What Are The Main Causes of Brain Drain in India ?

 

Brain Drain in India

What is Brain Drain ?

"Brain Drain" is a term which is used when qualified persons from a country migrate to another nation for better opportunity and life style. It is basically seen in the undeveloped or under-developing countries. Most of them settle in the western countries. In other words a steady flow of talents from the east towards the west is called brain drain.

Situation in India :

India is one of the most suffered nations in the world. A great number of Indians have settled in the western countries. Now they are contributing for these nations instead of their own countries. Usually brain drain is seen among the professionals like doctors, scientists, engineers and other technically qualified people.
Some of the most influential Indians who have been working for different multi-national companies include Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, student of IIT Kharagpur; Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft; Rajeev Suri, CEO of Nokia; Sanjay Kumar Jha, Chief Executive Officer of Motorola Mobility; Shantanu Narayen, executive and the chairman and CEO of Adobe Systems, Inc. Sanjay Mehrotra,  CEO of Micron Technology, Inc. Apart from them many Indians have been working as a scientist in NASA and in different organization.
Most of the migration is seen to the USA. Other countries in the list include Saudi Arabia, UAE, Malaysia, Canada, United kingdom, south Africa and so on. It is a steady problem in india since independence, but no steps has been taken to improve the situation.
According to the report from the National Science Foundation’s National Centre for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES), from 2003-2013, a significant growth in the number of immigrant scientists and engineers was seen from 3.4 million to 5.2 million.

Causes of Brain Drain in India :

Ultimately india suffers a great loos for this flow of talents, who could have contributed for the development and well-being for their nations. But this shows India's inability to provide sufficient opportunity to their qualified students and job seekers.
So many reasons led to this brain drain crisis in india :

Unemployment :

One of the main reasons is the massive unemployment in india. Here the number of job seekers surpasses the number of vacancies. So every year many students remain unemployed after completing higher education.

Lack of Opportunity :

Another reason behind this is the lack of opportunity for high paying jobs befitting their qualification and skills. Here they don't get enough salary what they expect. So they settle in another nation where they get enough opportunity according to their demand.

Education System :

The education system in india also lacks the practicality. Indian education system is mainly based on theory, where the scope of practical education is very low. Students don't get the opportunity to implement their study in research work due to lack of enough facility, funds, guidance and equipments. So the students choose foreign universities for higher education. And after completing higher education they again suffer to get a suitable job.

University Ranking :

None of the Indian universities ranks in the list of 100 best universities in the world. According to the QS World University Ranking the best university in the world is Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA. While Indian Institute of Technology (Bombay) ranks 152nd in the list. And according to the Times Higher Education university ranking The University of Oxford tops in the liat, while Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, which ranks 1st in India but ranks above 300 in the world list.

Population :

Increasing population of India is also one of the main reasons of brain drain. India does not have enough resources to provide employment opportunity to the huge population.

Standard of Life :

Brain drain is seen not only among the technically qualified persons but also among the different professionals. They look for higher standard of life, mental peace and peaceful environment. The standard of life is very low in india. India ranks 139th among the 149 countries in the list of World Happiness Report 2021. Besides gender inequality also increases this crisis.

The Way Ahead :

This brain drain is a great national loss for any country. But the situation can be improved by taking some effective measures at the central level. The education system should be modernized from the ground level. The National Education Policy(NEP) can be effective which can change the way of education of India. It aims to establish foreign university campus in india so that students do not need to go abroad.
Government is prioritizing skill development through different vocational courses. National Skill Development Mission aims to train approximately 400 million people across the country by 2022.
Not only education, other criteria like research and development, employment opportunity should also be improved. More investment should be provided to arrange enough funds for research works.
Students should be encouraged with better opportunity for their career.

 

Conclusion :

There was a time in Ancient India when the foreign students used to come in India for higher education. Now India has lost the glory. But this glory can be reversed back. It is not totally impossible. Given a congenial atmosphere, many of these professionals may feel coming back to their Motherland.