Migration is a response to the uneven distribution of opportunities over space. There are two main types of factors which cause people to migrate.
○ Push factors which cause people to leave their place of residence
○ Pull factors which attract people from different places
● In India people migrate from rural to urban areas due to push factors like ***, high population, pressure on the land, lack of basic infrastructural facilities like healthcare, education, natural disasters such as floods, droughts, cyclonic storms, earthquakes, tsunami, wars and local conflicts.
● The factors that attract people to urban areas are better opportunities, availability of regular work, relatively higher wages, better education, better healthcare and sources of entertainment.
Migration also has certain consequences like economic, social, demographic and environmental consequences.
○ Economic Consequences:
■ A major benefit of migration is the remittance sent by the migrants
■ Remittances from international migrants are a great source of foreign exchange.
■ Punjab, Kerala, Tamil Nadu receive the highest remittances from international migrants
■ Remittances are mainly used for food, repayments of debts, treatment, marriages, ****’* education etc.
■ Migration from rural areas of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha are due to the success of green revolution
■ Unregulated migration to metro cities causes overcrowding. This is a negative consequence of migration as it causes the formation of slums.
○ Demographic Consequences:
■ Migration leads to redistribution of population.
■ Rural - urban migration contributes to the population growth of cities.
■ Age and skill selective out migration from rural areas have adverse effect on the rural demographic structure.
High male dominated out migration from rural areas of MP, Rajasthan, Uttrakhand, Maharashtra etc. has led to serious imbalances in the age and *** composition.
○ Social Consequence:
■ Migrants act as agents of social change.
■ New ideas related to new technology, family planning, *****’ education. etc. get diffused to rural areas through people.
■ It has positive contributions such as the evolution of composite culture, widens the mental horizon of people etc.
■ It also has negative consequences such as anonymity, and a feeling of dejection which creates social vacuum can lead to **** activities and *.
○ Environmental Consequences:
■ Overcrowding has put pressure on existing social and physical infrastructure in urban areas.
■ Unplanned growth of urban settlement leads to formation of slums and shanty colonies.
■ Overexploitation of resources, cities are facing acute problem of depletion of groundwater, air pollution, disposal of sewage and management of groundwater.
