Migration and Development Seminar: Management of International Migration in India

 
The DEC-PREM Migration and Remittances Unit of the World Bank
Invites you to a

BBL
 "Management of International Migration in India"

Presenter: Professor Irudaya Rajan
Center for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, India

Chair: Dilip Ratha
Lead Economist and Manager, DEC-PREM Migration and Remittances Unit

April 20, 2011 12:30 – 2:00pm
Room MC 7- 100

Abstract:
International labor migration is considered by developing economies as a means for the migrants and their families to acquire higher incomes. India is one of the largest sources of emigrants and the largest recipient of remittances, an estimated $55 billion, with a significant part from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. On the other hand, the immigrant population in India continues to rise, with the Bangladesh-India border considered as one of the most active cross-border corridors for immigration into India. Migration across India, in terms of both emigration and immigration, is taking place notwithstanding multiple hurdles. India has recently begun to recognize and network with its 25 million strong diaspora. The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) has introduced several measures for the welfare of the emigrant workers, and engaged in diplomatic dialogue with destination countries to appropriately address transfers of health, salary and pension benefits. The growing mobility of labor in a globalizing economy, emerging population and demographic dynamics, as well as enhanced security concerns, have together underlined the importance of good migration management to transform it into an efficient, orderly and humane process. In this context, this paper examines the Institutions and regulations governing labor migration in India.

Speaker's bio:

Dr S. Irudaya Rajan, is Chair Professor, Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) Research Unit on International Migration at the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He has more than two decades of research experience in Kerala; has coordinated five major migration surveys (1998. 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2009) in Kerala (with Professor K C Zachariah) and has published books and articles on social, economic and demographic implications on international migration. He is member of the National Migration Policy drafting group appointed by the MOIA. He is editor of the Annual Series India Migration Report brought out by Routledge.