Oman-India relations: Exploring the long-term migration dynamics

Abstract

This chapter sets out to illustrate the nature of the Oman-India civilizational relationship through the perusal of the migration dynamics that have facilitated the process of regionalization. The historical legacy that goes back to the Byzantine trading and migration links people resulted in a robust and enduring relationship stretching across many centuries. While the historicity of migration reveals nostalgic nuances of people’s movement, it also brings out the other important dimensions and intricacies that influence and determine the scope and breadth of Omani-Indian interactions. Important among them is the trend of Indian migrants settling in Oman and their economic, social and cultural orientations that have crucial effects on Oman and its nationals and the overall process of regionalization. The trajectory of Indian migration to Oman has come full circle: in the earlier era, Indian merchants virtually controlled the Omani economic domain and thereby revolutionized the commercial landscape; the oil era and post-oil era witnessed an influx of skilled and semi-skilled Indian migrants becoming the foot soldiers in the process of the economic development of the Sultanate. While the pattern and level of engagement between the locals and Indian migrants have transformed today, they speak volumes about the role of migration in the process of regionalization. Nevertheless, the role and status of Indian migrants have changed in conformity with the pace and scale of economic development of the Sultanate, being contingent upon the prevailing political, social and cultural undercurrents.