INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT IN KERALA Dr S IRUDAYA RAJAN Chair Professor CDS, Kerala

Total Population of Kerala: 31 million Until 1956 (Kerala came into existence from 1 st November 1956), Kerala was an in-migrating state From 1961, Kerala is an out-migrating state, even today Kerala is ahead of India in terms of fertility, infant mortality and literacy

As Keralites were ahead of literacy than other parts of the country, most of the literates migrated to other parts of India where there is a demand of educated (teachers, nurses, accountants and other services) As long as, they were accustomed to mobility within India, when the oil boom begun in Gulf, they were the first to emigrate to Gulf. In India, we have good statistics on inter-state migration based on census and the data on international migration is only a guesstimate.

To study the Impact on International migration on Kerala’s economy and society, we have undertaken three major surveys in Kerala Kerala Migration Survey, 1998 (10000 households) Kerala Migration Survey, 2003 (10000) Kerala Migration Survey, 2007 (Progress) Kerala Migration Survey, 2008 (Proposed)

Kerala Migration Survey 2003 Number of emigrants (EMI) lakhs lakhs Number of return emigrants (REM) Lakhs lakhs No of NRK: 27.3 lakhs

Kerala Migration Survey, 2003 % of households with/without migrants WithWithoutEmigrants EMI REM NRK

Kerala Migration Survey, 2003 % of female emigrants: 17 Malappuram 271,787 Kannur 202,414 Thrissur 178,867 Palakkad 177,876 Thiruvananthapuram168,046 Kozhikode167,436

Kerala Migration Survey, 2003 Where do Malayalis go? Percent United Arab Emirates 37 Saudi Arabia 27 Gulf countries 89 United States of America 5 United Kingdom 1 Singapore 1

Worker’s Remittances Rupees (In crores), 2003 India (No 1 in the world)82350 Kerala (total remittances)18465 % of Kerala to total % of the state domestic product

Worker’s Remittances Macro Economic Impact Remittances: crores Population in 2004: 32.5 million Each one gets Rs per year or Rs 473 per month Sufficient to buy at least 1 kg of rice per day per person

Worker’s Remittances Importance of Remittances Remittances were 1.74 times the revenue receipts of the government 1.8 times than the Government of Kerala expenditure 7 times what Kerala receives from the central government

Worker’s Remittances Importance of Remittances 60% of Kerala government’s debt can be wiped out by remittances 15 times more than the export earning of the cashew products 18 times more than the export earnings of the marine products

Labour Market Issues Stagnation in agriculture (workers are not willing to work in agriculture) Increase in wages (about Rs. 200) in Kerala as against Rs.50 in Bihar Unemployment is very high (after deducting for internal and international migration

Migration and Development Positive effects Reduction in Poverty Reduction in unemployment Other effects Conflict between new rich and old rich Increase in income equality and conflicts Replacement Migration