International migration and development: survival or building up strategy by Sarathchandra Gamlath

“International migration and development: survival or building up strategy” by Sarathchandra Gamlath explores the community-level and family-level consequences of international migration in Sri Lanka while arguing that international migration cannot be positive in terms of the country’s overall development. Migration can bring about different results at micro level compared to its positive impact on the well-off social segments of the Sri Lankan community, but it does not adequately benefit the low income segments. Gamlath claims that it is noteworthy to understand whether the migrants who come from badly-off segments are benefited from their migration because of their belief that migration would help them alleviate poverty. He has observed that many people below the poverty line suffer from several socio-economic problems because of the inappropriate pattern of development influenced by different biases or prejudices, such as favouring urban areas over rural areas. Consequently, the remittances sent by labour migrants who are predominantly from the badly-off segments of the community do not help their dependents at home when the national level resource distribution is discriminatory while the well-off segments continue to receive thereby more and more funds for their opulence.