Just as the IT industry has worked around the anti-outsourcing brouhaha by near-shoring - moving their call centres closer to the customers, but keeping the back office and shareholding at home - the labour market can do the same. Send the kids out to study, and then maybe to work, and keep the remittances coming in. Inward remittances from Indians working abroad have surged from $2.1 billion in 1990-91 to reach $24.6 billion in 2005-06. Inward remittances have offset India's merchandise trade deficit to a large extent, thus keeping current account deficits modest through the 199Os. India is the highest remittance receiving country in the World. And now, the government of India is waking up to the need for a comprehensive outlook to out -migration of skilled workers. The ministry of overseas Indian affairs (MOIA) is creating a framework to deal with migration related issues. International migration is one of the pillars of the Indian government's globalisation drive and this is in keeping with other countries around the world where too, the importance of cross-border migration is driving policy initiatives. The thinking within the ministry is that the World Population Report which builds on the theory of demographics needs to be taken very seriously. MOIA now recognises the fact that developed nations face an ageing population and the Indian government's new migration policy framework needs to take into account India's youth advantage. Given India's unique position, the MOIA is, in fact, gearing up to address the issue of global skills gaps and the need to fill them. The 2020 Migration plan that the government is drawing up takes into account the fact that even as the working age population doubles by 2020, a lack of jobs in the domestic market will hit the economy and the fact that the job market overseas provides the solution for skilled Indian workers. The new policy addresses the need to prepare a pool of skilled workers within the available window of time to address the emerging needs of the global labour market. What this will involve is providing potential migrant workers with skills upgrades, foreign language training and familiarisation and exposure to destination country cultures with the ability to assimilate it.
How’s this going to happen? Easily even if the government starts teaching say, Italian (Italy leads the ageing nation lists) in Bangalore, it's also easier for younger students to assimilate into host countries. The Indian student population of the erstwhile Soviet Union, for instance, is now grown up, and has emerged as powerful business lobby and economic force in Russia and East Europe.
Rakesh Sondhi, a consultant doctor, with Hero Honda and Maruti in Gurgaon, says that foreign universities often help Indian students to acquire specialised knowledge as well as foster allround development - which is not possible in the Indian system. His daughter Mira Sondhi is an award-winning student of engineering in UK. "We feel that after this, an opportunity to work in the UK will help her to gain experience, vision and in¬dependence. She is a very talented student and a global career is what my wife and I wish for her, "says Dr Sondhi. Ruchika Castelino, head education promotion, India Education UK, British Council feels that the opportunity to acquire skills that enhance global employability is the pull factor behind increasing numbers of Indian students going overseas to study.
"While our classrooms are diverse and multicultural so is Canada as a country. Besides the country also attracts top global employers and there is a huge need for talented and skilled work force," says Ashok Raghupathy, MBA student at Canada's Queen's School of Business. For him the main advantage of studying overseas is the access to huge resources. His class mate Biswajit Das, who worked for five and a half years in India with TCS and Infosys before joining the MBA programme feels that: "I would be able to combine the best of both worlds and would become a successful global manager. Most of the companies in North America understand the importance of India as an emerging market and are scouting for talent with Indian experience, -he says.
Sheila M Embleton, professor and vice-president academic at Toronto's York University feels that the shortage of skilled, knowledge workers in Canada is making India a very important market to attract students. "When colleges from Canada give ad¬missions to Indian students, the underlying advantage is that many of them will stay on and later become Canadians and contribute to the skills pool in Canada, " says Ms Embleton. She feels that Indo-Canadians who were very prominent in Toronto in different walks of life, also helped in attracting skilled in-migrants from India. "Canada is not very rigid about Indian students proving their non-immigrant intent, "she adds. One big challenge the MOIA is having to addressing in its out-migration plan is that of global security concerns when it comes to movement of people. The second is ensuring the availability of a skilled pool of accept¬able migrants from India. Students, as a class, are usually extremely acceptable. And we've got a global supply of them.
How’s this going to happen? Easily even if the government starts teaching say, Italian (Italy leads the ageing nation lists) in Bangalore, it's also easier for younger students to assimilate into host countries. The Indian student population of the erstwhile Soviet Union, for instance, is now grown up, and has emerged as powerful business lobby and economic force in Russia and East Europe.
Rakesh Sondhi, a consultant doctor, with Hero Honda and Maruti in Gurgaon, says that foreign universities often help Indian students to acquire specialised knowledge as well as foster allround development - which is not possible in the Indian system. His daughter Mira Sondhi is an award-winning student of engineering in UK. "We feel that after this, an opportunity to work in the UK will help her to gain experience, vision and in¬dependence. She is a very talented student and a global career is what my wife and I wish for her, "says Dr Sondhi. Ruchika Castelino, head education promotion, India Education UK, British Council feels that the opportunity to acquire skills that enhance global employability is the pull factor behind increasing numbers of Indian students going overseas to study.
"While our classrooms are diverse and multicultural so is Canada as a country. Besides the country also attracts top global employers and there is a huge need for talented and skilled work force," says Ashok Raghupathy, MBA student at Canada's Queen's School of Business. For him the main advantage of studying overseas is the access to huge resources. His class mate Biswajit Das, who worked for five and a half years in India with TCS and Infosys before joining the MBA programme feels that: "I would be able to combine the best of both worlds and would become a successful global manager. Most of the companies in North America understand the importance of India as an emerging market and are scouting for talent with Indian experience, -he says.
Sheila M Embleton, professor and vice-president academic at Toronto's York University feels that the shortage of skilled, knowledge workers in Canada is making India a very important market to attract students. "When colleges from Canada give ad¬missions to Indian students, the underlying advantage is that many of them will stay on and later become Canadians and contribute to the skills pool in Canada, " says Ms Embleton. She feels that Indo-Canadians who were very prominent in Toronto in different walks of life, also helped in attracting skilled in-migrants from India. "Canada is not very rigid about Indian students proving their non-immigrant intent, "she adds. One big challenge the MOIA is having to addressing in its out-migration plan is that of global security concerns when it comes to movement of people. The second is ensuring the availability of a skilled pool of accept¬able migrants from India. Students, as a class, are usually extremely acceptable. And we've got a global supply of them.
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