India moves from brain drain era to brain gain: Harsh Vardhan

Union Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday said that India has moved from the era of "brain drain" to "brain gain" as over 1,000 Indian scientists have returned from foreign countries to work in India during the three years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.

Asserting that Indian scientists and researchers are not inferior to anyone in the world, Vardhan said, "Our scientists, who had earlier migrated to work in other countries, have started returning because of Modi government's initiatives to boost scientific research in the country. Now our scientists have access to the best facilities." "The returning scientists have joined almost all research areas. They are all well-meaning people, interested in the betterment of India," Vardhan said, adding that 1,000 is a very modest estimate.

Talking about the new plans to be carried out in the next two years in science and research sectors, the Minister said that around 1 lakh scientists will be specially trained by the government in the coming years.

Vardhan while talking about the ongoing researches in India said that "The CSIR right now is working on over 140 inventions where we are going to help people and most of the projects are in advanced stage. The inventions of CSIR has always benefited common masses as the anti-diabetic drug --- BGR-34 – which has been developed by CSIR's two institutes, is being sold as a hotcake and successfully treating diabetic patients."

"The anti-diabetic ayurvedic drug, which is developed by CSIR and manufactured by AIMIL Pharmaceuticals is selling like hot cakes and taking care of ill-effects of the hot cakes in terms of blood sugar regulation and competing for the best allopathic brands in the country," CSIR's Director General Girish Sahni said in his presentation.

"India has also witnessed a remarkable growth in the science sector in the last three years. In terms of the development of scientific research, the international growth rate is about 4 per cent, while India's growth rate is 13 per cent, which is an indicator of the success of our efforts, inspired by the vision of PM Modi," the Minister said.

"In a short span of time, we have become the sixth country in the world with the maximum number of research. In the next two years, we aim to become number 4 or 5, while in Nanotech research, India has become third," Vardhan said, adding that there has been a change in approach towards science and research in the last three years. Informing about upcoming projects, the minister said that the country would soon have solar-powered ATMs as research on this is at a very advanced stage. Also, the government would launch a new 'Jigyasa' scheme in the next few days for schoolchildren of Kendriya Vidyalayas.

Under the scheme, KV children would get an opportunity to visit big laboratories of the country and stay there for a week, which would help boost curiosity of the children towards science.