Migrants are good for Kerala

Are migrants from other states a burden or benefit for Kerala? That’s a question popping up in our thoughts and discussions now and then. Particularly, when we have incidents of brutal murder or robbery by them on the locals. Immigration is a global concern, where a lot of political capital is spent on retaining or gaining power raising this.

We mainly encounter four thoughts against immigration.

1. Immigrants rob jobs and livelihood of locals

2. The social support extended to them is a financial burden on the state

3. There are criminals and terrorists among immigrants

4. Immigrants ruin the local culture

Perumbavoor, a town near Kochi, is a hub for migrants in Kerala. The town has welcomed them to the extent that people included Hindi in name boards of shops and route boards of public transportation bus. But still, the town witnessed multiple murders and robberies by them. Lately, there was even Al-Qaeda terrorist arrested from Perumbavoor. Hence, the thoughts and concerns of locals are real and valid. But we need to understand things more deeply before labelling migrants as outcasts. Let us go through all the above concerns one by one.

Immigrants robbing jobs and livelihoods of locals are a real and imminent concern, whenever there are new immigrants in a place. Immigrants are desperate for work and would be willing to take a job at lower wages. Hence, locals would be replaced with immigrants for better value for money. This is the short term impact. But what would be the longer-term impact? The economy and market would benefit because of more efficient use of capital. The employers would make better savings which would then get deployed back in the economy. This is bound to help the job losers soon with another job. That’s the reason why we do not see unemployment rising in Mumbai, even after decades of immigration, while the economy is getting better.

Social support extended to immigrants definitely increases the financial burden of the state. But the state is also benefitted by their labour which is helping the economy, thereby enhancing the tax revenues. We can even look at it slightly differently as a windfall of labour resources gained by the state in their most productive age without the state spending for their childhood! Yes, the state would have to wait till the circular economy takes its own time to pay back.

Immigrants don’t come to Kerala for robbing us. They are here to make a better living. We can easily relate to this by looking at people going to Gulf, America or Canada from Kerala. They are desperate to make a better life by efficiently using their skills for the best rewards. Immigrants are still a slice of society with their own share of criminals. Those criminals need to be dealt with legally. Let’s not to forget that we have our brethren convicted as criminals in other countries.

Immigrants bring their own cultural baggage, which could be abhorred by us. Generally, immigrants make a greater effort to assimilate their culture with ours. This is evident in their use of ‘mundu’, speaking Malayalam, liking our puttu, porotta and appam and many more. There was a story shared by a tea estate manager in Idukki that the immigrant child from Bengal was the class topper in Malayalam there! Immigrants know inherently that they can advance faster economically if they adapt themselves to the local culture.

Given all these reasons, we should allow migration that happens naturally. Yes, the government should do one thing better in identifying all migrants, capturing vital information about them and doing necessary background verification.

What do you think?

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