Brain drain, also known as human capital flight refers to the situation when highly qualified and trained people leave a country to permanently settle in some other country. Dadabhai Naroji first used this term in India in reference to the large exodus of the population to western countries in search of better opportunities. The theory founded by the Great Old Man of India in the early years of the 20th century has become one of the most prominent and formidable problems of the country today.
In today's time, brain drain is considered the most debatable, discussed, and controversial topics in the Indian Parliament. It is believed that though the authorities condemn it openly the socio-economic infrastructure of the country promotes this practice. The average number of students or young people that emigrate from India to developed countries for higher studies each year is about 153,300. However, only a marginal of the same returns to their native land. Most choose to settle in those rich countries for better financial prospects and living standards.
The report of the National Science Foundation — Immigrants’ Growing Presence in the US Science and Engineering Workforce: Education and Employment Characteristics in 2013 — released this month said that of all the immigrant scientists and engineers in the United States in 2013, 57% were born in Asia.
Among the Asian countries, India continued its trend of being the top country of birth for immigrant scientists and engineers, with 9,50,000 out of Asia’s total 2.96 million. India’s 2013 figure represented an 85% increase from 2003.
This practice only drains or robs India of its highly skilled workforce including doctors, engineers, scientists, and technicians. The reason behind this is many. The sky-high cut-offs in the best Indian Universities compel the ambitious youth, who fails to get a seat in the prestigious institutes, to look for education opportunities abroad. While this is the case of young students, academically well-qualified people prefer going abroad for higher research because they do not get the best chances, resources, and facilities in India. After getting good global exposure and getting introduced to high-quality life and facilities, students become reluctant to return to their home country.
Some professionals leave India at a young age and return after they have amassed sufficient wealth. Such people too, spend a major and prime part of their professional life outside, using their expertise in a foreign land and not in their home country which is in desperate need of it. To curb this practice, the authorities need to wake up from their sleep of ignorance and take steps to retain its pool of talented youth. For this, first of all, we need more engineering and management schools. Despite the highly subsidized rate of higher education, India fails miserably in attracting the best brains in these two streams. The center must make efforts to create better job opportunities for young professionals.
After witnessing a huge brain drain, the Health Ministry has suspended issuing "no obligation to return certificates" to medical students going abroad for studies. Also, stricter punitive measures against those, who do not return to the country when they had promised earlier, have come into force.
While India is putting the best foot forward to curb brain drain, there have appeared signs of the reverse brain as a result of increased patriotic zeal among the youth. With better economic policies and human capital to execute them, there is hope that India shall come at par with the developed or rich nations in terms of infrastructure and living standards.
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