World Migration Report 2020 - Snippets

     

International Organization for Migration released the World Migration Report for the year 2020; a 498 page dossier. I tried to break it down for better and quick understanding of the facts. Hope it helps you in some way.

There were 272 million international migrants in 2019 out of a global population of 7.7 billion: 1 in every 30 people.

Since 1970, the number of people living in a country other than where they were born has tripled.

The United States of America has been the main country of destination for international migrants since 1970.

India had the largest number of migrants living abroad (17.5 million), followed by Mexico and China (11.8 million and 10.7 million respectively).

52 per cent of international migrants were male; 48 per cent were female.

International remittances increased to USD 689 billion in 2018.

The United States remained the top remittance-sending country (USD 68.0 billion) followed by the United Arab Emirates (USD 44.4 billion) and Saudi Arabia (USD 36.1 billion).

The top 3 remittance recipients were India (USD 78.6 billion), China (USD 67.4 billion) and Mexico (USD 35.7 billion).

The global refugee population was 25.9 million in 2018. 52% of it was under 18 years of age.

20.4 million refugees were under United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and 5.5 million under United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Near East.

The number of internally displaced persons due to violence and conflict reached 41.3 million.

The Syrian Arab Republic had the highest number of people displaced (6.1 million) followed by Colombia (5.8 million) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (3.1 million).

The number of stateless persons globally in 2018 was 3.9 million.

Bangladesh had the largest number of stateless persons (around 906,000). It was followed by Côte d’Ivoire (692,000) and Myanmar (620,000).

Hope the above was helpful.

Canada became the largest refugee resettlement country, resettling more refugees than the United States in 2018.

Thank you Coronavirus!

I know it must sound weird! Bu it is true. Things, no matter how bad, always teach us something. And the same is true of the current wave of Coronavirus too.

Just before Coronavirus took the world by storm, I along with my family (wife and kids) came to India, primarily for two reasons:

1. To attend my brother in laws long awaited marriage - which thankfully got done on 11 March 2020, just a couple of days before India suspended all tourist arrivals into the country 😬
2. To be with my parents and meet my relatives and friends (in that order) and to step foot on my erstwhile country after about 5 years. 5 LONG years.

Now that I have the purpose of visit sorted, let me tell you why we should (or may be "I" should) thank Coronavirus:

1. It has helped me spend more time with my loved ones and made me realize what is more important in life. Nothing is more valuable than your family - they are the only one's who care for you and should matter to you. Period.
2.  Thank you Coronavirus for forcing me take a break from this relentlessly "work till your last breath" mindset. We falsely assume that "If I don't work, I won't get paid; if I don't get paid, I can't feed my family and if I can't feed my family we all would die." It's not true. If you are earnest in your efforts, you will surely find a way to break out of this cliche. 
3. It has helped me realize that your work (job) is temporary. If you loose it, you will find another one. Do not falsely assume if you are not there, it (the job) won't get done. You are absolutely dispensable. You are paid to work, not to harbor emotions (sorry, I always make this mistake).
4. I have also learnt that no matter how hard I try, I would never come close to being Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos. In this pursuit to earn more money, I was losing out on personal and family time. If I work extremely hard 12-15 hours a day, 6 days a week, I may earn (at the max) a million dollars more! So? Am I closer to being Bill Gates?
5. I have always heard A is doing really well, s/he is earning X amount of money. I don't understand why is money considered an indicator of doing well in life? I believe life is measured by it's quality and money is one component of it. But there are other, equally or more important factors like: health, spirituality, family etc which determine how well a person is doing in life. So I have learnt to ignore people who judge how other's are doing in life by how much they earn and not by how they live their lives.
6. Though Coronvirus I learnt that we wrongly emphasis on "Saving the Planet". Well, you don't have to Save the Planet. You better save yourself. The planet can very well take care of itself and if there is ever a need, the planet has the capability of obliterating you completely from the face of this earth. A brief trailer is currently unfolding across the globe. Remember the invincible Dinosaurs?
7.  After the humans are gone, it would take the nature only days (not months or years) to recover and regain it's old glory. Don't believe me? Checked the pollution levels since all this lock-down began? March was the coldest month in Punjab in the last 10 years! You think this is a coincidence? Thank you Coronavirus. Without you, we would not have known that this is possible. 

So in a way, I am thankful to Coronavirus for teaching me so much in a very short span of time. It is also true that we have lost lives and jobs due to Coronavirus, but ever heard of the saying "Reap what you sow?" Does that ring a bell? If not, then nothing else will. I pray that everyone stays safe during these torrid times, but I also hope that Coronavirus knocks some sense into us humans and going forward we take this as a lesson from mother nature on our conduct.

Good luck everyone.

Something or Nothing...!!!

Something or nothing...!!!

Yes, I know, I have been out of scene for a very long time. Also a few of my friends have been insisting me in a complaining tone, to take to writing again. I too have missed writing my blogs and keeping you all updated with recent happenings at my end. It has infact been more than a year since I last wrote. I don't promise to be regular but can surely try to be a more frequent with my blogs. 

Something or nothing was the title that came to my mind when I went to watch India - Australia cricket match at Mohali on day 2. There were a couple of incidents that made me contemplate, that in India, you either are something or are absolutely nothing. If you happen to be something, life is a pleasant journey, with best of things, that life has to offer, but unfortunately if you happen to be on the other side of the fence, then, you have had it.

Going by the incidents, I am made to believe that we (me for sure!) fall on the wrong side of the net. It so happened that I along with my mother decided to watch the match, courtesy our office help, Prem who somehow managed two tickets for us. You would not find anything amusing until I would tell you that, I in the first place did not like the idea to go on free tickets. We Indians, are so used to free luxuries of life, that we would not even bother thinking purchasing things, no matter how small  they may be, because we can always get some "JUGAD" and yes, that's what I did being an Indian. Really shameful, but then... “Sab chalta hai yaar.”

And then, as we were about to enter the stadium, a police inspector yells at us from about 10 feet, which goes something like this, "Bibi eh purse andar nahi jaooga, eh bahar rakh ke aayo" it seemed ridiculous to me and I intervened, requesting and pleading with the middle aged officer to be considerate and told him we were ready for a thorough inspection of all articles in the purse. But, PP (Punjab Police)... "ki dassan main tohanu ohna baare"... and suddenly the inspector threateningly pointed towards me and said "oye, hun tu mainu dassenga ki karna aah, eh purse le jaa, te kite hor rakh ke aa" I felt bad and a tad humiliated and again requested him to kindly let the purse in, as our car was parked almost 1.5 kms away. But did he give in, please don't even expect so, instead he almost got out of his chair in again a very threatening manner, as if to hit me and yelled "tu chahe eh purse rakh aa, chahe samaan ithe hi sutt jaa, par purse andar nahi jaauga" and then a lot of ladies joined us to protest against this absurd law. May be the police officer was performing his duty to perfection, but was that serving/ helping us? May be not. Was he courteous enough, certainly not. Did it portray a benevolent image of the police? Forget it. Were there any instructions in newspapers beforehand detailing items that could be carried and those that cannot be carried into the stadium? Absolutely not. Was there a collection center for items that cannot be taken inside the stadium? Sorry, the answer again is a big NO.

Then, as we were forced to call it quits for the day, immediately after lunch, by the piercing heat, we noticed something unusual. We saw a turbaned Sikh, running after a teenaged boy in full fury, which he ultimately could not catch hold of. I thought that may be, the boy pick pocketed on him and was hence running for cover. I thought helping the sardar and chase the boy down. I went to the sardar and asked what has happened, to my dismay he pushed me away and asked me to mind my own business. Well done sardar ji.

And now, that "Milkha Singh" Sardar ji, was none other than a PP (Punjab Police) officer and was chasing down a black marketer of tickets. Not bad. But just then, I saw a village bumpkin being handcuffed by the sardar and being taken away. I stopped, enquired from the passer bys as my offer for help had already been turned down by the mighty sardar. And what I heard tore me into ruptures. The police could not catch the guy trying to black market the match tickets, but instead caught hold of the poor guy trying to purchase tickets. Ha ha ha. God save that poor guy from PP constable. You must be wondering, why I am laughing. Ok. Let me tell you. At the whole stadium, I could not find even a single stand for selling match tickets. Then what would you expect from people? To just hear the cheers of the stadium standing outside? Well, that's asking for just a bit too much.

So, these experiences made me wonder, that in India, either you have to be Something or you are absolutely Nothing!!!

20Plenty

"I caught on to cricket watching ODIs, and gradually moved to Test cricket. At this point of my evolution as a cricket fan, test cricket is infinitely more enjoyable than T20. But then lets analyze the argument from a purely marketing angle. Cricket fandom is declining. And new converts are not coming in big enough numbers to backfill the lost eyeballs. Now if you want to attract a fresh devotee, you have to evolve her through various steps. In the post T20 world here is how the scenario would work

• With T20 format, the game is more international and understandable. The entry barriers for a non-convert have gone significantly down. So many first timers would sample the game.
• T20 are designed to be more thrilling, hence the newcomer would be hooked to try it a second time.
• Once the newcomer is hooked to the format and has started recognizing star players, she would follow these stars to ODIs and later to Tests. Hence, I believe T20 is a good thing, so sit back and enjoy.

T20 as I believe will rejuvenate & revolutionized other traditional sports as well and why not? It gets me thinking, why could other sports not go in for re-jig, the way cricket has done? Instead of feeling threatened with the fear of being swept of their feet, other form of sports can surely think of ways of making the sport more user friendly and fast paced. Lets compare cricket and football. Why are almost 100 Nations following football and just 8 nations following cricket. I guess the reason is quite evident. It entertains the spectator and its gives a value for his money. T20 will not wipe off other games from the face of the world, but would only spur them to come out of hibernation and look at the world with a difference. Hockey's attempt with Premier Hockey League is a case in point. Change as they say is Nature's Law. So just wait and watch how this newest tamasha of sports unfolds itself."

Kunal Thakur

Published:
Hindustan Times dated October 2nd, 2007, page no 12

Moments Make a Lifetime...

Hii I am back with my promise of updating you all with the happenings of events during my two and half month's hiatus... I have already narrated to you one of the most significant event in last of my posts... but here today I would like to apprise you all with some of the other events which were equally important if not more...

To begin with 23rd of September 2006 was the day when we added another member to our family in what is known as the Man's Best Friend... yes we got a small little puppy for ourselves... named Simba... it's the same cute little dog from the now famous Hutch Advertisement... it was the sole decision of my brother to get this Pug home... it did cost us a fortune to bring him home... but he has truly sparkled each one of our lives with his spontaneity and liveliness... forcing us out of the bed early... and making sure we do not party late into the night... and also ensuring that we do our bit in keeping the house clean... he has made men out of us... transforming us into more disciplined and responsible individuals... now he's grown a good two months old... and is being cared for and nurtured just like a small baby... and he quickly notched up a space for himself as an integral part of the family...

Another important day of reckoning was 25th September 2006, which was my last day of office at Canadian Institute for International Studies... bringing to an end, an association, a relationship which lasted for nearly three long years... it being my first job would always be remembered as a place where I spent some of the best and quality time of my life... forging relationships which beyond the confines of the office... it was a place where I started my career from... where I learnt a lot... met a lot of intelligent, suave, open, and friendly people... a place where I was cared and nurtured just as a kid... and a place where I was the cynosure of all eyes... it was also a place... which fulfilled my ambition of traveling across the length and breadth of the country... infact as a kid I wanted to travel extensively within my native state of Punjab... exploring the culture and folk tales of the bravery... and finally my dreams came true at CIIS where I was fortunate enough to have traveled not only to every nook and corner of Punjab but infact got an opportunity to explore almost every inch of India... I got an opportunity to travel right across Jammu & Kashmir to Kanyakumari... from Junagadh to Kathmandu... I was in love with every bit of it... was a witness to almost everthing nature had to offer... big mountains... large unending deserts... vast sea scapes... during my stay I also got a chance to connect with a wide variety of people... from different cultures, religions, regions, and varied viewpoints... which helped me in transforming (possibly for the better) as individual...

27th September... well... days were changing fast... a lot of events unfolded during a span of just about a week... this was my first day at my new office, the Times of India... a day which brought a lot of new hopes... new challenges... a day which introduced me to scores of bright and talented set of people... it was the beginning of a new association... a long professional commitment... looking forward to it...

22nd November 2006 was the day when my brother resumed from where I left... meaning... he too purely guided by hand of luck... got to begin his career with the same organization as I did... i.e. Canadian Institute for International Studies... being a Computer Engineer by profession it would not have been any easy for him to gain entry into the organization as a Marketing Professional... but kudos to him firing through and getting just where he wanted... just like me he's entered a new phase of life... I would like to wish him the very best of luck in all his future endeavors... for the record... he's just into his second week at CIIS and is already flying down to Kolkatta for a official visit...!!! now that's cool naaa... isn't it...???

November 20th - 27th November... well... u might be wondering what's this fuss is all about... well, this was time during which I got a chance to become a kid again and revisit my long lost days of school time once again... rotting history notes... playing with friends... and giving tests and exams... to break the suspense this was my training and induction week at Times of India... this would go down as one of the most memorable weeks for me... it had all the ingredients of being written as a full separate post... but anyways... this was the time when I connected to my roots... just to give u glimpse into it... a typical day at the training session would begin at about 9.30am in the morning... but the surprise element was that nobody knew when the clock would strike half past nine... as it was only when our instructor would turn up would the clock strike half past nine... and just to spice things up there was fine of 100 Rs for anybody turning up late... there were some other rules too... like, no mobile phones allowed... and the mobile phones had to be submitted only in the switched off mode... and there was fine for anybody forgetting any tenet of instructions... we were made to learn the history of media... and it was followed by a test... anybody getting less than 90% was deemed to have failed and was required to pay a fine of Rs 150. In the afternoons we all together used to have the deliciously cooked lunch in a group... which was followed by a game of Pithu Garam... and we never knew when those seven days passed off... the last day was spent at the Times House in Delhi... a humungous setup there in Delhi... where about 2000 employees work under one roof... all put together it was a wonderful experience on the whole...

So this was a hastily compiled essay of events in my life... as and when they unfolded... would come back again soon with a new set of news and views... thanks for listening patiently into it...

Unshackled...

Well... my earnest apologies to start with... for not updating my blog regularly... to be honest... there was no particular reason for it... neither was I overtly busy... nor had I been away from home for a long period of time, as was the case earlier... frankly speaking it was pure laziness on my part for not writing and not updating my blog... trust me; this would have been the last thing on my mind... but somehow on some occasions I do enjoy showering myself with some royal treatment... as I did during these two months of hibernation...

A lot has happened during this two and half month period... somethings which were significant... infact very significant... which could have an impact on the times to come... and not just restricted to time... but even lives... and not one... but many...

I would just like to roll you over the events that took place during my self-imposed hibernation... one by one... probably only one atleast in this piece of writing...

It was 19th September... a very innocuous day... I was just sitting in my office... and suddenly my phone bell rang... waking me up from my siesta after lunch... it was a call from what would later turn out to be my future employer... it was a call from one of the biggest organizations operating in the Indian landscape... it was a call from the revered Times Of India Group... the Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd... asking me to drop into their office and collect my offer letter... I was just left dumb stuck... I just could not believe my luck... how it had changed in a matter of seconds... they (TOI) had initially asked me to turn up the next morning for collecting my "Love Letter"... but I could not resist the temptation and just could not hold myself back and requested if I could come to their office and collect the letter right away... a request which they gleefully accepted... the time was set for 5'o clock in the evening...

I was visibly ecstatic... and I straightaway headed home to groom myself up for the occasion... I shaved... I ironed a new set of clothes... and I also applied a lot of perfume to make sure that I don't let the chance slip out of my hand like sand... and I made sure that I reached the venue before the specified time and do not give my would be future employers any chance for complaint... I reached the office fully geared up for any thing that might come flying my way... I hesitantly entered the (would be) new office and signed on the visitor sheet... and then I approached the well laid out reception area and introduced my self confidentially and asked for the concerned person... upon which the lady at the reception picked up the receiver of the phone and very quietly spoke with someone on the other end... and upon completion of the call I was respectfully asked to wait... the wait never seemed to end and after waiting for some 20 minutes... I was directed to meet the Branch Head of the Chandigarh unit.. which initially spawned quite a few butterflies down my stomach... but then I handled the whole interview very gracefully at the end of which I was rewarded with a offer letter from the organization... I was very elated to read that and gleefully signed on the xeroxed copy of the sheet and handed them back... which clearly stated that, 27th September 2006 would mark the beginning of a new chapter in my life...

My joy knew no bounds... and Airtel helped me spread the message around, taking it to all shores of Chandigarh and the adjoining areas... there were also frantic phone calls pouring in... congratulatory messages being received... it seemed as if I have had won the Olympic Gold medal... in the end then I along with one of my very good friends decided to celebrate the occasion with a nice dinner... and we chose HM Salad Bar as the fortunate destination...

So this was the origin of all the action during these two odd months... thus carrying you all forwad from where I left you... I have a tendency to underplay events... in some cases it is good... but in some other it can create minor and major problems as well... anyways... this is the first part of a series of many still to aired episodes on www.blogspot.com... so keep looking for this space again in a couple of days time and keep your fingers crossed... Good-bye till then...

Stuff of the legends...

Last week was an amazing week for the sports crazy buffs like me... there were hell lot of ups and downs going around... a US Open where Roger Federer was busy rewriting the record books and where two of the brightest stars of the game faded into sunset, Andre Agassi and Martina Navratilova... one of the most important Formula 1 Grand Prix in the history of the sport at Monza, Italy where the world saw the departure of one of it's most admired athletes, Michael Schumacher... and a subdued Hockey World Cup in Germany (in the light of the recently concluded Football World Cup)... Roger Federer created a unique record of winning three US Open and three Wimbledon's in a row... Agassi and Navratilova announced their retirements... Michael Schumacher wins the Formula one race and announces his retirement from the sport after virtually dominating it for so many years, elsewhere Indians were taking a heavy pounding in the Hockey World Cup in Germany losing relentlessly to teams ranked well below them and failing to register even a single win... these were some of the sweet sour incidents which have virtually changed the whole sporting scenario upside down... the world would never be the same again...

7 World Championships
90 Grand Prix victories
153 Podium finishes
5 Most consecutive World championship titles won
Most pole positions 68

The name's Michael Schumacher...

59 Total Grand Slam Titles
41 Grand Slam Doubles Titles
Winner of all 4 Grand Slam Titles
18 Singles Grand Slam Titles
9 Wimbledon Titles

The name's Martina Navratilova...

8 Grand Slam Titles
Winner of all 4 Grand Slam Titles, only 5 man in history to do so.
Winner of every major title on offer, Masters, Grand Slams, Davis Cup, Olympic Gold etc.
Career Spanning 21 Years

Better known as Andre Kirk Agassi...

8 Olympic Gold Medals
1 World Cup Title
6 Consecutive Olympics gold medals
National Game of the country...

Hockey... The golden sport of India...

It's said Legends live for ever.... and how true it seems to be... all these legend... no matter where they are... would keep on ruling our hearts and souls well after they are gone... their mesmerizing style of play would keep on entertaining us and would always keep on reminding us of the glorious era...

But nobody's indispensable... many great individuals have arrived and left the scene... but the show never stops... it must go on... but yes the void will be felt for ever and ever...