| Introduction: Explain economic migration. Body: Write some impacts of economic migration on Left-Wing Extremism in India. Conclusion: Write a way forward. |
Economic migration is the movement of people from one country to another to benefit from greater economic opportunities in the receiving country. It is often assumed that such migration is primarily from less economically developed countries in the global south to the more economically developed countries in the global north for example, from Mexico to the USA, from North Africa to Europe etc. However, there is also economic migration between countries in the global south – particularly neighbouring countries – as well as within the global north, for example, from countries in South Asia to the Middle East, from Burma to Thailand and from the UK to Spain.
Economic migrants include those who come with the required visas and documentation as well as those whose status is undocumented. Some economic migrants are affluent, highly-educated professionals who seek new opportunities in the labour market following changes in world economy, such as those working in the IT sector or banking.
Impacts on Left-Wing Extremism:
- LWE-related incidents and fatalities across India are declining. From 833 incidents resulting in 240 deaths in 2018, it was down to 509 incidents and 147 deaths in 2021. T
- India’s economic progress that has provided potential recruits an alternative narrative.
- The 2017 economic survey said migrants make up between 17% and 29% of the workforce. In absolute terms, that runs to 100 million people or more migrating for short durations to work.
- Language is not a barrier to economic migration, there’s a significant share of youth in circular migration and also an increasing proportion of women.
- Economic opportunities thrown up in western and southern states, and NCR, are the barely noticed dimension to depriving LWE of foot soldiers. States such as Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, Bengal and Chhattisgarh have all seen economic out-migration.
India has turned the corner on combatting LWE. But if the gains of the battle have to be consolidated, economic growth has to be front and centre of any future strategy. Economic development is the foundation on which India can be secured from both internal and external threats.
