Reintegration & Rehabilitation Policies for Emigrants in Kerala: Strategies for a Post-COVID World

C S Akhil, Ashwin Kumar and Sabeer V C

Overview

Kerala has been the mainstay of international migration from India for years. A number of Malayali expatriates have found greener pastures away from Kerala’s shores. Of an estimated 21.12 lakh emigrants from Kerala all around the world, more than 89 percent are in the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.¹ The emigration of Keralites has been one of the main contributors to the state GDP, with remittances from abroad contributing to about 30 percent of the state’s total GDP and 19 percent of the total remittances into India.² However, while the previous decades saw a persistent increase in emigration from Kerala, the past decade has been noticeable for a decline in emigration. This has also been, in part, due to the increase in the return of emigrants from these countries.

Return migration is the other side of the coin when it comes to emigration, especially, of those living in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Migrants in the Gulf countries are known as ‘temporary migrants’ as they often do not have paths to citizenship in those countries, irrespective of their duration of stay or the work they do. A large number of migrants in the Gulf are low and semi-skilled workers, who are forced to return after their stipulated period of stay is over. But this return often stimulates rounds of re-migration. However, recent changes in the Gulf economies and the labour market have led to more and more instances of return migration to Kerala. More specifically, the drop in oil prices in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis led to a loss in wages and jobs, which later spurred on a series of labour market nationalizations in those countries, limiting the scope for migrant workers to access decent jobs. As per the Kerala Migration Survey in 2018, there was an estimated 1.3 million return emigrants in Kerala.

Kerala has had the experience of receiving large numbers of return migrants in the past due to political and economic shocks like the mass exit of people from the Gulf during the Gulf War of 1990 and the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 which hit economies all over the world severely. The current COVID-19 crisis appears to be another such catalyst for large scale return. What is different, however, is the sheer numbers of workers that have been affected all over the globe as well as the reducing capacity of the ‘origin economies’ to rehabilitate them. This issue requires governments all over the world to revisit and rethink strategies to ensure that this large section of the population is accounted for. This is, especially, of great significance in the case of Kerala.

The crisis due to the steep decline in the price of oil, which hit a record low by the end of March, was compounded by the disruption of the global supply chains of which the GCC was an important, due the pandemic. Thus, in light of these twin shocks, the World Bank estimates that the growth rate in the GCC economies is likely to fall by 2.6 percent by the end of 2020.³ This will undoubtedly have ramifications for the temporary migrant labour in these countries, jeopardising their long and short-term futures in the region. This is already being borne out in the number of migrants who have registered to return with the Non-Resident Keralites (NRKs) department of the Government of Kerala, NORKA Roots. Since the beginning, registrations intended for repatriation services for NRKs, as of May 4, 2020, data provided by NORKA Roots showed that in a matter of a few days there were over 560,000 applications for return, of which 460,000 were from applicants abroad. Over 61,000 applicants citing job losses as the primary reason for return.⁴As the downturn affects the Gulf further, we are going to see even more requests for return in the coming months. As of May 7, 2020, the repatriation of Malayalis abroad had already started on a priority basis for vulnerable sections of the migrant population. Moreover, the Central Government has already mentioned that it is the individual states’ responsibilities to rehabilitate their returning emigrant populations.

It is in this context that this paper seeks to look at the issue from a policy standpoint and aims to find a long-term and durable solution in the context of Kerala. Firstly, it contextualizes the phenomenon of return migration from Kerala and how the current COVID-19 pandemic adds to an already steadily increasing trend. Later, after looking at some international cases and analysing the programmes and strategies already in place for the re-integration and rehabilitation of return emigrants in Kerala, we discuss future sustainable strategies in the wake of the impending mass return of migrants into the state. It is also hoped that this analysis can provide a roadmap for other states in India as well.

Return migration to Kerala: What we already know

Data on migration, in general, and return migration, in particular, is hard to obtain. However, in Kerala, data on migration has been collected by the Kerala Migration Survey (KMS), through Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram. There have been eight rounds of the survey since its inception in 1998.  Since then, the KMS has estimated that the number of return emigrants has been ever-increasing throughout the periods if we consider a period as five years. The results of the KMS in 2018 are quite instructive to understand the extent and characteristics of return migration and what could be in store for the future for the state.

As expected, nearly 98 percent of return migrants returned from the Gulf countries with returnees from Saudi Arabia and UAE comprising 72 percent of the total. Among them, male migrants constitute almost 94 percent of the total return emigrants, and with only 6 percent of the return migrants are females. While the median age of return emigrants is 48-years, only 20% of returnees were 60-years old, indicating that the majority of the return emigrant population of Kerala is still very much within the working-age population. Furthermore, 30 percent of them are less than 40-years old, which implies long potential working years ahead for a significant section of the return emigrants. While in the earlier rounds of the KMS, a return to work in Kerala was the primary reason for the return, the KMS 2018 found that loss of job was the most prominent reason constituting nearly 29 percent of the return migrants in 2018, again a trend that has been on the rise in the past decade.

From a reintegration and rehabilitation policy standpoint, it is also vital to understand the skill profiles at the destination of return migrants. Table 1 shows the key occupations in which return migrants were engaged while at destination countries and the occupations they are engaged in Kerala after the return. Salesmanship, construction work and driving were the three main occupations of return emigrants while abroad – nearly 35 percent of them were doing one of these three jobs. Business, driving, agriculture and construction work are the prominent occupations in which they are engaged after return and each of these occupations accommodated more than 10 percent of the return emigrants.

Table 1. Occupational characteristics of return emigrants

Source: Kerala Migration Survey 2018

Among the Keralites who returned due to the crisis in May, the data procured by NORKA states that almost 17 percent of them revealed job loss as the reason for their intention to return. Among the people who have registered, some of them travelled abroad on student, transit, visiting or dependent visa. Around 70 percent of them reached there on employment or resident visa. So, in proportion to the employment visa, the number of people who cited job loss as the reason to return is approximately 25 percent, which from the KMS evidence suggests should be the prime reason of return.  Since job loss has been the prime reason for the return, it is expected that the return emigrants during this health crisis will be much younger; the median age for those returning was 45-years according to the KMS 2018; 37percent of the people who returned due to loss of jobs being under 40-years.

The economic reintegration of such massive aspiring unemployed population will be a challenging task for the government which is already struggling due to the economic crises. In the next two sections, we try to understand the existing reintegration policies and to identify long-term sustainable strategies in comparison with other countries.

State policies for return migrants: Existing policies and models to replicate

Kerala has the oldest and most comprehensive system of international migration management in the country. The Department of Non-Resident Keralites Affairs implements a number of reintegration initiatives through its field agency, NORKA-ROOTS.  A financial assistance programme was conceptualized essentially to ensure the welfare of the return migrants. ’Santhwana’ is a distress relief fund set up for NRKs with the objective of providing financial assistance to NRK returnees. Through this scheme, financial assistance is provided to NRK returnees having a minimum period of service of two years and having an annual family income below Rs 1,00,000. The encouraging response from migrants makes it one of the more successful initiatives undertaken by NORKA.

Another major initiative to utilise the skills of return migrants productively for the development of the state is the project called, ‘Norka Department Project for Return Migrants (NDPREM)’, which helps return migrants to develop sustainable business models for livelihood and offers 15 percent subsidy. But the high rate of defaulters and long waiting period for sanctioning of loan are the major drawbacks of this project.

Based on the Non-Resident Keralites Welfare Act, the Kerala Non-Resident Keralites Welfare Board was established. The board is meant to deal with the welfare and rehabilitation of return migrants. According to the year 2019-20 data, 65 million return migrants are registered as members of the welfare board. However, the board does not encourage or help the return migrants to find a suitable job opportunity nor do they assist entrepreneurs who need both financial and other operational help.

These instances indicate that even a state with an extensive environment of migration management and policy struggles to reintegrate the migrants economically. In the current scenario when the number of returnees is expected to increase in multiple times, the state and the country should plan for long-term policies. It is important, then, to understand and replicate and successful models on reintegration. Considering the similar nature of migration and the success in developing sustainable models, the reintegration programs of the Philippines can be studied by policymakers. The Philippines identify reintegration as a mechanism of mainstreaming the return migrants into society. It begins with programs for reintegration preparedness in the destination country itself. The migrants are provided with counselling, awareness programs on financial literacy, capacity building, and technology-related skills during this period. The reintegration strategies after the return consist of job referrals, business counselling, community organising, network with institutions, to name a few.

All these programs are awareness initiatives which are provided as part of pre-return preparedness. When it comes to programs, the Philippines has a wide range of programs from immediate relief assistance to long-term financial assistance developed by both the state and non-state agencies. An outstanding initiative by the government is the Overseas Filipino Workers – Enterprise Development and Loan Program (OFW-EDLP). Formerly known as the OFW-Reintegration Program (ORP), the OFW- EDLP is an enterprise development intervention and loan facility of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration OWWA, in partnership with Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), intended to support enterprise development among OFWs and their families. It provides individual and group loan provisions with proper monitoring. Priorities are given to women returnee workers and their families in these programs. A number of civil society organisations also run reintegration programs. Atikha, is a non-government initiative which provides economic and social services to OFWs and their families. They run various skill training programs, economic activities and related projects through the network of cooperatives and other productive remittance-based activities and services. They focus on women and children and use their own Self-Help Group networks effectively to ensure respectful reintegration. All these initiatives highlight the importance of developing an understanding about the implementation strategies adopted by major countries of destination regarding programs for economic reintegration for Indian states, like Kerala in the current context of global migration.

Moving forward in post-COVID-19 economy: Lessons for India

The review of the reintegration initiatives of the NORKA department suggests that these are best seen as ‘statement of intention’ rather than really effective state intervention (Harilal and Akhil 2016). Moreover, at the national level, the issues of return and re-integration do not even receive mention in the migration management system envisaged by the Draft Emigration Bill, 2019 (Rajan et al., 2019). It is high time for Kerala to reshape its reintegration strategies. The fundamental change should begin from the basic structure of governance of migration in the state. Even though the state has a well-equipped agency for governing migration compared to other Indian states, the system is yet to satisfy the demands of the returning migrants. The basic organisational structure of NORKA-Roots needs to be strengthened by increasing human capital and outreach efforts. Even though Kerala is known for its decentralised form of governance in many aspects, migration governance is still very much centralised. A decentralised approach would be effective to disseminate the information to the migrants, especially returnees.

A major concern is the absence of information on the returnees including their aspirations and skill-sets, even in the case of the more recent attempts of the repatriation process. As mentioned earlier, a profile of skill-sets and aspirations is vital to governments in order to formulate programs to match these within the local economy. A detailed information gathering at the grassroots level can be conducted with the help of the much-admired local self-government network of Kerala. A cost-effective but comprehensive data gathering would help the policymakers to develop programs and policies for the returnees.  At the same time, given the importance of international migration to Kerala’s economy, old and new migration corridors also need to be kept open for those who are willing to re-migrate in the future. A larger migration framework, which clearly outlines India’s approach to migration, is the need of the hour.

Another aspect of the ‘Kerala Model of Development’ that can be used to support the returning migrants is the large network of co-operative institutions. Sustainable reintegration programs can be introduced to the migrants with financial support from the co-operative banks and primary co-operative societies can be registered to establish new development projects by groups of migrants. During and even before the pandemic hit, most of the assistance programs by NORKA and NORKA-Roots were short-term financial assistance to workers. However, a framework or written policy for the reintegration of migrants should be developed with a focus on sustainable and long-term initiatives.

For the better implementation of programs for return migrants, co-ordination with key ministries and agencies such as Kudumbasree is necessary. The national government’s reluctance to assume the responsibility of reintegration overburdens the state governments. The national government should also consider ‘reintegration’ as its responsibility and associate with state governments in implementing the programs, data exchange and cost-sharing of schemes. The Kerala government should lobby with the national government on issues related to migrants together with the governments and stakeholders from other states, such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which also currently send thousands of migrant workers abroad like the traditional migrant-sending states in south India. Kerala, thus, can present a model for the rest of the country to follow in the future.

AUTHORS

Akhil CS is the Research Lead at Centre for Indian Migrant Studies and works as a Research Consultant with the Migrant Forum in Asia. He is also pursuing a PhD from the Centre for Development Studies. He writes and researches on various issues of international labour migration, migration governance and political economy.

Ashwin Kumar is a Research Associate at the Centre for Development Studies. He researches and writes on issues of internal and international migration governance and diaspora studies.

Sabeer VC is a PhD Research Scholar at the Centre for Development Studies in Trivandrum. He is engaged in research on international trade and migration.

REFERENCES

Harilal, K. N., & Akhil, C. S. (2016). Deterritorialisation of Keralam: economy, society and polity. In India Migration Report 2016 (pp. 23-44). Routledge India
Rajan, S. I., Aggarwal, V., & Singh, P. (2019). Draft Emigration Bill, 2019: The Missing Links. Economic & Political Weekly, 54(30
Rajan, S. I., & Zachariah, K. C. (2019). Emigration and Remittances: New Evidences from the Kerala Migration Survey 2018. (Working paper No. 483). Thiruvananthapuram: Centre for Development Studies

Featured photo by Suhyeon Choi on Unsplash