The Gist of Kurukshetra: December 2014

Consequences of Rural Migration (Free Available)
Status of Rural Migration–Need for development Initiatives (Only For The Subscribed Members)
Rural-Urban Migration in India–A Critical Review (Only For The Subscribed Members)
MNREGA– An Alternative to Migration (Only For The Subscribed Members)

Migration of people within national borders is far greater in magnitude than migration across international borders and has enormous potential to contribute to economic prosperity, social cohesion and urban diversity. Internal migration is an essential and inevitable component of the economic and social life of the country, given regional imbalances and labour shortages and safe migration should be promoted to maximize its benefits. However, in the absence of a coherent policy framework and strategy, migration imposes heavy costs on human development through poor labour arrangements and working conditions of migrants and obstacles in their access to shelter, education, health care and food.

Migrants constitute a floating and invisible population, alternating between source and destination areas and remaining on the periphery of society. In India, internal migration has been accorded very low priority by the government & policies of the Indian State have largely failed in providing any form of legal or social protection to this vulnerable group.

Migration is the barometer of changing socio- economic and political conditions at the national and international levels. It is also a sign of wide disparities in economic and social conditions between the origin and destination. It is a natural outcome of inequality in the distribution of resources. Migration and development is a growing area of interest. There has been much debate on the negative impact of migration on development and vice versa. On the one hand, it is argued that underdevelopment is a cause of migration, and on the other hand, prosperity also leads to migration.

In developing countries like India, migration mostly takes place not due to the so called pull forces of the destination place as usually happens in case of developed countries, but because of poverty, unemployment, natural calamities and underdevelopment at the origin place.

In India, 68.9 per cent of the population lives in 6.40 lakhs villages. The share of agriculture to overall GPD in India has come down to 14 percent, while 66.2 percent of rural males and 81.6 percent of rural females are engaged in agriculture as cultivators or labourers. Inadequate diversification has taken place in rural occupations as many 66.2 percent of rural males and 81.6 percent of rural females, reporting agriculture as their principal economic activity. There is continuous migration from the rural to urban areas in search of better employment opportunities and living standard. Migration form rural to urban areas is up from 27.8 to 31.1 per cent since 2001.

It is estimated that approximately 2 million people are shifting from rural to urban areas annually and approximately 22 million people have migrated from rural to urban areas since 2001. Agriculture provides the principal means of livelihood for over 52 per cent of our population which lives in the rural areas. It is reported that 57 per cent of urban migrant households migrated from rural areas whereas 29 percent of rural migrant households migrated from urban areas. Further, approximately 55 per cent of the households in rural areas and 67 per cent of the households in the urban areas had migrated for employment related reasons. Loss of job opportunities in agriculture is the primary factor of driving people away from agriculture. Agrarian crises can be gauged from the fact that 240,000 debt-ridden farmers committed suicide between 1995 and 2009. There is urgent need to slow the rate of migration from rural to urban areas to-strengthen the agriculture. Thus, there is need for on-farm rural employment to combat rural poverty and to secure adequate livelihood within the households of small-holders and land-less agricultural labourers. Higher growth in agriculture is needed for sustainable food security of the country and with the introduction of food security bill, the need for food grains will further increase. Thus, there is need to strengthen employment opportunities in the rural areas to sustain agriculture and agriculture based industries. There is need to arrest this trend.

Causes of Migration

There are numerous causes 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. 1. Inequitable distribution of benefits of economic development.
7. Social mobility and social status aspiations.
8. Residential satisfaction.
9. Friend and family influences
10. Desire for attaining lifestyle, performance and enjoyment.
11. Development of some sort of complex.

Rural-Urban Migration: Some Emerging Trends

The migration rate in the urban areas (35%) was far higher than the migration rate in the rural areas (26%).
Magnitude of male migration rate was far lower than female migration rate, in both rural and urban areas. In rural areas nearly 48% of the females were migrants while the male migration rate was only 5%, and in the urban areas, the male migration rate was nearly 26% compared to female migration rate of 46%.
Migration rate in rural areas was lowest among the scheduled tribe (ST), nearly 24%, and it was highest among those classified in the social group ‘others’, nearly 28%.
In urban areas, migration rate was lowest among other backward class (OBC) nearly 33%, and it was highest among those classified in the social group ‘others’, nearly 38%.
For rural male, migration rate was lowest (nearly 4%) among the ‘not literates’, and it was nearly 14% among those with educational level ‘graduate and above’. For urban males also, it was lowest for among the ‘not literate’ (17%), and 38% for those with educational level ‘graduate or above’ level.
Among the migrants in the rural areas, nearly 91% had migrated from the rural areas and 8% had migrated from the urban areas, whereas among the migrants in the urban areas, nearly 59% migrated from the rural areas and 40% from urban areas.
Nearly 60% of urban male migrants and 59% of urban female migrants had migrated from rural areas.
The most prominent reason for female migration in both the rural and urban areas was marriage: for91% of rural female migrants and 61% of the urban female migrants the reason was marriage.

Advantages of Migration

Migration is essential for development. It is a desirable phenomenon. But what is not desirable is the distressed migration, found in most of the developing countries resulting in overcrowding of cities and mushrooming of slums.

If well managed, migration can ensure a better living for the rural poor. In terms of the impacts of migration - it can be concluded that migration generally seems to have a positive impact on the household involved and; migration has the potential to contribute to poverty reduction, with widespread and generally beneficial impacts. Migration between urban and rural areas has fundamentally changed interactions between rural and urban settlements and the way in which we perceive the countryside. Many rural-urban migrants retain strong links with their home villages to the benefit of household members in both locations (for example, through remittances, food supplies, childcare, work at harvest time etc.). Long distance migration, usually to cities, sometimes international, contributes an increasing share of household income. It helps individuals and their families to increase their income, learn new skills, improve their social status, build up assets and improve their quality of life.

Migration can contribute to the empowerment of women by providing women migrants and women whose husbands have migrated with income and greater status, autonomy and self-esteem. It is important therefore, that development policy and planning to reduce poverty takes account of the complexity of migration, and the different ways in which poor men, women and children may benefit from, or lose out as a result of, migration.

Consequences of Rural Migration

Migration is being attributed to push and pulls factors. While push factors are mostly repelling and compelling ones the pull factors are largely the attracting ones. An analysis done by Greenwood on migration to urban areas in India using 1961 census data concluded that economic factors such as transportation costs, income and job opportunities significantly affect individual’s decision to migrate to city in less developed country like India. The push factors include the population pressure, declining yields, institution of marriage, disintegration of joint family system, lack of livelihood opportunities, etc; the pull factors include better educational, health care facilities, modern means of transport and communications, more employment opportunities and a growing craze for urban life.

Push and Pull factors

Population Pressure: The growing population pressure on our natural resources has led to a stage where they are being used and depleted at a rate more than their natural rate of formation. The population pressure limits already limited opportunities and resources in the rural areas.

Decreasing per capita availability of land: The increasing population has led to the fragmentation of land. The per capita availability of land has decreased considerably. More than eighty per cent of the farmers are now marginal and small. Such small holdings have now become uneconomical.

Climate Refuge: Dr. Thomas Fingar, Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Analysis and Chairman of the National Intelligence Council current research in Asia has reported that South, Southeast, and East Asia will face risks of reduced agricultural productivity as large parts of the region face increased risk of floods and droughts. By 2025, cereal crop yields will decrease 2.5-10 percent.

Important in communication and transport facilities: Lack of livelihood opportunities in rural areas coupled with the absence of even day to day basic needs like good schools, health care facilities, financial institutions, inaccessibility and suitable markets have also compelled the rural peoples to migrate to their nearest urban centers.

Employment: Most of the rural peoples leave their houses and move to cities in search of employment in various types of industries.

The major findings of the 64th National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) released Report No. 533 entitled ‘Migration in India, 2007-08’ based on the household survey on Employment and Unemployment & Migration Particulars.

Migration in India is largely confined to within the same state. 72 percent of migrant households in urban areas and 78 percent in rural areas have migrated within the same state.
The migration rate i. e the proportion of migrants in the population was higher in the urban areas (35 per cent) than in the rural areas where it stood at 26 per cent.
Dominant proportion of female migration in the country accounted for marriage pattern in the country. Since the marriage pattern in the country is based on virilocal residence where a girl has to leave his parental house, the survey found that 91 per cent of the rural female migrants and 61 per cent of the urban female migrants had moved because of marriage,
There was a significant decline in the rural male migration rate on an average by as much as 28 per cent compared to previous surveys.
In 2007-08 28.6 per cent of rural males and 0.7 per cent of rural females migrated for work related reasons.
Migration of households in both the rural and urban areas was dominated by the migration of households from rural areas. Nearly 57 per cent of urban migrant households’ migrated from rural areas whereas 29 per cent of rural migrant households migrated from urban areas.

Consequences of Migration

Urbanization: Migration aids in Urbanization. Thomson also viewed urbanization in the form of migration. Preston considers rural urban migration as an indicator of regional and sectoral distortions in the pattern of development. The UN also estimated that about 60 per cent of the urban growth in developing countries is due to the rate of natural increase of urban areas and the remaining 40 per cent is due to migration.

Rural depopulation: Migration to urban areas results in rural depopulation. As most of the productive work force leaves rural areas in search of better opportunities the rural areas are left behind with the old and the unable.
Social status: Migration is helpful in equalizing social status, income of rural urban settlements, checking fragmentation of land holdings and promotes concept of division of labour and specialization. Migration also helps in cultural diffusion and cultural assimilation as peoples from diverse cultures settle and in due course of time they share and exchange their cultural values and ethos thus helping in cultural diffusion.

Remittances: Income sent home in the form of monetary assistance can help in paying the debts, increasing food security, help diversify livelihoods and to reduce vulnerability associated with shocks.

Problem of Management

Cities have become unmanageable because of uncontrolled migration of rural population to urban areas. Large cities of India have now ceased to be congenial places for living. Rural populations coming to urban areas earn their livelihoods by rickshaw pulling, vendors, road side mobile shops.

Checking Rural Migration

Rural migration is still largely a survival or a subsistence strategy. Survival strategy indicates that the prevalent economic and social conditions force the rural peoples to migrate for a longer time in order to stay alive.

Providing Urban Facilities in Rural Areas (PURA)

The concept of PURA was the brainchild of our former president Sh. A. P. J Abul Kalam. The objectives of PURA are proposed to be achieved under the framework of Public Private Partnerships involving Gram Panchayat. The state government actively supports the activities under PURA] Amenities to be provided for rural infrastructure include drinking water facilities, sanitation, sewerage, village streets, drainage, solid waste management, skill development etc.

Making agriculture remunerative: Agriculture as a major mainstream livelihood activity is now being perceived as a failure due to the rising costs of cultivation and a declining returns thus making it non remunerative. As such it is necessary that agriculture be made more profitable by suitable interventions.

A report of the World Population Council says that productive population of India, i.e., people belonging to the age group 15-60, will stop increasing in the coming years and it will stabilize at 64 percent of the total population from 2025 to 2050. It will then decrease thereafter to 62 percent of the total population in 2050 (Jain, 2008). If the present rate of migration from the country goes unabated, we may face shortage of skilled labour in India.