Reverse Brain Drain - Indian Diaspora Returning To India
- By Sam George
- Published 01/19/2007
Sam George
Sam George is the Executive Director of PARIVAR International - a non-profit initiative to address the needs of youth and families of Asian Indian origin in North America and to the Asian Indian community worldwide. Parivar means family in many Indian languages. Sam George also serves as one of the founding directors of Urban India Ministries
www.UrbanIndia.org Sam George and his wife, Mary have spoken at premarital and family events in many countries. They are parents of two boys and make their home in the northern suburbs of Chicago. Sam is the author of the book “Understanding the Coconut Generation: Ministry to the Americanized Asian Indians." Check out this website www.CoconutGeneration.com Coconut (brown on the outside, white on the inside) is a metaphor for the Americanized Asian Indians. Sam George can be reached at sam@coconutgeneration.com
Last month, a good friend returned to Chicago after 6 months on an assignment in Hyderabad. Having grown up entirely in United States (in Chicago and briefly in California for college), he was excited about the opportunity to go to India on work. He used superlatives to describe his experience there - the work culture, professionalism, skill etc. Of course, he wants to go back.
Most of 80s and 90s we heard a lot of brain drain. India loosing its brightest minds to the Western nations. American universities and corporations tapped into brain power of India by offering them opportunities for professional excellence. And we did well.
But in recent years there has been a reversal of this phenomena, rightly called reverse brain drain. In this column, I had mentioned many recent reversal trends among global Indian diaspora. But this one is big… it is not just an American phenomena, but it is happening among Indians in Britians. See this recent report. The booming economy of India and the Ministry for Overseas Indians’ attempt to connect up with its long lost cousins are yielding positive results in attracting wealth, knowledge and experience of the global Indian diaspora. (PBD - the annual party of overseas Indians was held in New Delhi last week.) No wonder sites like www.return2india.org, R2I Club and other Indian portal regularly carry features on returning Indians.
I asked my friend if he heard about abduction of son of a returning Indian techy in Delhi. He brushed it off saying that is lots of media hype and a very strange incident. He is all ready to be posted again on assignment, if not he is looking for a job in India!
Indian Americans are also returning to India for Christian ministry. See article Indian Nachos on the Coconut Generation website. Trained and exposed in some of the best places, the emerging generation is catching a vision of India. They are returning to India not as land of their forefathers, but as a place where the Spirit is moving and they sense a strange tugging in their heart to be part of that spiritual awakening of our times. Do you want to be part of the action (of the Spirit)?
