Page 40 - ELT_3rd_1st May 2020_Vol 372_Part

A98 EXCISE LAW TIMES [ Vol. 372

ented Indian students emigrate for higher studies and never return home strip-
ping India of those developmental activities they would have taken up here.
Almost every other field, promising social welfare in return of taxes, is experi-
encing the shortage of human capital alike.
Thus, where on one hand India is benefiting from remittances, on the
other hand it is experiencing lack of human capital vital for growth and devel-
opment in this competitive era. There is a dire need to reverse the brain drain
which has happened in last few decades. Also India is among the first nations to
witness the phenomenon of reverse brain drain. Numerous Information Tech-
nology (IT) students migrated to U.S.A., but a reverse trend was seen after the
dot-com bubble (the closing of several IT companies), or post 9/11 period, or
post 2008-09 financial crisis. Most of these repatriates settled in the Silicon Valley
resulting to brain accumulation. Thus, there are various reasons for brain drain
from India which are needed to be traced and fixed to control this phenomena.
Hence, a country needs to improve the push factor to control the brains
draining away. Some steps which can be taken by India are (a) creation of eco-
nomic and employment opportunities, ample enough to stick human capital to
India, (b) investing more on research and development, (c) promoting innovation
in those fields which are preferred by migrants in foreign, (d) improving living
standards of educated people which will encourage literacy, (e) limiting the pro-
vision of reservation only to deserving students so as to control drain of merito-
rious ones, (f) educational facilities and faculties, being an important reason of
brain drain, should be standardized and (g) binding the students to return, after
pursuing higher education in foreign (as is done by many Asian countries as a
last resort), etc.
Brain drain, as we saw previously, has both positive and negative im-
pacts. While a lot of brain drain has taken place till now, a rollback is certainly
not an option. Thus what remains as a possible remedy is controlling this phe-
nomena to that extent that it neither harms the parent or the host country, nor
creates an environment of discriminatory distribution of opportunities available
in foreign. As for India, its exploitable strength lies hidden in its demography
(one of the largest working class population), which is a matter of next 20-30
years only. India ought to harness it in time, and controlling brain drain is a fea-
sible method. Otherwise there is a dire need to reverse it to a considerable extent.

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EXCISE LAW TIMES  1st May 2020  40