Open Letter to Bharti Mittal...

Dear Mr. Mittal-

I enjoyed the opportunity to meet you and to hear you speak earlier today at the US India Business Council meeting. I wanted to ask a question but the time ran out.

My question pertains to the proverbial "brain drain."

As we know many Indians came to the US over the past 50 years and settled here. Some of them were the best brains and minds from India and the US even produced a couple of Indian Nobel prize winners (Hargobind Khorana and Dr Amartya Sen). Indians have always felt their best contributions could only be made and appreciated outside of India. But listening to you speak, and reading the news reports around, it becomes obvious that the brain drain is about to come full circle: Many top Indian Americans, including entrepreneurs, are going beyond the cozy confines of the U.S. shoreline to pursue opportunities back home in India, the land of their birth, peers or ancestry.

So, my question is: What is your delegation doing to address this? How is your delegation leveraging the Indian American community vis-a-vis bringing their skills back to India where they are most relevant? Are you considering "employment call centers" that would both make outgoing calls and receive incoming calls to/from accomplished, promising, and entrepreneurial Indian-Americans and place them in emerging growth job opportunities, be it in Washington, D.C., or in India?

I run a Desi blog and plan to run your response in that venue. To review my blog, visit: http://www.desihungama.blogspot.com

Thank you,