Payback

Entire nation has been shouting out loud over the subsidized education availed in premiere institutes like IITs and IIMs in India, since quite some time. Every other day, a debate crops up, and like every other time, nothing really changes.

Now that it is very clear there is nothing much that can be done to force the students who benefit from this system of subsidy, to actually contribute to the nation, is it good enough to stop the subsidy? The result of doing something like this will of course be an impressive hike in the fees being charged. Will it be justified? What do the taxpayers have to say to that? Is India any more willing to keep paying for smart folks like us, who don’t really feel compelled to pay them back in any way?

The government can go ahead and cut off the subsidies. There however is a clear cut implication. Now, as an IITian I at least feel morally responsible to do something in return of the favor that has been ushered to me. I might not actually be doing anything in the near future, but who knows I might? But if there is no subsidy at all, will I even think on these lines? I guess not.

Australians have figured out a way to make this system work and it looks like that India might soon follow suit. The idea is very simple. Ask the students who run away from the country after having benefited from the tax payer’s money, to return the money. I am sure, they wont really mind in paying back something that they don’t deserve. I also understand that a very obvious difficulty in implementing a scheme like this will be in keeping track of such students. But, this sure can be worked out, or at least I hope so.

There is another option. Ask the profit making companies who recruit students from these institutions (so that they can make more profit) to pay a cess to the government. I see a very major drawback here. If something like this is set in place, it might affect the recruiting trend among most of the employers, in turn making life miserable for an average IITian.

All said and done, these proposals are very much needed. Let’s see how things work out to be. My placements shall begin in December and I am already sure what kind of a company I want to work with. And if it helps you, I plan to stay very much in India. 🙂