The term brain drain was coined by the spokesmen of the Royal Society of London to describe the outflow of scientists and technologists to the United States and Canada in the early 1950s. Since then the term has become synonymous with human capital or the migration of highly educated individuals from the developing, mostly third world countries, to the developed ones.
Over the past few decades, more since Pakistan has been lurched full throttle into economic and political chaos, the phenomenon has become the bane of the society. The number of repining Pakistanis who wish to settle abroad is rising every year and the ones who are actually capable of breaking loose are coincidentally the educated ones, contributing alarmingly to the growing crisis of the Pakistani brain drain. To leave the country and settle abroad has become the zeitgeist of current day Pakistan.
Unfortunately either the government does not realize the severity of the problem or prefers to brush it under the proverbial rug like so many other issues. The migration of the Pakistani professionals to foreign countries, namely, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand has increased considerably with young educated and skilled Pakistani such as doctors, IT Experts, scientists and other professional either already gone or planning to leave. The fact that workers from all skill levels are losing or have completely lost faith in the economic future of the country was revealed by the Gallup survey that indicated that even the semi-skilled and unskilled workers want to migrate outside in search of better prospects. 62 percent of the adults who were surveyed expressed the desire to migrate abroad while 38 percent said that they would prefer to settle outside permanently.
It is often thought that the transmittance of funds by the ones who leave the country as a result of brain drain is a good enough substitute for these individuals actually staying in the country and working. But that idea is valid only to a minimal extent as there can be no substitute for services these professionals could be rendering the country by staying within the borders and adding to a far rapid economic, scientific and technological development of the country. Again, that can only happen if the proper infrastructure is provided to them whereby the country could earn manifold the money it receives from transmittance from the migrated workers.
According to Dr. Fitzhugh Mullan of George Washington University every doctor who leaves a poor nation leaves a hole that cannot be filled. He says,
“That creates enormous problems for the source country and the educational and health leaders in the country who are attempting to provide healers”.
Research shows that at 20 countries export more than 10 percent of their physician work force to richer nations with nearly no reciprocation as the US exports less than one-tenth of 1 percent of its doctors. Economic factor is primarily responsible for this mass migration of the scientific community from poorer, host countries like Pakistan. In Pakistan the value placed for a scientist with an advanced level degree is Grade 17 which comes with a salary that is totally insufficient to meet the basic requirements of a family. So it is no surprise that the advanced countries are exploiting the situation by offering these individuals far more handsome incentives.
Asif J. Mir writes in ‘Pakistani Think Tank’,
“We cannot achieve long-term economic growth by exporting our human resource. In the new world order, people with knowledge drive economic growth. We talk a lot of poverty alleviation in Pakistan. But who is going to alleviate the poverty-the uncreative bureaucracy that created poverty? Hypothetically, the most talented should lead the people, create wealth and eradicate poverty and corruption”.
Phillip Bonosky, contributing editor of Political Affairs, writes in his book Afghanistan-Washington’s Secret War.
“Pakistan seems to have nothing but problems. Endemic poverty which was Great Britain’s imperial gift to the colonial world-a poverty on which the sun never sets-skilled (badly needed in Pakistan itself) abroad in search for jobs. Hardly any country has suffered more from the brain drain than has Pakistan. Nearly 3,000 (annually) graduates of Pakistan’s medical colleges are jobless; most go abroad. The educated see their future not in their home country but in any country but their own”.
According to a report in the The Observer, London,
“Pakistan is facing a massive brain drain as record numbers of people desperate to leave their politically unstable, economically chaotic country swamp foreign embassies with visa applications-The biggest number of applications for British visas are from Pakistan. Doctors, lawyers and IT professional and leading the exodus, but laborers and farmhands are joining the queues of malnourished people who gather daily outside the US embassy in Islamabad”.
The greatest effect of brain drain on any country is what is seen in Pakistan today; rampant corruption, poor administrations, lack of motivation and a fast diminishing nationalism. Unless there is nationalism there can be no collective progress and poverty and crime will continue to increase under the umbrella of plethoric apathy. Whatever the solution it needs to come fast and it needs to be come now otherwise – when the educated are away, the uneducated will play – as they are playing at the moment.
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It is one of the most absurd of arguments that we need a revolution and evolution might take too long.
For one, Pakistan won’t cease to exist just because there are problems within the country. Afghanistan still has the same borders as it had in 1947 when Pakistan was born on its Eastern border despite going through the Russian invasion, the Taliban’s rise and the latest war. Bangladesh was separated because it was a 1,000 miles away from the West Pakistan. The Pakistan we know today has parts, which are joined geographically. Also other unifying factors are: 97% population is Muslim, and almost every one can speak Urdu. Even the differences in culture are going down.
So the conclusion is that nothing would happen to Pakistan and it would still be there for a long time to come. Obviously one can’t predict what might happen a 1,000 years from now. Since only 1,500 years ago Britain was just a province of the Roman Empire. America, as we know it today, didn’t even exist. In fact many of the countries that exist today didn’t exist 1,500 years ago and there is no guarantee that they would 1,500 years from now. Some countries would obviously go before others.
As for a revolution in Pakistan, there are many factors that don’t support it. Of course it is in chaos, so have been many countries in the past that never witnessed a revolution. Furthermore there are many things in Pakistan, which might block the way of a revolution. Pakistan is much more urbanized. Urban areas always have more wealth and better standard of living. The one factor which might bring a revolution is the gap among the rich and the poor. That gap normally rises during dictatorships and go down during democracies. With democracy gaining greater stength, the chances are that this gap would go down.
Another reason for a revolution is the lack of justice. Surely there is lack of justice, the situation further exacerbated by Musharraf’s draconian steps of removing the independent minded judges. But the reaction of the people has made it sure that chances of any such actions are reduced, if not entirely removed. With the judiciary becoming more assertive and independent, the chances of a revolution based on lack of justice are going down.
Another reason for drastic change is normally when governments take wrong decisions based on fudged data. That happened during the 1958 draught in China. But that normally happens in closed societies under dictatorships, where people try to flatter the man in charge to get promotions. There were more chances of it under Musharraf, but even then we had a much freer media, which could not be fooled by Shaukat Aziz and company. With this new government and media even stronger than before, it is difficult for the government not to be transparent. Transparency would ensure that absurd policies are not executed.
Another reason for drastic change could be if an unpopular government could not be changed through the will of the people. With the elections taking place and the incumbent government the reasons for such change are reduced to a minimum.
What other reason you see for a revolution?
Jaan kee aman paoon to kuch arz karoon…..
Literacy has little to do with revolution, the examples you have provided amply illustrate that. If the people in all the examples you have cited, as well as the Russian Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 that was the result of centuries of oppression of the lower classes by the Tsarist rule, were not literate then obviously it does not take a literate nation to cause a revolution, it only takes an extremely disdainful and fed up one. Just like the Pakistanis are today. Evolution for change is a method of literate people, while the less literate can only resort to revolution. Pakistani don’t have the capacity or luxury of time for evolution because by the time this happens the country’s borders might even have dissolved. In the face of the oddds we face, we need a revolution, we need revolutionary leaders and we need to resort to revolutionary tactics. Lets prove that ‘we learn from history that we do learn from history’…
Many people just keep repeating the mantra that the present lot of Generals, politicians and what not can’t change the system. Surely they believe in a revolution and not an evolution. The age of revolutions is probably over. Drastic change is never the real solution to any problem but evolution over time achieves far greater results with lesser pain, obviously it takes longer time.
Surely Britain is one example where the things have evolved over time, and rather than doing away with any institution, even the monarchy, its the thinking of the people that changed over time. Britain still has monarchy but also has one of the stongest democracies in the world, the result of evolution and not revolution.
Now many people come up with skewed arguments in favor of drastic change, such as:
1) Pakistanis are illiterate.
2) We can’t wait as long as it took Britain to change.
The answers are simple. How much literate France was in 1789 at the time of French revolution? How literate was Britain in the 17th century when the Parliamentarians defeated the supporters of the monarchy? How much literate USA was in 1776 at the time of the passing of the constitution? Definitely less than how literate Pakistan is today.
For the second, the answer is even simpler. If we keep vying for drastic change then we would still be vying for it say in 3,000 AD. But if we allow evolution then we would be a lot better even 2,100 AD.
So the same political parties, the PML(N), the PPPP, MQM and what not would evolve over time. The same Army would evolve over time. The same institutions would evolve over time to create a new Pakistan that is much better than what it is today.
As for those who are trying to spread panic by creating doomsday scenarios for Pakistan, must find an other job than writing senseless things implying that Pakistan would implode if their thinking is not heeded to. Pakistan is going to stay, they like it or not.
…..’once a Pakistani, always a Pakistani….!!!!!’ :)
Excellent posts and maningful comments. I am glad to see such sound minds amongst us.
Irum’s comments sums it up quite well. Very well said:
“Sadly, we are only