Youth migration of Kerala: An inevitable phenomenon

Whenever somebody is talking about youth migration in Kerala, the buzz words like brain drain, loss of talent etc features the spot. Most of the time we are prone to think of the negative effects of youth migration from Kerala to other European countries, Australia etc, which holds much weight. The loss the economy faces is real.... No arguments can negate the effect this has on the Kerala economy and to the nation also. 

But I am more tilted towards thinking about the youth migration in the larger picture of humanity itself. To begin with, the entire humanity is migratory in nature. The global population started from Ethiopia to spread across the whole world through various waves of migration. They migrated in search of food, favourable atmosphere, more grazing fields, land for agriculture, etc.Zooming this frame to Kerala, here also we can see that the malabar region was a space for the people from the central and South travancore to migrate towards. Also, the Gulf boom which beacme the defining phase of Kerala economy was also migration starting from  the late 70s. Now that wave of migration has reached the stage of what we are seeing now. So the clamour that the youth migration is something new which is capable of putting the demographic system in danger holds less weight. Even  when we say so, it should be noted that the foreign remittance from  migrated people has not kept the pace that we saw during the Gulf boom. So the economic effect is real. We are compelled to find remedies to this. 

Now another picture I want to present here is of that of opportunities. Kerala is the state with highest population density in India. The number of students graduating from colleges, who want a decent job that matches with their educational qualifications and career aspirations, are are skyrocketing. This combined with the improved educational and health facilities make the society more healthier and capable to work in advanced fields which the state fails to deliver. Naturally unemployment creeps in. This unemployment that we see I  Kerala is not entirely the failure of the government system or the educational system. It's root cause lies in the intensive competition that is happening here for a good living. So survival of the fittest takes place in our job market. In such a system, if the sparsely populated European countries who are in dire need of human capital finds aa vault to release the pressure from our society. This is the case of jobs. 

Now think about the living conditions like housing and public amenities. All are stressed a lot and pulled to work to their maximum. In Kerala as land available for construction and development is very less. The land rent is on a high compared to othe states  in India. This makes the new families who wish to build a new house in a difficult situation. The land crunch is felt in the rising cost of buying a piece of land or a house. So it becomes normal for the youth to think about migration as a ready-to-live answer. Thus the population beyond a saturation capacity has reached in our state which is evident from the still countinuing flow of youth towards other countries. The public facilities like hospitals, schools  are filled. The roads are flooded with vehicles. Even crossing half an kilometre takes half an hour in many of the congested roads. If new roads are to built people are to be relocated first, but to where? There is only limited scope for construction of new roads or highways without having a mass rehabilitation where the government gets stuck for many years. So the population of Kerala has reached a saturation level. 

Along with that take into account the Kerala society's receptive attitude towards new ideas. The huge interconnectedness with the outside world  give kerala early access into the major trends taking a place across the world. This knowledge and awareness will surely build upon their curiosity to explore new worlds. The advent of technology has made this possible seamlessly. 

Combine this with the pull factors of those  foreign countries like the improved infrastructure,  clean environment,  and modern outlook for life. This makes a perfect recipe for international migration of the youth.  

So if I am sked the question whether this youth migration was avoidable, my answer would be a definite 'No'. It is an inevitable fallout of the behavioural patterns of humans, the arrival of Kerala population at it's saturation point, the increased awareness and connectvity to the outside world etc. Only thing we can do here is to try that we reap some benefit or the other from the migrated people. Be it in form of networking, knowledge sharing, mentoring, technological acquaintances, or even direct monetary benefits to the state, so that the state gets a respite window to make up for the economic losses incurred through this migration.