The Movement of Indians in East Asia: Contemporary and Historical Encounters

Abstract

In recent years qualitative and quantitative changes in Indian migration have gained the increasing attention of researchers, policymakers and organizations such as the World Bank (WB), the International Labour Office (ILO) and the International Organization for Migration (TOM). This movement of Indians comprises a variety of flows — transient professionals or knowledge workers, skilled permanent migrants, students, unskilled workers and business streams — and the destinations have also broadened. Skilled Indian migration to North America, Europe, Australasia and East Asia is also taking place within regional blocs and policy frameworks have been established to facilitate these migrant flows. In view of the fact that structural relationships facilitating migration have become well-established, most governments today exert greater control over migration through national policies, and bilateral/multilateral agreements. The Indian government, for example, actively encourages emigration as a key instrument to promote national development. The expectation is that both remittances and the experiences and knowledge gained abroad will be used to further India's own development programmes. Additionally, the Indian government is also relying on the expansion and greater role of transnational networks that link the migrants to both India and the destination countries.