CHAPTER 17

PART A

MIGRATION

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Contents
1 What is Migration? ............................................................................................................................................... 3
2 Various terms that we come across related to migration: ................................................................................... 3
2.1 Immigration and Emigration:........................................................................................................................ 3
2.2 In-migration and Out-migration: .................................................................................................................. 3
2.3 Gross and Net Migration: ............................................................................................................................. 3
2.4 Internal Migration and External Migration: ................................................................................................. 3
3 Types of Migration:............................................................................................................................................... 3
3.1 Forced Migration: ......................................................................................................................................... 3
3.2 Terms related to forced migration: .............................................................................................................. 4
3.2.1 Refugees: .............................................................................................................................................. 4
3.2.2 Conflict-induced internal displacement: .............................................................................................. 4
3.2.3 Asylum-seekers: .................................................................................................................................... 4
3.2.4 Disaster Induced Internal Displacement: ............................................................................................. 4
3.2.5 Irregular Migration: .............................................................................................................................. 4
3.2.6 Human Trafficking: ............................................................................................................................... 4
3.2.7 Forced and Voluntary Return: .............................................................................................................. 4
4 Internal migration in India: ................................................................................................................................... 4
4.1 Constitutional Provisions: ............................................................................................................................. 4
5 Migration can be divided into the following types on the basis of origin and destination:................................. 5
6 Step-wise Migration: ............................................................................................................................................ 5
7 Working group on migration: ............................................................................................................................... 5
8 Reasons for Migration: ......................................................................................................................................... 5
8.1 Economic Factors:......................................................................................................................................... 6
8.2 Socio-Cultural and Political Factors .............................................................................................................. 6
9 Consequences of Migration:................................................................................................................................. 7
9.1 Economic ...................................................................................................................................................... 7
9.2 Demographic ................................................................................................................................................ 7
9.3 Social and Psychological ............................................................................................................................... 7

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What is Migration?
• Migration is usually defined as a geographical movement of people involving a change from
their usual place of residence.
• Human migration is the movement by people from one place to another with the intentions
of settling, permanently in the new location.
• But it is distinguished from temporary and very short distance moves. The movement is
often over long distances and from one country to another.

Various terms that we come across related to migration:

1.1 Immigration and Emigration:

When people from one country move permanently to another country, for example, if people from
India move to Germany then for Germany, it is termed as Immigration, whereas for India it is
termed as Emigration.

1.2 In-migration and Out-migration:

• In-migration means migration occurring within an area only, while out-migration means
migration out of the area.
• Both types of migration are called internal migration occurring within the country.
• Migration from Bihar to Bengal is in-migration for Bengal, while it is out- migration for Bihar.

1.3 Gross and Net Migration:

• During any time period, the total number of persons coming in the country and the total
number of people going out of the country for residing is called gross migration.
• The difference between the total number of persons coming to reside in a country and going
out of the country for residing during any time period is termed as net migration.

1.4 Internal Migration and External Migration:

• Internal migration means the movement of people in different states and regions within a
country from one place to another.
• On the other hand, external or international migration refers to the movement of people
from one country to another for permanent settlement.

Types of Migration:

1.5 Forced Migration:

It is a general term that refers to the movement of refugees and internally displaced people (those
displaced by conflicts within their country of origin) as well as people displaced by natural or
environmental disasters, chemical or nuclear disasters, famine, or development projects.

The following are the terms related to forced migration:

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1.6 Terms related to forced migration:

1.6.1 Refugees:
• A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution,
war, or violence.
• A refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality,
political opinion or membership in a particular social group.

1.6.2 Conflict-induced internal displacement:

• It occurs when people are forced to flee their homes as a result of armed conflict including
civil war, generalized violence, and persecution on the grounds of nationality, race, religion,
political opinion or social group.
• This happens within the borders of the parent country.

1.6.3 Asylum-seekers:
• Asylum seeker is a person who has left his country of origin and formally applied for asylum
in another country but whose application has not yet been concluded. A person is officially a
refugee when they have their claim for asylum accepted by the government.
• The number of asylum-seekers has consistently grown over the last four years and is at a
record high.

1.6.4 Disaster Induced Internal Displacement:

• It happens when people are forced or obliged to flee or leave their homes or places of
habitual residence for an array of reasons, such as human-made and natural disasters.
• People don’t leave their parent country.

1.6.5 Irregular Migration:

Irregular migration refers to illegal movement to work in a country without authorization to work,
however there is no clear or universally accepted definition of the term.

1.6.6 Human Trafficking:

The action or practice of illegally transporting people from one country or area to another, typically
for the purposes of forced labour or commercial sexual exploitation.

1.6.7 Forced and Voluntary Return:

Forced return is the compulsory return of an individual to the country of origin, transit or third
country, on the basis of an administrative or judicial act, whereas a voluntary return is an assisted or
independent return to the country of origin, transit or third country based on the free will of the
returnee.

Internal migration in India:

1.7 Constitutional Provisions:

• The Constitution of India guarantees freedom of movement for all citizens.

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 • The foundational principles of free migration are enshrined in clauses (d) and (e) of Article
19(1) of the Constitution, which guarantee all citizens the right to move freely throughout
the territory of India and reside and settle in any part of the territory of India.
• Article 15 prohibits discrimination on the basis of place of birth, among other grounds, while
Article 16 guarantees equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters of public employment,
and in particular prohibits the denial of access to public employment on the grounds of place
of birth or residence.

Migration can be divided into the following types on the basis of origin and destination:
• Rural to rural R →R (Marriages, evading social stigma, economic opportunities)
• Rural to urban R →U (Daily wage earners, labourers, Marriages)
• Urban to urban U →U (Mostly transfer of jobs or in search of better economic opportunities,
Marriages)
• Urban to rural U →R (Mostly leisure oriented – Farm Houses, Retirement Houses or social
work oriented)

(Note: Migration can be temporary or permanent. Temporary migration encompasses annual,

seasonal or even daily movements of population between two cities; it is also called
‘commutation’).

Step-wise Migration:
In some cases, the population moves from villages to small towns and then to a bigger metropolitan
city: this may be termed ‘step-wise migration’.

India has been working towards ensuring the well-being of the migrants in the country.

Working group on migration:

For this purpose: A Government appointed Panel ‘Working Group on Migration’ headed by Shri
Partha Mukhopadhay (which was constituted in 2015) has recommended (the recommendation
have been given in January, 2017) necessary legal and policy framework to protect the interests of
the migrants in the country, stating that the migrant population makes substantial contribution to
economic growth and their Constitutional rights need to be secured.

Note: Kindly refer EduTap’s ESI in news monthly Current Affairs magazine for all the updates.

Reasons for Migration:

The important factors, therefore, which cause migration, or which motivate people to move, may
broadly be classified into four categories: economic factors, demographic factors, socio-cultural
factors, and political factors.

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1.8 Economic Factors:
• The major reason of voluntary migration is economic.
• In most of the developing countries, low agricultural income, agricultural unemployment and
underemployment are the major factors pushing the migrants towards areas with greater job
opportunities.
• The most important economic factors that motivate migration may be termed as ‘Push
Factors’ and ‘Pull Factors’.

Push Factors
• The push factors are those that compel or force a person, due to various reasons, to leave
that place and go to some other place.
• For example, adverse economic conditions caused by poverty, low productivity,
unemployment, exhaustion of natural resources and natural calamities may compel people
to leave their native place in search of better economic opportunities.
• An ILO study reveals that the main push factor causing the worker to leave agriculture is the
lower levels of income, as income in agriculture is generally lower than the other sectors of
the economy.

Pull Factors
• Pull factors refer to those factors which attract the migrants to an area, such as,
opportunities for better employment, higher wages, better working conditions and better
amenities of life, etc.

Push Back Factors

• In India, and in some other developing countries also, another important factor which plays
crucial role in migration is ‘push back factor’.
• In India, the urban labour force is sizeable, and the urban unemployment rates are high, and
there also exist pools of underemployed persons.
• All these factors act in combination as deterrents to the fresh flow of migration from the
rural to urban areas. It is known as a ‘push back factor’.
• If new employment opportunities are created in the urban areas, the first persons to offer
themselves for employment are the marginally employed already residing in those areas,
unless of course special skills are required.

1.9 Socio-Cultural and Political Factors

• Besides these push and pull factors, social and cultural factors also play an important role in
migration.
• Sometimes family conflicts also cause migration.
• Improved communication facilities, such as, transportation, impact of the radio and the
television, the cinema, the urban-oriented education and resultant change in attitudes and
values also promote migration.

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 • Sometimes even political factors encourage or discourage migration.

Consequences of Migration:
• The consequences of migration are diverse. However, some of the important consequences
discussed in this unit are economic, demographic, social and psychological.
• These consequences are both positive as well as negative. Some of these affect the place of
departure while others influence the place of destination.

1.10 Economic
• Migration from a region characterized by labour surplus helps to increase the average
productivity of labour in that region, as this encourages labour-saving devices and/or greater
work participation by the remaining family workers.
• On the other hand, there is a view that migration negatively affects the emigrating region
and favours the immigrating region, and that migration would widen the development
disparity between the regions, because of the drain of the resourceful persons from the
relatively underdeveloped region to the more developed region.
• But the exodus of the more enterprising members of a community cannot be considered a
loss, if there is lack of alternative opportunities in the rural areas. As long as migration draws
upon the surplus labour, it would help the emigrating region.

1.11 Demographic
• Migration has a direct impact on age, sex and occupational composition of the sending and
receiving regions. Migration of the unmarried males of young working age results in
imbalances in sex ratio.
• The absence of many young men from the villages increases the proportion of other groups,
such as, women, children and old people. This tends to reduce the birth rate in the rural
areas.

1.12 Social and Psychological

• Urban life usually brings about certain social changes in the migrants.
• Those migrants who return occasionally or remain in direct or indirect contact with the
households of their origin are also likely to transmit some new ideas back to the areas of
origin.
• A number of ex-servicemen, on retirement go back to their native areas and promote such
practices in the villages.

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