I believe primary causes of Immigration and policy making on immigration depends on the psychology of a human being and his familiarity of certain languages which acts as a catalyst. I believe that there are only two causes, which have strong interlinking among themselves. They are:
1) Fear
2) Anxiety / Desire
I call it as “A Chain reaction of Immigration” because it always happens that Your migration facilitates the migration of your relatives or vice versa in many circumstances.
It is not only about the migration of people, it does the migration of wealth, the migration of civilization, culture and trade.
Let us talk about Fear, I will explain you this with the help of examples.
1) Why people migrate during the time of crisis, say civil war? Because of fear. Fear of survival which includes no food availability, no opportunities and so on.
2) Why during the recession lot of Indian came back to India because of Fear of survival because they had lost their jobs couldn’t able to feed their families, which in turn linked to the language. They had preferred to migrate to those places in India where their Mother Tongue or English is known to the people.
3) Take history, Why Africans migrated towards India during starting of human civilization? Because monsoons started shifting towards India. No or scanty rainfall in Africa caused a fear of survival.
4) Why UK government has taken tough instance on immigration? Again Fear of population explosion, fear of insecurity due to terrorism, fear of increasing unemployment among locals.
5) Why Indians don't prefer to migrate in Scandinavian countries in Europe? Fear of Climate and native food availability.
6) Why China had initiated the mass migration of Han Chinese community in Xinjiang province? Had a Fear of partition.
Now let’s discuss about Anxiety/Desire,
1) Why Foreign Invaders invaded India? Reasons were anxiety to explore new place. Desire of huge wealth because India was famous for its diversified culture in the whole world and also known for its prosperity.
2) Why Skilled labours or professionals from India Migrate to US, UK or any other countries? Anxiety about better opportunities, better salary and better future.
3) Why MNCs, FIIs and FDIs are pouring into India? Desire of having a high returns.
About Language, I feel this is the most important propellant/catalyst of immigration then food availability, climatic conditions and others. Why?
People tend to immigrate in those places where there is affinity towards that language or that region is tolerant towards their mother tongue. This sometimes can be over ruled by desires and fear, but are interlinked.
1) Why people of North India who didn't know English and local language (say Tamil) least prefer to migrate towards Tamil Nadu (example) because of less affinity of Tamilians towards Hindi (language problem) and also no similarity in the two Languages (Dialect and script both are totally different).
2) Why Srilankan Tamils during war took refuge in Tamil Nadu but not in Kerala? Again same language. Say If geographical locations of Kerala had Tamil Nadu would have been interchanged w.r.t Srilanka then Language takes precedence over Vicinity.
3) Why Indian professionals preferably migrate to English speaking countries? Because they have good knowledge about English then other languages, which in turn linked to desire for better opportunities.
Sustainability of Immigration
1) If you have no fear about security, food availability and Climate conditions etc.
2) If you are content with your desires like your job etc.
3) If you are well known to the language of locals or locals understand and have tolerance towards your mother tongue or known language.
English led immigration: Its effects on the today's world
Mostly immigration which has happened and is happening in this world is due to English Language. Since Britishers had ruled the largest mass of land on this earth, because of which English has its foot prints on every bit where Britishers ruled , has now become the second most spoken language in the world after Mandarin. But it has great affects on the world.
1) Urbanisation - In India mostly English speaking or knowing people are living in the cities. And most of those who are exposed to English at rural footholds have a tendency to migrate towards cities.
2) Climate change: Urbanisation is one of the reasons for climate change whose cause is again language led immigration.
3) Trade Shift and Unemployment: Mostly MNCs (US companies) prefer Indians for outsourcing because they are well equipped in English and work at less than half salary compare to native fellowmen. This leads to unemployment in their native countries and ultimately it will lead to chaos and hatred among natives.
4) Demographic change: Once upon a time Bangalore was the home mostly kannadigs and with very minor % of other lingual communities. But after IT revolution which is English based led to the total demographic change. Now approx. 50% of Bangalorians are from other states.
5) UK and USA are facing lot of illegal immigration problem which has its cascading effects.
My Conclusion:
I haven't discussed everything here but root causes of any immigration are three which I have highlighted above. All other things are just consequences. Immigration has led to an extinction and evolution of several languages. I believe that immigration has a great impact on Climate change and need to be addressed with great concern.
