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Two new showrooms/office spaces, double height (135 sq m each with bath) for lease in upscale Campal/Miramar beach area, Panaji, Goa. Contact: [email protected] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Migration out of Goa: who, where, and the issues faced [An excerpt from the Goa Migration Study, 2008 -- executive summary] In Goa, 12 percent households had an emigrant currently living abroad and another 4 per cent of the households had a return emigrant who was abroad as per the Goa Migration Survey (GMS)conducted among 6000 households in 2008. Emigration from Goa is highly concentrated with respect to origin, both geographically and culturally. Salcete Taluk accounts for 50 percent to emigrant households; Christians account for 74 percent of emigrants. The GMS, in its survey of 718 emigrant households, has found a Goan diaspora in 43 countries of the world.The actual number of countries could be much larger. Fifty-six per cent of Goa emigrants currently live in the Gulf region. Another 13 per cent are in Europe, 11 percent in South and South East Asia, 10 percent are in North America. One unique feature of Goa emigrants is that about 7 percent of them are working in ships. Sixty-two per cent of the emigrants leaves Goa at the prime working ages of 20-39. Similarly, fifty-eight per cent of the emigrants has a minimum of secondary level of education compared to 28 percent among the general population. Among the emigrants, females are better educated than the males.Thirtysix percent of the female emigrants are degree holders compared to just 26 percent among the male emigrants. The average cost of migration incurred by a Goa emigrant was Rs. 62,000. The most expensive item is money paid to the recruitment agencies, i.e. Rs.28,000 or 45.7 percent of the total cost. Next in importance was the air-ticket, which costs on an average Rs. 18,000 or 28.5percent. Like emigration, remittances are also highly concentrated: 36 per cent in Salcete Taluk and 72 percent among Christians. Most households,82percent,used the remittances for daily subsistence.Nearly a third of the households used it for educational expenses of their household members. More than a quarter of the households deposited it in banks. One-fifth of remittances were used for building house and purchasing land. Remittances to Goa (Rs. 700 crores) have a significant effect on the economy. Remittances are 6.3 percent of the State Domestic Product of Goa. Remittances are one third of the revenue receipt of Goa but only 6 percent of the Government expenditure. The population of Goa invests large sums of money for the education of children and treatment of different kinds of ailments. Migrant households play an important role in fuelling the cost of education and medical treatment by their tendency to put their children in private unaided and self-financing educational institutions and visiting the private and super-specialty hospitals in Goa, respectively. Emigration has indeed caused increased consumption of modern consumer durables and raised the standard of living of Goan households, particularly those with migrants. The GMS has shown that the migrant households enjoy a higher level of consumption compared to the non-migrant households. Similarly, the average levels of savings and investment of the migrant households are higher than that of the non-migrant households. The social impact of migration is assessed by the special survey conducted among women left behind and the elderly population of Goa. Among the social problems faced by women left behind, loneliness occupies the number one position, both among young women (below 30 years) and older women (above 30 years). These second problem is the burden of added responsibilities at home in the absence of husbands, and finally, insecurity. Incidentally, one out of 10 women alsofelt that bringing up children in the absence of husbands was a problem. While emigrants bring in remittances and the women and elderly left behind are economically well off and enjoy all economic benefits, the other side of the picture is that socially, they are isolated, lonely and burdened with additional responsibilities. POLICY PRESCRIPTION AND RECOMMENDATIONS In 2008, an emigrant in Goa spent, on an average, 30 per cent of the total cost of migration on air travel. Introducing several flights from Goa will reduce the cost of air tickets as well as ease the return home of the Goan emigrants.This is crucial in view of the fact that about 31 percent of Goans never returned home as stated by the wives left behind. Therefore, the Department of Non-Resident Indian Affairs (DNIA) should request both Air India and private airlines to introduce direct flights from Goa to all Gulf countries as well as to the United States of America, United Kingdom and Australia to reduce the cost of emigration. The average cost of emigration in Goa works out to Rs.61,911. Of which the money paid to registered, unregistered recruitment agents and individual agents comprises 52 per cent. The Government of Goa should be directly involved in recruitment through DNIA and also take steps to regulate the recruitment agencies in Goa. By regulating and reducing the cost, Goans could be stimulated to emigrate in large numbers and improve their savings and remittances. DNIA should introduce pre-departure training for all emigrants and make it mandatory before they leave Goa for work. Students comprise 6 percent of the emigrants from Goa. The Government should invest in higher educational institutions and request private agencies to start international schools to meet the demand for higher education in Goa Department of Non-Resident Indian Affairs should initiate insurance schemes to cover the health, repatriation and other needs of all emigrants, including scholarships for their children. Department of Non-Resident Indian Affairs should set up training institutes in partnership with the private sector for skill up-gradation, capacity building, certification and attestation of technical skills of the prospective emigrants so that they can bargain for better wages and working conditions in the countries of destination. Department of Non-Resident Indian Affairs should initiate issue of Identity Cards to both Emigrants and Return Emigrants so as to facilitate Government assistance in insurance, pre-departure training, help in the countries of destination and rehabilitation on return, if required. Department of Non-Resident Indian Affairs should organize an annual meet for emigrants and return emigrants in Goa so that they can air their genuine grievances. DNIA could encourage and support Goan-based organizations at the countries of destination to help each other. Department of Non-Resident Indian Affairs should set up international schools to cater to the needs of the children of emigrants. DNIA should think of conducting youth festivals for the children of emigrants and return emigrants. Department of Non-Resident Indian Affairs should think of setting up a Welfare Fund to meet the financial needs of both emigrants and return-emigrants. Department of Non-Resident Indian Affairs should organize a meeting of all banks (both public and private) and request them to design new insurance schemes and other saving instruments to suit the needs of both emigrants and return emigrants as a special group. Banks in Goa should provide loans for prospective emigrants to meet the costs of migration, help them to save money during their stay abroad and give them loans to start new enterprises on their return. Department of Non-Resident Indian Affairs should think of introducing pension schemes for all return emigrants. DNIA should organize meetings with family members of the emigrants left behind -- parents, wives and children -- at the taluk level so as to assess their problems and help them out. -------------------------------------------------------- [An extract from the Goa Migration Study 2008, undertaken by the Goa NRI Commission.]
