Migration

Migration And Brain Drain In India
1

DESIGN OF STUDY
OBJECTIVES
To study the history of World Trade Organization (WTO).
To understand the history of WTO.
To know the benefits of WTO.
To know the Doha Round.
To know the causes of Doha failure.

METHODOLOGY
Research is a systematic quest for knowledge. That means, techniques
and frames of reference by which a researcher approaches and carries out
enquiry is known as methodology. Data is an input for my project;
likewise the data has been collected from the following sources.
The inputs of the project were mainly accumulated through the
primary research and the secondary information.
The primary information was gathered through interactions &
discussions with subject teacher, friends & my family members.
The sources of secondary information were various books,
magazines, articles and web.
Once the information was gathered, it was properly evaluated. Then
inferences were carefully drawn on the basis of pf the primary data collected
after going through series of deliberations. The output was thus produced.
The goal of fulfilment of the objective of the project was thus achieved.

2

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION OF MIGRATION
Whereas the movement of technology and capital has become
increasingly more open, the movement of people across countries has not
enjoyed such freedom. Capitalism's expansion across the globe has depended on
a massive influx of millions of men and women into the workforce.
Transnational flows of goods and capital have driven globalization during
recent years. These flows have been made possible by the gradual lowering of
barriers to trade and investment across national borders, thus allowing for the
expansion of the global economy. However, states have often firmly resisted
applying similar deregulatory policies to the International movement of people.
As noted by the World Bank in its report, Globalization, Growth, and
Poverty, while countries have sought to promote integrated markets through
liberalization of trade and investment, they have largely opposed liberalizing
migration policies. Many countries maintain extensive legal barriers to prevent
foreigners seeking work or residency from entering their national borders. In
fact, immigration policies across the world are becoming stricter as
governments attempt to minimize the economic, cultural, and security impacts
of large movements of people between nations.
Despite the reluctance of governments to liberalize immigration policy,
however, the number of people living outside their countries of origin has risen
from 120 million in 1990 to an estimated 215 million in 2012 (The World Bank,
2012), which is approximately 3.05 percent of the world population.
A variety of reasons lie behind migration. People may migrate in order to
improve their economic situation, or to escape civil strife, persecution, and
environmental disasters. Traditionally, the reasons encouraging an individual to
migrate were categorized as "push" or "pull" factors. Globalization has
3

introduced a third set of motivations called "network" factors, which include
free flow of information, improved global communication and faster and lower
cost transportation. While network factors are not a direct cause of migration,
they do facilitate it.
As well as encouraging migration, globalization also produces
countervailing forces. For example, as businesses grow and become more
internationalized they often outsource their production to developing countries
where labor costs are lower. This movement of jobs from developed nations to
the developing world mitigates certain economic factors leading to migration. In
other words, in a global economy jobs can move to potential migrants instead of
migrants moving to potential jobs.

4

CHAPTER 2
A BRIEF HISTORY OF MIGRATION
Migration in an Earlier Era of Globalization
The most recent era of mass voluntary migration was between 1850 and
1914. ver one million people a year were drawn to the new world by the turn of
the 20th century. A World Bank report, International Migration and the Global
Economic
Order, estimates that 10 percent of the world's population was migrating
in this time period, whereas migration today is around three percent. Growing
prosperity, falling transport costs relative to wages, and lower risk all helped to
facilitate this era of mass migration. (A situation not unlike that of today) It was
also at this earlier time that states developed a formal and regulated system of
passports and visas to control the flow of people across national borders.
The effects of the first era of migration can be seen in the population
compositions of many countries in the Western Hemisphere. In the latter part of
the 19th century, for example, nearly 15 percent of the U.S. population was
foreign born, with the overwhelming majority of these immigrants arriving from
Europe. Irish and Italian immigrants came in particularly large numbers, as did
Russian and East European Jews, Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, and Germans. Most
current U.S.citizens of European decent are a product of this period of
immigration (ORourke, 2001).At the same time that European emigration was
surging during the 19th Century, Chinese and Japanese immigrants were
arriving in large numbers to the West Coast of the U.S. and Hawaii (Richin,
1972). However, streams of Asian immigration to the U.S. were quickly halted
by a series of restrictive policies targeting Chinese, Japanese and finally all
Asian immigrants at the turn of the 20th Century (Daniels 1999). Elsewhere in
the Western Hemisphere, rapidly developing countries such as Argentina,
5

Brazil, and Chile experienced large influxes of Spanish and Portuguese
immigrants facilitated by the past colonial connection between their countries,
but also received immigrants from Germany, Britain, Italy, Poland, China, and
Japan (ORourke, 2001).
This wave of immigration to the New World resulted in moments of
backlash against immigrants. In the U.S., immigrants were blamed for crime,
disease, and the persistence of poverty in the urban centers of the Northeast and
Midwest.
Furthermore, immigrants formed a large and restless population that
seemed ripe for social conflict.

6

CHAPTER 3
WHY DOES MIGRATION HAPPEN?
Sociologists have long analyzed migration in terms of the "push-pull"
model. This model differentiates between push factors that drive people to leave
home, from pull factors that attract migrants to a new location. Push factors
occur within sending states, that is, those that send migrants abroad, while pull
factors occur within receiving states, that is, states that receive immigrants from
sending states abroad.
Push factors are negative aspects of the sending country, while pull
factors are positive aspects of the receiving country.
In fact, these differentiating factors are really two sides of the same coin. In
moving migrants must not only find a lack of benefits at home (push factors)
but also expect a surplus of benefits abroad (pull factors); otherwise the move
would not be worthwhile.
There are also more ambiguous factors, called network factors that can
either facilitate or deter migration. As mentioned above, network factors include
cost of travel, the ease of communication, and international business trends.
These factors are not related to a specific country, but still have a profound
effect on international migration.

7

CHAPTER 4
GLOBAL OBJECTIVES
The question of migration in recipient countries is addressed for a large
part through its legal and security aspects at the national level. However the
migration issue must be addressed through a comprehensive and international
policy. The goal is not to prevent migrations as human circulation is part of
globalisation, but rather the management of sustainable and profitable migration
policies amongst countries.
Migrations are needed in ageing societies. Therefore a global,
comprehensive and progressive approach towards migration needs to be
developed addressing the root causes of migration (poverty, conflict,
demographic and economic factors), the connection with development, rights
and employment, as well as the justice and security dimensions.
Addressing the root causes of migration: Push factors (countries of origin): lack
of economic opportunities, demographic boom, armed conflicts, political
disputes, human rights violations; Pull factors in countries of destination:
demographic slow-down, demand for (low cost) labour, higher wages.
Addressing specifically female migration by allocating budgets for women-
specific programmes both in countries of origin and of destination; enhancing
the participation of women migrants and their organisations in development
initiatives aimed at addressing the problems they face in countries of destination
use of gender analysis as a tool to develop pro-women development initiatives.
At a national level, providing information and education programmes to
female migrants (workers, spouses) on their rights in destination countries;
implementation of gender sensitivity training for the expatriate community to
enhance the capacity to solve problems faced by women (cultural expectations,
stereotyping and the resulting psycho-social pressures on female migrants)
8

;treating formerly trafficked women as victims rather than illegal immigrants in
countries of destination and granting them rights to asylum and legal protection.

9

CHAPTER 5
AN OVERVIEW OF MIGRATION IN INDIA, ITS
IMPACTS AND KEY ISSUES
This paper reviews both internal migration in India and emigration of
Indians to other countries, drawing on secondary sources to profile migrant
workers, and to identify the causes and impacts of migration.
Its findings include:
internal migration often involves longer working hours, poor living and
working conditions, social isolation and poor access to basic amenities
while there seems to be some positive impact on incomes and investment,
the major function of internal migration is to act as a safety valve in
poor areas
most migrant labourers in India are employed in the unorganised sector,
where the lack of regulation compounds their vulnerability; they are
largely ignored by government and NGO programmes
legislation regarding migrants fails because regulatory authorities are
over-stretched; the state sees migrants as a low priority; and migrant
workers have little support from civil society
international migrants have mainly come from Kerala, Tamil Nadu,
Andhra Pradesh and Punjab, and have consisted of people with
professional expertise of technical qualifications migrating to
industrialised countries; and skilled and semi-skilled workers migrating to
the Middle East
overseas migrants account for less than one per cent of the total workforce
of India, so have little direct impact on the national labour market;
however, the effects are significant in major sending regions such as
Kerala, where there emigration has reduced unemployment
10

remittances are the main benefit of external migration, providing scarce
foreign exchange and scope for higher levels of savings and investments
In Kerala, remittances made up 21 per cent of state income in the 1990s,
and emigration appears to have increased the wealth of the state.
On the basis of these findings, the paper recommends that government should
focus on improving the synergy between migration and development policies; in
particular:
labour legislation should be enforced more strictly, with necessary
simplification and modification of laws where necessary
panchayats could act as a resource pool for migrants residing in their area,
maintaining a register of migrant workers and working with NGOs to cut
transaction costs and upgrade the workers skills
a labour market authority should be set up to monitor the labour markets
of the major labour-importing countries, carry out negotiations on labour
contracts, and study the nature of emerging skill requirements
the 1983 Emigration Act should be liberalised to bring it into line with
current market conditions, and to remove the motive for recruitment
agents to operate outside of the law
Advocacy campaigns should aim to address stereotypes and
misapprehensions about migrants and to raise their political voice.

11

CHAPTER 6
TYPES OF MIGRATION
1. Forced Migration
2. Voluntary Migration
3. Internal Migration
4. International Migration
5. Interregional Migration
6. Intraregional Migration

1. Forced Migration :- The International Organization for
Migration defines forced migration as any person who migrates to
"escape persecution, conflict, repression, natural and human-made
disasters, ecological degradation, or other situations that endanger their
lives, freedom or livelihood.
Development-induced displacement is a subset of forced migration. Such
displacement is the forcing of communities and individuals out of their
homes, often also their homelands, for the purposes of economic
development. It has been historically associated with the construction of
dams for hydroelectric power and irrigation purposes but also appears due
to many other activities, such as mining. The best-known recent example
of such development-induced displacement is that resulting from the
construction of the Three Gorges Dam in China.

2. Voluntary Migration: - Human voluntary migration occurs when people
leave on their own free will, not because they were forced to. Involuntary
migration includes trafficking human beings, ethnic cleansing, and the
12

slave trade. People that move into a territory are called immigrants, and
from the departure point they are called emigrants. When a small group
of people migrate to develop a territory they are referred to as settlers or
colonists. The populations that are displaced by immigration are called
refugees.

3. Internal Migration: - Internal migration refers to human
migration within one geopolitical entity, usually a nation. Reasons for
internal migration tend to be different from those for cross-border
migration; whereas the latter often occurs primarily for political or
economic reasons, reasons for internal migration prominently include
travel for education and for economical, but not for political, reasons. A
general trend of movement from rural to urban areas has also produced a
form of internal migration, leading to rapid urbanisation in many
countries.

4. International Migration: - International migration is the movement of
people across one or more state boundaries to the host state where they
stay for some minimum length of time. A migrant is a person living in a
country where he/she was not born. People migrate because of political,
social or economic reasons.

5. Interregional Migration: - Migration is the geographical movement of
individuals or groups for purpose of permanently resettling. This has
occurred though history and plays an important part in all areas of Earth.
Early migrations were usually in search of food, physical changes in the
land, or invasion of others. Later migrations were usually due to
economic issues, desire for political and religious freedoms, or migration
from one country to another. Interregional migration is when movement
13

from one regional area to another, due to living in a nicer climate, health
issues, or migrating due to wars.

6. Intraregional Migration: - Internal migration refers to human
migration within one geopolitical entity, usually a nation. Reasons for
internal migration tend to be different from those for cross-border
migration; whereas the latter often occurs primarily for political or
economic reasons, reasons for internal migration prominently include
travel for education and for economical, but not for political, reasons. A
general trend of movement from rural to urban areas has also produced a
form of internal migration, leading to rapid urbanisation in many
countries.

People Who Migrate
Emigrant: A person who is leaving a country to live in another.
Immigrant: A person who is entering a country from another to make a
new home.
Refugee: A person who has moved to a new country because of a
situation in their former home (e.g., war).

14

CHAPTER 7
THE PROS AND CONS OF MIGRATION
There are many arguments about the advantages and disadvantages of
migration and how it has affected us locally.
IMPACTS ON HOST COUNTRIES
Positive
Job vacancies and skills gaps can be filled.
Economic growth can be sustained.
Services to an ageing population can be maintained when there are insufficient
young people locally.
The pension gap can be filled by the contributions of new young workers and
they also pay taxes.
Immigrants bring energy and innovation.
Host countries are enriched by cultural diversity.
Failing schools (and those with falling numbers) can be transformed.
Negative
Depression of wages may occur but this seems to be temporary.
Having workers willing to work for relatively low pay may allow employers to
ignore productivity, training and innovation.
Migrants may be exploited.
Increases in population can put pressure on public services.
Unemployment may rise if there are unrestricted numbers of incomers.
There may be integration difficulties and friction with local people.
Large movements of people lead to more security monitoring.
Ease of movement may facilitate organised crime and people trafficking.

15

IMPACTS ON COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN
Positive
a) Developing countries benefit from remittances (payments sent home by
migrants) that now often outstrip foreign aid.
b) Unemployment is reduced and young migrants enhance their life
prospects.
c) Returning migrants bring savings, skills and international contacts.
Negative
a) Economic disadvantage through the loss of young workers
b) Loss of highly trained people, especially health workers
c) Social problems for children left behind or growing up without a wider
family circle

16

CHAPTER 8
WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF INCREASED
MIGRATION LOCALLY?
An Oxford Economics research study published by the Department of
Employment and Learning (DEL) concluded that migrant workers had helped
maintain an adequate labour supply to fuel the 20042008 economic boom. The
availability of migrant labour seems to have made the difference between some
businesses surviving, or in the case of food processing, not needing to relocate
production abroad. (The authors quote a survey of 600 businesses where 31%
said that migrants were important in the survival of their organisation and this
rose to 50% in health and social care and agriculture.)
In addition the study indicated that migrants have
facilitated growth in the economy;
brought benefits to the tourism industry through the development of new air
routes;
had a positive influence on the productivity or efficiency of local workers;
contributed new ideas and a fresh approach to firms;
and greater cultural links with developing nations that will prove useful in
growing international trade.
In addition to these economic benefits, incomers have helped the health
and care services to continue functioning; contributed to cultural diversity; and
increased the vitality, especially of some rural schools.

17

CHAPTER 9
MIGRATION TODAY
Migration patterns today reflect world economic trends. For example,
during the past thirty years Chinese workers have moved from inland regions to
coastal cities within China in search of jobs and new economic opportunities
unavailable in rural areas. Domestic Chinese migrants now account for
approximately one-third of all domestic migrants worldwide, numbering almost
230 million people (The Economist 2012). These migratory trends have arisen
largely in response to the surge of international capital investment and
manufacturing business being funnelled into China, a known hotspot for cheap
land and labor. Concurrently, Chinese emigration has steadily increased since
the 1970s, oftentimes resulting in the departure of the wealthy and of skilled
labourers seeking professional employment in North America and Europe. Of
those Chinese considered affluent, an astonishing 74.9 percent surveyed
would consider sending their children to school abroad. Chinese emigration also
includes lower skill labor groups, who may utilize unauthorized means of
migration (Song, 2013).
Similarly, during the last several decades, labor migration from Latin
America (particularly Mexico) to the U.S. has surged.
A sizeable portion of this growing migration stream has been undocumented, a
fact often called upon by immigration opponents in their quest to limit
immigration rates. The backlash against immigrants from Latin America in the
U.S. has resulted in the fortification of the U.S.-Mexico border, including the
construction of physical walls at popular entry points.
However, these efforts dont appear to have seriously limited the number
of immigrants arriving in the U.S. without authorization each year; in fact,
18

undocumented immigrants now number close to 11 million U.S. residents
(Andreas 2009).
Additionally, many individual states have recently passed legislation
making it difficult for undocumented immigrants to receive social services and
find work in the U.S, causing extensive backlash from immigrants and
supporters.

According to the International Organization for Migration, the total
number of migrants across the world has increased over the past ten years from
150 million in 2000 to 214 million in 2010. This means that 3.1 percent of the
worlds population is composed of migrants; this percentage has remained
relatively stable over the past decade. The proportion of immigrants to total
population changes vastly depending on the country being examined. Qatar and
United Arab Emirates have high levels of international migrants living in their
counties: 87 percent and 70 percent respectively.
Conversely, Indonesia and India have very small populations of
international migrants, composing just .1 percent and .4 percent of their total
respective populations.

19

CHAPTER 10
INTRODUCTION OF BRAIN DRAIN
Brain drain, or human capital flight, is a buzzword that describes the
departure or emigration of individuals with technical skills or knowledge from
organizations, industries, or geographical regions. Brain drain is common
among developing nations, such as the former colonies of Africa, the island
nations of the Caribbean and particularly in centralized economies such as
former East Germany and the Soviet Union. Recently, it's been documented that
China has been leading the world in Brain Drain.
ORIGINS AND USES
The term brain drain was coined by the Royal Society to describe the
emigration of "scientists and technologists" to North America from post-
war Europe. Another source indicates that this term was first used in the United
Kingdom to describe the influx of Indian scientists and engineers. The converse
phenomenon is "brain gain", which occurs when there is a large-scale
immigration of technically qualified persons. There are also relevant phrases
called "brain circulation" and "brain waste".
Although the term originally referred to technology workers leaving a
nation, the meaning has broadened into: "the departure of educated or
professional people from one country, economic sector, or field for another,
usually for better pay or living conditions". Brain drain is usually regarded as
an economic cost, since emigrants usually take with them the fraction of value
of their training sponsored by the government or other organizations. It is a
parallel to capital flight, which refers to the same movement of financial capital.
Brain drain is often associated with deskilling of the arriving immigrants, while
their country of emigration experiences the draining of skilled individuals.
20

Brain drain may also refer to a situation wherein an individual fails to complete
any given task as a result of a nervous breakdown.
The real reason for Indias brain drain they always come across reports of
how much talented Indians are and are conquering the world in the field of
technology & business. There are several reports suggesting that Indians
dominate the technology industry of USA.
But why are most of those Indians not in India but in US/UK? If we go a little
more in depth to analyse this issue, we will begin to notice that the top Indian
professionals & entrepreneurs today in US had actually left India during 1970s
& 80s after obtaining their degrees in India. So, why did we have such a severe
brain drain in 1970s and 80s?
One common answer we get is that India did not have the right
opportunities for their specialization. Maybe true for technical PhD holders who
need employment from research institutes which might not have been prevalent
in India. But what about entrepreneurs? They had a market of 0.7 billion people,
something that nobody would like to ignore. Instead of going to a foreign land
and toiling hard to become entrepreneurs, why did they not remain in India and
do the same here? After all, India being a developing nation could have
provided them a chance to experiment as well as capture market share.
It is easy to say that they were greedy, did not care for our country and
flee to the US for greener pastures. But the real reason lies in the political &
economic system.
This snapshot of the 1974 budget might give us some hints. During Indira
Gandhis rule in 1970s, income tax was at an all-time high with the top slab
having a tax rate of 97.75% !!
21

If you were an entrepreneur and wanted to set up a business (obviously
you want to make lots of money), would you be fine with doing business in
such an economic condition? After a certain slab, for every profit of Rs 100 you
made, you were supposed to part away 98 rs to govt and keep only Rs 2 for
yourself. Would there be any incentive for you to work hard after you reach a
certain profit level since anything you earn after that will not come to you
anyway.
On top of the 97.75% tax, there were several more taxes like wealth tax,
inheritance tax etc which when added up would exceed 100%!! It means after a
certain slab, if you were making Rs 100, you were supposed to pay around Rs
103 in the form of tax!! Yes. It sounds funny but it was true. Entrepreneurs &
businessmen who were making more profits were being penalized (in the
form of exorbitant taxes) due to such policies.
Top businessmen like JRD Tata were actually selling a part of their
wealth because for every Rs 100 they earned, they had to pay Rs 105 in the
form of tax. (So, for every Rs 100 earned, they had to sell their existing assets
worth Rs 5, add it to the Rs 100 earned and pay this Rs 105 as tax to the Govt).
Such powerful & respected businessmen like JRD Tata, Aditya Birla &
Narayana Murthy were being penalized with such unreasonable taxes,
tortured due to harsh bureaucracy and frustrated, imagine the plight of a
normal entrepreneur. Wasnt it much simpler to hire a taxi to the airport and get
out of the country?
We had a rapidly growing population and millions of engineers
graduating out every year but no jobs were being generated because
entrepreneurs had either left the country to setup their business abroad or were
becoming stale here due to the above mentioned reasons. With jobs not
22

matching the growing population, our graduates had no choice but to look for
greener pastures where countries like US & UK were welcoming them with
open arms.
We had entrepreneurs and professionals but the policies did not allow
them to work here. Our talented brains & entrepreneurs did not leave our
country, leading to brain drain. Our policies pushed them out. It drained them
out!!

23

CHAPTER 11
CLASSIFICATION OF BRAIN DRAIN
Brain drain may have the following types:
a) Brain over flow;
b) Brain expert;
c) Brain exchange; and
1. BRAIN OVER FLOW
Due to the over production or low rate of utilization of brain, some of the
brains may remain wholly unabsorbed/ surplus because of effective
demand/excess supply at home, such brain spill over and get absorbed in a
foreign market. Brain migration of this type is called brain overflow. Baldwin
(1970) mainly depends on this type of brain migration and it is also implicit in
the analysis of Internationalist model. In many LDCs, unplanned and
comparatively cheap education added up with unemployment problems has
produced a lot of unemployed skilled labour. For instance, in January, 1965,
there were 75,000 unemployed engineers in India. India every year produces
many more economists and statisticians than she could provide with job.

2. BRAIN EXPERT
Brain migration may take the form of brain export by the sending country.
The brain exporting country receives in exchange for brain, remittances
continuously over a number of years. The payment may be spread over a
24

number of years in the form of remittance of tax, it may be a once-for ever lump
sum exit tax.
A consolidated price for the export of the commodity brain power may also
be realized from the importing country but the computational method that can
be applied to price fixation of brain has obvious limitation. Market price of
brain power does not very often reflect its public cost. In the case of brain
export, the exchange price must be equal to the public and private cost of brain.
Since the outgoing human capital from, LDCS mostly received only the private
cost, and not the social cost, such as an outflow cannot be considered to
constitute brain export. However it cannot be denied that it is very difficult to
calculate the social cost; and shadow price keeps on changing along with the
time horizon. If the rate of return is sufficient to cover the domestic opportunity
cost of the transferred brain, it may be looked upon as a case of brain export.
3. BRAIN EXCHANGE
Brain migration may be in form of exchange of scholars, researchers and
students between LDCs and DCs/ between LDCs themselves for the purpose of
mutual benefits in terms of knowledge, expertise and training. Such type of
brain migration can more appropriately be called brain exchange. Brain
exchange is temporary phenomenon where brain loss is compensated by
corresponding brain gain.
The main reasons for Brain Drain are:-
Unemployment
Immigration rules
Colonial links
Financial incentives and material benefits
Pursuit of higher education
25

Improvement of working conditions and facilities
Avoidance of excessive bureaucratic procedures
Compensation for the mismatch between Indian education and employment.

26

CHAPTER 12
CAUSES OF BRAIN DRAIN IN INDIA
There are various reasons for the brain drain in India. The
reasons usually include two aspects which respectively come from
countries and individuals. In terms of countries, the reasons may be
social environment (in source countries: lack of opportunities,
political instability, economic depression, health risks, etc.; in host
countries: rich opportunities, political stability and freedom,
developed economy, better living conditions, etc.). In terms of
individual reasons, there are family influence, and personal
preference: preference for exploring, ambition for an improved
career, etc. Keeping all these in mind we can identify some causes
for the brain drain in India.
Higher Education:
Higher education in India evolved considerably after
independence in terms of the number of universities as well as in
terms of access to higher education. Nowadays, the number of
universities in India has grown some 35 times comparing to 500
colleges and 20 universities before independence which are
enrolling more than 11 million students, more than 10 times before
independence. Before independence education was limited and
elitist: the current system is though more open with from 30- 40%
of enrolments from coming from the lower castes, and with women
representing some 35% of the total number of students. The
impressive increase in higher education has raised some questions
over the adequacy of studies, resources, institutional quality and
standards. Students moving to the abroad is keep increasing. The
most preferred educational destinations are the U.S. and U.K. In the
27

year 2006, of the 1,23,000 studying outside India, 76,000 have
chosen USA (94,563 in 2007-2008, 83,833 in 2006-2007) as a
country of their choice followed by UK, Canada and Australia. Most
popular foreign universities are University of Southern California,
New York University, Columbia University, University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign, Purdue University, Indiana, University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor, University of California, Los Angeles,
University of Texas, Austin, Harvard University, Boston University,
and University of Pennsylvania.
Employment: -
India has skilled and semi -skilled, employed and unemployed
human resource. Low salaries and inefficient working conditions
can be the first motive that triggers the movement to the countries
with better living standards and facilities. There is huge difference
in terms of salary in all three groups of countries namely developed,
developing and underdeveloped. To demonstrate, Skilled workers
aim to get pleasing salaries in return for their labour but the
working conditions in their homeland don' t fulfill their wishes.
Therefore, those workers prefer to move another country in order to
have better living conditions with high salaries. Employment is one
of the strong reason for brain drain in India.

Lack of opportunities:
In developed countries, researchers are provided with funds
and necessary equipment to carry out study, which can be another
motive that attracts those deprived of these opportunities. Most
scientists in underdeveloped countries, do not possess laboratory
facilities and researchers cannot get sufficient funds. Therefore,
when developed countries offer these facilities, researchers and
28

scientists naturally prefer to migrate to these countries. The
internationalization of knowledge creation and the rapid expansion
of R&D activities determined the diversification of receiving
countries for professionals and skilled workers from India.
Traditional migration streams of highly-skilled Indian were directed
toward the United States and the UK. In the 2000s, new non-
English-speaking destinations emerged in Europe such as Italy,
France, Germany and other European countries. The number of
skilled Indian migrants moving to Australia, Canada, and New
Zealand also increased.

Favorable migration policies: -
Increasing economic interdependence among nations, growing
demand for skilled labour in the knowledge economy not to mention
demographic trends are all strengthening the position of India as a
major supplier of young, educated and qualified manpower for the
EU. Owing to its demographic profile and its English-speaking
population, India, with its large reserves of highly-skilled workers,
has emerged as one of the most prominent country to fill the supply
gaps in the labour-deficient economies of the developed world.
Taking into account EU economic objectives coupled with
demographic and ageing effects, Member States have put in place
selective immigration policies aimed at attracting highly-skilled
professionals and tertiary-level international students from South
Asia. In order to facilitate labour mobility, some EU countries
signed labour-mobility partnerships with India. According to the
Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, this kind of agreements was
signed with Denmark, and negotiations are ongoing with other
European countries, EU and non EU, including Poland, the Czech
29

Republic, Norway, Switzerland and Hungary, Sweden and France.
There are so many causes of the brain drain in India. First of all,
there is the unemployment problem. Even a talented person cannot
get job. India is lacking in facilities for higher research work. The
top appointments are quite few in India. Thus the talented experts
like to seek new pastures abroad.

30

CHAPTER 13
BRAIN DRAIN IN INDIAFAVORABLE OR
UNFAVORABLE?
A brain drain is a large emigration of individuals with the Knowledge or Technical
skills, usually due to conflict, political instability, lack of opportunity, or health risks. A brain
drain is generally regarded as an economic cost, because emigrants usually take with them
the fraction of value of their teaching sponsored by government. Do you believe brain drain,
regularly known as a main problem in our country is essentially a bad thing? I dont think
so. In reality it is a big gift that capable minds are able to depart the country and track their
goals and dreams elsewhere. At the first glimpse, it seems like a huge loss. A significant
number of young people is parting the country. It looks like the state is losing a lot of
knowledgeable and educated workforce .However, what will happen if they seal the borders
and detain all this talent inside the nation? Would they be able to grow and be as creative as
they would like to? Would they cause a technological revolution or will they join the queue
of unemployed people as well as produce more problems for our already worried society?
The biggest benefit of brain drain is that all those individual brains will get the opportunity
to nurture in another atmosphere where they get more support as well as have more freedom
to boom and this is why they leave. From a universal point of view, it will help talents
develop and not be shattered. Here is a plain example, a very intelligent friend of mine got a
medal in the International Physics Olympics as well as entered the university with no
concourse. He graduated with most excellent marks, passed the Masters Entrance exam
however was failed for some silly reason. For some time he unsuccessfully tried to get
around the difficulty, but at the end he gave up and determined to study his masters out of
the country. Now he is a PhD as well as lives happily and works in the States. Would
someone else in his condition have done something else? I think no .Furthermore, the
knowledge that those young brilliant people gain overseas will be very helpful if they choose
in a later phase to go back as well as settle down or engage in their country. The fact that
31

young cultured people leave the country in the present situation is not only good for
themselves however is also good for the world.
However on the other side, Brain drain is a severe loss due to the flow of the
competent and effective sector of the country particularly oil producing states which are now
in terrible need for trained and highly skilled employees. Brain drain influences all level of
education in the world which suffers illiteracy estimation at 70 million people. The
economy can also be affected due to expenditure on study whether state funded or privately.
The migration even broadens the gap between the rich and poor countries. Brain drain is
advantageous to the beneficiary countries as well as loss to countries of origin, because it
deprives these countries from the innovations of their subjects. Such countries as a result
have become culturally and technologically dependent on the West. An answer to this
would be to encourage entrepreneurs to produce employment. The Government is
supposed to give concessions in tax as well as decrease the hassles concerned in setting up
an industry. In this way we could make Indias workforce one of its major assets.

32

CHAPTER 14
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF
MIGRATION OF SKILLED INDIANS TO ABROAD
(BRAIN DRAIN)
The migration of skilled individuals to other nations is referred as the brain drain or
the human capital flight. This migration of talented individuals may be due to conflicts, lack
of opportunity, or health hazards where they are living.
In India, brain drain is more because educated individuals are emigrating for higher wages
and better opportunities. It has been in our consciousness since 30 years and many bright
youngsters have emigrated mainly to US from early 1960s onwards including a large
fraction of the graduating class at IITs in India.
ADVANTAGES
The money the emigrants have sent back home has helped in alleviating poverty in
their homes.
It has resulted in less child labor, greater child schooling, more hours worked in self-
employment and a higher rate of people starting capital intensive enterprises.
The money remittances have also reduced the level and severity of poverty.
Moreover, the money migrants sent back are spent more in investments such as
education, health and housing, rather than on food and other goods.

DISADVANTAGES
Due to the influence of brain drain, the investment in higher education is lost as the
highly educated person leaves India and becomes an asset to other country.
Also, whatever social capital the individual has been a part of is reduced by his or her
departure.
With all the college graduates leaving their homelands, it raises the question as to
whether their skills are being put to good use in the destination country.
33

The chances of Brain Waste are possible. In a similar way, there is a shortage of skilled and
competent people in India. A tremendous increase in wages of high-skill labour can be seen
now in India. The emigration has also created in numerous problems in the public sector.

34

CHAPTER 15
INDIA TAKES STEPS TO PREVENT 'BRAIN
DRAIN'
Indias new science policy aims to position the nation among the top five global
scientific powers by 2020. This cannot be achieved without qualified academics,
researchers, and scientists, yet India has to contend with large numbers of postgraduate
students leaving to complete Ph.D.'s or postdocs a majority to the U.S. and staying away
to pursue a career.
Now the government and industry, along with Indias elite universities and technical
institutions, have united to implement a series of measures to stem the tide while also
encouraging large numbers of researchers to return home.
Indias problem starts with the already small pool of students who choose to do a Ph.D.
Between 1991 and 2001, the number of doctorates awarded increased by only 20 percent
compared to an 85 percent jump in China.
Today, no more than 1 percent of students with undergraduate degrees opt for doctoral
studies and the substantial number who do prefer to go abroad. India produces only up to
125 Ph.D.'s in computer engineering a year, despite nearly 1.7 million engineering students
graduating each year.
Pankaj Jalote, director of the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology in Delhi,
conducted a survey among undergraduate and masters students in Indian Institutes of
Technology in Bombay, Delhi, and Kanpur.
I tried to understand the students perception of pursuing a Ph.D. in India. A large number
of students still think that becoming an academic is the only career option after completing a
Ph.D. Several did not want to do a Ph.D. in India because they felt the research work was
poor and an Indian Ph.D. had low market value.
For Devasmita Chakraverty, a doctoral student at the University of Virginia, the U.S. was
the default choice for pursuing a Ph.D. because of its leadership in science, research,
35

education, and technology.
Most Ph.D. programs in good U.S. schools are very competitiveand have a lot to offer in
terms of resources and lifestyle. For example, facilities for research, lab facilities, funding,
conference opportunities, travel opportunities, etc, Chakraverty said.
Brain Drain
Only 5 percent of Indians who go to the U.S. to earn a doctorate degree return home, as was
revealed in a study on the mobility patterns of Ph.D. graduates in science, engineering, and
health.
According to the study International Mobility and Employment Characteristics among
Recent Recipients of U.S. Doctorates by the U.S. National Science Foundation, around
5,000 Indians join U.S. universities every year for doctoral studies in these fields.
India also has the largest diaspora, with 40 percent of its home-born researchers working
overseas and 75 percent of its scientists going to the U.S. A major reason behind the brain
drain is the divide between universities and specialised research institutions, with most
universities not engaged in cutting-edge research and unable to attract the best minds.
Teaching and research do not go together as happens in the worlds leading universities.
Researchers across institutions also have no occasion to engage with young minds, said
Deepak Pental, a professor of genetics at the University of Delhi.
While universities in the developed world get the largest share of research funds from their
governments, only about 10 percent of government research funds in India goes to
universities.
The brain drain is also reflected in the lack of qualified manpower for Indian higher-
education and research institutions. Across the elite Indian Institutes of Technology, or IITs,
there is a 43 percent vacancy of faculty posts while half the positions in the national institutes
of technology and central universities are vacant.
Brain Gain
But the tide is slowly turning. With rapid expansion of higher-education infrastructure and
enabling environments, India has been successful in attracting young researchers back
home.
36

As the nations elite institutions try to morph from world-class teaching institutions to world-
class research centers, they have put in place flexible recruitment policies, generous research
grants, and industry-academe collaborations to attract their researchers back from foreign
institutions.
At IIIT Delhi, two-thirds of academics have a Ph.D. or postdoc from a foreign university.
IIT Bombay has hired more than 100 young Indian assistant professors in the past three
years, all with international experience.
When Vinay Joseph Ribeiro, an assistant professor at IIT Delhi, returned to India it was for
personal reasons: While doing my Ph.D. at Rice University in Houston, I worked with a
Catholic community that wanted some work done in Delhi. I wanted to pitch in, and thus
applied at IIT Delhi, Ribeiro said.
That work is long over but I stayed on because India has changed so much. There is a lot of
scope for research that we couldnt have imagined during our BTech years. Moreover, the
students are very bright and teaching is a pleasure.
Devang Khakhar, director of IIT Bombay, confirmed the brain-gain phenomenon, noting
that the number of Ph.D.'s returning has certainly increased: One of the major reasons is
that we are hiring many more faculty several IIT Bombay alumni are faculty in foreign
institutions and we have an alumni network that facilitates recruiting faculty.
Increased financial support for research has also helped. In the past 10 years, IIT Bombay
has had a 10-fold increase in research funds.

37

CHAPTER 16
CURRENT BRAIN DRAIN ISSUES
The former Soviet Union countries and today's Russia continue
to experience a brain drain in science, business, and culture, as
many of their citizens leave for the United States, Israel, Europe,
Japan, China and Latin America because of dramatic political and
economic changes.
In particular, Eastern European countries have expressed
concerns about brain drain to Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Lithuania.
In Western Europe France is currently experiencing a brain drain,
with young graduates moving to Britain, USA, and Canada
because of economic and labor regulations making it extensively
difficult to find white-collar private jobs.
Certainly there is a brain drain occurring in the last 5 years in
Germany, with 144 814 people leaving their country in 2005 due
to economic problems, the highest rate of emigration from
Germany since the end of World War II.

POSSIBLE SOLUTION TO BRAIN DRAIN
Political stability
Higher level institution should be made
Awareness about serious consequences
Prohibit nepotism and favouritism
38

Adequate salary for every level of work

39

CHAPTER 17
SUMMARY
Brain drain hampers the development of country.
Brain drain is noble for the emigrants but not for the host
country.
Drained brain contributes to the economy of migrated country
which only influence the living standard of the people.

RECOMMENDATION
Amount of salary should be sufficient for all level of workers to
spend a quality life.
Government should provide better opportunities for the highly
qualified students.
Education should make practical not just theoretical.
Trend of giving job based on relations should be prohibited.

40

CHAPTER 18
CONCLUSION
To conclude we can say that there is a general agreement on
the major factors causing Brain
Drain, worldwide from developing countries in particular. These inc
lude among others the relative expected income discrepancies
between labor-importing and exporting countries
and better job opportunities in labor-
importing countries. But, there is still a debate on thedevelopment
consequences of Brain-Drain. From the analysis of the
relationships between brain Drain and some development indicators
in member countries, it appears that the overall impact of brain-
Drain on the development of a nation is negative; the member
countries that have the highest rate of brain Drain tend to be less
developed. The results also support the conventional view that brain
Drain has a detrimental effect on human capital and poverty
alleviation. The subject of Brain-Drain is very vast. In this report a
brief description of the main reasons of Brain-Drain and
the possible measures to prevent it from countries mainly India
has beengiven. Indiai government spent billions of rupees for educa
tion of the experts, butunfortunately these people are migrating
abroad due to non-existence of the market according to their
capabilities. Although the country has been receiving millions of
dollars in shape of remittance which these experts send back to
India every year, these remittance are not a substitute of the
expertise of educated and expert people
41

A large number of Indian students securing top positions from
different universities had been serving in European companies while
many of them have settled there permanently after
gettingimmigration nationality or citizenship of these countries. The
expatriate India is just visit the country to meet their relatives
which is very disappointing for the future growth of the country.
Developed nations always protect the experts of their country and
stop their migrating movement by providing them incentives. There
is no shortage of talent and mind in India but the need is to protect
them and control the migration of technical experts, doctors,
engineers, economist and others in order to maintain the growth.
The case of India has also been discussed as this country has
recently taken serious steps through its policies being implemented
under the Higher Education Commission which have
yielded successfulresults. Some new initiatives of arranging interact
ion of students/youngscholars with Nobel Laureates as an
inspirational and motivation step for adoption of scientific careers
have given successful results.

Migration

Transféré par

Informations du document

Copyright

Formats disponibles

Partager ce document

Partager ou intégrer le document

Options de partage

Avez-vous trouvé ce document utile ?

Ce contenu est-il inapproprié ?

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

Migration

Transféré par

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

Migration And Brain Drain In India

Vous aimerez peut-être aussi