Best of Opinion: India must bring its brightest minds home, like China did | Opinion Specials

Shyam Saran contrasts China’s success in building scientific and technological capabilities with India’s failure to harness its skilled diaspora. Deng Xiaoping’s reforms combined investment in education and research with technology transfers, overseas study and collaboration between foreign experts and Chinese institutions. India, by contrast, often fails to provide returning professionals with adequate research facilities or a welcoming institutional environment. Saran argues that promoting skilled migration while struggling to create meaningful domestic employment reflects a policy failure. With artificial intelligence becoming strategically crucial, he urges India to expand its existing centres of excellence and attract overseas talent to strengthen its scientific and technological capabilities.

Family-owned businesses face a persistent tension between cultural preferences for family leadership and the need to appoint the most competent executives. Succession requires clear distinctions between ownership, governance and management, alongside rigorous assessment and mentoring of potential heirs. R Gopalakrishnan recommends succession committees comprising family members and independent directors, with successors tested through challenging assignments and professional chief executives appropriately recognised. Brazil’s JBS offers an example: after its founder’s sons presided over rapid expansion and a corruption scandal, professional CEO Gilberto Tomazoni led the company for eight years before handing over to the founder’s grandson, who had undergone extensive grooming.

Rahul Gandhi’s political prospects present a paradox: while BJP supporters dismiss him, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah treat the Congress leader as a serious challenger. The Congress retains a substantial vote base, and Shekhar Gupta argues that even a modest increase could significantly alter parliamentary arithmetic. But street mobilisation and allegations of electoral manipulation cannot substitute for a constructive alternative. With 2029 approaching, Gupta challenges Rahul to spell out policies on institutions, foreign affairs, jobs, caste, education, economic reform and minority inclusion. He might consider adopting a UK-style shadow cabinet to develop credible alternatives, given that criticism of Modi alone will not suffice.

Growing resistance to data centres reflects their heavy consumption of power and water, limited job creation and concerns over privacy and political favouritism. Ukrainian drone attacks on Yandex facilities in Russia also highlight their vulnerability and potential role in hosting malicious online activity. In the US, opposition has become bipartisan, with some states considering moratoriums, while European projects face delays. Devangshu Datta cautions that India, despite the opportunity to attract investments displaced from Western markets, faces tighter resource constraints. Local resistance could grow if communities see few benefits, and might even limit losses if the AI investment boom collapses.