THE BRAIN DRAIN

''Give me your tired, your poor
your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.''
These are the words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty in New York. But
ironically, those who go there are not the poor and the wretched but the
skilled and the highly qualified doctors, engineers, scientists, nurses and
 technicians, from other countries including India.
The urge to go to the west has become compelling in India in post-independence
 years. Both the world wars and political upheavals like civil
wars and revolutions spawned' large migrations during the first half of
this century. The migrations in the latter half stem from economic motivation.
 People in power like scientists and skilled persons have, from the
very beginning, played a key role in international migration. The conscious
 policy to encourage migration of high quality manpower from other
regions and countries is related to the positive contribution made by the
immigrants to their country of adoption, resulting in a net advantage to
 it. This phenomenon of gaining qualified and skilled personnel at the cost
of the donor country is generally termed brain drain.
Perhaps the most important reason for the brain drain phenomenon is an educational
  pattern which does not serve the needs of the country. The others are  unrecognised or unrewarded talents and lack of job opportuniitesfor trained professionals. For example, the emoluments drawn by a

research worker are far less than those of a factory hand. This is the start

of the brain drain of the young.

Lure of higher salaries in hard currency

good living and favourable conditions of settling down with the family

also prompt highly qualified Indians to look to the west for jobs. The migration

of Indian manpower to the US in the 1950's and the first half of

the was limited by the US Immigration Act of 1952 which set the

annual quota at 100 for Indian nationals. The total number of Indian engineers

, scientists and physicians admitted during 1964-65 numbered more

than 1,000. However, the scene changed drastically in 1965 when the US

 immigration laws eliminated preferential treatment accorded to West Europeans

 and gave priority to immigrants with skills in short supply. As a

result, between 1966-1970, thousands of Indian professionals made their

way to the US.

What is disconcerting is that after India has proved to be the fount? of

more than one fourth of the skilled immigrants to the US, the major part of this brain drain is being borne by the medical faculties. According to

the World Health Organisation, India

is the largest donor of power in the world. 

Our  country thereby  loses not only these professionals but also the re

 sources invested in their training. For instance, the government spends

Rs 2 lakh on every IIT graduate and it is seen that one out of every three

of these settles in the US after going there for higher studies.

The earnings and remittances from the Indians settled abroad or their

eventual return are poor compensation for the lasting and serious loss

45 inflicted by their outflow. The specific objectives of the anti-brain drain

policies, within the framework of independent development, are to bring

back to a limited extent, the lost talents and skills from abroad and reduce

the outflow in the short run and finally end it except that necessitated by

genuine, multi-lateral international dependence.