Mr Bhagwati devoted his keynote speech at the World Bank's ABCDE gathering in Oslo on Tuesday to the subject of immigration.

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Economist Jagdish Bhagwati of Columbia University, also appearing before the Senate panel Tuesday, says he is "completely opposed" to Dorgan's proposal.

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But Mr Bhagwati's argument is not as watertight as he makes out.

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One reason for the fascination with manufacturing, Mr Bhagwati says, is the mistaken belief that it is more technologically dynamic than service industries.

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The risk, according to Jagdish Bhagwati of Columbia University, is that commitment to free trade could flag, particularly as electoral pressures take their toll.

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If the west treated immigration as a fait accompli, Mr Bhagwati said, it would free up resources to deal with the issue in constructive ways.

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Bhagwati Prasad, the chief justice of Jharkhand state until retiring from the bench in 2011, said that judges, like anyone, are influenced by their social conditioning.

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Anuradha Bhagwati, executive director of the Service Women's Action Network, said that official figures showed fewer than one in five service members accused of sexual assault "sees the inside of a courtroom".

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"In civilian world, all of these recourses act as a deterrent, " said Anu Bhagwati, a former Marine captain who advocates on behalf of assault victims as executive director of the Service Women's Action Network.

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Jagdish Bhagwati, an economics professor at Columbia University, wants developing countries everywhere to extend their powers to tax their expatriates, in order to reclaim some of the value created abroad by highly skilled emigrants.

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