I happened to go to Tidal Park at Chennai. To my surprise I was able to hear traces of English, Hindi. Or else it was totally Tamil. I also heard the same is the case in Technology Park at Thiruvananthapuram where you get to hear only Malayalam. But the moment you enter International Technology Park, Bangalore, you can find the security guard at the gate speaking to you in English. When you try to speak to him in Kannada, he will answer you back in Hindi. Ask him where he is from, with a broad smile, showing all his teeth, he says from Uttar Pradesh.

As such, Kannada is not one of the official languages in the Technology Park. Other South Indian languages along with Hindi and English are recognised as official languages here. I was told by someone that industrial and labour rules emphasise that industries and establishments set up in a region should give prominence to the local inhabitants. At least 60 per cent of the work force should be filled by local people depending upon the availability of the skill. Are our people so unskilled that companies find unsuitable to hire them? Can't we make up to at least half this mark?

I happened to get a chain mail some days back. And in that mail it was stated that only 37 per cent in Bangalore were Kannadigas or people who speak Kannada. Don't you know that we should bid for minority status? There is this famous FM radio station in Bangalore called Radio City. I got to learn that only two of the RJs know Kannada. Isn't it a shame that the people who present programmes in this region are not from this region and don't know the local language?

Don't you all feel that at this rate Kannada would enter into the book of extinct languages? Don't you feel that we all would have identity crisis? Don't you think that our own future generations would suffer? When a country like the United States of America can take steps to safeguard the interest of its people by reducing H1B Visas and scrapping L1s, doesn't our state politicians bear a responsibility on their shoulders to safeguard the interests of the people of Karnataka? Isn't there a need for the government of Karnataka to impose some kind of restrictions on the recruitment policies in order to safeguard Kannadigas?

*** The senses collect the surface facts of matter... It was sensation; when memory came, it was experience; when mind acted, it was knowledge; when mind acted on it as knowledge, it was thought.

-Ralf Waldo Emerson