3 - The Movement of Indians in East Asia: Contemporary and Historical Encounters

Summary

In recent years qualitative and quantitative changes in Indian migration have gained the increasing attention of researchers, policymakers and organizations such as the World Bank (WB), the International Labour Office (ILO) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). This movement of Indians comprises a variety of flows — transient professionals or knowledge workers, skilled permanent migrants, students, unskilled workers and business streams — and the destinations have also broadened. Skilled Indian migration to North America, Europe, Australasia and East Asia is also taking place within regional blocs and policy frameworks have been established to facilitate these migrant flows. In view of the fact that structural relationships facilitating migration have become well-established, most governments today exert greater control over migration through national policies, and bilateral/multilateral agreements. The Indian government, for example, actively encourages emigration as a key instrument to promote national development. The expectation is that both remittances and the experiences and knowledge gained abroad will be used to further India's own development programmes. Additionally, the Indian government is also relying on the expansion and greater role of transnational networks that link the migrants to both India and the destination countries.

Yet this contemporary movement/migration of Indians in East Asia remains little understood principally because of its recent nature and scarce data. Moreover, the Indian government's recent initiatives in mobilizing transnational Indian communities to engage in “Rising” India's development plans also needs to be understood in the context of the colonial era economic structures and historical encounters. Against this backdrop, this chapter first identifies the major significant patterns of Indian movement into East Asia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and examines the contexts of this movement. This will form the basis for making an assessment of contemporary patterns and the larger chronology of migration flows, and the relevance of diasporic organizations, insofar as it can be established. The second part of the chapter focuses on current Indian movement to East Asia and policy initiatives in destination states. The chapter also discusses the role of the Indian government in promoting cooperation with Indian diasporic communities.

INTRODUCTION

The Beginnings

Prior to the sixteenth century, Indian migratory movements within the Asian region were relatively small-scale in nature and limited in geographic scope. There was significant mercantile or religious travel involving Indians in the region which predated the arrival of European commercial interests.