Assume that you’re the Prime Minister of India. A huge group of approximately 10 lakh refugees come to the shores of your country. They’re in a very poor condition with no availability of food, water or shelter. Do you let them into your country and provide them the basic resources?
Here’s a caveat: There are approximately 15 Cr. people currently living in India that do not have access to basic needs. They rely on charity, government subsidies to make it through the day. If you let more people in, the resources we provide to these people will be depleted faster and their sustenance might require additional resources that’ll take a toll on the country’s growth.
Also, these people reached the UK (a developed country with way higher resources) before India but the UK did not let them in.
Would you make them your citizens?
Not letting them in would practically mean letting them die. Would you rather halt the country’s progress for a year and bring in new people that might add more value to the economy in the long run? If you can work on creating a plan that helps uplift them out of poverty, it might be a win-win scenario. After all, that’s how the United States of America was built.
Does your answer change?
Now consider another situation. Since you let those 10 lakh people in, there are around 10 Cr. more people who’ve come to your shores looking for shelter.
Do you still let them in?
While I understand that handling 10 lakh people was easier - but again, not letting them in the country would mean that you couldn’t let 10 lakh people die but you’re practically going to let 10 Cr. people die.
There are different ideologies at play here. If we were to follow the textbook definitions, the right nationalist would ask you to not let immigrants in. They’re more concerned about the welfare of the country. The extreme left would want you to let them in at all costs - after all - the value of life is more than the growth of the country.
However, things aren’t as straightforward.
There will be cases where you let immigrants in and they end up becoming a burden to the economy - the overall financial structure starts failing. Moreover, even if you do let them in, there’s no promise of a good life that comes with it. There will always be an Instagram influencer who’ll record videos of the plight of the immigrants who’re let in- blaming the government for their poor conditions.
Of course the right thing to do is always to save lives. Wouldn’t you just want to let them in for the time being - making sure they don’t die and then figure out how to deal with the situation? Well, there’s no right answer.
We need to be able to appreciate the position that the government is put in, during these situations.
I’d love to know how you would approach this problem. So, would you let the immigrants in?
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