Indian government runs down fair play

WSJ reports that the Indian government is encouraging airlines in India to replace foreign pilots with native ones. "India's airlines, in a slump, are sending the following message to the cockpit: Foreign pilots, go home.

It's an abrupt turnaround from the past several years, when Western pilots looked to growing markets like India as saviors for their profession. While carriers in the U.S. and Europe struggled with the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, India was opening its skies to new domestic carriers -- and hiring hundreds of foreign pilots to fill the new planes with experienced fliers.

But in the past several months, India's airline industry has contracted as the economic crisis has hit. Now, the industry is trying to cut costs.

Part of the solution: Firing expensive, though often more experienced, foreign pilots. India's government has effectively endorsed the purge. In March, it ordered airlines to get rid of all foreign pilots by July 2010.

The purge is the latest in a string of similar moves around the world, as governments try to reduce the number of foreign workers to free up jobs for native-born citizens. In Malaysia, the government has frozen recruitment of workers from overseas in some sectors and asked employers to lay off foreigners instead of locals. Australia has said it intends to cut its intake of skilled migrants by 14% amid rising unemployment. Last month, the Irish government said it was imposing rules to make it tougher for foreigners to get and renew work permits.

Such moves are making life harder for employers that have relied on overseas workers to keep costs low or make up for shortages of skilled labor. The restrictions are also creating new hardships for the workers themselves. Many made enormous sacrifices to travel abroad in search of better employment and new opportunities."

**On one hand, the Indian government and Indian companies protested loudly when President Obama wanted to clean up the H1-B visa program. Now, the Indian folks are not showing any qualms about guarding their own jobs.**