In addition to reopening China’s premier educational institutions, its scientific and technological research institutes, and professional-capacity-building institutions, Deng also took advantage of a congenial relationship with the United States and the West to send a large number of young Chinese to study at their premier universities.
For a number of years, China was like a veritable sponge soaking up knowledge, technology, and skills from wherever it could. There was a sense of modesty, even humility, in seeking learning from advanced nations. More importantly, China put in place an ecosystem that enabled the adoption of advanced knowledge, skills and technologies to be followed by learning and assimilation, paving the way eventually to independent knowledge creation that we witness today. Joint ventures that were set up with Western companies became training platforms for the Chinese partner and Chinese personnel. Later, they would become innovators, surpassing their foreign counterparts.
A former chairman of a development bank in China explained that the bulk of capital flows into China had come not from the West but from greater China, consisting of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. But Western investment brought advanced technology, and modern management skills whether through foreign subsidiaries or through joint ventures. The Chinese state insisted on technology transfer as a condition for access to the Chinese market. This contributed to the transformation of the Chinese economy.
In the initial phase of its reform and opening up, China did not mind a large cohort of those studying abroad choosing to stay and work in the host countries. However, over a period of time, China created centres of excellence, offering state-of-the-art research facilities and attractive salaries. Several of these institutions invited foreign scientists to come to China to do advanced research, even set up research laboratories at Chinese government expense, with the only condition being that they should have a number of young Chinese researchers work together with them.
An Indian-American scientist with several high-tech patents to his credit used to spend a few months every year at Tsinghua University, China’s premier technology and engineering institution, and had, over several years, trained some 2,000 Chinese scientists who are still in touch with him. They have gone on to do cutting-edge research themselves. It is only recently that the United States government has clamped down on this practice.
In contrast, India has not been able to tap into the vast and unmatched pool of its diaspora, which boasts advanced knowledge and skills in a multiplicity of domains. I know from personal experience that several of them are eager to share their knowledge with their compatriots without expecting large financial recompense. But they want proper facilities for research. They want to be welcomed in the institutions to which they may be assigned. But personnel in several of these institutions feel threatened by such highly accomplished individuals, afraid of being shown up as being less capable. They do not consider the presence of a person with advanced knowledge and skills an opportunity to learn and improve their own capabilities. This is a big contrast with the Chinese experience.
It is somewhat perverse to have a government policy that seeks to export its professional and skilled personnel abroad. In trade negotiations, India wants to be able to find opportunities for its educated and professional citizens in foreign countries. This is an admission of a continuing failure to find meaningful employment for them at home. The ugly truth is that highly educated young Indians prefer to seek their future abroad should the opportunity arise. We are investing in educating our young but the fruits of the investment are taken advantage of elsewhere. This is not good economics. In the past, one recalls that there was at least an awareness of a “brain drain” from India and that this was a loss to the country. Now the brain drain has been turned into a virtue. Rather than formulate policies to offer meaningful opportunities to our young professionals in the country itself, we are allowing the best and the brightest to seek their future abroad. This is an admission of a glaring policy failure.
There is widespread angst over recent US decisions to restrict the hiring of Indian personnel by American companies, including high-paying tech firms. Rather than treat this as a setback, why not work together with the Indian corporate sector to welcome our highly skilled compatriots to pursue meaningful careers at home?
India has been successful in creating islands of excellence such as the Space and Atomic Energy programmes and select areas of electronics, pharmaceuticals and information technology. But islands must expand to become ever-larger domains of excellence. The rapidly developing domain of artificial intelligence (AI) will, most of all, require highly trained personnel. Many of those working in cutting-edge AI research and applications are of Indian origin. Bringing them back to serve in India may be the only chance to stay ahead in this most consequential domain of the future.
There is an urgent need to create an ecosystem that can offer congenial career opportunities to this pool of human knowledge and skills that can help transform India. The less than welcoming environment for Indian-origin professionals abroad may make opportunities in the home country worth exploring. We should make it worth their while to serve as architects for India’s emergence as a front-ranking science and technology power.
The writer is a former foreign secretary.
 "Indians Abroad | Image: Illustration: Binay Sinha")