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Where art thou?? Oh! enlightened ones!!!!!

Sitting on a desk, having gone through hundreds of profiles and tens of interviews, literally pulling his hair out he gives up for the day. On his way back home, driving through the little deserted streets of the city he ponders upon his plight. He rues the scarcity of capable people in his country. Its been days and he hasn't been able to find them. Where are they? Where are these illustrious Indians he wonders. "Have I gone blind or is it a nationwide conspiracy to bring down my venture?"

He sits back on his chair and ponders on his laptop screen superficially going through the social lives of his "friends" on social networking sites. He comes across articles of how proud we should be that X% of Indians are in the NASA, on the moon in a NASA mission, in the pentagon and hell one of them( his acquaintances) has joined the US marines!!! The updates start to irk till he comes across one where a "fellow countryman" is talking about the various scams the country has recently seen and starts a discussion on what should be done and how unscrupulous people are, how ill mannered and erratic life here is and how minimal the returns are etc.

Right about then it starts to erupt. Something snaps within and he asks himself, "Where are these people who talk so well and so intelligently about our country? Oh! wait, they are all abroad!" . Having thought this he retired to his bed hoping that tomorrow he would find someone, at least one capable person.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

A once worshiped man, now forgotten here and worshiped everywhere else in the world including countries like Germany, had said "be the change you want to see in the world." Nobody wants to get their hands dirty but wants to see the dirt cleaned up. Nobody does it and asks why isn't it being done. I have nothing against people pursuing greater comforts under the pretense that they cant be had here, but the least you can spare me is the sermons on the country that belongs to us but I reside in. I am sorry I know no other way of saying this but just saying it. Pursue your dreams be happy, i have no grievances but please don't sermon about this place. I am here, fighting and i might either make it or may break down and join you people. I am not a great man. But the day I join i will make sure that i don't give sermons...

Comments

simplysimple said…
People have the right to complain, well they are abroad but they have lived in this county for last 20 25 years. Coming to the point talking is different from doing, people who talk would not have done a thing even if they were here, so nothing to feel bad about. I should not be talking as I have not done much for the country. I am also not saying that ppl abroad do nothing, there are ppl who want to and some do help ppl here. So, if we have to do something we must, any other opinion should neither affect our mind nor stop us from doing something we beleive in.
Si_Lee said…
the magnitude of what you do is not under scrutiny here as long as you are trying. See we cant shy away from the responsibility and talk about it .. i feel u lose the right in that case and that is purely what i feel so i will not go any lengtth to convince you on that, for it is personal choice. Hidden inside that strong statement is a weak plea to people , please stay back here. I have seen as an entrepreneur the markets here and the resources available and i have seen the quality of students in our universities and the number or proportion of those who leave the country ... i used to debate a lot over brain drain in college.. i used to debate for and against .. it was a topic then, but today i realise the difference between a topic and a reality. topic can be deliberated upon. reality has to be lived and experienced....
SKK said…
That people staying back will make things better is just nonsense. That is the way it may feel but unfortunately that is not the way it is. In fact there is evidence that brain drain helps the country as people who leave do give back in cash or kind. At the least they make life of their kin easier. It also leads to more cultural, political and economic exchanges.

Given that the country has most of its people staying back, including many "smart" ones, it is not clear why those who leave will make the country better by staying back.

In general it is best that people expend their energies where their efforts lead to maximum gains (create maximum value). Not sure why anyone has any other "responsibility". This is best for them and also the world.

People leave because of the conditions (lack of opportunity, for example). The conditions are not due to those who leave.

In a country of a billion there must be many with the entrepreneurial spirit. It is worth pondering why they are not catering to the markets you claim exist. BTW, resources, their absence or abundance, is usually of very little consequence.

If exodus of the smart (highly educated?) was the problem, then the solution to world poverty would be to allocate the smart ones to places around the world in accordance with how poor the place is. BTW, prosperity has nothing to do with people having big degrees (as brain drain usually refers to exodus of such people).

Finally, as long as their is an iota of truth in a NRI's rant, its repetition may not be such a bad thing. It may irritate but that is okay. :)
Si_Lee said…
People leave because of the conditions (lack of opportunity, for example). The conditions are not due to those who leave. what you mention here is a vicious circle ...

there is a reason why people live together in so called societies an nations and a lot of it is based on the word "responsibility".

No, the resources do not exist and yes the opportunities are there in abundance but not the right people to make the most of it.

People staying back may not for sure improve things but it sure as hell works out much better as a probability than a case where that probability is an improbability ..

cash and kind.. yes thats what this country needs more and more NRI's using Participatory notes and pumping money into the country via FII's and evading all forms of tax and causing wild market fluctuations..

India is not in need of money .. that exists and if anything look at the market trends during recession.. they are proof enough of money in the country .. India needs people and that beyond an ayota of doubt is a fact.. and no I dont appreciate an NRI saying things are bad.. I dont because i know he has stayed away from trying to do something about it .. your reasons are based on the desire of self alleviation .. if so stop talking about the country.. I am not asking people to take up arms or forego luxury. I am saying get all that here. In the process you will improve lives of many people here, maybe not the political scenario or the social scenario but if history has taught something, it is that economics drives them all ...
SKK said…
Your argument that India needs more people to make good of opportunities that exist must hold at the level of a group of states, a state, a town and so on. It is an argument that can be used to stop the flow of people across state boundaries.

If there were many opportunities and few people (as is the case in many rich economies) it would lead to immigration. You will not have to engineer it. It will happen. It has happened before.

People vote with their feet. They migrate to systems that reward hard work, allow individual freedoms and in result lead to a decent living. It is of course possible that people are only warming up to the opportunities in India. We already see increasing investment. Maybe that is a sign.

Keeping people who are wanting to leave tied to a flawed setup will only kill their productivity and hurt the entire world.

India is doing better than it was 20 years ago because of changes in the setup which now allows more economic freedoms. However, it is far from a paradise for a hard working honest individual to make a decent living.

Any value addition by anyone in the world must lead to greater prosperity in general. Unless a country closes itself from the outside world, it will benefit. For example, India has benefited from innovation that has taken place around the world, especially since it opened up its economy and allowed for competition.

Nations are demarcated by political boundaries, not by whom you feel responsibility towards. One may or may not feel responsibility towards others, but any attempt to impose on one a responsibility towards another will only lead to more misery.

Since you seem to think that economics is the driver then you should be least worried about people leaving.

"India needs people and that beyond an ayota of doubt is a fact" -- India is the second most populated country. I am assuming u mean that India needs scientists and engineers and doctors, especially those that leave India.

I do not think it does. These scientists are not the way out of poverty anyway. Even if they decide to come back tomorrow not much will change.

"I dont because i know he has stayed away from trying to do something about it .. your reasons are based on the desire of self alleviation .. if so stop talking about the country.."

An engineer who is most productive in the US is a greater boon to India than the same engineer being less productive in India. In fact it is best that the engineer moves to the where he is more productive. The engineer is doing his/her bit by maximizing his/her productivity.

Of course, one could argue that the engineer does not give enough in charity, but the issue of how much charity is different.

In the presence of rule of law, self alleviation, in general, cannot happen without the society being benefited.

Finally, people have known to be very capable of getting themselves out of poverty. The rich countries of today were not always rich. The economic and social experiments that took place in many of the now rich countries were very different from those that took place in the poorer world. The question is whether we want to learn what works or just stick to what has always failed.

In fact, one indicator that systems matter is of how well even not so highly educated immigrants do in the US.
Tushar Mangl said…
Our country is in ruins today, because the people have led it to this state. It is not only our deeds but our blatant apathy towards the state of affairs that will lead India into utter chaos
Anonymous said…
What a wonderful article? You have described very clearly. Good work. Thanks for sharing.
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