South Asia Migration Report 2017: Recruitment, Remittances and Reintegration

368 Pages·2017·2.836 MB·English

by  S. Irudaya Rajan

SOUTH ASIA MIGRATION
REPORT 2017
South Asians comprise over 15 per cent of all international migrating
population, among the highest in the world. The countries of the Persian
Gulf are perhaps still the largest recipients of migrant workers. A unique
economy has developed between these two regions, with all South Asian
nations being major beneficiaries and featuring among the top 20 coun-
tries receiving maximum remittances globally.
The South Asia Migration Report 2017 is the first of its kind, docu-
menting migration profiles, diaspora, recruitment and remittances, both in
individual countries as well as the South Asian region as a whole. It also
discusses skilled, unskilled and internal migrations.
The volume:
• includes on-the-ground studies from six nations: India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Afghanistan;
• discusses public policy, effects of global recession on the region and its
impact on migration; and
• examines the process of reintegration of returning migrants.
This book will be indispensable for scholars and researchers of economics,
development studies, migration and diaspora studies, labour studies and
sociology. It will also be useful to policymakers and government institu-
tions working in the area.
S. Irudaya Rajan is Professor at the Centre for Development Studies,
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. His recent works include Politics of
Migration (with A. Didar Singh, 2016); Researching International Migration
(with K. C. Zachariah, 2015); and Emigration in 21st-Century India (with
Krishna Kumar, 2014). He is also the editor of the annual India Migra-
tion Report.

SOUTH
ASIA MIGRATION
REPORT 2017
Recruitment, Remittances
and Reintegration
Edited by S. Irudaya Rajan
First published 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 selection and editorial matter, S. Irudaya Rajan; individual chapters,
the contributors
The right of S. Irudaya Rajan to be identified as the author of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in
accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without
intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-138-22712-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-29789-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
DEDICATED TO THE INSPIRING MEMORY
OF PROFESSOR MARIO RUTTEN

CONTENTS
List of figures ix
List of tables xi
Contributors xiv
Preface xvi
South Asia–Gulf migration corridor:
an introduction 1
S.IRUDAYARAJAN
1 Migration, transnational flows and development
in India: a regional perspective 19
CAROLUPADHYAANDMARIORUTTEN
2 The influence of vulnerability on migration
intentions in Afghanistan 49
CRAIGLOSCHMANNANDMELISSASIEGEL
3 Brains, capital, charity, soft power: the skilled
South Asian diaspora in developed countries 77
RUPACHANDA
4 South Asia-Gulf migratory corridor:
emerging patterns, prospects and challenges 120
GINUZACHARIAOOMMEN
vii
CONTENTS
5 Challenges of labour recruitment for overseas
employment: the Bangladesh experience 147
C. R. ABRAR AND M. MOTASIM BILLAH
6 Making migration free: an analysis of Nepal’s
‘free-visa, free-ticket’ scheme 164
BANDITA SIJAPATI, MOHD AYUB AND
HIMALAYA KHAREL
7 Estimating the impact of international remittance
on households expenditure in Bangladesh 190
SELIM RAIHAN, TASNEEM SIDDIQUI AND
RAISUL A. MAHMOOD
8 Intra-household dynamics of remittance practices:
a case study of Bangladesh 209
SYEDA ROZANA RASHID AND MOHAMMAD
JALAL UDDIN SIKDER
9 Migration in the global recession and in its
recovery in Sri Lanka 230
MYRTLE PERERA
10 Returning home: challenges of reintegration 267
SUWENDRANI JAYARATNE, NIPUNI PERERA,
NELUKA GUNASEKARA AND NISHA ARUNATILAKE
11 Labour emigration and emigration policies
in Nepal: a political-economic analysis 292
JAGANNATH ADHIKARI
12 Internal migration and labour mobility in Pakistan 321
SADIA ISHFAQ, VAQAR AHMED, DANISH HASSAN
AND ASIF JAVED
Index 343
viii
FIGURES
3.1 Distribution of overseas Indians, January 2015 (%) 81
3.2 Distribution of overseas Pakistanis worldwide, 2011 (%) 81
3.3 Distribution of overseas Bangladeshis worldwide,
various years (%) 82
3.4 Employed workers in the civilian labour force
(ages 16 and older) by occupation and origin, 2013 (%) 90
3.5 Per migrant bilateral remittance, 2013 (USD mn) 94
3.6 FDI flows and contribution by NRIs as individual
investors (USD billion) 100
5.1 Year-wise trends of overseas employment 149
6.1 The headcount poverty rate in the various
development regions 176
6.2 The direction of migration from different regions
of Nepal 176
6.3 Labour permits issued by DoFE for the ‘Free-Visa,
Free-Ticket’-designated countries, 18 July–12 February
2014/2015 and 2015/2016 178
6.4 Formal and informal labour migration process 180
7.1 Number of Bangladeshi overseas employment
(1976–2014) 191
7.2 Skill composition of Bangladeshi migrant
workers in 2014 193
7.3 Trend of remittances sent from abroad 193
9.1 Graph showing the trends in departures from
1989 to 2008 239
9.2 Change in occupational pattern of migrants,
2010–2012 240
9.3 Percentage of worker remittances from Middle
East countries to total worker remittances 248
ix