Use of talent across boundaries for mutual benefit of nations: Jaishankar| Watch

COuntries that place up roadblocks to the mobility of professionals crossways borders testament be “ clear losers”, extraneous affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday against the backdrop of a move by the US to reform the H-1B visa programme and opposition to hiring of foreign workers in parts of Europe.Leaders in entrepreneurship and technology have backed mobility of professionals, which is being opposed only by those with a “certain political base or a constituency to address”, Jaishankar said while addressing a conclave organised by India’s World magazine on the theme of “The Mobility Imperative”.Jaishankar linked the opposition to mobility of professionals in certain countries to their efforts to get firms to move their manufacturing back home from China.Responding to a question on the political backlash against immigration and the H-1B debate in the US, he said India needs to convince other nations that the “use of talent across boundaries is to our mutual benefit”.Also Read:EAM Jaishankar warns bio-weapon misuse by non-state actors ‘no longer distant’He added, “That they would be net losers if they erect too many roadblocks to the flow of talent. Particularly if you move into an era of advanced manufacturing, you will need more talent.”“Often the people in the forefront of entrepreneurship and technology would actually make the case for mobility. It is the people who… have a certain political base or a constituency to address, who may oppose it, and they will probably reach some modus vivendi eventually,” he said.The number of first-time H-1B visa applications approved for Indian IT companies has fallen to 4,573, the lowest figure in a decade. The figure is down by 70% from the number for 2015 and by 37% when compared to 2024, according to the National Foundation for American Policy.The “actual crisis” has nothing to do with mobility, and concerns in the US or Europe are related to allowing their businesses to relocate in the past two decades. “If there is pressure on jobs in many developed countries, the pressure…is less because people came in, in those sectors. It is more because they allowed manufacturing to go out and you know where,” he said.“If it becomes harder for people to travel, the work is not going to stop. If people don’t travel, the work will travel,” he added.Jaishankar emphasised the economic importance of mobility, pointing out that remittances to India last year were worth $135 billion, or almost twice the exports to the US. This is in addition to assets created by Indians abroad and services generated in India.“Mobility is an increasingly important factor of the international economy. Now, we know there is a market for mobility,” he said.In addition to creating a global workforce and putting in place measures to facilitate travel, such as issuing more passports in a shorter period of time, the government has worked on addressing the problems of Indians living abroad. The Madad portal created for the diaspora has addressed 138,000 grievances in West Asian countries over the past three years.A total of 238,000 Indians living abroad have benefited from the Community Welfare Fund, while the government has also created mechanisms for swiftly evacuating people from conflict zones that have brought back 28,000 people from different countries in the past three years.India has also signed mobility agreements with 21 countries and a new overseas mobility bill has been drafted to replace the four-decade-old immigration act, Jaishankar said. However, he noted that “work can also be mobile”, and India has witnessed the growth of 1,700 global capability centers that employ an estimated two million people and generate revenues of about $65 billion a year.