INDEX

SR.NO DESCRIPTON PAGE

NO.
1 INTERNATIONALMIGRATION INTRODUCTION 6

2 8
LABOUR MIGRATION THE BACKGROUND

3 INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION PROGRAM 11

4 INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION FROM INDEPENDENT 13

INDIA

5 INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION 15

6 CAUSES OF MIGRATION 19

7 IMPACT ON SOURCE AREAS 21

8 EFFECTS OF MIGRATION 27

9 CONCLUSION 31

10 BIBLOGRAPHY 32

1
INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION INTRODUCTION

International labour migration is defined as the movement of people from one country to

another for the purpose of employment. Today, an estimated 105 million persons are working in

a country other than their country of birth. Labour mobility has become a key feature of

globalization and the global economy with migrant workers earning US$ 440 billion in 2011,

and the World Bank estimating that more than $350 billion of that total was transferred to

developing countries in the form of remittances. However, despite the efforts made to ensure

the protection of migrant workers, many remain vulnerable and assume significant risks during

the migration process.

International labour migration is defined as the movement of people from one country to

another for the purpose of employment. Today, an estimated 105 million persons are working in

a country other than their country of birth. Labour mobility has become a key feature of

globalization and the global economy with migrant workers earning US$ 440 billion in 2011,

and the World Bank estimating that more than $350 billion of that total was transferred to

developing countries in the form of remittances. However, despite the efforts made to ensure

the protection of migrant workers, many remain vulnerable and assume significant risks during

the migration process.

When properly managed, labour migration has far-reaching potential for the migrants,

their communities, the countries of origin and destination, and for employers. While job

creation in the home country is the preferred option, demographic, social and economic factors

are increasingly the drivers of migration. As a result, a growing number of both sending and

2
receiving countries view international labour migration as an integral part of their national

development and employment strategies. On one hand, countries of origin benefit from labour

migration because it relieves unemployment pressures and contributes to development through

remittances, knowledge transfer, and the creation of business and trade networks. On the other

hand, for destination countries facing labour shortages, orderly and well-managed labour

migration can lighten labour scarcity and facilitate mobility.

International migration occurs when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for

some minimum length of time. Migration occurs for many reasons. Many people leave their

home countries in order to look for economic opportunities in another country. Others migrate

to be with family members who have migrated or because of political conditions in their

countries. Education is another reason for international migration, as students pursue their

studies abroad. While there are several different potential systems for categorizing international

migrants, one system organizes them into nine groups: temporary labour migrants; irregular,

illegal, or undocumented migrants; highly skilled and business migrants; refugees; asylum

seekers; forced migration; family members; return migrants; and long-term, low-skilled

migrants.

These migrants can also be divided into two large groups, permanent and temporary. Permanent

migrants intend to establish their permanent residence in a new country and possibly obtain that

countrys citizenship. Temporary migrants intend only to stay for a limited periods of time;

perhaps until the end of a particular program of study or for the duration of a work contract or a

3
certain work season. Both types of migrants have a significant effect on the economies and

societies of the chosen destination country and the country of origin.

Similarly, the countries which receive these migrants are often grouped into four

categories: traditional settlement countries, European countries which encouraged labour

migration after World War II, European countries which receive a significant portion of their

immigrant populations from their former colonies, and countries which formerly were points of

emigration but have recently emerged as immigrant destinations.

LABOUR MIGRATION THE BACKGROUND

Migration from one area to another in search of improved livelihoods is a key feature

of human history. While some regions and sectors fall behind in their capacity to support

populations, others move ahead and people migrate to access these emerging opportunities.

Industrialisation widens the gap between rural and urban areas, inducing a shift of the

workforce towards industrialising areas. There is extensive debate on the factors that cause

populations to shift, from those that emphasise individual rationality and household behaviour

to those that cite the structural logic of capitalist development.

Moreover, numerous studies show that the process of migration is influenced by

social, cultural and economic factors and outcomes can be vastly different for men and women,

for different groups and different locations. In the past few decades new patterns have emerged,

challenging old paradigms. First, there have been shifts of the workforce towards the tertiary

sector in both developed and developing countries. Secondly, in developed countries, urban
4
congestion and the growth of communication infrastructure has slowed down urbanisation.

Thirdly, in developing countries, the workforce shift towards the secondary/tertiary sector has

been slow and has been dominated by an expansion of the informal sector, which has grown

over time. In countries like India, permanent shifts of population and workforce co-exist with

the circulatory movement of populations between lagging and developed regions and between

rural and urban areas, mostly being absorbed in the unorganised sector of the economy. Such

movements show little sign of abating with development. The sources of early migration flows

were primarily agro-ecological, related to population expansion to new settlements or to

conquests (e.g. Eaton, 1984). There is considerable information on patterns of migration during

the British period.

Indian emigration abroad was one consequence of the abolition of slavery and the

demand for replacement labour. This was normally through indenture, a form of contract labour

whereby a person would bind himself for a specified period of service, usually four to seven

years in return for payment of their passage. They left for British, Dutch and French colonies to

work in sugar plantations and subsequently for the tea and rubber plantations of Southeast Asia.

Similar demands for labour rose internally with the growth of tea, coffee and rubber plantations,

coal mines and, later, modern industry.

Much of this labour was procured through some form of organised mediation and some portion

of it remained circulatory and retained strong links with the areas of origin. But as it settled

down, it provided a bridgehead to other migrants, whose numbers grew to satisfy colonial

demand. Urban pockets like Kolkatta and Mumbai attracted rural labourers mainly from labour

catchment areas like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa in the east and Andhra Pradesh, Tamil

5
Nadu and parts of Kerala and Karnataka in the south. The historical pattern of the flow of

labourers persisted even after independence.

In 2001, Indias population exceeded 1 billion. At that time, 67.2% lived in rural areas

and 32.8% in towns and cities. Between 1951 and 2001, the proportion of the population living

in urban areas rose from 17.3% to 32.8%. Of the total workforce, 73.3% remained in rural areas,

declining marginally from 77.7% in 1991 and 79.3% in 1981; 58% remained dependent upon

agriculture.

In a country of Indias size, the existence of significant regional disparities should not come as a

surprise. The scale and growth of these disparities is, however, of concern. The ratio between

the highest to lowest state per capita incomes, represented by Punjab and Bihar in the first

period, and Maharashtra and Bihar in the second period, has increased from 2.6 in 198083 to

3.5 in 199700. The Planning Commission estimates that 26.1% of Indias population lives

below the poverty line (based on the controversial National Sample Survey of 19992000). The

rural poor has gradually concentrated in eastern India and rain fed parts of central and western

India, which continue to have low-productivity agriculture.

In 19992000, the states with the highest poverty levels were: Orissa (47.2%), Bihar (41.2%),

Madhya Pradesh (37.4%), Assam(36.1%) and Uttar Pradesh (31.2%) Generally, Indias poor

have meagre physical assets and human capital and belong largely to socially deprived groups

such as scheduled castes (SC) and tribes (ST). Women share an extraordinary burden of

deprivation within households. The poor rely on different types of work to construct a

livelihood; wage labour and cultivation are the most important. Earlier studies have shown that

6
poor households participate extensively in migration. More recent studies have reconfirmed that

migration is a significant livelihood strategy for poor households in several regions of India.

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION PROGRAM

In this era of globalization, almost all countries in the world are involved in migration as

countries of origin, destination, or transitor all three. Of the several millions of people living

outside their countries of birth, the ILO estimates that almost 90 per cent are migrant workers

and their families. While international migration can be a positive experience for migrant

workers, many suffer poor working and living conditions, including low wages, unsafe work

environments, a virtual absence of the social safety net, denial of freedom of association and

workers rights, discrimination and xenophobia. Therefore, the ILO approaches international

labour migrationinternational migration undertaken for workfrom a labour market and

rights-based perspective with the intent to promote decent working conditions for migrants as

well as migrants labour and human rights.

As the UN specialized agency on labour issues, the ILO has been dealing with labour migration

since its foundation in 1919. The very Constitution of the ILO specifically mandates the

organization in its Preamble to give attention to the "protection of the interests of workers when

employed in countries other than their own". The International Migration Branch (MIGRANT)

is the main unit responsible for labour migration issues in the ILO.

MIGRANT promotes the ratification and implementation of international standards; facilitates

the participation of ILO's tripartite constituents in formulating and implementing migration

7
policy; provides advisory services and a forum for consultations; serves as a global knowledge

base on international labour migration; and conducts or coordinates various projects to

strengthen the capacity of ILO's tripartite constituents and other relevant partners such as non-

governmental organizations and migrants' associations, to deal with a wide range of labour

migration issues.

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION FROM INDEPENDENT INDIA

In India, the migration of its labour force within and across its national boundaries is

nothing new. Indias geographical position has ensured contact with the Persian Gulf region and

South East Asian countries for trade in goods and movement of people, a contact which goes

back to several centuries. The migration of workers on a significant scale was, however, to

come much later. It began in the colonial era and continues now to independent India.

Migratory flow during the period of colonial domination was very much tied to the

investment interests of the colonial rulers and took place under their aegis. For instance a great

part of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century witnessed a regular migration of

Indian workers as indentured labour for plantations or mines in the British colonies; this

migration was to faraway places such as Guyana, Jamaica and Fiji, to not so-distant lands such

as Malaysia and Singapore and even to neighbouring countries such as Sri Lanka and Burma.

Since Independence, two distinct types of labour migration have been taking place from

India. The first is characterized by a movement of persons with technical skills and professional

expertise to the industrialized countries like the United States, Britain and Canada which began

8
 to proliferate in the early 1950s. The second type of migration pertains to the flow of labour to

the oil exporting countries of the Middle East which acquired substantial dimensions after the

dramatic oil price increases of 1973-74 and 1979. The nature of this recent wave of migration is

strikingly different, as an overwhelming proportion of these migrants are in the category of

unskilled workers and semi-skilled workers skilled in manual or clerical occupations.

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION

IOMs Vision

IOM strives to protect migrant workers and to optimize the benefits of labour migration for both

the country of origin and destination as well as for the migrants themselves .

IOMs Objectives

In its labour migration programming, IOM builds capacity in labour migration management by:

offering policy and technical advice to national governments;

supporting the development of policies, legislation and administrative structures that promote

efficient, effective and transparent labour migration flows;

assisting governments to promote safe labour migration practices for their nationals;

facilitating the recruitment of workers, including pre-departure training and embarkation

preparedness;

9
 Promoting the integration of labour migrants in their new workplace and society.

Principal Beneficiaries

IOM implements various labour migration programs in 70 countries. The beneficiaries of these

programs include:

migrants, their families and their communities;

local and national governments;

private sector entities such as employers and industry representatives; and

regional organizations.

IOMs Approach

Through its global network of more than 440 offices, IOM is able to bring together

governments, civil society and the private sector to establish labour migration programs and

mechanisms that balance their various interests, and address migrants needs. The IOM

approach to international labour migration is to foster the synergies between labour migration

and development, and to promote legal avenues of labour migration as an alternative to irregular

migration. Moreover, IOM aims to facilitate the development of policies and programs that are

in the interest of migrants and society, providing effective protection and assistance to labour

migrants and their families.

CAUSES OF MIGRATION

10
 Given the diversity in the nature of migration in India, the causes are also bound to vary.

Migration is influenced both by the pattern of development, and the social structure. The

National Commission on Rural Labour, focusing on seasonal migration, concluded that uneven

development was the main cause of seasonal migration.

Along with inter regional disparity, disparity between different socio economic classes and the

development policy adopted since independence has accelerated the process of seasonal

migration. In tribal regions, intrusion of outsiders, the pattern of settlement, displacement and

deforestation, also have played a significant role. Most migration literature makes a distinction

between pull and push factors, which, however, do not operate in isolation of one another.

Mobility occurs when workers in source areas lack suitable options for employment/livelihood,

and there is some expectation of improvement in circumstances through migration.

The improvement sought may be better employment or higher wages/incomes, but also

maximization of family employment or smoothing of employment/income/consumption over

the year At one end of the migration spectrum, workers could be locked into a debt-migration

cycle, where earnings from migration are used to repay debts incurred at home or in the

destination areas, thereby cementing the migration cycle. At the other end, migration is largely

voluntary, although shaped by their limited choices.

The NCRL has recognized the existence of this continuum for poor migrants by distinguishing

between rural labour migration for survival and for subsistence. The landless poor, who mostly

belong to lower caste, indigenous communities, from economically backward regions, migrate

for survival and constitute a significant proportion of seasonal labourflow.The growth of

intensive agriculture and commercialization of agriculture since the late 1960s has led to peak

11
periods of labour demand, often also coinciding with a decline in local labour deployment. In

the case of labour flows to the rice producing belt of West Bengal, wage differentials between

the source and destination have been considered as the main reason for migration. Moreover,

absence of non-farm employment, low agricultural production has resulted in a growth of

seasonal migration. Migration decisions are influenced by both individual and household

characteristics as well as the social matrix, which is best captured in social-anthropological

studies.

Factors such as age, education level, wealth, land owned, productivity and job

opportunities influence the participation of individuals and households in migration, but so do

social attitudes and supporting social networks. Where migration is essentially involuntary, it

makes little sense to use voluntaristic models to explain the phenomenon. In Dhule region

sugarcane cultivation leads to high demand for labour, but landowners recruit labourers from

other districts for harvesting as they can have effective control over the labour. Local labourers

are thus forced to migrate with their households to South Gujarat.

Labour mobility is one of the key features of economic development and its characteristics are

closely tied with the nature of this development. Historically, development is associated with

unevenness and structural change, giving an impetus to the movement of workers from one

region to another, and from one sector to another. Even within the macro-structural features

which determine the supply of, and demand for, certain types of migrant labour, the pattern of

migration depends on a host of factors determined by labour market characteristics, together

with individual, household and community level features, and the existence of social networks,

12
among other things. These factors cumulatively determine the causes of migration. On the

other hand, labour migration plays a key role in influencing the pattern of development, through

its impact on a host of economic and non-economic variables, both in the origin and destination

areas.

Labour migration does not recognize bordersbut borders, whether urban, state, or

international influence migration through a host of policies and regulatory measures. A key

distinction between internal and international migration is the existence of national regulatory

frameworks such as immigration controls (which leads to a distinction between regular and

irregular migration). But regulatory frameworks and restrictive policies also operate within

nation states.

Early development literature conceptualized labour migration as occurring from the rural to

urban, agricultural to industrial, and informal to formal sectors. However, the workforce pattern

has changed across the world in favour of the services sector, and the informal sector is more

prominent today, both in developing and developed countries than it was twenty or thirty years

ago. In developing countries, the informal sector is no longer conceived as a temporary

destination for migrants but in most cases, as a final destination. The (changing) structural

features of world capitalism have an important bearing on both internal and international

migration.

13
The theme on labour migration will explore all types of labour migration internal, inter-state,

cross-border and international. It will encourage cross disciplinary studies and papers based on

both fieldwork and secondary data.

We would welcome papers which explore not only economic issues but also historical, political,

sociological and psychological factors affecting labour migration and the consequences of

migration at more disaggregate levels, viz., for various socio-economic strata and segments of

the population and for women, men, the elderly and children separately, wherever possible. The

contributors should confine themselves to the issue of worker migration, as conventionally

defined in SNA accounts, and to leave out those types of forced labour migration, which are

not conventionally included in work but are covered in international conventions on forced

labour and trafficking. The paper contributors should not be concerned with other forms of non-

labour migration (such as refugee or student migration) or with population mobility, which is

important for an understanding urban growth.

IMPACT OF MIGRATION

ON MIGRANTS AND THEIR FAMILIES

14
 Poorer migrant workers, crowded into the lower ends of the labour market, have few

entitlements vis a vis their employers or the public authorities in the destination areas. They

have meagre personal assets and suffer a range of deprivations in the destination areas. In the

source areas, migration has both negative and positive consequences for migrants and their

families.

LIVING CONDITIONS:

Migrant Labourers, whether agricultural or non-agricultural, live in deplorable conditions. There

is no provision of safe drinking water or hygienic sanitation. Most live in open spaces or

makeshift shelters in spite of the Contract Labour Act which stipulates that the contractor or

employer should provide suitable accommodation Apart from seasonal workers, workers who

migrate to the cities for job live in parks and pavements. Slum dwellers, who are mostly

migrants, stay in deplorable conditions, with inadequate water and bad drainage. Food costs

more for migrant workers who are not able to obtain temporary ration cards.

HEALTH AND EDUCATION:

Labourers Working in harsh circumstances and living in unhygienic conditions suffer from

serious occupational health problems and are vulnerable to disease. Those working in quarries,

construction sites and mines suffer from various health hazards, mostly lung diseases. As the

employer does not follow safety measures, accidents are quite frequent. Migrants cannot access

various health and family care programmes due to their temporary status. Free public health

care facilities and programmes are not accessible to them. For women workers, there is no

provision of maternity leave, forcing them to resume work almost immediately after childbirth.

15
Workers, particularly those working in tile factories and brick kilns suffer from occupational

health hazards such as body ache, sunstroke and skin irritation (NCRL, 1991).

Changes in migrants attitudes: Exposure to a different environment, including the stresses that

it carries, has a deep impact on the attitudes, habits and awareness levels of migrant workers,

depending upon the length of migration and the place to which it occurs.

Changes are more dramatic in the case of urban migrants. Migrant workers develop greater

awareness regarding conditions of work (Srivastava, 1999). Life style and changes in awareness

may lead to a mixed impact on family members. The increased awareness which migrants,

especially in urban areas, gain often helps them realise the importance of their childrens

education.

IMPACT ON SOURCE AREAS

The major impacts of migration on source areas occur through changes in the labour market,

income and assets, changes in the pattern of expenditure and investment.

16
Although seasonal outmigration potentially has the effect of smoothing out employment over

the annual cycle, rural outmigration could cause a tightening of the labour market in some

circumstances. However, empirical evidence from out-migrant areas does not often attest to this.

This may be because outmigration often takes place in labour surplus situations. There is also

evidence of the replacement of out-migrant male labour by female and even child labour. Study

of seven villages in Uttar Pradesh showed some variation over regions. While the situation in

the study villages in Eastern and central Uttar Pradesh conformed to a situation of labour

surplus, this was not the case in Western Uttar Pradesh where seasonal migration coincided with

the agricultural peak season (Rabi) and employers complained of labour shortages. Significantly

in all the regions studied, labourers on their part gave uncertainty of employment along with

employment conditions and poor relations with their agricultural employers as the major

reasons for outmigration.

Even if labour tightening is not an outcome, outmigration may still speed up qualitative changes

in existing labour relationships in rural areas, and thereby affect the pace of change. This may

occur in several ways. First, there is the well-documented impact of migration on attitudes and

awareness as migrant labourers and return migrants are more reluctant to accept adverse

employment conditions and low wages. Secondly, outmigration leads to a more diversified

livelihood strategy. Combined with some increase in the income and employment portfolio of

poor households, this may tend to push up acceptable level of wages (reservation wages) in

rural areas and may make certain forms of abour relationships (as for example, those involving

personalised dependency) less acceptable.

17
Outmigration as a result of debt at home, or debt-interlocking (i.e. the repayment of

debts through advance labour commitment) involving employers in the destination areas or

their middlemen, is quite common. Such outmigration may or may not eliminate the causes of

Debt. The reduction of personalized dependencies or interlocked relationships may also

acceleratelabour mobility and migration as laborers seek out alternative sources of cash

income.

EMPLOYMENT ORIENTED MIGRATION

Employment oriented migration is obtained by combining the migrants that have given

work/employment and business as their reason for migration. It is found that employment oriented

migration is quite small, particularly among female migrants with just around 2 percent of total

female migrants giving employment or business as the reason for their migration.

TRENDS IN GLOBAL MIGRATION

Mankind and migration have been linked to each other since the beginning of time; life without

migration could not be thought of. Migration has a history of its own, both at the national and

international levels. The mobility of capital and technology has indeed changed the history of

peoples. At the same time, migration has created a greater impact on history.

In India, the cultural ethos of the country has actually dissuaded people from going abroad. There

are myths and superstitions surrounding migration in almost every Indian tradition. The fear of kala-

pani, literally translated as black waters, which meant ostracism, was a strong deterrent. Such

18
myths were prevalent also in other ancient cultures like China and Japan, preventing people from

going abroad. For a variety of reasons, be it economic or cultural or personal, the concept of we

and they, and the notions of individual, intellectual and spiritual pollution and the fear of

consequent ostracism prevented people from leaving their home soil until the advent of the

Europeanswhich in turn stimulated an interest for Indians to migrate overseas.

Characteristically, most of these migrants were poor, illiterate and unskilled. It was supposed to be a

voluntary system, but there are horror stories about coercion, and how these people were picked up

literally from the streets of their hometowns, collected at various embarkation points, and forced to

go to a foreign land, of which they knew nothing about. Gender did not come in the way, and

women picked up as indentured labour were made to stay with men. Many were declared man and

wife, and packed off to foreign destinations. All said and done, this can be considered as a precursor

to the global migration of Indians.

However, there is the problem of Indian embassies in most of these countries not being very

cooperative towards the migrant community. The embassies are not exactly attuned to the needs of

these people, nor are the officials always aware of their problems, their issues and their needs be

it in terms of their labour contracts, or the laws of the land. There is greater room for the Indian

embassies to play a more effective and cooperative role in this context. Many a time, because of

the indifference and the ignorance of the Indian missions in these countries, the migrant workers

are almost always at the mercy of the employers and the laws that they adhere to. It is only in

recent years that the Government is waking up to the need for appointing a separate Labour

Attach in the Indian embassies in these countries, to cater to the demands of the workers, and to

take care of their needs.

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In 2000, the high-powered Indian Diaspora Committee, chaired by the jurist, Dr. L.M.Singhvi,

recommended the PravasiBharatiya Divas celebrations on January 9 each year, and also contributed

to the setting up of a full-fledged Ministry for Overseas Indians at the Centre. Following up on this

report, the Prime Minter of the day announced the institution of the PrabhasiBharatiaSamman

awards in recognition of the contribution made by the Indian Diaspora, to the nation. The report also

raised major issues of concern to the Diaspora -- from consular difficulties to larger and abiding

issues pertaining to culture, economic development, education, health, media, science and

technology, philanthropy, and dual citizenship. Based on carefully-gathered statistics on overseas

Indians, the Singhvi Committee report is the first ever-comprehensive statement of the Indian

Diaspora, and provides a comprehensive framework for discussing Indias relations with Indians

overseas. Till now, these relations had been discussed in a tentative and casual manner.

The report is full of highly novel and important practical suggestions, including special economic

and political concessions to overseas Indians all leading to effective NRI contribution to Indias

economic, political, cultural and other areas of development. The report will increase the general

level of consciousness in India about the countrys overseas connections, going back to several

centuries. We tend to think of ourselves as a people 7 whose history was made only in India. The

report shows how wrong this view is, and how PIOs are a part of the body politic in 119 countries

There is the possibility of migration from India growing in the coming years and decades. The

probability of a younger age population in India coupled with declining birth-rates in the developed

world leading to a labour shortage, be it unskilled, skilled or professional, are among the causes.

The interface between outsourcing, migration and growing social networks are also contributory

factors.

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There is also the factor of newer destinations, Japan, for instance, emerging on the horizon. In this,

the Indians abroad have transitioned from being dependants to being dictators through their

significant presence, positional clout and numerical strength coupled with effective networking, and

coordinated organisation. There is now the Global Organization for the People of Indian Origin

(GOPIO), which has set its priorities in pooling resources, both financial and professional, for the

benefit of PIOs, in the countries they come from, and in India.

In all this, India derives material support from the Diaspora, and they derive psychological

satisfaction of being a part of the Indian nationhood, and in the process of crafting a resurgent India.

THE WORLD MIGRATION REPORT 2015

Migrants and cities, New Partnerships to Manage Mobility the eighth report in IMOs

World Migration Report (WMR) series Focuses on how migration and migrants are shaping

Cities and how the life of migrants is shaped by cities, their people, organization and rules.

Over 54 per cent of people across the globe were living in urban areas in 2014.

The number Of people living in cities will almost double to some 6.4 billion by 2050,

turning much of the World into global city. Human mobility and migration play an important part in

this but are Largely missing from the global debate on urbanization. Many city and local

governmentsAlso still do not include migration or migrants in their urban development planning

andImplementation.

The report aims to address this gap by considering migrants as a defining

factor alongside climate change, population growth, demographic change and economic crisis in

shaping sustainable cities of the future.

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 The World Migration Report 2015 contributes to the global debate on migration
and urbanization in three ways:

The report takes migration enquiries to the city level and helps improve our

understanding of the local political economies of migration, and highlights the close

connection between migration and urban development. Much of the current

discussion about migration trends and migration policy tends to focus on the national

level.

The report draws attention to the livelihood of migrants in the cities of the Global

South. The existing discussions on migrants and cities are inclined to concentrate

primarily on the Global North and the integration of international migrants.

The report examines both internal and international migration. Cities across the

development spectrum have increasingly mobile and diverse populations to manage.

While acknowledging the vast differences between international and internal

migration scenarios, and between the capacities of various countries to deal with

these, the report highlights the growing evidence of potential benefits of all forms of

migration and mobility for city growth and development. It showcases innovative

ways in which migration and urbanization policies can be better designed for the

22
 benefit of migrants and cities

EFFECTS OF MIGRATION

Migration of labour has its positive as well as negative effects both on native and host countries. We

will examine these effects as under:

POSITIVE EFFECTS:

WAGE RATE: Labourers usually migrate from low wage counties to higher wage nations. Unless

prevented or guarded by law, wages will change in both countries. Such an effect on wages is

brought out in Home country and foreign. It is also possible that over a period of time real wages

may increase both in host countries and native countries. A case study by Jeffery G. Williams, of

eight countries, host countries Argentina, Australia, Canada and United States of America and

native (home) countries Ireland, Italy, Norway and Sweden between the period 1870 and 1913

has come to the conclusion that real wages during this period had increased in all the countries, but

substantially in the home countries.

SUPPLY OF LABOUR:Developed countries like Canada, Australia, some European countries and

USA have experienced scarcity of skilled as well as unskilled labour. ManyAsian doctors and

engineers, nurses and teachers are employed in developed countries. Unskilled labour migrated

from developing countries, provided labour to those areas where the native people would not wish

to take up the jobs. This is more evident in the so called dirty jobs. In USA such jobs are taken up

by labourers from Mexico, South American, Africa and Asia.

23
 EMPLOYMENT: Migration takes place primarily in search of employment, to earn, more income

and to enjoy better quality of life. While enjoying these benefits in the host countries the migrants at

the disguised unemployment. In the early stages of large scale migration from Europe to North

America, it helped in mitigating population problem of European countries.

REMITTANCE:Emigrants remit a part of their income back to their families in their native country.

Many of the European countries, Mexico and Asian countries have benefited from the remittance of

their emigrants. At present china and India receive a substantial amount of remittance. It helps the

home countries reduce their balance of payment problem or increase investment at home; import

capital goods thus promote development of their economies.

Remittance would reduce over a period of time as the emigrants settle in the migrated country along

with their families. The size of the remittance depends on the number of emigrants from a country

and the nature and duration of employment. Many countries including India, offer additional

incentives to the emigrants to remit and keep the money back in their home country.

NEGATIVE EFFECTS

24
 BRAIN DRAIN:Emigrants comprise people educated and trained at different levels. Majority of the

emigrants are of low education and unskilled. Emigrants also include highly educated professionals

such as doctors, engineers, professors and other technically and professionally trained people. A

good number of medical, engineering and management students from India migrate to countries like

USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France and to some rich gulf countries. These

students take the advantage of subsidised education financed by tax payer money and leave the

country when they become productive agents or labourers. Ts is also argued that educated emigrants

help the home countries when these countries rare not in a position to employ them. Beside it also

reduces the claim on goods and service of the home country when labourers migrate.

PROBLEM OF SOCIAL INTEGRATION: Immigrants in a country belong to different countries,

race, religion and culture. They form their own groups based on the above factors. In the initial

stages these groups live in ghettoes. Social assimilation with the people of the host country becomes

difficult. In USA, Canada and Australia or in countries dominated by white coloured people, social

integration becomes difficult due to colour complex. Religion is another factor which makes

immigrants identify with the host country where the majority belong to another religion. Cultural

differences also deter the process of integration specially when each group develops a complex of

cultural superiority. At times ethnic and religious differences create a problem for the host country

as it happens in UK and India.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS:It is a serious problem for many countries. USA has a large number of

illegal immigrants from Mexico. Similar problems are faced by Canada, Australia and some of the

European countries. Illegal migration to a neighbouring country is a common occurrence due to

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 political, economic, social and religious factors. India is facing such a problem with illegal

immigrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

CHEAP LABOUR: Developed countries, specially organise labour through their Trade Union

oppose the liberal migration policy. They argue that the migrant labourers who are willing to work

at lower workers. However this argument does not merit serious consideration wage rate in such

economies is determined by market forces, Exploitation can be prevented through minimum wage

law, which also safeguards the interest of migrant labourers.

FISCAL IMBALANCE:Immigrants positively contribute to the growth of the host country. When

immigrants constitute in large numbers, the host country requires to spend huge amount of capital to

provide the required economic and social infrastructure. As they settledown permanently, the

government requires to spend for providing social security benefits. Expenditure on all these counts

may create fiscal imbalance in the form of increased budgetary deficit.

CONCLUSION

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 Migration has become a global phenomenon. As discussed earlier people migrate to another

country for a number of reasons of which economic and political are the important ones. From our

earlier explanation it is evident that migration has positive as well as negative effects both on the

host and native countries. In a globalised world, the number of migrants is bound to increase.

However in the larger interest of nations and people (migrants) involved it is necessary to introduce

measures so that the positive effects are maximised while the negative ones are minimised if they

cannot be totally eliminated.

The suggestions in this direction are to promote labour rights to immigrants. Allow the migrant

workers to join Trade Unions. Treat immigrants on the same level as those of workers of host

country. Safety conditions should be made applicable even if they are on temporary work. Promote

ethical recruitment. Prevent exploitation and discrimination. Reform work permits schemes to

reduce powers of employers. Legislate to prevent employers from withholding migrant workers

passport. Initiate international action to regulate the activities of private recruitment agencies. All

the countries should ratify 1990 UN convention on the protection of rights of all migrant workers

and their families.

BIBLOGRAPHY
1. http://www.geohaz.in/

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2. http://scridb.com

3.http://Wikipedia.com

4.http://slideshare.com

5.http://linkin.com

6.http://slideshare.arvind.com

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