2. HOME AGAIN OR DEVELOPMENT?
Abstract
“Brain drain”, the movement of Indians towards developed
countries for better education and employment opportunities is
a much talked phenomena since 1960s. However, the trend is
reversing today. The developed countries in the west witnessed
the global economic crisis during 2007-08 which paved the way
for India in accelerating the pace of economic development.
Therefore, the economy opened up which further led to the
phenomena of “brain gain”. The paper discusses the reasons,
why immigrants leave their adopted countries for returning to
India and its impact on the economy.
RATIONALE
The paper is the continuation of the first submitted assignment on ““brain drain””, which allowed me to
read further on the same. The concept I am dealing with is, ““brain gain””. Further, I have attempted to
examine different dimensions of the concept, its liabilities and efficiencies. The title of the paper, “Home
Again or Development?” is the discussion between migrants’ idea of “home” and the state’s idea of
development.

3. FROM MIGRATION TO “BRAIN GAIN”
Migration started in India with a huge number of information technology
students departing for America for better (.....) The turning point was during
the dot-com bubble (.....) experts were forced to return to India due to the
slump and the loss of jobs in the United States (Chacko, 2007)
Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) made clear distinction between different types of
knowledge such as, explicit and tacit knowledge. Explicit knowledge are external
knowledge (for instance mathematical formulae) accessible through designed classes
however, tacit knowledge are internal which develops through experiences and
socialisation. This paper mostly concentrates on the explicit knowledge. Tung (2006)
discusses five factors such as globalisation, reduction in immigration and emigration
policy, the dual citizenship policy, universal education and the idea of home, which
contribute to brain circulation. Interestingly, I associate all these above stated factors
with “brain gain”. In further sections, I would be dealing with factors relating to “brain
gain” in details.
India saw intense globalization during mid-nineties which witnessed an immense
increased drive for technological developments and services. The particular emphasis
probably demanded skilled labour from the developing countries like India wherein the
problem of skilled emigration was brought to political front (Gupte, M., & Jadhav, K.,
2014). Over the years, it has drawn the attention of scholars to conduct researches and
have popularized the concept of “Reverse “brain drain”” particularly in China and
India. Learning about the new growth and employment opportunities in India, trained
Indians from abroad started returning to their home country and settling down in the
metropolitan cities.

4. REVERSE “BRAIN DRAIN”
Reverse “brain drain”, where the human capital returns from developed countries to
developing countries which are growing rapidly. It occurs when scientists and
engineers move to developed countries for their higher education and employment and
reverse back to their home country after years of experience. We may need to
distinguish between ““brain gain”” and “brain circulation” in this context; brain
circulation would mean migrants coming to their home country occasionally to share
their skills while living abroad which means there is a circulation of human capital in
the global market. Whereas, “brain gain” occurs when highly skilled immigrants return
to their home country to take the good opportunity wherein the country is expected to
gain from these immigrants who are technically qualified.
Alwyn Didar ex- departmental head, Ministry of Overseas Affairs, states that it is
estimated that over 1, 00,000 Indians have returned by the year 2010. Union Science
and Technology Ministry reports states that the reverse “brain drain” is seen mainly
from United States (hereafter US), Germany and Britain. Scientists, according to T
Ramasami, Secretary Department of Science and Technology, are working in various
institutions and many of the researchers work in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh,
Maharashtra and West Bengal as these states have good number of research institutes.
The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM),
McKinsey report of 2005 also showed that 25,000 IT Professionals returned to India
between 2000 and 2004 (Gupte, M., & Jadhav, K. 2014).
Observing the growth of the country and the career opportunities, Indian scientists have
been returning to their home country. Also, India has been experiencing this trend
wherein the government is designing policies to accumulate these immigrants.
WHY RETURN? FOR LOVE OR DEVELOPMENT?
Globalisation has made the world neatly inter-connected. The immigrants may think
that a particular work can be done from the country of origin as most of the multi-
nation companies are established all over the world which will help them to save their

5. position after returning to the country of origin. Sometimes, the idea of job transfer is
also associated with climbing up the ladder of job hierarchy. Also, the idea of saving
taxes in the country of origin (here, India) is the potential reason for “brain grain”.
In the globalised world, various countries have lessened the immigration and
emigration policy obstructions which increase the mobility between the host country
and the country of origin. I am completely aware of the fact that lessening the barriers
in immigration and emigration policy might lead to brain circulation also however; I
would like to argue that these policies first contribute to ““brain gain””. Countries likes
United Kingdom, Canada, United states etc. allow dual citizenship which also caters to
the “brain gain” for the country of origin.
The states’ policy of dual citizenship helps the immigrants to feel safe that they can
always go back to their host countries which pull them to their country of origin. Also,
having been to abroad always create a status symbol and the immigrants expects
difference in his social capital once he moves back to his country of origin.
In the contemporary era, most of the universities in India and abroad focus on
imparting knowledge which is universal in nature. For instance, the course, State and
Development, which is being taught in our college, provides various insights on
different countries of East Asia. I associate the diversity in knowledge with the idea of
globalisation and mobility. One of the objectives of these globalised courses could be,
to impart knowledge in order to make the global mobility smoother for the immigrants.
Also, associating to the same argument, people who choose to study abroad can come
back to their country of origin because of the universalised education pattern and to
gain work opportunity.
Since the boom in the immigration started taking place around 1960s, there are more
numbers of first generation immigrants in the host countries and the idea of home is
very strong between the immigrants and they often want to come back as they are very
attached to the idea of family. The popular idea, that Bollywood is the mirror of the
society, appears to be true in shaping some of the ideas in the society. In my view,
Bollywood creates or strengthen the impression of an individual, community or
country. For instance, we always see terrorists as Muslims in the Indian cinema which

6. contributes to the popular notion that all terrorists are Muslims or Pakistanis. Coming
back to the ‘return migrants’, I personally know an Indian doctor who was practicing in
Detroit and he was thinking of returning to India for various personal reasons. It might
sound comical but, the doctor, with his family really returned to India after watching
the movie, Swades (2004).
Looking at the coherence in the ““brain gain” and “brain circulation”, many scholars
have become skeptical about the concept itself. Leclerc and Meyer (2008) discusses the
consistency, viability and efficiency of the concept, ““brain gain”” as I discussed the
five factors previously, I assume that most of the factor runs in the cycle, For instance,
having dual citizenship might encourage the immigrant to return to the country of
origin however, having dual citizenship can also encourage the return migrant to go
back to the host country. There can be various possible reasons for return to the host
countries such as (here, in case of India), the efficiency of the country, social benefits,
development as whole and different (attractive) cultures (Reyneri, 2009). I would like
to point out that in my view; there is a literature gap in studies regarding tacit
knowledge. Most of the researches have studies explicit knowledge and most explicitly,
the information technology sector except few scholars such as Varshney (2003). It
would be immensely interesting to study the immigrant with tacit knowledge, for
instance, professors.
Indians looked West to UK and US mainly for studies, while Gulf
was the cash cow providing plenty of oil jobs (...) no wonder then India
is ranked no.1 country in remittances as high as $50 billion in 2010
(Chamikutty, 2011).
I firmly agree to what Reynari and Martin (2009) argues; that highly skilled workers
with limited time contract will be the most mobile. According to the World Bank
(2010), from 36 million migrants, 30 million people migrated from poor countries to
richer countries. As castles (2000) argues that mass migration is always through the
path walked by few individuals over a period of time. Since Castles (2000) argued
much before the mushrooming of the return migration took place hence, it becomes
important to go back to the very argument. In my view, Castles’ argument can also be

7. used for return migrants as there are ample opportunities for them and the state is
adopting different policies to bring back the skilled population in the country. Hence,
one return migrant leading a good life in his/her country of origin can influence various
returns to the country of origin.
STATE “BRAIN GAIN” POLICY: TO LURE INDIANS BACK
The transformation came in India when it opened up its economy in 1991. Since then,
many immigrants have moved back to their home country. In order to entice the return
of the immigrants, the state has been making tremendous efforts to gain from the highly
skilled Indians. Therefore, the state played an important role in finding ways to bring
back the best minds meaning to catalyze “brain drain” to “brain gain” for India. The
Indian government have set up schemes like The Ramanujam Fellowship, Innovation
in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) Programme and the Ralingaswamy
Fellowship to attract the NRIs to return to India. The Human Resource Development
Ministry’s new “brain gain” policy promises massive research funds, freedom and
bureaucratic control, negotiable salaries, academic freedom, and right environment. For
instance, it promised Research Endowment fund of at least Rs. 200 crore per national
university per year as funding is essential to support research environment. Human
Resource Development ministry has also worked on the removal of legal barrier that
does not allow Indian origin of another country to employ in public sector. The aim is
to attract Indian citizens employed in world-class institutions abroad who would back
to India with their highly skilled ability. The higher education has expanded ever since.
India had only 7 IITs, 6 IIMs and 24 central universities until 2007. But today the
number has increased.
The state has also made attempts to reverse the flow of “brain drain” through
scholarships. The government is encouraging Indian students to study abroad and
promoting them to return. One nearest example is the Commonwealth scholarship, the
policy of the scholarship asks students about how they could contribute to the nation
after their study in abroad? This basically is enhancing the reverse “brain drain” by
engaging them with diaspora which would make them to remit savings, bring in

8. acquired skills and act as bridge to connect foreign companies. State also makes sure
that immigrants in India get “wage premium” as a reward which is higher than the
workers who have not worked abroad. It is the reward for the important social capital
which the return migrants have and can be used to bridge the gap between the national
companies with foreign investments. The return migrants can also transfer their skills
and knowledge in their home country. The government has also contributed to
phenomena of brain circulation, the programme called Jawaharlal Nehru Science
Fellowship (JNSF) which brings a change to the traditionally inward looking scientific
culture. This scheme targets globally renowned Indian scientists who will be given an
opportunity work part time in India for a year. The salary is Rs. 55 lakh and attractive
facilities as they will be provided with fully furnished accommodation and research
grant of Rs. 5.5 million. Likewise, much effort has been made by the state over the
years which have contributed to the phenomena of “brain gain”.
BANGALORE AND HYDERABAD CITIES: MAGNETS FOR RETURNING
INDIANS
Cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai emerged as software
development zone during mid-1980s. Therefore, there was creation of employment for
the educated section of people. It includes highly skilled IT professionals working in
high-tech spaces which were rapidly growing. The government restructured the
jurisdictions of the cities and adopted policies from Asian cities like Singapore and
Kuala Lumpur. International organizations such World Bank, International Monetary
Fund and consultancies like McKinsey acted as agents who helped in transferring
practices from one country to the other. Particularly in Hyderabad, the then Chief
Minister Chandrababu Naidu brought changes in urban policies since 1995 to showcase
the city as knowledge-based industries. It became a state of laboratory to test the
growth of the state (Das, 2012).
Bangalore and Hyderabad became the focal point for the immigrants. As developed
countries, there has been an increase in the number of financial, industrial and
commercial linkages between firms and institutions wherein the government played

9. role by offering incentives to business institutions. Many of the Research and
Development (R & D) centers of American technology firms shifted to India and these
two cities were developed as important R & D centers. Indian Institute of Science,
Bangalore, ISRO Satellite Centre, Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics and
the Raman research Institute has included Defense Research and development
Organization. While in Hyderabad, International Institute of Information Technology,
The Indian Institute of Chemical Technology and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular
Biology. Indian School of Business was established in 1999 with the London School of
Business, Wharton Business School and the Kellogg School of Management in
collaboration with Andhra Pradesh government and a group of Fortune 500
entrepreneurs. Setting up institutions thus need returning NRIs to develop scientific and
technical output. The state tries to attract scientists and engineers who are involved in
the field of biotechnology in the US and as such Andhra Pradesh have a large number
of NRIs who have been trained in US. Unlike 1970s and 1980s, presently, in India we
have ample opportunities with good salary; good schools for children whose family
stays close by which is reasonable enough to return back to their home country.
(Chacko, E. (2007).
Global cities attract highly skilled migrants since they have knowledge-based activities.
Such human capital can spur economic growth of the adopted country. Yet immigrants
maintain link with their home country through economic and social remittances, return
visits and communication even when they are incorporated with the host country
(Bodnar 1985; Wyman 1993). The effect of globalization in India which has provided
immense opportunities definitely draws skilled immigrants to home. These immigrants
who were once knowledge diaspora comes back with skills, connections and savings
that helps India’s economic growth.
WHAT IS TO BE DONE?
The awareness that knowledge is the weapon for the world, and is quite portable in
nature, contributes to the “brain gain”. The argument of Tung (2008) is interesting that
the “brain loss” of the host country may not be permanent as the immigrants from any

10. county cherish their passport of visa of the developed nation hence, these return
migrants might return to the host countries. Also Saxenian, in her book, “The New
Argonauts: Regional Advantage in a global economy” (2006), studied Indian and
Chinese immigrants in the Silicon Valley and she found that immigrants who excel in
their IT skills, decides to pursue their career in both United States and the country of
origin, so that they capitalize on their worth in the job market and also build capital on
a large scale. Since, the government have realised that the country is losing on the
‘brain’ and is witnessing “brain drain”, it has started taking different measure to deal
with future migrants. For instance, the Commonwealth Scholarship from The Ministry
of Human Resource Management asks the applicant if there will be any benefit to the
home country after the undertaken study.1
In order to engage with the issue of migrants
and return migrants and to “gain the brain again”, the state needs to sponsor extensive
research in the particular area to study migration and return migrants with their push
and pull factors.
*****
1
Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development. (2015). Retrieved October 16, 2015, from
mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/UK2016.pdf

11. Reference
Chacko, E. (2007). From “brain drain” to “brain gain”: reverse migration to Bangalore
and Hyderabad, India’s globalizing high tech cities. GeoJournal,68(2-3), 131-140.
Das, D. (2012). Ordinary lives in extraordinary Cyberabad. The Transforming Asian
City: People’s Practices and Emergent Spaces. London/New York: Routledge,
112-122.
Ebaugh, H. R. (2003). Religion and the new immigrants. Handbook of the Sociology of
Religion, 225-39.
Gupte, M., & Jadhav, K. (2014). The Concept of Reverse “Brain Drain” and Its
Relevance to India. Abhinav-International Monthly Refereed Journal Of
Research In Management & Technology (Online ISSN 2320-0073),3(1), 83-87.
Leclerc, E., & Meyer, J. B. (2007). Knowledge diasporas for development: a
shrinking space for scepticism. Asian Population Studies, 3(2), 153-168.
Tung, R. L. (2008). Brain circulation, diaspora, and international
competitiveness. European Management Journal, 26(5), 298-304.
Varshney, D. (2013). The Return of the Natives: Asian Diaspora Issues and
Dilemmas–The Case of India. African and Asian Studies, 12(3), 290-321.
Varshney, D. (2013). Why India Calls Back: An Empirical Investigation of Reverse
Migrants. Man in India, 93(2-3), 429-445.
WEBSITES CITED
Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development. (2015).
Retrieved October 16, 2015, from
mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/UK2016.pdf