Better prospects main reason for 'brain drain'

By V.Geetanath

HYDERABAD, JUNE 30. One out of every five engineering students of the colleges under the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) have gone abroad between 1985 and 1995.

Interestingly, the `brain drain' was as high as 32 per cent in the second five-year period of 1990 to 1995 and only four per cent in the preceding 1985-1990.

This was revealed in a study taken up by the Department of Electronics and Communication of the JNTU College of Engineering last year to assess the extent of brain drain among its engineering students. It was for the first time that such a project has been taken up by an university though similar studies were earlier conducted on IITs.

Better academic and professional opportunities and the desire to earn more are the reasons explained by the engineering students to search for greener pastures abroad, the research paper stated.

Around 730 engineering students who studied in the engineering colleges of Hyderabad, Anantapur and Kakinada, responded to the questionnaire for the study which was done at the instance of the Department of Space and Technology. They were classified into graduates, those who had stayed back in the country, those currently abroad and those who had returned.

While 148 out of the 732 are abroad, 577 of them had chosen to stay back because of family reasons or good job opportunities.

Another interesting finding is 80 per cent of those living abroad feel the country would benefit by their return but 63 per cent of them did not make an effort to get a job. Even among those who made such an attempt, 30 per cent did not visit India for that purpose at all.

A Government job is least preferred among those who sought a job here - only 15 per cent. Those abroad listed inadequate pay, poor career planning opportunities, bureaucracy and working conditions as some the factors which prompted them to try their luck overseas.

Bad living conditions, poor job satisfaction and political interference were some factors which act as a disincentive for them to return. Unfortunately, some who have come back (seven responded) are "regretting" their return and in fact, five of them are contemplating going back again! So much for the reverse brain drain.

Better working conditions, reduction of pay parity between the multinationals and the public sector plus inculcation of the national spirit were among the suggestions made by the respondents abroad to attract talent from abroad. Other than social recognition and family life, respondents from abroad detail the positive points of working abroad as fair treatment at work, R & D opportunities, monetary advantage, and so on.

Quite naturally, students say they are remitting precious foreign exchange and thus, going abroad was no `brain drain'. On the other hand, faculty members state that it is a brain drain because of not as much as utilising their talent as in having made investments for their education.

Dr. Ch.D.V.Prasada Rao, Chief Investigator for the study, says: "There is nothing like brain drain. It's only a question of where they currently exist, deposits are deposits whether they are in the Indian bank or a foreign one. It is upto the nation to utilise them optimally".

He feels that it would be interesting to analyse brain drain keeping in view the social and economic background of the students as also the variation of brain drain discipline wise for policy makers. Well, a majority (52 per cent) of those who are abroad studied in private schools. And, who stayed back have studied mostly in Government schools with a substantial number having rural roots.

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