Abstract
International migration is a worldwide phenomenon, and it has influenced every economy in the world. Migration plays a significant role in the development of both home and host countries. Remittances sent by non-resident Indians (NRIs) to the country of origin improve the standard of living of their family members and are also helpful in solving the balance of payment problems of the country. This research article deals with the socio-economic background of the emigrants’ households. The size of the family, housing conditions, age group, earning members in the family, number of migrated persons, etc., is the important variables of this analysis. To analyse the socio-economic characteristics of the migrants’ households and to examine the causes behind international migration are the main objectives of this study. It is observed that prime reason behind the international migration from Punjab to other countries is the lack of suitable work opportunities. This article is based on the sample of 375 households that have been selected from 15 villages of the two districts, namely Jalandhar and SBS Nagar. For the analysis of data, simple percentage method and binary logistic regression model have been used. The analysis and findings of the study revealed that a total of 579 NRIs have migrated from the 375 households, and all these households have their own homes. It is observed that the ratio of male migrants is much higher than the females. The study analysed that the proportion of dependent family members is almost same in both districts. It is also noticed that people of general category went to developed countries like the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, but the OBCs and SCs preferred to go to the United Kingdom, Europe and Gulf countries. The main reasons of this difference are that the visa process of developed countries is more complicated and also contains huge costs, while visa process and cost of Gulf and other countries are simple and low, so OBCs and SCs can easily afford it.
Introduction
Migration plays an important role in the development of any country. People migrate from one place to another (backwards to advanced areas) in search of a job, to improve standard of living, etc., but they never detach from their roots. They always want to stay connected to their native places through relatives and friends (Ratha, 2013). Mainly, there are two factors that affect migration: These are push and pull factors. Push factors are related to the origin country, and the pull factors are related to the destination country. Economic reasons, which are related to the pull factors, are opportunities for more and better jobs with higher wages in the destination country. Overpopulation, few job opportunities and low wages are the main economic push factors that affect migration. There are also some social and physical reasons that affect the push and pull factors of migration. Active religious oppression and natural disasters are the reasons behind the push factors, and principles of religious patience and attractive environment are reasons of pull factors of migration. The other reason for migration is that many countries open their borders to refugees, tourists, etc. The majority of the refugees among the world are in advanced industrial countries, and a small portion of refugees are in Western Europe or in the United States. Political forces are also an important factor behind the migration; if political environment of a country is unstable, then people prefer to leave the country and migrate to that country whose political environment is peaceful and stable (Weiner, 1993).
In the nineteenth century, abundant unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled persons migrated to other countries from India (Ferrie & Hatton, 2013). When highly skilled professionals like doctors, engineers, scientists, teachers, etc., migrate to other countries, this type of migration is called brain drain. The ‘brain drain’ is an exodus of talented and skilled persons (Dodani & LaPorte, 2005). The recent skilled migration to the developed countries like the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, etc., is the migration of the IT workers and nurses, whereas the large number of unskilled and semi-skilled workers migrate to Gulf countries in West Asia. Initially, countries like the United States, Canada and Australia were the three major attractive destinations for Indian migrants, but later, these developed countries were also joined by the United Kingdom and EU countries that attract highly skilled workers from India. Oil-rich countries are also an important destination for semi-skilled and unskilled labour for temporary settlement (Rizvi, 2006). People who migrate to developed countries like the United States, Canada, etc., take over their families with them abroad. But migrants who went to Gulf countries like Dubai, Saudi Arabia, etc., cannot take their families with them, so their relatives have to stay in the origin country. This is the painful aspect for the families of Gulf emigrants. But male migration also has a good impact on women who are left behind in origin country. Women learn to adjust to new circumstances because, in the absence of male members, they have to do all those duties which were previously assumed to be done by males. Women face new challenges in their lives and also get more freedom than previous, so they gain self-confidence and self-esteem within the family (Khadria, 2006).
People working in a foreign country, after fulfilling their own needs from their earnings, generally try to send some money to their relatives and friends in the origin country. In economic terms, this money is known as remittances. Remittances are very helpful to solve the economic problems of a country; they are an important component of the balance of payments for developing countries. In the last few years, remittances to India have been rapidly increasing, and India has become the largest recipient country of remittances in the world. Migrants remit money through various formal and informal channels; informal channels are more attractive in rural areas due to their multiple functions, and this may also be due to the inconvenience of banking services like waiting times and other banking requirements. Remittances are the major source of loan payments because migrants belonging to poor families have taken loans from various formal and informal sources. When they start earning in the destination country, the first thing that they generally do is repay the loan. The results of micro-level studies suggest that international remittances have great importance in poverty reduction and human capital formation and are also helpful in improving the living conditions and human capabilities. In some cases, some migrants migrate to another country in search of employment opportunities, but in destination country, the work they get is very hard and tough. So, they send remittances just to repay their debt, and after some time, they come back to the origin country. This kind of remittances are not much helpful to reduce the poverty (Throat & Jones, 2011).
Punjab is a state in Northwest India; it is bordered by Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan. Numbers of people have been migrating from Punjab since several years, especially from the Doaba region, which comprises four districts, namely Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar (Nawanshahr). The rural areas of these districts have a long history of migration, especially in the post-independence era. Initially, majority of the people belonging to this area preferred to migrate to the United Kingdom, but gradually this trend changed, and various skilled and semi-skilled persons started migrating to other industrialised countries such as Canada, the United States and Australia. People migrate from Punjab through various agencies; these agencies may be legal or illegal. Both skilled and unskilled persons migrate from Punjab to abroad for various reasons such as to find better work opportunities, attain higher education and also for marriage. Whatever the reason, the common factor among all types of migration is that the emigrants try to send money to their families back home from their earnings abroad. These remittances may have an important impact on the level of living of the remittance-receiving families/areas of Punjab. Most of the recipients use these remittances to purchase household goods, for construction and also for investment purposes. People also use remittances for donations; they donate to charitable trusts for education, health or other welfare institutions. These remittances are also used for building palatial homes, purchasing luxurious cars, etc., which has a huge demonstration effect on the non-recipients of the remittances. As a result, they also try to send their family members abroad (Saha, 2012). Thus, we have seen that there are a number of reasons why people migrate to other countries, and also that migration has a number of important effects on migrant-sending and receiving countries, as well as on migrant-sending families.
Review of Literature
Dustman et al. (2007) have studied the socio-economic consequences of migration and the characteristics of migrants in England, predominantly in Wales. The study has informed that, instead of whites from abroad, Indians earn higher wages in England and Wales than black Africans. The governor of the Bank of England commented that immigration had an anti-inflationary impact on the United Kingdom economy, while it increases the housing prices, so it is not sure if the migration is good or not. In countries such as Hungary, Greece and Finland, several programmes have been organised to assist the entry of seasonal agricultural labourers. It is observed that there is a need to regulate the temporary movement of people; low-skilled migration should be used to fill the shortfall in temporary or part-time jobs.
Hagen-Zanker (2008) analysed various migration theories in their study, and the purpose of this study was to illustrate the similarities and differences among various approaches. This study explored various models related to labour migration, such as Lewis’ dual economy model in 1954, Ranis and Fei in 1961 and Todaro and Harris in 1970. These different system theories explain that different sectors are not isolated but often influence each other through social capital and cumulative causation. Migration is a dynamic process, and the reasons behind migration and its outcomes are interrelated. It can be noticed that by influencing economic development, migration has affected the structural environment of the country of origin.
Gibson et al. (2011) used a migration lottery programme to overcome the double selectivity problems posed by migration. This study was based on the primary data, which has been collected through the questionnaire cum survey method. The survey compared the outcomes from the family members of Tongan emigrants with those of family members of similar households who were unsuccessful in the lottery. Questions about socio-economic conditions of emigrants’ households, their education, household assets, earnings, health status, etc., had been included in the questionnaire. It was observed that the impacts of migration on households left behind are mainly negative because of the lack of resources availability. It was found that remittances and the reduction in family size were not enough to compensate for the lost labour earnings of the migrants. It was also noticed that households belonging to emigrants had less durable household assets and livestock, and they also had not much access to banking facilities.
Massey et al. (1993) analysed some theories that have been developed to understand the process of international migration. In this study, they observed that international migration and local production were not mutually exclusive possibilities. In fact, there was great encouragement for households to engage in local work and migration. The government can also affect the migration process and rates through its policies. The government can make such policies which influence labour markets, capital markets, insurance programmes, etc. The theories of the migration also revealed that government policies and economic changes greatly affected the distribution of income and international migration. The study revealed that occupational hierarchies also affected the motivation levels of workers because they not only work for money but also for maintaining their social status.
Keeping in view the impacts of migration and factors behind migration, Kapur (2003) examined that people migrate from India due to number of factors. These factors can be economic, social or political. According to the policy of industrialised countries, low-skilled workers temporarily leave the country and after some time return to their homeland. To illustrate the positive and negative impacts of the migration, the study provides examples from some countries, such as China, Lebanon and several other countries in Central America, Africa and Central Europe. By studying the negative impacts of the Indian diaspora, the Indian government formulates a policy in which the negative impacts need to be eliminated, and the good ones must lubricate the natural tendencies of the Indian economy.
Rosenzweig (2005) examined the results of migration for developing economies. The study explored the relationship between migration from low-income countries and the development of those countries. For the purpose of the study, the author used the primary data and secondary data. Primary data have been collected through the survey of United States immigrants. The study found that poverty was an important reason which encouraged the migration from the low-income countries to high-income countries. Migration of skilled and educated persons was also examined in this study; this skilled migration is known as brain drain. Many students went abroad for the purpose of higher studies and skilled education. The study also revealed that international flow of migration from developing countries to developed countries has been increasing for the last several years. This increasing flow of migration helped to increase international trade, capital movement across countries and also improve the social and economic situations of the emigrants’ households.
Ashby (2010) analysed the effects of economic freedom and political freedom on country-to-country migration stocks between 58 countries around the year 2005. Using basic ordinary least squared and Tobit regressions, the study found that both economic freedom and political freedom are significant determinants of migration between countries. It added to the evidence that economic freedom provided significant indirect benefits to individuals by means of improving the income of those that possess it at greater levels. This has been demonstrated by many studies that have found positive associations between economic freedom and income growth. Therefore, the previous studies found evidence of an indirect benefit from economic freedom but no direct impact. This study provided some evidence of direct benefits from economic freedom and mixed results for political freedom while controlling for income.
Chanda and Ghosh (2013) elaborated on the historical and socio-economic features of Punjabis in the United Kingdom and observed their contribution in the development of Punjab. The study explored that Punjabi non-resident Indians (NRIs) have been living in the United Kingdom since the colonial period. In the study, push and pull factors of migration have also been examined. Uncertain political and economic environment, lack of jobs, etc., were the push factors, whereas secure future, pleasant weather, attractive salary packages or higher wages were the pull factors behind migration. It is examined that migrants contributed in the advancement of their country of origin through technological innovation, remittances and skills. The old concept of ‘brain drain’ has changed into ‘brain bank’ because contributions by the migrants played a crucial role in the development of Punjab and changed the attitude and thinking of people regarding migration. The study also discovered that some large-scale investment projects are held by corrupt and inefficient government officials, so there is a greater need of appropriate and supportive migration policies at state and centre levels.
Objectives of the Study
The main objectives of the study are:
To analyse the socio-economic characteristics of the migrants’ households.
To examine the causes behind the international migration.
Data and Methodology
This study is based on primary as well as secondary data. Primary data have been collected through questionnaires with personal interviews. A sample of 375 households has been selected from the 15 villages of the two districts, Jalandhar and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar. The district Jalandhar has 10 blocks, and district SBS Nagar has five blocks; one village having highest population from each block has been selected. In totality, out of these 375 households, 579 emigrants have migrated to different nations. Secondary data has also been used wherever necessary. The sources of secondary data used in this study are various research articles, journals, dissertations, magazines, etc.
Analysis of data: For the presentation and analysis of data, we have used simple percentage, average and logit regression to quantify the effect of the independent variables on the probability of a migrant to migrate to different nations. Logistic regression is a statistical method for analysing a data set in which there are one or more independent variables that determine an outcome. The outcome is measured with a binary or dichotomous variable that only contains data coded as 1 or 0.
The sampled data collected from the NRIs’ households has been divided into five groups. These five groups represent the various countries and regions. The first group includes those households from which NRIs have migrated to Canada and the United States. Australia and New Zealand are the countries of Oceania continent, so NRIs who have migrated to these countries, their households have been inducted in the second group. The third group, the United Kingdom, is made up of those households belonging to NRIs whose family members have migrated to England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. The households whose family members have migrated to Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany are placed under the fourth group ‘Europe’. The category ‘Asia’ included those households from which NRIs have migrated to Asian countries such as Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Doha Qatar, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, Malaysia, Japan, Bahrain and Muscat.
Table 1 shows the distribution of households belonging to the NRIs in the selected districts. Total of 579 persons have migrated abroad from the 375 sampled households. We can observe from Table 1 that 231 (39.9%) migrants out of the 119 households migrated to the United States and Canada, while this proportion is 8.12% in case of Australia and New Zealand as the destination country. Out of the remaining, 52% of NRIs, 15.37%, 16.75% and about 20% of NRIs migrated to the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia, respectively. If we look at Jalandhar district, we can notice that total of 383 NRIs have migrated to the different nations from the 250 households, whereas the situation of the SBS Nagar is a little bit different. In this district, 196 migrants went abroad out of the 125 sampled households.
Distribution of Sampled Households and the Number of Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) According to the Destination of the Emigrants.
Distribution of Sampled Households and the Number of Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) According to the Destination of the Emigrants.
Table 2 presents the distribution of households belonging to NRIs according to the social groups. Table 2 shows that 46.7% of households belong to general category, 12.3% to OBCs and 41% to SCs. District-wise distribution of these NRIs’ households shows that in Jalandhar district, total households belonging to NRIs is 250, and out of these total households, 48% households belong to the general category, 12% to OBCs and 40% to SCs. In Jalandhar district, from 64% of households belonging to general category, NRIs migrated to the United States and Canada compared to 11.11% of households from which NRIs have migrated to Asian countries. Whereas, from approximately 14% of households belonging to OBC category, people have migrated to the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom compared to 9% of households of NRIs who have migrated to Australia and New Zealand, Europe and Asian countries respectively. Amongst SC households surveyed, 80% of people have migrated to Asian countries. When we look at the data collected from the SBS Nagar district, it is observed that the picture of this district is slightly different compared to the Jalandhar district. In this district, the proportion of general and SC NRIs’ households is almost same, which stands at about 44% for each category. NRIs from 73.33% of general category households have migrated to the first and second group of countries. The share of OBC category households is highest (25%) for the United Kingdom group and lowest for Australia and New Zealand. Households surveyed among the SC category reveal that a greater proportion of the NRIs have migrated to European and Asian countries, while from a few households (less than 20%), NRIs have migrated to the United States and Canada, Australia and New Zealand. From Table 2, it can be concluded that the share of SC households is highest in the migration to Asian countries and lowest for the United States and Canada. The reason behind this disparity is that because of the labour-intensive nature of these countries and low financial costs, people prefer to migrate to these countries, while the migration process of the United States and Canada involves huge financial investment.
Distribution of Households Belonging to Non-resident Indians (NRIs) Based on Social Classes.
In order to examine the living conditions of the families belonging to NRIs, it is important to look at the housing conditions of the sampled households in the sampled villages. Table 3 shows the distribution of sampled households according to the housing conditions. We can see from Table 3 that no family belonging to NRIs is living in a rented house. Every household has its own house. It is observed from Table 3 that in the combined data of Jalandhar and SBS Nagar, if we consider the group one, 94.12% of households belonging to NRIs live in concrete and own house, while the remaining 6% households (NRIs) do not have their own houses or family members in India. In the second group, 94.59% of households live in concrete houses, and about 6% live in semi-concrete houses. While looking at the households who belonged to emigrants of the United Kingdom and Europe, it is found that above 87% of households have concrete houses, and about 11% have semi-concrete houses. The situation of the households belonging to the NRIs of Asian countries is different from the previous groups. In this group, about 72% of households have concrete houses, and 27.55% have semi-concrete houses.
Distribution of Sampled Households According to the Housing Conditions.
Table 4 describes the availability of electricity and sources of drinking water of households belonging to NRIs. In these two districts, every household has the electricity facility. It is noticed that some NRIs related to groups one, three and four do not have houses in India, so the total percentage of these groups will be less than 100%. In Jalandhar and SBS Nagar districts, in group one (United States and Canada), the households belonging to NRIs use multiple sources of drinking water. About 56% of them depend upon water supplies through the tap, about 69% use submersible motor, and 25% have other sources of drinking water such as hand pumps and tullu pumps. The usage of tap and submersible motor is approximately the same in the households belonging to NRIs of Oceania and the United Kingdom; it stands at 80–90% for tap usage while about 48% use submersible motor as a source of drinking water. About 69% of households belonging to the migrants of Europe use tap, 44.83% use submersible motor and 51.72% use other sources of drinking water.
Distribution of Households According to Electricity and Sources of Drinking Water.
*Nine households belonging to non-resident Indians (NRIs) do not have their own home in India; they send remittances to their relatives and villagers.
It is noticed that most of the households belonging to the NRIs from Asia use tap water (75.51%), and a few households (18.37%) use submersible motor. More than half of the households use other sources of water supply. It is observed that among all the groups, all households use multiple sources of drinking water. We can also see that the dependence on public supplies of water is higher among the households belonging to group V (Asia), while a relatively greater share of the households belonging to NRIs of the United States and Canada own a submersible pump, which ensures them a smooth and adequate supply of water even during the periods of shortages.
Table 5 shows the gender-wise division of male-to-female ratio in each village, and division is roughly similar in all the destinations of NRIs belonging to the Jalandhar district. The proportion of the male NRIs to all the destinations (except Asian countries) has been found to be above 50% in this district. In the SBS Nagar district, it has been found that the female-to-male ratio has been most adverse in the United Kingdom (62% males against 38% females) compared to other destinations. The proportion of the males and the females is approximately similar in all the five destinations studied here. It has been found to be 54.22% for the males against the 45.77% for the females.
Distribution of Households Belonging to Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) According to the Family Size.
Further, in Table 6, we present the distribution of family members belonging to NRIs according to the age group. Actually, the age distribution largely determines the dependency burden and the gap between the earnings and expenditure of these households.
Distribution of Family Members Belonging to Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) According to Age Group.
The destination-wise analysis of the sampled households’ members shows that in all the sampled households, 8.46%, 4.84%, 9.78%, 10.6% and about 15% are in the below 15 age group in households associated with NRIs of the United States and Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia, respectively. However, except in the United Kingdom, in other four destinations, on an average, 24% of members fall in the age group 15–30, whereas in the case of the United Kingdom, this proportion is 17.39%. If we consider the age groups 30–45 years and 45–60 years as largely productive segment of the population, and the age groups of 0–15 years as well as age group 60 years and above as largely dependent population, then we can observe that the percentage share in the 30–45 age group is nearly 23% in all the groups of countries. On the other hand, in 45–60 age group, percentage ratio is different in the households belonging to the NRIs of Australia and New Zealand, where it is 35.48%, while the percentage of other groups is about 27%. The age group 15–30 years, though it has an important share of the population surveyed, does not give a clear indication of dependency status because we cannot clearly deduce if these members are studying or working.
After discussing the distribution of the members of the households by education status, it is important to examine their earning status, which is given in Table 7. The combined sample shows that around 44% of the family members are dependent, while the share of earning and earning-dependent members differs in both districts and across different groups. Broadly, we can see that proportion of earning members in the SBS Nagar is the highest for the family members belonging to NRIs of the United Kingdom among all the other groups, while the proportion of dependent members is the highest for those residing in Asian countries. By comparing the total percentage of all groups of both the districts, it is observed that proportion of earners is lower in the Jalandhar district, and that of the earning-dependent members is higher in this district, where it stands for 19.11% as against 10.65% in SBS Nagar. This indicates that there are more underemployed persons in Jalandhar district; this is due to the greater number of women who are mainly performing their domestic duties along with the part-time activities like stitching/beauty parlour, etc., the students who work as part-time workers, and the pensioners in this district. Yet, the dependent persons are approximately the same (about 44%) in both Jalandhar and SBS Nagar.
Distribution of Households Belonging to Non-resident Indians (NRIs) According to the Earning Status.
International Migration from Punjab to Different Countries: Descriptive Statistics of the Determinants Included in Binary Logistic Regression.
International Migration from Punjab to Different Countries: Descriptive Statistics of the Determinants Included in Binary Logistic Regression.
Table 8 shows the combined descriptive statistics in Jalandhar and SBS Nagar for the variables included in the regression model and the number of migrants to different countries or groups of countries from both of these districts. It is noticeable that obtaining complete information about NRIs and their family members was not an easy task; therefore, to get adequate results in the analysis in Table 8, few NRIs have been excluded whose relevant information was not available. Table 8 shows that the mean earnings of the families and expenditure on migration per ₹10,000, for those who migrated to different countries/groups of countries, were the highest in case of those who migrated to the United States and Canada, followed by those who migrated to Australia and New Zealand, Europe, the United Kingdom and Asia. Similarly, the mean amount of property per ₹10,000 was also the highest in case of families of those who migrated to United States and Canada, followed by those who migrated to Australia and New Zealand, Europe, the United Kingdom and Asia. The standard deviation in respect of family earnings and properties of the families migrating to different groups of countries/country further reveals that dispersal of family earnings and property around mean was significantly higher in case of the families of the migrants who migrated to the United States and Canada compared to all others who migrated to other countries, suggesting that these migrants came from diverse economic backgrounds. Insofar as the standard deviation of amount of property was concerned; it was again the highest in case of migrants who migrated to the United States and Canada, followed by Europe, Australia and New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Asia.
It is concluded that people migrate from Punjab due to various reasons, such as lack of desired work opportunities in their home countries and attractions of host countries. It is observed that skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled persons migrate abroad, but after reaching destination countries, most of them do not get desired work opportunities according to their skills and educational level. Mostly, people went abroad with the help of agents and family in a legal way, although there are a few migrants who migrate illegally. It has been observed that majority of the people preferred to migrate abroad when they are young and unmarried. Migrants of the advanced Western countries had made much more expenditure than the migrants of Gulf countries, and this expenditure has been recovered in 1–2 years. In short, it can be said that in the process of international migration, Punjab is losing its skilled human resources, while the host countries get direct benefit of these young potentials. Therefore, Punjab government should make some policies and strategies through which innovative ideas of these young professionals could be used domestically, which can be helpful to reduce the international migration of these skilled and efficient persons.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
