India's Low-Skilled Migration to the Middle East

This book provides new insights and research studies on how developing countries come to terms with the nationalisation policies of Gulf economies that provide employment for their nationals. Focusing on regions and countries that have traditionally been overlooked, it includes studies on labour migration from Egypt to the Middle East and from the Philippines to Lebanon, migrant experiences and policy prospects in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, and Indian migration to the Gulf.

The book fills a critical gap in migration research by studying migration from various Indian states, such as Tamil Nadu, Telugu-speaking states (Telangana and Andhra Pradesh), Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. It also explores the unexpected phenomenon of demographic windows of economic opportunity (not documented in demographic literature) observed in a few Arab countries due to older migrant expatriates returning to their home country; the impact of international out-migration on intergenerational educational mobility among children in migrant-sending households in Kerala; and forced migration of Kerala Muslims to the Gulf.

• India
• South Asia
• South East Asia
• Middle East
• Gulf
• Migration

• Centre for Development Studies, Ulloor Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, India

  S. Irudaya Rajan

• Department of Population Studies, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

  Prem Saxena

Dr S. Irudaya Rajan is Professor at the Centre for Development Studies (CDS), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. With more than three decades of research experience at the CDS, he has coordinated eight major migration surveys in Kerala since 1998 (with Professor K. C. Zachariah); conducted migration surveys in Goa, Tamil Nadu and Punjab; and provided technical support for the Gujarat Migration Survey. He has published extensively in national and international journals on the demographic, economic, social, health, psychological and political implications of migration for individuals, families, communities, societies and economies. Prof Rajan is currently engaged in several projects on international migration with the European Union, World Bank, Columbia and Johns Hopkins Universities and UAE Exchange Centre, Abu Dhabi. He works closely with the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, Department of Non-Resident Keralite Affairs, Government of Kerala, and Kerala State Planning Board.

Professor Prem Saxena’s academic career spans over five decades, during which he has worked at premier educational institutions in India and abroad. He first worked at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, before joining the American University of Beirut, where he worked for 10 years. Upon returning to India, he joined Tata Institute of Social Science, Mumbai, where he remained for 6 years. Prof Saxena has published a number of research articles on the impact of the Lebanese civil war on the demographic and social fabric of its people. He has published over 100 research papers in peer-reviewed national and international journals, and has three edited books to his credit.

Contributors

Abdullah Al Mutairi, Center for Population Studies, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Ajaya Kumar Sahoo, Associate Professor, Centre for Study of Indian Diaspora, University of Hyderabad, India

Ajmal Khan A.T. Doctoral Scholar at the School of Development Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and doctoral fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi, India

Ali Aldosari, Center for Population Studies, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Anu Abraham, Doctoral Scholar, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, India

Asharaf Abdul Salam, Center for Population Studies, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

E. Sownthara Rajan, Doctoral Scholar, 'Indian Institute of Management, Trichy, India

H. Arokkiaraj, Doctoral Scholar, Department of Social Work, University of Delhi, India

Ibrahim Awad, Professor and Director, Center for Migration and Refugee Studies (CMRS), The American University in Cairo (AUC), Cairo, Egypt

Ibrahim Elsegaey, Center for Population Studies, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Jeetendra D. Soni, Research Scholar, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India

K. C. Zachariah, Emeritus Professor, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India 

Lina Lotayef, Research Associate, Center for Migration and Refugee Studies (CMRS), The American University in Cairo (AUC), Cairo, Egypt

Mashkoor Ahmad, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Aligarh Muslim University, Uttar Pradesh, India

Nilanjana Ray, PhD Chairperson, School of Gender Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences TSIRD Campus, Hyderabad, India

P.S. Nair, Professor and Head of Demography/Population Studies, University of Botswana, Gaborone (Retd.); presently Director (Research) International Centre for Gandhian Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, India

Ray Jureidini, Professor Migration Ethics and Human Right, Center for Islamic Legislation and Ethics at the Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar

Rshood M. Khraif, Center for Population Studies, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Seema Gaur, Adviser, Office of Economic Adviser, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Government of India, India

Serhat Yalçin, Department of Political Science – Globalization & Politics, University of Kassel, Germany

Trilok Chandan Goud, Doctoral Scholar, Centre for Study of Indian Diaspora, University of Hyderabad, India

Policies and ethics