While the rest of the country blends in the theme of the Indian tri-colour, and the glory of a long achieved victory alights the face of every bretherein, amidst nostalgia, it is indeed difficult for a countryman to continue to be bound by work-writes Debopriya Nandy.

 And while the 15th of August is supposed to be a national holiday - Independence Day -  a lot of IT firms and BPO companies operating within the country are staying open.

This called for another protest on the 61st anniversary of Indian independence .Perhaps as a replica of the 'Sepoys' Mutiny', revolt, the Labour Union declared its protest, through the  words of K S Manjunath (Labour Commissioner) and  B N Bachche Gowda (Labour Minister). Companies are warned of strict actions that will be taken against them, if they do not declare 'an off ' on Independence Day this Friday. 

While national companies do stick with the rule of remainining closed on anniversaries of the Independence Day, what about the international business transactions which are every moment depended on online interactions? This is the problem faced by BPOs and also the global IT companies. Allotting a holiday to their entire labour force, on the  same day, could prove to be disastrous.

 In keeping with this fact and also consistent with the rights of their employees, Infosys declared a holiday for a mass of its employees, and keeping on skeleton staff, who will be compensated with a holiday on an alternate day, said a spokesperson of the company. Even the software company Intel has confirmed holiday for its staff. Whereas a conflict displays from companies like Hewlett Packard and Mind Tree, where employers claimed to be closed but workers complained they have not been informed of any such decision. X