India Migration Report, 2012

This volume is a collection of articles dealing with various dimensions of the Global Financial Crisis and its economic and social impact in terms of governance, emigration, remittances, return migration and re-integration.

The crisis, which had its origin in the United States in 2008, spread its economic effects on developed as well as developing countries. Some of these countries were able to recover in the short run while some are in the process of recovery, with continuous efforts by both national governments and international agencies. In this backdrop, is there any impact on the outflow of emigrants from the countries of origin and inflow of remittances to the countries of destination? The third volume in the annual series ‘India Migration Report’ answers the question through rigorous quantitative and qualitative analyses and fieldwork both in the Gulf region and South Asia, and concludes that both emigration and remittances are more resilient than expected. This report:

• contains findings based on an extensive survey conducted in Kerala;
• has additional evaluations based on other surveys and case studies conducted in different parts of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka to reflect on the consequences of the global crisis on the countries of origin, as well as a quick assessment and site visits to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar and Malaysia;
• includes essays that examine the linkages between emigration and remittances based on international data from the World Bank, the International Labour Organization, the International Organization of Migration, the United Nations and other organizations that closely deal with international migration.

It will be of interest to students and scholars of migration studies, sociology, law, economics, gender studies, diaspora studies, international relations and demography, apart from non-governmental organizations, policy-makers and government institutions working in the field of migration.

S. Irudaya Rajan is Chair Professor, Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs Research Unit on International Migration, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, India.