Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan speaking at the Dakshinapatha Summit at IIT Madras on September 21, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Ragu R
Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan said on Sunday that he had confidence in the talent of youth, and he did not want “anybody’s visa.” He was answering a question at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) on the U.S. government’s decision to increase the H1B visa fee to $1 lakh and how India saw the “brain drain to brain gain” trend.
The Union Minister was initially defensive and asked, “Why are you putting this question? Certain questions must be unanswered. There is a big answer.” The question referred to China reportedly taking back about 70% of its overseas students and whether India had a target for taking back its own overseas students. To this his response was, “Certainly, China should not be a role model for India.”
“As I said, India is a liberal democracy. I don’t want to comment on China’s model. But, we are proud of our liberal democracy,” he said, while recalling a recent visit to the south and the foothills of the Western Ghats. “I have confidence in the youth of our country. If they get the opportunities, they can create global standards. I have confidence, and so, I don’t want anybody’s visa or anybody’s model.”
Chasing money
Mr. Pradhan was taking part in an event organised by IIT-M and Think India on Sunday. Answering a question on Indian students “chasing money” outside the country, Mr. Pradhan asked the student who raised the query not to leave the country and went on to say that “geopolitics is changing.”
Quoting S. Somanath, former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation, Mr. Pradhan said the engineers who worked on the Chandrayaan mission were non-IIT-ians. “So, innovation and great things are a monopoly of none. There is a purpose why this civilisation has not died down. These temporary and contemporary challenges will be there. But as a society we have to come together.” People could go abroad, not for a comfortable life but to learn about the better aspects of those societies, Mr. Pradhan said: “As a society we have to open our eyes and ears.”
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Caste quota
Answering a student on whether caste based reservations and quotas for economically weaker sections in government jobs would help the Viksit Bharat project, and if the situation that prevailed in the 1950s could be compared to the situation in 2025, Mr. Pradhan stretched out his palm and said, “In the 1950s, the size of five fingers was this. Today too, it is the same.” He went on to say that “society will think this way,” and he called upon the student to think about Viksit Bharat and that was the answer.
Earlier, Mr. Pradhan spoke about the various aspects of the NEP and reiterated that the NEP should be implemented “in toto.” A total of three MoUs were signed. IIT-M Director V. Kamakoti and Think India’s national convenor Akanksha Warade also spoke.
Published – September 21, 2025 10:45 pm IST
