Part-time Research Scholar, Hindustan University, Chennai
Online published on 8 August, 2018.
Through ages, migration continues to be a controversial topic. In the ancient days, people migrated in search of pastures for their cattle. Later, people migrated in large size whenever natural calamities struck them. Marxian sociologists have explained migration as a materialistic instinct. Some other sociologists have explained migration as survival instinct. Freudian psychologists have explained it as a sexual instinct. Some others are of the view that migration has happened in early India as a byproduct of conquests and wars. Whatever may be the reason, migration explains the inherent dynamism of the social system. It is migration which keeps the world going on by lubricating the socio-cultural wheel of the society. The migration instinct of Indians is very high and they are spread all over the world. They can be seen in Europe, US, Canada, Latin America and Africa. One peculiarity of Indian migration is that mostly it is a one way movement and they never re-return and settle back in their home country. Though migration to US is an ancient phenomena, it has gained remarkable momentum recently. One of the main reason for migration to US is its enormous wealth base. However political writers say that the main reason for US being the preferred destination is that it is a democracy and a multicultural society. However all is not well with migration. Many Indian have become disillusioned by migration. The growing insecurity in the US has impelled many Indians to have a relook into migrating to US. For instance, the whole recent Precedential election was fought on the issue of migration. Furthermore controversy is spinning around the H-IB visa. Most of the Indians travel to US only on H-IB visa, however there is growing opinion that H-IHB visa lacks flexibility and it suffers from inbuilt insecurity.
