The brain-drain continues

I remember the first time I heard the term lsquobraindrainrsquo It was in the 1980s and referred specifically to engineers graduating from some of our IITs leaving for the West where they were promised better jobs higher salaries and happier lives Not many of us thought about those Indians at the time because their lives seemed so far removed from our own Itrsquos all a far cry from how things stand today in an India where more citizens want to renounce their passports than ever beforeA minister recently informed the Lok Sabha that more than 600000 Indians changed their citizenship between 2017 and 2021 They did this because presumably India doesnrsquot offer dual citizenship which implies that these 600000 former citizens preferred giving up their identities and writing off their country of birth in favour of places that made them feel more secure in some wayWe only think of Indians abroad when one of them takes on a senior management role at some tech behemoth or the other Thatrsquos when the memes start to appear shared gleefully on WhatsApp as we pat ourselves on our backs for successes we have had no hand in To see an Indian at the top abroad is for many of us a vindication of who we all are We blind ourselves to the fact that those Indians had to leave us before they accomplished anything of importance What should be an indictment of how poorly India treats her citizens becomes a misplaced source of pride insteadItrsquos time we asked ourselves why so many of us are so desperate to leave a country we were born and raised in Why are 100000 Indians turning in their passports each year the numbers only rising when we are being repeatedly told that the future has never been brighter Why is India sliding down the passport index becoming more unattractive than ever before It stood at 74 in 2013 and is currently in the 90th spot among 199 which shows that a significant part of the world is as pessimistic about our country just like the 600000 who chose to leave it behindOne of the reasons we wonrsquot ask ourselves this question is how the answer will inadvertently embarrass us We all know why those Indians gave up their passports Itrsquos because they refused to accept the status quo and had the luxury of being able to do something about it They acknowledged that other countries had more to offermdashbe it employment job security or moneymdashand took the risk of leaving everything behind because the prospects outside our borders seemed betterTo say that our ministers live in denial is to absolve them of the need to look at how poorly they do their jobs A country that loses its citizens should be treated as a family whose members have chosen to break away It calls for introspection and emergency measures We lose more than just people when passports are returned We lose intellectual capital future leaders and the potential to transform millions of lives Indians who become successful abroad may be a matter of pride but should also be treated as Indians who were let down by a country they once called home It should upset us and it rarely doesI donrsquot resent the thousands of Indians who have chosen to leave I believe they had great reasons and am happy they managed to do what they thought was best for themselves and their families I am unhappy that the rest of us arenrsquot looking at their exodus with sadness though because it is only by asking ourselves difficult questions that we can finally start to get answersOur Prime Minister visited the United States a couple of years ago and asked Indians working there to consider returning to a new vibrant India He promised them brighter days and success that had supposedly been denied them in the past It doesnrsquot seem as if any of those Indians chose to take him up on his offer Itrsquos obvious that they considered the promises being made and rejected them as being hollow The fact that more Indians chose to follow their lead in the aftermath of that public declaration shows that more and more of us are beginning to reject the big lie that a majority of us continue to propagateIndia is not a golden land of promise Things are worse than ever before and itrsquos time we accepted that realityWhen he isnrsquot ranting about all things Mumbai Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet He tweets lindsaypereiraSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper