CHAPTER V

Migration in Contemporary World: A global Perspective

With the advent of globalization, migration has become a major issue to be studied

with holistic approach. As this study is a migration study in the context of literature, it is

necessary to discuss the issue of migration in contemporary human society beyond the

geographical and cultural boundary. We have already discussed historical, social, and

psychological, and cultural perspective of migration in this research through selected

novels of Abdulrazak Gurnah. Now I would like to focus on its contemporary relevance,

opportunities, and challenges for human society to provide my research a relevancy in

contemporary research and academic scenario. To achieve my purpose, I divide this

chapter into two specific sections: first one is Opportunities and Challenges of Migration,

and second is Various Factors of Migration: An analysis. The chapter attempts to present

an inclusive explanation of the scope and risk of migration as it cannot be now separated

from everyone’s lives. This section provides a concise approach towards the global

migration governance of trade, health and climate change that have deep impacts on

human life. It also argues how this realism is a dominant factor in present day literature

and relevance of such issues in contemporary literature and arts.

5.1. Opportunities and Challenges of Migration:

Basically there is no country left today that is not being affected directly or

sometime indirectly by the migratory phenomenon. However, it is very difficult to

differentiate between the past and present trends conceptually, “migration after the

Industrial Revolution has been structured by capitalist wage-labour systems, modern

nation-states and their immigration policies, as well as advanced transportation and

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communications technologies, none of which existed in antiquity” (Tsuda 2011, 313). In

contemporary immigration studies many typologies of migrants can be traced, but more

precisely, on the basis of the sending and receiving societies, migrants can be categorised

in:

(i). Elite Migrants: those who are from the political ruling class including high-skilled

professionals.

(ii). Commoner Migrants: those who migrate to seek better economic opportunities and

livelihoods including unskilled migrants and labour migrants.

(iii). Refugee migrants: those who get migrated due to ethno-political conflict as well as

environmental disaster.

The concepts colonizer/colonized kind of trends have become a matter of past; and

currently in global scenario, it is not practical to conquer and seize political power of the

host society. As the result of affordability of modern transportation and expansion in

information technology, the world is now so interconnected and inter-dependent. Some

countries like Mauritius, UAE, Oman, and other Gulf countries today totally dependent on

migrants that without them, their economies could be severely damaged.

In particular, Marceau argues that the international corporations have created a pool

of international working cultures globally. These business elites are:

“[…] Able to cross the boundaries of conventional functional divisions, able to take

a global view of the enterprise and operate efficiently in diverse environments.

Fulfilling so well the new organisational needs of the European business world ...

they may well be the people poised for the recruitment stratum to international

boardrooms over the next few decades and hence to the directorial positions which

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 give them a role in formulation of public policies for both business and the wider

community”(1989, 30).

Developing of international business comprises highly-skilled professional and managerial

labour migration across the world and due to which a new international labour markets

have been developed. When we analyse global population projections, demographers note

that “international migration was the variable that had shown the greatest volatility in the

past and was therefore most difficult to project with some accuracy”(UN DESA, 2003).

We have also come to face a significant increase in displacement, sometimes internal and

sometimes across the borders. It is due to civil and transnational conflict including some

violent radicalism. The data shows that in 2016 there were 40.3 million internally

displaced persons (IDPs) worldwide and 22.5 million refugees (IDMC, 2017; UNHCR,

2017). It is very much worthy to discuss here about Syrian crisis if we are keen to study

the recent trends of migration. More than 4.8 million people have left Syria to

neighbouring countries like Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey (Estimate from December

2016 by UNHCR). But these people are not migrants but, in contemporary terminology,

these peoples have been called refugee. A lot of voices on the basis of human rights have

been raised on this particular issue all around the world.

Benefits of Migration in Contemporary World:

Migration generates some good opportunities for migrants, their families and in

some cases, for countries of origin. The incomes that migrants make in a foreign country

can be many multiples of the amounts what they could earn by doing similar jobs in their

home country. According to a study conducted in 2009 revealed that “the ratio of wages

earned by workers in the United States to wages earned by identical workers (with the

same country of birth, years of schooling, age and sex, and rural/urban residence)abroad

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ranges from 15.45 (for workers born in Yemen) to 1.99 (workers born in the Dominican

Republic), with a median ratio of 4.11” (World Migration Report, 2018).The increase in

earnings can be proved to be very beneficial in the welfare of developing countries and

also for human development of migrants’ families. According to a recent report by the

World Bank, “migrants from the poorest countries, on average, experienced a 15-fold

increase in income, a doubling of school enrolment rates and a 16-fold reduction in child

mortality after moving to a developed country” (World Bank, 2016).

There is common recognition that migration can also give economic boost and

other benefits for destination countries in contemporary scenario. The exact form and

magnitude of such benefits may depend on the skills of migrants and also on the needs and

characteristics of the host economy. More precisely, migrants improve workforces to the

host economy, so it increases the gross domestic product (GDP) of the host country. Due

to necessity, migrants are supposed to be more risk taking, and this ability can contribute at

multiple levels for destination countries in areas such as technological development,

science, arts and some other fields. It does not only enhance national income, but can have

a progressive result on labour supply to the sectors that are suffering from labour shortage.

According to World Migration Report published in 2018, “The total estimated

244 million people living in a country other than their country of birth in 2015 is almost

100 million more than in 1990 (when it was 153 million), and over three times the

estimated number in 1970 (84 million; see table 1).While the proportion of international

migrants globally has increased over this period, it is evident that the vast majority of

people continue to live in the country in which they were born. Most international migrants

in 2015 (around 72%) were of working age (20 to 64 years of age), with a slight decrease

in migrants aged less than 20 between 2000 and 2015 (17% to 15%), and a constant share

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(around 12%) of international migrants aged 65 years or more since 2000 (Ibid). As we

can understand it through the table:

Table: 1 (International Migrants, 1970-2015)

As I try to apprehend the benefits of migration, in contemporary scenario, it is more or less

based on economy of host as well as the country from where migration has taken place. As

Sara Kalm argues, “the movement of people has also expanded geographically so that all

states and regions in the world are now affected at some point of the migratory chain, as

senders, receivers and transit areas” (Kalm 2010, 13).

If we try to compare course of migration before 1970 and after 1970, we find that

importance of the governance of human migration becomes a very much crucial in

contemporary world. The Commission on Global Governance established in 1992, made it

clear that “Governance is the sum of many ways individuals and institutions, public and

private, manage their common affairs. It is a continuing process through which conflicting

or diverse interests may be accommodated and co-operative action taken. It includes

formal institutions and regimes empowered to enforce compliance, as well as informal

arrangements that people and institutions either have agreed to or perceive to be in their

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interest” (Commission on Global Governance 2013, 2). When we look at the global

governance of migration just by the beginning of the 21st century, it can be noticed that the

governance basically depends on economic flow, not with the perspective of human

values. The former Secretary General of the UN Kofi Annan once officially gave a

statement with an aim to reformation, “It is time take a more comprehensive look at the

various dimensions of migrant issue, which now involves hundreds of millions of people”

(United Nations 2002, 10). We can notice a continuous shift in the direction to establish

comprehensive rules for migration with the agenda of the global governance of migration.

Along with nation states, it is need of the time to focus on intergovernmental cooperation.

But the lack of such intergovernmental cooperation does not mean that there is no

governance of migration. With the advent of 21st century, there are numbers of

international organizations and civil society groups have been established that involved in

different aspects of migration.

There are lots of opportunities lie in migration, but we should have an approach to

learn from the mistakes we have done in history to manage human migration. We must

have a socialistic approach to manage it. As McGrew proposed, that “Governments should

continue to be the only institutions with the legitimacy to employ force to achieve social

objectives and to enforce agreements” (McGrew 2002, 240). The usefulness of the global

governance of migration will be contingent in the welfare of the involved states. It would

be very relevant to quote the statement of Kenneth Waltz that “States have to ensure their

survival themselves, and states that do not orient their policy rationally according to this

self-imperative will inevitably perish” (stated in Rittberger, Zangl and Staisch, 2006, 15).

Additionally, institutionalisation of migration would enhance the effectiveness and the

future development of the international migration in interest of human resources

management.

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 Transnational migration also helps to generate not only economic resources, but it

also helps to unify the human race. According to Global Commission “The very nature of

transnational migration demands international cooperation and shared responsibility. Yet

the reality is that most states have been unwilling to commit fully to the principle of

international cooperation in the area of international migration” (Global Commission on

International Migration 2005, 66). The continuous movements of peoples with their own

cultures, traditions, and languages modify the contemporary world as multicultural society,

or more precisely it creates a kind of global culture. Human movements not only leave its

effects on those who migrated, but also on those who are left behind. It establishes a new

kind of relationship between host country and home country through the movement of the

people. It helps to explore different religion, culture, identities and ethnicity between two

countries.

With the growth of global population, a demand of job has been increasing day by

day on international level, and migration is not anymore considered as a matter of

undesired act and just for the sake of livelihood. In contemporary time, it has become like

a dream for job seeking youth of developing countries like India, Pakistan, China,

Bangladesh, Nigeria etc. to get better opportunities in their life. For example, according to

a report published in World Migration Report, 2018:

‘The two Asian “population giants”, India and China, have the largest absolute

numbers of migrants living abroad. It is important to add that these large absolute

numbers of emigrants constitute small shares of the total populations of India and

China. Migrants from China made up the fourth largest population of foreign born

migrants in the world after India, Mexico and the Russian Federation’ (World

Migration Report 2018, 55).

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So for developing countries, to emigrate for better job is like an opportunity. But at the

same time it can also create brain drain problem that we should consider when we analyse

migration in contemporary scenario. Migration initiates an exchange of ideas on the basis

of culture, arts, and religions that enable persons of both sides to know and get aware with

different visions of the world. It extends new prospects and creates several opportunities

to find an occupation for our children.

Challenges of Migration:

(a) Brain Drain

There is no doubt that developing country like china, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South

Africa etc. have been receiving economic boost due to foreign currency flow. But in long

term, it may have huge effects on economy of these countries. In the form of brain drain it

becomes a boon for country like India. Brain drain has become a matter of concern for the

developing countries, especially, India. The term brain drain is emerged in1960s in the

case when the skilled workers started emigrating from the poor countries like china, India,

Pakistan, Nepal, South Africa to the rich countries like USA, Germany, Britain, France

and Canada in search for a better job opportunities and living conditions.

Due to brain drain, India has been losing its skilled labour force and professionals

including doctors, engineers, scientists and technicians. And for developing countries, it is

the biggest challenges they are facing today. The demand for highly educated and trained

professionals in the international labour markets has become an important source of

employment for the people of developing countries. Even industrialized countries such as

USA, UK, Canada, France and Germany are getting worried about the level of the

emigration of their talented workers. In 2000, 2.9% of the world’s population were living

outside their home country for more than a year. Out of these, about 65 million is active in

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some economic activity (United Nations Population Division, 2002). Desire of pursuing

higher education is also one of the principal reasons for permanent migration (Meyer JB,

Brown M; Discussion paper No. 4, 1999). The majority of doctors from developing

countries acquire their specialized professional qualifications in developed countries. Half

of the immigrant students in France, UK and USA choose to remain there after completing

their studies. (Martin RD, Terouanne D,1998). Among the doctoral students in medical,

science and engineering in the USA in 1995, 79% of those from India and 88% from China

remained in the USA. (Cervantes M, 2002 ). It proves to be a setback for countries like

India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. These countries have huge shortage of quality

professionals.

(b) Human Trafficking:

As we have already discussed about historical aspects of slave trade, in

contemporary scenario, now slave trade changed into human trafficking. More precisely, a

new way of human trade has been developed after 1950s. We have developed

scientifically, but socially we still need to come out of the menace of poverty, hunger,

discrimination, and war. Human trafficking has many forms such as forced labour, sex

trafficking, and forced child labour. In current years, this issue has become the topic for

academic debate in fields such as politics, arts and movies, criminology, gender, and

public health. For example, a study sponsored by the Central Intelligence Agency of USA

estimated that ‘50,000 trafficking victims entered the United States each year’ (Richard,

Amy O’Neill, 1999). Soroptimist (2012) estimates that the human trafficking industry

generates $32 billion annually by trafficking 2.5 million people worldwide and such

enormousness of human trafficking has become a global problem (Web). It has evolved to

becoming the second largest crime sector worldwide (Goździak& Bump, 2008). According

to the International Labour Organization (ILO) (2012), it is estimated that ‘21 million

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people across the world were forced into labour. Out of these 21 million victims, 11.7

million came from the Asia-Pacific region, 3.7 million from Africa, and 1.8 million from

Latin America’ (International Labour Organization, 2012). In 2007, an initiative taken by

UNODC in the name the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking

(UN.GIFT) in which a study has been conducted on human trafficking. This report gathers

comprehensive data on human trafficking that reveals most of the human trafficking flows

from East to West. Though human trafficking migration tends to flow from East to West,

women may be trafficked from anywhere to any country. But we can’t deny the fact that

many of the poorest and politically unstable countries have the maximum occurrences of

human trafficking. In the condition where economic choices are not available, females are

more at risk to being misled and forced into sexual enslavement. We can find same

situation in the life of Dottie’s mother in the novel of Dottie when she started working as a

whore for a while.

(c) Conflicts Between Indigenous and Migrants:

Migration creates pressure on natural and other resources of the host country that

results in conflict. Rafaela Dancygier provides us in-depth answers for the causes of

conflict between native and migrants. He distinguishes between immigrant-native conflict,

which “involves the sustained confrontation between members of the immigrant and the

native populations in a given locality” (2010, 21). While describing different forms of

conflict, Dancygier’s interest lies in explaining “why, where, and when immigration leads

to conflict in the areas of immigrant settlement” (Ibid, 3). Conflicts can be aroused on the

basis of ethnicity, religions, languages, and economic activities. The pluralism at different

level creates complexities and thus Alejandro Portes suggest that “The reason is that the

different areas that compose this field are so disparate that they can only be unified at a

highly abstract and probably vacuous level” (1997, 810). By the end of 1980s, the aspect

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of migration had been conceptualised with economic profit for both the countries that

involved in the process. According to Hugo: “[...]most of migration occurs as a result of

decisions taken by families rather than individuals acting on their own and it is common

for families to allocate family members to different labour markets” (Hugo 1998, 142).

Such relocation not only involved in physical relocation, but also cultural relocation, and

from here a cultural clashed begins. Sometimes it also creates insecurity in the mind of

native populations who are not ready to accept outsiders’ language and way of living (Ibid,

153).

(d) Population Pressure:

The reason of changing population in any particular area has three processes: birth,

death and migration. The link between growth of population and shortage of resources has

become a key topic of migration study. This growth creates a conflict in many developing

countries. “Rapid population growth is one of the main reasons for increasing the number

of people on the move for livelihood, and migration has been a major factor of rapid

population growth in urban areas in less developed countries (LDCs). However for the

urban pull to be operative, the population in the hinterland must be conducive to

dislocation. While others argue that the stimulus for migration in LDCs lies in the rural

condition. […] Excessive pressure on land resource and increasing poverty generate a

large volume of migration. All poor people do not often move out despite intensive

resource pressure (Pradhan 2004, 78). This population pressure becomes a big challenge

for the local government to tackle it as well as maintain peace and harmony between native

residents and migrants. In the case of Tanzania, as Bryceson (2006, p.51) observes:

“Many post-colonial African countries succeeded, with donor support, in popularizing the

use of improved seed and fertiliser packages for their major food and cash crops amongst

smallholder peasants during the 1970s and 1980s. This was reversed under SAP with the

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virtual abandonment of state-supported input package subsidies, parasternal marketing

services, extension, crop grading and research … Meanwhile peasants faced social service

cut-backs triggering a ‘scramble’ to pay school fees, medical costs and other basic needs.

Rural income diversification especially into trade and other non-agricultural activities

ensued” (2006, 51). Though immigrants help government to functions several economic

activities to boost their country, at socio-political level it always remains a matter of

conflict.

(e) Human Rights of Migrants:

Migration has become as controversial topic in the 21st century. Migration has

started increasingly monitored due to issue of national security threats assumed to be

brought by migrants. Goodwin-Gill briefly presents that, “the legal frame-work within

which the refugee is located remains characterized on the one hand, by the principle of

state sovereignty and the related principles of territorial supremacy and self-preservation;

and on the other, by competing humanitarian principles derived from general international

law (including the purposes and principles of the United Nations) and from treaty” (1983,

215). There are two levels of sufferings migrants have to go through at the same time of

their life: first as that of being migrants and second that of being workers.it is a need of

hour for international community to pay their attention to migrants and migrant workers.

They share a mutual vulnerability due to their migrant status in culturally and socially

different environment. This vulnerability originates due to cultural changes, language

problems, and different laws and regulations. Sociologist Jorge Bustamante describes the

vulnerability of migrants as the “social condition of powerlessness ascribed to individuals

with certain characteristics that are perceived to deviate from those ascribed to the

prevailing definitions of a national” (2002, 340). Bustamante further observes in context of

irregular migrants, domestic workers and victims of trafficking: “their ascribed

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vulnerability as subjects of human rights could be associated with the low cost of the

services or labour they deliver” (Ibid, 344).

In 1985, after so many voices from different part of the world, the UN General

Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Human Rights of Individuals Who Are Not

Citizens of the Countries in Which They Live. According to the declaration, it is

responsibility of the host states to protect undocumented migrants from physical assault

and racism. But this declaration only proved to be on paper, and then one more

organisation ILO (International Labour Organisation) came forward to take the

responsibility to short out problems of human rights violation against migrants’ workers

worldwide. Though, when this organisation was constituted in 1919, the most of its

constitutional words were submitted by the British delegation. As Micheal Hasenau

illustrates that “the elaboration and adoption of international labour standards on migration

would pressure them into opening their frontiers to immigrants and would provide a basis

for international criticism of their policy” (Hasenau 1991, 688). Like all other human

creature, migrants have also rights to live peacefully. Public perceptions relating to

migration and migrants also need to be changed.

Contemporary technology centric media must be much more factual while raising

migration issues. They must have a humanistic approach beyond the geographical

boundary. And at the same time, politicians need to have the courage to reject the

scapegoating of migrants. The UNHCHR in 1990 UN International Convention on the

Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers is responsible “to examine ways and

means to overcame the obstacles existing to the full and effective protection of the human

rights of this vulnerable group, including obstacles and difficulties for the return of

migrants who are non-documented or in an irregular situation” (Web Sources). At the

beginning of the 21st century, a fresh debate has been established in organised form:

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“World Commission on the Social Dimensions of Globalization” in 2002. In 2004, the

Commission published its report named “A fair Globalization: Creating Opportunities for

All” (ILO 2004) and adopted the “Resolution Concerning a Fair Deal for Migrant Workers

in a Global Economy” (Ibid). And as a standard governing body, the ILO is putting its

focus on the implementation of its labour migration policies.

5.2. Various Factors of Migration: An analysis

International migration of human beings is a current issue that has become matter of

great interest not only for scholars and theorists, but also for policy makers all over the

world. Migration theory is not stable in academic field. It has been changing continuously

with a progressive development of the world, and it is reflected through theoretical

framework. The research on international migration has become a subject of

multidisciplinary studies based on economy, sociology and demography. The Laws of

Migration written by Ravenstein was published in 1885, and after that, this area of studies

has been explored with different approach at different time. In 21st century, the

international migration has become an independent subject of study in many universities

around the world. There are various factors of migration in contemporary world that I

analyse through this specific chapter in the light of contemporary situation of the world.

There are many different factors are responsible to get people migrate. These factors are

characterized by push or pull factors.

(a) Socio-political factor:

In contemporary time, socio-political factors have become more prominent force to

initiate migration activities. Political instability in some part of the world is responsible for

migration that needs to be address by the scholars of the world. Situation of War,

oppression and the lack of socio-political rights are the major factors of migration in

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contemporary time. The lack of political rights and prevalent exploitation of a particular

group or community in any nation state act as push factors for migration to get away from

such situation. David Turton express his mental agony in the few words, “we speak of

flows, streams, waves and trickles of migrants...the metaphors we use to talk about

migration require us to think of migrants as an undifferentiated mass” (2003, 10). Social

conflict forces millions of human creature to leave sometimes their homes and even their

homeland every year to continue breathing on this planet. This displacement creates a

humanitarian nightmare. This human crisis threatens the security of displaced people. The

Journalists around the globe describe such situation with their voice that attracts the

people’s attention towards this crisis. For example, we can quote some headlines as sample

‘growing stream of refugees’ from Sudan, a ‘flood of boat people’ trying to reach

Australia, and a ‘tide of refugees’ inundating Florida (Bratton 2016, 438).

In the migration literature, the types of conflict that produced the displacement are:

civil war, international intervention, a biased government etc. As Lischer in her study in

this regard illustrates that ‘After directing the genocide of up to 800,000 people in spring

1994, Rwandan Hutu militants organized a massive evacuation of Hutu civilians to

neighbouring countries Zaire and Tanzania. The militants arrived fully armed and supplied

with the looted contents of the state treasury. Donor states and humanitarian organizations

rallied immediately with billions of dollars of assistance. Initially, many humanitarian aid

workers did not even realize that thousands of genocidal killers mingled with the refugees’

(Lischer 2007, 142-155). This is only one example of such crisis. In recent years, there are

so many similar situations we can find in the nation states like Syria, Uganda, Myanmar,

Afghanistan, Iraq, and Mozambique and so on. These countries have been suffering from

either from political instability or cultural and religious extremism. As very currently,

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discriminatory policies of Myanmar’s government since the late 1970s have forced lakhs

of Rohingya Muslims to leave their homes. Most of them have crossed by land and took

the shelter as refugee in Bangladesh and India, while others have taken to the sea route to

reach Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.

(b) Environmental Factor:

All of a sudden it has been clear that the lives of a large number of individuals are

being debilitated by global wars and common clashes as well as by hunger, everlasting

deprivation, calamitous events and environmental change. Despite the fact that human

relocation is a fundamental piece of history and culture of world, ecological change

assumes a contributing part in influencing populace movement, especially on local level.

‘There are at least 25 million environmental refugees today, a total to be compared with 22

million refugees of traditional kind. They are mainly located in Sub-Saharan Africa

(notably the Sahel and the Horn), the Indian sub-continent, China, Mexico and Central

America. The total may well double by the year 2010 if not before, as increasing numbers

of impoverished people press ever harder on over-loaded environments. Their numbers

seem likely to grow still more rapidly if predictions of global warming are borne out,

whereupon sea-level rise and flooding of many coastal communities, plus agricultural

dislocations through droughts and disruption of monsoon and other rainfall systems, could

eventually cause as many as 200 million people to be put at risk of displacement’ (Myers

1997,167). According to IOM (International Organisation of Migration): “Environmental

migrants are persons or groups of persons who, for compelling reasons of sudden or

progressive changes in the environment that adversely affect their lives or living

conditions, are obliged to leave their habitual homes, or choose to do so, either temporarily

or permanently, and who move either within their country or abroad” (IOM, 2011, 33).

This definition comprises the peoples who have been displaced by natural disasters and

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those who choose to migrate because of worsening environmental condition of a particular

area. The environmentally caused migration can be internal as well as international.

Environmental migrants commonly suffer with great risks to remain without legal

protection. Sometimes they find themselves outside of their own country and also within

the country. When world leaders of most of the countries came together in Paris to discuss

the matter of climate change and its consequences for migration, it seemed like they would

find long term solution. According to The European Commission “The greatest single

impact of climate change could be on human migration with millions of people displaced

by shoreline erosion, coastal flooding, and agricultural disruption—a crisis in the

making” (European Commission, UN Climate Change Conference, Web accessed 10

April, 2018).Though the agenda of the summit held on November 13, 2015 was the

climate change, many countries were more concerned about how to limit migration from

the Middle East and from another part of the world. Since 2008, as it is estimated by

the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, an average of 26.4 million people per year

has been displaced by natural disasters. Most of those displaced people remained in their

own country for a few months and then most of them attempted to migrate to European

countries, USA, Australia, Japan, and some other wealthy states with the help of some

international NGOs. Another alarming estimate proposed that, by the 2050, environmental

migrants be cross over 400 million figure (Martin, 2013). This Population

Bulletin discovers the connection between migration and the environment and further

explores it with the issue of climate change. As Clark finds in related research that, “In

Africa, the droughts of the 1980s and 1990s led to millions of environmentally displaced

persons. Although we cannot easily distinguish between persons displaced by

environmental impacts or by social and political conflicts we can indicate that these two

processes together have generated significant migration, both internally and between

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countries”. And it is justified that sometimes we can only assume as it is very difficult to

distinguish between the migrants due to different reasons. But in spite of all these

theoretical perception and data collection, at the end only humanity suffers (Clark 2007,

xii)

(c) Religious and Racial Factor:

According to a study conducted by Melanie Khamis , ‘Prior to 1980, only fifteen

countries could be identified as homogenous with the two Koreas, Portugal and Japan

leading this select group. Correspondingly over the 1950-1989 period, non-violent protests

by ethnic minority groups increased by 230%, violent protests rose by 430% and rebellions

increased by 360 per cent’ (Khamis 2010, 2).Data on international refugees and asylum

seekers from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) indicates

that the population of refugee grew from 2.4 million in 1975 to 14.9 million in 1990. After

reaching a peak at the end of the Cold War the global refugee population due to ethnic

clashes had declined to 12.1 million in 2000 (UNHCR 1995; UNHCR 2000, Loughna,

2003). Refugees came mainly from countries affected by civil conflict with the top ten

countries of origin in 1999 being Afghanistan (2.6 million), Iraq (572,000), Burundi

(524,000), Sierra Leone (487,000), Sudan (468,000), Somalia (452,000), Bosnia

(383,000), Angola (351,000), Eritrea (346,000) and Croatia (340,000) (UNHCR, 2000).

If we turn our focus to our own country India, communal violence has a long

history, and such history repeats itself again and again in present time also. Mahatma

Gandhi once wrote an article in Harijan about the nature of communal violence in India.

He states that:

“It seems to me that much of this violence is an expression not too much of

communal suspicion and hatred, but of the long pent up resentments of the masses

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 against oppression due to the English land holding systems, usurious money

lending and heavy taxation…The masses always suffer some oppression and,

therefore, have resentments which flare up on a shift of control or may be exploited

by selfish leaders” (Narayan, 1968).

According to latest report of IDMC (Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre : ‘India was

affected by conflict and shelling along the line of control in Jammu and Kashmir in the

first half of 2017, and by smaller communal conflicts and clashes. Around 22,000 new

displacements were recorded in the first half of 2017. Major events included the

displacement of thousands of people in Rajouri district in mid-May after Pakistani shelling

and Indian retaliation along the line of control. Other events include the evacuation of

7,000 boarding school students from Darjeeling in West Bengal in June in response to

violent protests demanding a separate Gorkhaland state. In Patan district in Gujarat, an

unspecified number of people, all of them Muslim, were displaced in March after homes

were set on fire in Vadavali village following a fight between Hindu and Muslim students’

(IDMC, 2017 Web.)

On the basis of some above mentioned facts, we can have a complete understanding of

how communal conflict is sometime responsible for migrating people from one place to

another place within the country. Human migration related to such communal issues has

become the matter of great concern globally. It is not the problem of any one country, but

it has become a global problem. As in contemporary scenario, the same pattern of ethnic

and communal riots can be noticed in countries like Kenya, Uganda, Sri Lanka, Pakistan

etc.

(d) Economic Factor:

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 It has become a natural phenomenon that everybody has desire to live luxurious

life. Therefore, people migrate from one place to another place to fulfil their wishes. In

contemporary economy centric world, cities play a vital role in improving life style of

people. During the 19th and 20th century, the course of urbanization was very much rapid;

and urban population has been increasing day by day. During last decade of 20th century,

most of the countries had become liberal economy, including developing countries. The

growing liberalisation brings different positive changes in term of economic structure of

the world. It creates multiple opportunities for the people around the world. By the 21st

century, the migration is not limited to only as matter of situation oriented decision; indeed

it has become desire for the people around the world for their economic gain and improved

life-style.

Migration is a process affecting individuals and their families economically. It

ensues as a response to economic development along with social and cultural factors. The

socio-economic effect of rural to urban areas; and developing to developed countries has

significant impact on both sides (Lipton 57, 1980). At the crossroad between self-

demonstration and social grouping lies the core mechanism of individual and collective

identities. Individuals differentiate themselves by adopting criteria that are shared by the

members of a group and by developing a sense of belonging to it. During the last two

decades, the urban sectors of the different countries, especially developing countries, grew

much faster than the rural one. Due to which, there have been a huge movement of people

from underdeveloped/undeveloped regions to the developed regions. According to Simon

Kuznets, urbanization has been increasing economic inequality between rural and urban

areas; and this is not only limited to a particular country. By analysing World

Development Report Kuznets further elaborates his views that the structural changes that

175
accompany economic growth emphasizes on ‘the shift away from agriculture to non-

agricultural pursuits and, recently, away from industry to services’ (WDR64, 2009).

Recent studies on the economic impact of migration in European countries as well

as other part of the world have reflected fresh comparative evidence that provides boost for

economy. International migration has two way effects on economic growth. Though it is

still debatable about its positive impact on GDP growth of a host country, it is worldwide

recognised that migration expands the skilled workforce. A recent UNCTAD report notes:

‘Remittances are more stable and predictable as compared to other financial flows and,

more importantly, they are counter-cyclical providing buffer against economic shocks. In

conflict or post–conflict situations, remittances can be crucial to survival, sustenance,

rehabilitation, and reconstruction. In providing primarily for household livelihoods,

remittances are spent on general consumption items in local communities that contribute to

local economies by supporting small businesses. A fair share of these expenditures is

directed to the construction of homes, health care and education, alongside savings in

financial institutions, thereby generating employment in these critical services sectors.

Moreover, in contributing to foreign exchange earnings, remittances can spur economic

growth by improving sending countries’ creditworthiness and expanding their access to

international capital markets’ (UNCTAD2011).

It is also important to consider the impact of return migration on the economy of a

particular country. Return migration has always put impacts on, at various levels, of

economy as well as society in whole. Through working in a foreign country, migrants can

increase their income. They can acquire new skills and technological knowledge as well as

working style of other country. When migrants return to their own country, they bring both

the economic assets as well as their knowledge that can be utilised for improvement of

their home country. Several studies find evidence for many developing and emerging

176
market countries that return migrants are more likely than non-migrants to set up

businesses (Mesnard 2004, 242-262). In the same study, it is found that half of the leading

software companies in India during first decade of 21st century were founded by Indian

return migrants from the US.

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