The number of Indian-origin scientists working internationally and returning to India between 2012 and 2017 has jumped 70% from that from 2007 to 2012, show figures from the Department of Science and Technology.
This is primarily due to schemes such as the Ramanujan Fellowship Scheme and the Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) Faculty Scheme and the Ramalingaswami re-entry fellowship scheme coordinated by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT). These schemes allow “high-calibre” Indian researchers working abroad to relocate to Indian institutes and universities of their respective interest and domain, says Y.S. Chowdhary, Minister of State (Science and Technology). He was replying to a question in the Lok Sabha on India’s track record in attracting NRI scientists back to the country.
However, not all researchers who return get absorbed as full-time faculty in institutions. Of the 373 scientists, who got these scholarships between 2014 and 2016, only 125 were absorbed into their host institutions. Officials, however, say the lack of absorption is often due to returning researchers not always getting their choice of institutions.
Career path
“Every person cannot get a permanent position in the IIT of their choice … but once they get a second or third tier on their list, the gap is made up. Also only about 25% of young scientists abroad systematically plan their careers [around location],” said K. Vijay Raghavan, Secretary, DBT. “We can certainly have more scholarships but there’s still limited, institutional capacity to absorb all of them.” Long plagued by “brain drain”, India has over the last decade ramped up schemes to attract Indian- origin scientists. India does not yet attract the upper echelon of Indian-origin scientists to set up labs and move their research here. “We don’t issue blank cheques like China and it’s true that 99% of those who come back to India aren’t full professors. But there’s already a noticeable difference in work culture, quality of research in, say, developmental biology and other fields, thanks to these scientists,” said Mr. Vijay Raghavan.
