from Ares
for Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji (GA)

Panaji, Aug 12: After several decades of intense migration from the State to the rest of the world, the erstwhile Portuguese colony has decided to study the socio-economic impact of this phenomenon on the State.

State's migration history dates back to Portuguese era when people migrated to Portuguese colonies and even to the cities like Mumbai and  Calcutta and the recent one being the craze to work in oil-rich Gulf countries.

"We will cover several aspects in this study including what made them to migrate, the remittance which they send back and even the problems encountered by them abroad," NRI commissioner of the State Eduardo Faleiro told reporters here.

The NRI Commissionerate has inked an agreement with Kerala-based Centre for Developmental studies for conducting 'Goa Migration Monitoring Study.'

"The entire survey will be completed by the end of this year, which will cover 6,000 households in the state, randomly chosen," Faleiro said.

The rough estimates reveal that the 14-lac populated State has around three lac citizens living either abroad or in different Indian cities.

The study which was commissioned two months back has already surveyed 4,000 households, the NRI commissioner added.

The State which was liberated from Portuguese rule in 1961 has its sizeable migration towards the former Portuguese colonies including African countries. Goan community can be traced globally in the parts like Karachi, East Africa, Portugal, United Kingdom, Myanmar, Macau, Middle East, USA and Canada.

Goa-based Xavier Centre of Historical Studies will be conducting a historical perspective of the migration as a part of this study.