There has been a ‘significant’ brain gain for the country. A total of 649 Indian scientists returned to the country to work in Indian institutes and universities over the last five years as against 243 during 2007-12, the lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday. Minister of State for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences YS Chowdary termed the rise in the number as “significant”.
The Department of Science and Technology (DST) through Ramanujan Fellowship Scheme and the Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) Faculty Scheme and Department of Biotechnology (DBT) through Ramalingaswami re-entry Fellowship provide attractive avenues and opportunities to Indian researchers of high calibre, who are residing in foreign countries, to work in Indian Institutes/Universities of their respective interest and domain, the Minister said.
He said that the Ministry has not installed any mechanism to keep track or estimate the number of Indian scientists who leave India to work in other countries. A few months ago, Dr Harsh Vardhan, Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences had said that over 1,000 Indian scientists working abroad have returned to India in the last two-three years.