International Migrants from Rural Punjab—Attributes and Characteristics

Abstract

International migration is a worldwide phenomenon, and it has influenced every economy in the world. Migration plays a significant role in the development of both home and host countries. Remittances sent by non-resident Indians (NRIs) to the country of origin improve the standard of living of their family members and are also helpful in solving the balance of payment problems of the country. This research article deals with the socio-economic background of the emigrants’ households. The size of the family, housing conditions, age group, earning members in the family, number of migrated persons, etc., is the important variables of this analysis. To analyse the socio-economic characteristics of the migrants’ households and to examine the causes behind international migration are the main objectives of this study. It is observed that prime reason behind the international migration from Punjab to other countries is the lack of suitable work opportunities. This article is based on the sample of 375 households that have been selected from 15 villages of the two districts, namely Jalandhar and SBS Nagar. For the analysis of data, simple percentage method and binary logistic regression model have been used. The analysis and findings of the study revealed that a total of 579 NRIs have migrated from the 375 households, and all these households have their own homes. It is observed that the ratio of male migrants is much higher than the females. The study analysed that the proportion of dependent family members is almost same in both districts. It is also noticed that people of general category went to developed countries like the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, but the OBCs and SCs preferred to go to the United Kingdom, Europe and Gulf countries. The main reasons of this difference are that the visa process of developed countries is more complicated and also contains huge costs, while visa process and cost of Gulf and other countries are simple and low, so OBCs and SCs can easily afford it. JEL Codes: F2, F22, D14, O15, O1