Migration has played an important role on the course of development of many developing countries. This is particularly so with respect to South Asia. Migration, Remittances and Development in South Asia, edited by Saman Kelegama, explores the impact of migration on development in South Asian countries and makes recommendations for benefiting more from out-migration and reducing the ill effects of it. It is policy oriented and recommends policies for each of the eight countries and the region as a whole. There is also a proposal for a Commission on migration in South Asia.
 Remittances have tended to be viewed as an adjunct to issues in development despite its recognition as a contributor to various facets of development. This book goes further to examine how migration should be brought into the mainstream of development planning and directed in a manner that migration, just as much as other population changes, are an integral part of the development factors. It contends that development must be conceived of, and understood as, a dynamic process with the goal of enlarging the scope of human choices and creating an environment where citizens can live with dignity and equality.
This book of 11 chapters consists three parts. It begins with an introduction to the book by the editor that brings out salient issues related to migration and gives an overview of the country studies and the policy recommendations. This is invaluable to readers who may select only some case studies. The overview summarizes the features of each country situation and policy issues. The second section has the eight country studies of South Asia. The third section consists of two chapters, one that argues the case for policy measures to improve the migration conditions and the other that argues for a Commission on migration in South Asia.
The eight chapters on the individual South Asian countries that are in-depth studies, document both the benefits and adverse impact of out-migration and highlights the problems and challenges faced by these countries. Most countries of South Asia depend on remittances to strengthen their balance of payments and contribute to GDP. More important is the fact that the living conditions of the poor have improved owing to remittances from migration. There are several problems encountered by the migrants and although livelihoods have improved, remittances have often resulted in aggravating inequality. The book brings out these benefits and adverse impacts in a balanced manner.
Although the Indian diaspora is large and has been building up over the years, it is mostly the newer migrants to the Middle East that make a significant contribution to the country through remittances. Although India receives a large amount of remittance inflows, the largeness of the Indian economy makes such remittances contribute only 3 % to GDP. However, remittances have contributed to the alleviation of poverty and improvement of social welfare. The author of the chapter makes a special study of the effects of out-migration from Kerala. The state of Kerala is the most significant in out-migration and out-migration from it has enabled families of migrants to buy land, improve housing, and invest in education and health care. However, only a quarter of Kerala families benefited directly from remittances and since they were already better off than non-migrant families, out-migration has increased economic inequality.
In Pakistan, out-migration provided jobs and raised wages for workers who remained behind, but remittances flowed primarily to urban areas, increasing the rural-urban income gap and encouraging rural-urban migration. Remittance levels have been rising and accounted for 10 % of GDP during peak times. The flow of remittances raises household income while the fall in domestic labour supply raises wages. The households gained both in terms of income and consumption, and therefore there was an improvement in their welfare. Since the remittances are mostly to urban areas that are relatively better off, these aggravate the disparities in income, as has happened in most other South Asian countries.
The contribution of remittances to Bangladesh’s economy and livelihoods is very significant. Out-migration has increased sharply by 60% in recent years. Bangladesh sends mostly low-skilled men abroad, generating remittances that reduce poverty and provide vital foreign exchange. Remittances have added stability to the economy and especially to the balance of payments. However, fluctuations in remittances, as was the case during the financial crisis in the West and the global recession made the economy vulnerable. Furthermore, recruitment malpractices have resulted in some destination countries banning Bangladeshi workers.
In the case of Sri Lanka, the significance of migration to the balance of payments and the economy is of such a magnitude that the Sri Lankan economy has been described as a remittance-dependent economy. About 80 % of the huge trade deficit of US$ 5.2 billion in 2010 was offset by remittances from abroad. It is estimated that remittances contributed 8 % to GDP in 2008. The situation in Sri Lanka is very similar with Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan, where remittances are not only a support to the trade balance but an important way by which the country’s poverty is alleviated. A large proportion of the outflow consists of women domestic workers who have been vulnerable in destination countries. Families receiving remittances invest more in housing, education, and health care, but there are also social costs including child abuse, school drop-outs and family break-ups as a result of family separation. Therefore the effects of out-migration are mixed.
The slow growth of the Nepalese economy and the political turmoil has led to both internal and external migration. Remittances are therefore important both at the macro level to give some stability and at household levels to improve livelihoods. The dependence on remittances is high and increasing. In 2008, about 21% of Nepal’s GDP was from remittances compared to a contribution of 12 % in 1999. Remittances also make up a large proportion of Nepal’s foreign exchange. The rural to urban migration is estimated to account for 23 % of remittances. The local political conflict, creation of recruitment agencies, increased job opportunities in the Gulf States, and regular droughts which have destroyed harvests are considered to be the factors contributing to the increase in out-migration.
An interesting dimension of the book is that it evaluates, perhaps for the first time, migration and development issues in three South Asian countries, Afghanistan, Bhutan and the Maldives that have hardly been studied previously. Afghanistan has long been a country of out-migration, sending migrants and refugees primarily to neighbouring Iran and Pakistan. In the case of Afghanistan, the insecure conditions result in out-migration and provide relief to many families from the remittances. Remittances are of importance to Afghanistan whose political turmoil and instability has sent waves of migrants to other countries. Bhutan is a country with 700,000 residents that sends relatively well educated workers abroad who have few options for decent work at home. Many of the Bhutanese migrants settle abroad. This limits remittances.
The exception to the broad pattern of migration is the Maldives where it is a recipient of persons and there is a substantial outflow of funds from the country. The Maldives, a group of 200 inhabited islands with about 400,000 residents, is unusual in attracting migrants from neighbouring countries, including teachers as well as construction workers who build resorts to accommodate tourists. Many employers prefer foreign to local workers, making it hard for Maldivian natives to obtain jobs that pay decent wages; many Maldivian natives are government employees or self-employed fishers. Maldives is a remittance outflow country that gains by international labour inflows to strengthen its production capacity and to enhance its social capital. The contribution of remittances to the macro economy however important, is only a small part of the overall contribution these make to the livelihoods of people, their social and economic status and the reduction of poverty levels. The migration of people to the Maldives is shown to be a positive contribution to its long-term development.
This book of essays by a number of South Asian scholars deal with the multifaceted issues both positive and negative of the out-migration from South Asian countries. It is an important contribution to understanding the forces that promote out- migration and the contribution that remittances make to South Asian economies. It discuses both the positive contribution of such out-migration, as well as the negative social consequences. Poverty remains the illusive problem of South Asia. Remittances may have alleviated the conditions of many poor people in the region but remittances alone are unlikely to lift people out of poverty. Several contributions point to the indirect effects of remittances with other economic, social and cultural factors that determines the amount and nature of the impact that remittances can have on poverty reduction.
It is an interesting comparative study of the impacts of migration on development in South Asian countries that brings out similarities and differences in the contribution that out-migration makes to the eight countries. It makes several proposals to protect the rights of migrants when they are abroad and to ensure that migration contributes to development at home. It’s concluding two chapters draws attention to the limited regional cooperation achieved in regard to migration flows and highlights the possible role for a South Asia Migration Commission which could provide best-practice guidance for governments for effective cooperation on protection of migrant rights and promotion of migration and development linkages.
(Nimal Sanderatne is a Senior Fellow at the Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka) |
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