PM invites Indians worldwide to return home

Noting that he prefers the term 'brain gain' to 'reverse brain drain', Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday thanked the Indian-American community for their contribution in building bridges between India and the United States and invited Indians worldwide to return home.

Prime Minister Singh highlighted the Five Es - economy, energy, environment, education and empowerment that forms a critical part of the next phase of the relationship between the two countries.

"In the past few years we have already experienced what has been called a reverse brain-drain. I would prefer to call this brain gain or, indeed, a meeting of minds," he said during his interaction with prominent members of the Indian-American community.

"Let me take this opportunity to extend an invitation to all Indian Americans and non-resident Indians who wish to return home to India in one capacity or another," Singh said at the event on the evening before he leaves Washington after being hosted by US President Barack Obama in the First State Visit of his administration.

The Prime Minister further noted that Indian-Americans no longer had to make a choice about whether to work in India or America. "Modern technology and our flexible policies have opened possibilities of working in both places," he noted.