16-Oct-2026

Before the Indian economy opened up through a bold step taken by the then Finance Minister,
Dr. Man Mohan Singh, Brain drain was a hotly debated topic in India as well as among the Indian diaspora abroad. There were debates on the merits and demerits of learned people defecting to other countries. While critics of the phenomenon argued that the country was losing out people trained in the best Indian institutes (the IITs), there were the others who countered the argument saying the personal choice of individuals must be respected. Among policy makers and bureaucratic circles, this was considered as one grey area the country needed to address. The debate continued, because the majority felt that the best brains who got educated in the best Indian institutes are enriching other countries, but not their own country.

When the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was invited to grace the 25^th convocation ceremony of Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, on December 19, 1985, the faculty and the students expected that he would speak on the issue and offer his personal opinion on it. The debates on brain drain in fact was mentioned by the Director of IIT Delhi in his opening remarks, perhaps, obliquely reminding him of the intense discussions surrounding brain drain within Indian societies; the products of these premier Indian institutes defecting to benefit richer countries of the west. The remark, therefore, set the ball rolling, indirectly urging the former Prime Minister to express his view on the matter.

When it was time for the PM to address the gathering, Rajiv Gandhi spoke about how technology improvement was essential for every developing country in the world, and that India was fortunate to have the IITs and other centres of learning in the forefront of empowering the country with knowledge, and congratulated the IITs and the young technocrats.

Speaking on brain drain, he said “Mention has been made on brain drain. This is one of the major problems, but I see it slightly differently. When one talks about brain drain, one assumes that the phase of learning ends as you get your degree; that you have developed brain, and now you are leaving the country; so, it is brain drain. But I don’t agree with that at all. Learning continues right through life. It does not stop at any stage. If people go out, they are going out to increase that learning. What we must see is that ultimately when further knowledge has been gained, further experience has been gained, these brains come back to our country’s gain. If somebody does not come back at all, yes that is brain drain. But if somebody goes out when he is 23 or 25 or 30, I don’t consider that brain drain, provided we can get him back at later date to use his further experience, his further knowledge, for the benefit of our country”

This notion of the former Prime Minister, in a way, is similar to our situation. We have scholars in different streams, but due to lack of opportunities in home state or district, they are serving in colleges and universities in different cities of India. And often we come across our people lamenting about educated individuals from our district not able to serve their own people. But we must understand that their exposures are to the benefit our people, particularly in popularising the indigenous knowledge in the field of environment. They could make good use of the methodology and analytical skills their learn to enable them to co-relate the traditional wisdom, practices, beliefs, and experiences developed by our people through their close relationship with nature for generations.

It needs no elaboration that these traditional knowledges play important role in the lives of our people for decades, but their applications remain rudimentary and crude. For example, long before modern environmental science developed, indigenous communities had developed sustainable ways of using forests, water, soil, plants, and animals, protecting the environment and maintaining the balance between human beings and the nature. Sustainable use of natural resources, one may conclude was, the cornerstone of every community’s approach. They understood that natural resources were limited and must be used carefully.

God’s creations, or the natural resources, was therefore, respected and cared for and the practice of overhunting, overfishing, or excessive cutting of trees etc. were never encouraged despite the fact that forests, mountains, hills, valleys, and rivers were insurmountably plentiful. The modern-day approach however is not quite that way in spite of technological advancement. That respect for nature is not the norms anymore because the modern methods don’t adequately incorporate the indigenous knowledge in its scheme of things. This is where the contributions of our scholars could be crucial. They have the knowledge on how the communities have applied traditional knowledge of nature preservation and nurturing, which can be meaningfully incorporated in studies and researches not only to enlighten, but also to enforce the practice.   

In agriculture too, indigenous knowledge helps maintain soil fertility and reduce excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides. In mountainous regions different methods of collecting, storing, and managing water are followed, while there are traditional methods of rain water harvesting, identification of water sources, such springs, ponds, tanks, and small irrigation systems that allowed communities to survive in areas where water is scarce. These practices demonstrate how local knowledge can provide sustainable solutions to modern environmental problems. Similarly, indigenous knowledge of local plants and their medicinal, nutritional, and ecological values would prove useful when incorporated in researches.

In conclusion, the presence of our scholars in different institutes of learning not only is a pride for us, but they could also be credible agents of change in ensuring the insertion of traditional knowledge with the modern, particularly in the field of environment where the pace of degradation is threateningly rapid. We need to also recognised the value of indigenous knowledge for environmental protection and sustainable development ourselves and urge our scholars to conduct research or present papers on the topic in national and international forums in order to attract the attention of policy makers. Use of natural resources shouldn’t necessarily be through destruction of the ecosystems in the guise of development, but through judicious exploit with due care and caution, keeping in mind nature’s regeneration processes. Combining traditional knowledge with modern science could be the inevitable solutions to environmental problems our beautiful land is presently grappling to deal with.