The last count shows that about 25 lakh migrant labourers are working in Kerala having a population of

3.33 crore. And their numbers are growing at an incredible pace of 10 per cent annually.

In contrast, nearly 22.8 lakh Keralites are working abroad and nearly 10 lakh are in other states, says the
study quoting a State Planning Boards statistical reports for 2011. It shows that Kerala labour market
needs at least 5 lakh workers more to maintain the balance between demand and supply.


Fall in future

Keralites working abroad remit Rs 45,000 crore to Rs 47,000 crore annually at present. But it may fall in
the future as demographic analysts expect that the number of migrating Kerala workers may come down
to around 18-22 lakh in the next ten years owing to the drop in native young population. With a falling
foreign remittance, it will be difficult for the state to maintain the migrant workers.

Though Kerala cannot live without them, their migration to here in future depends largely on the
employment opportunities and wage structure in Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha and North East states from
where the workers are arriving in Kerala in large numbers. And also the host societys attitude towards
them.

The report points out that migrant workers have made their presence felt in all economic activities of the
state without the urban-rural divide, yet they face systemic social exclusion from the government,
employers and the media.

They are often suspected as infiltrators from Bangladesh and Maoists and are referred to as workers from
other States by the government and other agencies. This is being done with a purpose, suspects the
study. This gives an opportunity to the host society to exploit them physically, mentally and financially.

The exclusion works to the advantage of the host society in various ways: to keep the wage levels low,
rent levels high, services cheap, and maintain a labour force that is at their beck and call, one that can be
absorbed and driven out at will, says the study.

Viewing the entire migrant workers with suspicion by the host society has badly shaken their confidence.
But the fact is that nearly 90 per cent of them are genuine workers holding valid ID cards issued by
competent authorities.

Unlike native workers, they work nine to ten hours almost without a break for six to seven days a week for
less than Rs 500 a day, whereas Kerala labourers hardly work for six hours with liberal intervals for three-
four days a week, for higher wages. In addition to this, they get the protection of various social schemes
and their wives earn from MGNREG scheme.

Like their native counterparts working in the Gulf countries, they also face depressing emotional crisis.
Their home states are passing through the conditions which Kerala has been experiencing since its men
folk started migrating en masse to the Gulf countries in the late seventies. Nearly ten lakh Kerala men
working in Gulf and their spouses face loneliness. A similar situation has sprung up in North Indian states
from where workers flock to Kerala.

This may give a boost to the sex trade in Kerala. Volunteers working among migrant workers agree with
this observation of the GIFT study.

Volunteers aver that as the Kerala sex workers migrate to the Gulf countries to cater the need of the men
from here, the women from the northern states may come here to tap the highly market. Language
problem coupled with the states rigid approach to sex deter them from seeking the service of local sex
workers, says a volunteer who has been studying their social behaviour. Unmindful of all these odds, the
migrants are toiling in the Gods Own Country to eke out a living.



New workers are not part of any trade union or any social security network, nor are they
aware of their labor rights. "They are only bothered about prompt payments, minister
John, also a union activist, told ucanews.com.
There is also a housing shortage.
They live in the most unhygienic places, like cattle sheds. They have no access to medical
facilities, said K Chandran Pillai, another workers' advocate based in Kochi. He believes the
government should intervene, as the existing trade unions have failed to address migrants'
issues and political parties are generally not interested in the "floating population."


It may no longer be just anecdotal that every third person in Kerala is a migrant worker from outside
the State. Along with Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, Kerala is experiencing a massive influx of migrant
workers into its emerging urban areas and its hinterland. High wages, and the shortage of skilled and
unskilled labour due to high education levels and migration from the State to West Asian countries,
make Kerala an attractive destination for workers from north, central and north-eastern India.
Unofficial estimates put the number of migrant labourers in Kerala at 1.3 million, and it is estimated
that the States migrant population will touch the 2.5 million mark in a decade. It is a veritable
second wave, after the first one that made the Green Revolution possible. The southern States must
put in place effective mechanisms to ensure the welfare of migrant workers, and given the possibility
of many of them settling down in their adopted homes, assist them in integration with the local
communities. Kerala, for one, has set the ball rolling by beginning work on a piece of legislation
specifically focused on migrant workers. Tentatively titled the Kerala Migrant Workers (Conditions
of Service and Compulsory Registration) Social Security Bill, the proposed law could turn out to be
yetSocio-Economic Impact of In-migration in Kerala
Likhitha.K
Introduction
Interstate migration is defined as movement of people from the place of residence to a
state other than that of birth. In a broad view in migration means to move or settle into a
different region of the same country or territory. India is a country where internal migration is
more important than international migration in terms of the numbers of people involved and
possibly even the volume of remittances. According to the 2001 Census about 30% of 1028.6
million populations in India were migrants, of which 42.1 million were inter-state migrants. In
India most of the backward states such as, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan,
Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, and the Northeastern states etc. have
experienced significant net out migration. Among others, states like Maharashtra, Gujarat and
Goa along the western coast and Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh in the northwest, along
with West Bengal and Jharkhand in the East are the net receiver of migrants, while Kerala is well
known for its international migration to the Gulf countries. But in recent years Kerala is
witnessing large inflow of migrant labour from different parts of the country. Many of the
unskilled labourers from other parts of the country consider Kerala as their Gulf. Higher wages
for unskilled labour in the state, large opportunities for employment and shortage of local labour,
paradoxically despite the high unemployment rate in the state, led to the massive influx of
migrant labour to the state. With signs of rapid growth of states economy and the increase in
activities particularly in the infrastructure and construction sectors, the in-migration is expected
to grow faster in the coming years.
Significance of the study
The international movement of labours from Kerala to the Gulf connection is well
known. This outflow of labours and remittances made a significant impact on Kerala economy
and society (Irudaya Rajan, 1999). ). This, outflow of labours and their remittances have crafted
a construction sector boom in the Kerala economy. Though, the emigration of labour did not
create any major bottleneck in the Kerala economy in the early phase, the continuous emigration
resulted in scarcity of labour in unskilled and semi skilled works in the state, which was followed
inevitably by increases in the wage rate. At present Kerala has the highest wage rate among the
states in India. The daily wage of a manual labourer in Kerala was pegged between Rs. 450 to
Rs. 500 in 2012, and while it was between Rs. 100 and Rs.150 in many North Indian States. The
shortage of labour in Kerala and the resultant higher wage rates received the attraction of
workers in other states and they began to move to Kerala in search of work. This has opened a
new era of replacement migration to Kerala. Replacement migrants are temporary workers who
come to Kerala from other states in India to take up work especially in construction,
nonagricultural production and service sectors. They are called replacement migrants as they are
thought to be replacing Kerala workers who emigrated to the Gulf countries and to other parts of
the globe (Irudaya Rajan, 2003).This led to the state become anin-migrating state. Though
initially the migrants were only from the neighboring state Tamil Nadu, in the recent period the
state started receiving migrants from far distant states like Bihar, Assam and West Bengal, Orissa
and even places like Nepal. This change is much visible in all districts in Kerala.In-migration has
major economic and political implications for both the sending and receiving areas. The
consequences of this labour in-migration to Kerala are many; in-migration affects the wage and
employment levels of Keralas natives workers, who are doing similar kinds of manual works. It
may also have a role to play in reducing the shortage of unskilled and semi-skilled labourers in
certain key sectors of the Kerala economy, which happened in the state due to huge outflow of
labours from Kerala to gulf countries. Therefore, it may be a solution to the big labour crisis that
faced by the construction and service sector of the state.
Migration makes a major economic impact on the sending region. This effect can
either be negative, in terms of labour shortage in the productive sectors of the sending region or
positive since migrants' remittances are thought to be an important socio-economic development
tool for sending households. The overall balance of these effects is therefore likely to have a
major influence on the socio economic development of both the migrants home and Kerala
economy. A number of studies have already been done in this context in different regions. But in
Kerala most of the studies were undertaken on migration related with her Gulf connection. In this
context this study tries to analyze different perspectives of Internal migration in Kerala
economy with the following objectives.
Research Questions
The important research questions are
1.To analyze trend and pattern of inter-state migration in India.
2.To examine the inter-state and inter district differences in migration based on Census and NSSO
data.
3.How in-migration affect the social and economic security of Kerala?
4.What are the impacts of in- migration on keralites?
5.What are the problems and constraints faced by the native workers in Kerala due to the presence of
migrant workers?
6.To assess the policy interventions of the Govt. of Kerala on in-migrants.
7.To examine the impact of in-migration on domestic labour market in current and futuristic context.
Data and Methodology
The study is based on both secondary and primary survey data. The researcher will
prepare different questioners in order analyze the overall impact of in-migration on economy of
Kerala. It includes questionnaire for migrant workers, native workers and for employers who
hires this migrant workers. The appropriate econometrics and statistical techniques will be used
to analyze and interpret the results.


aSTATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The research study is about the topic of In migration of workers to Kerala particularly in Kumbalam
panchayath. The study focus to find the various factors which leads to the migration of workers to
Kerala and also to find out the problems that affect the workers in Kerala particularly in Kumbalam
panchayath.
The research is aimed at knowing the effect of in migration and the various benefits and problems
from these migrations of workers to Kerala especially in Kumbalam panchayath.nother model from


OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1) To find out the factors which lead to the migration of workers in to Kerala.
2) To find out the problems that affect the workers in Kerala.
3) To find out the various benefits' from this migration of workers.
4) To know about, any restriction or policies made by government relating to this migration of
workers.
5) To find out suggestions of the people in Kerala about this migration.



thEvery Sunday, Perumbavoor, a satellite town of Kochi, transforms into a town in Odisha, West Bengal or Bihar.
Almost all the streets of the town, known for its timber trade, are taken over by thousands of migrant labourers from
these distant states spending their weekly holiday shopping, eating, drinking and meeting each other. Shops,
particularly those selling mobile phones and other electronic items, are chock-a-block with customers. Street vendors
sell Bengali sweets like rosogulla and goja. Restaurants have menus written in Hindi. Local buses ply with names of
places painted in Hindi.


Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/kerala-malayalis-gulf-labourers-crisis/1/186347.html
e State foIt is estimated that today over 10% of the population of Kerala lives outside the state, in various parts of
India, in the Gulf region, the US, Europe and other countries around the world. In spite of various estimates, there is
no agreement among researchers on the exact number of people of Kerala origin (PKO) living in the different states
of India, and the world; estimates vary between 3-4 million. This is partly because it is not easy to count second- and
third-generation Keralites who have been living in different parts of India and the world for years.
There is greater clarity, however, on the number of migrants to the Gulf region and patterns of migration over the last
40 years.
Migration has been a significant factor in helping reduce poverty, unemployment and relative deprivation in Kerala.
For over three decades there has been steady migration from the state to countries in the Gulf and different parts of
India and the world. A recent survey (Migration and Development: Kerala Experience, S Irudaya Rajan, K C
Zacharia, CDS, 2007) by the Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, points out that there are around 2.27-3
million non-resident workers from Kerala. The proportion of migrant workers to the Gulf dropped from 95% in 1998 to
89% in 2007.
According to the study, international migrants sent around Rs 24,000 crore as remittances to Kerala in 2006-07. That
same year, remittances accounted for around 20% of the states NSDP.
Highlights of the study include:
The number of emigrants was 18.4 lakh in 2003 and 18.5 lakh in 2007. The number of return emigrants was 8.9 lakh
in 2003; in 2007 it was also 8.9 lakh. The number of non-resident Keralites (NRK) was 27.3 lakh in 2003; it was 27.4
lakh in 2007. The rate of migration, however, experienced a significant decline, dropping from 26.7 per 100
households in 2003 to 24.5 per 100 households in 2007.
The proportion of households in Kerala with a NRK each in them has remained more or less the same as in 2007; it
was 25.8% in 2003.
Northern districts of Kerala are gaining importance as areas of emigration. As the years pass, more and more Kerala
emigrants emanate from districts such as Malappuram, Kannur and Kasaragod. In Malappuram, 71% of households
have in them either an emigrant or a return emigrant each. Malappuram district had the distinction of sending out the
largest number of emigrants from Kerala in 1998 and in 2003. It retained this distinction in 2007. In fact, in 2007,
Malappuram district was the place of origin of 336,000 emigrants, or around 18.2% of the total number of emigrants
from Kerala.
Nearly half the number of emigrants were Muslims. Among Muslims, three out of every four households (74%) have
an NRK each; among Hindus, less than one in five households (22%) has an NRK each in them.
The Muslim community that forms nearly 25% of the states population received 50% of all remittances during 2006-
07. The share of the seven northern districts of Kerala in total remittances (61%) was almost double the share of the
seven southern districts (39%).
The number of Gulf wives (married women in Kerala whose husbands live in other countries) is estimated to be
around 1.2 million. They form about 10% of married women in the state.
Migration has been a key engine of social, political and economic change in Kerala in the last 30 years. Migration
patterns and their socio-economic impact have significantly influenced the culture and political process in Kerala.
High remittances helped decrease unemployment and poverty whilst also paradoxically giving rise to a consumerist
culture and commoditisation of public services such as education and health. The remittances of over 2 million
migrant workers provided indirect employment to around 4-5 million people (according to various estimates) in
Kerala. The remittance economy also changed patterns of land ownership and agriculture, besides impacting the
environment and ecology due to an unprecedented boom in the construction sector and the pressure on land and
paddy fields for new constructions.
Kerala is on the threshold of a transition, and the consequences (positive and negative) of migration will play an
important role in shaping the states future. Income from remittances will decline and the extent of migration to the
Gulf decrease as the region sees a saturation of the labour market. There will be greater competition for skilled and
semi-skilled jobs in India and elsewhere. Hence, a remittance-based and largely service sector-oriented growth
process may not be sustainable for Kerala in the long run.
It is important to understand the five different waves of migration from Kerala, and how each of these patterns
influenced the states social and political process. There are three issues here: socio-cultural shifts due to migration;
economic and social consequences of a remittance-based economy; and the political consequences of migration.
Among the various states of India, people from Punjab, Gujarat and Kerala tend to migrate more across the world.
This has some historical precedent as these states were exposed to cultures and people from outside through trade.
Kerala has a history of over 2,300 years of exposure to different cultures through maritime trade; Gujarat possibly
more than 3,000 years; Punjab, at the crossroads between south Asia and central Asia, was on the cusp of major
trade routes and wars. There was a different kind of migration from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh to Southeast
Asia: present-day Cambodia, parts of Thailand, Indonesia, south Vietnam, etc. And there were Chola trade-based
kingdoms in the south of present-day Thailand. All this cultural exposure shaped our historical worldview and
influence.
The first generation of migrants from Kerala, in the early-20th century, were semi-skilled or quasi-professional
workers to Ceylon, parts of Malaya (to work on plantations), Burma, Madras, Calcutta, Karachi and Bombay. The
knowledge and money they brought back influenced Keralas architecture and cooking, to some extent.
The second wave of migration after the Second World War was to Singapore, Malaysia and different parts of India --
to big cities like Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta, Madras, and Bangalore. Most of the people who migrated during the
second wave, from 1945 to 1960, were high-school-educated, semi-skilled workers (typists, secretaries, office
workers, and army personnel).
The third wave of migrants, from 1960 to 1975, consisted of people with technical skills and professional training
(technology professionals, nurses, clerks, technicians, etc).
These three waves of migration, and the consequent remittances, helped influence land relationships and instil a
sense of Indianess, as a significant number of Malayalees joined the pan-Indian middle class.
The fourth wave, from 1975 to 1992 (until the Kuwait war), saw mass migrations to the Gulf, USA, Germany and
other countries in Europe and elsewhere. This was due to increased incomes earned from high oil prices in the
1970s, and the shortage of skilled labour required for construction and infrastructure development in an oil-based
economy. Those who economically transformed Kerala are people with ITI and nursing education. The increasing
demand for nurses in the health sector prompted a chain of migration to the US, Germany, etc. One nurse was
possibly responsible for the migration of an average of 20 people!
The fifth wave of migration (1993 onwards) had two or three streams. These included: a) the relatively large migration
of semi-skilled and unskilled labour from northern parts of Kerala, particularly Malappuram and Kannur; b)
immigration of highly qualified professionals (engineers, doctors, IT experts, academics) to various parts of Europe,
US, and other parts of the world; c) increasing emigration to the US by the family networks of nurses who migrated to
the US and Europe during the fourth wave of migration in the 1980s.
There were indeed caste and community connotations for the migrations. People from the Christian community
migrated relatively early, partly due to access to early education and less stigma associated with skilled work and
professions like nursing. Also, many Christians were marginal farmers. A growing population in the first half of the
20th century altered the land-to-people ratio, hence people were forced to migrate within Kerala in search of land, or
outside Kerala in search of work. Many of them could have been quasi-economic refugees who had little stake in the
feudal system or the ruling elite of a princely kingdom largely controlled by the Brahmin-Nair axis.
The fourth wave of migration included significant numbers of Muslims, Ezhavas and people from other communities.
While the second generation of the first and second wave of migrants became professionals (doctors, engineers, etc),
the fourth wave of migrants belonged to the lower middle class. While the first three waves of migration were confined
to a few areas of Kerala (Palghat, central Travancore, some parts of Malabar, and Kochi), the fourth wave of
migration was much more widespread across caste, communities and regions. It is this fourth wave that had the
greatest impact on social and political relations and the cultural landscape, and had major economic consequences.
The fifth wave of migration, 1995 onwards, incorporated three layers -- the upper elites consisting of skilled
professionals across the world; b) middle class skilled and semi-skilled workers; c) lots of unskilled labour in the
second half of the 1990s.
These patterns of migration and their consequences influenced every aspect of society: land relationships, decline of
agriculture, growth of consumer and service sectors, rise of education as an industry (capitation fees, self-financing,
etc), and a relatively less skilled and knowledge-based young leadership pool for political parties. This had a deep
impact also in terms of the structure and leadership of political parties. Communities with a relatively greater stake in
the power structure of Kerala (Nair-Namboothiri), that were economically well-off through access to land and feudal
relationships, got into leadership positions in political parties.
Keralas political leadership therefore witnessed a high prevalence of people from a few communities. There were
also fewer Muslims in the political elite of Kerala until the 1970s. By the end-1990s, however, the economic status,
educational profile and land relationship status among Muslims changed significantly, resulting in a new
understanding and assertion of the political process. This politicisation and revival of identity has had a direct
connection with migration patterns. The response included a strange mix of mainstream reformist politics and a more
radical politics that combined a critique of imperialism and the assertion of a new pan-Islamist politics.
Christians, who were part of the first three waves of migration, had better access to information, money and network
resources. So the next generation of these migrants moved into the upper middle class elite sections of society. And
since many of the relatively more educated and skilled (largely nurses) among them migrated to the US and other
European countries, their politics too was partly shaped by this. This section of people was less politically conscious
(largely non-left) and inadvertently promoted painkilivalkaram -- a new, popular titillating consumer culture that began
in central Travancore and spread across Kerala.
Different patterns of migration from various communities also shaped the political sociology and sociology of political
leaders. It influenced the film industry too as remittance money and Gulf-based businessmen began investing in films.
The painkilivalkaram, or popularisation, can also be seen as the dissolution of feudal relationships in Kerala, a
relationship that was significantly challenged by the fourth wave of migration and patterns of remittance. But though
feudal relationships changed, the feudal mindset did not. This, along with the consumerist status-quo and the vanities
of the neo-rich, created a conducive environment forpainkilivalkaram,which can partly be seen in the popularisation
and democratisation of literature from high-class culture to products of mass consumption.
r the rest of the country if handled sensitively and imaginatively.