There are certain points that are missing in the article and the discussions. 1. Why should one (including author) presume that people migrate ONLY for money. There have been ample cases where scientists did not return to India due to lack of facilities. Many technocrats and managers stayed in US due to lack of options in India. 2. As pointed out by a few but missed in the melee are points realted to family. Mnay of my colleagues from IIT who stayed in US returned when children started going to school. Even in 80's stories of Tamils (they were large group of migrants at that time) returning when their daughter becomes 10 were common. Howevr, to maintain this trend, a lot needs to be done. Social, Political atmosphere in India needs to change a lot. Otherwise, disisslusioned people will start the brain drain all over again.
The apparent reason for IIT grads return to India is that American Economy slowdown. The inherent reasons is that most of the indians started realising that they remain "Foreign" in other countries for whatever period they live in those countries. Further, from career perspective, when IIT grads return to India for a job they find that critical/top positions have already been occupied for resident Indians!! Cultural adaptability also is an issue as there is a gap between Indian and American management style.
I have many collegues from IIT who like the ones the article mentions are content with managerial posts of technology company or managing hedge funds,mutual funds etc. Unless these IITians work and produce cutting edge solutions in technology,there is not much to be proud of.
One of the funny things that I have noticed recently about the jingoism surrounding IITs & IIMs in India is pass outs from these institutes are considered God. Let me make a simple, rational point.
Intelligence does not always equate to wealth & prosperity. Look at the top 10 Industrialists in India or for that matter anywhere in the world, not even one of them would qualify to come from an IIT or IIM background or for a top engineering or management school.
IIT is an engineering college, it trains ordinary human beings to become good Engineers in fields of Mechanical, Architectural, Chemical , Computer Science & so on. Similarly, IIM is a Management Institute, it trains ordinary college gradutes to learn best Management & leadership principles, the institute could offer.
An IIT or IIM degree is not a sure shot guarantee to automatic riches in the world, though it definitely provides an edge over other candidates. It instills the work-ethic of hard work & determination than anything else.
Ultimately, people who are hardworking, focused, ambitious and humble succeed irrespective they come from an IIT or Non-IIT background.
RE:IIT VS Rest of India
by s b on May 15, 2008 09:50 PM
I will give you a very honest answer. When I was a kid,I was very bright. Always ranked amongst top 2 in school and reasonable position in my state. I tried hard for IIT and did not get it. Eventually ended up in another reasonably reputed college.
Some time we tend to doctor data to prove what we believe in - example your quote "IIT is an engineering college, it trains ordinary human beings to become good Engineers in fields of Mechanical, Architectural, Chemical , Computer Science & so on. Similarly, IIM is a Management Institute, it trains ordinary college gradutes to learn best Management & leadership principles, the institute could offer".
Are you sure these are the ordinary human beings? When less then 1% of the most education oriented society get into IIT/IIM - you think they are ordinary?
Also are you sure top 10 industrialists in India are not IIT grads? What about Narayan Murthy?
RE:IIT VS Rest of India
by sandeep munshi on Jun 01, 2008 11:56 PM
what about Mukesh Ambani, Azim Premji; Mittal; none is them is from IIT or IIM. yes they employ people from these institutes. Do you know that Bill gates is a college dropout?
RE:IIT VS Rest of India
by roopendra bhargaw on May 15, 2008 08:20 PM
Very True "On". Atleast you can see the practical side of Life! I do have an IIT degree but the "Noise" these days are creating so much illusions in the mind of our coming generations.
And you are very apt in the headline itself. Rediff itself is creating a divide among Indians in the platform.
There is less pressure in India comparing to other countries in particularly for Indian born techies. You do not have to do lot of your day to day work like laundry. You will have either parents or relatives to look after kids. Moreover it is your country. After 40 years people also start looking emotional support also.
There also another problem for Indians getting the managerial position in US is little difficult then getting in India. So that is prompting some people to come back.
This is an individual choice and circumstances not depending on IIM, IIT or any other institutes. Obviously it is tough to leave a country when you have spent 22 golden periods of the life in India and surely miss it big time.Software engineers or any person living in Bangalore/mumbai/Delhi miss their small hometowns and wanted to go back.So its human tendency to always miss their supposedly "Last" home.
But who will explain Why I see 30% of population in ANY city in USA as Indians?? Aren't Indians the biggest immigrants?? I can see Indians in every part of the globe. How do you compare 60,00,000 immigrants compared to 677 IITians???
This is illusion of Author of this article that settling in America is a "DREAM".It depends on the phases of life, sometimes you need money, sometimes support, somtimes kid's priority, sometimes Girlfriends/Wifes, it changes with time. People coming back to India does not make India a better place nor do it make USA a bad place
RE:Brain Gain/Drain is not an parameter of judging a country
by Sanjay Agrawal on May 15, 2008 09:28 PM
Girlfriends is fine but how it could be wifes :)
RE:Brain Gain/Drain is not an parameter of judging a country
by Jagadesan Balakrishnan on May 16, 2008 11:58 PM
You have put it very nicely... i am inclined to agree....
Why IIT's and IIM's only, there is No shortage of new Talent and millionaires in India. Young millionaires from Reliance, TATA, Cognizant, Infy, Wipro, Satyam,HCL, HP,IBM, Tier-B Business schools MBA and Enginers Salaries matchs the US, $50-60k/yr for an average 10 year old experience programmer or Manager. Starting salaries for 22 year old IT programmer and MBAs even from tier-B business schools are in the 6-10 lakh rupee and go up by 20-40% a year after that. A sizable amount of Indian population 400 Million will be moving into the middle class. As more people gain access to education and get integrated into domestic demand/supply and country GDP.
RE:There is No shortage of new Talent in India.
by srihari padhy on May 15, 2008 07:14 PM
Very good message.Keep it up.I as NRI staying in Dubai,planning to come back to India.
RE:There is No shortage of new Talent in India.
by Jagadesan Balakrishnan on May 17, 2008 12:01 AM
I know... Dubai NRI's have no choice but to go back to India... not to mention about the rising living costs, low savings and bad working conditions...
backward in my views and many will not support this but having worked in india for four years and then working in UK now for last two years, there are many things to consider before you could say india is better
india may be a growing economy but is still a backward state. our mentality of slavery is deep. at office i still find employers prefering slaves to smart workers. most productive employee is who has no self dignity when asked to stay back late work and toil endlessly is always going to say yes
given all the plus and minus, working abroad is thousand times better than india. what you miss is just your home. rest all is your gain. even the fact that you do not get home food. at least you get healthy food to eat , fresh air etc all those count!!!!
IIT today not a hot in the job market. The reason they lack the basic integrity. They switch on jobs & levels very fast for few bucks. To settle down in any job takes 6 months to 1 year, by the time he leaves to another jopb. So now where IIT fellows did not have any foundation. Without any Basic foundation going upto the top position CEO overnight collapse. In Many companies they are requesting IIT professionals to search job & leave the company instead sacking them to avoid their reputation. Most of the IIt & IIM's are not practical. Most of the successive companies were promoted ;by uneducated & by hard working, Once they bought to some heights these IIt's were slowly entrusted to manage. The end result will be known after several years. after few years the promoters family learned the damage they did. then they enter & STRUGGLE TO CONTINUE OR EXISTANCE OF THE BUSINESS. iF NOT IT WILL LIQUIDATED. One Chain of hotel resorts were given IIM professional the promoter became ordinary shareholder from Chairman. Theme is do not go by tag of IIT or IIM many more unsong hero's are their. To make IIT & IIM's productive they should be sent to Army or defence forces for 3 years regouraous training to defecd their nation. then this fellow will know to defend his company. otherwise this concept will not enter hint his mind. Venkateswarlu Y 9841408222, 9442667038, 9885109018
RE:iit back to India
by penmetsa kumar on May 16, 2008 10:01 AM
IIT people i cant comment because in my working experience i found they are good at knowledge, but yes sure they are highly unstable in a single company but when it comes to IIMs or any MBA people i wont prefer them when it comes to management i prefres only a person who had come up with hardwork and had actually worked in field for few years. they knows whats required and whats not for a company. people who came out from a college with an MBA cant run a company like an infield experienced person. Management is not just learning principle of management. Its knowing the facts of work culture and psycology it comes from years of field experince not in college. yes these MBA people sure ruining the companies
RE:iit back to India
by Kumar Bhargava on May 15, 2008 05:58 PM
Hi Venkat Add to this 50 % quota candidates. Sure in the years to come, IITians will be like any other college grad. One has to look honestly at the quality of eduacted 40 years ago and now. Their ethics, command is totally lacking among the young. Any one will grow old (any animal does) but doesn't guarantee the class. Merit should only be the criterion and nothing else but economic support.
