National Webinar : Migration and Development in India
Last Date : 15th Oct, 2021 - North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong

Department of Sociology
North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong
Two-day National Webinar
on
Migration and Development in India

24-25 Nov, 2021

Concept note

There is increasing recognition of the links between migration and growth and development in both destination and source. A number of global initiatives, including the Global Commission on International Migration, the UnitedNations High Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development in September 2006, the Global Forum on Migration and Development in July 2007 in Brusselsas well as ILO processes can be considered as milestones in exploring these linkages. Broad consensus has emerged that migration issues need to be integrated and mainstreamed into development policies and poverty alleviation, as well as employment and labour market policies.

Migration, indeed, has the potential to serve as an engine of growth and development for all parties involved - host and source societies and the migrants themselves. In the place of destination, migration has rejuvenated workforces, rendered economically viable services, promoted entrepreneurship, supported social security and welfare schemes, and met the demand for skills for emerging high tech industries.

In the place of origin, positive contributions of migration are reflected in capital inflows through remittances and investments, transfer of technology and critical skills through return and circular migration. In brief, migrants sustain development and partnership through the monetary, human and social capital they supply, their involvement in social networks and their contributions to exchanges between cultures.

Neo-classical migration theory perceives migration as a form of optimal allocation of production factors to the benefit of both sending and receiving societies. In this perspective of ‘balanced growth’, the re-allocation of labour from rural, agricultural areas to urban, industrial sectors (within or across borders), is considered as a prerequisite for economic growth and hence, as a constituent component of the entire development process. According to dominant views of the 1950s and 1960s in development theory, return migrants were seen as important agents of change and innovation.

It was expected that migrants not only bring back money, but also new ideas, knowledge, and entrepreneurial attitudes. In this way, migrants were expected to play positive role in development of the place of origin. Lewis theory of development also sees migration as transfer of surplus labour from agricultural sector without any loss of output and the resulting growth of productivity and employment in industrial sector.

One theory to explain the apparently paradoxical relationship of accelerated rural-urban migration in the context of rising urban unemployment has come to be known as the Todaro migration model. Todarostarted from the assumption that migration is primarily an economic phenomenonwhich for the individual migrant can be quite rational decision despite the existence of urban unemployment. Todaro model postulates that migration proceeds in response to urban-rural differences in expected income rather than actual earnings.

The fundamental premise is that migrants consider the various labour market opportunities available to them in the rural and urban sectors and choose the one that maximizes their expected gains from migration. However, other views like neo-Marxian and structuralism turned the argument of neo-classical and development approaches completely upside down. According to these views, migration is the result of the existence of uneven dependency relationship in which the industrialized centres dominate the agricultural sector.In pessimistic perspective, migration increases inequalities.

It is therefore imperative to enquire whether or not migration contributes to development which may vary according to many factors, including what forms of migration take place, where to, and on how well countries put in place policies to take advantage of benefits and address adverse consequences of migration. Studies suggest that migration can contribute positively to development where a country is already poised to develop.

On the one hand,excessivemigration of workforce and skills, as well as the inability of unemployed workforce to migrate, are harmful for the development of the place of origin.On the other hand, there is also a huge potential for enhancing the development of the place of origin through contributions by migrants and by returning and circular migration, providing that the infrastructure allows it. This gives scholars the opportunities and scope to investigate diverse relations between migration and development.

Considering the importance of the theme , this seminar will ponder on the diverse relationships of migration and development. The seminar aims to reflect on the factors of the increasing migration to cities and its consequences to the receiving societies; the problems emanate from it and the coping strategies. Some of the issues that will be looked and addressed in the seminar includes – Challenges of migration in India; Types of migration and their relations with development; role of remittances in the development of place of origin etc.

Sub-themes

Migration- Theoretical and Conceptual Issues
Migration in India – Types, Factors and Consequences
Migrants and Work
Migration and Gender
Migration and Development
Remittances and Development
Return and Circular Migration
Ethnic Economies and Development
Policy Implementation on Migration and Development
Migration and the North-East India

Call for Papers: Original research papers are invited on the seminar theme and the sub-themes. However, contributors are welcome to send paper with broad linkages with the title of the seminar. The above list of sub-themes is suggestive in nature.

Guidelines for Contributors

1. Abstract and full paper should reach the Convener on or before 15th Oct, 2021.
2. Paper presenters should clearly indicate particulars such as name, designation, contact details and their institutional affiliation.
3. E-certificates will be issued to paper presenters.
4. Selected papers will be published in the form of an edited volume.
5. All communications related to sending of abstract and full paper or any other information should be made to the Convener.

Convener
Md. Yusuf khan
Department of Sociology,
North-Eastern Hill University,
Shillong (Meghalaya)

HOD
Prof. D.V. Kumar
Department of Sociology
North-Eastern Hill University,
Shillong (Meghalaya)
E-mail: migrationseminar2021@gmail.com

Organizing Committee
Prof. D.V. Kumar, Dept. Of Sociology, NEHU, Shillong
Prof. B. Panda, Dept. Of Sociology, NEHU, Shillong
Dr. Rekha M. Shangpliang, Dept. Of Sociology, NEHU, Shillong
Md. Yusuf Khan, Dept. Of Sociology, NEHU, Shillong