Migration Studies – Economics

Table of Contents

CURRENT AFFAIR

Migrants have made notable contributions to their countries of origin as well as destination, which is especially true for South Asia.

For several years, India has ranked the highest among countries that receive remittances from migrants.
Current state of research on migration from India
Kerala has conducted a series of 8 migration surveys while Tamil Nadu, Goa, Punjab and Gujarat have produced state-level data only once.
state-level surveys have focused only on legal and voluntary cross-border migration.
Why migration studies shouldn’t be confined to labour?
Studies should be done on cross-border human trafficking, Indian entrepreneurs in different countries, student migration, family migration, undocumented migration and the challenges faced by migrants in integration.

The migration patterns are dissimilar between genders.
Current research focuses on a small sub-population of woman migrants such as nurses and domestic workers.
However, Indian woman migrants also comprise students, professionals, beauticians, sales associates and hotel workers.
Women are trafficked to different countries in the Gulf for a variety of purposes ranging from domestic work to immoral activities.

Preference seems to be for non-Anglophone countries despite the integration challenges.
Indian students are moving to China, Japan, Germany and the countries of the former Soviet bloc.

The distress migrants are victims of human trafficking, workers who do not have proper documents, migrants trapped in a war zone or conflict areas or those who have been involved in workplace place accidents.
There is no much data about Indian migrants jailed in different countries or cheated by fake recruiting agents.