Resurgence of colonialism & the North-South divide

An unprecedented drain of wealth and human capital from poor to rich countries is taking place at an alarming rate these days. The scramble to obtain riches from Nepal, for instance, has taken an ugly turn, not even its stones and mud being spared without any reciprocal effect. The rich nations are now scrambling to get the best bargains from the poor countries. Be that India robbing Nepal of its stones or blocking the passage for onions, or the transnational organizations such as the UN spreading structures and modernity through a selected class of elites in Kathmandu. Efforts are on to rob the poor nations, albeit in different forms from that practiced during the colonial era. Robbing talents from poor countries is a new form of colonialism hitherto witnessed in human history. There is now a large exodus of young and skilled population of underdeveloped countries to rich countries. The competition for import of highly skilled people has reached its pinnacle resembling the European scramble for colonies in Asia and Africa from the 16th century to early 20th century in which they developed expansionist programs and colonial ventures.

The transnational organizations, including INGOs are serving as propaganda tools for further expanding the global outreach of the rich countries. They are also imposing values and beliefs of powerful societies over the weaker peripheral countries in an exploitative fashion. One of them is reflected in the presence of supranational organizations in poor countries dictating the national governments. Research has shown us that countries undergoing armed conflict or those without stable governments are easy victims of those powerful organizations. Those governments tend to look for quick solutions to fix the complicated problems for which the values and beliefs of these organizations seemingly appear appealing.

In this unequal one-sided flow of wealth and human capital, the Third World is virtually sucked dry of its vital resources. Such an unequal flow of capital also creates North-South inequality and unequal power relations among nations fuelling conflict among nations. Some form of that dissent has already been widespread in the Third World against the dominant Western power, be that protests and demonstrations against the WTO and its globalization drive and neoliberal policies or the furious mob in Africa stoning the vehicle of the UN, which they hold responsible for their marginalization.

Low income countries and societies have been made vulnerable to markets, systematically endangering the rights of minorities, low-income groups and the voiceless and ultimately rendering the instruments of governance and democratic principles ineffective, giving rise to political instability, societal violence and conflicts.

The rich nations are now scrambling to get the best bargains from the poor countries. Be that India robbing Nepal of its stones or blocking the passage for onions, or the transnational organizations such as the UN spreading structures and modernity through a selected class of elites in Kathmandu. Efforts are on to rob the poor nations, albeit in different forms from that practiced during the colonial era.

Though the proponents of globalization argue that it ushers in an unprecedented flow and circulation of people which has never been witnessed before in history, the critics of globalization have shown us that the scale and complexity of human movement that is currently occurring has solely benefited the rich nations.

Just like the British trading companies draining wealth from its colonies in the colonial era, the contemporary drain of wealth from the poor to the rich economies continues, albeit in new forms.

Globalization, as one of the propaganda tools of these transnational organizations, exacerbates the process of skilled migration from poor countries to the Western world, which in turn fuels global inequality—a reason for conflict among nations.

And there are research studies which have shown that globalization has largely benefited the developed world and the powerful transnational corporations. To further benefit from the process of globalization, in recent years, the immigration policies of the rich countries are increasingly geared towards importing highly skilled and productive young people and technical professionals including doctors, nurses, engineers and technicians from the poor countries.

Although Europeans and North Americans have gained and continue to gain enormous benefits from international migration through redistribution of human resources between the two continents (CSIMCED, 1990; Portes, 1990; OECD, 1993), there is no such evidence in developing countries. Less developed countries, for instance Nepal seems to face a very difficult challenge in achieving competitiveness and perform well under the conditions of globalization. Yet, migration is perceived by politicians in Nepal as bringing prosperity through increased remittance and ‘brain-gain’.

The government policy papers in Nepal have often asserted that upward migration of the labor has been providing an important contribution to the national economy through remittance. The recent statistics on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of South Asian countries does not support this assertion. For instance, despite the claim for increased remittance, Nepal ranks as the lowest in South Asia and one of the lowest in the world with a mere 3.4 percent GDP. Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka have achieved 6, 12, 8 and 5.2 percentage points respectively.

Reports in recent years increasingly show that a large number of skilled Indians and Chinese immigrant workers in the US are returning home with a prospect for ‘brain-gain’ and investment. However, the same does not apply to all the Asian countries which are simply exporting skilled migrants and where a large number of emigrants do not return home. And there seems to be strict barriers and firm counter-forces which seem to resist or exploit the flow of all human movement. The industrialized countries of the West seem to have mechanisms for making a limited space for others, in other words, it is a selective process of absorbing skilled and productive population from the low-income countries while at the same time imposing draconian laws on the non-skilled or unwanted immigrants crossing over to their territory.

Recent studies and media reports show that unavailability of doctors in Nepal has affected the delivery of essential healthcare services to improving health status of the people in rural areas of Tarai and mountain regions.

Statistical tools used in generating estimates of people migrating to foreign countries and their contribution to the remittance, therefore, overshadow the socio-economic problems of poor countries. The estimates on remittances are inaccurate to give a clear insight into the contemporary issue of migration grappling the underdeveloped countries. Given this, it is politically naive to believe that migration results in reducing the glaring inequality in the South. Same holds true to the concept of globalization, which in its present form and understanding is entirely turning the economic balance of power in favor of rich nations and a selected class of powerful elites.