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The story of mankind
Q: I am very tempted to take up anthropology at the BSc level, because the subject interests me, but what are the career prospects?
—Hrishita Vyas
A: If people, their behaviour, customs and rituals fascinate you, anthropology may well be your cup of tea. Mainly divided into two branches — cultural and physical, anthropology is a social science like history and sociology that studies human origins — particularly their physical characteristics, evolution, racial classification, historic and present-day geographic distribution, current social formations, group dynamics and cultural history.
Several universities offer anthropology — both at the BA as well as the BSc level. Students of anthropology can pursue postgraduate courses in the same subject or in sociology. With a masters degree in the subject, you can look for opportunities in teaching, anthropological research, museology and developmental work. Several companies employ anthropologists or human behaviour researchers to study potential customers and their requirements so that this knowledge can be translated into better products and services.
The information provided by anthropologists is valuable to the technologists, designers and marketing people in the organisation. The Anthropological Survey of India, museums, archives, NGOs, universities, hospitals and organisations such as the Indian Council for Medical Research, WHO, department of child and family welfare employ anthropologists as social scientists. There are 10 papers in Delhi University’s bachelors course, of which two — physical anthropology and social anthropology — are taught in the first year. There are three papers in the second year— social institutions, prehistoric anthropology and fundamentals of human origin and evolution. The third year papers include human genetics, human ecology, tribes and peasantry.
Nursing your BPO dreams
Q: I am doing BSc in nursing. Due to health reasons (acute rheumatoid arthritis), it will not be possible for me to work in a hospital or clinic. I have heard there are some options for medical professionals in the BPO sector. Is this true? I am in a fix.
—Devyani Chugh
A: More and more outsourcing firms in India are now hiring medical professionals — doctors and nurses — to supplement shrinking incomes from sectors that have traditionally opted for outsourcing like finance and banking. Outsourcing firms like Wipro BPO, TCS, Cognizant and HCL hire doctors, nurses and paramedics. The pay depends on the quality of work done, but it is common for the BPOs to offer the doctors double their present income. The average salary could go up to Rs 3 lakh per month. Those with pharmacy, medicine, dentistry and nursing are in demand.
A sea change in your career
Q: I am planning to join a pre-sea cadet course. What is the scope of a career in the merchant navy?
—Joy Mendonca
A: Currently there is a worldwide shortage of officers in the merchant navy. Shortage of qualified officers to man sea-going vessels continues to confront the Indian shipping industry, even as the ship owners are lining up significant investments to buy marine assets.
The worldwide demand for seafarers is estimated at 4.76 lakh officers as against an availability of 4.66 lakh. The shortfall of 10,000 officers may treble to 27,000 by 2015, as new orders for ships have increased and scraping has dropped.
India is unable to provide adequate number of seafarers to man the Indian flag vessels with most officers preferring to sail on board foreign flag vessels owing to discrepancy in taxation policies. Out of the total 26,900 officers, only 8,900 are employed in Indian flag vessels while 18,000 serve in foreign flag vessels. Indian officers are rated highly, particularly in segments such as speciality vessels and tankers that require quality seamen, where they even command a premium over their counterparts from Philippines, Russia and China.
Many ship manning and management companies look towards India as a major supplier of quality crew. Several of them have made commitments to the country’s premier training institutes. The scope for recruitment will go up as the export tonnage increases. And this is expected to continue well into 2010.
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