While reverse migration is trending in emerging economies such as India, Turkey and Brazil, Nepalis are increasingly leaving the country with only a very few returning home. In recent days, migration has become a heated debate among policymakers, politicians, students and migrants themselves as to whether the staggering ‘brain drain’ warrants an immediate review, most importantly from social and economic perspectives. Despite frequent news reports in the Nepali media that brain drain is detrimental to national development, I would argue that migration has a multitude of benefits that outweigh its costs.

Brain gain

First, the cost of departure, when assessed in terms of public burden, seems very small for Nepal, especially when both students and workers have made personal investments and only very few have been sponsored by the government. These workers and students have significantly benefitted from higher education, in many cases subsidised by the host country or through personal efforts; and the cultural, social and professional experience afforded by both opportunities and challenges faced in the new environment. Furthermore, many of these young and enterprising talents were either underemployed or unemployed at home and hence, their contribution to the national economy was little to none.

Second, the prospect of migration itself appears to provide incentives for youths to acquire more education and skills, and supports the reasoning, as argued by noted economist Oded Stark, that this domestic ‘brain gain’ may actually be higher than the ‘brain drain’. Take the thousands of students aspiring for a college education in the US, Australia and the United Kingdom who take English preparatory classes and other aptitude tests, strengthening their linguistic, cognitive and scholastic capabilities. This increases their prospect of successful college graduation at home, should their overseas dreams fail to materialise.

Finally, there are significant gains—economic, social and educational—to Nepal from migrant Nepalis, no matter where they reside. In the form of remittance, which stood equal to about 22 percent of the GDP in the 2012/2013 fiscal year, migrant Nepalis have made substantial contributions to the national economy. Even when developed nations were hit hard by the economic recession in 2007/08, and still haven’t recuperated, it was remittance that helped Nepal withstand the crisis.

Nepalis now have more PhDs and Masters degrees from internationally renowned institutions than ever before. Moreover, mobility has provided unparalleled social, cultural and professional opportunities thereby widening perspectives, building new knowledge and questioning conventional thinking, as reflected in our ability to embrace the world at large and understand home issues on a deeper level.

New perspectives

Nepalis, young and adults, at home or abroad, have begun to take an active role by writing expansively on a broad array of issues, urging their leaders to be more responsible and ethical and adding a new dimension to Nepal’s political, socio-cultural and economic discourse. Though these musings and writings have mostly centered on public anger, frustration and regressive Nepali politics, what has transpired, however, is a new culture, where many of us, predominantly young, are beginning to think through the pertinent issues that affect our lives.

Once columnist-filled broadsheets and tabloids are now laden with newcomers’ pieces on a wide range of issues from education to healthcare to energy. Most importantly, these enterprising youths are not only highlighting the predicaments the country faces but also offer meaningful recommendations as to what can be a right cure for both professional and institutional ills. Take for instance, Bishal Thapa, an energy consultant trained in the US, whose regular writings in Republica take stock of Nepal’s energy situation, among other policy issues, and offer solutions, at least on a theoretical level, as to what can be done to alleviate extended loadshedding. There’s also Bhoj Raj Poudel, a graduate student at Tsinghua Univer-sity in China, who writes extensively on policy issues, from public enterprise to foreign affairs.

There is another group of diligent and dynamic youths working across the Middle East, in construction projects to shopping malls, who are sure to return home with mazuma, memories and the sheer realisation that the same amount of hard work can yield multifold returns on the home turf. Occasional news of Gulf returnees racking up millions of rupees a year through small agro-based enterprises and other low skill ventures do much to inspire.

While political wrangling and persistent power plays will continue to make politics a nasty game, as witnessed in the last two decades or so, there is a pool of bountiful talent, whether in the country or an alien land, ready to drum up new ventures and winning concepts and take the lead in the socio-economic transformation of the country. In the next five to 10 years, it’s likely that more American universities will see Nepali faces teaching finance, pharmacology or genomics; topnotch biotech and pharmaceutical firms employing Nepali scientists, data miners and researchers and international organisations offering upper level appellations to Nepali social scientists and project managers.

Looking ahead

From Devi R Gnawali, director of Graduation Studies at Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business, to Shiva Gautam, Associate Director of the CTSC Biostatistics Program at Harvard University, Nepalis are making marks. Similarly, we have Surya Subedi, professor of international law at the University of Leeds in England; Mahendra Lawoti, professor of political science at Western Michigan University; and Samrat Upadhyay, professor of Creative Writing at Indiana University.

Some of these highly qualified professionals will return home while others will find different ways to pitch in—professors serving as visiting faculty members and experts training and mentoring start-ups and established entities. Affluent Non-Resident Nepalis (NRN) will seek avenues for investment. One of the freshest capital inflows to the country, as announced by NRN President and Australian millionaire Shesh Ghale to build a five-star hotel in Kathmandu, among others, would not have been possible without migration.

By all account, we should be forward looking. We must be prepared to act decisively at that very hour when our collective strength, knowledge and maturity is needed. What is happening is all good but the best is yet to come.

Bhattarai is a vice-president of the Vision for Nepal Foundation, Washington DC