It’s been many years since I started reading newspapers with all their political gimmicks, varied opinions and columns on scientific advancement, giving my mind a daily dose of knowledge. But what garnered my attention more than anything was the peculiar nature of the role of Indian innovators in the worldwide breakthroughs. It always itched my mind to think how could every innovation news have an Indian in it somehow?
But after a careful observation, and diving deep into the concepts of human resource and scientific environment of the country, now I know that the case is completely opposite. It is not a coincidence but a sharp blow on what’s wrong with our growth. The reality is that our people have to move out of their nation to develop and innovate, because they are unable to get access to technology and resources in their homeland. So today, I want to dig deeper into this very issue.
For a long time, India has been a recipient of various types of drainage systems. Do not confuse yourself with the Harappan civilization and their awesome water drainage, I’m referring to a rather metaphorical sense of drainage, which was in the form of wealth drain (in British times) hurting our economy. And, now it has transcended into a more dangerous and subjective form of brain-drain. Yes! brain-drain.
What Is Brain-Drain?
Brain-drain is the process of emigration of the talent pool from one country to the other developed nations in search of better employment facilities and career opportunities. India in its present state is a severe victim of this concern. The theory of brain-drain was laid by Bhagwati who authored a paper in 1974.
Reasons For Such A Sorry State Of Affairs
- Lack of employment facilities and appropriate opportunities to incentivise talented people in the country. Dearth of credible institutes keeps such young minds away from contributing to their own national growth.
- More concentration on the theoretical aspect of subject, restricts personnel’s practical creativity. This discourages manpower largely, confining their mind just to pen and paper.
- Lack of proper process to harness the creativity of our brilliant skilled professionals. Even if they stay back in the homeland, the meager pay deters their dream and kills their motivation.
- Lack of funding and functional support to such STEM professionals, as sometimes the tangible results require a long gestation period.
- Heavy bureaucratic influence even in the science field hampers the organic development of this arena. Furthermore, the patronage of political support leaves the scientific community at the mercy of the leaders who have their own vested interests.
Why Is Brain-Drain A Bane For The Country?
First of all, it takes away the most important element of the nation, its people. Such loss of human resource is beyond any compromise. Then, it hurts the national economy by recurring losses of economic contribution by these skilled professionals. As NRIs living outside the country for more than 180 days a year are not liable to taxation rules under the provisions laid by Income tax act 1961, they end up paying no tax to the nation. This results in lesser revenue to the state’s exchequer.
It also hurts the morale of the country as students study in the government-funded institutes and then leave the nation for lucrative jobs outside the country. Such an implicit form of freeloader-behavior exploits the resources of taxpayers’ money, because a huge amount of money goes into the maintenance of premier institutions.
And, This Just Doesn’t End Here
These are just the basic rhetorics which are repeated every time this issue comes up. The worst part is creeping more into the deep fabrics of unseen dynamics of the national framework. The real problem is that the brain-drain situation is affecting the governance of the nation.
As the migration of human resource reduces the number of direct taxpayers, there stands a lesser number of people to hold government accountable for its actions. As per the experience of a direct tax to GDP ratio (in OECD nations), the country which has more number of direct taxpayers is more answerable to its own people. Direct taxpayers are the real soldiers of the economy, making government efficient, responsible and indeed accountable in functioning. Because government policies are kept unchecked by the direct contributors, the state feels it has no obligation to be financially prudent or socially balanced in this new age of development.
Therefore, after analyzing the Indian Diaspora and Education Infrastructure Bill, (Brain Drain Cess) 2017, drafted by MP Rabindra Kumar, to a certain extent, I am impressed by the idea of his innovative suggestions to deal with the problem. It certainly presents an organised way of controlling the troubling process of brain-drain in India. He has enhanced the idea of Bhagwati tax (brain-drain tax) with a few noble recommendations.
The Cons
But at the same time, such a step of taxing the NRIs may be seen as a symptom of retrograde mindset, and a step that is damaging to the openness of growth. Taxing will only increase revenue surplus with the government, which I believe the government is already mismanaging for its own pecuniary gains. So again giving them the disposal of such a huge fund will be a silly mistake.
My Two Cents
In my opinion taxing is not a sustainable way to deal with the brain-drain crisis. My suggestion is to target the procurement of technology and services. It will not only build capacity but also will encourage the engagement of workers overseas.
For service matters, procurement is easy. But for non-service tangible operations, a state of the art technological base could be installed for easy access to resources. The government can set up various kind of resource centers under respective ministries, catering to the demand of these skilled professionals and helping local youths with fewer opportunities to connect.
I agree such networking may need seamless connectivity and huge logistical expertise, but if we see it objectively, the fruits of such an experiment will be very sweet in the long run. It will not only help our emigrants to stay in touch with the national development, but also help local innovators and small scale industries to become global leaders. Extensive solutions like this will only tap the potential of Indian domestic markets, making them a dynamic element of the growth engine.
Only service and functionality procurement is the long term solution that can transform this brain-drain into brain-gain.