Exit tax will sink India

If a thousand middle-class students leave for developed countries, a thousand middle-class families are ensured of decent living. I am in full agreement however about the columnist’s argument on exit tax. Such a levy will severely affect the number of students aspiring to move to developed countries. I borrowed the fee, about Rs 9,000, for appearing in the visa interview in the US embassy from my friends. How would I have managed an exit tax?

Chakrabarti suggests student loans for recouping cost of education. But how will an MA in history or political science pay the loan back? There are thousands of civil and mechanical engineers who do not have jobs. I have seen doctors in clinics waiting for patients all day. We must redesign our education set-up to train students in many vocations.

Of course, politicians like Arjun Singh and Brinda Karat (and Manmohan Singh, though sadly enough he is primarily an academician) all have a single agenda: to sink the nation called India. It is amazing to think how such brilliantly terrible ideas come to their mind.

The media has a great responsibility and capacity to make India prosperous (in spirit as well as materially). But that potential is not being fulfilled. It needs to think wider and deeper than it is doing now. One example is the phrase ‘brain drain’. It is a misnomer, but few appreciate that.

The writer is with the Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, US