Trends and Patterns of Internal Migration in India, 1971-2001

R.Lusome* and R.B.Bhagat**

Abstract: Internal migration is now recognized as an important factor in influencing social and economic development, especially in developing countries. Indian censuses record that in 2001, 309 million persons were migrants based on place of last residence, which constitute about 30% of the total population of the country. This is nearly double the number of internal migrants as recorded in the census of 1971 (159 million). This suggests that socio-economic changes in the last three decades have greatly affected the mobility of the population. This paper attempts to provide the trends and patterns of internal migration during 1971-2001 on the basis of census data for that period. Findings show that the composition of internal migration has changed over the years. Moreover, it is observed that the growth of internal migrants differs by sex as well as the streams of migration and the mobility of Indian population has significantly increased during the 1990s.

**

Research Scholar, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai. Professor, Department of Migration and Urban Studies, IIPS, Mumbai.

Paper presented at the Annual Conference of Indian Association for the Study of Population (IASP) during 7-9 June, 2006, Thiruvananthapuram.

Introduction Migration has become a universal phenomenon in modern times. Due to the expansion of transport and communication, it has become a part of worldwide process of urbanization and industrialization. In most countries, it has been observed that industrialization and economic development has been accompanied by large-scale movements of people from villages to towns, from towns to other towns and from one country to another country. From the demographic point of view, migration is one of the three basic components of population growth of any area, the other being fertility and mortality. But whereas both fertility and mortality operate within the biological framework, migration does not. It influences size, composition and distribution of population. More importantly, migration influences the social, political and economic life of the people. Indian constitution provides basic freedom to move to any part of the country, right to reside and earn livelihood of their choice. Thus, migrants are not required to register either at the place of origin or at the place of destination. A number of economic, social, cultural and political factors play an important role in the decision to move. The effects of these factors vary over time and place. Analysis of migration pattern is important to understand the changes taking place in the peoples movement within the country. It is most volatile component of population growth and most sensitive to economic, political and cultural factors (Singh, 1998). Proper understanding of the patterns of migration would help in the estimation of future population redistribution. The reliability and dependability of these estimates depend much on the consideration of all the temporal factors of birth, death and internal migration on which population grows in its finest precision (Chakravarty, 1997). During the days when there is a lot of economic and industrial development in various parts of the country and when movement of the population has intensified, emphasis should be given to further understanding and study of the trends and patterns of migration. Several studies (Bose, 1977; Nair and Narain, 1985; Premi, 1990; and Singh, 1998; Zachariah, 1963, 1964) found that volume of interstate migration in India was low but asserted the fact that about one third of Indias population is enumerated outside their place of birth indicating the importance of migration as a major demographic process in India. Moreover, when regional fertility and mortality differentials decline, migration becomes the foremost component influencing the redistribution of population (Beck, 1985).

Definition of Migration Migration is defined as a move from one migration defining area to another, usually crossing administrative boundaries made during a given migration interval and involving a change of residence (UN 1993). The change in residence can take place either permanent or semipermanent or temporary basis (Premi, 1990). Internal migration involves a change of residence within national borders (Dang 2005). Until 1951, district was the migration defining area (MDA), implying that a person was considered a migrant in India only if he or she has changed residence from the district of birth to another district or a state. Since 1961, data on migration have been collected by considering each revenue village or urban settlement as a separate unit. A person is considered as a migrant if birthplace is different from place of enumeration. In 1971 census, an additional question on place of last residence was introduced to collect migration data. Since then, census provides data on migrants based on place of birth (POB) and place of last residence (POLR). If the place of birth or place of last residence is different from the place of enumeration, a person is defined as a migrant. On the other hand, if the place of birth and place of enumeration is the same, the person is a non-migrant (Bhagat, 2005). Since 1961 census, the duration of residence has been ascertained to provide data on timing of movement. The duration data are published as less than one year, 1-4 years, and 5-9 years, 1019 years and 20 and above years. Migrants of all durations are defined as lifetime migrants because the time of their move is not known. They are those who came to the place of enumeration at any point during their lives and have been living there ever since, whether this happened just a week before the census or a few decades ago (Premi, 1990). Intercensal migrants are the migrants who have migrated within the duration of 0-9 years. Migration can be measured either as events or transitions. The former are normally associated with population registers, which record individual moves while the latter generally derived from censuses compare place of residence at two points in time. A recent survey shows that census is the largest source of information on internal migration at the cross-country level. A study shows that 138 countries collected information on internal migration in their censuses compared to 35 through registers and 22 from surveys (Bell, 2003). In India, information on migration has been collected in a number of large scale and localized sample surveys. Yet the population census has remained the most important source of migration data.

The paper uses the place of last residence data from the census of 1971 to 2001 and attempts to bring out the trends and patterns of internal migration in India. Internal Migration in India Table 1 gives the absolute figure (in million) of lifetime migrants and intercensal migrants based on the place of last residence criterion. In 1971 census, 160 million comprising of 50 million males and 110 million females, were termed migrants on the basis of place of last residence. This constitutes 30.6 per cent of the total population of the country.
Table 1: Internal migrants by sex, India 1971-2001 Lifetime Migrants (in million) Percentage of migrants Persons Males Females Persons Males Females 159.6 49.6 110.0 30.6 19.0 43.1 201.6 59.2 142.4 30.3 17.6 43.9 225.9 61.1 164.8 27.4 14.6 41.2 309.4 90.7 218.7 30.6 17.5 44.6

Year 1971 1981 1991 2001

In term of total volume of migration, the figure has increased to 201 million in 1981, 226 million in 1991 and 309 million in 2001. The percentages of migrants to total population however declined to 30.3 per cent in 1981 and further to 27.4 per cent in 1991. It has however increased to 30.6 per cent in 2001. Sex wise differences are very prominent in Indian migration data. It has been observed that majority of migrants are females. Table 2 shows the growth of migrants among lifetime migrants and intercensal migrants. It is evident that there is a steep increase in the growth of migrants in 2001 with males achieving about 50 per cent increase over that of 1991 figure.
Table 2: Growth of Internal Migrants by sex, India 1971-2001. Lifetime Migrants (%) Intercensal Migrants (%) Persons Males Females Persons Males Females 26.30 19.43 29.40 18.77 13.74 22.02 12.04 3.21 15.72 -0.01 -12.34 7.42 36.96 48.33 32.75 20.52 21.85 19.87 93.82 82.83 98.78 43.13 21.48 57.12

Year 1971-81 1981-91 1991-01 1971-01

The table also shows the differences between lifetime migrants and intercensal migrants. It may be seen that a negative growth among male intercensal migrants has occurred during 1981-91 in contrast to the growth of lifetime migrants. The growth in the lifetime male migrants compared to negative growth in decadal male migrants shows that duration data are not correctly reported. However, it remains undisputed that there was a deceleration of male migration during 1981-91.

Table 3 shows that the growth of female migrants is greater than those of male migrants. There is 169 per cent increase in female migration in urban category during the period 1971 to 2001, as against 156 per cent increase in male migration during the same period.
Table 3: Growth of Internal Migrants by rural urban status, India 1971-2001. Total (%) Urban (%) Rural (%) Person Male Female Person Male Female Person Male Female 26.30 19.43 29.40 18.0 4.5 22.6 40.2 32.1 48.4 12.04 3.21 15.72 10.9 -0.2 14.1 13.8 6.5 20.7 36.96 48.33 32.75 29.5 33.6 28.4 49.6 57.2 43.3 93.82 82.83 98.78 69.1 69.4 68.9 162.2 156.4 169.1

Year 1971-81 1981-91 1991-01 1971-01

Distribution of migrants by migration streams As per the place of last residence (or birth) and place of enumeration, internal migrants can be classified into three migration streams, which are roughly indicative of distance of migration: Intradistrict migrants: person with last residence outside the place of enumeration but within the same district. Inter-district migrants: person with last residence outside the district of enumeration but within the same state. Interstate migrants: person with last residence in India but beyond the state of enumeration. Further, based on the rural and urban nature of the place of last residence and the place of enumeration, internal migrants can further be classified into four migration streams: rural-torural, rural-to-urban, urban-to-rural, and urban-to-urban.

Type of migration streams

Table 4: Percent distribution of lifetime migrants of each sex by migration streams, India 1971-2001 1971 1981 1991 2001 Sex Sex Sex Males Females Ratio Males Females Ratio Males Females Ratio Males Females 36.8 9.3 3.6 3.3 53.3 9.5 8.0 2.4 7.2 27.2 4.5 6.7 1.5 6.2 19.6 50.8 24.0 7.5 16.6 49.6 61.2 5.3 3.0 1.8 71.4 12.1 3.2 1.5 3.4 20.3 3.5 1.7 0.6 2.3 8.3 76.8 10.2 5.1 7.5 110.0 271 791 550 838 336 353 1138 698 953 604 592 1719 1074 1189 1059 298 1057 660 1000 451 32.2 10.7 3.6 4.6 51.1 9.3 9.5 2.6 8.4 29.9 3.8 7.5 1.4 6.2 19.0 45.2 27.7 7.6 19.2 59.2 56.6 6.0 3.0 2.5 68.1 13.4 3.9 1.8 4.1 23.3 3.3 2.1 0.6 2.5 8.6 73.3 12.0 5.5 9.1 142.4 237 744 510 772 313 289 1010 595 848 534 477 1478 921 1026 915 257 960 578 876 416 30.9 11.3 3.6 4.3 50.4 8.9 10.5 2.5 8.0 30.1 3.5 8.0 1.3 6.5 19.4 43.3 29.8 7.4 18.9 61.1 54.7 6.3 2.9 2.3 66.5 14.0 4.5 1.9 4.0 24.5 3.3 2.3 0.7 2.7 9.0 72.0 13.2 5.4 9.0 164.8 210 664 464 685 281 235 867 508 735 456 393 1279 705 913 803 223 841 509 774 371 19.1 8.3 2.6 5.3 52.2 6.2 8.9 1.5 7.2 26.7 3.4 9.8 0.9 5.7 21.1 28.8 27.0 5.0 18.2 90.7 50.6 5.3 2.2 2.7 66.9 12.4 4.2 1.2 3.9 23.0 3.6 2.9 0.5 2.5 10.1 66.6 12.4 3.9 9.2 218.7

Sex Ratio 157 645 510 810 324 207 884 501 765 481 392 1392 747 924 865 179 902 538 822 415

I Intradistrict Rural to Rural Rural to Urban Urban to Rural Urban to Urban Sub-total II Interdistrict Rural to Rural Rural to Urban Urban to Rural Urban to Urban Sub-total III Interstate Rural to Rural Rural to Urban Urban to Rural Urban to Urban Sub-total All Streams Rural to Rural Rural to Urban Urban to Rural Urban to Urban Total migrants (million)

Note: Sex Ratio is male per 1000 female.

Type of migration streams

Table 5: Percent distribution of intercensal migrants of each sex by migration streams, India 1971-2001 1971 1981 1991 2001 Sex Sex Sex Males Females Ratio Males Females Ratio Males Females Ratio Males Females 34.8 9.2 4.3 3.7 52.2 10.3 7.3 3.0 7.8 28.6 4.8 5.9 2.0 6.0 19.2 54.7 5.9 3.7 2.4 66.8 12.0 3.9 2.1 4.9 22.9 3.7 2.2 1.0 3.2 10.2 412 1003 755 978 505 556 1220 917 1044 808 843 1701 1320 1219 1211 459 1202 888 1082 646 30.2 11.0 4.3 5.1 50.6 9.8 9.2 3.3 8.9 31.2 4.1 5.3 1.8 5.6 18.1 44.1 26.8 9.4 19.9 30.4 49.1 7.2 3.7 3.5 63.4 12.5 5.1 2.4 5.9 26.0 3.5 2.7 1.0 3.3 10.6 65.0 15.0 7.1 12.7 50.5 370 928 714 872 481 473 1084 814 911 724 713 1167 1053 1007 1033 408 1077 796 941 603 27.6 12.2 4.3 4.4 48.6 9.3 10.6 3.1 8.7 31.7 3.9 7.5 1.7 6.4 19.6 40.8 30.3 9.1 19.5 26.7 48.5 7.5 3.5 2.9 62.6 13.2 5.6 2.3 5.4 26.6 3.4 2.9 0.9 3.5 10.8 65.1 16.0 6.7 11.8 54.3 280 802 605 736 382 345 930 654 792 587 569 1247 903 913 895 308 929 662 814 492 22.5 9.8 4.0 4.9 43.5 8.3 10.2 2.4 8.6 30.3 5.4 11.7 1.6 6.8 26.2 36.1 31.7 7.9 20.3 32.5 47.1 6.5 3.1 3.2 61.4 12.7 5.4 1.8 5.3 25.8 4.2 3.9 0.8 3.5 12.8 64.0 15.8 5.7 12.0 65.0

Sex Ratio 238 759 646 776 354 326 944 663 808 587 648 1481 986 962 1024 282 1002 700 845 500

I Intradistrict Rural to Rural Rural to Urban Urban to Rural Urban to Urban Sub-total II Interdistrict Rural to Rural Rural to Urban Urban to Rural Urban to Urban Sub-total III Interstate Rural to Rural Rural to Urban Urban to Rural Urban to Urban Sub-total

All Streams Rural to Rural 50.0 70.3 Rural to Urban 22.4 12.0 Urban to Rural 9.4 6.8 Urban to Urban 17.5 10.5 Total migrants (million) 26.8 41.4 Note: Sex Ratio is male per 1000 female.

Table 4 depicts the percentage distribution of migration streams separately for males and females lifetime migrants from 1971 to 2001. On the other hand Table 5 gives the intercensal migrants side by side to facilitate comparison of lifetime and intercensal migrants. There is a substantial decline in the proportion of intradistrict migrants and a corresponding increase in interdistrict and interstate migrants. The creation of three new states in 2000 may have inflated the proportion of interstate migrants in 2001. Rural to rural migration formed the most dominant stream at the national level, but its importance declined over time for both males and females in all the three distance categories. The decline was greater in case of males. There is a large share of female intradistrict rural-to-rural migration, which is generally explained in terms of marriage migration. Rural-to-rural intradistrict migration of males seems to be due to their migration from areas of low agricultural productivity to sparsely populated areas with new developmental activities (Gosal and Krishnan, 1975; Quoted in Premi, 1990). While there has been a substantial increase in the proportion of rural-to-urban migrants over time in all three distance categories, there has also been an increase in the proportion of urban-to-urban migrants. Intradistrict, interdistrict and interstate migration streams contributed almost equally in the net rural-to-urban male migration over the period under consideration. The proportion of net rural-to-urban lifetime migration of females however decreased with increasing distance. The share of urban-to-urban migration of both males and females was comparatively low in the intradistrict stream, but it increased substantially in the interdistrict and interstate streams. As institutions of higher learning, particularly professional and technical institutions, are not available in each district, an urge for higher education motivates urban dwellers as well as some of the rural folk to migrate over long distances. This is also partly due to the creation of jobs in the modern sector in major metropolises and big cities (Premi, 1990) As migration distance increases, the sex ratio also improves sharply in favour of females in all four streams of migration. In 2001, the sex ratio is favorable to male only in

interstate rural-to-urban migration stream. In all other streams, females outnumbered males. Growth by migration streams Table 6 to 8 show the percentage growth of migrants during the intercensal period of 1971-81, 1981-91 and 1991-2001 respectively. The percentage growth of lifetime migrants (migrants with all durations) and intercensal migrants (migrants with 0-9 years duration) have been presented to facilitate their comparisons.
Table 6: Growth of migrants by migration streams, India 1971-81 Lifetime Migrants Migration streams All Internal Migrants Rural to Rural Rural to Urban Urban to Rural Urban to Urban Intradistrict Rural to Rural Rural to Urban Urban to Rural Urban to Urban Interdistrict Rural to Rural Rural to Urban Urban to Rural Urban to Urban Interstate Rural to Rural Rural to Urban Urban to Rural Urban to Urban 19.56 44.56 31.35 47.83 16.49 41.37 26.25 74.71 36.00 50.51 44.83 49.65 13.88 42.51 15.91 28.43 6.32 37.83 21.06 38.10 4.57 36.56 20.07 66.95 16.70 42.11 31.52 40.73 -1.17 34.47 7.26 19.70 23.51 51.69 38.14 57.55 19.72 45.18 29.64 81.20 42.83 60.06 54.11 58.16 22.79 56.32 25.19 38.82 8.87 43.25 21.00 38.61 6.26 41.85 18.54 66.96 20.88 50.42 30.71 38.63 5.81 19.72 10.45 15.97 0.30 36.07 14.04 29.28 -1.57 36.34 14.70 57.32 8.71 42.35 22.58 29.33 -3.73 2.35 -0.41 5.91 12.80 51.89 27.19 48.71 9.48 47.38 21.43 76.40 27.64 60.27 38.16 48.35 13.85 49.28 24.79 28.25 Persons Males Females Intercensal Migrants Persons Males Females

Table 6 shows a positive growth for lifetime migrants for all migration streams but a negative growth of male migration into the rural areas. Such finding suggests that male migration has been mainly towards urban areas. The growth for female migration is positive in all streams indicating increasing female migration during 1971-81.

Table 7: Growth of migrants by migration streams, India 1981-91 Migration streams All Internal Migrants Rural to Rural Rural to Urban Urban to Rural Urban to Urban Intradistrict Rural to Rural Rural to Urban Urban to Rural Urban to Urban Interdistrict Rural to Rural Rural to Urban Urban to Rural Urban to Urban Interstate Rural to Rural Rural to Urban Urban to Rural Urban to Urban 10.64 19.34 9.40 8.32 9.34 17.37 9.01 3.95 16.36 23.74 11.79 6.05 9.13 16.66 11.49 15.50 -1.29 11.33 0.73 1.22 -0.98 9.78 2.32 -3.02 -1.03 14.34 0.94 -2.07 -4.61 9.74 -3.86 8.86 13.71 27.03 14.42 14.54 11.78 23.02 12.42 9.33 21.38 33.22 18.25 12.94 15.68 26.90 25.61 22.31 -0.03 6.58 -5.63 -7.29 -0.73 4.95 -4.14 -17.04 3.54 9.11 -5.88 -7.94 -3.40 20.15 -9.65 6.06 -18.74 -1.03 -15.17 -14.20 -19.67 -2.93 -13.23 -24.50 -17.25 1.10 -17.06 -14.64 -15.85 23.84 -16.43 0.87 7.61 14.79 1.96 -0.78 6.29 12.25 2.36 -10.54 13.38 17.80 3.21 -1.85 5.48 15.84 -2.51 11.28 Lifetime Migrants Persons Males Females Intercensal Migrants Persons Males Females

Table 7 also shows a negative growth for male migration into the rural areas during 198191. Migration has decreased in this decade as shown by negative growth among male and female intercensal migrants. However, it is to be mentioned here that the growth of duration not stated has registered a significant increase from less than 1 percent in 1971-81 to more than 100 percent in 1981-91 in all streams of migration. This however does not belittle the fact that the growth of male and female migrants registered an increase in interstate rural to urban and urban to urban streams of migration during the period 1981-91. Table 8 shows a positive growth for lifetime as well as intercensal migrants and for both male and female migrants during the decade 1991-2001. Male interstate rural to urban migration stream shows an increase of nearly 90 per cent while females increased by about 61 per cent. On the other hand, in interstate urban to urban migration stream males

show an increase by 28 per cent while females have increased by 22 per cent. These increases in rural - urban and urban - urban are greater than the increases in other streams of migration for both male and female categories.

Table 8: Growth of migrants by migration streams, India 1991-2001 Migration streams All Internal Migrants Rural to Rural Rural to Urban Urban to Rural Urban to Urban Intradistrict Rural to Rural Rural to Urban Urban to Rural Urban to Urban Interdistrict Rural to Rural Rural to Urban Urban to Rural Urban to Urban Interstate Rural to Rural Rural to Urban Urban to Rural Urban to Urban 18.40 29.51 -3.56 38.39 17.42 9.83 2.24 66.51 14.72 24.74 -14.37 30.08 46.54 76.41 1.50 28.05 -1.41 34.37 0.00 43.12 -8.08 7.93 8.91 83.37 3.22 26.02 -15.15 33.07 46.14 82.96 5.02 28.83 22.82 25.41 -5.37 34.73 22.77 11.10 -0.86 54.97 17.43 23.64 -13.97 27.88 46.70 68.04 -0.99 27.33 15.37 22.84 3.00 24.27 12.55 1.25 8.24 33.41 13.44 16.30 -8.65 19.05 54.58 77.59 12.02 24.92 7.78 27.68 6.48 26.85 -0.99 -1.89 12.69 37.44 8.54 17.17 -7.87 20.42 67.61 90.98 17.19 28.37 17.71 18.35 0.70 22.17 16.34 3.77 5.55 30.45 15.13 15.50 -9.16 17.96 47.16 60.88 7.35 21.76 Lifetime Migrants Persons Males Females Intercensal Migrants Persons Males Females

Reasons for migration Indian censuses started collecting information on reasons for migration since 1981 census based on place of last residence. The data on reasons for migration by migration streams and types of migration are presented in Table 9 for intercensal migrants. In 2001, the reasons for migration have been classified into seven broad groups work/employment, business, education, marriage, moved at birth, moved with family and others. The data on reasons for migration are useful to understand the motivational factors behind movement of people.

It is observed from Table 9 that employment among males and marriage among females are the main reasons for migration. Associational reasons movement on account of accompanying parents or any other member of the family is elicited second most important reason among both male and female intercensal migrants. Around 44 percent of the total intercensal migrants have moved due to marriages. However, it is predominantly led by females as 65 percent of females have migrated owing to their marriages compared to 2 percent among males. Among male migrants, employment has continued to be the main reason for migration with nearly 40 percent of them accounted by it. The intrastate migration as shown in Table 10 shows the importance of marriage as a reason of migration. When interstate migration is taken into account, as shown in Table 11, employment emerges as the main reason for migration. Nearly 32 percent of all interstate migrants during the intercensal period migrated for the reason of work or employment. This is closely followed by moved with household reason accounting for around 30 percent of the intercensal interstate migrants. Table 9: Percentage distribution of reasons for total intercensal migration by sex and streams of migration, India 2001
Reasons for Migration (in %) work/ Moved Streams employment Business Education Marriage after Birth Total 14.63 1.15 2.96 44.05 6.73
R-R Duration 0-9 R-U U-R U-U Total R-R Males R-U U-R U-U Total R-R Females R-U U-R U-U 7.89 12.81 27.84 19.87 37.58 28.87 26.51 50.64 38.53 3.16 2.17 3.50 5.00 4.10 0.62 1.22 1.99 1.87 2.90 2.15 2.44 3.63 3.55 0.28 0.20 0.40 0.35 0.45 1.90 3.02 4.97 4.23 6.22 6.27 5.16 7.08 6.16 1.34 0.71 1.56 2.86 2.61 62.33 28.98 21.91 22.00 2.08 4.26 1.58 0.83 0.84 65.02 78.17 47.58 43.03 39.87 5.97 18.67 4.89 7.88 10.53 14.46 24.19 5.11 9.01 4.84 3.66 14.92 4.66 6.92

Moved with Household

20.88 13.03 24.64 29.64 34.75 25.11 25.17 24.93 22.68 30.12 18.76 9.71 24.45 36.62 38.66

Others
9.59 8.26 10.66 8.76 9.41 15.58 18.82 15.19 10.03 11.79 6.60 5.38 7.59 7.49 7.39

Table 10: Percentage distribution of reasons for intrastate migration in the intercensal period by sex and streams of migration, India 2001
Reasons for Intrastate Migration (in %) work/ Moved after Moved with Streams employment Business Education Marriage Birth Household
Total R-R Duration 0-9 R-U U-R U-U Total R-R Males R-U U-R U-U Total R-R Females R-U U-R U-U 11.04 6.81 11.23 21.89 17.20 30.80 25.49 23.34 42.29 34.02 2.68 2.01 3.32 4.71 3.81 1.01 0.58 1.10 2.01 1.70 2.77 2.03 2.19 3.98 3.30 0.27 0.20 0.38 0.36 0.44 3.03 1.96 2.90 6.26 3.93 7.07 6.78 5.03 9.61 5.75 1.33 0.73 1.51 3.45 2.49 48.57 63.54 29.79 25.27 23.23 2.57 4.53 1.66 1.10 0.97 68.03 78.69 48.13 45.64 40.95 7.35 6.20 20.88 5.34 9.34 12.87 15.74 27.70 6.12 11.03 5.01 3.75 16.43 4.70 7.99 19.16 12.55 23.40 29.89 34.64 26.31 25.58 24.63 25.43 32.01 16.14 9.21 22.60 33.65 36.72

Others
9.83 8.36 10.71 9.32 9.96 17.61 19.84 15.44 11.49 12.92 6.54 5.41 7.63 7.50 7.60

Table 11: Percentage distribution of reasons for interstate migration in the intercensal period by sex and streams of migration, India 2001
Reasons for Interstate Migration (in %) work/ Moved after Moved with Streams employment Business Education Marriage Birth Household
Total R-R Duration 0-9 R-U U-R U-U Total R-R Males R-U U-R U-U Total R-R Females R-U U-R U-U 31.85 27.75 23.02 41.11 25.74 56.70 57.39 41.01 64.91 47.51 6.42 8.54 5.30 5.86 4.79 1.85 1.31 1.91 1.95 2.24 3.26 2.79 3.30 3.05 4.06 0.40 0.36 0.53 0.31 0.48 2.63 0.94 3.47 2.09 4.90 3.82 1.84 5.05 2.76 6.97 1.41 0.35 1.92 1.09 2.90 22.31 37.47 20.81 14.40 19.28 0.70 1.52 0.97 0.36 0.57 44.44 60.76 40.37 35.18 37.28 3.80 2.54 5.05 3.87 4.66 3.94 3.37 5.37 3.40 4.99 3.66 1.99 4.74 4.56 4.35 29.12 22.90 31.56 29.10 35.00 21.76 23.45 24.43 17.98 26.36 36.66 22.53 38.58 45.56 43.31

Others
8.44 7.10 14.18 7.49 8.19 9.83 9.63 19.86 7.53 9.54 7.01 5.46 8.57 7.44 6.88

However, sharp differences exist in the reasons for migration between males and females. Moreover, there is a clear difference between different streams of migration. While nearly 79 percent of females in intrastate rural to rural migrants during the intercensal period reported marriage as the reason for migration, it is only 37 percent among females in the case of urban to urban interstate migrants. Observing the streams of migration and employment as the reason of migration, it is seen that large proportion of urban to rural migrants has reported employment as the reason for migration. In fact, more than 50 percent of urban to rural male migrants have reported employment as the reason for the move. Moved with household as a reason also emerges as an important cause for both male and female migration in all streams of migration during the intercensal period. Summary and conclusion Short distance migration, largely that of women, has been the predominant migration pattern in India. The traditional village exogamy could be the reason for this type of large migration among females. Rural to rural migration has been another important migration flow for both males and females. However, the proportion of rural to rural migrations has declined steadily, while the proportions of other streams have increased over the period. In the same manner, the proportion of short distance migrants has decreased while the proportions of medium and long distance migrants have increased. Long distance movements are more urban oriented than short distance movements. There has been a significant increase in migration to urban areas both among males and females during 1991-2001. The urban to urban movements are also significantly increasing. Going by this trend, long distance rural to urban and urban to urban streams are likely to emerge as the dominant migration streams in future. The reasons of migration data reveals that apart from employment among males and marriage among females, moved with household emerged as another important factor for migration among males as well as females. It is also evident that urban to rural streams show an increased migration on account of employment or work as a reason of migration. As such, twothird of urban to rural interstate male migrants have moved owing to employment or work.

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