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Showing contexts for: brain drain in Discussion On The Demands For Grants No. 81,82 And 83 Under The Control Of The ... on 27 April, 2007Matching Fragments
Another alarming situation is brain drain. We are at liberty to discuss brain drain and, Sir, we have already discussed about brain drain. The country is very much concerned about brain drain. Our poor country is spending lakhs of rupees on the education of our boys and girls in technology and science but they are going to other countries. [MSOffice33] So, time has come to put a ban on this. There is shortage of doctors in our country in general and in Orissa in particular. But doctors are going abroad after their education and they are serving other countries. Engineers are going outside the country and they are serving other countries. We should ban all these things. They should return the money. The State has spent money for their education from the poor tax payers contribution. They should not go outside to serve other countries, without serving our country. For scientists, doctors, engineers and for other better talented professionals, we should offer better salaries. In other countries, the attraction is better salaries and other good things that they are getting. So, the Government should consider all these things. To check brain drain, we should make their salaries and perks very attractive so that they do not go abroad. That is my request.
SHRI DUSHYANT SINGH (JHALAWAR): Madam, it is a very important subject that we are discussing under Demands for Grants today. I am very glad that the Government is looking into the subject of science and technology.
Science and technology has always been a part of ancient Indian manuscripts and since Independence, there has been a lot of progress in fields like agriculture, health, education, infrastructure and science and technology. Our hon. Prime Minister, in Chidambaram of Tamil Nadu, had mentioned about an increase in Government allocation from one per cent to two per cent. We are happy about that. He also mentioned about investment in science and technology. But the important quotion is that we need to look at the brain drain in our country. Why is brain drain happening? Why are we not innovating new methods of looking at human resource development and creating new avenues? Our President who is an eminent scientist is very happy with an increase in spending of our GDP on science and technology. When he went down the path of taking look about the budget allocation and spending of funds for 2005-06 relating to the Ministry of Science and Technology, he saw that only 0.25 per cent had got spent within the Ministry. We are here to make India proud and we are a young and developing country. We want to take India to a new[MSOffice53] height. We need to be collective in the House and work together. I must say when you are discussing about science and technology, you must talk about TIFAC, Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council, which was formed in 1998. Let me quote Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam from one of his books. He said:
Having said this, science and technology cannot grow in a backyard. You will get scientific personnel and you will get human resource wherever there are economic opportunities. People have talked about brain-drain during the course of this debate. Yes, there has been huge brain-drain, and the reason is that people will go elsewhere for jobs when they do not find jobs in India. We cannot stop them, we should not stop them or we cannot keep them.
The other day I was in Russia, and I was taken to a site. I just happened to ask one of the guides who was walking with me that : “What are you doing?” He said that : “At the moment I am a guide, but otherwise I am a doctor.” I said : “Why are you not functioning as a doctor?” He said that : “Well, I do not get a job. I earn more money as a guide than a MBBS.” What do you expect people to do if you do not give them jobs, and if you do not absorb them on the demand side? You can have as much supply as you want, but if on the demand side you do not absorb them, then you cannot blame them. They will go out of the country.
Please see all that happened in the software revolution, which took place in India. There was a talk about brain-drain between 2001 and 2004. But, nearly 25,000 to 30,000 software engineers left Silicon Valley and came back to India. Why did they do so? It is because there was capacity of the industry to absorb them on the demand side. Therefore, you must give impetus on the supply side, and you must give impetus on the demand side. I am saying this because one is not going to have a situation where there is not going to be any brain-drain unless supply matches demand and demand matches supply.