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Noted economists Sanjaya Baru and Karthik Muralidharan on Sunday, January 25, spoke at the Hyderabad Literary Festival about the liberalisation of Indian economy and how that gave rise to migration and diaspora.
The session titled ‘Liberal Economy, Illiberal Polity’ discussed the history of Indian elite migrating to the United States (US), UK and other countries and how that has had an impact on India’s economy.
“If we were to especially consider the Telugu community, several Telugus migrated abroad after the visa policy in India was liberalised in the mid 1960s. Doctors from Andhra Medical College, Osmania and Gandhi hospitals migrated abroad,” said Sanjaya, adding that the migration has always been viewed as a great achievement by Indians living in India, when in fact, it is a concern.
Karthik Muralidharan also brought up the Global Access to Talent from India (GATI) Foundation and added to Sanjaya’s argument of Indians leaving India. “There is however a catch here. Indian elite leaving India does affect the country’s economy. But if we were to view it from the lens of brain circulation, wherein they learn skills and reinvest that in India, then that is a good thing,” he said.
When asked why Indians leaving the country was necessarily a bad thing if they could at a later date contribute to India’s economy, Sanjaya Baru said there was no data to show that Indians return. “Forget data, even anecdotally speaking, I don’t hear of people returning unless it is very few people in the pharmaceutical industry and fewer in the IT industry. Additionally, the return doesn’t signify their involvement in either research and development (R&D) or skilling,” he said.
“This is not to say that it is wrong of Indian elites to leave India. It is understandable that they do. But while it makes sense as an individual choice, it also speaks about a collective failure,” Karthik added.