“Going, going, gone...?”

Apropos your editorial "Going, going, gone?” (Parsiana, September 2004), it is my contention that the primary cause for the decline in Parsi population is emigration, essentially to the West.

It is worth noting that the downswing in numbers started from the 1951 census onwards, that is, after the British left India when many Parsis felt they had no future in India and emigrated to Britain.

With the setting-up of the four divisions of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in the 1960s (Kharagpur, Bombay, Madras and Delhi), there was an exodus of the cream of our engineering graduates to the USA. The "brain drain” is not only harming the progress of our country but also causing a mismatch in the male/female ratio which is partly responsible for the increasing intermarriages.

Even the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi (AIIMS), is facing a "brain drain.” Recently its director announced that the excellent medical training imparted is wasted if the qualified doctors do not return. He warned that drastic steps would have to be taken to stop this continuous loss. In my opinion the steps that can be taken, both by the institutes and the government, to curb this continuous drain of talent are:

Faculty members of reputed institutes should refuse to give recommendatory letters for study abroad especially since today, apart from the seven IITs other prestigious institutes are providing higher technical education.

Parsi trusts should provide financial assistance for technical and medical education in India only.

At the government level, before issuing passports to students venturing to go abroad for higher studies, the passport office can demand payment of cost of technical or medical education in India which at about one lakh per year for four-five years would amount to four or five lakh rupees.

Prof P. D. SUNAVALA