Make Indians pay for higher studies: Bhagwati

Monday, 14 April 2003, 19:30 IST
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NEW YORK: Indian students should pay for their higher education in the same manner as was done in the U.S. to avoid wastage of taxpayers' money, renowned economist Jagdish Bhagwati has said. If Indian students paid for higher education as it was in the U.S., it would ensure that the taxpayers' money was not wasted when there was large-scale migration of the educated, Bhagwati told a lecture on "Borders beyond control" at the Council of Foreign Relations here. Bhagwati is a professor at Columbia University who was involved in postulating concepts like TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) for the World Trade Organisation (WTO). "However, migration of skilled labour from countries like India, China and Brazil did not have that much negative impact as the vacuum was immediately filled up by the large available force there," maintained Bhagwati, a special advisor to the U.N. and external advisor to the WTO. "That is why migration of Indians to the Silicon Valley in the U.S. is an opportunity, but it is bad when it happens in poorly managed nations," Bhagwati pointed out. For instance, "the migration of doctors and nurses from Botswana and nurses from Jamaica has had a significant negative impact on these countries," he pointed out. Referring to early Indian migrants to the U.S., he said: "Most of them were in fact trained in the U.S. as they came on fellowships. We had to unlearn several of the things we had learnt in India." At the same time, he noted the "altruism" was exemplified by Indian IT entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley where millionaires were involved in humanitarian work through social and educational projects in India. Bhagwati also urged management rather than curtailing of international migration that was considered to be at the centre of global problems today. With rich countries trying to attract skilled immigrants and poor countries attempting to keep them at home, both are bound to fail unless they work for mutual benefit, Bhagwati pointed out. "Both sides are doomed to fail. Governments must stop trying to curtail migration and start managing it to seek benefits for all," he said.
Source: IANS
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