Due to the invasion and occupation of Tibet by China, the first wave of Tibetan refugees seeking asylum came to India and neighbouring countries like Bhutan and Nepal in 1959. At the time, India, Nepal and Bhutan were economically and socially backward countries. India opened up its economy in the 1990’s and it paved the way for socio-economic development of the country. Tibetan migrants were also able to use this opportunity for their own growth and economic development. The rise in awareness levels helped Tibetan migrants realize that they could further advance their individual and community growth by seeking job opportunities abroad. Thus, the first wave of migrants left for North America, Canada and European countries in early 1990’s and they were able to send home remittances in dollars and pounds which fetched good exchange rate in India against the rupees. The flow of remittances from abroad enhanced the livelihood of Tibetan refugees in India and triggered a chain migration to the west.
In this study, it focuses on the aspect of remittance and development on Tibetan refugee who has been settled in India for more than 5 decades and relies on remittances. The details of the profile of Tibetan diaspora will be discussed in chapter 4.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER-1 INTRODUCTION
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT
1.1.1 Global Migration
1.1.2 Brief Introduction of Tibetan Refugee Migration
1.1.3 Migration in India
1.1.4 The Indian Diaspora
1.2 MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES
1.2.1 Definition of Remittance
1.2.2 Types of Remittances
1.3 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
1.4 NEED OF THE STUDY
1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
1.6 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
1.7 CHAPTER SCHEME
CHAPTER-2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1 GLOBAL STUDIES ON REMITTANCE
2.1.1 Remittance and Human Capital Development
2.1.2 Remittance and Financial Capital Development
2.1.3 Remittance and Social Capital Development
2.2 STUDIES ON REMITTANCES IN INDIA
2.3 STUDIES RELATED TO TIBETAN REFUGEES
CHAPTER-3 METHODOLOGY
3.0 INTRODUCTION
3.1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
3.2 GOALS
3.2.1 Specific Objectives
3.3 HYPOTHESES
3.4 VARIABLES OF THE STUDY
3.5 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
3.5.1 The Migration Optimist: Developmentalist and Neoclassical Views
3.5.2 The Migration Pessimist: Historical Structural and Dependency Views
3.5.3 Pluralist Perspective: New Economics of Labour Migration
3.6 OPERATIONAL TERMS USED IN THE STUDY
3.7 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.7.2 Selection of Study Area
3.7.3 Survey Instrument
3.7.4 Scaling Technique
3.7.5 Initial Scale Development
3.8 PILOT STUDY ANALYSIS
3.8.1 Data Sources
3.8.2 Data Analysis
3.8.3 Reliability and Validity
3.8.4 Item Analysis
3.9 FINAL METHODOLOGY
3.9.1 Selection of Sampling Households
3.9.2 Details of Field Work
3.9.3 Secondary Data
3.10 STATISTICL ANALYSIS
3.11 SUMMARY
CHAPTER-4 PROFILE OF STUDY AREA
4.0 INTRODUCTION
4.1 UNIVERSAL DEFINITION OF THE TERM REFUGEE
4.1.1 The 1967 Protocol
4.1.2 The OAU Convention of 1969
4.1.3 The 1984 Cartagena Declaration
4.2 REFUGEES IN INDIA
4.3 TIBETAN REFUGEES IN INDIA
4.4 Historical Background of the Tibetan Refugees
4.5 EXILE GOVERNMENT OF TIBETAN REFUGEE IN INDIA
4.6 SOCIO-ECONOMIC DETAILS OF TIBETAN REFUGEES IN INDIA
4.6.1 Demography
4.6.2 Education
4.6.3 Employment
4.6.4 Agriculture
4.6.5 Handicrafts
4.6.6 Small Business Enterprises
4.7 CHALLENGES FACED BY TIBETAN REFUGEES IN INDIA
4.7.1 Income
4.7.2 Education
4.7.3 Health
4.7.4 Employment
4.8 MIGRATION OF TIBETAN REFUGEES TOWARDS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
4.9 FORWARD MIGRANT
4.10 STUDY AREAS
4.10.1 High Economic Access Region
4.10.2 Low Economic Access Region
4.11 SUMMARY OF CHAPTER
CHAPTER-5 ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
5.0 INTRODUCTION
PART A
5.1 ASSISTANCE FROM VARIOUS ORGANISATIONS
5.2 EDUCATION OF TIBETAN REFUGEES IN EXILE
5.3 STATUS OF HEALTH OF TIBETAN REFUGEES IN INDIA
PART B
Analysis Based on Primary Data
SECTION 1
5.4 SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF HEAD OF THE HOUSEHOLDS
5.4.1 HOUSEHOLD RELATED CHARACTERISTICS
SECTION 2
5.5 SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROFILE OF FORWARD MIGRANTS
5.5.1 Forward Migrant Characteristics
5.5.2 Patterns of Migration of Forward Migrants
SECTION 3
5.6 CHARACTERISTICS OF REMITTANCE
5.6.1 Size of Remittances
5.6.2 Modes of Transfer
5.6.3 Main Recipients of Remittance
5.6.4 Purpose of Sending Remittances
SECTION 4
5.7 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HOUSEHOLD’S EXPENDITURE AND CITIZENSHIP WITH RESPECT TO REMITTANCE
SECTION 5
5.8 FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH REMITTANCES FROM FORWARD MIGRANTS
5.8.1 Predominant Factors for Human Capital
5.8.2 Predominant Factors for Financial Capital
5.8.3 Predominant Factors for Social Capital
SECTION 6
5.9 IMPACT OF REMITTANCES ON HUMAN, FINANCIAL AND SOCIAL CAPITAL
5.9.1 Regression Analysis for Human Capital
5.9.2 Regression Analysis for Financial Capital
5.9.3 Regression for Social Capital
SECTION 7
5.10 CONFOUNDING EFFECT ON HUMAN, FINANCIAL AND SOCIAL CAPITAL
5.11 FINDINGS FROM SECONDARY AND PRIMARY ANALYSIS
5.12 SUMMARY
CHAPTER-6 FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
6.0 INTRODUCTION
6.1 FINDINGS FROM SECONDARY DATA
6.1.1 Role of Indian Government
6.1.2 Role of NGO’s
6.1.3 Role of Tibetan Government
6.2 FINDINGS FROM PRIMARY DATA
6.2.1 Findings Related to Socio-demographic Characteristics of Forward Migrant Households
6.2.2 Findings Related to Socio-demographic Characteristics of Forward Migrants
6.2.3 Findings Related to Predominant Factors of Human, Financial and Social Capital Associated with Remittance
6.2.4 Findings Related to Impact of Remittances on Human, Financial and Social Capital
6.2.5 Findings Related to Confounding Effect on Human, Financial and Social Capital
6.3 FINDINGS FROM OBSEVATION AND DIRECT INTERVIEW DURING FIELD SURVEY
6.4 EMPIRICAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE STUDY
6.5 RECOMENDATIONS
6.6 PROPOSED MODEL FROM THE STUDY
6.7 CONCLUSION
6.8 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
References
ANNEXURES
CHAPTER-1 INTRODUCTION
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Human migration has been taking place from time immemorial. Migration affects the society, demographics, culture and the economy of both the source and destination countries (Naujoks, 2013). Studies were carried by many migration scholars internally as well as internationally. It is assumed that 3% of World population live outside their country of birth (World Bank, 2011).
1.1 MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT
The link between migration and development has gained significance due to its positive implication in rendering economic growth. Literature on migration and development has been successful in pure economic measurement and neglected good development as suggested by the commission on the measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress in 2012 by evaluating good development taking into account of individuals and households as a unit of analysis (Naujoks, 2013). Thus, the concept of development is multi-dimensional in nature and the assessment of development can be of different level of analysis and has different meanings with different normative, cultural and historical contexts (Hass, 2009).
1.1.1 Global Migration
Millions of people migrate to other land for various reasons despite hardship in the process in order to improve their own livelihood and for their children’s future (Ozden & Schiff, 2007).
Further, due to globalisation and improving modern communication and transportation eases hardship encountered while moving from one place to another. The total number of international migrants has increased to 215 million in 2010 from 195 million in 2005 and 244 million in 2015 (Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2016). Also, it is expected to reach 450 million by 2050 (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 2013).
Movement of large number of people will have major impact on migrants and their families back home. Research on migration generally consists of two major questions that of why people migrate and what are the consequences of migration. The main determining factors with respect to why people move are due to pull and push factors.
International migration has considerable potential for national economic development (Taylor, 1996). It has an enormous implications on socio-economic development on both origin and destination countries (Ozden & Schiff, 2006).
This is mainly due to the nexus between flow of remittance and development. Remittances have proved to be an important source of external currency in developing countries while out spacing foreign direct investment, public debt or official development assistance (Lubambu, 2014).
According to the Least Developed Countries Report (2012), the overall top three LCD countries namely Nepal, Bangladesh and Sudan increased in their remittance inflow from 44% to 66% of total LCD’s inflow. Other LCD countries who are receiving sizeable sum of remittances include Cambodia, Ethiopia, Haiti, Lesotho, Mali, Senegal, Togo, Uganda and Yemen. The impact of remittance inflow in these countries has a direct link in reducing poverty thereby increasing livelihood.
During the last few decades, there has been a myriad of research particularly on the issues of migration and development with a growing consensus that international migrations give rise to development due to inflow of remittances. Hence, it is important to understand the diaspora communities in the world and their contribution in development.
Table 1.1
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Source: Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2016, p.1
From table 1.1, India stood first in the list of largest diaspora in the world in 2015. Thus, it is imperative to understand Indian migration pattern in detail.
However, before engaging the study on Indian migration, it is imperative to mention the Tibetan Diaspora in India who is also the profile respondents of the study and remittances playing major role in enhancing their livelihood. Tibetan refugees can be termed both voluntary and involuntary migration. The first migration from Tibet to India was forced while the present population opting to move out is voluntary migration.
1.1.2 Brief Introduction of Tibetan Refugee Migration
Due to the invasion and occupation of Tibet by China, the first wave of Tibetan refugees seeking asylum came to India and neighbouring countries like Bhutan and Nepal in 1959. At the time, India, Nepal and Bhutan were economically and socially backward countries. India opened up its economy in the 1990’s and it paved the way for socio-economic development of the country. Tibetan migrants were also able to use this opportunity for their own growth and economic development. The rise in awareness levels helped Tibetan migrants realize that they could further advance their individual and community growth by seeking job opportunities abroad. Thus, the first wave of migrants left for North America, Canada and European countries in early 1990’s and they were able to send home remittances in dollars and pounds which fetched good exchange rate in India against the rupees. The flow of remittances from abroad enhanced the livelihood of Tibetan refugees in India and triggered a chain migration to the west.
In this study, it focuses on the aspect of remittance and development on Tibetan refugee who has been settled in India for more than 5 decades and relies on remittances. The details of the profile of Tibetan diaspora will be discussed in chapter 4.
1.1.3 Migration in India
Indian Migration has started as early in 19th century for contractual assignment. Due to lack of information on emigration data on India, the Ministry of Labour, Government of India and International Labour Organization provided the total number of emigration from India from 1986 till 2003 (Majumdar, 2013). It was observed that the total number of emigrants from India in 1986 was 114,000 and 466,000 in 2003. The total number of emigrants from India increased four times in post reform period than the pre reform period due to the effect of economic liberalisation in the year 1991. This variation makes to study about the consequences of emigration on Indian diaspora.
Migration from India has three phases
(a) Migration of unskilled labour for mining and plantation during period of British Colonial
(b) In Late 1970’s, the migration of unskilled and semiskilled workers towards Gulf countries and
(c)The recent migration of high-skilled professional workers to developed countries. High skilled and professionals persons chose USA, Canada and Europe as their destination and unskilled labours to Gulf countries (Majumdar, 2013).
Post economic liberalisation, there was a steep rise in emigration from India due to which there is hardly any part of the earth where Indians are not found today.
1.1.4 The Indian Diaspora
Table 1.2
illustration not visible in this excerpt
Source: Naujoks (2013) The Indian Diaspora, Diaspora Policies, and Overseas Citizenship. P-42
From table 1.2, it is seen that Indian population are found everywhere around the world resulting in flow of remittance leading to country’s economic development. Hence, before focussing on remittances role in Indian context, it is necessary to illustrate the relationship between remittances and development.
1.2 MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES
Remittances have the potential to create positive outcomes for the migration source (Droon, 2002). In 2012, it was found that migrants from developing countries sent at least $401 billion.
Remittances have proved to be an important resource flows which is greater than Official Development Assistance (ODA) as well as private debt and portfolio equity (Ratha & Plaza, 2014). Studies on International migration manifested that majority of migration took place from developing to developed countries.
There is a growing body of economic and social research highlighting the significance of remittance impacting households and macroeconomic level (Remittances and the LCD’s: Magnitude, Impacts and Costs, 2012).
The major target countries for emigration today are USA, Canada, Australia, UK, Germany and few other countries in Europe and the oil-rich countries. As per World Bank Report (2015), three major countries of remittance sources are USA with an estimated sum of $ 56 billion in 2014, Saudi Arabia ($37 billion) and Russia ($33 billion).
1.2.1 Definition of Remittance
There exist a strong link between remittances and theory of migration. Therefore, its definition can be linked to motives, effects, uses and channel of funds transfer. There are several definitions of remittances. International Monetary Fund has defined remittance under three categories such as Worker’s remittances, compensation to employees and migrant’s transfers if put together becomes total remittances. However, in this study, worker’s remittance means remittance sent by migrants back to household of origin (Migration Policy Institute, 2003).
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (2010), remittance represent a source of household income from abroad arising from the temporary or permanent movement of people to foreign economies (Remittances and the LCD’s: Magnitude, Impacts and Costs, 2012).
Tewolde (2006) defined remittance as monetary and non-monetary items that migrants earn while working abroad and sent back to their families living in their homeland.
In broadest sense, remittances refer to cash or in-kind transfers from one place to another (International Organization for Migration, 2006).
1.2.2 Types of Remittances
There are also different types of remittances which is important to discuss to understand the nature of remittance in a given study. A thorough explanation was given in a study by Sorensen (2004) which is as follow:
Monetary Remittances
Generally, remittance refers to cash transfer. However, it can be also sent in kind. This research adopts broader definition including both cash or in kind.
Social Remittances
Social remittances refer social capital other than monetary gains migrants influencing household of origin. It can be ideas or practices migrant learnt while staying in destination countries.
Intra-and International Remittances
Intra national remittances refer to person who transfers remittances within their country of origin which includes internally displaced persons also whereas international remittances are those monetary transfer sent by migrants crossing borders internationally.
Individual and Collective Remittances
Remittance sent by individual are individual remittances while collective remittance refers to migrant’s fraction of income sent in the form of collective remittance mostly for community welfare program towards their country of origin.
Size of Remittances
From the past two decades, the global remittance statistics marked highest interest among development economist. World Bank (2015) estimated that international migrant sent $601 billion to the left behind families with developing countries receiving $441 billion. The following table presents top ten remittance receiving countries.
Table 1.3
illustration not visible in this excerpt
Source: Rebello, 2013
It is clear from the above discussion on the link between migration and remittance with the broad definitions and size of remittances proving that migration is directly linked with the flow of remittances. Thus, it is imperative to understand the pattern of migration and remittances in the context of India being top recipient of remittances. However, it is also important to study the importance of remittances while examining the remittance behaviour in Indian scenario.
Importance of Remittances
Generally, remittances are different from any other form of funds. The impact of remittances was found to be direct on households needs and the flow continues even during recession in host countries which are also depicted in remittance literature. It soothes household income and borrowing activities by increasing credit worthiness. It differs from grants wherein the emotional link is involved between senders and the receiving families while grants are given either by government or NGO’s just to suffice someone’s need.
The developmental effect of remittances can expand from families to communities to nations (Martone, Munoz, Lahey, Yoder, & Gurewitz, 2011). At national level, it alleviates balance of payment deficit allowing economic growth while creating multiplier effects at community level generating local employment, integration and overall income growth in the community.
At household level, it has direct effect on livelihood of the receiving households. It has been argued that remittance has been the second largest source of external funding apart from Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Official Development Assistance (ODA) (Oluwafemi & Ayandibu, 2014). In some developing countries, it is estimated that remittance is 3 times greater than foreign aid (Keely, 2009).
illustration not visible in this excerpt
Figure 1.1 Upward Trends of Remittances, 2013
Source: Lubambu, 2014, The Impacts of Remittances on Developing Countries p-13
From figure 1.1, remittances to the developing world has reached 414 billion and remained as the second largest source of external financial flows after Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as per World Bank report in 2013 (Lubambu, 2014). Out of the total global remittance, 75% of remittance flows to developing countries while remittance exceeds 10% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 22 countries and 20% in 6 countries (Ullah, 2011).
Remittances in developing countries constitute 30 to 40% of a recipient household’s income. This directly contributes towards reducing the level of poverty in the household encouraging saving and investments. Also, it has a significant role in enhancing human capital with the increase in household expenditure on improving health and education (Remittances and the LCD’s: Magnitude, Impacts and Costs, 2012).
Remittance also facilitates human capital formation by increasing investment in housing, sanitation, healthcare, food and schooling and reduces poverty in the households (Naujoks, 2013).
Thus, it is considered as the most efficient development tool which requires no bureaucracies, low transaction cost and above all it goes to the households with maximum need (Martone, Munoz, Lahey, Yoder, & Gurewitz, 2011).
Apart from the direct impact of remittances on household and national level, it has social effects too. The link between remittance and social development is important to discuss due to its multiple effects on community development. Remittances send by migrants to a group or organizations are used for infrastructure development impacting whole society and collective remittances ensure better economic condition of poor households. This arises the need to focus on issues of migrant’s remitting behaviour and its influence on the size of remittances. There are already a thorough discussion on altruistic motive, insurance, loan repayment and investment.
Migrant sent remittances to the household due to sense of affection to meet the consumption needs of the family. This is pure altruism and absence of self-interest motive. A study by Agrawal and Horowitz (1999) on Guyana households found that altruism takes over risk sharing behaviour. Migrant remittance also plays a role of insurance during shock experienced by recipient. Third category includes loan repayment such as repayment of debt incurred for the migrant’s education and migration cost while in the origin country. Finally, migrant invest in home country for small businesses and entrepreneurship and also for future inheritance from elderly.
Remittances in India
Remittances have proved to be the most successful tool in eradicating poverty and has grown steadily as a percentage of GDP from as low as 1% in 1990’s to 6.2% in 2008 (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 2011).
According to World Bank report, India has topped the remittance receiving chart with $72 billion followed by China with $ 64 billion and Philippines with $28 billion. The impact of globalization further fuelled Indian migration allowing millions to migrate toward developed countries such as USA, Canada and UK.
The emigrants in Gulf countries are mainly from Kerala. A study by Zachariah & Rajan (2009) focused particularly on the effect of remittances on socio-economic condition of the households in state of Kerala. In their study, they found that remittances drastically improved socio-economic condition of remittance receiving households in Kerala. However, Indian diaspora consist of two groups of skilled and semi-skilled labour in which the later migrated toward Gulf countries while Indians having skills and aspiration to obtain better recognition in the world community move to USA, UK and Canada.
The flows of remittances from Indian immigrants towards their country of origin are presented below which is as follow:
illustration not visible in this excerpt
Figure 1.2 Workers’ Remittances to India
Source: Afram, 2012, The Remittance Market in India p-18
The Indian emigrants are holding high paid job position in the destination countries such as doctors, engineers and scientists. It is true that Indian scientists, technologists and management specialists are among the best paid persons in USA, Canada, UK or Australia (Majumdar, 2013).
The impact of remittance in Indian context was extensively carried on Kerala since it is the only state reported as the highest migrant sending countries towards Gulf countries in 1970’s. Kerala has accounted for 40% of household remittance flow while Punjab accounted for 13% with established migration in Canada, USA and UK (Tumbe, 2011).
The gulf migration has improved Kerala’s household’s economy through remittances in the form of increased income, consumption and created assets in the households (Prakash, 1998). While Oberai and Singh (1980) study on impact of remittance in rural Punjab found that remittances increases household income leading to increased standard of living and productive investment. Similarly, Kannan (2005) examined the impact of remittances on Kerala and found that remittances have accelerated sound economic growth since late 1980’s.
Thus, it is evident that remittances can influence country’s economy both at macro and micro level. At micro and meso level, remittances boost income of household by raising livelihood and community development.
Therefore, an attempt was made to analyse remittance impacting three main dimension of livelihood i.e Human Capital, Financial Capital and Social Capital in the context of Tibetan refugees in India.
Hence, this study was based broadly in line with the tenets of the New Economics of Labour Migration (NELM).
1.3 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
In 1959, with the flight of Dalai Lama to seek refuge in India, ten thousands of Tibetan came along and settled in various parts of India. With the help of Indian government and international NGO’s, Tibetans are relocated in 38 formal Tibetan settlements across India.
During those initial periods, there exists high poverty among the Tibetan refugees in the settlements. American and few European countries came forward to help and accepted thousands of Tibetan refugees in their countries. This further lead to chain migration in the Tibetan society and the growing number of Tibetans in abroad also affects the left behind families through remittance.
Majority of existing literature on remittance have shown positive impact in both short and long run. Adam & Page (2005) also concluded that remittances has significantly contributed toward household’s socio-economic development in the form of repaying loans, purchasing asset, enable higher investment in business including education and health.
Thus, in Tibetan refugee community, remittance is seen as having potential for raising livelihood. However, there are lots of hardships involved in the decision making process of whom to send and sending cost is the ultimate challenge. Despite all the hindrances, Tibetans migrating abroad is an on-going process and proved to be one of the household strategies to overcome poverty by sending at least one of their family members abroad.
In this study, it tries to link migration induced remittance on household economy particularly focussing on livelihood in terms of human, financial and social capital development of Tibetan refugees in India.
1.4 NEED OF THE STUDY
The majority of the Tibetan refugee’s households in India rely on agricultural income where the return of agricultural output is found to be lower than its cost. Agriculture is based on season and few involved in winter sweater selling business. This way of income generation is not sufficient for livelihood pertaining to daily expenses.
The incomes from these sources are unstable which becomes difficult to meet the basic needs of households to sustain their livelihood. Households find it difficult in maintaining cost of their children’s higher education due to the fact that it is prerequisite to have monetary supply in order to meet various expenses incurred by children during their stay in town or cities.
Likewise, due to lack of proper housing facilities, hygiene was one of the most important issues in Tibetan community. Also poor eating habits further deteriorate health. This was observed in a case study by Norwag (1991) on few Tibetan settlements in India namely Bir in Northern India. It was found that unemployment, poverty and sickness are the most difficult problems.
Therefore, thousands of Tibetan second generation move towards various countries including Japan, Taiwan and mainly to western and European countries in search of better income opportunities and living standard.
The immediate effect of emigration resulted in flow of remittances leading to overall development in the Tibetan community which needs to be researched carefully and systematically.
In order to study how far remittance income has impacted livelihood of Tibetan refugees, a scientific approach was adopted by selecting proper sampling method to arrive at accurate results.
Remittances act as a development mechanism by providing facilities such as education, health, sanitation, entrepreneurship and infrastructure development within Tibetan community building direct link with those in need. Thus, it becomes an important study on this aspect in a detail way so that necessary policy implications can be drawn which will benefit whole society at large.
1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The study analyses the impact of remittance on socio-economic development of Tibetan refugees providing strong foundation on migration and development nexus in Tibetan context which can benefit both the policy makers and researchers who are interested in carrying research on Tibetan migration.
1.6 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
1. Lack of secondary data on recent Tibetan migration towards western and European country.
2. Non availability of data on remittance flow from forward migrants to the household of origin.
3. Due to time constraint, a sample survey was carried out rather than a census of the households.
4. The regions included in the study were only South and North and excluded East and Central due to resource constraint.
5.
1.7 CHAPTER SCHEME
This study consists of six chapters. Chapter 1 outlines the background, need for the study, scope and limitations of the study. Reviews of related literature are discussed in second chapter highlighting the major studies based on impact of remittances on livelihood.
In chapter 3, the methodology and procedures followed in the present study is provided. It includes descriptions of the variables, sampling techniques, hypotheses, research designs, tool development and other related points. The development of Livelihood scale is also discussed in details.
Chapter 4 described about the profile of the respondent and study areas in a detailed way.
The analysis and interpretation of the study are presented in chapter 5 under two parts. Part- A deals with the analysis of the secondary data and Part-B deals with primary data.
The findings of the study, recommendations, proposed model, conclusion, and suggestions for further research are dealt in chapter 6.
CHAPTER-2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.0 INTRODUCTION
Remittance is considered as one of the most important tool in economic development. Studies on migration dates back to 1950’s from the work of Lewis and continue to be in limelight for its significance in both sending and receiving countries.
However, for many years, previous author could not able to bring remittance in the context of Migration. It was Taylor (1999) who brought the concept of remittances and its developmental impact. Remittance has exceeded official development assistance and migrant from developing countries sent at least $401 billion to their countries of origin (Zachariah & Rajan, 2012). Remittances have undeniably created a niche for itself in development studies proving its potentiality in bringing social change. There are studies on the developmental impact of remittances on both macro (National and Structural) and micro (Individual, communal and familial) level.
At macro level, it impacts per capita output growth, investment, education and so on. At micro level, it impacts household economy by reducing credit constraint and increasing the level of income for consumption.
Since the present study concentrates on micro level, the review will give a detail understanding of how remittances impact household income thereby improving purchasing power and ease credit constraint.
In this chapter, a review was carried out based on studies globally and funnelling to remittance studies on India and discusses the importance of remittance on Tibetan refugees. Finally, research gap leading to research question will be studied.
2.1 GLOBAL STUDIES ON REMITTANCE
Human migration exists from time immemorial. The reason behind migration is mainly due to socio, political and economic factors. This research focuses from the view of economic discipline and therefore sees migration as household’s strategy to maximize income. One of the consequences of migration is that of remittance income.
This research study made an attempt to analyse the impact of migrant remittances on livelihood of receiving households. Further, it narrows down to study one such refugee community who have been settled in India for more than five decades and again opting to migrate abroad due to financial crises.
This draws special attention from migration scholar to look into the matter more seriously. In late 1980’s, the livelihood of Tibetan refugees in India was miserable due to lack of proper housing, sanitation and financial crisis.
In connection to the situation, the wave of migration started in 1990’s with a provision of 1990 Immigration Act for The Tibetan US Resettlement Project where 1000 of Tibetan refugees were taken to USA and given permanent resident.
They sent remittances back home contributing to overall socio-economic development in the households and community. World Bank (2015) estimated that international migrant sent $601 billion to the left behind families with developing countries receiving $441 billion. Labour migration has been viewed as a rational economic strategy applied by household units in order to increase flow of income and to improve economic well-being of the left behind family members (Semyonov & Gorodzeisky, 2004) .
According to Remittance and Migration Factbook of 2011, remittance tends to be resilient even in the face of economic downturns in the host country outflowing Foreign Direct Investment as well.
The impact may vary from household to household depending on current status of the household of origin. In this study, it focuses on remittance impacting at micro level like household income and standard of living. The reviews made an attempt to identify key outcome variables based on Livelihood associated with remittance.
2.1.1 Remittance and Human Capital Development
The impact of remittances from migrants to the household of origin has shown greater interest by development economist due to its dynamic effect in bringing down poverty, raising household income and standard of living.
The impact of remittance on economic development in terms of four drivers such as investment, trade, consumption and entrepreneurship tends to be a significant contributor for increasing economic growth (Naujoks, 2009).
Likewise, remittance inspired expenditure on housing lead to better living condition and development in local economies by creating income opportunities for local working in construction.
The impact of remittance on housing was studied in Nigeria by Osili (2004) and found that migrants with higher income tend to spend more on housing. Also, a mean of a 10 per cent increase in migrant’s income increases the chances of household’s investment in housing by 3 per cent.
Remittance also plays a major role in building human capital by allowing households to invest in education. This was portrayed in a study by Edwards and Ureta (2003) using data from El Salvador to find out how income from remittances affects school attendance. The result showed that remittance income has much larger positive impact of school retention rates rather than income from other sources. Also, it was interesting to find that in the Urban El Salvador, the average level of remittance lowers the level of children drop out from elementary school by 54%.
Findings from the study of Adams & Cuecuecha (2010) in analysing remittance affecting the spending behaviour of the households in Guatemala suggested that remittance have positive impact on level of investment in education and housing of the recipient households.
Yang (2005) studied how exchange rate shocks during the 1997 Asian financial crisis affect the expenditure patterns of the households receiving remittances particularly on education in Philippines. The finding shows that increase in exchange rate leads to a 0.4 percent increase at the margin in household expenditure on education.
The authors also noted that remittance inspired spending on education which helps to build human capital at large. Remittance enhancing Human capital development was clearly manifested by many studies which is important to discuss. This is due to the fact that education is an important form of human capital which builds a strong nation.
For instance, Ustubici & Irdam (2012) found out that remittances have a positive correlation with the human development.
Similarly, Bansak & Chezum (2009) study the impact of remittance on Human Development in Nepal by focussing on three important dimensions i.e. Health, education and standard of living which showed a positive impact.
Taylor & Dyer (2009) in their study showed that a 10% increase in remittance lead to 5% increase in rural wages and 52% marginal increase in investment in education and housing by 15% in Mexico.
Puri and Ritzema (1999) study also found out that remittance income allows a greater number of families to buy modern appliances such as stores and also pay for gas to cook which greatly reduced the need of firewood for cooking. Medina and Cardona (2010) found out that there is a positive effect of remittance on household receiving remittances which increases household’s expenditure on education by 10% compare to non-receiving households in Columbia.
It was observed that the remittance receiving households are better off than non-receiving households. This was found in the studies of Semyonov and Gorodzeisky (2008) which uses data of 2,388 households from 1999–2000 in four major ‘‘labor sending’’ areas in the Philippines by using Multivariate Analysis. The result indicated that due to remittances, the income of households having migrants abroad is much higher than the non-receiving households and remittances are used for meeting consumption need of the households. The expenditure on the aforesaid items has a positive effect wherein remittance aid in proper consumption which will have beneficial effect on health in long run.
Airola (2007) conducted a study on “The Use of Remittance income in Mexico” by using regression analysis which indicated that remittance affects development of health care, housing or investment goods. Likewise, remittance also tends to become an alternative source of income for the household.
A study by Dorantes and Pozo (2011) concluded that remittance generally soothes household income in Mexican households. The income from the remittance further influences household expenditure pattern positively.
Taylor, Rozelle and Alan (2003) examined the impact of remittance on household income by using small sample in household of rural China. It was found that migration increases per capita household income in rural china between 16 and 43%.
In one of the study in Vietnam by Cuong and Mont (2012) analysed the impact of remittances in Vietnam on household’s welfare. Child education, assets, durable goods and aged households are the main variables used in the study. Regression analysis was used to estimate the impact of international remittances using Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey of 2006 and 2008 on household expenditure. It was found that major share of remittances are spent on housing and land, debt repayment and saving.
Karpestam (2011) study on remittance impacting expenditure used data from the World Development Indicators by including 115 low and middle economics from 1980-2008. Interestingly, it was found that low-income economies spend more on consumption and investment than middle-income economies. Sub-Saharan Africa is defined as low-income economies and countries such as East Europe, Latin America and North Africa and the Middle East are the middle-income economies. However, the lower middle-income economies benefit more from due to high receipt of remittances.
Remittances has also potential in reducing poverty and was shown in the study of Acosta et al (2006) by using 10 Latin American countries to examine the impact of remittance on poverty. The result indicated that remittances have reduced the poverty by 0.4% for each percentage increase in remittances to GDP ratio in Latin America.
A similar study was carried out by Adams (2006) by using nationally representative household survey from Ghana to examine the impact of remittance on poverty in Ghana. The result suggested that remittance had important role in reducing the level, depth and severity of poverty in Ghana. Adams and Page (2005) tried to analyse the impact of remittance on poverty by using household representative survey in 71 developing countries. The finding suggested that a country’s poverty would decline by 2.2 % due to international migration of 10% and 3.5% reduction of poverty headcount with an increase of remittances by 10%.
Lokshin (2007) made an attempt to study the impact of international migration on poverty in Nepal by using nationally representative household surveys. This study also concluded that 20% reduction in poverty between 1995 and 2005 can be attributed to increasing international migration without which the poverty in Nepal would increase from 30 to 33.6%. It was evident from the above literature survey that remittance enhances livelihood of the receiving households in terms of increasing investment on health, education, fuel usage for cooking, consumer durables, occupation, vehicles, drinking water, sanitation and most importantly by reducing poverty level.
Thus, it is clear from the existing literature that remittances play a major role in household development which was also promoted and recommended by World Bank policy makers (World Bank Factbook, 2011).
2.1.2 Remittance and Financial Capital Development
The impact of remittance on financial development was extensively researched by scholars. It was also an interest to many researchers to study the impact of remittance on financial development by increasing saving and investment in the households of origin.
Woodruff and Zenteno (2007) found that international migration (Mexico-USA) would lead to increase in the level of investment by 40% and the Mexican households of left behind families could able to access better financial capital through remittances to expand small business enterprises.
In studying the impact of remittance on investment, it is imperative to understand the different motives behind sending remittances. It can be altruistic motive where migrant send remittance due to pure affection towards family members or self-interest motive wherein migrant intends to return to the place of origin or insurance for loan repayment.
Thus, Osili (2007) carried a study on Nigeria to understand the motives behind sending remittances whether it is pure altruism or insurance motives. The result found that it is driven by altruism and Nigerian migrants tend to increase their remittances during low accumulation of wealth in their left behind family. The link between remittance and financial development can be observed from the work of Agarwal, Demirgue-Kunt and Peria (2006). They asserted in their findings that remittance lead to higher demand for financial service which is crucial for financial development in the households. They also pointed out that household receiving remittances can avail banking facilities in order to gain access to credit from formal sources for capital required for starting small businesses and for investment purposes.
Jankovic and Gligoric (2014) in their studies show the effect of remittances on Serbian economy by using Serbian Economic Data. The study suggests that remittances reduce the volatility of GDP and contribute to financial system development.
Remittance contributing to financial development was argued by many scholars since it has the potential to create business enterprises in no time.
Likewise, Rivera and Reyes (2011) study on how Filipino household uses remittances they received in terms of business creation. By using qualitative response model approach, the study estimated the effects of remittances on the decision of households on entrepreneurial activities. By using Logit model, it indicated that remittances are indeed an avenue to promote business activities as it is positive and statistically significant.
Yasmeen (2011) study the impact of workers remittance on economic growth and private investment and consumption in Pakistan. Regression using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) was adopted for analysing the data. Findings suggested a positive and highly significant relationship between workers remittances, real GDP and private investment and total consumption. Therefore, it concluded that higher remittances are associated with higher economic growth and also eases liquidity constraint of the households. As per NELM theory perspective, remittance has potential for economic development by reducing credit constraint and increasing household income which indirectly affects household expenditure patterns.
In one of the study by Faiyissa and Nsiah (2010) in finding the aggregate effect of remittances on economic growth, they used panel data of 36 African countries from 1990 to 2004 and found that economic growth was greatly influenced by remittances which enhance investment in finance by easing liquidity constraint.
One of the interesting studies by Brown (1994) analysed the relationship between remittances, saving and investment drawing on both secondary macro-economic data and primary micro-level data from a number of survey undertaken by International Labour Organization. Data pertaining to the amounts, forms, channels and uses of remittances, income, expenditure, and savings were collected from Tonga and Western Samoa in Brisbane, Australia. The micro-level analysis indicated that remittance contributed significantly towards saving and investment. Further, the finding reveals that remittance has positive influence on households by creating additional income wherein household spend on investing in business, entrepreneurship development, saving, acquiring land for cultivation and purchasing jewellery.
Aggrawal, Demirguc-Kunt and Pria (2006) used balance of payment data of workers remittances flows of 99 developing countries from 1975-2002 to examine financial development due to remittances. The result indicated that 1% increase in the share of remittances to GDP lead to 0.5-0.6 % increase in the ratio of bank deposits to GDP.
Gupta, Pattillo and Wagh (2007) found that there is a positive influence of remittances on financial development while examining African countries. They concluded that remittance promotes financial deepening in sub-Saharan Africa and sound financial system invites higher remittances. Thus, remittance plays an important role in the financial sector development which is crucial for economic development.
Also, Guiliano and Arranz (2005) used 73 developing countries cross data series between 1975 and 2002 to investigate the correlation and subsequent impact on growth between remittances and financial development. The empirical finding suggest that remittances act as a substitute for financial services by providing households credit, insurance and increasing investment opportunities leading to economic growth.
2.1.3 Remittance and Social Capital Development
The impact of remittances on human capital and financial development was seen from the above studies. Remittances impacting social capital are explored in this section in detailed way.
The term Social capital was offered by two sociologists namely James Coleman (1987 and 1988) and Pierre Bourdieu (1980 and 1986) focussing on three aspects of social capital in terms of politics, economic activity and social welfare as the main components. Their consideration of its effect on aspects of overall welfare through political participation, development of institutional power and building cordial relationship within community are the main issues dealt by them.
In 1998, Levitt coined the term ‘social remittances’ which refers to the normative structures, system of practice and social capital that are transferred from host to sending countries.
However, in this study, focuses are given on how remittances induced social capital promote welfare in the Tibetan community by encouraging political participation, building trust and network, gender equality and social cohesiveness within the community which is necessary for society to function smoothly. The chain effect of remittance on economic development thereby raising network and trust within the households was depicted in the studies of Gerber and Torosyan (2013) in the Republic of Georgia. It was also interesting to find out the relationship between remittance and gender. There are plethora of studies discussing on the issues of male migration empowers spouses left behind engaging in financial responsibility within the household and community.
Similarly, a study by Haas and Rooij (2010) by conducting interview of 43 Moroccan women in 1998-2000 along with open ended questions to get more insight. Their results indicated that spouses of male migrant are living more comfortable and secured lives enabling education for women in the family.
Menjivar and Agadjanian (2007) study on women lives in Armenia and Guatemala found that women could able to have money for purchasing after receiving remittances. Conversely, remittance has tendency to influence female to migrate and remit to the left behind families.
Eloundou, Parfait and Anne (2006) study on 3369 samples of women in Cameroon, Benin, Malavi, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe indicated that female migrant marked high capacity in remitting and also help household of left behind by reducing the drop out in education of females in the family. In understanding social capital in terms of cultural aspect is of utmost important since it directly deals with community or society.
Remittance also aid cultural integration and this can be seen from the extensive work of Klooster (2005) in Michoacán in finding the international remittances on preserving culture and restructuring community. The result portrayed the positive impact of remittance by enabling the daily practices of woodcutting, tending cattle, growing maize and other communal interaction with neighbours. Remittances also improve lifestyle of the receiving households in short run. This was observed in the study by Schmalzbauer (2008) of Honduran transnational families on lifestyle of Honduran youth due to the effect of remittance from their parents in USA.
Levitt, Peggy and Nieves (2011) assert the term social remittances based on collective remittance which is beneficial for the development of community through frequent communication with the household of origin where the government aid could not reach.
This type of collective remittance has potential for building Home Town Association (HTA). This was discussed in details by Paul and Gammage (2004); Goldring (2004) who argued that collective remittances promotes developmental project within community where there is a lack of public investment.
As per Orozo and Rouse (2007), there are number of countries which promote collective remittance through Home Town Association (HTA). There are 3000 Mexican (HTA), 1000 Filipinos and 500 Ghanian Migrant Associations. The whole concept of collective remittance was important due to its dynamic effect on society towards developmental project which creates an environment suitable for harmony and prosperity.
Johnson and Sedaca (2004) provided further scope in studying the positive impact of collective remittance in high remittance receiving countries like India and Bangladesh. Thus, the positive effect of remittance in building sound network and trust was topic of interest for many scholars in finding how remittance increases social status, lifestyle and decrease school dropout rate and also enhance women empowerment by allowing them to participate in various economic and social activities.
The above literature on remittances impacting nation’s economic development at macro, micro and meso level highlight the importance of remittances in raising livelihood. It was found that the impact was found significantly on three major variables namely human, financial and social capital development in the community of origin.
Therefore, the present study would focus and analyse the impact of remittances on Tibetan refugee community in India who rely heavily on remittance income for their livelihood. Before analysing the impact on Tibetan refugees, it is of utmost important to unearth the remittance literature pertaining to India, one of the largest remittances receiving country in the world (World Bank, 2015).
2.2 STUDIES ON REMITTANCES IN INDIA
From the above sections, it is clear that at the global level literature on remittances is gaining significance due to a general consensus of migration scholars on its developmental impacts at the origin countries of migrants.
The term international migration emerged in Indian context during 1950’s particularly towards United Kingdom and 1970’s towards Middle East. The impact of remittances on Indian economy was found to significant both at macro and micro level. At macro level, remittances increases national income through foreign exchange which indirectly leads to national saving and investment curtailing Balance of Payment (BOP) crisis.
According to the Balance of payment figures released by the RBI, remittances by overseas Indians amounted to $29.74 billion during April 2006 to March 2007.
A study by Gupta (2005) on the macroeconomic determinant of remittance manifested that India has been growing in terms of remittance receipt since 1991 onwards.
The total population of Indian Migrant workers towards Middle-East was 3,50,000 in 1979 of which 1,87,000 belongs to Kerala as per survey conducted by states directorate of economics and statistics (Gulati, 1983). It is clear that Indian migrant workers were dominated by Kerala state mostly towards Gulf countries until recently towards other developed countries such as Britain, USA and Canada.
Afram (2012) published book on ‘The Remittance Market in India’ highlighting the significance of remittance in Indian context. The book published the general migration pattern of India and trends. It was shown that India has overtaken Mexico to become the world’s foremost remittance destination.
Remittance has been proved as developmental tool for Indian economy and has exceeded official development assistance and migrant from developing countries sent at least US$401 billion to their countries of origin (India Migration Report, 2012).
There is also a growing body of economic and social research highlighting the issues on migration consequences on the aspects of determinants, impact and significance of remittances in developing countries (LDCR, 2012).
The interest of global forum particularly on remittances in India was seen in recent publication by World Bank and has reported that India continues to be the leading nation in remittances receiving 70 billion dollars from its global migrant workforce in 2014 (The Financial Express, 2015) .
The relationship between migrant remittances and economic growth was extensively studied by Salahuddin (2013) on India, Bangladesh, Philippine and Pakistan by considering panel data. The findings are consistent with the above studies that remittances have potential for development in large economies like India. Not only does remittance affect macro economy but also at micro level.
The role of remittance on Indian households was carried in late 1970’s and most of the studies focussed on Kerala households and neglected other states. According to India Human Development Survey (IHDS) (a nationally representative survey of 215754 households, the average remittance size was Rs 951.64. it was fund that major chunk of remittances are used by Indians for daily expenses of the household (61%) such as food, education and Health. 20% deposited in Bank and around 7% are invested in Land and Property (Afram ,2012).
Literature on remittance impacting household economy was initially carried in detail by Prakash (1978) who examined the various impact of remittances on the levels of income, consumption, saving and investment in the households of Chavakkad village by collecting primary data from 95 households. The result indicated that the remittance income increases the monthly income of the households and household having more members abroad remits more. It was also found that remittance income assist in various investment in the households such as housing, land and expenditure pattern.
In one of the study, remittance income was found to be the only source of income for households (Mathew and Nair, 1978). In Kerala, it was found that migrant household’s top priority is that of constructing and renovating houses. This in turn led to better standard of living through improved water and sanitation facilities.
In case of India, inflow was due to the oil boom in the Middle East during the 1970’s and the 1980’s and the information technology revolution of the 1990’s has placed India as one of the highest remittance receiving countries in the world and stated that remittances sent by Indian immigrants are the backbone of country’s Balance of payment (Jadhav, 2003).
In the past, it was believed that Kerala shares 25 % of all the remittances to India. Presently, the percentage share has declined below 25% (Zachariah & Rajan, 2007).
In recent years, remittances were seen as a potential source of development finance and much debated issues in international forums. Zachariah and Rajan (2012) on Kerala Gulf migration pointed out that emigration and remittances has remained the single most dynamic factor for Kerala in the twenty first century.
Migration from India during 1970’s consisted of unskilled labour. Presently, emigration of skilled labour has attracted many scholars in studying brain drain under different aspects of migration behaviour. The positive impact of remittances on households by reducing poverty, increasing household income and better living standard has made India to adopt migration as strategy to promote development.
It is proven fact from the above literature that remittances had impacted lives of millions especially in developing countries. India also stands first in terms of remittance receiving country.
However, remittance literatures on India were dominated by Kerala and meagre amount of research on other states especially at household level. In this sense, it is necessary to bring out more research on remittance impacting households to have a clear picture of what makes remittance an attractive source of income in enhancing livelihood of receiving households.
In this context, the journey of Tibetan refugees resettling in alien society in a developing country like India was altogether a different experience. The hardship undergone by Tibetan refugees immensely affected both physically and psychologically.
After few decades in exile, Tibetan refugees search an alternative source of income for improving their livelihood wherein foreign aid cannot reach the target population in raising standard of living and reducing poverty among the Tibetan households in India.
Low income often pushes households into poverty and was unable to generate human resources for future generation. Hence, it is imperative to review the studies pertaining to the resettlement of Tibetan refugees which are discussed in the following section.
2.3 STUDIES RELATED TO TIBETAN REFUGEES
Migration of Tibetan refugees started in 1959 with the invasion of Tibet by People’s Republic of China following tens of thousands of exhausted, sick and destitute of Tibetan men, women and children seeking refuge in India (Michael, 1985).
Lack of data on Tibetan refugee migration makes it difficult to investigate the migration pattern and the same was found in the study of Conway (1975) who examined Tibetan refugees situation in a detail way and pointed out the paucity of data on Tibetan refugee migration population.
In such situation, analysing the condition of Tibetan refugees was difficult approach. During initial stages of resettlement, thousands of Tibetan refugees died due to harsh weather condition and living a miserable life (Michael, 1985). A study by Woodcock (1970) titled ‘Tibetan Refugees in a Decade of Exile’ undertaken a thorough understanding of the situation of Tibetan refugees after a decade in exile. It discusses the immense role played by Indian and foreign agencies in the resettlement process of Tibetan refugees in India. Their topmost priority was the education of Tibetan youth and sustenance of cultural identity.
The Indian government under Prime Minister Nehru and many state governments gave lands for refugee settlements and financial assistance for the education of Tibetan children (Roy, 2005).
Initially , in order to improve the livelihood of Tibetan refugees in India, foreign agencies started to build agricultural settlement and set up handicraft centres in various parts of Northern India to generate income to sustain basic livelihood of the households (Conway, 1975).
With due course of time, the income generation from them could not able to meet the basic needs of the household expenditure. The demand for daily expenses on consumption, education, health and poor housing facilities made households to find an alternative source of income.
In this way, household members indulge in seasonal sweater selling business to create additional annual income. However, annual income from these sources is not sufficient to meet the basic needs.
Meanwhile, thousands of Tibetan youth are passing out from schools and colleges. They need to pursue higher education to gain qualification to compete with local Indians in academics. The prevalence of high unemployment rate in the Tibetan community also adds to distress within households.
According to CTA Survey, 17% of Tibetan population in India are either unemployed or underemployed (Federal Office for Migration, 2013). This was also observed in a study by Arnold (2009) the problem of unemployment and lack of opportunity are the main issues faced by Tibetan youth and suggested to create employment within community to fulfil the dreams of Tibetan youth of serving Tibetan government.
The prevailing circumstances within community were never sorted out and the poverty level among the Tibetan refugees has been increasing due to dearth of resources for investment in human capital.
In such situation, household members applied a strategy of maximising income by choosing migration in order to increase household income.
So far, there are more than ten thousands of Tibetan refugees residing abroad. The forward migrant sent remittances back to the household of origin which lead to human, financial and social capital development.
In connection to the present study, Tibetan refugees were taken into consideration in order to find out the importance of remittance in this refugee community in raising livelihood.
According to Pehrson (2003), the challenges faced by Tibetan refugees are issues related to health, sanitations, water and basic needs. The issues of unemployment, lack of opportunities, identity crisis, low income and unsecure future lead to Tibetans migrating towards Western and European countries in search of better standard of living.
According to Tibetan Demography Survey of 2009, there are 10000 Tibetans in USA, Europe-15000 and CANADA- 4000.
The resultant effect of migration is that of remittance income forward migrant sends to the household of origin which helped tremendously increasing human capital development and its multiplier effect was found on households economy and community development.
A study on Tibetan refugees in India by Hess (2009) showed that remittances have had a large impact on Tibetan communities in India although it was not studied indepth.
There is dearth of empirical studies on remittances impacting households of Tibetan community as this research study was first to investigate the impact of remittances on forward migrant households of Tibetan refugee in India. Therefore, an in-depth study is found necessary in order to find out the major socio-economic change in the Tibetan refugee community in terms of population, socio-economic condition and overall community development with receipt of remittances.
2.4 RESEARCH G1APS
The burgeoning studies on remittances in previous years proved that remittance is of important issue for debate. Findings from the literature survey revealed that the standard of living has increased due to the remittance from migrants. Reviews reveal that the concept of Human capital mainly discuss about the education levels and knowledge of the remitters or the occupation and health of the remittance receivers. In studying the impact of remittance on investment, reviews disclose that because of remittances, saving and investment in the households of origin also proportionately increases. Also studies shows that, flow of remittances has the potential to create new business enterprises which leads to higher economic growth and eases the liquidity constraint of the households. Because of wealth creation, their social status has been raised in host country. Finally, remittance contributes social capital by building network, trust and local participation.
The other gap found in the literature review was that previous researchers had examined the impact of remittance by using country level data immensely. However, there are few studies pertaining solely to understand the role of remitters with regard to remittance usage and their control in the country of origin.
There are plethora of research carried on developing countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan, Philippine, Nepal and India. India ranking top in remittance market has gained popularity with ample number of publications supported by World Bank on Indian Migration Report.
Remittances in Indian context were limited empirically and most of the studies were extensively carried on Kerala due to Kerala’s Migration pattern (Naujoks, 2009). Very few studies were available in case of Tibetan refugees on migration and development.
Given the nature, magnitude and evolution of these flows, remittances can be considered as having a potentially role in supporting the development efforts of recipient countries.
The term remittance was not a new phenomenon in Tibetan refugee community since they were highly dependent on remittance from foreign aid and assistance from Indian government and various foreign agencies at the initial time of resettlement. In recent times, their livelihood was immensely impacted by remittances they receive from forward migrants in enhancing socio-economic development. But a proper source of secondary data on migration and remittances were lacking in measuring the developmental impact.
In this view, it is alarming to note that in India, Tibetan refugees were still looking for remittances from other sources in raising the standard of living. They are migrating mainly towards Western and European countries for their betterment of living. This raises questions like,
1. Do remittances enhance asset creation of Forward Migrant households?
2. Do remittances improve the savings and investment pattern of Forward Migrant household?
3. Do remittances augment social upliftment of forward Migrant households?
The effect of remittance particularly in developing countries are widely studied and showed positive implication on household economy. Remittances have impacted thousands of households in improving standard of living in many developing countries. Remittances are used mainly to satisfy basic needs, buying food, clothes, health, education, and transport and purchasing some durable goods.
According to Norris (2011), remittances have been able to serve as powerful tool for growth in developing countries. International remittance has positive impact on the living standards of emigrant families and increasing investing on productive activities such as agriculture and other private enterprises while improving expenditure pattern of the households on housing, sanitation, health care, food and schooling.
Also Koc & Onan (2004) found that remittances have multiplier effects at the country of origin by creating employment for local people due to development induced by remittances in that particular country. Therefore, in this study, an attempt was made to understand the role of remittances in creating human, financial and social capital development with the receipt of remittances from forward migrants.
CHAPTER-3 METHODOLOGY
3.0 INTRODUCTION
This chapter focuses on research methodology and techniques adopted for the study. In this chapter, it begins with statement of the problem followed by research questions raised from literature survey. Then research objectives, hypotheses and the terms and concepts used in the study have been operationally defined. The procedure followed in selecting the sample, tools used for data collection and statistical techniques used are also presented.
3.1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Remittances have impacted thousands of families in the upliftment of their standard of living. International bodies like World Bank, IMF and many development agencies are focusing on migration-development nexus. World Bank (2014) also promoted migration-development nexus as a development tool to enhance overall development at the country of origin.
Remittance was seen as a tool having potential in affecting countries economy at macro, micro and community level. Empirical evidences also suggested that remittance lead to positive development in terms of raising livelihood at the country of origin.
Thus, migration is seen as a strategy adopted by many developing countries to eradicate poverty thereby enhancing livelihood. In this study, it focuses on socio-economic impact of remittance on Tibetan refugees in India. There are issues faced by Tibetans in terms of livelihood which has to be taken care of. Majority of Tibetan households rely on agriculture as their main source of income followed by seasonal sweater selling business. This way of income generation often pushes households into poverty.
Hence, households find an option to send one of their members abroad to curb financial problem. The additional income in terms of remittance results in multiplier effect at the country of origin.
Thus, it becomes imperative to analyze
1. The impact of remittance on Human capital development such as education, health, houses and asset creation of the households of origin.
2. The impact of remittance on financial capital development in terms of business creation and entrepreneurship development.
3. The impact of remittance on social capital development such as infrastructure development, welfare of needy people, political participation, trust and network at the origin country.
Based on the issues raised in the statement of problem, these objectives were framed.
3.2 GOALS
- To carry out a comprehensive cross sectional analysis on socio-economic impact of remittances on forward migrants Household of Tibetan Refugee in India.
3.2.1 Specific Objectives
1. To examine the flow of financial assistances from Tibetan Government on Tibetan refugees in India.
2. To understand the socio-demographic characteristics of the forward migrants’ household of origin in India.
3. To identify the predominant factors of Human, Financial and Social capital factors associated with remittance.
4. To analyse the impact of remittances on Human, Financial and Social capital.
3.3 HYPOTHESES
This research proposes the following hypotheses to be tested empirically based on the literature review.
Hypothesis 1:
Remittance shows positive impact on Human, Financial and Social capital of forward migrants household.
Hypotheses 2:
The impact of remittances on Human, Financial and Social Capital has significant difference across regions.
[...]
- Quote paper
- Tenzin Namgha (Author), 2016, A Study on Socio-Economic Impact of Remittances on Forward Migrants Households of Tibetan Refugees in India, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/359477
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