The loss of a country when skilled and intelligent people leave it to go and live in other countries for better opportunities is called brain drain. In India the tendency to go abroad is growing rapidly. The growing urge among the Indian families to send their children to foreign lands especially the west is getting even stronger despite the fact that our country is in no way lacking in having excellent educational institutions.
The urge to go to the west has become compelling in our country in post-independence years. If we look into the reason for the brain drain phenomenon, it will be cleared that the educational pattern of country is not up to the mark. It does Hot serve the needs of the country. Other reasons are Unrecognized or unrewarded talents and lack of job Opportunities for trained professionals. This is the start of the brain drain of the young. Lure of higher salaries in hard Currency, better living and favorable conditions of setting down with the family also prompt highly qualified Indians to look to the west for jobs. In the year 1966-1970 thousands of Indian professionals made their way to the US, which is really very shocking. India has proved to be the fount of more than a fourth of the skilled immigrants to the US, the major part of this brain drain being borne by the medical faculties. According to the World Health Organization, India is the largest donor of medical manpower in the world. Just imagine the situation of the medical manpower in the country itself. Then we would have better health care within our approach.
Thus, India is in double loss. She is not only losing these professionals but also the resources invested in their training. For instance, the governments spends two lakhs on every IIT graduate it is seen that one out of every three of these settles in the US after going these 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 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.
It is really a good sign that there is a significant 'return How' of people who went abroad to study and choose to become Americans or British citizens. Now it has been seen that even professionals like doctors want to return because they are sure that they will earn equivalent amounts in India too.
