Migration in India

Employment appears to the one of the main reasons for

migration of the people. Economic constraint at the native
place of the migrants motivates or couples the people to
leave their original place in search of livelihood or
economic betterment at different destinations in urban
zones.
Employment appears to the one of the main reasons for migration of the people. Economic
constraint at the native place of the migrants motivates or couples the people to leave their
original place in search of livelihood or economic betterment at different destinations in
urban zones. A survey of relevant data conducted from time to time revealed that nearly one
third of the migrants have arrived in the cities only for seeking employment. It is well known
that large proportion of rural villages depends entirely on farm work. These people are unable
to sustain themselves, as most of them remain without rest or 5-6 months in a year. This
ultimately results in their poverty. Leaving apart a few cases of big landlords, a young son of
marginal farmer would never prefer to pursue himself in the profession of farming for
obvious reasons. Only a less educated helpless person who can’t do anything else would be a
part of it. Secondly, the holdings are also going to be lesser and lesser day by day and the
some area of land is now insufficient for generating self employment for landless people.

Above all speedy expansion of house and cities, through continuous acquisition of adjoining
agricultural land, is a sword hanging and an impending threat to rural people curtailing the
availability of cultivable land to the farmers. Education level is an important parameter for an
individual which influences migration motivation and determines mobility pattern to a large
extent. Nearly 5% of people migrate for this reason. There is a lack of opportunities for rural
youth to acquire sufficient as well as quality of education in the rural sector. They are also
devoid of any such facilities which are necessary to lift their personality as schools in the
rural areas are comparatively low. In additions, the pattern of education is such that most of
the youth are left untrained and are unable to take up any type of self-employment. If one
tries to enter into some sort of trade, huge sums of money and risks are involved, which rural
people can’t afford. It is also not easy to set up a business in rural areas unless good means
of transport and communication are available there

At present there is limited scope for trade in the rural areas therefore people prefer cities in
search of livelihood. The role of education factor in respect of movement of individuals also
reflects their urge to seek better employment opportunities. Thus the migration of resourceful
and well educated people from rural zones to urban zones is favourable for urban
development. As a result rural development is either hampered, remains static or may even
deteriorate for want of an effective and forceful forum to raise the voice of the innocent rural
people. It is understood from various reports that around one fifth of the migrants come to
cities for reasons like political and cultural and also some times due to incidence of natural
calamities here. There are numerous other invisible causes for migration which technically
don’t seem to be so important yet are reposed by some authors to have played a definite role
in this phenomena of migration from rural to urban centers and vice versa or from one region
to another.

Notable among these are:

1. Social conflicts and social tension

2. Gap in civilization / culture
3. Law and Order situation
4. Inequalities in the available social and economic opportunities and other amenities of
life between groups of people and or sectors.
5. Income maximization.
6. Inequitable distribution of benefits of economic development.
7. Social mobility and social status aspirations.
8. Residential satisfaction.
9. Friend and family influences
10. Desire for attaining lifestyle, performance and enjoyment.
11. Development of some sort of complex.
12. As regards the consequence of migration, we find that the concept of migration in
India has been mostly in terms of rural to urban zone and its consequences have been
perceived more from the urban end. In addition unrestricted expansion of cities has
resulted in high levels of pollution due to lack of public conveniences and unlimited
number of vehicles plying on the roads. Safety of life is also minimal for this very
reason. While all witness the adverse effect of migration over the urban society, the
rural society also gets affected in a number of ways. The pinch experienced by rural
people is not of a small magnitude. Those very people who could do something for
the welfare of the rural society go away and as per the practice, they think and fight
primarily for the welfare of urbanities. In this manner, both the societies suffer a set
back. However a section of migrated urbanites think and raise voice for the upliftment
of their counter parts in the rural zone. In that situation there starts an unending tug of
war between the two groups of society, which is not congenial for the growth and
development of the country. To check this menace a well planned strategy has to the
worked out by all concerned. Steps are also needed for its implementation in time.
Top priority needs to be given to creating of work opportunities, generalization of full
time employment in and around the villages and providing at least bare minimum
amenities in the rural sector. While proportionate budgetary allocation for the rural
sector may not be feasible due to the prevalent economic crisis, provision of higher
allocation for this sector appears necessary as regular feature till such time as the
conditions of rural people is improved to the extent that the younger generation feels
proud in staying back in the villages, earning their livelihood right there and not
getting fascinated by the glamour of the cities. This could be achieved only by
formulating rural oriented schemes at the national level and planning of the type that
the rural society is not deprived of the benefits of progress made by the country and is
able to avail all sorts of facilities / amenities available to the urbanites. It will be
unjust to conclude that nothing has been done for the rural sector. The government
has attached due importance to the problem and has launched important
programmes.Over these years, schemes like that of providing clean drinking water
communication media, dairy, development and removal of illiteracy in the rural sector
have been taken up. Despite all this, if has not been possible to check the migration of
people from rural sector to urban sector. Cities continue to grow at a fast speed.