The Agony of Diaspora

     Perhaps there is no other nation in the world that has such a widely dispersed Diaspora as ours. This is a matter of pride for all of us - for Indians as well as Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs). This outstanding contribution of PIOs is due to India’s strong culture and traditions. Our civilisation has been founded on the principle of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ - the entire world is one family. If we look back, there are various forces in history that prompted our people to leave India and settle abroad. This kind of Transnational movement of people will only accelerate in the increasingly inter-dependent and inter-connected world of the 21st century. The expansion of the Indian Diaspora in the new century and the new millennium, however, is following a very different trajectory. In the past, people left India out of distress or some economic compulsion, because ours was then a country under colonial subjugation. This is no longer the case. Now, India is marching ahead confidently to occupy its rightful place in the comity of developed nations of the world. Never again will any Indian have to leave our shores for distant, alien lands out of want and deprivation. Rather, as is already happening, it will be because of the legendary knowledge and talent of Indians, that they will go in increasing numbers, to work and live in foreign lands. There is yet another difference. In the past, many Indians who went abroad had to work in the lower rungs of the economic ladder in their host countries. Now, they are rapidly climbing up the value chain. It is a matter of pride that many Indians are now heading large banks, airlines, consultancy firms and, of course, information technology companies abroad. How is all this relevant to language? How is it relevant to culture? Does leaving Indian shores mean leaving Indian beliefs? Unfortunately, for some people, it does. In the rush of making money and climbing the ladders of success, many people do not retain the most important part of their identity - their culture. And language is the expression of culture; it is the medium through which culture is transmitted to the Generation Next. What happens if the delicate link of language is broken? What is the harm if everyone globally, speaks the same language? Will it not spread better international understanding? The answer for all these questions can be found in a single word, - ‘diversity’. The beauty of the world will be lost; the charm of diversity will be worn. What is India without the magic of Urdu and Hindi? What is Kerala without the flow and curves in the lilt of Malayalam? What will be the difference between us and everybody else? With what medium will we express our culture if not language ? What does Diaspora entail? It serves as a great blow to the mother nation, culturally, socially, politically, and in innumerable other ways. The statistics to back up this statement are as follows; annually, about 100,000 Indian professionals are expected to take new visas, recently issued by the United States. The cost of university education of these professionals is borne by the Indian government and is estimated to be around $2 billion a year. Financially, this is indeed a great blow to our economy. Also, consider the cultural outflow that this entails. The success of Indian firms abroad can broadly be attributed to the fact that they have a large Trans-national network of labour to draw from. Thus, they serve both as an inexhaustible source of employment as well as a sink for Indian professionals, for whom the chances of returning home are dim. Hence, this does present a real problem to our country, since a loss of youth implies a loss of the link between generations, which is what sustains culture. How can this be curbed? The present Indian government is planning and executing a number of strategies in this regard. There is a project underway for setting up five Global Institutes of Technology, which will globalise the selection procedure and bring order to it. Flat taxation is going to be imposed on the exit fee paid by the employee or firm at the time the visa is granted, which will impose restrictions on both these parties.These are but a few of the measures that can be taken. There are many more things that we can and must do in order to check the culture loss, which can be viewed as the death of the many things that make up culture - language being one of the most important of them. This essay is concluded with the hope that it has brought to light at least some of these issues and has revealed to you the poignancy of the problems that a varied Diaspora can bring to a country as such. The “agony” of Diaspora does exist, and must be curbed!

Shruthi Jayaram
I Economics
(Prize winning essay - Bengali Literary Society)