Brain Drain

Brain Drain

          Brain drain may be simply defined as flight of talent from India. It is a pity that the most talented students and trained professionals are absorbed by the western countries. India is just a training school for the industrially advanced countries. According to an estimate the annual brain drain from India to all the countries of the world is said to be around 10,000 trained personnel. A significant number comprising those who migrate to foreign countries are engineers trained at various IITs of the country. They are mostly computer science grad¬uates. In addition to this, doctors form another large chunk of those going to foreign countries in search of money and material success.
          In fact India suffers from brain-drain in terms of superior talent because India has a fairly well developed infrastructure. The irony is that the most qualified professional graduates of high quality institutions find lucrative posts and the country is deprived of their services. In fact the system of employment and promotions is unhealthy in India. Those belonging to influential families having political and bureaucratic links get preferential treatment. Corruption in bureaucratic and administrative machinery is a great obstacle to the progress of genuinely qualified candidates. Talented workers make way for sub-stan¬dard workers resulting in frustration among deserving & capable candidates. It is just like the working of Gresham's law according to which bad money drives the good money out of circulation.
          As a matter of fact we have not been able to develop work ethics. The employers are not interested in talented persons because they would not have to pay higher salary to those who deserve to be rewarded. As a result of this frustrated young men in India would look to the West where they might get recognition for their talent. Examples of Sir J.C. Bose, Dr. Hargobind Khurana and S. Chandrashekhar should serve as an eye opener to Indians. Today in the context of progress in the field of information technology brain-drain has become an alarming problem. Even in medical profession the problem of brain- drain is all pervasive. It is said that the British Health services are largely run by Indian Doctors. We have very effective infrastructure for medical education. How unfortunate Indians are that those trained at public expense go out of the country to serve the foreigners. One can conclude very easily that the two most important causes of brain-drain are fascination for the west and corrupt bureau¬cratic and political culture in our own country. Unless talent gets proper recognition in our country the problem of brain-drain will continue to eat into the vitals of Indian society. The entire socio-economic scenario needs to be changed drastically so that a genuinely talented person does not become the victim of frustration.
          First, we have to explode the myth that the West is superior to the East. Self employment has to be encouraged. The industrialists will have to learn to respect the talent by paying salaries commensurate with the talent.

         Again we should not be misled into thinking that brain-drain can be a blessing in the form of money received from abroad. Therefore, sincere efforts have to be made to create a climate which would encourage young men & women to live in the country of their birth and contribute to her progress. What is meant by drastic change in socio-economic scenario? Rural India is tragically deprived of the benefits of modern development in the field of science and technology. There is congestion of industries in the urban areas. Indian government, should have thought long back of decentralization of industrial infrastructure to countryside. Attractive incentives and establishment of high tech institutes in the villages would attract talent to the country side. The dispersal of talent to countryside might remove over congestion in the urban areas. Brain-drain can be checked only if there is balanced progress both in rural & urban sectors of Indian economy. The increase in the number of jobs might induce the talent of the country to stay back and serve the nation. More over, as a last resort government of India should make strict laws for those who get education at public expense and their migration to foreign countries should be regulated in the interest of the country.