NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF STUDY AND RESEARCH IN LAW, RANCHI

SOCIOLOGY SYNOPSIS

“RURAL MIGRATION IN INDIA”: A SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY

Submitted By: Abhinav Sharma Submitted To: Dr. Jisu Ketan Pattanaik

Roll No. 910 Asst. Professor, Sociology

Semester: III | Section - B NUSRL, Ranchi

 STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM

The phrase migration derived from the Latin word ‘migrane’ because it means to exchange one’s
house. Migration is one of the basic additives of population alternate other additives being
fertility and mortality. It is very complex phenomenon, which is decided by means of social,
psychological, monetary, and political elements. There is no set definition that is relevant to all
cases of migration.

One important facet of study on population is the study of migration arising out of various social,
cultural, economic or political reasons. For a large country like India, the complexity of
movement of population in different parts of the country helps in understanding the dynamics of
the society. At this crucial juncture in economic development in our country, study on migration
assumes special importance.

This paper is dedicated to myriad of reasons and impact on India’s economic, political and social
impact which is producing both the sides of the coin. Migration comes as a boon for several folks
who get better fresh opportunities and send remittances. In few regions of India, every third
home out of four consist of a migrant. The consequences of migration on individuals, families
and areas add as much as a great effect on the society and national economic system. Despite the
numbers, no longer lots are written on migration within or from India and its extensive costs and
returns stay outside of the general public policy realm.

Despite a number of positive effects of migration, primarily based at the empirical evidences it's
been located that migration have some gloomy aspects too. These are both in economic, health of
migrant of their own family individuals and many social implication aspects.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Starting from writings of international thinker to national and then to local writers, one can
analyse the seriousness of the present situation and the changes society is witnessing. Todaro
(1969), the main reason of rural-urban migration is rural-urban expected income differential. The
expected wage is nothing but the product of higher urban wage and probability of finding a job
in the urban sector.
Dubey, Jones and Sen (2004) find that migration in India is caste selective, dominated by the
upper castes in social hierarchy, and that the possession of human capital is an important
determinant of the likelihood of rural to urban migration.

Mitra and Murayama (2008) find that prospects for better job opportunities are a major
determinant of male migration.

Mishra and Reddy (2005) studied the influence of socio- economic variables on seasonal
migration and permanent migration from the rural areas of Bihar. They found from the
regression analysis that the agricultural labour households with higher size of family and
dependency ratio were acted as a major factors for higher level of seasonal migration since they
need larger quantum of maintenance expenses. The study revealed that higher caste educated
households with lager number of dependents were more prone to permanent migration.

Dr. Shahin Razi (2014) view about migration is that it is the barometer of changing socio-
economic and political conditions at the national and international levels. It also says about
migration 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.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Theories have been gaining importance in recent years and are finding wider application in social
and natural sciences. When investigating migration flows, researchers have discovered that the
predisposition of young people to migrate could be consistently higher than other age groups
when the area of origin is rural. This type of migration, from rural settlements to urban locations,
is almost always permanent. It is frequently preceded by several rural-to-rural movements as a
process of progressive adaptation to more complex social environments. Both stage and stepwise
migration characterize the rural flows among several small towns (Muniz 1981). Flows from
urban to rural areas also exist; one example of this kind is known as "back-to-the-land
movement" (Jacob 1996, 1997; Halfacree 2007), where urbanites decide to leave their
congested places to reside in rural areas where they can have better quality of life. Such
migration flows are found generally in more developed countries, while rural-to-urban flows are
much more typical in less developed countries.
THEORY OF MODERNISATION
Modernisation theory is used to explain the process of modernisation within societies.
Modernisation refers to a model of a progressive transition from a ‘pre-modernisation’ or
‘traditional’ to a ‘modern’ society. Modernisation theory both attempts to identify the social
variables that contribute to social progress and development of societies and seeks to explain the
process of social evolution. Modernisation theory is subject to criticism originating among
socialist and free- market ideologies, world- system theorists, globalisation theorists and
dependency theorists among other. Modernisation theory stresses not only the process of change
but also the responses to that change. With the help of modernisation it helps people to earn
livelihood in the society staying with the same place rather than moving from here and there to
get migrated. It also looks at internal dynamics while referring to social and cultural structures
and the adaptation of new technologies. Modernization theory maintains that traditional societies
will develop as they adopt more modern practices.

Now the researcher will move into the topic on government policies towards internal migrant
worker in India. This paper generally focuses on internal migration and emphasizes how internal
migration contributes to balanced regional development.

SIGNIFICANCE OF RESEARCH PROBLEM

Rural migration in India is a problem if one keeps in mind the structure of Indian society. India is
a developing country which is moving to be a developed country with the pace of 7.2% GDP
growth rate, leaving behind giants of Industrial economies like USA, China & Japan. This pace
is due movement of rural labour to urban areas like, New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata
etc. and this movement is unbalancing our society as primary sector is falling sort of labour as
rural youth is more fascinated with the scientific advances and looks to be surrounded by the
same. But India’s primary sector is not that developed which can fulfill the demands of the
industries. Fascinating lights of the industrial advancement is also destroying the structure of the
society.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

The objective of the research is:

  To study the problem of people in rural and urban areas to explore the causes of
migration.
 To study the rate of migration in India.
 To study how migration effect the development in India.
 To analyse how help in improving the condition of rural areas.
 To study the steps taken by the government to help the migrated people.
 To study how the migration effects in the diffusion of culture by interchanging and
communication.
 To study how migration contributed to the complex mix of people and culture found in
different religion of the country today.

RESEARCH METHODALOGY

UNIVERSAL POPULATION STUDY

The study focuses on the Indian population in state of Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar
Pradesh and the changing mindset of the people. It primarily focuses on the people who are
migrating from rural to urban area and what are the needs of migration. The reason for choosing
this population is to study the changes that have occurred in the mindsets and behavioural
patterns relating to migration of villages to urban cities. The Indians has undoubtedly progressed
a lot in the recent ages and with modernity, and to learn the concept of development by residing
in urban areas instead of rural one.

METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION

To fully understand the dynamics of the migration in the country, it is important to examine the
census of the nation of compare the rate of migration increasing day by day from rural to urban.
It is important to understand why and when migration is necessary for the people in village areas.
The method of data collection used is secondary. The research will be mostly statistical mainly
census and data shown by different organizations. There will be comparative analysis of the
existing data and surveys to find out the changes in the patterns. Researcher will be proceeding
from the international literature to national to get a clear picture of changes in social patterns.
Researcher will also be reading various books and will be taking the help of the internet to get it
better acquainted with the topic of my research. Reviewing previous research would probably
help in finding out the “gaps” in the existing literature and introduce new ways to “filter” the
existing research.

DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS:-

By analyzing the data of the census the researcher got to know about the changes occur in the
percentage of migration. When a person is enumerated in census at a different place than his / her
place of birth, she / he is considered a migrant. This may be due to marriage, which is the most
common reason for migration among females-or for work, what is the case as generally among
males, etc. It also happens that many return to their place of birth after staying out. To capture
such movements of population census collect information on migration by last helps to
understand the current migration scenario better. In India, as per census 2001, about 307 million
people have been reported as migration by place of birth. Out of them about 259 million
(84.2%), migrated from one part of the state to another, i.e., from one village or town to another
village or town. 42 million (2%) from outside the country. The data on migration by last
residence in India as per Census 2001 shows that the total number of migrants has been 314
million. Out of these migrants by last residence, 268 million (85%) has been intra-state migrants,
those who migrated from one are of the state to another. 41 million (13%) were interstate
migrants and 5.1 million (1.6%) migrated from outside of the country.

PROPOSED CHAPTERIZATION

The data collected and analyzed is arranged according to chapters.

Chapter I: Introduction, Review of Literature & Methodology.

Chapter II: Finding and Analysis:

 Distribution of migrants
 Push and Pull factor of migration
 Study of migration with linkage to government policies
 Reasons of migration
 Impact of rural migration on different aspects

Chapter III: Consists of summary of findings and Suggestions.

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