Essay on Brain Drain

Table of Contents

Introduction of Brain Drain

Brain Drain is a phenomenon which is defined as substantial movement of skilled human resource like doctors, engineers and Business managers to other countries for various factors, which may include better career opportunities or income. A report by the United Nations conducted in the year 2000 tells that almost 174 million people or 2.9% of the total world population were residing outside their country of birth for more than a year. Of these, about 65 million were economically active. Migration of health care workers to developed countries for better income bought up a severe issue as 90% of the total migrating professionals were entering to just five countries, which are Australia, Canada, Germany, UK and USA.

Causes of Brain Drain

The developing and underdeveloped countries mostly experience brain drain because they are both weak in education and job opportunities and the people in search of the better living standard start moving to other developed and wealthy countries, which make their native country weaker and hit hard its ongoing development. The causes of Human Capital Flight are- Income: Better income provided by huge MNCs adversely affect the rate of Brain Drain of a low-income country, because the profit levels of the MNCs are much higher than the ones of the lower countries and they are not able to give high salaries to their employees. This results in the emigration of skilled professionals from their native nation to a country which provides high salaries to its employee. Better job experience: Working and interacting continuously with highly trained and skilled people also enhance our quality for work and working in such a healthy environment contributes to our working skills. This is one of the major reasons why people emigrate because their native nations fail to provide them so. Political Issues: Any instability or disturbance in the political scenario of a country makes the people of that nation feel insecure which tends them to move to other countries. Due to this, the country can lose its future entrepreneurs, potential CEOs and doctors, and we can see a decrement in the total skilled population. For example- The famous scientist Sir Albert Einstein was forced to leave his native country Germany and settle in the US during the Nazi rule in the German states.

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Issues of the Brain Drain

Less tax revenue due to lower income tax: Young workers aged between 25 to 50 years make a significant contribution to a nation’s economy and finance because they pay income tax, which holds the biggest part of the nation’s treasury. Countries with large net emigration are forecasted as the country with growing economies and with this growth; they increase the percentage of employees for their companies, every year. Decline in competitiveness: Losing skilled professionals will affect the future skills of the country as the developing professionals won’t get the competitive environment in which they can enhance their skills, and this will eventually lead to a decline in the quality of the professionals of a country. This may create a massive disturbance in the market and to increase the productivity companies may exploit their workers, and this will lead to somewhat bigger firms to seize power and monopoly the goods and services as there is no competition. Loses potential entrepreneurs: The people who emigrate tend to be the ablest and capable to take risks. Migrants are the able entrepreneurs who, if they remain in the country of their origin, might set up a business which would play a significant role in economic growth and create employment. People like Bob Dhillon (Emigrated to Canada), Hinduja Brothers (Emigrated to the United Kingdom) and Lakshmi.N.Mittal (Emigrated to South Africa) are the wealthiest NRI business tycoons with a combined net worth of $42 Billion. These entrepreneurs could have contributed a vast amount to India’s GDP. It can lead to a shortage of skilled professionals: It is the skilled workers (doctors, nurses and engineers) who find it more appropriate to immigrate to countries with higher income and leave their home countries with a lower amount of such skilled workers. According to the researchers, the loss of trained employees is a significant problem in many Eastern European economies. The report also states that 80-90% of the Bulgarian medical students plan to emigrate after graduating. In the year 2000, the total working population of Latvia showed a decline of 25%.

A separate discussion on Brain Drain in India

India educates the most exceptional skilled professionals as compared to other countries of the world. Today the CEOs of the top companies in the world like Google are Indians. So the quality of Indian professionals is highly appreciated and is in great demand in all the seven continents. India is a developing country with a myriad population, this cause limited number of seats in the prestigious universities and only the best of best students qualify the examination, which results in the movement of students abroad for education and once the students get mixed with the comfortable lifestyle of western countries they don’t bother to return home again. This Human Capital Flight is a matter of great concern for our country’s development. To overcome this concern, the authorised administrations should come up with certain policies that increase the number of seats in the Universities so that the students don’t have to leave their country.

Seven Facts About Brain Drain in India

The emigration of highly skilled and educated Indians to other countries, that is so called brain drain (the loss in valuable talent for the home country), may make some feel good but then they fail to understand what today’s India would look like without them.

Most Indian professionals involved in brain drain have strong educational backgrounds, and often graduate with advanced degrees from science, technology, engineering or medicine.

Indian professionals who leave serve as an important work force for the global economy, excelling in a wide range of fields and providing intellectual capital to their new countries.

A number of problems account for pushing people to leave India, including the lack of job opportunities and insufficient research facilities present; cumbersome bureaucracy is another problem. They want better prospects in their personal and professional lives abroad.

Brain drain is bad for the economy The loss of skilled professionals has an adverse effect on research and development. Without R & D, innovation can slow to a crawl in any number of fields.

Quite a few brain drain Indians have been givers in providing the impetus behind technological development and innovation, from Silicon Valley all around tech hot spots.

Reverse Brain Drain

India is one of the first among all countries where the phenomenon of reverse brain drain appears. Previously India was famous for its students who flew to western countries, majorly to the US after graduation, impacting India with a massive loss of the nation’s human resource. But during the Dot-com bubble in the late 1990s, this started to show a turnaround, because many students and professionals were forced to return home due to the slump and loss of jobs. Apart from the Dot-com bubble, employment and jobs existed back home as many Indian entrepreneurs created job opportunities for interested professionals who now wanted to work again in their own country.

Conclusion of Brain Drain

The issue of Brain Drain has always been an agenda for the policymakers as it decreases the rate of economic growth of a nation. Although previously, too many policies were made for the professionals to return home by promising job opportunities which equate with the west, very few can be considered successful. Reverse Brain Drain made many return home but more stayed or went back after the situation became balanced. The professionals who had been in developed countries for many years can be a considerable asset for India as they are skilled with the latest technologies and can contribute an important part in the development of the nation.

The term brain drain refers to the emigration of high-skilled people, usually professionals and intellectuals from one country (such as India) for a better life in another. India is affected by this phenomenon in that it loses its talent and expertise.

There are many reasons for brain drain from India. Among them, they include scarce employment opportunities in the country; highly discouraging research facilities at home; enormous administrative hassles here; doubts about whether you can get a good life in this climate or not and being lured to places abroad where everyone is better off than yourself economically and socially.

India suffers from brain drain in the fields of science, technology, engineering and medicine. It even affects companies like Infosys which are considered to be representatives of modern Indian industry. The limitations which are perceived to exist in India often compel such professionals abroad.

How does the Indian economy suffer from brain drain?

In order to prevent brain drain, the Indian government has taken steps such as formulating policies encouraging repatriation of talent and bringing its research facilities up-to-date; creating an environment welcoming entrepreneurship; aiding innovation. Nevertheless, dealing with brain drain remains a difficult problem.

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