--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], George Pinto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Fred makes an excellent point. India has lost tremendously because of the brain-drain. It is a fairness issue: why should Indian taxpayers subsidize the US economy? A poor rebuttal is that US-based Indian engineers give back to their alumni (IIT) or start companies in India with US technology. But that is not an even exchange. Not even close. Even if it was close, why should the Indian taxpayer be made to front the money for such a "global" transaction?
George ------------------------------------------------------------------- I was avoiding a debate about the brain drain, but when people are obviously ill informed about the prevailing conditions in India, its time to set the record straight. The competition among students in this country is intense, possibly more than any other country in the World, due to population pressures. You have to be a parent here to really understand it, and understand the compulsions of young people. Lets take the case of a young lad I know. He studied 10 hours a day for 2 years to prepare for the IIT joint entrance exam, and appeared for it together with 125,000 others for a seat for which there were about 700 vacancies. He was selected and his father paid his tuition fees for the 4 year degree course. It wasn't a substantial amount, but the course was by no means free, as some make it out to be. On graduation in 1995, he applied for a Masters degree in a prestigious US University and was selected with a teaching assistantship, which, in reality, meant that the course was free. At the same time, Indian campus recruiters were offering jobs in the Indian industry with a salary of Rs.8000 p.m. and a scooter loan! This lad chose the more exciting option, waltzed through the Masters degree, and is now successful in Silicon valley. What would you do in his place? Do you have such a bleeding heart and love for the motherland that you would prefer to work in Bangalore? Or would you volunteer to pay back the Govt. subsidy? Lastly, why are you so concerned about the Indian taxpayer? Are you one? If so, there are many more urgent issues to worry about other than high quality subsidised education, which is one of the few decent things the Govt. of India has to offer. Incidentally, the IIT fees have been hiked substantially, so this debate is becoming irrelevant. Cheers, Gilbert. ########################################################################## # 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 # ##########################################################################
