Choreographed migrations

Migrants’ ability to make migration an informed choice remains attenuated, as it is a compulsion for livelihood.

Migration has been a prominent feature of Nepali society for most of its history. The initial large outflow for enrolment in the British and Indian armies, migration to India for work, and labour migration to the Gulf countries and Malaysia represent three epochs that have characterised its trend over the last 200 years. Although, ostensibly, toiling in the sun in the Arab countries differs considerably from fighting as mercenaries in the two world wars, the two have more in common than is perceptible at first glance.