shiv wrote:The well meaning Indian who experiences America and then returns to India needs to keep these facts in mind before saying that "Anyone can succeed in America because the country allows equality and freedom to do anything for anyone and all that needs to be done is to fiddle with the system and make it like the American system".
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Sorry if this is OT
Shiv ji: Sorry to continue the OT but I don't think that is anybody's case (at least on BRF I see and definitely not my case) theat everybody will succeed in US. Not just college education but either professional (doctors, engineers) education and will and hard work to improve their education will help certainly help. Immigration from India to US (UK is a different case - my wild guess is that your UK experience is coloring this later phenomenon - just like my views of India before I emigrated to US may be coloring my perceptions of India) has started in the earnest from 1980 on-wards and took off in 1990s. Most people who came in 1980-1995 time frame have their citizenship and as soon as they got the citizenship a majority of them would have applied for their parents through whom their minor siblings, who were neither educated not employable in India due to various reasons including from then middle class (now lower middle class) families, forward caste, and average intelligence. These people would have come soon after the parents. Sponsoring person's married (probably older) siblings would have come to US in 1992-present. These married siblings are also not well qualified as they had the same problem as the minor siblings. Most of them would have been working in either clerical or glorified clerical positions (not factory - these are forward caste remember? Otherwise they would not have done non-professional bachelors. Instead they would have gone the route of ITIs/Polytechnics to get an vocational degree and would have worked in factories or construction or lower level service industry. That is why you see those 15% Indams whose incomes are similar to barely high school pass out US born citizens. But still it is not as bad as what they were being paid in India. If both are working and with some decent communication skills they would easily pull in $50-60K per household.
But the tide is turning again now as the ever increasing real estate prices (at least on paper) is helping even just above average people to get certainly Masters (and increasingly Bachelors) degrees in US - but they are coming to departments that are ranked from 50 and lower. Most departments which are ranked 30 or higher in US would be competitive with IITs, NITs, and well known universities in India modulo well-known people. It is indisputable that infra, sports facilities, efficiency (information efficiency that is) is way better in US. In this sense most but not all people who are coming to US are not good enough to get into IITs due to no fault of theirs but just because there are no colleges in India that are able to take intelligent "below average" people and make polish them through inspired teaching/training nor are there any opportunities for them to have gainful well-paying solid middle class jobs.
The million dollar question is how can India benefit from this without begrudging the benefits that are accruing to US in the meantime. It is simply a good busiuness proposition for US and that's why they are doing it. The family reunification category actually lowers the ROI (for US) so to speak, and the reason why they do not want to open the doors completely but at the same time if they discontinue this category, one would see lot more people would return to their homeland. So they just manage by twiddling with the quota numbers country by country basis.
It is just business and there is no place for emotions.
What I am mystified about is what exactly you are proposing Iindia should do so that India can get some benefit out of these people who, as the argument goes, owe something back to India. IMHO, it is not an open and shut case that the expats do owe some thing to India. This is especially true for those who have been passed over because they are from certain social (mind you their economic class is average) class. People who are less meritorious were given seats in professional colleges, had first dibs in jobs (and even promotions, if I remember right).
I would not criticize them for not wanting to defend their brethren back home when they have dome some (perceived) wrong. What I find fault with though is their unwillingness to defend India and its sovereignty especially when it is in their power to do so (as in the case of DCG DK vs. IBDA SR).
But please don't begrudge the entire Indian-American community their success. No problem if you don't want to celebrate. If they want to make wealth for themselves while helping both India and US there should not be any problem, no (provided they are working within both the systems - which excludes putting their noses into political processes or engaging in expressly prohibited activities by either of the countries)?
arrest of Indian Diplomat Devyani Khobragade that resulted in strained relations between India and the US
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