The Gulf, which comprises the six countries of Bahrain , Oman , Qatar , Kuwait , United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia , is one of the major destinations of migrants from all over the world. The group that features the most within the migrant community in the Gulf is the migrants from South Asia (i.e., Bangladesh , Bhutan , India , Maldives , Nepal , Pakistan , and Sri Lanka ). Two recent inclusions to this list of countries are Afghanistan and Myanmar . The migrants from the South Asian countries constitute two-thirds of all the migrants residing in the Gulf.
Migration from the South Asian countries to the Gulf has been beneficial to both regions. The Gulf countries are visibly highly dependent on migrants from South Asia in almost all the sectors. Without them, the current level of economic and other activities in the Gulf would be unsustainable. On the other hand, the South Asian countries are characterized by overpopulation and a very high level of poverty. The remittances received from the Gulf countries have been instrumental in generating foreign currencies for the South Asian countries over the past four decades. For many households, these remittances are the only means of moving out of their current level of poverty. The migration between South Asia and the Gulf therefore creates a win-win situation for both regions.
The economic effects of migration and remittances in economic development have been prominently featured in the development economics literature. Although there are some limitations, several studies can be found on how migration and remittances have affected the development of South Asian countries. Migration literature also has substantially studied the effects of migration on host economies; however, the focus has always been on the developed countries of the north. The relationship between the Gulf and South Asian countries in mutual development through migration and remittances is rather less featured in the literature. In this respect, what is significantly missing is the proper understanding of the contribution of the South Asian migrants in the Gulf.
This volume is the first step for generating that understanding. It brings together a number of prominent and emerging academicians specializing in various aspects of the Gulf. Although the main emphasis of this volume is the economic impact of the South Asian migrants in the Gulf, it also maintains a holistic approach which covers the history, demography , social and gender issues, labor laws and abuse, and the current changes in the political landscapes of South Asia and the Middle East .
This volume also serves many important purposes. First, it consolidates the current data and understanding of the South Asian migration in the Gulf and therefore will serve as a reference book for students and researchers working on the Gulf region. Second, it will inform the policymakers residing in both the Gulf and South Asia on the importance of the mutually beneficial migration and the issues requiring further attention. Finally, it demonstrates where future research is required and/or information and data are less available.
The third point mentioned above requires further attention. While working on this volume, we noted that the good quality data on migration in the Gulf was unavailable. The problem is more severe when it comes to segregating migrants by the countries of origin and sectors. The lack of data limits the nature of investigation to be undertaken. Evaluation of any causal relation requires utilization of sophisticated statistical techniques. However, the data enabling those statistical methods are lacking. Sometimes data are unavailable for creating even simple tables or graphs. Although we can see that several institutions are now working toward improving the situation, it is something the future researchers must address for making any significant progress beyond the current level of knowledge on the Gulf.
Contentwise, the second chapter of the volume has been written by Françoise De Bel-Air. The chapter discusses in detail the historical background of the South Asian migration in the Gulf, and specifically the context through which the South Asian migrants came to replace the Arab migrants in the Gulf region. It assesses the link between oil prices, economic growth, and labor needs and highlights the political underpinnings of the national composition of migration flows to the region. The chapter examines some economic and sociopolitical challenges to reform the kafala sponsorship system. Using the most recent receiving countriesâ statistics, it describes Asian communities in the various Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC ) States, their size, national composition, and most salient characteristics as of the mid-2010s.
Chapter 3 has been written by S. Irudaya Rajan. It focuses on the demography of the Gulf, with specific emphasis on the South Asian migrants. It features statistics of the demographic composition of the Gulf by sex, education , and age, which will be invaluable to students and academicians who are looking for obtaining a general understanding of the demographic profile of the Gulf.
The fourth chapter, written by Radhika Kanchana, focuses specifically on the kafala sponsorship system in the Gulf. It is an invaluable source of information for anyone looking for a solid and updated understanding of the kafala system and its historical context. This kafala sponsorship system essentially renders the migrant to be dependent entirely on the citizen-employerâs protection. The chapter places the practice within the historical background, linking it with pre-oil customs of the Arabian Peninsula. It explores the recent and varied practices of sponsorship , which extend beyond the Arabian Peninsula to the greater Arabic-speaking regions.
The fifth chapter, written by Mehdi Chowdhury, attempts to evaluate the South Asian migration in the Gulf from the perspective of an economist. It discusses migration theories and aligns the South Asian migration in the Gulf with those theories. It covers numerous topics such as the labor market, health , education , and innovation that economic investigations on the Gulf should study, and identifies the importance of obtaining necessary data to comprehensively study those topics utilizing advanced statistical and econometric techniques. The issues discussed in the chapter will serve as a guideline for students and researchers alike for future developments in the field.
Chapter 6 has been written by Emilie J. Rutledge. This chapter studies the long-run relationship between the South Asian labor and the GCCâs workforce composition and modes of operation. It explores the impact of the South Asian migrants on the labor market, specifically on the indigenous human capital , and suggests that the South Asian labor enabled GCC rulers to institute a mode of âsocial contract â which provided citizens with government jobs, luxury lifestyles facilitated by cheap labor , and heavily subsidized migrant labor for their business ventures. It resulted in a highly overstaffed bureaucracy and the lack of incentives for businesses to invest in labor-saving technologies.
The seventh chapter looks at the issue of gender in the Gulf countries. It has been written by Nasra M. Shah, Lubna Al-Kazi, and Abrar Husain. The chapter assesses the attitudes, policies, and achievements of Gulf countries in their efforts toward enhancing gender equality in terms of education , employment , political participation, and provision of civil and social rights, primarily for citizens. It suggests that the South Asian migrants, especially the availability of female household workers, may have played a role in increasing labor force participation of indigenous women.
The eighth chapter discusses the outward remittances from the Gulf, and is based on some recently published important pioneering research papers by the authors of the chapter, Ismail H. Genc and George Naufal. The chapter discusses the time series characteristics of remittance outflows from the GCC countries. Further, the chapter uses new data on remittance transfer costs to shed light on the different mechanisms of money transfers to South Asian countries.
Chapter 9, written by Abdul-Rashid Abdul-Aziz, Abdul Lateef Olanrewaju, and Abdullahi Umar Ahmed, centers on the construction section in the Gulf and prominently covers the issue of labor abuse in the Gulf. The chapter details the labor abuse many migrants suffer during recruitment and employment , and loopholes in legislation and enforcement. It addresses the legislative and administrative frameworks for the construction sector migrants and discusses that the South Asian countries prefer to avoid overregulation of the Gulf labor market to ensure the inflows of remittances .
The tenth or final chapter, written by Kazuhide Iketaki, focuses on a novel area of research as it attempts to link South Asian migration in the Gulf with the regional political landscape. Migrant workers are motivated to move to countries that provide higher salaries than what are offered in their countries of origin. Therefore, many people believe that migrant workers do not bear any political weight. However, considering that many South Asians have already migrated to the Gulf and are regularly sending remittances , their presence as political stakeholders in both South Asia and the Gulf cannot be neglected. The chapter tries to link the changing relationships between the Gulf and South Asian countries through migration-related socioeconomic ties.
The chapters of the volume are connected to each other as they all address the issue of the South Asian migrants in the Gulf. Therefore, overlaps in data and information are unavoidable in some places, although the chapters have been written independently.
The volume was unable to provide detailed discussions regarding the contribution of the South Asian migrants in the petroleum , education , health , and tourism industries. In addition, the issues of undocumented migration , climate change, and trade and foreign direct investment between South Asia and the Gulf deserve attention. Another emerging sector deserving more attention is the growing agricultural sector in the Gulf, which apparently is developing through the expertise of the South Asian migrants. We believe that these are important topics and we aim to include them in future volumes. Given the success of this volume, and the interest of students, researchers, and general readers, we aim to write two additional volumes on this important topic of the South Asian migration in the Gulf. It should, however, be noted that the lack of data will be a major obstacle in conducting such studies. If any of the readers of this volume would like to contribute to the future volumes or would like to suggest potential researchers for contributin...