Trivendram, Jan20, 2012: Migration led to depletion of a large number of critical occupations in the state. A recent study by the Centre for Development Studies (CDS), Trivandrum has found that migration has taken away majority of chemical engineers, fabrication workers, computer professionals, electricians, nurses, civil and electrical engineers, cooks in hotels and restaurants, drivers and mechanics.The number of workers outside Kerala is 40-50 per cent of the number of such workers inside Kerala for 7 occupations, 30-40 per cent in 10 occupations, 20- 30 per cent in 8 occupations, and 10- 20 per cent in 21 occupations. In the case of chemical engineers, more than 75 per cent are working outside the state. The study forming part of the fifth Kerala Migration Survey being undertaken by the CDS in association with the Ministry of Overseas Indians Affairs says that the migration is also draining a very significant proportion of the educated people from the state. It found that the migrants to foreign countries were better educated than the non-migrants. As much as 68.0 per cent of the emigrants and 69.9 per cent of the out-migrants have 10th class or higher levels of education while the non-migrants with the same level of education is just 40.5 per cent. Similarly, while only 8.2 per cent of the non-migrant population have received a degree or higher levels of education, 19.1 per cent of the emigrants and as much 25.1 per cent of the out-migrants have a degree or higher levels of education. However, while as much as 8.8 per cent of the emigrants and 17.4 per cent of the out-migrants are illiterate, only 7.5 per cent of the general population was illiterate. On the whole, it is borne out that migrants, on an average, have very much higher levels of education than the non-migrants, the study says. A corollary from this analysis is that migration drains Kerala’s human resources. Additional evidence of this huge loss to the state is provided by a similar analysis of the occupational characteristics of the migrants and non-migrants. Among the emigrants, 54 per cent were employed before emigration, 27 per cent were unemployed and 19 per cent were not in the labour force. Even though migration is a big loss to the state in terms of human resources, the study says that it is balanced not only against the huge amount of remittances the state receives every year, but also against the gain in work experience, work ethics, and business contacts that the large number of return-emigrants acquired while working abroad. The migration of the skilled persons has a positive reflection in the remittances Kerala receive from migrants. Household remittances for 2011 were estimated to be Rs151.29 billion as against Rs121.51 billion for 2008 and Rs79 billion for 2003. Remittances were 31.23 per cent of the state’s net state domestic product (NSDP) in the last year. The state’s per capita income was Rs52, 084 (2010), without taking into consideration remittances to the state, but it stood at Rs68, 375 when remittances were included. Remittances are 1.6 times the revenue receipt of the state government, 6.2 times what the state gets from the centre as revenue transfer. It is more than twice the government’s annual expenditure. It is more than 60 per cent of the state’s public debt. The remittances have improved the quality of life migrants’ families. Households with an emigrant or return emigrant tend to possess better quality houses than those without an emigrant. The proportion of households possessing “luxurious” or “very good” houses shows a steady increase with the number of Non-Resident Keralites (NRKs) in the household, and is 24.2 per cent for household without an NRK and 41.3 per cent for households with one NRK, 50.3 per cent for households with two NRKs and 65.2 per cent for households with more than two NRKs.
