Introduction
Migration is the movement of a person or group of persons from one place to another. It is the movement of a person who leaves his place of birth or residence to another place. A person involved in migration is called a migrant. Migration takes place in different ways such as migration can take place between continents, within a continent or within a single country.
Migration can also occur when people move from one city to another. The most important thing to remember about migration is that it occurs when groups of people move for the same reason. India has one of the most diverse and complex migration histories in the world. Since the 19th century, ethnic Indians have established communities on all continents as well as islands in the Caribbean, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.
India has seen a high rate of migration in recent years. More than ninety-eight million people migrated from one place to another in the 1990s, the most in any decade since independence, according to 2011 census data.
The following aspects of migration are highlighted in this article.
- History of migration in India
- Types of migration
- Causes for migration
- Consequences of migration
History of migration in India
India has a long history of migration and although internal migration was less in earlier periods. Due to the lack of literature, the study could not focus beyond 1891 and limited the period of study to 1931. In writing the article, the only dependence was on the available census reports to draw insights into the process of internal migration in India. Bengal, Assam, and Bombay were found to be the main centers of immigration and the United Provinces, Mysore, Bihar and Orissa were the centers of emigration. Although the pattern of internal migration remained similar between 1891 and 1921, some new centers of immigration emerged in 1931, e.g., Delhi, Bikaner, etc.
In 1947, after the partition of India, large populations migrated from India to Pakistan and vice versa, depending on their religious beliefs. Partition was proclaimed by the Indian Independence Act of 1947 as a result of the dissolution of the British Indian Empire. Partition displaced up to 12.5 million people in the former British Indian Empire, with estimates loss of thousand to a million of life.
In modern India, estimates based on industries employing mainly migrants indicate that there are approximately 100 million circulating migrants in India. Caste, social networks, and historical precedents play a significant role in shaping migration patterns. Migration for the poor is largely circular, as despite moving temporarily to urban areas, they lack the social security that could keep them there more permanently. They also want to maintain a foothold in home areas during the agricultural season.
Overseas Development Institute research identifies a rapid movement of labor from slower to faster-growing parts of the economy. Migrants can often find themselves excluded by urban housing policies and initiatives to support migrants are needed to give workers better access to market information, identity certification, housing, and education.
The Indian population is one of the least mobile populations in the world. India’s migration rate is woefully low compared to most European and North American countries. In recent years, a gradual change in the pattern of internal migration has begun in India.
Types of Migration
Following types of migration are identified so far
Internal Migration:
Movement of a person or group of persons to a new place within a continent, country or state.
External Migration:
Movement of a person or group of persons to a new place in other continent, country or state.
Emigration:
Movement from one country to another (e.g., the Pilgrims emigration from Japan to India).
Immigration:
Moving into a new country (e.g., the Pilgrims immigration from Japan to India).
Return Migration:
When groups of people move back to where they came from.
Seasonal Migration:
When people move with every season (e.g., movement of farm workers from Bihar or U.P. to Haryana and Punjab in monsoon season). The process of moving for a period in response to labour or climate conditions
Casual migration:
Minor movements between neighbouring villages and gain importance if the villages are situated across the district boundary.
Internal migration:
Migration within one country
International migration:
Migration from one country to another. International migration is rare; only 3% of people living in a certain country can go to another country for work and education.
Temporary migration:
It involves migration of coolies to meet the demand for labour on railways, journeys on business or in connection with pilgrimages, marriage ceremonies etc.
Semi-permanent migration:
When the people move to earn for their livelihood in another place but keep connections with their native place and ultimately return there.
Permanent migration:
This type of migration is in the nature of colonization. It usually takes place when owing to irrigation or improved communications or changed political conditions, new lands become available for occupation.
Causes of Migration
The causes for migration can be divided into two main aspects which are discussed below.
Push factors:
These are the factors that forces people to move from their native place. For example, there may be civil wars in a country, political or religious oppression, climate change, lack of jobs opportunities, poverty etc.
Push factors are the disadvantageous about the area that one lives in, for example.,
- Not enough jobs
- Few opportunities
- Primitive conditions
- Desertification
- Famine or drought
- Political fear or persecution
- Slavery or forced labour.
- Poor medical care
- Loss of wealth
- Natural disasters
- Death threats
- Lack of political or religious freedom
- Pollution
- Poor housing
- Property owner/tenant issues
- Bullying
- Discrimination
- Poor chances of marrying
- Condemned housing (radon gas, etc.)
- War
Pull factors:
These are the factors in a destination country that encourage people to move such as peace and security, better job opportunities, better education, social security, better standard of living, as well as political and religious freedom etc.
Pull factors are advantages that attract person to another area. For example.,
- Job opportunities
- Better living conditions
- Political and/or religious freedom
- Enjoyment
- Education
- Better medical care
- Attractive climates
- Security
- Family links
- Industry
- Better chances of marrying
Stream of Migration
On the basis of the rural and urban nature of the place of birth as well as place of enumeration, internal migrants can be classified into following four streams:
Rural to rural Migration:
This stream of migration leads over all other streams in terms of volume of migration. An exceptional feature of rural- to- rural stream of migration is the preponderance of female migrants. Studies made by Bose (1965) and Agarwal (1968) have shown that this preponderance of female migrants is because of the change of residence after marriage. In Indian tradition, the girl has to move from her parent home to her in-laws and live with her husband.
Apart from migration due to marriage, there are various other factors which contribute to large scale rural- to- rural migration. Migration of agricultural laborer and movement of newly reclaimed areas for agricultural purposes constitute the most important component of such migrations. In slack agricultural season, many villagers migrate to seek casual employment in the construction of roads, railway lines, buildings, and other miscellaneous menial jobs.
Normally, rural-to-rural migration originates from crowded areas of low productivity and is destined towards sparsely populated areas experiencing large scale development activities. Such migration can also take place over longer distances and can lead to a permanent redistribution of the population.
Rural to urban Migration:
Rural-urban migration is next only to rural-rural migration in terms of migration volume. Rural-urban migration occurs due to both the push factors of the rural areas and the pull factors of urban areas. In rural areas poverty, intolerable unemployment, low and uncertain wages, uneconomic land holdings and poor facilities for education and other services work as push factors. By contrast the pull of urban areas may include Job opportunities, better living conditions, regular and higher wages, fixed working hours, etc.,
Both poor and rich from the countryside migrate to the urban areas under the influence of both push and pull factors. Both males and females migrate from rural to urban areas, but males have always outnumbered females in this stream of migration.
Urban to urban Migration:
This stream of migration believed to be dominated by the middle-class people. Generally, people migrate from smaller towns with less facility to larger cities with more facilities. This is the reason that class I cities have grown at a much faster rate as compared to other towns. In fact, small towns are constantly losing to big cities. This migration forms a part of what is known as step- migration.
Urban to rural Migration:
This stream has the lowest volume of migrants. However there has been slight increase in this stream of migration between 1961 and 2011. Such a movement takes place at the advanced stage of urbanization when urban centers are characterized by over congestion, haphazard growth, excessive cost of living, heavy pressure on public utility services etc.,
Type of internal Migration
It is possible to identify three types of internal migration. They are as follows.
Intra- District Migration:
The movement inside the district is called Intra- District Migration. Out of total migrant population 62.14 percent were born within the district enumeration.
Intra – state Migration:
The movement outside the district but within the state is known as Intra – state migration. Intra-state migrants are larger than inter-state migrants, because people have a preference to migrate within the state. Very high proportions of the intra- state migrants are classed as urban to urban. Nearly three fourth of the total migrants are females, mainly caused by marriage.
Inter-State Migration:
The movement beyond the state and union territory (UT) but within the country is termed as inter-state migration. Migration between two states is much smaller than the intra-state migration, simply due to increase in distance. Most of the inter-state migration takes place along border between two bordering states.
Consequences of Migration
Economic consequences
The remittance (payments) sent by migrants to their homes help in growing economy of the region. This money is used by the family for purchasing food, repayment of debts, medical treatment, marriages, children’s education, purchasing agricultural inputs, construction of houses, etc. Many of the villages in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Orisha, Madhya Pradesh depend on this money for their survival.
Similarly, remittances from the international Indian migrants are one of the major sources of foreign exchange in India. In 2002, India received US$ 11 billion as remittances from these people.
States such as Punjab, Kerala and Tamil Nadu receive very large amount of money from their international migrants. Migration of people from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, to the rural areas of Punjab, Haryana, has resulted in the success of green revolution and agricultural development in Punjab and Haryana.
Demographic consequences
Migration produces demographic imbalance in the distribution of population within the country. Migration of skilled people of young age from rural areas to cities adversely affects the rural demographic composition. For example, out-migration from Uttaranchal, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and eastern Maharashtra has created serious imbalances in the age and sex composition of these states. Similar imbalances have also evolved in the states to which these migrants go.
Social Consequences
Migrants are good agents of social change as they spread new ideas regarding new technology, family planning, girl child education etc. Migration leads to the intermingling of diverse cultures, which helps in penetrating narrow views and broadening the mental horizon of the people. But it also has some negative consequences. This leads to anonymity, which create a social vacuum and a sense of unhappiness among individuals. A persistent feeling of unhappiness can motivate people to engage in antisocial activities such as crime and drug abuse.
Environmental Consequences
Unregulated migration to the metropolitan cities of India has caused overcrowding. Development of slums in industrially developed states such as Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Delhi are the result of unregulated migration. Overcrowding leads to overexploitation of natural resources and result into many serious problems like water scarcity and its pollution, air pollution, sewage disposal and solid waste management.
Other Consequences
Migration has a profound impact on the lives of women. In rural areas, men leave their wives and migrate to cities in search of employment, which poses a lot of physical and mental pressure on them. Migration of women for education and employment increases their autonomy and their role in the economy but also makes them vulnerable.
The biggest advantage of migration is that the families of migrants receive hundis. But its biggest drawback is that there is a shortage of skilled people in the source region. Globally, the importance of skills has increased and the market for skills has become a truly global market. Dynamic industrial economies are admitting and recruiting highly trained professionals from developing regions in significant proportions. As a result, the current underdevelopment of the source region is reinforced.
CONCLUSION:
About three forth of all migrants in the intra-state category are found to be women. This is mainly because of the marriages. Over half of the intra-state migrants moved from rural-to-rural areas. Such people are migrated in search of employment, on farms or other establishments located in the rural areas. There are a huge number of youngsters moving out of the country for education, employment and carrying out trade and tourism. People are becoming more mobile, and migration is a part of modern life too.
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