More Indians want to leave the country than ever before, and it’s time we began asking ourselves why
Why are 100,000 Indians turning in their passports each year, the numbers only rising...
I remember the first time I heard the term ‘brain-drain.’ 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. It’s all a far cry from how things stand today, in an India where more citizens want to renounce their passports than ever before.
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A minister recently informed the Lok Sabha that more than 600,000 Indians changed their citizenship between 2017 and 2021. They did this because, presumably, India doesn’t offer dual citizenship, which implies that these 600,000 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 way.
We only think of Indians abroad when one of them takes on a senior management role at some tech behemoth or the other. That’s 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 instead.
It’s time we asked ourselves why so many of us are so desperate to leave a country we were born and raised in. Why are 100,000 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 600,000 who chose to leave it behind.
One of the reasons we won’t ask ourselves this question is how the answer will inadvertently embarrass us. We all know why those Indians gave up their passports. It’s 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 offer—be it employment, job security, or money—and took the risk of leaving everything behind because the prospects outside our borders seemed better.
To 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 does.
I don’t 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 aren’t looking at their exodus with sadness though, because it is only by asking ourselves difficult questions that we can finally start to get answers.
Our 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 doesn’t seem as if any of those Indians chose to take him up on his offer. It’s 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 propagate.
India is not a golden land of promise. Things are worse than ever before, and it’s time we accepted that reality.
When he isn’t ranting about all things Mumbai, Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet. He tweets @lindsaypereira
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The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper
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