The effects of rural labour migration process on occupational distribution, family facilities and livelihoods

Migration is the intrinsic character of rural livelihood of India. Many a time, the low economic productivity of the small and fragmented holding associated with uncertainty and seasonality of market prices accrued to the farmers have steered to the process of migration from their own village to elsewhere in search of economic and social security as well. Migration is shift from a place of residence to another place for some length of time or permanently including different types of voluntary movements. It has great impact on economic, social, cultural and psychological life of people, both at place of emigration as well as of migration (Kaur, 2003). Migration of workers is a human phenomenon which has historical roots and wider implications. The search for the source of survival or quest for Eldorado, the blissful life, has ever remained the inspiring and the dovetailing force of migrations. Migrations have economic genesis but resulting socio-political cultural ramifications. Indeed, mingling of different cultures has had positive consequences as well as placing strain on the culture and life of the upcoming society affected in either way by migration. In economic parlance, migration is perceived as when a person is engaged or likely to engage in a remunerative activity in a place of which he is not a native or national. 

Migration is an important feature of human civilization. It reflects, human endeavour to survive in the most testing conditions both natural and man-made. Migration in India has existed historically, but, in the context of globalization and opening up of the world economy it has assumed special significance for the country and the society. As a consequence of historical and economic factors, there are serious income disparities, agrarian distress, inadequate employment generation, vast growth of informal economy and the resultant migration from rural areas to urban, urban to urban and backward to comparatively advanced regions in the most appalling conditions. Migration is a global phenomenon. Uneven economic development, interregional disparity and differences in living standards between socio-economic groups are some of the important reasons responsible for migration. 

The last few decades have observed massive seasonal or permanent migration of peasants from rural to urban areas in the third world countries. This has been extensively documented, and there has also been an enormous growth of theoretical literature and empirical evidence towards an understanding of the realities of rural-urban migration. The phenomenon has also led to a considerable debate on the process of capitalist penetration into rural areas and its role in influencing the existing socio-economic differentiation in the countryside. One of the prominent theoretical arguments on rural-urban migration views it as individual utility maximization behaviour (Hariss and Todaro 1970), where wage differentials between the urban and rural sectors are considered to be the prime determinant of migration. The neoclassical expected income model of Todaro, with its numerous variants, seems to focus on individual potential migrants, and argues that holding much less constant; people will migrate if they expect to do better than they would if they did not move. The neoclassical theory of migration is largely based on the Lewis model, where the institutionally given urban wage rate and the wage differential between the urban and rural sectors form the basis of framework. This implies that migration from the rural to the urban sector results when the actual rural wage rate falls short of the expected urban wage rate. However, the neo-classical model, which is the most dominating framework in the context of rural-urban migration, assumes that rural migrants are a homogeneous category of poor people, ignoring the fact that their migration is not always based on a strategy of maximization, but of survival. The circulation of labour or migration from rural to urban areas is at times a response to economic necessity. Of land-owning and other institutional mechanisms that lead to migration from rural to urban areas. 

The study on the effects of migration process on socio-economic status of the rural population has remained relevant since migration acts as a catalyst in the social transformation process. Migration process not only affects the destiny of individual migrants but also it has a great impact on the conditions of family members left behind, local communalities, social and cultural scenario. Trend of rural labour migration towards urban territory is mainly drive by the regularity of income, high remittances and perceived high social esteem. The migrants send remittances to their relatives in the rural areas and these remittance-receiving households use the remittances for various purposes. With this background keeping in mind the present study was conducted with some objectives, such as: to recognize the changing pattern of occupational scenario of the study area; to identify the changes of family facilities before and after migration; to compare the income differences before and after migration.