The Problem of Brain Drain
`Give me you’re tired, you’re poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free’.
These are the words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty in the USA. Ironically, this country is not the haven of the poor and the less talented. The people who migrate to the USA and other countries are a vast army of qualified and talented young people who never return to their motherland. This migration of people from developing to developed countries is tented as ‘brain drain’.
The desire to migrate to greener pastures, in the other countries, has become compelling in post-independence years. Generally these migrations stem from economic motivation. Money is the greatest cause of this loss. Young and ambitious scholars are lured away by foreign universities and firms that pay much more to the deserving person than our own government. Moreover, the developed countries offer better job opportunities to the qualified personnel who are often unemployed and frustrated. Deserving talent often goes unrecorded or unrecognized in India leading to brain drain Lure of higher salaries good living and favourable conditions for settling down with the family often prompt qualified Indians to look for jobs in the West.
Apart from better employment opportunities, there is also the lure of better facilities for research work. In the developed ‘countries, the laboratories are well equipped and large sums are earmarked for research and innovation. Every discovery is rewarded and acknowledged. India lacks the resources, the equipment is obsolete and infrastructure poor. Moreover, our education pattern does not serve the need of the country. An average educated Indian is not equipped for any technical job. Another disappointing factor is that we don’t often recognize and honour scholars and scientists unless they are ‘foreign returned’.
It is disconcerting that India has proved to be the source of more than a fourth of skilled immigrants to the other developed countries and likewise the other developed countries too are benefited by channeling the skill of the Indian professionals. According to a report by WHO, India is the largest donor of medical manpower in the world.
In the process of brain drain, India not only loses the professionals, but also the resources invested in their training. For instance, the Indian government spends lakhs of rupees on training IIT graduates, but one out of every three of these professionals. Migrates to the developed countries.
India is rich in natural wealth and manpower resources. If we are to plan their proper use, we can make speedy progress. We need to create new Job opportunities and offer better infrastructure facilities to our budding scientists, engineers and technologists. It is futile condemning the migrants as unpatriotic or selfish, for, not many can resist the temptation of better salaries, job satisfaction and recognition of merit.
It is heartening to note that many migrants wish to return to India as they may be homesick or find themselves misfits in the fast and permissive societies of developed countries. They would be wishing to return to India if given good opportunities. Only sincere and dedicated efforts are needed to check the brain drain.
