Address the Brain drain

India's PM has shared a futuristic vision to make her a developed nation by 2047, the 100th anniversary of our Independence. Can this be achieved especially when all our creme de la creme are being kidnapped by companies of foreign origin with lucrative salaries?

According to the data by Ministry of Home Affairs, around 6 lakh Indians have renounced their citizenship and settled in a Foreign country in the last 5 years alone. Nearly 40% employees in Australia are Indians. 38% scientists of NASA are Indians, 42% doctors in US & other countries are Indians. Every year, most graduates that complete Technological, Medical and Science degrees are poached by big corporations, universities and research houses for positions abroad. More so if they educate in prestigious institutions like IIT, they are lured with a promise of lucrative salaries and better opportunities.  Almost all of them settle abroad and never return to India.

Reasons for people leaving India:

1. Lack of Higher Education opportunities: This is a controversial notion as India boasts many world class educational institutions. That said, the competition is also too high, especially for premier institutions. The bar is just too high as the number of seats are limited. Naturally, the students are pushed to look for places where they do not face such a stiff competition.
2. Low Spending on Research: India spends a measly 0.7% of GDP compared to China at 6.09% (and China's GDP is 7 times India's GDP). Not even the current Modi government did anything in this area. Innovation cannot happen without research spending and big dreams will remain just that.
3. Recognition of Talent: Bright minds need to be acknowledged and nurtured. This does not exist in India. Bright people with a drive constantly feel let down as their talent is not being appreciated/utilized enough.
4. Better career opportunities: This is a subjective topic. While the opportunities are aplenty in a huge developing country like India, the competition makes it difficult for people to fight for those opportunities. The bright minds simply do not want to fight, instead go where they are wanted.
5. Better salary, quality of life: The salary scenario is slowly changing in India, it still cannot match the standard of living offered by developed countries. The perception of earning comparatively more (without considering PPP) also contributes to the brain drain. The corruption and red tape still exist throughout the nation. Some improvements have been seen with digitizing the government data and interaction with public but we still have a long way to go.

While we have tens of thousands of people graduating every year, the quality is mostly sub par. And the creme have to compete with this pool which they feel is worthless. They fly out at the first opportunity. What can we do to stop the brain drain?

1. Increase Education spending: India spends around 3% of GDP on education. This is not enough and fortunately the Government seems to acknowledge that. They are targeting 6% and soliciting private partnerships to make it happen. This is very vital to keep India competitive on the world stage.
2. Invest in Research: The tiny country Israel spends about 5.4% of its GDP on Research. Except for the premier ones, most of the Indian Universities do not figure in the world ranking.  Their performance is dismal.  We need the Government to focus more on this and create research opportunities. We do not have dearth of talent rather, we are starved of investments in research while we see the same talent making other countries proud and rich after they move out of India.
3. Improve the quality of Universities: The first Indian entry in the Global ranking of educational institutions is at #452 (TIFR) while first Chinese entry is at #23. China has 45 in the Top 500 while India has just one. This shows the pathetic state of our Education quality, so much for a country that was the World's University a 1000 years ago. This needs to change and now! We cannot dream anything with such a quality of education. Government should address this at top priority and bring them on par with Global standards.
4. Remove Reservations in Higher Education: While improving quality of Universities is important, equally important is to admit students in post-graduate and higher studies only based on merit. It is very disheartening (and disincentivising) for a bright student to lose his seat to a low-scoring student because of his birth. Reservation is discriminatory and demoralizing practice that needs to be abolished at least at the higher education level (which is above the basic necessity). Reservation in education is a curse for India in today's day and age.
5. Government Schemes to bring back talent: The recent schemes rolled by Government to bring back the talent are encouraging but they are yet to see any fruitful results. We need to identify and nurture more institutions and encourage them to step out of their comfort zone and engage in research.
6. Link Educational Scholarships to return benefit: Every year Government provides various scholarships for bright students to prosper their life and in a belief that they'll contribute to the nation's development. However, when these students get poached with lucrative offers to never return, the Investment done on them is a waste benefitting only the student funded by Tax payer's money. This is unfair. Instead, the scholarship should be awarded on condition that the student will work in India for an Indian company or Government for a minimum of 5 years after graduation failing which, his/her degree should be invalidated until the precondition is met with term-increase penalties.
7. Link placement in premier institutions to return benefit: Similar to Educational scholarships, India spends a massive amount on subsidizing education in premier institutions like IIT, JNU etc all paid from Tax payer's money.  These institutions while selecting the candidates should put forth a condition that the student will work in India for an Indian company or Government for a minimum of 5 years after graduation failing which, his/her degree should be invalidated until the precondition is met with term-increase penalties. This arrangement places equal responsibilities on both the Government and the Student to contribute towards the nation while also ensuring a return of investment of Tax payer's money.  A similar rule is already practiced in where Medical students under Govt. quota has to spend at least one year in rural service.