The height of dismay is countlessly compounded that even after many series of political changes, the country has not yet reached and received the expected pace of development. Our situation seemed much better than neighboring countries India and China, sometimes back in history. India and China were freed from the undemocratic dictatorial rule of the British colony and the Manchu dynasty respectively about only seven and 40 years before the commencement of democracy in Nepal followed by the fall of Rana oligarchy in 2007 BS. Many other countries in South Asia seem to have experienced similarly sordid situations. But we are lagging far behind while other countries have created a remarkable flow of change and positive progress in the last three decades.
The dynamics of welfare state and development is a subject that is continuously raised by the leaders of all political parties. In the last few years, the discussions about slow progress and sluggish development have been attributed to brain-drain. It is believed that brain drain is the main reason for the under-development of the country and there have been calls for their return to accelerate development. The latest data shows that nearly 5 million Nepalis are abroad. Nowadays, 2,000 people prepare foreign trips every day under various pretexts. According to the World Bank's report 'Large Scale Migration and Remittances in Nepal', Nepal is the third country in the list of remittance dependent countries after Tajikistan and the Republic of Kyrgyz. It is undoubtedly true that many people have gone abroad. But to think that there is brain-drain in the country merely because more people have gone abroad and everyone is obsessed with foreign countries is a fantastic delusion.
Fantastic Delusion
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Not everyone who has gone abroad can be considered as a case of brain drain. Most of those who went there do not contribute at the intellectual level. They are used only as tools for physical labor. The number of people who are really contributing to society intellectually is very infinitesimal. Also, if those people don’t return here, there shall be no scarcity of people with that level of expertise in the country. Certainly, a dense number of experts as well as qualified, capable, skilled, and intelligent personalities for various required fields are still available in the country.
Those who have contributed intellectually abroad do not even feel sad to leave the country. They assume it as an achievement and present it as pride. After the foreign trip is decided, they call a party and write statuses as if they are the winners. They abuse the people living here and blame us as if we are unable to do anything worthwhile. Their wives, children and family members too accompany them for permanent settlement. Most of them opt in selling property here and settling abroad themselves. They contribute very little or no remittances at all. They did not go there because of being deprived of opportunities, rather they flew after pouring millions of rupees for a better opportunity. Michael Mathiesen's book 'Brain drain: Beyond the Green New Deal' says that brain drain is not something that should be worried much about and should be included in the adoption of control measures. Instead, labor drain is becoming more of a problem than brain drain.
Real Complication
Today, there is a greater need for general labor in the country. India is the country with the largest number of emigrants in the world. Nepal ranks seventh in the list of countries that send remittances to India. It seems that workers of Indian origin take back about three to four billion rupees annually. This capital flight is not caused by doctors, professors, technicians, engineers and experts. The pool of human resources used in different types of labor market i.e. including house builders, hair salons and construction sites cause a capacious pecuniary deficit. Almost the same amount is spent on food imports.
Those who leave the country for foreign jobs are also sad because they have to stay away from their country and family. That group of people who have gone abroad as a labor force is also suffering much. Data show that the works done by most of them are not only risky, comparatively unattractive and exploitative but also dirty, dangerous and disgusting in nature. By sweating day and night, they are also sending huge remittances to the country. There is also an extreme shortage of the labor they are doing there. But those who we are having a superficial debate do not contribute, nor is the country standing still in their absence.
Some of the experts and leaders opine that those who have gone abroad are gems for the country; and praise that they will magically change the country if they return. Such a senseless meta-narrative is obviously deep mental stress and abuse on the dutiful group of experts who want to contribute as much as possible to the country and thus do not opt to leave the nation and strive for the best here.
Migrant groups other than the labor force often arrange foreign travel arrangements for leaders. There will be extra visits and hospitality as well as occasional gifts and favors. That's why our leadership might have felt an involuntary attraction towards the group. Has the country's needs been studied in this regard? Lately, the term Gross Domestic Requirement is being used more in the theory of development. Regarding brain-drain, both the contribution to the country and the loss to the society due to their absence are almost zero. Our country needs more people in the labor market. Our country is suffering multifaceted losses due to the lack of people who are to be engaged in the labor market. They also contribute to running the country. Therefore, the discussion of intellectual escape (brain drain) is irrelevant. They should not be discouraged to return to the country, but deep attention should be paid on labor drain. They should be the priority of discussion and management.
