Does Indian staying abroad really make Indian proud?
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One cannot obviously resist the surge of pride arising in one’s heart as one hears the names of the hundreds upon thousands of Indians or people of Indian origin who have left an indelible stamp of their genius on the countries where they have settled down. And these Indian celebrities cover the entire range of human activities from politics, administration, science and technology to literature and art.
They could be Mr. Anerood Jugnauth, Prime Minister of Mauritius or Mr. S.R. Nathan, the President of Singapore (During the years when Singapore was ruled by Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, it had a President of Indian origin, Mr. Devan Nair), Mr. Mahendra P. Choudhry, former Prime Minister of Fiji, Mr. Cheddi Jagan of Guyana, Mr. Sridath Ramphal, former Secretary-General of the commonwealth or Mr. Amartya Sen and Mr. V.S. Naipaul, the Nobel Prize winners. While our Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and people of Indian origin have contributed the best of their brain and brawn to the country of their choice, they have seen to it that they still retain and preserve their roots in India.
What is it that made thousands of Indians migrate to distant lands? During the days of the British Raj, Indians were used as indentured labourers and taken overseas. It has, however, been a different story in the 20th century particularly after Independence when many skilled Indians migrated to the USA and the UK and other countries because of the availability of better opportunities in foreign countries.
Though it is an unpalatable truth, it cannot be denied that many scientists and technologists, confined, cabined and cribbed by red tape found that atmosphere in India hardly redounded to the full tapping of their resources, and they looked for the first opportunity to find fresh pastures in a country where they could grow. And we did nothing to prevent this ‘brain drain.
Over the years, this cream of Indian talent grew in stature contributing to the growth in the different facets in the country of their adoption while preserving the emotional bonds and cultural affinity with the country of their origin. There need not be any regret now since such brilliant men and women, wherever they are in today’s global village, can contribute their best to the pinnacle of human endeavor.
It was left to the Vajpayee government to take the initiative to summon a global meet of NRIs and People of Indian Origin (PIO) in New Delhi in January 2003. At this historic meeting the Prime Minister announced government’s decision to grant dual citizenship to people of Indian origin in select countries.
It was indicated that as an initial step “dual passports” would be allowed for Indian origin citizens of the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and a couple of other countries. (The Union Cabinet has since decided (May 6,2003) to grant dual citizenship, on request, to PIO living in eight countries UK, USA, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, Italy, Australia and Finland).
At this meeting, the Prime Minister said that the Indian diaspora should be loyal to their country of adoption, integrating harmoniously into the political, social and economic life of the host country, while preserving and cherishing their civilisational heritage. He conceded that the overseas Indians were more innovative, productive and successful than those at home.
“They prod us to create a business, investment and economic climate which are conducive to success anywhere else in the world. We are prepared to respond to your expectations from India…We do not want your riches, we want the richness of your experience.”
And we need to do everything possible to promote talent unhindered by bureaucratic red tape. Mere statements that we would encourage talent do not take us anywhere. Let’s ask ourselves; why is that most of the alumni of our Indian Institutes of Technology find working abroad more rewarding than working in India? Our country needs to create the conditions that induce citizens to stay at home instead of migrating.
If it does not, one can’t blame people who choose to leave their country. Let us remember the great truth that education is a life-long process and does not just end with the mere acquisition of a degree from a university. We go on learning at every stage of life and discover new meaning in what we learnt earlier. Many of the skills are learnt at the work place where we are face to face with the demands of a practical world.
If a country lacks on economic climate that demands and rewards skills, all the talent we have learnt will have gone waste.
Scientists like physicist Subramanian Chandrasekhar and geneticist Hargobind Khorana migrated to the USA and had their talents recognised and encouraged. The pinnacle came when they won Nobel Prizes. Had they remained in India, they would not have had the facilities or the intellectual climate to develop their enormous skills. Take our computer software that enjoys a place of pride the world over.
The bitter truth is that it was created largely in USA, and could never have come up otherwise. Our software potential was recognised way back in 1970s, yet nothing happened for decades. One might ask ‘why. Just because software skills can be developed only where there is a culture of aggressive computerisation to serve customers better. But the bureaucratic stranglehold in India killed competition and neither the public sector nor the private sector had any incentive to computerise.
And highly advanced countries like USA have shown that talent does not peter out with advancing age. Given encouragement, talent will grow and gets fine-tuned with age. Take the case of Dr. Calympudi R. Rao who came to US in 1980 after superannuation, having retired at 60 as Director of Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata.
On June 12, 2002, he was honoured by the President of the USA, George W. Bush, conferring on him the President’s National Medal for Science. Four other scientists of Indian origin—physicist Subramanian Chandrasekhar, geneticist Hargobind Khorana, Bell Lab’s Mr. C. Kumar Patel and Mr. Arun Natravali—have also been honoured, but still Rao’s was an exception.
Rao’s contribution to the world of statistics includes such eponymous terms as Rao Distance, Rao’s Score Test, Cramer-Rao Inequality, Rao-Blackwellization, and Fisher- Rao Theorem.
Typically, at Dr. Rao’s age most Indian elders visit America to play with their NRI grandchildren. Dr. Rao, too, had his grandchildren his daughter teaches at Buffalo and his son works for a computer company in Pittsburgh. Dr. Rao was invited to join the statistics faculty at the University of Pittsburgh at 62, went on to a chair at Pennsylvania State University at 70, became a US citizen in 1995 at 75, and won the presidential laurels at 82.
As many as 28 honorary doctoral degrees have been conferred on Dr. Rao by universities in 16 countries around the world. His laurels include the Padma Vibhushan in 2001, the Fellowship of the Royal Society UK, and the National Academy of Sciences, the USA.
A US citizen at present, Dr. Rao keeps visiting his homeland every now and then in a year, mainly to give lectures in various universities. His dream project, in the form of the Advanced Institute for Mathematical Studies and Computer Science, is fast coming up in home State at Hyderabad.
Last year, the US President also announced the selection of Mr. Arun Netravali, former President of Bell Labs and now chief scientist at Lucent Technologies, as one of 2002’s recipients of the US National Medal of Technology.
Mr. Netravali was cited for his “pioneering contributions that transformed TV from analogue to digital, enabling numerous integrated circuits, systems and services in broadcast TV, CATV, DBS, HDTV (high-definition television), and multimedia over the Internet; and for technical expertise and leadership, which have kept Bell Labs at the forefront in communication technology”.
The National Medal of Technology recognises men and women who embody the spirit of American innovation and have advanced the nation’s global competitiveness. The medal recognises ground breaking contributions that help commercialise technologies, create jobs, improve productivity and stimulate the nation’s highest honour for achievement in technology, was established by Congress in 1980.
“His contribution is playing a significant role in today’s digital video revolution” says Lucent chief executive officer, Mr. Patricia Russo.
Mr. Netravali has received numerous other awards including the Alexander Graham Bell Medal, the National Association of Software and Services Companies Medal (India) and the Padma Bhushan.
He holds more than 70 parents in the area of computer networks, human interfaces to machines, picture processing and digital video and television. He received his Bachelor’s degree from IIT, Mumbai and Master’s and Doctorate degrees from Rice University in Houston, Texas, all in electrical engineering.
The latest edition of Asian ‘Who’s Who International’ published earlier in December 2002 contains the names of 2,000 Indian achievers in the UK. When the first one was printed in 1976, there were just 175. Among the 2,000 listed in “who’s Who” are people such as Ms. Meera Syal, a successful author and playwright, Ms. Gurinder Chadha, who began her career as a news reporter with BBC Radio.
Her latest film is the smash hit comedy movie Bend It like Beckham, one of the highest grossing home-produced films of 2002. One of the eminent NRIs honoured by the Indian Prime Minister at the Indian Diaspora Convention in New Delhi during the January 9-11, 2003 was Lord Dholakia, President of the Liberal Democrats.
The peer, who was appointed Baron Dholakia of Waltham Brooks and was introduced to the House of Lords in October 1997, was named “Asian of the Year” in November 2000. When Lord Dholakia was elected President of the Liberal Democrats in September 2000, he made history as the first ethnic minority president of a British political party. In July 2002, he was reelected unopposed to the post for a second two-year term.
People of Indian Origin (PIO) and Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) are 20 million strong and are spread over as many as 110 countries. It was on January 9, that Gandhiji returned from South Africa to lead India’s struggle for freedom and accordingly we have decided to celebrate January 9 every year as Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.
The idea is to promote greater interaction with NRIs and PIO, create greater awareness among the people in India about the achievements of their brethren overseas, create a network of the Indian diaspora and recognise the contributions made by Indians abroad towards improving India’s relationship with other countries.
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Filed Under: PIO Diaspora
