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Demography, Migration, and Political Narratives

RAM B. BHAGAT

Abstract

Demography is subtly shaping politics. Size, growth, composition, and distribution of the population, as influenced by fertility, mortality, and migration, are the dimensions and components of complex demographic changes. The political discourse often surrounds these issues in a very simplistic way, and even without data. Differential population size, growth, and migration have emerged as prominent parts of the political narratives. In political discourse, issues like illegal and refugee migration and fertility differentials by religious and ethnic groups have been shaping the political imagination. Xenophobia, loss of cultural identity, and threat to national security form the political narratives linked to demographic changes in general and illegal migration in particular. In this context, the census in general and the caste census in particular, the delimitation of parliamentary constituencies, NPR, NRC, and SIR are linked to demographic changes hotly debated and contested. In this lecture, it is argued that Demography is a quantified and measurable science that cannot be left to the speculation
of numbers fomenting social anxiety and disturbing social harmony. The lecture highlights some pertinent methodological issues related to concepts, data, and measurement of demographic changes in general and migration in particular, illuminating myths and realities of the political narratives shaping identity politics

Recruitment Costs of Migrant Workers: Insights from the 2023 Kerala Recruitment Cost Survey

S Irudaya Rajan
Akhil C S

Abstract

This study examines the recruitment costs faced by migrant workers from Kerala,
India, using data from the Kerala Recruitment Cost Survey 2023. Focusing on SDG Indicator
10.7.1—Recruitment Cost Indicator (RCI), which measures costs as a proportion of firstmonth earnings—the study analyzes financial burdens across different recruitment channels,
occupations, and demographic groups. Findings reveal a median recruitment cost of
₹61,156, with travel expenses (₹58,369) and private agency fees (₹66,065) as major
components. The median RCI of 2.11 indicates most workers spend over two months’ salary
to recover costs, while 25 per cent face severe burdens (RCI > 4.37). High RCIs
disproportionately affect less-educated migrants (63.35 per cent with ≤10th standard
education) earning lower wages (median salary: ₹27,282). Recruitment through social
networks (60.41 per cent) remains dominant, but reliance on private agencies (14.88%) and
informal intermediaries (6.02 per cent) exacerbates costs.

Keywords: Recruitment costs, migrant workers, Kerala, SDG 10.7.1, RCI, labor migration
policy

From White to Brown Aryans: The Story of Indian Migration

Joseph K V

Abstract

The United States of America (USA) is a land of immigrants. However, for a long
period only white populations were permitted to immigrate and settle down there. Attempts to
migrate by a few Indian youths from Punjab were frustrated by the hostility of the
predominant white population. At the time of India’s independence in 1947, there were
reportedly only 2405 Indians living in the United States. It was only after 1946, the USA
started to admit non-whites though on a nominal scale. Such a policy change was precipitated
by the Second World War which elevated America as the leader of the free world. She had to
abandon the exclusionist policy to placate the interests of the non-white nations which
became her allies. However, large scale migration was allowed from 1965 onwards. In turn,
immigration took an upward trend and, the size of Indian population which was only 12,300
in 1960 swelled to a phenomenal figure of 5.4 million by 2024. In this process, persons
belonging to all linguistic groups and religious denominations have become partners.
Though they engaged in various occupations, there was a tilt in favour of IT related works.
Since the bulk of the migrants were well educated and highly qualified, they could command
better rates of remuneration in the United States, than in their native countries. Many of them
could reach dizzy heights in political, economic and social arena of life. However, they
formed only a tiny minority of about 1.5 per cent of the population of the USA. Enlightened
self-interest rather than egalitarian norms rule the roost in the whole process by luring the
best brains to the USA from other parts of the world. Nevertheless, the immigrants could give
expression to their inborn talents in the congenial environment of USA.

Keywords: Immigration, Second World War, brain drain

Medical Education: Mapping post-COVID19 Migration Aspirations of Religious Minority Medical Students of Hyderabad (India)

Rasipogula Vinod Kumar

Abstract
Medical education is one of the most widespread and elite professional education in the field
of education. It is widely respected, considered a remunerative career with greater prestige,
and often presumed to be a ticket to emigration. There is a growing number of medical
students who aspire to migrate to developed countries to advance better clinical experience,
employment opportunities and pecuniary benefits. Thus, the significant migration after the
undergraduate courses continues to skew the doctors’ distribution. The present study
attempts to examine why minority medical students aspire to migrate to different countries
post-COVID-19. Though Hyderabad city (Telangana state) has substantial capital investment
in health education, the desire to migrate remains a salient feature among the religious
minorities in the post-COVID-19 period and the ‘culture of migration’ has been discussed
among religious minorities. The present study argues that students with different forms of
capital, whose immediate relatives working abroad, especially in medicine, are most likely to
aspire to go abroad for higher studies and subsequent settlement in the host country because
of the ‘epistemological awareness.’ This study employed quantitative and qualitative
methods; thus, 200 quantitative and 20 qualitative samples from the students currently
enrolled in MBBS, MD and MS courses were interviewed and also who are practicing
medicine have been incorporated in the study; purposive and snowball sampling methods
were used. Most medical students perceived that migrating to developed countries would
promote their educational credentials with higher clinical experiences, eventually providing
them with employment security. Therefore, the present study highlighted that post-COVID-19
and medical education cultural capital has accelerated and shaped the idea of migration to
developed countries.

Keywords: Medical education, minority students, Migration, Medical educational
cultural capital, social networks.

Kerala Migration Survey 2023

S Irudaya Rajan

Executive Summary
Since the first historic Kerala Migration Survey (KMS) conducted in 1998 by K C Zachariah and
S Irudaya Rajan, there has been an increasing trend of Keralites moving abroad, from 1.4 million
in 1998 to 1.8 million in 2003 and 2.2 million in 2008, reaching its peak in 2013 with 2.4 million
emigrants. However, in 2018, Kerala observed a steady decline in labour migration with the number
of emigrants estimated at 2.1 million. This is understood to have happened due to the changing
demographics in Kerala, stringent nationalization policies in the Gulf after the global economic
crisis, economic downturns, company closures, shifts in the labour market demands and
competition from countries such as those in Africa, which offer emigrants willing to work for lower
wages.
After the last round of KMS in 2018, Kerala experienced unprecedented floods causing severe
destruction. This was followed by the global lockdown, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020
and 2021. This led to large-scale return migration, job losses, compulsory repatriations, expired
visas, increasing fear of deportations, economic disruptions, and wage theft. In his budget speech
on 11 March 2022, the Finance Minister of Kerala told the assembly that 1.4 million non-resident
Keralites, comprising two-thirds of 2.1 emigrants estimated by the KMS 2018, returned to the state
in the aftermath of the pandemic. The Department of Non-Resident Keralites Affairs (NORKA),
the Government of Kerala, initiated the ninth round of KMS in 2023 in response to the
recommendations of the 3rd Loka Kerala Sabha of 2022 to examine the recent trends in migration,
return migration, and remittances. The KMS 2023 was conducted by the Gulati Institute of Finance
Taxation (GIFT) with technical support from the International Institute of Migration and
Development (IIMAD)

Recruitment Experiences of International Indian Students

S Irudaya Rajan , Varsha Joshi , Rohit Irudayarajan

Abstract

India is one of the fastest-growing economies with a rising middle class. It also enjoys a demographic dividend owing to the expanding youth population. Simultaneously rising is the number of migrants from India, especially International Student Mobility (ISM). The outflow of Indian students to Anglophone countries such as the US, UK, Australia and Canada has doubled in the last two decades. Recruitment and consultant agencies are an integral part of the student migration infrastructure in India. However recent news reports have highlighted the lack of regulation and structure of the working of these agencies and their marketing influence over youth aspiring to pursue an education abroad having led to an increase in misinformation and deceits among student migrants. This study aims to unravel the recruitment experience of 20 Indian international students to further understand how recruiters influenced the decision-making of these students and the different kinds of challenges they have faced due to the involvement of recruiters in their migration journey.

Keywords: International Student Mobility, United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada

Abstract

As a growing proportion of world’s population lives in cities and towns, food security is increasingly acquiring an urban character. The locus of food security research and policy agendas has correspondingly expanded from rural areas to include cities and towns in the past few years. However, the dominant discourse on urbanization-food security relationship appears to be shaped by perspectives from the Global North and large cities, and shows a lack of adequate understanding of the urbanization-food security nexus in the small towns of the Global South. This paper aims to correct this bias. With a focus on India where urban growth is increasingly concentrated in small, former rural regions, this paper reviews the food and nutrition security implications of the country’s rural-urban transition. It identifies three conceptual pathways through which to understand the bearing of rural-urban transition on food and nutrition security that include: livelihood change, land use change, and dietary change. The evidence reviewed suggests the overall worsening of food and nutrition security for people in this rural-urban transition, particularly for the poor populations. The paper also identifies several key research questions and calls for more research on the urbanization-food security nexus in India.

Keywords: Food security, urbanization, India, rural-urban transition

Authors

Chetan Choithani,

Abdul Jaleel CP and

S Irudaya Rajan