Why so many Indians are going abroad? And why don’t they return back? Should n’t they feel attracted towards their home land? Why are n’t they?
In my opinion, there are 4 things that India lacks which drives brilliant young minds ‘off’ the country. (I bet whatever you add more to list, it will come under any of these 4 points! 🙂 )
1. Freedom
Though India is an independent country, we still lack freedom. Its there in our culture and society. People are not really respected as individuals. And there is not really a freedom of ‘THOUGHT’, speech and expression. There are very few Indian companies which encourage freedom at work as well. There is not much freedom to express your views on everything within family as well. So, we really do not enjoy much freedom here. We cant do things here because we like it or we want it. We can only do things which everyone ‘approves’ as right. Strange!
2. Luxury
In many other foreign countries (which Indians want to go ;)), luxury is their normal living standard. Whether you like it or not, things out there are of really good quality and standard. You cant find something really of poor quality for a very cheap price there. Almost every citizen of that country lives like a king (with respect to Indian standards).
3. Security
This is really another important factor which makes people hate India – including foreign tourists. As Gandhi rightly said “Only when a woman can walk on the streets of India in mid-night with all jewels without fear, India actually is free”. So, India is still not free and people don’t have a ‘secured’ feeling here. I cant walk outside on roads at mid-night here. Its all again because of huge differences in the economic status of Indians. So, when people cant get what they want, they grab it from others. And to worsen the situation, we also have a lot of terrorist to make sure that India hits the news headlines in all abroad TVs often for the wrong news: Bomb in that place, bomb in this place, He was killed, She was killed, etc etc. Its difficult to live in peace unless you forget where you are living.
4. Time to your self
Many Indians who have not visited other countries wont even understand what this means. Because, people here work like that. They just don’t have any balance between their personal and professional life. People dont (cant) do things that they like. They do things because, they have to earn money, save money for their kids, buy house, etc. That is why even sports is not that common here among people. Not many engage themselves in leisure and recreation activities. Those are reserved only for economically forward people. Companies extract work to the maximum and these people also do it as though they are bound to do it. As I mentioned before, it is because of the stiff competition they face. So, if one says no, the company can always find another unemployed who will say yes. And of course, for recreation activities as well you need money. So, you cant spend money unless you earn it. You cant earn it if you have leisure time. Ultimately people just run forgetting why they started to run.
Mother, Wife, Daughter, Developer, Blogger and more.. Assuming many roles in life, I am still evolving and discovering myself on the go.. Every day is a new learning for me about my own self..
My Mind At Work 
Would like to ask, how many people has acess to internet in India? You describe a sad picture of your country. I saw an documentary of Tata Motors, a big company located in India and well selected scenes/areas in India.
Actually, I don’t want to project a ‘bad’ India.. In fact, I felt bad when the Oscar movie Slumdog Millionaire projected a very bad shaped India.
I am sorry if I gave that kind of image first of all.
India is not really a bad place to live in (in case I gave that impression) . In fact, I am living here happily. I just wanted to point out what India lacks. Its a very generic view.
The thing is India has both poor and rich people – as in any other country. But the difference between them is really huge. And that is the main reason for many problems in our country. Also, the rich is getting richer, the poor is getting poorer. And the problems are not resolved soon because of high population and too many political parties with different views and ideas.
Its a complicated thing… India is not poor. But it indeed has some poorer places/people in it. If the overall assets of all citizens of India is equally distributed to everyone, then I think India would be the best place to live in.
And also, about some cultural & social aspects, people here live as families. Very strong bond between people. We don’t encourage the ‘individualism’. This is both good and bad in many ways – bad bcoz it does not give you much freedom, ends up with lot of commitment, etc. good bcoz you can enjoy with company, they help when you are in need, etc.
There are many factors involved like high population, unemployment, too many cultural differences among people and so many things.
But at the same time, India is a place where lot of technological growth is also there. It is definitely growing at a faster pace. But in my opinion, it is not showing an ‘overall’ growth; Which is what leading to so many other problems.
India is great tourist spot, a place of high technological growth, industrially getting revolutionized and many more. But as a citizen of my country, I want to see more growth and I want to see a better India before I die. 🙂
Is it possible to dig up info about statistics of internet use in India? would be interesting to know. Many times, it is about to see every angle of one’s own country. Economics books can dig up alot of statistics value for a country and then the picture change.
…”In fact, I am living here happily. I just wanted to point out what India lacks. Its a very generic view.”…
ok, I understand. Every country/city has lacks. Latin Amerika has lacks. Ireland fight still for independence. Japan has same problem as India, parents wants their kids to succeed in school with high scores. To a cost of many suicide’s among young students. I read your blog about education in India.
…”If the overall assets of all citizens of India is equally distributed to everyone, then I think India would be the best place to live in.”…
equally distributed, that is the kernel of economic prosperity.
Here are some links that give internet statistics in India. I am not sure about their validity.. Just some search results from Google:
http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia/in.htm
http://www.indiabroadband.net/india-broadband-telecom-news/11169-some-statistics-about-internet-users-india.html
http://trak.in/tags/business/2007/08/14/india-internet-usage-statistics-analysis-future-indian-internet/
Btw, why are you asking internet usage? Do you think internet usage can reflect something about Indian economy?
…”Do you think internet usage can reflect something about Indian economy?”…
Just an reflection. I mean, internet can get people power, not directly of course, but internet can change issues from keyboard. For example, blog world, can questioning things by writing in the blog and make twingles to big newspapers.
Yea.. true! though it does not give a ‘direct’ power, it indeed has an impact on society and economy to a considerable extent…
The first link was interesting, what’s capture my mind was half way down on that page about …..July 7, 2004 – Women lead rural India’s internet rush…
Thank so much for taken your time on this. /barbro
I should thank you for taking interest on Indian economy and studying the Indian internet usage statistics.. 🙂
and yea.. its quite interesting that woman lead the rush! Even I was quite surprised at that first.. nice to know!
Actually internet and telecom is growing very fast in India – Thanks to many private companies who are sprouting into market with very competitive schemes and encouraging many of us to go for the internet and mobile phones..
No one could have imagined the use of mobile phone today in India. Every Tom, Dick and Harry has mobile phone now!
I am sure internet usage as well will grow more in coming years…
Bingo !!
well arthy, i dont think any country is safe is terms of woman walking with jewels in the midnite. Forget women, in fact, no intelligent man will venture out in the midnite fearing black men.
sorry, the above was in the context of america
Thought so..
Well, I was in Holland and I lived in a peaceful (not heavy with tourist traffic) city – Eindhoven. We have roamed around the streets in the mid night without any fear.. We had never feared about any theft or attack – except for cycles! They just steal cycles there!
But of course when we went to the busy city Paris with lot of tourist traffic, we were shocked to see few black men fighting very ferociously like it is shown in movie.. We almost ran away from that place.. And in the trains of Paris and also in the Spain we had to be very careful to avoid theft..
You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this
matter to be really something which I think I would never understand.
It seems too complicated and very broad for me. I am looking forward for
your next post, I’ll try to get the hang of it!