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| May 1, 2000 | ||
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| RIGHT ANGLE Great Global Piggyback India's International worth is what its diaspora makes it out to be By Swapan Dasgupta
London-based dotcom columnist Alpesh Patel did much to puncture this over-hyped belief in our abilities when he told the first Indo-British Round Table in Delhi last week that there is negligible awareness in the United Kingdom -- a country with which we have deep and long-standing links -- of India's claims on the new economy. It was a view echoed by Nasscom's Devang Mehta who spoke about the indifferent responses to roadshows of leading Indian software companies in London and Edinburgh. In the heartland the old empire and the new Commonwealth, India, it would seem, is still equated with curry houses and exotic tourism. Confronted with bad news, the natural inclination in India is to blame someone else. There will be many who will rush to the conclusion that the insufficient awareness in Britain is due to the smug insularity of that country. They may have a point. Whereas across the Atlantic there is an insane rush to make the best of the brave new cyber world, Britain is still preoccupied with questions like, "What is the new British identity?" and "Is there life after the Euro?". Questions that resemble our own existential dilemmas about post-globalisation identity. Yet, there is a crucial difference. Britain is only too familiar with the spectacular success of its own Asians of Indian origin. According to a November 1999 study commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, British Indians have "jobs and earnings very similar to those of whites". In addition, "qualification levels among young Indian men are high and rising". Giving a new twist to stereotypes of institutionalised racism, the study also concludes that "Pakistanis and Bangladeshis have little more than half the earning power of Indians and whites". The question naturally arises: Despite this staggering level of success of Indians in Britain why does India suffer an image problem? Why isn't the prevailing euphoria about India in the US not reflected in Britain? There are some obvious answers. Indian emigration to the US and Britain were markedly different. The professional middle classes, including large numbers of IIT graduates, migrated to the US since the '60s, while Britain attracted unskilled factory labour. Then there was the East African Asian migration to Britain between 1962 and 1974. The Indians in the US retain very strong links with the homeland but this is less marked among the East African Asians, mainly Gujaratis. Therefore, while the Indian success in the US has a strong multiplier effect in India, the British Indian communities are far more emotionally self-sufficient. Yet, there is one inescapable conclusion from both experiences. India's global worth is in direct proportion to its ability to piggyback on a successful diaspora. So far there is little to show by way of autonomous standing. Which implies that to make a mark, India will have to target NRIs far more imaginatively. Not least to ensure that the bonds of one generation are transferred to the next. It may sound cruel but in the short term we have to bask in the reflected glory of our overseas cousins. |
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Indians
are justifiably delighted with the joke doing the rounds of software and
dotcom circles about the indispensability of us desis in the e-world. When
one Jack Murphy approached venture capitalists in the Silicon Valley for
startup funding, he was told his credentials were almost perfect. Except
that it would have helped matters even more if his name was Murthy rather
than Murphy.