Humans have always nurtured the need to aggrandize themselves and locate newer avenues.
The humankind, from time eternal, has been moving on and migrating to fertile destinations that offer them greener pastures, not just in terms of agricultural output but also better economic opportunities.
Thousands of years ago, when the human species were taking baby steps and the various cultural distinctiveness was still flourishing, the human wandered from place to place.
Over time, several societies were formed, advancing from available natural resources.
Some settled utilising the optimum resources, whereas some took off, in search of richer fertile lands.
Bharat, our Motherland, has been blessed with innumerable natural wealth, and hence, the Sanatan religion that flourished on our soil, fortified the mankind of this land, to grow and ascend in their economical pursuits.
Megasthenes was an ancient Greek historian, diplomat, ethnographer and explorer during the Hellenistic period. Seleucus Nicator, the Hellenistic king, sent Megasthenes as an ambassador to the court of King Chandragupta Maurya in Bharat.
Deimachus replaced him and later, Fa Hein, Hiuen Tsang, I-Tsing, Al Masoodi, Al Beruni, Macro Polo, Ibn Batuta, Nicolo Conii, Abdul Razak, Francois Barner, Thomas Roe travelled to Bharat, as foreign envoys and spent several years in our country.
Christopher Columbus, set out on a voyage to discover Bharat, as Bharat, was considered an affluent land with plentiful resources. But, in 1492 CE, he landed in the land that is today known as North America. He was determined to find a direct water route to Asia from Western Europe, which he could not but got the opportunity to put North America (USA) on the world map.
In the eighteenth century, the East India Company entered Bharat, on the pretext of doing business here. However, their real intention was to colonise the nation and take control of its abundant resources.
For over hundred and fifty years, the nation, once ruled as a flourishing and resourceful land was turned into a British colony.
The industrialization introduced by the British, obstructed the self-sufficient villages, in the agro-dominated nation.
The long and tedious struggle for independence destroyed the economic pursuit of a huge population.
The British, while setting up their foot in Bharat, understood the indifferences among the various kingdoms of Bharatvarsh.
Thomas Babington McCaulay was a Historian, Poet and politician belonging to the WHIP party. While speaking in the British parliament on 2nd February 1835, he said :
” I have travelled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation.”
The British did everything possible to demean and decay the Bharatiya cultural legacy by dismantling its strength of heritage. The ancient languages were replaced by English which was introduced as the medium of education. The British required huge manpower in the administration in Bharat, thus the self-sufficient village economies were dismantled and the population moved to White Collar jobs.
In the late eighteenth century and mid-nineteenth century, Europe witnessed the process of change from an agrarian and handicraft economy to one dominated by industry and machine manufacturing.
This enhanced the trade and business opportunities in Western countries. The huge workforce, as skilled and semiskilled labourers, also acquired job opportunities that earned them multiple exchange currency value to those who migrated to Gulf countries and South East Asia. The emergence of the United States of America and the establishment of the British colony opened doors to a massive population across the world.
In 1947, Bharat attained independence from the British rule.
Bharat had just exempted itself from the clutches of British rule and as a democratic Union, was settling down with the colossal responsibility of carving its path towards turning into an ascending economy.
Yet, there were innumerable challenges as the country’s resources had been squeezed out and transferred to Europe to turn them into finished goods. Thus, the various self-sufficient businesses were ruined.
Post-independence too, building the business back on a progressive path, was a hard task. The economy of the country was in doldrums and hence, the new educated class that emerged among Bharatiya was searching for better options to grow.
In the beginning, more people migrated to the United Kingdom. But, from 1970, onwards, more people began migrating to the United States. By 1990, the number of people migrating to USA, was double that of those going to other countries.
Currently, the Bharatiya diaspora in the US, ( migrants plus those born to migrants on American land) forms a noticeable proportion of the population.)
According to a recent census of the USA, 5.4 million Bharatiya, live in the USA.
The average earning of a Bharatiya has been comparatively higher than those of other Asian communities.
In the ancient era, Bharat was considered a hub for learning.
Takshashila, Nalanda, Kashmir Smast, Valabhi University, Sharda Peeth, Pushpagiri Vihara, Somapura Mahavihara, Bikrampur Vihara, Jaggadala Mahavihara were few of the notable learning centres and students, seeking knowledge travelled from far and wide, to get education from here.
But, with foreign invasions, they were destroyed and dismantled to ashes. With British rule in Bharat, the significance of Bharatiya education was nullified.
Unfortunately, post-independence too, our Human Resource strategy had always been reflecting ‘Look West’, completely neglecting the Golden nuances of our regal heritage. Yet, not many steps to design and create an educational arena that would inspire students to not take admissions in foreign lands, were taken.
One of the important reasons for Bharatiya students moving overseas, for education, is due to tough competition for getting admission into the premier Bharatiya universities.
But, through scenario has witnessed colossal change since 2014.
Currently, there are 5868 Engineering and Technology institutions and 4804 colleges offering technical education. Many of them, have been built in the last ten years.
Of course, these, as compared to the population of 140 crores, seems low but at least, an atmosphere is created and it is attracting several universities to set up their branches in Bharat.
In the initial twenty-five years, of independent Bharat, three wars with Pakistan and one with China, brought dim times within the nation.
Following by Emergency, the political stability in the governance was challenged bitterly. Coalition Governments having entirely different ideologies formed government at the centre and this anarchy kind of situation brazed the educated youth to settle in foreign lands that offered them better opportunities and better lifestyles.
Merriam-Webster defines brain drain as “the departure of educated or professional people from one country, economic sector, or field for another, usually for better pay or living conditions.”
According to a government survey, as many as 12% of Scientists and 38% of Doctors in the US are Bharatiya and in NASA 36% or 4 out of 10 scientists are from Bharat.
In the corporate field 34% of employees of Microsoft, 28% of IBM, 17% at INTEL, 13% at XEROX and more than 12% at Google are of Bharatiya origin.
The job market in Bharat is highly competitive. Every year, lakhs of new job seekers enter the market and put in their best efforts to find opportunities in privileged companies. With an excessive supply of human resources, salaries have significantly come down.
Ironically, the demographic set up in our country has a larger percentage of youth and thus, the number seeking jobs increases as compared to that in the more developed countries, like the USA, Canada, UK, Australia etc. as their population, at large is much lesser than ours.
Hence, highly skilled Bharatiya youth are generally absorbed quickly, by noteworthy companies across the globe.
The key factor for increasing the ratio of students from Bharat, for the study abroad, can also be attributed to the work visa programme provided by some nations to international students.
A few years ago, it was Australia and recently, it was Canada, granting a very high ratio of approval to the Bharatiya students.
Between January and September 2021, almost 115,000 Bharatiya students received approval to study in Canada and the previous five years, the approval rate was 95% among the Bharatiya PGWP applicants.
Most frequently, the majority of the population migrates to first-world countries for better living standards, higher salaries and access to advanced technologies to enhance their future growth.
In the last decade, under the NDA Government, the silent revolution took place in Bharat and the nation turned into a global research, design and development hub. Earlier, the huge population of Bharat was considered the apt marketplace for foreign goods to sell but very aphonically, it was on the path of becoming a manufacturing focal point.
More than one hundred companies from across the world, have set up their R&D centres in Bharat, during the last five years.
Many of them employ over a thousand people. The R&D centre of GE (General Electrics) in Banglore that employs 1600 employees. Hence, Bharat is becoming a global knowledge production centre.
With such a huge opportunity, surfacing in Motherland, numerous young minds have chosen to return and work here. 40% of Ph.D’s employed by GE R&D are Bharatiya, who had migrated to the USA but have returned home, to the new avenues in Bharat.
Generally, an educated youth travels to a developed nation, for a better pay scale and a high standard of living.
Stating the experience of a prominent Scientist in the field of Polymer Science and a Padma Vibhushan awardee, Raghunath Anant Mashelkar, who had returned as a scientist at the age of 32 to join National Chemical Laboratory in 1976, the personal comforts and professional opportunities then, were unbelievably limited. My wife had to cook on a Kerosene stove as the long queue for the gas cylinder allocation took almost a year. The delivery of a Scooter took two years and the delivery of a Black & White Television took Six months, after booking. The waitlist period for telephone connection was three years. Such, hardship was a major obstacle for the young minds to never return.
But, in the last couple of years, Bharat has made amazing progress on the digital and infrastructure front. The commutation connectivity and digital and banking facilities have enhanced the comforts of returnees.
Technological creativity and productivity, just like scientific creativity and productivity, lie in the minds and abilities of a relatively small number of highly talented individuals. For years, we lost them to the Western world. We consoled ourselves by saying that the ‘small number does not matter’ but we did not realise Lotka’s law, that these small numbers, made a huge difference to the economies abroad. The 1% of our top talent lost, eventually resulted in a loss of 90% of our intellectual energy.
We hopelessly watched but couldn’t do anything as we had nothing to offer to prevent it. But, no more. Now, we have plenty to offer.
The Government since 2014, has realised these imperatives and has invested hugely in Science and Technology to strengthen the research infrastructure to integrate new knowledge and technologies into products and protect intellectual property extended to Science-based high-technology inventions.
As a result, Bharat emergence as a major global knowledge production centre has huge political, social, cultural economic and strategic imperatives.
Bharat has always been the “Land of Ideas” but lost its talent pool to the USA, UK and many Western countries as they were the “Land of Opportunities”.
But, no longer, with “Naya Bharat”, moving swiftly towards Viksit Bharat, the scenario is changing rapidly. As per the Goldman and Sachs predictions for 2050, Bharat, along with China and the USA, will be the three top economies of the world.
It is a great time to be a Bharatiya and a great time to be in Bharat.
