On Sat, 19 Jul 2003, gilbert wrote: > Hi, > Im no expert on IT, but I can tell you about the author--he is a well > known leftist, anti-Western, and anti Hindutva as well. The last > because he is anti religion in any form. Incidentally, whats wrong in > working as a coolie, if the pay is good and working conditions as > good if not better than back home. The author is against export of > manpower in any form, and, had, some time ago, written that IIT > graduates should not be allowed to go abroad unless they refund the > cost of their education to the Government. He does not subscribe to > the theory that the brain will always leave the drain. Best of luck > to him. > cheers, Gilbert.
Gilbert, It's interesting how issues get all mixed up, above. 1. Hindutva is not a religion, as you seem to suggest. It's a politicised ideology. Believing otherwise is like treating anti-Semitism, Zionism or the Ku Klux Klan as a religion. 2. "What's wrong in working as a coolie, if the pay is good..." This is an argument we often adopt for *others*. Would you like your children to get jobs as coolies? I wouldn't. If it's not good for us, it shouldn't be justified for others. 3. Can the "pay" be "good" for jobs like this? Even good is a relative term? How many people in the West would like to remain as "coolies" if they got a chance to move out of that occupation? Do we opt to forget what indenture labour meant to a previous generation of Indians, and under what conditions they were taken there? 4. If you're a taxpayer back in India, it makes eminent sense to agree that tonnes of money from the state's exchequer shouldn't go into a highly subsidised tech-education system that produces some of the best engineers in the world, but of whom upto 80% leave India for greener pastures abroad. If they want to leave, by all means. Let them pay for their highly-subsidised education and leave. Should Indian money go to subsidise the already-affluent West by way of providing them top class skills for free? 5. "The brain will always leave the drain." A nice play on words. But it simply overlooks the reality -- the brain-drain is all about *brains* from the Third World being drained out of the very countries that spend phenomenal amounts (more so by Third World standards) to create them. Often because the *pull* pressures are so great and tempting, that few could resist. After all, it's not every Indian (living in 'the drain'?) who gets a chance to migrate to the US... but only those professions whom the US sees as desirable for itself. In a shrinking world, where the Internet allows people to be in closer touch with home, understand what's going on and even probably contribute for afar or subsequent to their return, we need to see if and how the brain-drain can be reversed. Could the skills of expat-Goans, for instance, be harnessed to do something positive for Goa? To make it a better place within *our* generation? Probably yes. But for that we need to start asking the right questions, and identify the issues properly. FN PS: BTW, did you study in India? I did, am grateful for it, and am still paying back the debt... There are a hundred-and-one ways to do this. ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
