Rina Agarwala, associate
professor
of
sociology
at
Johns
Hopkins
University
discussed the history of Indian
emigration at Weiser Hall on
Friday afternoon.
The Center for South Asian
Studies hosted the event as
part of a series on the history
of emigration and how social
class
has
shaped
India’s
emigration policy since its
independence in 1947.
Approximately
15
people
attended
the
presentation
titled “Managing Migrants:
Class and Emigration from
India,” on Monday afternoon.
Agarwala centered her talk on
how Indian emigrants affect
the country’s economic and
political development as well
as how the country enacts
policy to encourage emigration
in particular social classes.
Director
of
CSAS
Leela
Fernandes
explained
how
the Center plans its events
a year in advance, including
Agarwala’s presentation.
“We
solicit
suggestions
from the whole faculty, all the
affiliates, and then we make
a list, discuss them and then
some of it depends on speaker
availability,” Fernandes said.
“We have a couple of very
different backgrounds and we
usually try to be representative
of different disciplines from
history to anthropology and
sociology.”
Agarwala
explained
her

focus
on
the
relationship
between emigrants and the
country
they
leave
rather
than the relationship between
immigrants and the country
they enter. She described the
common narratives the media
and academia use to depict
immigration as a danger to
a country and emigration as
an attempt to secure a better
future.
“When
we
talk
about
international migration, by far
the biggest focus of scholars
and media is on receiving
countries,”
Agarwala
said.
“In contrast to the picture
we see in receiving countries,
where it’s a point of tension
and a flashpoint, in sending
countries, emigration, which
is sending the migrants out, is
often depicted as a pathway to
hope, development, prosperity
and
a
legitimate
global
position.”
According
to
Agarwala,
India is the largest emigrant-
sending country in the world,
with
approximately
15.6
million
emigrants
living
abroad. She explained many
of these emigrants provide
what
she
characterized
as low-skilled labor in the
Middle
East
while
some
are emigrants with higher
education degrees who often
enter Western countries.
Though Agarwala said the
country’s emigrants send a
low amount of Foreign Direct
Investments
—
business
investments within a country
that
come
from
foreign

residents — she emphasized
that they remain important to
the country by sending about
$72 billion in remittances,
which
are
finances
sent
to
an
individual’s
family
or
community.
These
remittances primarily come
from Indian workers in the
Middle East and reportedly
account for about 4 percent of
the country’s GDP.
Agarwala framed her talk
around what she characterized
as a puzzle in the history of
Indian emigration policy. She
said despite the remittances
from
low-skill
emigrants,
the country has historically
restricted
low-skilled
emigrants while encouraging
high-skilled emigrants.
“If
investment
into
emigration
is
a
function
of
national
economic
development,
why
would
the Indian state be investing
so much in its high-skilled
migrants abroad when they
are gaining so very little from
them in economic terms?”
Agarwala said. “And similarly,
in terms of the low-skilled
migrants,
when
(India
is)
gaining so much from them,
why are they not investing (in)
or recognizing them more as
the Philippines does or Mexico
has?”
Agarwala
said
after
India’s
independence,
the
country justified its explicit
restrictions
on
low-skill
emigration as a means of
protecting them. Emigration
policy shifted, according to

Agarwala, when the oil boom
in the Middle East began in the
1970s. The greater demand for
labor caused the government
to gradually allow for greater
low-skilled emigration.
India
began
to
expand
social welfare and government
agencies in the 1970s and early
1980s to help support low-
skill
emigration,
Agarwala
explained. However, additional
restrictions
remained,
she
said. The government claimed
they were in place to protect
vulnerable groups of workers,
including
restrictions
on
women emigrating from the
country.
Agarwala said ultimately,
India sought to present itself
as a source of workers who
emigrate across the world.
“In order to protect India’s
national image in the world,
government
officials
…
have
projected
low-skilled
immigration as a result of
India’s
advanced,
efficient
and modern political society,”
Agarwala said. “India posits
itself as a sending country
of high quality labor at the
tertiary level, but also at the
low-skill level.”
LSA senior Shreya Chandra
attended the event for her
South Asian diaspora course
and said she believed the talk
was thought-provoking.
“I
never
really
thought
about, like as she was saying,
the emigrant side of it, so that
was really interesting to hear
about,” Chandra said.

2A — Tuesday, January 21, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News

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Ann-Hua Li Ren Dance performs Ye Shen Chen at the 2020 Chinese New Years’ Gala at the Power Center Saturday evening. .

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Expert explains role of social class
on emigration policy in India

Center for South Asian Studies hosts Rina Agarwala as part of lecture series

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She said she achieved many
high-profile positions relatively
young. This caused a unique set
of problems, particularly when
learning to lead teams with
coworkers and subordinates who
were decades older than her. She
noted that women and people of

color have to make sure to work
twice as hard, especially in these
positions.
“(You’ve
got
to
be)
hardworking and prepared. You
know, you can’t mail it in,” Rice
said. “You’ve gotta be as good
as you possibly can be and
take the time to be maximally
prepared.
I
think
that’s
important for women and for
people of color because you’re
not going to be cut any slack.

You’re not going to necessarily
get a second chance to make a
first impression.”
Rice was also candid when
sharing the obstacles she faced
as a young woman of color
serving with predominantly
white, male diplomats. She
acknowledged
that
it
was
incredibly difficult to lead
a team when many of them
believed she didn’t deserve the
job.

“When I got to the State
Department at 32, I was an
African-American woman who
just had a baby, a breastfeeding
mother,” Rice said. “And so
figuring out in that context,
you know, how to lead and
manage teams when, frankly,
many of them thought I didn’t
deserve to be in a job I was in,
was a real challenge.”

RICE
From Page 1A

See RICE, Page 3A