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BUSINESS
Do skilled workers prefer going abroad for job?
Devojit
Mahanta
Since the
economic liberalization in 1991 a lot of Indian people
are everywhere around the globe. If going to foreign countries is good then what are
the reasons
and why? As per
the survey report
conducted by CNBC the main reason for people leaving India is
the lack of sufficient opportunity and lower salaries. The report revealed
that the average income
of an Indian labour class ranges between Rs 5000 -Rs10000 a month but the
same person gets more money abroad because in India
labour charges are less.
Another section holds the view that skilled people are migrating from India not for money or career, but a loss of
faith in India.
India
has some big issues like caste-based reservations, rampant corruption,
dirty politics, lack of infrastructure
and lack of willingness to develop infrastructure
eventually which led people to start losing faith in their own country.
India went through phases of
emigration under the British rule and during that time several Indians
migrated to countries in the East and West Indies, Africa and Australia
as indentured labourers and as trading entrepreneurs. Now the information technologies
are producing a form of migration that adds a new dimension to what is termed as
“the international division of labour”.
The three traditional settlement countries Australia,
Canada, and USA, later joined by the Germany attracted the highly skilled workers
from India
once their highly selective immigration policies were modified. To
illustrate the practical consequences, Germany’s new Immigration Act, which
has replaced the Green Card scheme is focused on attracting more skilled
workers in areas such as natural science, engineering, technology,
academicians and scientists by providing granted permanent residence and
permission to work from the beginning rather than five-year work permits as
was previously the case. The new Act even allows family members of highly
skilled workers too to work in Germany.
Even after thousands of job cuts by US companies almost daily over the past
few months, the US Congress still allows temporary workers to enter the country annually on H1-B visa upto a limit of 65000. As per the US Government data for 2008 shows that about
5.7 lakh Indians were issued H1-B visas and other non-immigrant visas.
A new destination that has rapidly gained popularity is the Middle-East.
The oil-rich countries mainly attracted semi-skilled and unskilled labour
on a temporary circulating basis. The semi-skilled and unskilled workers
have a high rate of turnover as their contracts are for short period
usually not more than two years at a time. This has facilitated the
proliferation of recruitment and placement agencies and exploiting job
seekers range from withholding of the passports, refusal of promised
employment, wages and over-time wages, inadequate medical facility, denial
of legal rights for redressal of complaints etc.
Regarding opening of financial sector for foreign players, Commerce and
Industry Minister Kamal Nath said that if foreign players open their labour
market for us, we will do it for them. Labour markets means more jobs for Indians
abroad especially in US. Is this an indication of encouragement for skilled
workers to catch the human capital flight? Also the question for our
policymakers, should the financial sector be opened up?
After the world economic crisis on the last quarter of 2008, there has been
a steady rise in the number of Indians migrating to other countries for
employment purposes. The number of emigration clearances by the Indian
Government was 4.75 lakh during the period January to May 2009. India is
slowly moving from a protective framework to a regulator of migration. Can
our Government do anything to use their skill domestically? This situation
can be avoided by the Government by making some policies and identifying
the skills.
Finally to assess whether migration has changed society in
India, and
whether it has adequately benefited social and economic development in India
the greater co-operation between sending and receiving countries is needed
to ensure a fair distribution of benefits.
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