Migration in India 2020-21

In News

• Recently, a report was released named Migration in India 2020-21, by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).

Key Findings

• After the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, 0.7 per cent of the country’s population was a temporary visitor in households during July 2020-June 2021.
  • Over 84 percent of these moved places for reasons linked to the pandemic, ranging from:
    • Meeting family/relatives/friends (48.9 percent), 
    • Loss of job/closure of unit/lack of employment opportunities (12.2 per cent), 
    • Migration of earning member (9.2 per cent), 
    • Closure of educational institutions and 
    • Health related reasons (15.7 per cent).
• The all-India migration rate was 28.9 per cent in July-June 2020-21, with:
  • 26.5 percent migration rate in rural areas and 
  • 34.9 per cent in urban areas. 

Image Courtesy: IE 

• Females recorded a higher share of migration rate of 47.9 percent, with:
  • 48 per cent in rural areas and 
  • 47.8 per cent in urban areas. 
  • Reason for migration: Among females, the highest level of migration rate was seen at 86.8 percent for marriage, 
• The migration rate for males was seen at 10.7 per cent, with:
  • 5.9 per cent in rural areas and 
  • 22.5 per cent in urban areas.
  • Reason for migration: 49.6 percent of the males migrated in search of employment, to take up better employment/business/proximity to place of work, or loss of job/closure of unit/lack of employment opportunities.
• Migrated due to migration of parent/earning member of the family, with:
  • 17.5 per cent males and 
  • 7.3 per cent females migrated for this reason.

Migration 

• Overview of Migration: Migration is the movement of people away from their usual place of residence, across either internal (within country) or international (across countries) borders.  
• Government data on migration: As per the Census, India had 45.6 crore migrants in 2011 (38% of the population) compared to 31.5 crore migrants in 2001 (31% of the population).   
  • Between 2001 and 2011, while the population grew by 18%, the number of migrants increased by 45%.  In 2011, 99% of total migration was internal and immigrants (international migrants) comprised 1%.
• Patterns of migration:
  • Internal migrant flows can be classified on the basis of origin and destination.  
  • One kind of classification is: 
    • rural-rural, 
    • rural-urban,
    • urban-rural and 
    • urban-urban.  
  • As per the 2011 census, there were 21 crore rural-rural migrants which formed 54% of classifiable internal migration (the Census did not classify 5.3 crore people as originating from either rural or urban areas).  
  • Rural-urban and urban-urban movement accounted for around 8 crore migrants each.   
• Reasons for internal migration and size of migrant labour force:
  • Economic migration: Moving to find work or pursue a particular career, e.g., Indian workers in UAE constitute the largest part of the population of UAE (27%).
  • Social migration: Moving to be closer to family or friends or for a better quality of life. E.g., Indian diaspora in USA going for higher education and better paying jobs
  • Political migration: Moving to escape war or political persecution, e.g., the recent Rohingya migration to Bangladesh and India from Myanmar and the Syrian refugee crisis with 6 million leaving the country and 10 million internally displaced.
  • Environmental causes of migration: It includes natural disasters such as an earthquake. Many are forced to move during annual floods and cyclones in India. Citizens of island countries Kiribati, Tuvalu and Nauru are moving out due to sea level rise.
  • Push and pull factors driving migration: People migrate when the perceived interaction of push and pull factors overcome the friction of moving.
    • Push factors are elements of the place of origin that are perceived negatively leading to a desire to leave. These include drought, famine, lack of jobs, over-population, civil war etc. Agrarian distress is a major push factor for economic migrants in India.
    • Pull factors are elements of the destination that are perceived positively leading to place-attraction. These include a chance of a better job, education, standard of living or even better climate.

Image Courtesy :PRS 

Consequences of Migration

• Demographic: It affects the age and sex composition of source and destination. It even affects the growth rate of the population. Generally, proportions of old, children and females increase in source area and decrease in destination due to influx of young males in search of jobs. Skewed sex ratios affect fertility and birth rate in source region.
• Social: Migrants are agents of social change, bringing new ideas and cultures. While this may lead to a composite culture, in some places it leads to increased friction, resentment from natives as was witnessed in attacks on Indians in Australia a few years ago. It can cause isolation, anonymity, dejection and antisocial or criminal intent in some migrants.
• Economic: Contrary to popular belief, migrants do not eat up jobs of the natives. Migration is economically beneficial for the destination as it brings cheap and/or skilled labour whereas it can cause brain-drain from source reason.
• Environmental: Overcrowding of cities puts tremendous pressure on infrastructure. Unplanned growth, slums, overexploitation of resources, water-shortage, air, water and noise pollution, problems of sewage/waste disposal. Delhi’s infrastructure and pollution woes are a case in point.
• Political: Migrant population provides for a new vote bank and thus may change the political equation of an area. For example, many states in North Eastern India are facing demographic imbalances due to illegal immigrants indicating adverse political implications.

Issues 

• Data: 
  • The Census underestimates the migrant worker population.
    • Female migration is recorded as movement due to family since that is the primary reason. 
    • However, many women take up employment after migrating which is not reflected in the number of women moving for work-related reasons.
  • Census data also underestimates temporary migrant labour movement. 
    • In 2007-08, the NSSO estimated the size of India’s migrant labour at seven crore (29% of the workforce).  
    • The Economic Survey, 2016-17, estimated six crore inter-state labour migrants between 2001-2011.  
    • The Economic Survey also estimated that in each year between 2011-2016, on average 90 lakh people travelled for work.
• Issues faced by migrant labour
  • Article 19(1)(e) of the Constitution, guarantees all Indian citizens the right to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India, subject to reasonable restrictions in the interest of the general public or protection of any scheduled tribe.  
  • However, people migrating for work face key challenges including: 
    • Lack of social security and health benefits and poor implementation of minimum safety standards law,
    • Lack of portability of state-provided benefits especially food provided through the public distribution system (PDS) and
    • Lack of access to affordable housing and basic amenities in urban areas. 
• Registration of workers under the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979 (ISMW Act)  was low and implementation of protections outlined in the Act was poor. 

Way Ahead

• The major factor for migration is pursuit of better opportunities in life, especially in areas with political stability. Hence, the creation of favourable conditions should be ensured in the source region.
• Increasing Developmental Opportunities: When job and education opportunities are fulfilled in the native place, migration rates start declining.
• Addressing Governance Deficit: Better law and order system should be enforced in source regions.
• Eliminating effect of Push and Pull factors: The broad based and effective implementation of schemes like Provision of Urban Amenities to Rural Areas (PURA) will not only reduce migration but also establish Gandhian “village republics” in the long run.
• Other Measures should be taken up for providing basic amenities like health, education, residence. e.g. PM Awas Yojna.
• Skill Creation and Employment Generation: Skill development to make the youth employable in place of domicile.
• Promote agriculture as primary occupation through schemes like:
  • Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Unnat Krishi Shiksha Scheme: Started in 2016, it promotes agricultural education in India.
  • Attracting and Retaining Youth in Agriculture (ARYA) project: It is implemented at Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVKs) and sanctioned by Indian Council of Agricultural Research.
• Industry-friendly policies: To promote business and job opportunities in rural areas, e.g. MUDRA scheme, Make in India programme etc.

Source: IE