Push factors likes lack of economic opportunities, political and religious persecution, or
hazardous environmental conditions drive people from their country of origin and serve as a
trigger for emigration. The availability of jobs, religious and political freedom and perception
of a relatively liberal policy regime act as pull factors that make the desired country
attractive. Push and pull are complementary that is, migration can only occur if the reasons to
emigrate (the push) are accompanied by the corresponding pull at dream destination. Punjab
popularly known as the ―food bowl of India‖ also suffers from emigration to the western
countries. It is an ironic state of affairs that the wage squeeze among low skilled jobs in
Punjab is partially a consequence of large scale domestic migration from other states such as
Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Another major factor that stokes Punjabi fascination for alien shores
is the desire to earn the ―NRI‖ tag which is seen as a status symbol especially among Punjabi
youth. The situation is further exacerbated by the role of travel agents.
It is fundamental to stop the movements of Punjabis and this cannot be solved by
unilateral forms of policy actions that are limited in scope and suffer from informal and
jurisdictional constraints. Transnational cooperation is the only way to address this
transnational phenomenon. The paper tries to highlight the various push and pull factors in
Punjabis immigration and its impact on Indian Economy.
Key Words: Immigration, push factors, pull factors, Punjabis.