Reasons & Problems of Migration in India

By Kruti Naik

MigrationMovement of humans, either individually or in group from one geographical region to other

India has seen a lot of migration which has influenced his culture and contributed to its diversity

Indo Aryans, Sakas, Arabs, Turks and Moghuls

Movement of Marathas into central part of India after conquering is an example of Internal Migration

Causes of Migration

Economical- Trade & Employment

Social - Religious Missionaries

Political

Environmental- famine

Pull Factor

Where the difference in opportunities is less, the person weighs the benefits of economic developments and involves a higher percentage of skilled workers.

for Example, Migration of people to Mumbai for working in film industry or to Bangalore for working in IT industry is an example of this kind of migration.

Push Factorwhere development is minimal, ‘push’ migration takes place.

People do not have much option in their region and are forced to migrate due to these compelling situations.

In such cases, the migration is higher and has a higher percentage of unskilled workers.

Migration of unskilled or semiskilled labour from Bihar and eastern U.P. to Mumbai and Punjab are examples of this kind of migration.

Rural to Urban Migration

Larger families and continuous division of agricultural land has reduced the size of agricultural land holdings

As agriculture is no longer able to support a large or even an average family. This has forced the people to migrate to urban areas

Cast Factor

In our society, caste system is also linked with economic and social power.

Those at the lower end are discriminated and are more inclined to migrate to urban areas where the caste system is virtually non existent in public life giving them the opportunity to participate in the society on more equal basis

Impacts

In the migrating region the immigrant competes with the locals for jobs and wherever the jobs are scarce, the competition brings in resentment, resulting in social tensions

In urban areas, where the migration is more and uncontrolled, brings pressure on land and infrastructure which result in growth of slums

ImpactsIn areas where the number of migrants is higher, political aspect comes into play as these people could be potential source or threat to the political domination of a political party. This has resulted in the issue being politicized.

A recent example of this is Mumbai, where some politicians blame north Indian migrants for almost every problem of the city, though the majority of migrants in the city are from Maharashtra itself

Migration also brings changes in the behavior and attitude of the migrant. This is more prominently observed in the migrants from rural to urban areas

ConclusionIt is neither feasible nor desirable to stop migration. However, it is also true that migration forced upon people has brought innumerable miseries to them.

Therefore, an ideal situation would be creating conditions where no one is forced to migrate for any reason whatsoever. This condition can be achieved by removing disparities in economic development and by removing social discriminations.

As regards tensions between the locals and the migrants, it must also be understood that while giving a job or getting a job is a personal matter, every human being is entitled to a life of respect and dignity in any corner of the world and unless he has done something against the law of the land, he needs to be given that respect and dignity.

Thank you