demographic and socio-economic ...shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/16660/9/09...chapterv...

CHAPTERV

DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC

CHARACTERISTICS OF RURAL OUTMIGRANTS

In the previous chapters, we have already studied the characteristics and patterns

of rural oubnigration from Uttar Pradesh and their relations with different indicators of

rural development. The study suggests that rural oubnigration is correlated to and

triggered by many indicators of rural development. Although, the study is being based on

secondary sources of data, seeks major outlook of the rural development and rural

outmigration phenomenon. But, at the same time it lacks detailed information about the

magnitude, characteristics and patterns of outmigrants from the rural areas as secondary

sources do not give appropriate data base at village level to study the above mentioned

aspects. In order to understand the characteristics of the outmigrants, nature and causes of

outmigration, and its consequences on the communities of origin at the micro level, it is

necessary to collect primary data since such information is not available from the extant

sources.

This chapter is entirely based on the primary survey conducted during the field

study. The chapter presents the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of rural

outmigrants and their households in relation to their habitat of low and high rural

development. The individual characteristics of oubnigrants are considered in terms of

their age, marital status, religion, caste, relation with the household head, educational

attainment, primary and secondary occupation.

The background of oubnigrants household characteristics is considered in relation

to the education of the head of the household, agricultural holding own by household, the

size and type of family etc. These characteristics of outmigrants and the socio-economic

and demographic conditions of their household, to an extent, have also been compared

with the resident population and the conditions of their households. The purpose of the

comparison is to examine and evaluate migrant resident differences. Are migrants

142

positively selective or do they show no difference when compared to those who are non

migrant in their communities of origin?

It also seems imperative to look into the comparison of the migrants with those of

residents in their various places of destination in order to examine the migration

selectivity in relation to destination areas. But due to scarcity of resources and time, it is

very difficult to get comparable information for each receiving area. Therefore, present

study limits its analysis of migration differentials to the source area only. This chapter

also seeks to study the differentials among the migrants based on their natural habitat i.e.

low and high rural development.

5.1. Quantum of Outmigration

Before going into the details of the characteristics of outmigrants from the rural

areas, it looks very necessary to present a broad picture of the quantum of outmigration.

For the purpose of the present study 400 households with a population of 2927 persons

(1530 males and 1397 females) were surveyed in eight sample villages. The criteria

behind the selection of the villages have already been discussed in chapter two. So, a total

number of eight villages were selected from the four Community Development Blocks on

the basis of highest and lowest level of rural development in the Gorakhpur district. So,

two villages were selected from each of the four blocks out of which four villages

representing high rural development and four low rural developments. A sample of 200

households has been selected each from the villages representing high rural development

and low rural development.

Of the total surveyed population, the total number of outmigration was found to

be 604 which represent 20.6 percent of the population. This seems to be very high when

compared with that of Uttar Pradesh (2.89 percent). This finding contradicts the generally

held assumption that Indians are rarely mobile and they choose to live within the

boundaries of their native place. Out of the total outmigrants, 399 are males (66.1

percent) and 205 are females (33.9 percent). The total of 604 cases of outmigrants who

were found to be absent from their villages at the time of survey and whose close

143

relatives are living in the household or village itself have been recorded here for the

analysis of characteristics and patterns of outmigration in the sample villages and blocks.

Table 5.1

Out-Migration Rate in All the Sample Villages

C.D.BLOCKS VILLAGES Sample Population Total Out-mis!rants Out-migration Rate Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total

BHATHAT Banchara 189 184 373 42 21 63 22.2 11.4 16.9 GhoraDeur 217 196 413 58 31 89 26.7 15.8 21.5

GOLA Banwarpar 171 160 331 41 15 56 24.0 9.4 16.9 Bewari 179 162 341 40 17 57 22.3 10.5 16.7

Aggregate of High Rural 756 702 1458 181 84 265 23.9 12.0 18.2 Development C.D. Blocks JAN GAL- Sherpur 195 158 353 45 17 62 23.1 10.8 17.6 KODIYA Chamraha

Chakara 201 172 373 63 21 84 31.3 12.2 22.5 PIPRAlCH Basdilla- 185 179 364 51 44 95 27.6 24.6 26.1

rausar Mahrazi 193 186 379 59 39 98 30.6 21.0 25.9

Aggregate of Low Rural 772 694 1466 218 121 339 28.2 17.4 23.1 Development C.D. Blocks

DISTRICT TOTAL 1528 1397 2925 399 205 604 26.1 14.7 20.6 Source: Based on Field Survey conducted from January to March, 2009.

The detail description of the outmigration from all the sample villages has been

given in the table 5.1. It is interesting to note that all the sample villages present high rate

of outmigration. This is simply because the overall development of the region has been

hampered by many factors like flood and villages are extremely backward and facing

high level of poverty. The highest rate of outmigration among the sample villages can be

seen in Basdilla Rausar (26.1 percent) and Mahrazi (25.9 percent) villages of Pipraich

block. The causes of this high rate of outmigration in these villages are extreme

backwardness and poverty.

Basdilla Rausar is the village which shows a very high proportion of the

scheduled caste population (more than 25 percent), which represents a very high

proportion of landless and unskilled labourers. The village surrounding or in close

proximity provide work to a few labourers but that does not seem to sufficient for a big

landless population of the village. Besides this, people generally work on very low wages

in these villages and it becomes very difficult for the people to fulfill even their daily

144

essential and basic needs. Therefore, with no option left, people have to move out finally

to the places where they can get a job and appropriate wages.

Mahrazi is also a village in Pipraich Block which experiences high rate of

outmigration. The reasons are very obvious. Most of the cultivators survive on small size

landholdings which affects the productivity of the fields. Apart from this, flooding during

the rainy season also results into the waterlogged fields which in turn cause heavy losses

of crops during the Kharif season. Contrary to this, sometimes due to fewer rains, the

conditions become very dry and drought like situation starts to occur. In such situations

there is always need of artificial irrigation system which can support the sowing of the

crops but such means are lacking in the village as Mahrazi does not have any canal

passing through its area.

One of the most important reasons which play the role of pull factors for the

migrants from the Pipraich C.D. Block is well developed transportation system in the

form of roadways and railways. Pipraich block itself has a railway station which is

situated in between the routes of Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi, the three big in-migration

magnets of the country. Besides railways, the Pipraich block is also well connected to the

National Highway 28 which connects Gorakhpur and Lucknow, the capital of Uttar

Pradesh. In short, we can say that Pipraich block is a major out-migrating area in

Gorakhpur district which has many push factors for the population to move out in search

of employment and better living amenities.

The villages Shekhpur Chamraha (17.6 percent) and Chakara (22.5 percent) of

Jangal Kodiya C.D. Block have also high rate of outmigration. These villages have high

proportion of landless labourers and marginal farmers. The operational holdings are

highly fragmented and small and the incidences of unemployed and underemployed are

very high. Apart from this, the occurrence of flood is very frequent in C.D. Block Jangal

Kodiya which also plays a big role in the poverty and backwardness of the region. The

flood in this block are not caused by the local rain only but sometimes also the situation

becomes grim due to the high influx of water due to heavy rainfall in the upper reaches of

the Himalayas from which the rivers like Rapti originate. These rivers bring huge influx

of water and cause flood situations in the tarai regions without having much rain and

strong monsoon in the local plain area like Jangal Kodiya C.D. Block. The Kharif crops

145

are always in danger due to flood and most of the time people are unable to grow the

paddy in their fields which is a very important staple diet for the people of Middle

Gangetic Plain. In such conditions, people of this block have to heavily bank upon Rabi

crops (wheat and mustard), which alone cannot provide sufficient economic sustainability

for the peasant, farmers and labourers. Even the cultivators with big landholdings cannot

grow sufficient amount of crop produce as per the needs of their own households. The

landless labourers also do not get work during the flood and lean season. These

conditions play the role of push factors for the migrants from the area and naturally the

unemployed or poorly employed from these villages have no other option than to migrate

in large nwnbers.

Some of the developed blocks exhibit comparatively low level of outmigration,

although it seems to be very high when compared to national and state averages. The

Gola C.D. block which is situated almost 50 kilometer from the main city town of

Gorakbpur, shows low level of outmigration. The reason lies in the fact that Gola is a

block found to be comparatively more developed than the other C.D. Blocks of

Gorakbpur district. It has a better developed infrastructure which inhibits the rate of

outmigration. The electrification of the villages in Gola C.D. Block is quite high and

almost 90 percent of the villages are electrified in the block. Primary school density is

one of the highest in the district. The data suggests that there are 90 primary schools per

lakh population in the block. After the completion of the primary education many

guardians send their wards outside the village to get secondary and senior secondary

education which in tum causes outmigration from the villages. But Gola block shows a

very high density (8.4 schools per lakh population) of secondary schools as well and

provide the opportunities to get secondary education staying back in the native villages.

As far as the agricultural development is concerned in the block, it is also high in

development at this front. More than 75 percent of the cropped area is irrigated either by

Government installed systems or privately owned mechanism. Government canal

irrigates more than 20 percent of the total irrigation in the block. The cultivators in Gola

C.D. Block also consume more quantity of fertilizers (246.2 kilogram/hectare) in their

fields in comparison to their counterparts in other blocks of the districts. This raises the

productivity of the crops and people can sustain economically on their produce. All these

146

facts finally lead towards a common point that Gola C.D. block haa a higher level of

socio-economic and agricultural infrastructure in comparison to other blocks of the

districts which in tum causes comparatively low level of outmigration from the sample

villages (Banwarpar and Bewari) of the C.D. Block.

So far we have seen that rural development has an inverse relationship with

outmigration but there are always few exceptions. Ghora Deur village of Bhathat block

represents high level of outmigration (21.5 percent) despite having high level of rural

development. The village has high proportion (36 percent of sampled population) of

Muslim population which does not have much land resources to cultivate the crops and

sustain with. Therefore, they ultimately use to learn some skills like tailoring, painting

and embroidery etc. and leave the native place to earn. This automatically raises the rate

of outmigration from the village.

Another village Banchara in the Bhathat C.D. block shows a moderate level of

outmigration. The outmigration rate in the village is 16.9 percent. Bhathat block also

exhibits high level of rural development which we have already seen in the chapter two.

The overall development phenomena at the village level restrict the outflow of people.

In short, we can say that the quantum of migration from the sample villages

reflects a negative correlation between rural development and outmigration from the

villages with few exceptions due to some local and socially inherent causes.

5.2. Regional Pattern of Outmigration

Regional pattern of outmigration from rural areas of Gorakhpur district exhibit

similar kind of trends as it has already shown by the rural outmigration from Uttar

Pradesh. Outmigration towards the states like Maharashtra and Delhi is comparatively

higher. Of the total outmigration from the sample C.D. blocks of Gorakhpur district,

Maharashtra and Delhi account for 19.55 percent and 15.04 percent respectively of the

total outmigration. These two destinations alone constitute more than one third of the

total outmigration from Gorakhpur district which is although comparatively lower than

the overall outmigration from rural Uttar Pradesh to these two destinations as far as the

proportion (about half) to total outmigration is concerned. Swprisingly, Kamataka which

is a distant place from Gorakhpur receives more than 9 percent of total outmigration from

147

Gorakhpur district. Punjab, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh also are among the favourite

destination for the out-migrants from rural areas of Gorakhpur district. They together

make more than 15 percent of outmigration from rural parts of Gorakhpur district. West

Bengal has been an important region to attract people since long and even presently it

attracts more than 4 percent of the total rural out-migrants from Gorak.hpur district. Intra

district outmigration is quite low as only 5.26 percent of outmigrants go within the

district boundary. Around 10 percent of outmigrants go beyond the district boundary but

prefer to remain within the state. Therefore, one can easily conclude that rural

outmigrants from Gorak.hpur district prefer going long distances.

Table5.2 Regional Pattern of Rural Outmigration from Gorakhpur District (2009)

Low Rural High Rural District

Destination Development Blocks Development Blocks (Total)

NUMBER %AGE NUMBER %AGE NUMBER %AGE

WITHIN DISTRICT 10 4.59 11 6.08 21 5.26 WITHIN STATE (INTER-DISTRICT) 19 8.72 24 13.26 43 10.78

MAHARASHTRA 53 24.31 25 13.81 78 19.55

DEUfl 42 19.27 18 9.94 60 15.04

KA.RNATAKA 26 11.93 13 7.18 39 9.77

ANDHRA PRADESH 15 6.88 7 3.87 22 5.51

PUNJAB 10 4.59 18 9.94 28 7.02

HARYANA 2 0.92 10 5.52 12 3.01

tJITARAKHAND 7 3.21 4 2.21 11 2.76

GUJARAT 5 2.29 8 4.42 13 3.26

MADHYA PRADESH 5 2.29 5 2.76 10 2.51

WEST BENGAL 6 2.75 12 6.63 18 4.51

OTHERS STATES 9 4.13 14 7.73 23 5.76 TOTAL INTER-STATE 180 82.57 134 74.03 314 78.70

INTERNATIONAL 9 4.13 12 6.63 21 5.26

TOTAL 218 100.00 181 100.00 399 100.00

Source: Based on Field Survey conducted from January to March, 2009.

The short distance outmigration from rural Gorakhpur is comparatively higher in

the high rural development CD blocks to low rural development CD Block. The

migration within the state boundary is as high as 19 percent for high rural development

CD Block in comparison to low rural development blocks which constitute only 13

148

percent outmigration within the state boundary. This suggests that migrants from low

rural development blocks are more frequent to long distance outmigration.

The rural outmigration from the low rural development blocks of Gorakhpur

district is very much identical to the overall rural outmigration from Uttar Pradesh which

is dominated by migration towards Maharashtra and Delhi. On the other hand, such

dominance is not seen in case of outmigration from high rural development blocks of

Gorakhpur district. A very high proportion of migration is registered to the state of

Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. These two states started attracting migrants from the

belts of eastern Uttar Pradesh recently. The two centres Bangalore and Hyderabad are

getting into a hub of attracting semiskilled labourers in painting and wamishing. Most of

the people who have migrated to these two places have particularly mentioned their work

as painting. The proportion of migrants to these two places is higher in low rural

development blocks in comparison to high rural development blocks. It has been found

from different sociological studies that social bonding among the people is comparatively

stronger in low developed areas in comparison to high developed areas. This can be a

reason for higher proportion of migrants from low rural development blocks to these

places as these blocks might have a close social networking system in comparison to

highly developed blocks. People working out there in those destinations work as a

magnetic force for their near and dear ones staying back in the villages.

Punjab and Haryana also offer good centres of attraction for the migrants from the

rural parts of the Gorakhpur district. These two states have a very high level of

agricultural development since the inception of green revolution, therefore, it provides

good on-farm employment opportunities for the rural folk, especially those who are

landless and unskilled labourers, from the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh in general and

Gorakhpur district in particular.

About 5 percent of the total outmigrants also move out of the country. Most of

these migrants are migrated to the Gulf countries especially Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar,

U .A. E. and Oman. Among these, most of the migrants are Muslims. The high rate of

international migration to the Gulf countries of Muslims is especially due to the high

level of social networking among them. In most of the cases, a person brings out other

members of the family after establishing himself at the place of destination.

149

Besides international migration, among the migrants who stays back and fonn

major bulk of the outmigration, most of them prefer to go to a metropolitan city rather

than to smaller cities. More than 61 percent migrants from rural Gorakhpur migrate to the

metropolitan cities of the country. Class II cities also attract migrants from rural parts of

Gorakhpur district. They constitute more than 17 percent of the total outmigration from

Gorakhpur district. Sometimes rural folk from Gorakhpur district also migrate towards

rural areas. Such migrants constitute 13.76 percent of the total outmigrants from rural

Gorakhpur. The migrants who tend to outmigrate towards a rural areas are more likely to

move towards the rural areas of Punjab to avail the on-fann employment opportunities.

On the contrary, the higher percentage of outmigration have been towards the

metropolitan cities of the states of Maharashtra, Delhi and Kamataka The metropolitan

cities of these three states attract more than 36 percent of the total rural outmigrants from

the Gorakhpur district.

Table 5.3 s treams o fR 10 ura utm~gr-_atton om e ora 1pur IStnct fr th a kh o· ·

From Rural Gorakhpur to DESTINATION Smaller

Class I City Class II City Towns Rural

WITHIN DISTRICT 0 (0.0) 11 (2.91) 6 (159) 4 (1.05) WITmN STATE (INTER-DISTRICT) 28J7.41} 7 (1.85) 5J1.32) 3J0.79l

MAHARASHTRA 61 (16.14) 8 (2.11) 3 (0.79) 6 (1.59)

DELlll 54 (14.28) 2 (0.52) 0 (0.0) 4 (1.05)

KARNATAKA 30 (7.94) 7 (1.85) 1 (0.26) 1 (0.26)

ANDHRA PRADESH 16{4.23) 4 {1.05) 1 (0.26) 1 {0.26)

PUNJAB 6 (1.59) 4 (1.05) 0(0.0) 18{4.76)

HARYANA 3 (0.79) 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0) 8(2.11)

UTIARAKHAND 0 {0.0) 4 (1.05) 3 (0.79) 4 (1.05)

GUJARAT 9 (2.38) 4 (1.05) 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0)

MADHYA PRADESH 3 (0.79) 4 (1.05) 3 (0.79) 0 (0.0)

WEST BENGAL 11 (2.91) 5 (1.32) 1 (0.26) 1 (0.26)

OTHERS STATES 7 (1.85) 7 (1.85) 5 (1.26) 4 {1.05)

TOTAL INTER-STATE 200 (52.91) so (13.22) 17 (4.49) 47 (12.43)

TOTAL 234 (61.90) 66 (17.46) 26 (6.88) 52 (13.76)

Source: Based on Field Survey conducted from January to March. 2009.

150

The migrants from Gorak.hpur district towards smaller town are not very high

number as most of the migrants leave their native place for economic reasons and these

smaller towns do not provide such opportunities.

As far as the rural-urban differentials of outmigration from Gorak.hpur district is

concerned the migrants from low rural development blocks are more frequent towards the

metropolitan cities (Class I cities) in comparison to rural oubnigrants from high rural

development blocks. On the contrary, migrants from high rural development blocks are

highly mobile towards the rural areas and particularly to rural areas of Punjab where they

can get the on-farm job opportunities.

Table5.4 Streams of Outmigration from Different CD Blocks of Gorakhpur District (2009)

Low Rural Development Blocks High Rural Development Blocks Destination Class I Class II Small Class I Class II Small

City City Towns Rural City City Town Rural 3

WITHIN DISTRICT 0 (0.0) 5 (2.39) 3 (1A3) 2 (0.95) 0(0.0) 6 (3.55) (1.77) 2 (1.18) WITHIN STATE 18 3 (INTER-DISTRICT) 10 (4.78) 5 (2.39) 2 (0.95) 2 (0.95) (10.65) 2 (1.18) (1.77) I (0.59)

41 20 1 MAHARASHTRA (19.61) 5 (2.39) 2 (0.95) 5 (2.39) {11.83) 3 (1.77) (0.59) 1 {0.59)

40 DELHI (19.13) 0 {0.0) 0(0.0) 2 (0.95) 14 (8.28 2 (1.18) 0(0.0) 2 (1.18)

10 KARNATAKA 20(9.56} 4(_1.91_1_ 1 (0.47) 1 (0.47} (5.91} 3 (1.77) 0 (0.0) 0(0.0)

ANDHRA PRADESH 11 (5.26) 3 (1.43_1_ liO.ffi 0(0.())_ 5(_2.95) I (0.59} 0(0.0} I (0.59} II

PUNJAB 2 (0.95} 1 (0.47} 0(0.0) 7 (3.34} 4 (2.36) 3 (1.77) 0(0.0} (6.50}

HARYANA I (_0.47}_ OiO.O)_ 0 (0.0) I (0.47) 2 (1.18) I (0.59) 0(0.0) 7(4.14) 2

UTT ARAKHAND 0(0.0) 2 (0.95} I (0.47) 4 {1.91} 0(0.0} 2 (1.18} ( 1.18} 0 (0.0)

GUJARAT 3 (1.43) 2 (0.95) 0(0.01 0 (0.0) 6 (3.55) 2 (1.181 0 (0.0)_ OiO.O}_ I

MADHYA PRADESH I (0.47) 2i0.95_l 2 (0.95) 0 (0.0} 2 (1.18) 2 (1.18} (0.59} 0 (0.0) I

WEST BENGAL 4 (1.91} 2i0.95_l 0(0.0) 0(0.0} 7 (4.14} 3 (1.77) (0.59) 1 (0.59) 3

OTHERS STATES 3 (1.43}_ 4 (1.9l_l 2 (0.95) 0_10.0)_ 4 (2.36) 3 (1.77) (1.77) 4 (2.36) TOTAL INTER- 126 20 74 25 8 27 STATE (60.28} 25 (11.96) 9 (4.30) (9.56) (43.78) (14.79) (4.73) (15.97}_

136 24 98 31 12 28 TOTAL (65.07) 35 (16.75j 14_16.69J (11.48J (57.98) (18.34) (7.10) (16.56)

Source: Based on Field Survey conducted from January to March. 2009.

After Class I cities, Class II cities are also the much favoured destination for the

migrants of low rural development blocks when they are compared with the migrants of

high rural development blocks.

151

5.3. Male-Female Differentials of Out-Migration Male-female differentials have always been a vital part of the studies in migration

and especially in a country like India. The sample villages show high rate of outmigration

for both males (26.1 percent) and females (14.7 percent). The rate of outmigration is very

high for both males (28 .2 percent) and females (21.0 percent) in high rural development

blocks. Among these blocks, very high rate of outmigration is shown by Chakara and

Sherpur Chamraha villages of Jangal Kodiya where male migration rate is 31.3 percent

and 23.1 percent respectively while female migration rate is not as higher but is around

12.2 percent and 10.8 percent respectively. The reason behind this sharp differential lies

in the fact that many of the male who migrate are landless labourers and they cannot bear

the expenses of their wives at the destination and therefore, they leave behind their

spouses at the source areas to look after the children and households activities.

Fig. 5.1 Rate of Out-migration from Different Sample Blocks (2009)

35

30

B 25 "" 0:: c 20 0

•z:j

"" 15 6b ~ 10

5

0

MALE FEMALE TOTAL

• IDGH RURAL DEVELOPMENT BLOCKS • LOW RURAL DEVELOPMENT BLOCKS

• GORAKHPUR DISTRICT


In Pipraich block where the rural development is low in comparison to other

blocks of the district, high rate of outmigration is seen for both males and females. In

Basdilla Rausar village of the block, the outmigration rate for male and female is 27.6

percent and 24.6 percent respectively while it is a~ high as 30.6 percent and 21.0 percent

152

respectively in Mahrazi village. These villages are highly accessible to Gorakhpur city by

means of road transportation. Many of the migrants, who work in the city, move along

with their family as living cost in the city town is not much. Keeping in view the

accessibility of their village from the city, they can also look after the households

activities at the village. This is the reason why the female outmigration is also very high

along with the male migration in the sample villages of the Pipraich C.D. block.

In many western countries females are more migratory than the males for their

livelihoods but the reverse is in the case of India. Although females outnumber the males

in the tendency of migration but the reason behind the female migration is more or less

social and is also not much diversified. Females migrate more frequently either because

of marriages (31.3 percent in India) or movement with the households (54.2 percent in

India). Only a marginal proportion of the female migration is related with other reasons

like work/employment, business, education etc. Therefore, the female outmigration is

more an obligatory phenomenon rather than desirable and voluntary. In this study, when

our emphasis is on testing the hypothesis related to migration and rural development, the

female migration will be of little use as it rarely originates because of the push and pull

factors operating in source and destination areas respectively. Male migration is more

pronounced in terms of its origin due to local causes (push factors). Therefore, our major

emphasis would be on male migration in further analysis.

5.4. Age Composition

Age composition is one of the most important aspects which determine the rate of

migration because migration differentials by age have several bearings in terms of socio

economic and demographic consequences on the source region. Most migrants first leave

their village at early working age. This is probably because the longer a migrant's

remaining working life is, the greater are both the number of years over which can earn

extra returns from work after migration, and the intermittent periods of leisure in which

such extra return can be enjoyed. Younger people may also be particularly likely to

migrate owing to their limited integration in the village social system (Khan 1986: 84-

85). Fig. 5.2 brings out a clear picture of the age structure of the male outmigrants from

the sample villages. The data from the surveyed villages suggest that most of the male

153

migrants (about 72 percent) from rural areas move out during the age 15 to 39 years.

About less than half ( 45.9 percent) of the migrants are between the age group 24 to 39

years.

Fig. 5.2 Distribution of Outmigrants in Different Age Groups (2009)

60+ YEARS 2%

• 0 TO 14 YEARS • 15 TO 24 YEARS 25 TO 39 YEARS • 40 TO 59 YEARS • 60+ YEARS

Source: Based on Primary Survey conducted from January to March, 2009

The young migrants (age 15 to 24 years) constitute more than quarter (27 .5

percent) of the migrants from the rural area. The heightened propensity to out-migrate at

the young ages creates the depression in the age pyramid of out-migrating villages and

devoid the community of origin from its best manpower (Premi 1980: 87). The

outrnigration of the children between the age group 0 to 15 years is very low and they

constitute 10.4 percent proportion of the whole outmigration from the sampled area. On

the other hand aged outmigrants constitute a marginal proportion of 1.8 percent of total

migrant.

When we analyse the proportion of male out migration in respective age group we

come to the point that 25 to 29 year age group male population is more migratory (52

percent of the total male in the age group) than any other age group population. Males are

married more often during the age 20 to 25 years in rural areas. After marriage, with the

arrival of their spouse, they are confronted with lots of responsibilities at the household,

therefore, males have to migrate for earning. As one would expect, there are striking

154

differences in the age structure of migrant and non-migrant population, the proportion of

migrants increases sharply to the age group 15 to 19 years and thereafter it keeps on

increasing till it achieves the highest value in the age group 25 to 29 years. Afterwards it

w <.!)

~ z w u a:: w a..

6

Fig. 5.3 Age Specific Male Out-migration Rate in Sample Villages (2009)

• MIGRANTS • NON-MIGRANTS

.7

3 0 TO 4 5 TO 9 10 TO 14 15 TO 19 20 TO 24 25 TO 29 30 TO 39 40 TO 49 50 TO 59 60 TO 69 70+ YEARS YEARS YEARS YEARS YEARS YEARS YEARS YEARS YEARS YEARS YEARS


comes down abruptly at other ages while in the case of non-migrants male population

decline sequentially from young to old is apparent (Fig. 5.3). Since we do not expect

infants and toddlers among migrants unless they migrate as dependents, the differential

among migrants and non-migrant in young age i.e. among children and adolescent is very

sharp.

When compared the age structure of the outmigrants in low rural development

C.D. Blocks and high rural development C.D. Blocks, some interesting facts come to the

picture. The analysis shows that in low rural development blocks the proportion of the

younger migrants is more than that of high rural development block migrants. On the

other hand, the older migrants are more phenomenal. Whereas the proportion of 15 to 24

years age migrants is 35 percent of the total outmigrants in low rural development areas,

high rural development blocks represents only 18 percent of the total migrants in the

same age group (fig. 5.4) .

Older population is more migratory in high rural development block than low

rural development blocks. On one hand 25 to 39 year age group migrants constitute 43

155

percent proportion of the total migrants from the low rural development blocks while

same migrant age group makes only 43 percent part of the migrants from the high rural

development blocks.

Fig. 5.4 Age Differentials among the Male Migrants from High Rural Development and Low

Rural Development Blocks (2009) LOW RURAL DEVELOPMENT BLOCKS HIGH RURAL DEVELOPMENT BLOCKS

1% 3%

I 0 TO 14 YEARS I 15 TO 24 YEARS 25 TO 39 YEARS I 40 TO 59 YEARS I 60 + YEARS

Source: Based on the Primary Survey Conducted during January-March 2009

Migrants of 40 to 59 years age group form the greater portion of the total migrants

from the high rural development blocks (18 percent) in comparison to low rural

development blocks (12 percent). It happens because in the areas where development is

comparatively higher, the infrastructures like education facilities work as a push factor

rather than pull factor.

Generally, the villages with high development indices do have the pnmary

education facilities and by the completion of the primary education, a student needs to

move to a place where he can get the facilities of secondary education. Therefore, we see

that there is more migration of children between the age group 0 to 14 years from the

high rural development blocks. Moreover, these children being dependent of the parents

who have got better employment status at the destinations, therefore, they have to migrate

along with their parents . The median age, for the all the migrants from the sample area, is

25 years. For males, median age is 26 and female migrants have a median age of 25

156

years. This is due to the factor male feels the responsibility of subsistence generally after

the marriage in the typical rural settings.

5.5. Marital Status

Marital status of a person has close bearings on migratory status of a person. It

has been seen that males do migrate after their marriage when feeling the burden of

responsibility as he has to take care of his spouse and bear all her expenses as per the

custom of Indian society. But Kothari has a different view in this regard who says that

married people are relatively immobile because they develop a stronger sense of familial

bonds and increasingly greater obligations to the family of origin after their marriage,

compared to the single (Kothari 1980: 174-75).

Table 5.5 Distribution of Rural Male Out-Migrants and Specific Outmigration Rate by Marital Status in

Different C.D. Blocks _{_2009}_ BLOCKS CHARACTERISTICS MARITAL STATUS

NEVER MARRIED WIDOWER TOTAL MARRIED

No. of Rural Males 378 369 9 756

No. of Rural Male Migrants 52 HIGH RURAL

129 0 181

DEVELOPMENT BLOCKS ~ Distribution of Rural Male 28.7 713 0 100

Outmigrants

Out-Migration Rate 13.8 35 0 23.9


LOW RURAL No. of Rural Male Migrants 101 117 0 218

DEVELOPMENT BLOCKS Vo Distribution of Rural Male 46.3 53.7 0 100

Outmigrants

Out-Migration Rate 24.2 33.9 0 28.2


AGGREGATE No. of Rural Male Migrants 153 246 0 399

DISTRICT ~ Distribution of Rural Male 38.3 61.7 0 100

Outmigrants

Out-Migration Rate 19.2 34.5 0 26.1


157

Generally it has been seen that most of the female outmigrants are married. They

migrate mostly due to marriage and to a certain extent to accompany their husband to the

community where they are working. The distribution of outmigrants by sex and marital

status lends support to the contention that it is due to the principle of exogamy in

marriage that we have a very high proportion of female outmigration (Kothari 1980).

Many scholars also suggest that highly educated married outmigrants are accompanied by

their spouses in comparison to less educated.

The primary survey data from the sampled village explicitly asserts that most

(61.7 percent) of the male rural male migrants were married. It is further observed that

specific outmigration rate works out to be 34.5 percent for the married males. The

proportion of the never married outmigrants has been noticed to be 38.3 percent whereas

specific outmigration rate for the never married male migrants is 19.2 percent for the

district as a whole. The outmigration rate for the widower is found to be nil as none of the

widower was reported to be migrant at the time of survey.

In reference to the level of rural development, there is a considerable difference in

terms of marital status. The proportional share of married and never married outmigrants

is 71.3 percent and 28.7 percent respectively in the high rural development blocks. The

share of married and never married outmigrants is 53.7 percent and 46.3 percent

respectively in the low rural development blocks. As far as the differential in specific

outmigration rate is concerned, it is almost similar in both high and low rural

development blocks, although specific outmigration rate is high for married outmigrants

in comparison to never married outmigrants.

When we compare the data of marital status at the time of migration and at the

time of survey, it brings out to the picture that proportion of the married migrants rises

after the outmigration. Another fact which can be concluded here is that there is smaller

percentage of outmigrants to urban areas at place of destination, are married when

compared to the outmigrants to rural areas at the place of destination. This may be

explained by the fact that the living cost is more in urban areas than in rural areas and if

the couples have children the situation becomes more difficult.

158

5.6. Duration of Stay at the Destination

Duration of stay is an important measure to know the history of migration streams

in the past. The data collected from the field survey suggest that there has been a recently

developed stream of outmigration as most of the rural male outmigrants migrated very

recently within 10 years duration. We see that most of the migrants migrated during last

one decade or so. One of the important reasons for this stream can be attributed to the

1998 flood havoc in the Gorakhpur district. During the period there was a scarcity of

cereals and food as most of the agricultural land was drowned. Some of the blocks like

Jangal Kaudiya do not get the K.harif crop properly due to the flood almost every year

since then due to a marginal shift in the course of River Rapti.

Table 5.6 Du . fS f h R 1M 1 0 Mi fG rakh o· . D . ration o tay o t e ura ae ut- tgi"ants o 0 lJlUf tstnct at esttnatton

High Rural Development Low Rural Development Duration Of Stay Blocks Blocks Total

0-1 YEAR 20.4_(37)_ 19.3_(4~ 19.8 (79)

2-5 YEARS 20.3 (37) 20.6 (45) 20.5 (82)

6-10YEARS 41.9 (76)) 42.2 (92) 42.2 (168)

11-15 YEARS 6.6 (12) 8.3_i1lD_ 7.5 (30)

16-20YEARS 5.6 (10) 5.5(12) 5.5 (22)

>20YEARS 5.1 (91 4.11'D_ 4.5 (18)

ALL TIME 100 (181) 100_(21~ 100 (399)


Many of the districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh contribute to the inception of green

revolution in Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh for the rural outmigration

phenomena few decades ago. This particular phenomenon is related to the pull factor but

in case of outmigration from the Gorakhpur district, it is very much related to push

factors, although some migration streams can be traced back to more than two decades

old.

5.7. Number of Male Out-Migrants per Households

The phenomena of migration are very much pronounced among the households of

low rural development blocks (54.8 percent) in comparison to high development CD

blocks (49 percent). Overall more than 50 percent of the households have migrants.

159

Low development blocks have higher proportion (23 percent) of only one migrant

per household in comparison to high development blocks (15.2 percent). The reason

behind that lies in the fact that there are comparatively more landless labourers in low

developed areas and they have to migrate alone to earn the bread and butter for their

family.

Table 5.7 N ber fMal 0 um 0 e H h td · o·tli utn11grants per ouse o s m 1 erent Bl ks fG akh o· . oc 0 or 1pur IStnct

Total Households No.OfMale Low Development High Development Whole

Migran~ouseholds Blocks Blocks District

NONE 45.2 (91) 51.0 (102) 48.25 (193)

ONLY 1 23.0_146) 15.2 (31) 19.25 (77)

2 16.0 (32) 11.0 (22) 13.50 (54)

3T05 10.0 (20) 15.0 (30) 12.50 (50)

6TO 10 3.5 (7) 5.0 (10) 4.25 (17)

MORETHAN 10 2.0 (4) 2.5 (5) 2.25 (9)

TOTAL 100.0 (200) 100.0 (200) 100.0 (400)


Number of male migrants per households is higher in high development blocks

than less developed blocks because in developed areas the standard of living of the

households are generally high and they can bear the expenses of the family. So, a

member of a household often takes other members along with him.

5.8. Relationship with the Head of the Household

One of the most important characteristics of outmigrants is their relationship with

the head of the households. Premi hypothesized in the study of urban outmigration from

certain towns of Punjab and Haryana that it is not the head of the household who leaves

the home in search of better livelihood, but the migrants are his younger brothers or sons.

Further he says that in case of sons, it is not the eldest son who normally migrates to

other places, but his younger siblings (Premi 1980: 88). The presumption behind this

hypothesis lies in the fact that it is the eldest son who learns the skills from his father and

stays at home with him to share some of the responsibilities. Secondly, the eldest son is

generally more attached emotionally to the parents than his other siblings and, hence, he

stays at home.

160

Direct information about ordering of the migrant sons has been collected in terms

of youngest, middle and the eldest son. If the eldest son has departed from the households

and running his own family and is not contributing in the affairs of the households, so he

has not been taken as a part of the study. Assuming that such cases will be negligible in

the rural areas we can say that above discussed hypothesis has been tested on highly

acceptable grounds.

Table 5.3 gives a detailed account of the distribution of male migrants according

to their relationship with the head of the household. Table suggests that in 18 percent of

cases the household head, who is the main bread winner of the household, is himself

migratory. Sons constitute more than 62 percent part of all the male outmigrants from the

study area. But when we break the son heading into eldest, middle and youngest part, we

come to know those mostly middle sons are migratory. They constitute about 25.31

percent proportion of all the migrants. The eldest sons and youngest sons constitute 9.52

percent and 18.79 percent part of all the migrants. So, the hypothesis is tested positively

that eldest sons rarely migrate because among all the sons, the migration rate is lowest for

the eldest. At the same time, the study also concludes that out-migration of a large

number of head of the households from the rural areas explain high level of poverty in the

study area which enforces the head of the household to move out and work.

Table 5.8 Distribution of Male Out-Migrants According to the Relationship with the Head of the Household

{2009) Relationship of the Migrants with the Head of Number Percentage

the Household Self 73 18.30

Eldest 38 9.52 Son Middle 101 25.31

Youngest 75 18.79 Brother 59 14.79 Father 12 3.00

Grandson 18 4.52 Other Relatives 23 5.79


Brothers of the head of the households also migrate in high proportion. They

constitute about 15 percent proportion of all the male migrants from the study area.

Similarly, father, grandson and other relatives constitute 3.00 percent, 4.52 percent and

5.79 percent part of all the male migrants from the sample villages. These findings prove

the fact that eldest son is comparatively less migratory than the other sons, while reject

161

that the household head is less migratory. In most of the cases it has been seen that in

youth stage, when the responsibility comes on the shoulder of a newly wedded household

head, he migrate to earn and run the household.

5.9. Religion and Caste

In a very traditional society like India, the caste occupies a significant place and when we

talk about the rural society its implication becomes more intense. The caste is very deep

rooted in the rural Indian society. Even in today' s scenario when everything is changing

rapidly in the wake of globalization, still caste has its bearings on the socio-economic

conditions of the people. This is the reason why religion and caste become an imperative

part of the study in defining the characteristics of the migrants.

There are many scholars who focused their studies analyzing the caste structure of

migrants in India and ethnic diversity of migrants in the world. They present

contradictory views as per the area of their research. Some scholars like Prabhu postulate

that backward castes are more migratory in comparison to f01ward castes (Prabhu 1969:

91) while some others like Noel (1969) in his study of the migration in south India found

that there was a higher propensity of migration among the Brahmins of south India

As far as the migrants according to religion are concerned, the sample village data

exhibits that majority of the migrants are Hindus (74.9 percent) followed by Muslims

(25.1 percent). But when the specific outmigration rate is analysed we find that Muslims

(31.0 percent) have phenomenal high rate of outrnigration in comparison to Hindus (24.8

percent). The reason is that they are generally landless and poor. They generally bank

upon the self owned business which is generally run on a small scale or on-farm

employment opportunities and labour (both skilled as well as unskilled). They have no

options to earn their livelihood except to move out and work.

For the purpose of her study on rural male outmigration from the 20 villages of

the eastern Uttar Pradesh, Khan (1986) presumed that the members of Scheduled Castes

are more likely to migrate than the members of other castes because they are generally

landless and poorest in the rural areas. Not only this, they also suffered from social

alienation which make them more prone to migration. In this study, we also take the

above mentioned presumption as the hypothesis to be tested in our further analysis.

162

Looking at the rural situation of the Gorakhpur district, it is generally visualized

that all the communities have a good proportion in the total migrants from the source

area. of the total outmigration, Other Backward Castes have highest proportion (35.1

percent) among the total rural outmigrants, followed by Muslims (25.1 percent),

Scheduled Castes (24.6 percent) and Forward Castes (15.3 percent). The proportion of

Other backwards castes male outmigrants become more pronounced in the blocks having

high rural development. [n high rural development blocks, the proportion of Muslims and

Forward Castes migrants become lesser in comparison to the low rural development

blocks. High migration is reported from the low rural development blocks for Muslims as

well as Forward castes migrants. The proportion of Other Backwards castes migrants is

lesser in low rural development blocks at the time of the survey. The proportion of

Scheduled castes male migrants is almost equal in all the regions of the district. They are

not much influenced by the level of development in the rural areas because of their

history of poverty and deprivation from the main stream of the society.

Fig. 5.5 Distribution of Male Outmigrants according to Caste And Religion (2009)

100%

SO%

O"Ai

DISTRICT (TOTAL) HlGH RURAL DEVELOPMENT

BLOCK

LOW RURAL DEVELOPMENT

BLOCK

• FORWARD CASTES • OTHER BACKWARD CASTES • SCHEDULED CASTES • MUSLIMS


This fact leads to the conclusion that socio-economic conditions of the Scheduled

castes are almost similar in different conditions. Therefore, their outrnigration behavior

has less impact of development level of the region (fig 5.5).

The specific male outrnigration rate from the rural areas for the different

communities has been shown in the Fig 5.6. The specific outrnigration rate draws a clear

163

picture of the migration tendency in particular community. The figure shows that the

outmigration rate for the Forward Castes (31.1 percent) is much higher when compared to

Other Backwards Castes (24.9 percent) and Scheduled Castes Communities (21.9

percent). It is generally assumed that people of the Forward Caste community refrain

from manual work at their place of birth and it is considered that manual work is also not

desirable for Forward Caste people. This is the reason why the forward caste migrants

choose to out-migrate if they have to perform the physical work for their earnings. They

do not prefer to work in the vicinity to the place where they originally belong. It is all

done to maintain their supremacy among the castes. The other reasons behind the higher

level of incidence of outmigration among the Forward Caste males is related to their

higher level of education, social and economic status. Many of them migrate due to the

Government services, educational attainments, to expand their local business, and to avail

better opportunities in big urban centres. These are the characteristics which are lacking

in other castes.

4-

40 35

~ 30 ~ 25 u 20

ffi 15 0.. 10

5 0

Fig. 5.6 Specific Male Outmigration Rate among Different Communities (2009)

FORWARD CASTES OTHER BACKWARD

CASTES

SCHEDULED CASTES

MUSLIMS

• DISTRICT (TOTAL) • HIGH RURAL DEVELOPMENT BLOCK • LOW RURAL DEVELOPMENT BLOCK


The specific outmigration rate is high among the other backward caste. Many

years after independence, one segment of the people from this group of caste has

acquired tremendous political power, land acquisition and educational upliftment. And

other segment of the people of this caste group had artisanship as their primary

occupation. After the industrial revolution and economic progress of the country the age

164

old occupation have been completely ruined. Most of them have become agricultural

labourers, share croppers or unemployed. This is the reason why the outmigration rate

among this caste group is very high (Kumar 2005: 123). Seasonal outmigration is also

quite high to the fertile land of the Western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Northern

Rajasthan amongst this group of backward castes.

Outmigration of the scheduled caste rural males to other areas of destination

provides them an opportunity to escape from their deprivation and exploitation. The post

independence economic development, and consequent industrialization and urbanization

have provided them an opportunity to do so. But ignorance, illiteracy and the history long

fear psychosis of the scheduled caste restrict them from accessing their fate at distant

places. Further, their depressed and pitiable social-economic condition discourages them

from outmigration. They suffer from impediments to mobility, such as poor education,

want of fmance and want of job information and urban contacts. That is why, they hardly

go out to work as labourers to far off places. They are mostly confmed to their native

villages (Kumar 2005). So, the above mentioned and framed hypothesis that scheduled

caste is supposed to more migratory than the other communities is rejected.

Comparison of Caste Structure of Migrants and Resident Population .

In order to have proper comparison of the extent of outmigration of these caste

groups with the resident population index of selectivity has been used here. This

selectivity index can be explained here in the following manner: Proportion of outmigrantswith specific characteristics to total outmigrants

s .I. = p . f . h L- h . . . L- l l . f h . X 100 roport1on o persons wtt t1u:se c arcterLstLcs Ln t,u: tota popu atwn o t e commumty

A value of more than 100 of selectivity index indicates higher outmigration of

people with the particular characteristics whereas value of less than 100 implies a

comparatively lower migration.

Table 5.9 c ompanson o fR r · dC t C .f fM. t d R 'd t e IglOO an as e ompOSllODO tgran san est ens

Caste Categories Proportion among Proportion among total Selectivity Index

Outmigrants Residents

Forward Castes 15.3 . 12.8 119.53

Other Backwards Castes 35.1 36.8 95.38

Scheduled Castes 24.6 29.3 83.95

Muslims 25.1 21.1 118.95

Total 100 100 100 Source: Based on Field Survey conducted from January to March, 2009

165

Table 5.9 provides the distribution of migrants and residents according to castes

and the selectivity index for outrnigrants with regard to their caste composition. It is

interesting to note that although other backward castes have higher proportion of

outmigrants but their selectivity index is low (less than 100). It means that they do not

show migration in that proportion in the proportion they are present in the population.

Muslims and Forward castes have high values of selectivity index. This signifies that

these two communities have a very high tendency of outmigration from the rural areas.

The scheduled caste population also exhibit low selectivity signifying lower habit of

outrnigration among the people of the community.

5.10. Educational Attainment

Education plays a vital role in determining the migratory tendency of a society.

The higher propensity to move among educated has been discussed by many scholars.

There are various reasons for this behavior of movement among the educated persons.

Education behaves as a catalyst in the process of human migration enabling human being

to understand his environment and acquire information for promotion of his interest.

Persons having attained a high level of education in rural areas may face difficulty in

finding appropriate positions corresponding to their level of skill and therefore such

people are more prone to migrate. It is also assumed that more educated people are

supposed to be more informed about the outer world and opportunities available there

and therefore they are more prone to outmigrate.

Fig. 5.7 Proportion Distribution of Male Outmigrants by Educational Attainment

(2009)

• Dliterate • Primary • Secondary/higher secondary

• Graduation/PosL Graduation • Doctorate • Children Not Altending school

Source: Based on Field Survey conducted from January to March, 2009

166

Table 5.10 Comparison of Educational Attainment of Male Migrants and Residents (2009)

Level of Educational Proportion among Proportion among total Selectivity Index

Attainment Outmigrants Residents

Illiterate 13.0 19.3 67.35

Primary 44.1 44.7 98.60

Secondary/higher 25.8 20.9 123.44

secondary

Graduation/Post 14.5 7.1 204.22

Graduation

Doctorate 0.5 0.1 500 Children Not Attending 2.0 7.8 25.64

School

Source: Based on Field Survey conducted fro~~~ January to March, 2009.

From the field survey <lata, it is evident that most of the outmigrants from the

rural areas belong to the category that got education till primary and they did not get an

opportunity to study further. The other group of migrant who makes the big proportion of

outmigrants are the people who have completed their secondary or higher secondary

education. The illiterates and children who have not yet attended the school are less

migratory in comparison to those who have attained some level of education.

Table 5.11 Comparison of Educational Attainment of Male Migrants at the Time of Migration and During

Survey (2009)

Level of Educational At the time of Outmigration At the time of Field Survey Attainment Number Percentage Number Percentage

llliterate 55 13.78 52 13.0 Primary 180 45.11 176 44.1

Secondary/higher 89 22.30 103 25.8 secondary

Graduation/Post 53 13.28 58 14.5 Graduation Doctorate 2 .5 2 0.5

Children Not 20 5.01 8 2.0 Attending School

Total 399 100 399 100


Selectivity index for different level of education attainment suggest that people

with higher educational status are more migratory than comparison to those who have

lesser level of education. The data indicate that persons with secondary, higher

secondary, graduation, post graduation and doctorate level of education have high

167

selectivity index values in comparison to the people who either are illiterate or who have

studied till the primary level (Table 5.11).

Fig. 5.8 represent the level of education specific male outmigration rate which

also reflects that as the educational attainment level of male migrants increases the

tendency to outmigrate also increase. The above data clearly points out that level of

education have a direct relations with the rate of migration.

Fig. 5.8 Leve) of Education Specific Male Outmigration Rate (2009)

100% 90% 80%

~ 70%

~ 60% 50% :: 40% 0

':I 30% ("J

5b 20% ..... ~ 10% 1

0%

~ ("J ... QJ .....

= -

~

;!?

~ .g 0 ::::

·:~ !::'

3] "g r~ t.,.V 0

• Non-migrants

-c ..... c c .... z-u

"/} ,.. .. :f. 2 c ~ ·-'"::) :.a :: u§

<

The persons who have high level of education are supposed to possess high skills

and therefore they need such jobs which are generally not available near the villages or

smaller towns. Therefore, they migrate more frequently than the others who have lesser

education qualifications.

Table 5.12 Comparison of High & Low Rural Development Blocks in terms of Proportion of Ma1e

Outmigrants and Specific Outmigration Rate for Different Level of Educational Attainment (2009)

Level of Educational Proportion of Outmigrants Specific Outmigration Rate Attainment High Rural Low Rural High Rural Low Rural

Development Development Development Development Blocks Blocks Blocks Blocks

illiterate 13.3 12.8 17.3 17.8 Primary 50.3 39.0 25.6 25.9 Secondary/highersecondruy 19.9 30.7 27.3 35.6 Graduation/Post Graduation 14.4 14.7 43.3 66.7 Doctorate 0.6 0.5 100 100 Children Not Attending School 1.7 2.3 4.4 9.6 Total 100 100 23.9 28.2


168

Education plays a dual factor role in the migration. On one hand, whereas

education behaves as a push factor because of lesser availability of jobs in villages and

smaller towns for more skillful, educated and qualified persons. On another hand, it also

acts as a pull factor for those who are seeking to attain further education. Table 5.5 shows

that the proportion of illiterate and primary school attendants have declined in the period

between their outmigration and the time when field survey was conducted. The reason

behind this lies in the fact that many of the migrants (mainly children) who went to the

destination got the opportunity to study further and upgraded their standard of education.

On the other front, there has been an increase in the proportion of the migrants who have

attained secondary, higher secondary, graduation and post graduation education after

their migration.

The comparison of the blocks with high rural and low rural development exhibits

that low rural development blocks have higher proportion of the males who either had or

have attained higher level of education in comparison to high rural development blocks.

The proportion of the children migrant who are not attending the school is also higher in

case of low rural development blocks. The specific outmigration rate for different level of

educational attainment is high in case of graduate and post graduate migrants and this

tendency is seemed to be more peculiar about the low rural development blocks. All other

educational level presents more or less similar trends of specific outmigration rate.

In short we can say that education plays a very dynamic role in determining the

tendency of migration, especially from the rural areas. It has already been tested that

higher the level of education higher will be the outmigr_ation rate; however, those with

lower education level form the major proportion of all the male migrants. It is simply

because of the fact that majority of population is poor in rural areas and they do not get

an opportunity to study, therefore, no option left with them except to migrate. And those

who are educated do not get an appropriate job and wages in nearby areas of the villages

and even sometimes in the district headquarters also.

169

5.11. Distribution of Outmigrants by Work Category, Type of Works,

Class of Workers and Earnings

After analyzing the demographic and social characteristics of outmigration it

seems imperative to look into the economic profile of the male migrants of the rural areas

under study. The economic profiles of the migrants will be studied by categorizing it into

current activity, industrial affiliation of the migrants, their occupation and income.

Fig. 5.9 presents the distribution of migrants according to the current activity. A

major portion nearly 82 percent of the males out-migrated in search of earning livelihood

in which 80 percent succeeded and are presently employed and 2 percent are unemployed

and seeking for job.

Fig. 5.9 Distribution of Male Outmigrants according to their Present Work Status

3%

2%

WORKERS • UNEMPWYED (SEEKING WORK) STUDENTS • DEPENDENTS


Students accounted for a next bigger proportion of 15 percent and rest 3 percent

came as dependent. And finally we can sum up that male outmigration from these

villages was mainly job oriented.

Industrial Affiliation of the Outmigrants at Destination:

The industrial affiliation of those male outmigrants who have been employed and

presently working at the places of destination is given in Table 5.13. Of the total 319

working male migrants, proportion of those employed as agricultural labourers is the

highest and it constructs about more than half of the employment source for the migrants.

170

Table 5.13 Distribution of Male Migrants According to Industrial Categories (2009)

Industrial Categories Number Percentage Agricultural Labourer 168 52.66 Mining, Quarrying, Fishing etc. 48 15.06 Manufacturing and Household Industry 29 9.09 Construction 16 5.01 Transport, Trade and Commerce 8 2.51 Government service so 15.67 Total 319 100.00


The other category is of government service which gives job to 15.67 percent of

the migrants. The next category is of the workers who are engaged in mining, quarrying

and fishing etc. which forms the 15.06 percent part of the all migrants followed by

manufacturing and household industry, construction and transport, trade and commerce.

Agriculture employs the most number of the outmigrants because well developed

agricultural belt of Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh have always attracted poor

unskilled labourers from the eastern part of Uttar Prndesh. If we analyse the sector-wise

situation of the outmigrants we will find that primary sector occupying more than 68

percent of migrant workers, shares the highest proportion of migrants followed by tertiary

occupying about 23 percent of the whole migrant workers and secondary sectors

sheltering 9 percent of the total migrants.

The highest share of the primary sector is because of the large scale movement of

landless labourers to the Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh belt of high

agricultural productivity. The tertiary sector also represents a big bulk of migrants

because many of the migrants have migrated to the metropolitan cities like Mumbai,

Delhi and Kolkata which are the big centres of numerous service based industries.

Types of Work at Destination

Unskilled work is easily available in the urban areas in comparison to other jobs

which demand certain level of skill and education. Migrants coming out of the rural areas

are generally poor and illiterate, and those literate are educationally inferior to the

resident population in the places of destinations.

Besides this, migrants contacts and sources of information about employment at

the places of destination is limited to the previous migrant relatives acquaintances of their

171

own village, while residents have much more wide contacts and better knowledge about

employment opportunities. Therefore, a major section of the migrants including educated

persons find it easier to engage themselves in unskilled work to start an immediate

earning then promote or switch to better jobs if available in due course of time. Only

those who have very high education reach to clerical and professional work (Kumar

2005).

Table5.14 Distribution of Working Migrants according to Education and Occupation (2009)

Educational Occupational Structure (in %) Qualification Unskilled Household Construction Transport, Govt. Skilled No Job

labourer industry trade Service labourer llliterate 20.6 3.6 7.1 14.3 2.0 15.2 23.2 Primary 54.5 71.4 42.9 42.9 4.1 56.5 32.9 Secondary 24.8 10.7 28.6 28.6 30.6 26.1 28.8 Graduation/PG 0 14.3 21.4 14.3 633 2.2 13.7 Doctorate 0 0 0 0 1.0 0 0 Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100


From the above table it is evident that unskilled and skilled labourers are mostly

belonging to the people who are less educated and they are either illiterate or studied till

primary. In primary sector occupation the people with lesser educational qualification are

more usual. Secondary and tertiary sector needs people with more educational

qualification. The government service sector witnesses the high proportion from higher

education as 63.3 percent of the people working in government job are either graduate or

post graduate.

Types of Work and Income of the Migrants:

It should be recognized at the very beginning that income data obtained in any

inquiry is not fully reliable until and unless deep probing questions are asked about the

same. In case of income of the migrants, chances of misreporting, is more because this

information is collected through the head of the households instead of migrants. Apart

from this, people usually do not free feel to reveal the income before a stranger

interviewer. To avoid the errors maximum care was taken throughout the field survey,

various occupations of the migrants and income were compared at the time of cross

tabulation to ensure reliability.

172

Table 5.15 Distribution of Migrants Occupation and Income (2009)

Work Month I Salary (In Rupees) Category <2000 2001- 5001- 7501- 10001- 20001- >50000

5000 7500 10000 20000 50000 Unskilled 25.5% 60% 9.7% 1.8% 0% 0% 0% labourer (42) (99) (16) (3) (0) (0) (0) Household 25% 25% 21% 3.6% 21.4% 3.6% 0% Industry (7) (7) (6) (1) _{_6_l (l) (0) Construction 7.1% 28.6% 7.1% 28.6% 28.6% 0% 0%

(1) (4) (1) (4) (4) (0) (0) Transport. 0% 42.9% 28.6% 28.6% 0% 0% 0% Trade&Co. (0) (3) (2) (2) _(_0}_ (0) (0) Govt. Service 2% 4.1% 0% 16.3% 55.1% 12.2% 10.2%

(1) (2) (0) (8) (27) (6) (5) Skilled 8.7% 52.2% 26.1% 4.3% 8.7% 0% 0% Labourer (4) (24) (12) _m (4) (0) (0) Total 33.5% 36.4% 9.7% 5.8% 11.5% 1.8% 1.3%

{128) (139) (37) (22) (44) (7) (5)


Finally, assuming that magnitude of errors will be more or less same in all the

cases the average income of the migrants in different occupation i.e. type of work is

considered here. Table 5.15 indicates that a large proportion of oubnigrants have to

sustain their life on the monthly income of less than Rs. 5000 per month. Even 33.5

percent of the migrants have monthly income of less than Rs. 2000. There about 11.5

percent migrants who have monthly income between Rs. 10000 to 20000. Most of the

skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled migrant labourers have monthly salary of less than Rs.

2000. The average monthly salary is comparatively higher for those migrants who work

under the Government service.

In nut shell, we can say that most of the migrants in the primary and secondary

sectors obtain very less monthly salary of less than Rs. 2000.

5.12. Previous Occupation of the Migrants

Previous occupation of the migrants becomes a push factor for him. Generally, the

dissatisfaction with the job, wages, working conditions, nature of work etc. decides the

direction of migration from the rural areas. Therefore, the study of the previous

occupation seems imperative to look into the push factors of the rural male migrants from

the source area.

173

SKILLED LABOURER

2% STUDENTS 5%

GOVT. SERVICE 4%

HOUSEHOLD INDSUTRY

3%

Fig. 5.10 Previous Occupation of the Outmigrants (2009)

CULTIVATOR 12%


Fig. 5.10 shows that more than half of the outrnigrants were unskilled labourer in

their source area before their migration. These unskilled labourers later on got the work

of unskilled labour again at the destination. The major cause of the unskilled labourers

migration is because of their landless nature and low rate of wages in the source area.

Apart from this, there is also lack of on-farm employment opportunities as rural areas

become job saturated during the lean season. Few cultivators also migrated to the areas

where they can avail better opportunities and wages for earning.

The persons who have not had any job before also migrate in large numbers. After

attaining the adult age they feel the burden of responsibility and finding no other way to

get a job in their native areas, these people have to migrate to earn their bed. Besides this,

many government servants have to migrate because of their job in other areas. Students

also become an important case of outmigration. Generally, the rural hinterlands do not

have appropriate educational institutions and the students have no options ready with

them to continue their studies further staying back in their homeland.

Therefore, we can analyse easily that all the causes of migration as the pull factor

remain dormant in the previous occupation of migrants, which later on stimulate him to

migrate out in search of better opportunities and better earnings as well as working

conditions.

174

5.13. Education of the Head of the Households:

Possibly an important factor to be considered about the background of the out

migrant is the education of the head of the household. One can very well assume that

households where heads are literate and educated are likely to send more outmigrants

than the households where head is illiterate and comparatively less educated. In the state

like Uttar Pradesh, where rural literacy is very low and outmigration is motivated by push

of the poverty this may not hold good.

Distribution of the migrants according to the education of the head of the

household is given in the Fig. 5.11. Nearly three fourth of the outmigrants come from

where the head of the household is very less educated. Even 42 percent of the migrants

come from the family where head of the household is illiterate. Only 24 percent of the

migrants belong to the households where head of the households is educated more than

secondary and higher secondary level.

Fig. 5.11 Distribution of the Migrants according to the Education of the Head of the

Household (2009)

illiterate • Primaty Secondary/higher secondary • Graduation/Post Graduation


It can be summarized as that migration occurs more from the households which

has its household head less educated. Education defines the economic level of the

households to some extent. Lower education level indicates the scarcity of movable and

immovable property resources. Therefore, to earn the livelihood, people have to migrate.

175

5.14. Summary and Conclusions

The chapter brings out a clear picture of the quantum, characteristics and patterns

of oubnigrants from the sample villages. The outmigration rate is very high in the sample

villages and each village shows a considerable variation according to its level of

development. Cross tabulation of various characteristics of the outmigrants in relation

with the development level in different community development blocks show that areas

with high rural development have comparatively lower rate of outmigration with few

exceptions. Males are more migratory than females in sample villages possibly because

the only dominant reason of the female migration is marriage and compulsory movement

along with their spouse. This is the reason why this particular study has been zeroing in

on the male migrants only.

One of the most important characteristics which seem to highly influence the rate

of outmigration has been the age structure as most of the migrants are of the working age

group and marriage age with fewer migrant of young age going out to seek education

opportunities at different destinations. Older population is more migratory in high rural

development block than low rural development blocks. Apart from this, the study also

presents the fact that most of the migrants are married. The outmigration rate is

comparatively higher among never married men in C.D. Block with low rural

development while this rate is found to be equal in both high and low rural development

blocks in case of married males. The chapter also tests the hypothesis regarding relation

of the migrants with the head of the households in which it has been found that mostly

the middle sons are migratory and not the eldest sons. On the other hand the head of the

households also show high level of outmigration rate.

· The chapter also analyses that proportion of the Other Backward Caste Migrants

is higher than all other communities. But when outmigration rate is seen it has been found

that outmigration rate is highest amongst the migrants of Forward Caste and

Communities. It signifies that Forward castes and Muslims are more migratory than other

communities.

Although, the proportion of migrants who are less educated is more but at the

same time specific outmigration rate explains that higher the level of education higher

will be the tendency of outmigration in an individual. This is also correct in many cases

176

that the migrants generally improve their educational standards after migration from rural

areas as these areas do not provide good infrastructure facilities for education. Most of

the migrants move out of their country of their birth in search of employment and in

earning the bread for the family. Among the workers, the majority of them belong to the

agricultural labour category who are mainly unskilled and do not get on fann

employment opportunities in their native land. Most of these unskilled labourers have

attained very less education or no education (illiterate). Most of the educated migrants

belong to the Government service category as these jobs need educated individuals.

The goal of most of the migrants is to earn more and more money to send it as

remittances back home. But we see that migrants who form the most of the bulk of the

proportion do not get satisfactory monthly salaries. Most of the migrants who are

working as government employee have higher monthly spectrum than other migrants.

The factor which plays a role of push factor for the migrants is generally his previous

occupation which becomes a matter of dissatisfaction for the individual and promotes

migration. Most of the migrants were unskilled labour or without any jobs before their

outmigration from the rural areas. Education of the head of the households becomes a

causative factor for the outmigration. The study suggests that migration happens to be

more common phenomena where the household head is less educated possibly because of

the fact such households are also economically very weak and prone to outmigration.

177

demographic and socio-economic ...shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/16660/9/09...chapterv...

Documents