Brain drain in India
Skilled labour migration or what we commonly call brain drain is an issue which was bothering me lately, especially after the UN report I had read in the newspaper that our country loses resources worth over $2billion a year owing to about 1 lakh skilled computer professionals emigrating to the US alone. My agitation over this issue triggered my patriotism, so strong a feeling, that is comparable to what our fellowmen experience only while viewing our cricketing heroes playing one day matches. To add fuel to my agitation, I witnessed a scene in the airport while waiting for my cousin who was arriving from New york. A young man who just stepped out of the airport with his baggage, was spitting on the road, something he would never dream of doing in New York or London .
“Why are you looking so furious”? asked my uncle who was a senior professor in IIT Mumbai. This was the perfect opening I needed to discuss about the brain drain issue and none better than my uncle to carry out the discussion. The occasion was perfect as I could get first hand knowledge about this problem from my cousin who was employed in a US firm.
Its just not fair, I murmured! These people are born and brought up here and treat their homeland so shabbily! Whom are you talking about? queried my cousin? Oh the man there. He gives his best to a foreign country and his worst , I mean his spitting on the roads here. Old habits die hard ! Such people are selfish. They get the best out of their country and when it the time comes to deliver, they deliver goods in US making it richer. Oh this problem of brain drain !Why this exodus? why did you also have to go to the US? I questioned my cousin. “As if you never found a job here”, I sneered.” Calm down now, and sheathe your claws”, said my cousin, trying to pacify me. “ You see, it is lack of facilities and proper infrastructure here that compels us to leave India. Even the Nobel laureate in chemistry Yuan Lee said that, in India, more than six percent of the GDP (gross domestic product) is being given for military development, whereas only 4 percent is spent for education. It is science alone that will help development of mankind and help shape society. The time is over for military power to settle international disputes. It is the 21st century. It is time to wake up." “Yes, developing countries like India should step up investment in science and technology and improve the infrastructure to stop brain drain”, agreed my uncle.
According to the American Association of Physicians of Indian origin (AAPI) there are some 40,000 Indian doctors in USA alone, four times the number the country churns out. This problem is not crippling India alone, but other Asian countries are also facing it. “Then what is the solution to this problem”? I asked uncle. You see, our professional education is not according to Indian needs. We do not look at our technological base and our requirements, what resources we have ..., without considering these issues we have been following the so called universal curriculum or outdated curriculum of developed countries. As a result the professionals that we produce do not find themselves useful in their own country. We have failed to identify our requirements even in the software field where we claim excellence.
Oh! what a pathetic situation ! How I wish our government did something about it, I said in despair. Yes! My cousin was quick to agree. You see, India has bright people but lacks the facilities to tap their potential. The same thing was happening in Taiwan, but Taiwan remedied this, and invested its money in science organisations, and soon their people were slowly returning. If this happens in India also, I myself will return”, said my cousin wistfully. So, there is hope yet for us and if Taiwan can do it so can we, if
There is a change in the policy main
corruption and money squandering ,our politicians should refrain
Invest more in science aand technology and reap the grain
develop facilities and more and more train
Our proffesionlas, and put an end to this brain drain
Then only our investment will not go in vain
by kala suresh
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