What has migration - both interstate and overseas to do with Indian economy?

Question

Does migration affect the Indian economy? If Yes, could you just explain in a few lines?

Answer 1

The essential point of difference between America & India: migration.

America is a nation of immigrants and short of man-power.

India is anything but immigrant & with excess population to spare. In an excessive population competition for 'jobs' is intense . A newcomer is seen suspiciously. And if he is not of the same kind (different look, language, religion or even class economically) he is subjected to discrimination.

This as a factor has a bearing on economics. Much of turmoil in India and associated problems can be traced to this factor. Even a plea that a culture needs to be kept up or preserved, has this economic root cause. To what end the culture needs to be preserved for whose benefit? And to what length one can & should go in this endeavor?

Then the other - 'sons of the soil'. It is the shield that a people wield against a vigorous and virile people who have come as guest-workers. Normally this lot who left homes and hearths are prepared to make any compromises. This trait of theirs is powerful to make their services better marketable. Politics springs forth from this situation. Someone says 'why not share the economic pie?'. Everything is fine if the situation subsides then, but after a generation or two, when the new entrants get entrenched with a better living standard and are prosperous than the 'sons of the soil', the old ghost gets politically revived. This is the problem of inter-state migration. If the natives are sure that the migrants won't stick on but move back to their land (Country, Desh or Mulk), there is 'no objection' leading to a situation of 'no dispute'.

Labour Economics & the related topic of Labour economy ought to be studied as 'Economics' but is done less so, but more as Sociology, Politics or even Behaviour science. It is like studying symptoms while ignoring right diagnosis. It happens often in medical field. A patient is treated for long years by a chest specialist when the problem is in the domain of Nephrology. That migration is both created by and is cause that affects economy is ignored.Trying to flaunt opinion on the issue might sound selfopinionated or lacking in relevance.

America, a paragon of immigration has turned anti-immigrant now under the onslaught of illegal & illicit Latino (Mexican) labour exodus. Americans perceive, it affects their already battered economy. Does anyone migrate to a place with a battered economy? But the tendency is to put the blame at the door of someone else for one's folly. As an American wag remarked, the remedy is in creating job opportunities for Mexicans in Mexico. Seriously, this is the illustrative, educative remedy.

Indian economy may take a cue from this illustration, particularly in regard to inter-state migration. The ground realities are that Indians rarely share their place with whom they consider 'aliens'. The diverseness of the population only strengthens such sentiment. Statements like 'We are all Indians, we can live and work in any where in the country' is perverse and may lead to pernicious situations, just because it is written down somewhere. The reality should bear this fact and lot of work is needed to be done towards this end.