Diaspora in Kerala's development Zachariah, K.C.

Due to large-scale and significant migration, the high migrant areas in Kerala, to a lesser extent, the state as a whole experienced a process of rapid economic and social transformation and provides for a excellent example of migration-induced development in the last quarter of the past century. The most recent accelerated process of migration, especially to the Gulf and North America, has had their impact on every facet of Kerala’s economy and society. It is estimated that at least one in each household has a emigrant in the major migrants sending areas of Kerala. The economy of Kerala is mainly based on the remittance sent by the Kerala Diaspora contributing with a higher proportion in the state’s NSDP. The various aspects of the impact of the Diaspora in Kerala’s development and its economy and society are the subject matter of this book.

The book is a sequel to the study of Kerala Diaspora conducted during 2007 by the research unit in international migration of the Centre for Developmental Studies called Migration Monitoring Studies (MMS), with the huge sample of 10,000 households covering all the 14 districts of Kerala. The main focus of this book is kept to analyse and examine the impact of Kerala’s Diaspora in the development of the state. As it is observed from the survey that international migration has remained absolutely stationery during 2003 to 2007 with decline in the migration rates.