Abstract
In India, Punjab is one of the leading labor-exporting states and is the second-largest recipient of remittances. It carries irregular migration parallel to regular migration, though smaller in numbers. Given the strict border controls in destination nations and the loss of migrants’ lives during the migration process, irregular migration has stigmatized the state at large in recent times. By highlighting the nature, causes, factors responsible for, and process of irregular migration from Indian Punjab, this paper outlines policy options for destigmatizing it from this menace. It is emphasized that the liberalization of migration policies by the destination nations is the required intervention for destigmatizing it. Meanwhile, the Punjab government has to play its active role by improving education infrastructure/curriculum and by implementing existing laws effectively to break the nexus of social networks, travel agents, and human traffickers. Besides, local government bodies and NGOs must play their vital role by motivating and facilitating prospective migrants to use regular routes only.
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Notes
Irregular status includes not just unlawful entrance, but also illegal residency and employment (Donato & Armenta, 2011; Kraler, 2009). There are several sorts of irregular migration, such as immigrants who enter a nation without authorisation, use fake documents, or overstay/violate the terms and conditions of their visa after legally entering the country (Duvell & Jordan, 2002; Lucas, 2008; Salt & Clarke, 2000; Vickstrom & Beauchemin, 2016). This list may also contain rejected asylum applicants and those who have failed to renew their residency permits (Baldwin-Edwards, 2008). In general, irregularity is viewed as a result of rules and regulations that classify certain types of mobility as legal and acceptable, while others are unlawful and undesirable (Castles et al., 2012).
Some of the tricks are sending migrants a member of the sports /cultural team. A contract wedding, marriage certificate, and picture of the bride and groom were all it took to get the visa. Further, pretending to be gay would make the kabooter’s mission possible as with countries like Canada, Britain, and Belgium recognizing same-sex partnership. In some cases, preachers from Punjab go to the West- ostensibly to spread the faith, with prospective migrants who did not come back. A few Punjabi pop singers had also taken illegal migrants to Canada as their troop members. Few political personalities have though rarely used the facility of the diplomatic passport for human trafficking. In these tricks of kabootarbazi, a huge chunk of money ranging between INR 8 lakhs to INR 15 lakhs was charged by travel agents and their networks.
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Singh, K., Singla, N. & Singh, N. Destigmatizing Indian Punjab from irregular migration: Key public policy options. GeoJournal 89, 7 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-024-10999-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-024-10999-7