news.bbc.co.uk

NEW DELHI, INDIA, August 30, 2006: For much of the last century India suffered a “brain drain” as generations of Indians set off in search of a better life in other countries. Today, an estimated 25 million people of Indian origin live overseas. But could the tide be turning? In Bangalore, one of India’s booming high-tech centers, an estimated 35,000 overseas Indians have set up home. In the last few years, people born overseas who are able to prove their Indian descent have been able to apply for a special immigration status. The Overseas Citizenship Certificate provides many of the benefits of full citizenship without the need to give up a foreign passport. Mr. Gurucharan, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, says they are proving popular. “In the last six months or so we’ve issued over 40,000 Overseas Citizenship Certificates, and I believe that this trend will grow,” he says. “In the 1960s when people left India the buzz word was ‘brain-drain’. We see it now as ‘brain-gain’.” India’s healthcare system is benefiting. Doctors who have trained in overseas health services are finding faster career advancement. Dr. Shabnam Singh recruits doctors for a private hospital. “The Indian private sector facilities are at a par, and dare I say it, in some cases better than what is available in the West,” she says. “In the last six years I would say that from a trickle at first there is now a constant flow of people wanting to relocate back home.” The Indian government does not have the detailed figures to prove whether “reverse migration” is increasing at a significant rate. Many of those applying for the Overseas Citizenship status may simply want the convenience of visa-free travel, without intending to relocate to India. But there can be no doubt that many young people of Indian origin no longer see the best opportunities as being in the West.

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