A Backlash Grows in Bangalore Over Tech Revolution

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In a city where most people can't afford cars, they fret that the government is building wider roads to speed tech workers around. When Bangalore's old airport struggled to handle growing passenger traffic, the state government ordered up a new $500 million facility--which opened in June--even though fewer than 5% of Bangaloreans have ever been inside an airplane. And while a shortage of affordable housing squeezes non-IT workers out of the city or into slums, both private and government construction is focused on high-rise apartments for the wealthy. The software industry "commands a disproportionate amount of influence," says Lalitha Kamath, an urban researcher and former lecturer at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

One vocal camp even maintains that the repetitive nature of writing software code has corrupted Bangalore's intellectual spirit. "These 20-year-olds are like coolies, doing the same job over and over," says CNR Rao, a Bangalorean scientist who has been an adviser to the Indian government for decades. The software industry, he says, has turned the city into a glorified sweatshop. "Where is the innovation?" he asks. "How does this contribute to anything but greed and commerce?"

The bar regulations aren't the only way native Bangaloreans are beginning to make outsiders feel unwelcome. The Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, a local group whose name means the Forum for the Protection of Karnataka (the state Bangalore is in), has had a resurgence in popularity as it has pushed IT companies to hire more Kannada-speakers. It has also convinced the government that road signs should be only in Kannada and English, not the Hindi of many of the city's newer residents. "We expect outsiders who come to Karnataka to speak Kannada," says Ganesh Chetan, a member of the group. "When you go to France, you learn French, don't you?"

The software industry counters that its influence has made the city a more livable place, for newcomers and longtime residents alike. Although the global credit crunch has slowed its growth, over the past decade the tech sector has created tens of thousands of jobs--for coders, call center employees, and office managers, of course, but also for security guards, construction workers, and domestic help. And with growing tax revenues, the city has been able to add bus lines and is building a subway system. "This is a city in transition, a city which reflects that while India can handle scarcity, it doesn't know how to handle prosperity," says Mohandas Pai, a board member at Infosys and a resident of Bangalore since the 1950s.

Some longtime residents say globalization's effect on Bangalore isn't entirely bad. Sitting in the cafeteria of a crowded theater where the box office displays a sold-out sign for a stage production, playwright and filmmaker Girish Karnad points out that young blood and money have sustained the bohemian spirit that many older residents yearn for. "You shut down the bars that play live music, and suddenly musicians have no income," he says. "How does that help Bangalore remain culturally relevant? This old Bangalore that people are nostalgic for, I don't remember it as being especially vibrant--just more comfortable and cheap."

Srivastava reports for BusinessWeek from New Delhi.