Migration refers to the movement of people from one place to another. It can occur within a country (internal migration) or between countries (international migration).

Migration can happen for many reasons, including economic opportunities, escaping conflict or improving living conditions. The two main concepts that define migration in terms of countries are immigration and emigration, which influence population growth.

Types of Migration

1. Immigration (People moving into a country or area)
   1. When people move into a country or region (called immigration), they increase the population of that place.
   1. For example, if many people move to a city or country, the population grows, and there might be more workers and families, which can lead to economic growth.
   1. People of childbearing age (people who can have children) may also move, so this can also lead to more births.
2. Emigration (People moving out of a country or area)
   1. When people move out of a country or region (called emigration), the population of that area shrinks.
   1. For example, if many young people leave a country for better opportunities elsewhere, that country will lose people, and its population might decrease over time.
   1. This can also cause a loss of skilled workers (brain drain), which might affect the economy of the place where people live.

Causes of Migration

A. Push Factors (Reasons to leave the place of origin)

1. Economic Reasons: Lack of employment opportunities, Low wages, Agricultural distress.
2. Social Factors: Social conflicts and caste-based discrimination.
3. Environmental Factors: Natural disasters (floods, droughts, etc.), Land degradation and climate change.
4. Political Factors: Political instability and communal violence.

B. Pull Factors (Reasons to move to the destination)

1. Better Economic Opportunities: Higher wages, employment prospects.
2. Improved Living Conditions: Better access to healthcare, education, and infrastructure.
3. Social Reasons: Family reunification or marriage.
4. Urban Amenities: Availability of better facilities in cities.

Effects of Migration

Migration has profound and varied effects on both the origin and destination countries. These effects can be economic, social, cultural, and demographic, shaping societies in complex ways.

Effects on the Destination Country

Positive Effects

• Economic Growth: Immigrants contribute to the workforce, driving productivity and economic growth, particularly in industries like healthcare, agriculture, and technology.
• Cultural Enrichment: Migration fosters a diverse society by bringing new cultures, traditions, and ideas, enhancing the cultural fabric.
• Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Immigrants often start businesses, boosting innovation and creating job opportunities.
• Demographic Balance: Immigration can help address ageing populations by increasing the number of working-age individuals, contributing to long-term economic stability.
• Tax Revenue: Immigrants pay taxes that fund public services, benefiting the wider economy.

Negative Effects

• The strain on Public Services: A sudden influx of immigrants can overload healthcare, education, and housing systems.
• Social Tensions: Differences in culture and language may lead to social tensions or challenges in integration.
• Job Competition: Immigrants may compete with locals for jobs, especially in low-wage sectors, potentially leading to unemployment or wage suppression.
• Cultural Identity Concerns: Some worry that large-scale immigration may affect national identity and traditional values.

However, these negative effects can be managed with better governance.

Effects on the Origin Country

Positive Effects

• Remittances: Immigrants often send money back home, boosting local economies and improving living standards for their families.
• Unemployment Relief: Emigration can reduce unemployment by alleviating pressure on local job markets and resources.
• Skills and Knowledge Transfer: Emigrants who acquire new skills abroad may contribute to the origin country’s development upon their return.
• Political and Social Change: Emigrants can bring new perspectives and help foster political change, enhancing global connectivity.

Negative Effects

• Brain Drain: Skilled professionals may leave for better opportunities abroad, depriving the origin country of valuable human capital.
• Ageing Population: Large-scale emigration, especially of younger individuals, can lead to a demographic imbalance with a growing elderly population.
• Loss of Talent: The departure of educated individuals can hinder innovation and slow economic development in critical sectors.
• Family and Social Disruption: Long-term migration often leads to family separations, which can have emotional and social consequences for both migrants and those left behind.

Migration is largely seen as a positive force that enables better utilisation of human resources at the place where it is required and benefits both the source as well as the destination of migration.

This is especially true for internal migration, but not so much for external migration in which the social tensions created might far outweigh the benefits of migration.

Migration affects the population size, economic dynamics, and cultural makeup of both the destination and origin countries.

Internal Migration 

Internal migration refers to the movement of people within national boundaries, typically from rural to urban areas, between states, or within the same state in search of better opportunities.

Types of Internal Migration:

1. Rural to Urban – Driven by employment, education, and better living conditions.
2. Urban to Rural – Often reverse migration due to job loss, retirement, or family reasons.
3. Rural to Rural – Common for agricultural labourers during seasonal work.
4. Urban to Urban – Skilled Labour or professionals moving between cities.

Major Causes of Internal Migration:

The causes of internal migration are not very different from the international Migration:

• Economic Opportunities – Jobs, higher wages in cities or industrial hubs.
• Education & Health – Access to better schools, colleges, and hospitals.
• Marriage – A significant cause, especially for women (female-dominated migration).
• Natural Disasters or Climate Change – Forced displacement due to floods, droughts, etc.
• Social and Cultural Factors – Family ties, social networks, etc.

As studied in the previous sections of this chapter, this is extremely beneficial for both the

Internal Migration in India

India is a very well-connected country. It has Over 450 million internal migrants (37% of India’s population) according to the 2011 Census.

• Female migrants form the majority, primarily due to marriage-related migration.
• Top states of out-migration: Uttar Pradesh, Bihar.
• Top states of in-migration: Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu.
• As per the 2001 Census, the 20-29 age group formed a fifth (11 million) of all migrants. Nearly 80% of these migrants were males. In 2001-11, It increased to 16Mn, with 75% being males.

Challenges faced by the migrant workers:

• Contractual Nature of Jobs: Often the migrants are part of the gig economy with seasonal employment, which suits the seasonal nature of agriculture.
• No Social Security: No permanent job means no coverage under pension, health insurance etc.
• Lower salaries: They work for much less than the locals for the same job.
• Pitiable living conditions: Often without the ability to buy our rent a decent accommodation, many are forced to live in slums.
• High rent: The urban centres are expensive to live in. A few days of joblessness can create extreme stress.
• Lower coverage under welfare schemes: Due to the identification of the home states, various schemes such as PDS benefits are difficult to avail unless the address is mutated, which is a difficult process.
• Discrimination faced by Locals: For example the idea that Mumbai is for ‘Marathi Manus’.

Employment Schemes for Informal Workers:

• MGNREGA
• DDU-GKY- Grameen Kaushalya Yojana
• DDUAY – Antyodaya Yojana
• PM SVANidhi – Working Capital loan(₹10,000) for street vendors.
• PMKVY – Kaushal Vikas Yojana
• PMEGP: Employment Generation Programme
• Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan (PM-SYM)
• Labour Code
• Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY)
• PMGKAY – Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana

Draft National Policy on Migrant Workers

Spurred by the exodus of 10 million migrants (as per government estimates) from big cities during the COVID-19 lockdown, NITI Aayog, along with a working subgroup of officials and members of civil society, has prepared a draft national migrant labour policy. It lays down institutional mechanisms to coordinate between Ministries, states, and local departments to implement programmes for migrants.

The draft describes two approaches to policy design:

1. One focussed on cash transfers, special quotas, and reservations;
   1. The other “enhances the agency and capability of the community and thereby removes aspects that come in the way of an individual’s own natural ability to thrive”.

Policy Features:

1. It identifies the Ministry of Labour and Employment as the nodal Ministry for the implementation of policies.
   1. It asks it to create a special unit to help converge the activities of other Ministries. This unit would manage:
      1. Migration resource centres in high migration zones,
      1. A national labour Helpline,
      1. Links of worker households to government schemes, and
      1. Inter-state migration management bodies.
   1. Migration focal points should be created in various Ministries, the draft suggests.
   1. On the inter-state migration management bodies, it says that labour departments of source and destination states along major migration corridors, should work together through the migrant worker cells.
   1. Labour officers from source states can be deputed to destinations – e.g., Bihar’s experiment to have a joint labour commissioner at Bihar Bhavan in New Delhi.
   1. Role of Panchayats: Policies should “promote the role of panchayats to aid migrant workers” and integrate urban and rural policies to improve the conditions of migration. Panchayats should maintain a database of migrant workers, issue identity cards and passbooks, and provide “migration management and governance” through training, placement, and social security benefit assurance.
   1. Help employers “fill the gap between demand and supply” and ensure “maximum benefit of social welfare schemes”.
   1. Surveys: It asks the Ministries and the Census office to be consistent with the definitions of migrants and subpopulations, capture seasonal and circular migrants, and incorporate migrant-specific variables in existing surveys.

Ministry Specific Recommendations:

The draft asks the Ministries of Panchayati Raj, Rural Development, and Housing and Urban Affairs to use Tribal Affairs migration data to help create migration resource centres in high migration zones. It asks the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship to focus on skill-building at these centres.

1. The Ministry of Education should take measures under the Right to Education Act to mainstream migrant children’s education, to map migrant children, and to provide local-language teachers in migrant destinations.
2. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs should address issues of night shelters, short-stay homes, and seasonal accommodation for migrants in cities.
3. The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) and the Ministry of Labour should set up grievance-handling cells and fast-track legal responses for trafficking, minimum wage violations, and workplace abuses and accidents for migrant workers.

Issues:

1. Migration “should be acknowledged as an integral part of development”, and “government policies should not hinder but…seek to facilitate internal migration”. 
2. Limitations of The Inter-State Migrant Workers Act, 1979, which was designed to protect labourers from exploitation by contractors by safeguarding their right to non-discriminatory wages, travel and displacement allowances, and suitable working conditions.
3. Further, after the end of COVID, the discussion on the policy has practically stopped.

However, this policy gives wonderful insights into how the welfare of migrant workers should take place. The government needs to accelerate the implementation of this stuck policy so that the welfare of the migrant workers can be ensured.

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