Short Speech on Brain

Drain
Article shared by Pragati Ghosh
The term Brain Drain has come into limelight with the trend of educated and skilled
people and workforce moving from one country to another to achieve career gains. The
talent of such people as a result becomes available to the nation to which they relocate.
The biggest disadvantage of brain drain is the depletion of talent from the native nation
which may badly need their skills and talent. It is the migration of countrys intellect
which may have otherwise served their motherland and contributed to its prosperity.
Thus, this brain drain or Human Capital Flight as it may be called, becomes a threat to
the growth of countries which lose the human resources, rich in technical skills or
knowledge. This has also increased the disparity in the economic and social prospects
of the countries across the world .The rich and developed nations grow richer and
prosperous while the developing or underdeveloped nations stay poorer and backward.

Brain drain is a global phenomenon affecting the developing nations. The disadvantage
is seen as an economic cost as a part of the training and the education cost which is
sponsored by the government is also taken away with their emigration. Thus the country
which experiences the drain of skilled resources faces the getaway of financial capital
also.
Brain drain isnt a problem of this era only. Even in medieval times, the conquerors
attacked the nation for gold and other wealth and took people of talent and knowledge
with them. This problem became pronounced after Second World War when
progressive nations like USA, the erstwhile U.S.S.R. and Germany etc. began to make
significant advancements in technology and scientific research attracting talent from
foreign nations. Thus men of talent began migrating from less developed nations to
these countries.

The reasons of brain drain are many including the lack of opportunity, political instability,
health risks and many more. Many students leave their native nations for scientific and
technological courses which are not offered by their own country and settle out in the
country of study owing to better career opportunities, lucrative remunerations, security
of life and health all of which lack in their country of birth.
Also they seek professional satisfaction in the country where they work and thus are
ready to continue leaving their own nation. On the top of all this, the bureaucrats of the
country fail to realize the potential and the worth of this intellect and thus they are
unable to retain the cream of researchers and men with extra-ordinary talent. All these
factors combined together trigger the process of brain drain.
Brain drain for the nation from which the emigrants leave to settle into the nation that
promises better work opportunities becomes brain gain for the latter. Even countries like
Europe were faced with the problem of brain drain until the introduction of green card
that helped them gain more brains and compensated for the drained brains.
At present, countries like India, Pakistan and Russia are the sufferers of this problem
and losing their talent very rapidly. Unemployment, corrupt political systems,
inappropriate and unsafe work and social life as well as poor compensation, prompts
the skilled and trained people to leave their own countries and seek promising
opportunities in developed nations where they get more success Under utilization of
talent, inadequate professional tools, lack of growth and unsatisfactory living conditions
are also key factors in the emigration of the skilled workforce from these nations. India
loses around 3 percent of her skilled workforce including teachers, doctors, engineers,
scientists etc. to developed nations like USA.
Brain drain does more harm than is visible from an outer view. Besides depleting the
natural supply of intellectual talent, it reduces the number of dynamic and innovative
talent be it the academics or the booming entrepreneurs. The nations that lose the
talent in turn have to depend upon foreign assistance for technical purposes.
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The technology slowly becomes the onus of the developed nations when they grow
richer with more resources contributing to their progress. Even the migration of medical
practitioners who are highly trained to other developed nations makes the condition of

health care in the native nations miserable. As a result, in case of emergencies and
more complex treatments or surgeries, people from such countries have to bear
expensive travel and cost of treatment and accommodation in nations that provide these
facilities.
As countries lose their talent, its progress slows down and also lacks the contribution of
the highly skilled human force, which has left the nation. It leads to a scarcity of skilled
resources which then began to charge high for their service to the nation and its
countrymen. Poorer nations like Africa suffer the worst from this problem and thus its
development remains hindered.
The issue of brain drain is an international phenomenon and an outcome of the trend of
globalization, but unlike other benefiting affects of it, brain drain has a negative impact.
The problem of brain drain can be effectively tackled. For this, countries suffering from it
have to improvise their own socio-economic conditions and provide better salary scales
and safe and healthy work conditions to their human capital. Better and updated labs
equipped with latest equipment can help retain more scientists and researchers leaving
their country owing to lack of research opportunities.
At an international level, the nations which gain these brains should promise to send
equivalent talent to the nations losing their human resources. Good governance is also
important as they decide the policies that govern the security and standard of living of
its people.
As discussed, some brain drain results from the stage of education only when
individuals move to other nations offering better educational courses. If these individuals
are offered better education opportunities in native countries, the emigration can be
controlled at a preliminary level.
Governments need to show commitment to support research while allowing them to
carry on their experiments freely with much independence. To conclude there is a need
to review the social, political and economic conditions in the nations suffering from
phenomenon of brain drain to provide better security and work opportunities to the
skilled resources in the native nation.

Essay on Brain Drain Complete Essay

for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation
and other classes.
BRAIN DRAIN
According to a UN definition, the flight of talent that is required for a
countrys development to another country is called brain drain. We have
been experiencing this problem ever since we won out freedom. It was
with great effort and high hopes that we set up our institutes of higher
education. It is unfortunate that thousands of our doctors and engineers are
leaving the country every year. More recently, the malady has affected the
field of oil exploration, nuclear energy and agriculture also. A poor and
developing country like India cannot afford this big brain drain.
A very high proportion of the migrating engineers is of those
trained in the five Indian Institutes of Technology. Apparently, nearly 35 per
cent of the engineering graduates from the IITs go abroad as soon as they
get their degrees. The percentage is even higher in the key areas such as
computer science, physics, aeronautics and operational research.
The main reason for this brain drain is that our man power
planning has not kept pace with employment opportunities. We have a
large pool of scientific and technical manpower that is waiting for
respectable assignments. Several thousand engineering graduates are
waiting for employment. Some feel that they are under-employed, so they
migrate to countries wherever they find better opportunities. It is also the
grievance of some of them that they do not have adequate facilities and a
congenial environment for work or research in this country. In fact, the
situation is no different in many other countries too. They are the victims of
academic colonialism which is an aspect of todays neo-colonialism.

The government has every reason to feel concerned about this

problem because the number of scientific and technical personnel leaving
India has increased in recent years. Measures taken to persuade our
scientific and technical man power to return have not yielded results. The
fact is that even now it is difficult to find suitable jobs for those who would
like to return. Whenever some of them return and are given higher
placements in an organisation on account of their qualifications and
experience, the locals in the organization resent it and make the working
environment for them uncongenial and hostile. They also complain or lack
of job satisfaction due to the near absence of innovative research. We do
hear of the government toying with the ideas of science cities, pool
scientists and technological parks to attract talent, but a lot of all this
remains on paper or in files only.
Indian workers, scientists, doctors and engineers have already
made their mark in several countries. In America alone, more than 25 per
cent of the doctors, engineers and technical personnel are from India. Big
part of the economy of this richest country in the world depends upon those
who have migrated to this country from India only. Indians working in
fields, factories, hospitals and commercial units are known for their sense
of duty and dedication. They form the back bone of the whole economic
system in that country.
The human resources department of the government has laid
stress on the evolution of suitable mechanism to bring back and woo talent
from other countries. It has proposed that lecture assignments,
consultancy in industry and assistance in setting up of pilot projects in India
should be considered. The administrative procedures should be made
more flexible. The areas of bio-technology, micro-electronics etc. offer
significant potential for our technical personnel.
In fact what we require is a proper planning of our requirements.
Students should pursue only those fields that are called for. They should
not run after highly specialized courses which have no relevance in the
countrys economic development. An awareness should be brought
amongst those intending to go abroad that it is their moral duty and sacred
obligation towards their country to serve their motherland first and
foremost.

The government must think in terms of instituting a compulsory national

service for a limited period of time for those science, engineering and
medicine graduates who are desirous of going abroad.
The basic facilities congenial for research and education should be
provided in the institutions so that our technical graduates do not feel ill-atease in their own set-up. Let every graduate realize that he has a duty
towards the country that educated him and that his leaving the country in a
lurch is nothing short of a treacherous betrayal.

Brain drain: Boon for developed countries, but

bane for India

Brain drain has become a major concern of the developing countries especially, India.
The term, which was emerged in 1960s when the skilled workforce started emigrating
from the poor countries to the rich countries in search of better job opportunities and
living conditions, became a hot topic of discussion over the years.
When the expatriates are going abroad in search of greener pastures, India has been
losing its major skilled workforce that includes doctors, engineers, scientists and
technicians. If we analyze the brain drain trends in India, we could find that there are
many reasons why the country fails to hold back its talented youth.
Higher education scenario in India
In the recent years, the cut-offs for admissions became close to 100% in the best Indian
universities. While the institutes are in the race of getting the best students in the
country, the ambitious youth who fail to meet the irrational demands had to
compromise on their dream of occupying a seat in any of the prestigious Indian
universities. This leads them to explore the scope of higher education abroad. Most of
the students who try their luck in higher studies abroad get into good universities as
they have an edge over the students from other countries in terms of skills and

knowledge.
While this is the case of young students, the academically well qualified people prefer
going abroad for higher research because they dont get the best chances, resources and
facilities for research in India.
A recent study conducted by Indian Institute of Management- Bangalore (IIM-B) shows
that the students going for higher studies abroad has increased by 256% in the last 10
years. When 53,000 Indian students went abroad for higher studies in 2000, the figure
shot up to 1.9 lakh in 2010.
The US is the most sought after destination for the students, followed by the United
Kingdom. There are many Indian students exploring study opportunities in countries
in Australia, Germanyand France.
Country-wise data on the number of students going abroad for higher
studies

Country

Students going abroad (per year)

China

421,000

India

153,300

Republic of Korea

105,300

Germany

77,500

Japan

54,500

Source: UNESCOs Report- Global Education Digest, 2009

A report by Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM)

pointed out that when a large number of students flocking to foreign universities, it
costs India a whooping Rs. 95,000 crores per year.
The report further noted that there is a huge difference in the fees paid by the students
studying in the premier institutes in India as compared to the students who study
aboard. While an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) student has to pay an average fee
of $150 per month, the fee paid by an Indian student studying abroad per month is
anywhere between $1,500 and $4,000.
Still, it is a matter of concern that despite the highly subsidized rate of higher education,
especially in engineering and management, India fails miserably in attracting the best
brains.
Better opportunities abroad
Most of the students prefer staying back in the host country due to better work
opportunities and heavy pay packages. After getting good global exposure and getting
introduced to the high quality life and facilities, the students become reluctant to go
back to the home country.
These days, most of the developed countries act like organizations. When they fail to
find good, talented and skilled workers in their country, they attract the highly skilled
and qualified people from other countries. Its very obvious that the skilled Indians
prefer US Green Cards and EU Blue Cards over the not-so-attractive pay checks and
average living conditions of a developing country like India.
Here, India is the loser and developed countries like the US and UK are gainers.
Time for a reality check?
Over the years, India has become a major supplier of skilled and talented young people
to the Western countries, particularly European Union. The major destinations for

Indians in the EU in the beginning of the century were limited to UK, Germany, Italy,
Austria and Spain. But, now, more and more Indians are immigrating to the countries
like Poland, France, Ireland and Sweden. A good number of these immigrants reach the
host countries as students.

Comparison between first residence permits issued to Indians and total

number of issues in EU in 2009 and 2010

Indians

Total EU

2009

2010

2009

2010

Highly Skilled Workers

11,784

12,852

39,027

40,786

Researchers

658

724

6,228

7,172

Seasonal Workers

4,163

3,783

56,518

114,311

Other Economic Reasons

47,844

56,488

546,749

645,493

Total Permits

64,449

73,847

648,522

807,744

Source: Population Database Eurostat

While 5,615 permits issued by the UK for Indians were for highly skilled workers, Italy
issued 3,479 permits for Indian seasonal workers. These highly skilled migrants and
seasonal workers become permanent residents of the host countries as the long term
socio-economic benefits lure them.
Wake up call for India
The increasing trend of brain drain of the skilled workers finally persuaded the
government to take action. After witnessing a huge brain drain of doctors (among the
3,000 medical students went abroad in last three years, none returned), the health
ministry has suspended issuing no obligation to return certificates to the medical
students going abroad for higher studies.
Further, this year onwards, the medical students going to the US for higher studies will
have to sign a bond with the government, promising to return to India after completing
his / her studies. If the student doesnt fulfil the bond obligation, the ministry can write
to the US and the permission for the student to practice in the country will be denied.
While India is putting the best foot forward to curb brain drain, there are signs of
reverse brain drain where a few best brains are returning to India. With better economic
policies and the human capital to execute them, there is still hope for India.