India may have its first PIO (People of Indian Origin) university soon. This university will be set up in a Special Economic Zone (SEZ). It will have full autonomy. Times of India reported:
“The ministry of overseas Indian affairs (MOIA) is finalising a policy to set up a PIO varsity, spread over 100 hectares, in a special economy zone (SEZ) in the country.
While, the status of the deemed university, fully funded by the NRIs/PIOs, will be governed by the provisions of the Sec 3 of the UGC Act, the investors will be exempted from IT, customs duty, excise duty, sales tax etc, since it will be in the SEZ.”
I do not know why Indian government is so much concerned about setting up a PIO University. Of course, there is nothing wrong with it. It will attract some NRIs to come to India and study. However, Indian government should be more concerned with improving the standard of university education in India and ensure more funds for research. Every year, many Indian students go abroad to study and Indian government should try to stop it.
What is your idea about?
Why should India stop its students from going abroad? A lot of them have grown well in US and have returned to India with all those value addition in Silicon Valley and New York. We have had so many Indian executives in top American companies that drove technology interchange, investment & outsourcing. And NRIs have also helped India-US relationships to be at its best in history, by being unpaid ambassadors.
So, let Indian students go out of India and let India get new students from abroad who will come with a different perspective and add diversity to India. Thus, we would be benefitted by both sides of the interchange.
Posted by: Balaji Viswanathan | January 2, 2007 7:21 PM | Permalink to Comment