Frustration and nihilism will never herald any solution nor drive to find success. Nonetheless, politics and political turmoil of Nepal has grossly failed to evacuate people from torrent of relentless hopelessness. For ages, people have desperately anticipated basking in the bright light of prosperity and all-round development. Several series of upheavals and mass movements were cast and were heartily corroborated for the same aspiration. But the entire drive seemingly appears to be recklessly and reflexively on reverse gear. Apocalyptic signs are rife; rapidly evolving situations portend an ocean of apathy from concerned authorities.
Of late, as a consequence, 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. Dynamics of welfare state and development is a subject that is continuously raised by the leaders of all political parties. From the last few years, the discussions about slow progress and sluggish development pace are attributed to brain-drain. It is believed that brain drain is the main reason for the under-development of the country and urged for diasporas’ return to accelerate it.
A large section of society is impressively whitewashed to conceive a faulty narrative of brain-drain in Nepal. The latest data shows that nearly 5m Nepalis are abroad. In-deed it has chained our mind, blurred the logical reasoning too. Nowadays, approximately 2,000 people prepare foreign trips every day under various pretexts and wishes. 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 Kyrgyz republic.
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. Exploring the details will evidently chart another bleak picture of reality.
Not everyone who has gone abroad can or should be considered a brain drain. Most of those who went there do not contribute at the level of the brain. They are used only as tools or physical labor; they have lived as a laborer, literally. The number of people who are really contributing with brains and are doing intellectual work is very infinitesimal and far more negligible to count or graph. Also, if those people don’t return here, there shall be no scarcity of people with that level of expertise or brains in the country. Certainly, a dense number of experts, qualified, capable, skilled, intelligent personalities for various required fields are still readily available in the country.
Those who have contributed intellectually abroad do not even feel disappointed to leave the country. They assume it as an achievement and present it as pride. After the foreign trip is decided, they throw a lavish party and write statuses as if they are the winners. They abuse the people living here and blame us as if others, especially those who opt stationing in the nation itself, 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 grapple with the best in settling abroad itself. They contribute very little or no remittances at all. They did not go there on being deprived of opportunities, rather they flew after pouring crores of rupees. Michael Mathiesen’s book ‘Brain drain: Beyond the Green New Deal’ states 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.
Today, there is a stark 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 about three to four billion rupees is taken annually by various workers of Indian origin. 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 saloon operators and construction site employees cause a capacious pecuniary deficit. Almost the same amount is spent on food imports annually. The basis of the necessity to import food is the exorbitant migration or flight of labor force from Nepal.
That group of people are deeply in a dismal situation because they have to stay away from their country and family. Here, various problems and discomforts such as family disintegration, sexual misconducts, and crises in parental intimacy are rampant. That group of people who have gone abroad as a labor force is also really suffering much. Existing data pool gives a hint that the works done by most of them are not only risky, comparatively unattractive and exploitative but also dirty, dangerous and disgusting. Most scholars researching the domain of season migration as well as foreign employment call it a 3D job to highlight the pathetic compulsion. By sweating it out 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 about whom 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 by staying in the country.
Migrant groups’ purported leaders often arrange/sponsor 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 toward the group. Have the country’s needs, gross domestic requirement, also been studied in this regard? Regarding brain-drain, both the contribution to the country and the loss to the society due to their absence are almost nil. Our country requires more people who are apt for the labor market. Our country is suffering multifaceted losses due to the lack of people who are to be consumed in the labor market. They also contribute to running the country. Therefore, the discussion of intellectual escape (brain drain) is only amateurish self-righteousness; but the deep attention should be paid on labor drain. They should be the priority of discussion and management. Let’s relieve ourselves from the illusive debate of brain drain and begin questioning it.
