By Dr. Sawraj Singh

Many countries are facing demographic crisis as a result of unnatural migration, which is a result of the policies of the western capitalist countries. There are two main causes of this unnatural migration:

 -Falling fertility rate in the western capitalist countries.                                                                                                                                                                                

 -Net inflow of capital associated with migration.                                                                                                                                   

It is obvious that capitalist countries are facing the problem of falling fertility rate and need immigrants to run their system. For example, Canada needs 1% of its population every year to run its system. However, instead of spending its own money to fulfill its need, Canada is making money from immigration. When Hong Kong was returned by the British to China after the expiry of the lease, immigrants from Hong Kong moved to Canada in very large numbers. These people brought huge amount of capital with them.                                                                                                                                                 

Now, a very large number of Punjabi young people are migrating to Canada supposedly for getting higher education. However, a very small percentage actually gets higher education. A vast majority of these ends up doing the jobs which Canadians do not want to do. In spite of this, Canada is making good money from this migration. Sometimes, these students are paying three times the fees that the Canadian students are paying for the education which they do not need for the kind of work they will end up doing. These students never return to Punjab and make their parents sell their land, property and other assets and bring that money to Canada. It is estimated that Canada spends about a million dollars in raising a child to age 18. It is obvious that Canada saves a million dollars when a young person migrates to Canada. Many capitalist countries are now actually selling their immigration. They say that if you bring this much money, then you can get immigration.                                                                                                

These capitalist countries are not concerned about the demographic crisis which the countries where these immigrants are coming from are facing. Some of these countries are going to lose their identity as a result of the migration. Bulgaria is one of those countries. Pytor Ivanov, Professor, Director of the Demographic Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, expressed concern that Bulgaria is on the way to lose its identity. About 70,000 Bulgarians are leaving the country every year. Bulgaria is facing a double problem, declining population and ethnically changing population. Bulgaria’s population is likely to fall from 9 million to 6 million. In 2050, the Gypsies and immigrants will outnumber the ethnic Bulgarians. According to the UN, there are twenty countries which are facing demographic crisis.                                                 

We can see this Problem in Punjab also. My estimates are that Punjab will face this problem sooner than Bulgaria. I feel that in a little more than a decade, the Punjabis are going to become a minority in Punjab. In some areas it has already happened. In the villages near Chandigarh area, population can be 90-95% non-Punjabi.       

                                                                                                                           

Another concern as far as demographic crisis is concerned is about the aging population in the countries where the young people leave the country in very large numbers. This is happening in Bulgaria and is also happening in Punjab. We can just look at the census figures in Punjab for the year 1991 and the year 2001. The number of young people age14-28 drastically decreased in this period. Large-scale migration of the young people out of Punjab started after 1990. In the 1991 census, there were 4,154,000 people. However, in the 2001 census, this number was 2,881,000 which shows a reduction of about 1,300,000. It is expected that the number of the young people between ages 14-28 will be less than 2,000,000 in the coming census of 2021.                                                                                                           

 Almost the entire class of the AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) Delhi which is considered the top most medical college, migrates to America. Same is true of the other top IIT institutes such as the IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) Bombay. A vast majority of their students migrate to the US. It is obvious that the Imperialist countries not only plunder the material resources of the other countries, they also exploit their human resources. This leads to further widening of the gap between the rich and the poor countries. We need to change the present globalization which is economic only globalization and lacks an ethical aspect and a true global perspective to a true global community which is free of exploitation and discrimination and which is based upon equality and mutual respect.                        

 Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S. is the Chairman of the Washington State Network for Human Rights and Chairman of the Central Washington Coalition for Social Justice. He can be reached at sawrajsingh@hotmail.com.