[Reader-list] Migration, Money Flow and Western Union

[Patrice Riemens]

Dear ,

Yes, you're quite right, both on the count of the intricacies of the 'havala' system, and also the importance of internal transfers, 
which I didn't touch on on purpose. You also allude to a very important element of informal systems: trust (as opposed to formal /legal 
arrangements based on protection against abuses - mistrust). Regarding India, I remember that the Postal Money Order service is taking a 
cut of Re 1 in 20 (5%) which is truly extortionate and a tax on the poor (as are so many other taxes...).
The first instance where I read a direct allusion of Western Union's probable role in the demise of 'havala' comes from an improbable 
source: John Brady Kiesling's book on the disaster that American Foreign Policy has become (pls search for it, no browser at hand...) 
Cheers, p+2D!

On Fri, Nov 23, 2007 at 03:28:31PM +0530, sadan at sarai.net wrote:
> Dear Patrice,
> Thanks for your post. Yes you are right in poiting out the role of     \
> informalchannels of money transfer. However, I am not sure whether 'Havala'
> can help us to understand migration and money transfer in a scenario     \
> involving small players, less well to do migrants i.e. workers or middle
> level professionals. This is I think where Western Union aims at. You are 
> right pointing out that there is a lack of good material on the practice of
> havala. I remember reading a narrative of one such encounter in Delhi     \
> where some one posted his personal experience of sending money using this  
> network.
> Havala at times refer to a whole range of practice of money transfer     \
> and this blanket use of the term at times doesnot permit us to know the
> intricacies involved with specific practices otherwise referred as     \
> Havala.
> For example, we know very little about domestic money transfer, ways     \
> in which migrant workers from north Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand send money    
> back to their homes. In Surat, Gujarat there are operators (people from   \
> this migrant community of workers) who are known as 'Tappawalla'. They   
> work very smoothly to send money to Orissa and enjoy the faith of this
> community. I am told that the emergence of these 'Tappawallas' owes a lot
> to the mushrooming private banks (non-state players i.e. HSBC, CITY Bank, 
> ICICI etc), ATM booths and mobile phone culture.
> sadan.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 12:52 pm 11/23/07 "Patrice Riemens" <patrice at xs4all.nl> wrote:
> >
> > As is quite usual with the NYT, this otherwise very interesting
> > article glosses over an important piece of information within the
> > issue of money transfers, vital for migrant labourers the world over:
> > how Western Union profited, if it was not directly instrumental to,
> > the relentless attacks against, and the partial demise of, informal
> > money transfer systems and structures (known in S.Asia, and even
> > quite generally, as _Havala_) migrants were using these en masse
> > before 911. Havala, which is/ was as fast and reliable as Western
> > Union, but considerably cheaper, was demonised and criminalised after
> > 911 as a conduit for terrorist money, and, in 'advanced' economies at
> > last, largely disbanded. Very little has been written (afaik) about
> > this.
> >
> > >  November 22, 2007
> > >  Border Crossings
> > >  Western Union Empire Moves Migrant Cash Home
> > >  By JASON DePARLE
> > >
> > >  http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/22/world/22western.html?
> > >  _r=1&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all
> > >
> > >  WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 ???????? To glimpse how migration is changing
> > >  the world, consider Western Union, a fixture of American lore that
> > >  went bankrupt selling telegrams at the dawn of the Internet age
> > >  but now earns nearly $1 billion a year helping poor migrants
> > >  across the globe send money home.
> > >