Essay on Brain Drain and Brain Circulation

“The brain drain has been a curse for developing countries like India. Throughout the post World War II era, the
best and brightest routinely left for search of better economic opportunities and higher standards of living in the
West Entire graduating classes from the elite Indian Institutes of Technology emigrated during the 1970s and
1980s”.

`Brain Drain‘ means, migration of highly trained manpower from one country to another. Shri P.N. Haksar once
remarked, “A society, which cannot place the highest value on knowledge and its acquisition, inevitably
alienates itself from creating transmitting and applying knowledge.” The alienation leads partly to the visible
brain drain, that in migration and invisible brain drain means loss of morale and creativity among those who
still stay in India. Both visible and invisible brain drain produces a great national loss, which can’t be calculated
in terms of money.

A UN report reveals that a brain drain of highly-skilled professionals to well-paid jobs in the first world costs
Asia billions of dollars each year but the traffic is not all one way, reveals that The United Nations
Development Programme’s (UNDP) Human Development Report 2001 estimates India loses $2 billion a
year in resources because of the emigration of computer professionals to the United States alone.

These emigrants often achieve impressive professional and economic successes abroad. For example, in 1998
Indian engineers were running more than 775 technology companies in California’s Silicon Valley that
accounted for $3.6 bin sales and 16,600 jobs. But the connections between these Non-Resident Indians (NRIs)
and their home country rarely extended beyond holiday visits.

Indian policymakers now have an opportunity to transform the brain drain from a curse into an asset. Changes
in the structure of competition in Information Technology (IT) industries have not only allowed the growth of
software development in India but also create the possibility of economic leapfrogging of a sort that was not
possible in an earlier era. In many parts of the world, the “brain drain” is giving way to a process of “brain
circulation” as talented immigrants who have studied and worked abroad increasingly return to their homeland
to pursue promising opportunities. As the engineers and other professionals return home—either temporarily
or permanently—transfer not only technology and capital but also managerial and institutional know-how to
formerly peripheral regions. They also link-local producers more directly to the market opportunities and
networks of more advanced economies.

The policymakers in India must learn from the experience of Taiwan, where brain circulation was critical to its
shift from a peripheral source of cheap labour to a global leader in IT production. The challenge for India’s
Information Technology (IT) sector is to upgrade the software industry, an industry that currently produces
primarily low-value-added services for export markets. As in Taiwan, Indian policymakers can accelerate the
process of industrial upgrading by creating incentives for engineers to return to India both as policy advisors
and as investors, entrepreneurs, and managers. It should be understood well that this can only be the first step
for India. The expansion of external linkages is essential to competitiveness in a global economy. However, this
must be accompanied by concerted efforts to develop the domestic market to ensure that the benefits of the
new industries contribute to a wider process of economic development.

“India must tackle five key challenges, including brain drain and lack of institutional reforms in research
laboratories, to emerge as a global research and development hub”. The Director-General of Council for
Scientific and Industrial Research. Mr R. A. Mashelkar said on 26th April 2004.

“I believe India will become a global R&D hub. This can be achieved not just in terms of cost but has to be cost-
cum competence. India is not going to remain a poor country, and the sustainability has to be the intellectual
prowess”, he said inaugurating an exhibition-cum-seminar ‘Elitex 2004’ with the theme `Technology Vision.:
India in 2010″.

He said India would have to ‘desperately’ address five key issues of brain drain, find new innovative forms of
public-private partnerships, usher institutional reforms, create alternative paths and focus on creating
technologies which would make a difference to the lives of millions.

“The first and the foremost issue is that of brain drain“, he said adding it needed to be reversed. Citing
Nasscom estimates that 25,000 professionals had returned to India in the last three years with 90 per cent of
them being software professionals. Mr Mashelkar said, “This trend has just begun. India has to become a
land of opportunities. We cannot just be a land of ideas without being a land of opportunities“, he said.

Secondly, India must vigorously pursue public-private partnerships, he said giving an example of 39
Government-owned software technology parks housing 3,500 companies from where 80 per cent of IT exports
were taking place.

With good employers, attractive working conditions, improved telecommunications, attractive salaries and the
entrepreneurial climate in India today, young professionals and technocrats are turning back home and
strengthening business ties in the process.

Chetan Raghavan is ecstatic. He’s landed an “awesome” job. An enviable pay package, a company car and a
posh three-bedroom apartment are just some of the perks. But for what this California resident is more excited
about is the prospect of soon being surrounded by family and friends. He’s moving to Bangalore. “We always
knew, we were going to go back one day,” says Raghavan, his wife, Sarita, nodding her head in agreement. The
Raghavan’s are trading their American dream for a one-way ticket to India. And they are not the only ones.

In a survey by the Public Policy Institute of California, 40 per cent of the foreign-born respondents said they
would consider returning to their native countries. Over the years, the so-called brain drain from India has
been transformed into a more complex two-way process of “brain circulation” linking California’s fabled
Silicon Valley to urban centres in India, says Anna Lee Saxenian, a professor at the University of California at
Berkeley, Saxenian found nearly three-fourths of the predominantly Indian and Chinese immigrants interviewed
said they knew between one and 10 immigrant professionals who had returned home.

“This ‘brain circulation’ is likely to expand in the near future with profound consequences for better
economic development in other countries,” she says, In the United States, there are economic opportunities
but one has to face policy challenges. Trade, immigration, and intellectual property-rights policies all assume
more limited one-way flows of skills and technology, largely within multinational corporations. There’s a new
reality today.”

Sushil Bhikhchandani, Agoura, California-based head of operations at Naukri.com, an employment portal

offering jobs in India, says the migration of Indian expatriates to India is a “recent phenomenon.” The people
who are returning,” he says, “are predominantly those who were either laid off from their jobs in the U.S. or had
planned to go back in a few years and decided to speed up their plans.

Three factors have made India attractive, Bhikhchandani says. “Availability of good employees in India-from
computer scientists, engineers to call centre personnel-at a fraction of the salary of comparable U.S. employees;
improved telecommunication which makes it easier for U.S. companies to do some of the work offshore; and
tremendous competitive pressure to cut costs.”
Karthik Sundaram, the managing editor of California-based Silicon India, organized a series of back-to-India job
fairs last year. “Many Indians living in America dream of returning to India but they are nervous and don’t
know how to go about making that transition,” Sundaram says.

Through the fairs, he provided a venue for people to explore opportunities as well as air apprehensions. The
fair, planned as a two-city event, rapidly expanded to more locations across the U. S.The interest to return home
is matched by U.S. firms’ keenness to move jobs overseas. Multinationals including big names such as
Microsoft, Intel and Oracle Corporation are actively scouting for English Essays 19 talent to manage their offices
in India. “They no longer look at their operations in India as a back office,” says Sundaram. Rafiq Dossani,
director of the South Asia Initiative at Stanford University, notes the acceleration of outsourcing or business
process offshoring is intertwined with an increasing willingness by firms to outsource what formerly were
considered core activities. “It is significant that a substantial number of service activities might move
offshore because it was once thought that service jobs were the future growth area for developed
country economies,” he writes in a working paper. While they have adapted to America’s business
environment, Indian entrepreneurs in the U.S. have maintained close ties with India. These ties are contributing
to the growth of global business networks and stimulating economic change in cities like Bangalore, according
to Saxenian.

Bangalore tops the list of preferred destinations for people who are thinking of returning. Hyderabad and Pune
are the next. The state-of-the-art Intel campus in Bangalore is one of the reasons why the city is a top
attraction. Intel offers handsome salaries and employee benefits and stock options on par with those offered at
its offices in the United States.

Arjun Batra’s job is to ensure that the right people make the move to India. Business development and project
incubation manager at Intel India Development Center in Santa Clara, California, Batra says: “I respect my
heritage and am motivated to help people for whom the opportunities to return to India are right.”

A decision to relocate is a big challenge. “Everyone has to consider their personal circumstances… working for
the families have grown-up children, may not be well suited to move as compared to those having younger
children. For some people it’s just not the right time to move”, he says. “Today, you are not sacrificing your
career if you decide to move to India,” says Amit Zavery, senior director at Oracle Corporation, “There isn’t an
urgency to just rush back to any job. People want to do good work, close to their families…and they want to
continue moving ahead in their profession. Most people returning to India have a preference for jobs with U.S.
companies over outsourced call-centre duties.”

But, says Bhikhchandani, outsourcing by U.S. companies is “the biggest factor” that contributes to a person’s
decision to return to India. “At the same time, there is a very entrepreneurial climate in certain parts of India,
nurtured mostly by Indian businessmen.” For many young families weighing a return to India, being close to
parents and grandparents is a priority. For American firms, moving their operations to India means, among
other things, cut in costs that are lower in India says, Batra.

Causes for Brain Drain

Are we able to provide them with suitable jobs according to their abilities? What propels them towards the
other countries? Dr C.V. Raman was compelled to join IA & AS for a few years because he couldn’t get a good
scientist job.

A plethora of causes ranging from attraction towards the foreign country to monetary benefits are cited for
brain drain. Monetary gains and good jobs of their satisfaction are the main reasons for the brain drain. The
highly educated find no place or desired respect in Indian panorama, they go out of the country, earn good
money and respectful recognition not only in a foreign country but in our country as well after returning. Take
the case of Kalpana Chawla who died in space. What she could achieve in the USA, was impossible to achieve in
India, whatever calibre she might have possessed? Who so even has gone to the west for studies and remained
there even for five or six years, finds almost impossible to settle in Indian conditions. Our system does not allow
lateral entry, every post is tailor-made, no triangle can fit as a square, and no hexagon as a triangle. The rigidity
in the system does not allow people to return to India from abroad. The salary structure is also rigid and has no
place for extra increments to the talented.

In addition to the lower salary package, the working conditions in India, are also not homogenous and healthy
for progress. Bureaucratic pressures and Red-tapism frustrates technocrats of high calibre. A technocrat in India,
while going through a magazine finds in utter, surprise that Dr Reddy has already got patented some medicine
in Canada, while he applied six months back in India, but alas! the lengthy and cumbersome procedure in India,
that took a long time.

We also have a problem like reservation, surplus manpower, non-availability of financial assistance, lack of part-
time jobs to earn money sufficient to cover up the educational expenses. Students going abroad are getting
scholarships, can earn by doing part-time jobs there and also can get jobs during their studies. The “Pull and
Push” theory says, that certain factors such as greater Educational Facilities, better Working Conditions, more
Monetary Gains, more Recognition pull students towards the developed countries. In this world, whichever
country has mere ‘Pull‘ force, can easily get highly trained professionals and technocrats from a country having
more `Push‘ factor like India.

Changed Scenario: For years now products of the Indian educational system — students and professionals
have been going abroad in search of distant horizons. It’s now India’s turn to reverse the ‘brain drain’ the
Ministry of Human Resource Development has taken the strategic initiative to “internationalise Indian education
at length.” As part of the overall drive the Ministry, with the assistance of Educational Consultants India Limited
(Ed.CIL), today launched an educational portal www.educationindia4u.com at India International Centre.

“What we are looking for, is to provide comprehensive information to..the students’ fingertips who are living
abroad,” said Dr.Yajulu Medury, Chairman of Ed.CIL, adding: “We want to act as long-term career guides to
foreign students, not just a one-time facility.”

At present around 161 educational institutions are a part of this portal including Indian Institute of Technology
(IITs), Indian Institute of Management (IIMs), Regional Engineering Colleges, Madras University, Pune University
etc.

The website takes a student on a round-India educational trip. The website commences with why the student
should choose India as an academic destination. Listing the “excellent educational facilities in India”, the portal
particularly highlights the cost-effective nature of the Indian education, the international acceptance and
recognition that it enjoys and the fact that “India is a democratic country and provides a safe and stable
political environment.”

The Charged Affairs, Embassy of Rwanda, Mr.Gaspard Nyilinkindi, pointed-out that “The standard of Indian
education is very high especially in Information Technology and is very cheap, at around 4000 dollars a
year.” On the other hand, Syrian Ambassador to India, Dr.Mohsen Al-Khayer, said “Being a rich nation we can
afford to send our students to Western countries. However, we prefer India because of its high academic
standard and also we share a common culture.”

According to the Secretary, Department of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, Mr Maharaj Krishen
Kaw, the portal this year is targeting students of countries of Africa as well as Mauritius, Gulf region, Malaysia
and Indonesia. The step taken is in the “larger diplomatic interest for closer relations with these countries.” He
explains, “We have also instructed universities to have a 15 per cent quota resented for foreign students with a
priority to the people of Indian origins.”

But there are a few academicians who express a note of warning. “We shouldn’t be too euphoric at the creation
of the site thinking it would bring a cascade of foreign students to India. There is a need for aggressive
advertising of this portal abroad” cautioned Mr Syed Shahid Mandi, Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Milia Islamia.

“If the Indians go back with reasonable expectations they are not going to be disappointed,” says Susheel
Chandra, “There is 7.1ways a possibility that people may not like the new situation, but the decision to return
should not be cast in stone, you’ve got g_ot to keep your options open.”

Many of those contemplating a return are green card holders or U.S. citizens. They have the option of keeping a
foot in both worlds. Those on H-1B visas cannot afford a similar luxury. But, says Shalini Roy, a New Jersey-
based software programmer and an H-18 visa holder, “I want to return because I had never planned on
staying out for the rest of my life. This isn’t home.”

“Everyone doesn’t share Roy’s point of view. Many people are returning to India out of desperation,” says
Chandra, “If they are offered a job in the U.S. they will not be back.” Of the resumes, 50 per cent have been laid
of jobs in the United States. Twenty per cent were serious about returning to India. Given the present state of
the U.S. economy, is India just the lesser of two evils?

Although the U.S. economy is improving, there has been very little job creation. The main reason for the people
going back is that good jobs are now available in India. The factors that make India look goodwill remain even
if the U.S. economy improves. “In the end, people will go where suitable jobs are…There are exciting new
opportunities opening up in India and so the trend is in reverse gear.“

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