1

UNIT 2 DISPLACEMENT AND MIGRATION

Contents
2.0 Objectives
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Displacement
2.3 Consequences of Displacement
2.4 Migration
2.5 Patterns of Migration
2.6 Causes and Consequences of Mirgration
2.7 Let Us Sum Up
2.8 Key Words
2.9 Further Readings and References

2.0 OBJECTIVES

Displacement and migration are two major sociological phenomena. By the end of the chapter
you are supposed to have an understanding of:

• displacement and its implications, primarily for the marginalized communities, who
completely depend on their land for livelihood;
• the need of a comprehensive rehabilitation policy in the country;
• migration and its kinds; and
• relationship between displacement and migration.

2.1 INTRODUCTION

Displacement is more than physical dislocation. It is being uprooted and dismemberment of the
socio-economic webs of life with traumatic experiences. It results into a spiral of
impoverishment. Displacement threatens the existence and identity of people. There is a process
of dispossession in displacement. It is estimated that in the last 65 years after independence of
India there are more than 60-70 million displaced persons in the country. According to a study, it
 2

is also estimated that only about 24 per cent of the displaced are rehabilitated and more than 75
per cent are left in the lurch. There is an inter-relation between displacement and migration.
Migration is not a new phenomenon and it is not going to end in the near future. Ever since the
existence of humanity, human beings have been and are still migrating. Existing anthropological
and archaeological literature indicates that the early human beings migrated from one place to
another for security, sustenance and stability. In various periods in the history of mankind,
ranging from the Vedic period through the colonial period to the contemporary times, migrations
in varying degrees has been taking place. In the contemporary world the phenomenon of
migration has been quite common.

2.2. DISPLACEMENT

The history of Indian economic and industrial development is a never ending story of
displacement of people. A few years ago, available reports indicated that more than 21 million
people were internally displaced due to development projects in India. Although they only make
up eight percent of the total population, more than 50 per cent of the displaced were tribal
peoples (HRW, January 2006). Until 1990, about 85.39 lakhs tribals had reportedly been
displaced due to industrialization and development projects like dams, power projects, nature
conservation, etc., but their rehabilitation and resettlement always remained a neglected subject.
For example, tribals constituted 8.2 per cent of the total population of India, according to the
2001 Census. But they also constituted 55.1 per cent of the total displaced persons as a result of
so-called development projects (ACHR Weekly Review, December 2006). These figures must
have gone much higher now which need to be updated.
“Development” according to the Constitution is “that process of governance which, while
respecting human rights of all persons, secures to all Indians freedom from material
impoverishment” (Baxi 1997:164). Baxi believes that in the planning process in India the spirit
of the constitution has been betrayed – people are no partners in the process of decision making
regarding the construction of dams, size, areas of submergence, environment impact, cost-benefit
analysis, allocation of resources, designs including safety designing, epidemiological impact
analysis, contracts for construction, flow of benefits to certain classes/sectors, displacement,
rehabilitation, etc. All these are considered to be the domain of the administration. Development
should have a more ‘representative’ character. There should be a people-orientate development
(Ibid., 164-67). Involuntary relocation of sites of community existence is always problematic as
the consequent dislocation of human beings is much too high. Land Acquisition Act 1894 talks
of “public purposes” and “compensation” for acquisition of land. “But when whole villages are
submerged, people who have no land are also displaced” (Ibid., 169). Money compensation is
one component but not necessarily the most decisive one of “rehabilitation”.
The Affected People
It is important to ask ‘what’ and ‘how’ of displacement, but more important is the question ‘why’
and ‘whose’. Displacement is a process where poorer sections are ‘pushed’ out of their own
habitat. It is a situation where the marginalized people have no other choice but move from their
own village or place of origin to another place. The local inhabitants lose their command over
the resources. Given the number of displacements, types of displacement and the plight suffered
 3

by the displaced, many are now asking: whose nation is it? Whose good is being served? Is it for
the planners, administrators, implementing agencies or upper middle class or marginalized
sections of the society? (Fernandes 1997) Planners and administrators invariably capitalize on
and manipulate the relatively weaker socio-economic and political position of the Displaced
Persons (DPs). Their numbers are underestimated. They are treated indifferently and only
minimal cash compensation, if at all, is paid to them. They are rarely granted security of tenure
or alternative developed land. Often after a painful and traumatic period of establishing a new
lifestyle, they are again informed, they must move again to make way for yet another project.
Apart from the immediate economic loss, displacement also brings about social, cultural and
psychological dislocation. The physical displacement of the people leads to their uprooting from
their socio-cultural base which is no less pathetic than the dispossession of land. They lose their
traditional mechanism of social control, and as a result social tensions increase among them
(Fernandes, 1997).
The history of the tribals has been one of displacement without rehabilitation. If the history of
Jharkhand is traced in the Muslim, British and post-colonial periods one is amazed as to how
involuntary displacements have taken place down the centuries with no rehabilitation or without
adequate rehabilitation. One of the excuses by various governments is that there is no policy on
rehabilitation. Nevertheless, what is a matter of grave concern is the attitude of partisanship to a
few haves at the cost of the have-nots. It is precisely this approach that is discriminatory against
the weaker sections, especially the tribals.

The alienation of land was one of the main reasons of the many tribal uprisings all over the
country. In 1793 the British passed the Permanent Settlement Act to get as much revenue from
land as possible. This Act, common in Bengal, Awadh and Madras presidencies, gave zamindars
absolute propriety right on land. There were middlemen created to collect revenue from their
respective areas. Therefore, water, land and forests, hitherto considered being community owned
natural resources, became private property of individual owners. The new landed class was
naturally happy with these new arrangements, since it enabled them to establish recorded rights
over land (NCAS 2002:3). So far there was no ownership of the land but only the right of
revenue collection “since, land ownership was considered to be private, the state could collect
revenue from these lands but it could not take over the land as and when it desired” (Ibid.). On
the other hand, there was an increasing need for land for railways, roads, other government
projects, for forest produce to support British industries. It was to establish rights over the
ownership of land that the British created the Land Acquisition Act 1894. This Act facilitated the
British control by destroying local people’s rights over the country’s natural resources (Ibid. 4).
The draconian Act of 1894 continued till as recently as 1984 when few amendments were made.
Land is sacred to the tribals because that is the only resource they have for their sustenance.
About 70 per cent of India’s population, most of whom are tribals, primarily depends on land-
related work and agricultural production. Thus, land for them is a means of livelihood and the
basis of socio-economic relationship. Alienation from land and displacement have threatened the
livelihood of millions. People are displaced without any consultation or participation in the
development process. Furthermore, they are denied their rightful share in the gains of the
development project that displaces them. A very large number of the displaced belong to the
 4

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and women are the worst sufferers. Moreover,
rehabilitation is still not an integral part of any displacement plan (Ibid.:v).

Check Your Progress I

Note: Use the space provided for your answers.
1) What is your understanding of displacement and migration?
………………………………………………………………………………….....................
………………………………………………………………………………….....................
………………………………………………………………………………….....................
………………………………………………………………………………….....................
2) Why are the victims of displacement and forced migration often the marginalized sections of
the society?
………………………………………………………………………………….....................
………………………………………………………………………………….....................
………………………………………………………………………………….....................
………………………………………………………………………………….....................

2.3 DISPLACEMENT AND LIVELIHOOD

Victims of displacement are deprived of compensation for the loss of their land because they do
not possess any documents to claim that the land indeed belongs to them. Moreover, even if the
lost land does not belong to them, tribals’ dependence on forests, land, river and other natural
resources, sustain them. If they are expropriated their support system is also eroded. Hence, there
is an adverse impact of displacement on tribals.

Negative impacts of globalization and industrialization through the corporate are affecting the
tribal and other deprived communities across the country, especially those located in tribal areas.
These communities are being threatened with massive mining, industrialization, hydro projects
leading to large-scale displacement. These regions are also a homeland of large number of tribal
and the so-called Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs). The survival rights of these groups related to
food and livelihood, and customary practices reflecting the community’s identity, goes beyond
the state administrative boundary. The recent development interventions have led to major
setback for the existence of all these people threatening their very survival.

Displacement as a Norm
 5

There is no national comprehensive rehabilitation and resettlement policy. It is still in the draft
form and by the time this unit is printed, the new policy may or may not see the light of the day.
Whatever be the case, the most disturbing part of the Rehabilitation Policy is its concept of
displacement as a norm and not as an exception or the last resort. The Policy is meant only for the
Project Affected Families (PAFs) and not for the affected without the project in question. The
“Resettlement zone” for one group of people in fact is the “displacement zone” for another. The
land required could be for any company, a body corporate, an institution, or any other organization
for whom land is to be acquired either for its own use or “in public interest”.

The administrator’s responsibility is the acquisition of “adequate land” for the project and also for
settling the PAFs. It implies that more and more land has to be acquired irrespective of the
consequences. The Policy fails to address the problem of culture, religion, social organization and
community life.

One of the important issues around Rehabilitation and Resettlement is the ‘development
paradigm’ (Fernandes 1997: 22). Displacement is considered inevitable for development.
Displacement is not taken as the last resort. Even in the cases where displacement is the last
resort, rehabilitation is only secondary. This is basically a denial of people’s ownership to land
and their right to live in dignity. Land is the only possession of the tribals. If that is taken away
from them there is nothing left. The principle of terra nullius, viz. nobody’s land hence that of
the State, is applied. Even the private property of the individual can be acquired any time by the
State. This principle of ‘eminent domain’ is the guiding principle of land transactions (Ibid. 23).
The policy does not seem to recognize the historical, customary and cultural rights of the tribal
community in practice though it does mention them in letter. According to Fernandes any policy
should recognize the historically established rights of the people over their livelihood, including
land, natural resources and knowledge, etc. This entails recognition of their rights to land,
livelihood and survival. Fernandes opines that the lands should be treated as a community
resource. It implies therefore, that if the government or a company acquires such lands it must
pay full compensation to the traditional residents, and rehabilitate them totally (Ibid.).

The policy is insensitive to the multiple displacements. There is no assurance that the PAFs from
earlier projects will not be displaced again. The policy is insensitive to the disruption of
traditional culture and ecological and environmental degradation. There is no assurance that the
DPs persons from other projects in the region will be resettled and rehabilitated first before the
newly displaced are rehabilitated. The Policy is not gender sensitive. It does not take into
account the trouble the women go through in such situations without the rehabilitation first.

Inner Contradiction

The notion of ‘development’ by dispossessing tribals of their land is contradictory in terms. The
Government is aware of the “traumatic psychological and socio-cultural consequences” besides
deprivation and displacement of their lands, livelihoods and resource-base. The stress, however,
seems to be on “compulsory acquisition of land for public purpose” and the inevitability of
displacement. The policy talks of minimizing large scale displacement “to the extent possible” but
does not say anything about efforts to ‘prevent’ displacement altogether. Though the Policy seeks
to handle the issue of displacement with “utmost care” the text that follows hardly reflects any
 6

desire to stop displacement. The Policy also acknowledges that “cash compensation” does not
really enable the victims to obtain cultivable land, homestead and other resources which they “had
to surrender to the State”. It is also aware that the landless agricultural workers, forest dwellers,
tenants and artisans, etc., those dependent of the “acquired assets”, though severely affected, are
not eligible for cash compensation, but offers mighty little for them.

No participation in the decision-making

At present people have no consent in the setting up of the project. The affected people are not
even involved by the government in the discussion concerning the policy. Till now no project has
recognized this right. Fernandes says, “Displacement is taken for granted. The assumption is that
the people, most of them poor and powerless, should adjust themselves to the situation once a
decision to displace them is taken” (1997: 24). This is the right of the displaced, potential victims
and those who might accommodate them subsequently. They have the right to information in the
regional and local languages regarding the project.

As per the ‘cost-benefit analysis’, due to displacement there is destruction of the livelihood of the
poor. This happens because of the non-participatory decision-making. Though lots have been
said about the socio-cultural aspects in the rehabilitation policy, it appears as if only the
marketable commodities of the economy are taken into consideration. Fernandes (1997) suggests
that while calculating/assessing the economic value of assets lost, for the purpose of
compensation, the concept of “replacement value” of all quantifiable assets should be used in the
place of “present depreciated value” of assets carrying ownership titles alone. He further says
that the policy should recognize the social and psychological trauma caused by dislocation and
displacement, and focus on mechanisms to compensate and relieve the distress thus caused.
Efforts have to be made to prepare the oustees for a new life, economically, socially and
psychologically. The policy should also include a mechanism for making the host population
appreciate the problems of the oustees, and to accept them.

The policy does not say anything about a proportionate pre-determined share in its ownership as
well as benefits with the DPs. The policy for rehabilitation does not give such participation in the
benefits on a long term basis. No benefits come either in terms of long term jobs, share in the
product, stock ownership, literacy programme, capacity building, etc. The policy does not look
beyond compensation though it tries to give impression of being holistic. Fernandes (1997: 26)
points out that displacement in the name of national development has become a mode of
transferring CPRs from the communities to whom they are a life support system to the corporate
sector to whom they are a source of profit or raw material to produce consumer goods for the
middle class. “Thus a clear distinction exists between the class that gets the benefits and those
who pay the price of “national development”, particularly the tribals and Dalits. This is a process
of impoverishment of the CPR dependent and landless communities.

The Maharashtra experience of displacement and rehabilitation, according to Dhagamwar

(1997:172-73), has been the non-participation of the victims who are mostly the poor,
uneducated or even illiterate, and very frequently tribals There is no information about the
project, leave alone any consultation. They are not even informed about their displacement and
resettlement in any satisfactory manner. The government does not exert itself to gather adequate
 7

information on the population to be displaced. Inadequate compensation is paid tardily and

grudgingly. Those paid are only a small class who own land. Others are not compensated for the
loss of livelihood but only for the loss of houses. They are the landless labourers, artisans,
women and other users of CPR, e.g. cowherds and nomads. Wherever alternate land is offered,
the price is higher than the compensation paid. The oustees have to pay the difference between
the two amounts. No compensation is given for CPR. The resettlement is at worst non-existent
and at best unsatisfactory, unimaginative and unsympathetic. The oustees are not welcomed in
the new places by the original population. No attention is paid to the emotional trauma caused by
the upheaval. No efforts are made to give the people a life which is similar to the one from which
they have been uprooted. The definition of displacement is narrowly restricted to actual physical
transfer. Dhagamwar argues for a policy and institutional change regarding the attitude to
displacement and rehabilitation.

Lack of Database

The absence of a database is one of the reasons for poor rehabilitation. The project needs
accurate data on their number and type if it is to resettle them properly. Besides, the performance
of the displacing agency that is put in charge of rehabilitation is judged not by its extent or
quality but by the speed and economic efficiency with which it implements the project. Since
most DPs are voiceless, they ignore their rehabilitation. Moreover, most of them are Common
Property Resource (CPR) dependants or sustain themselves by rendering services to the village
as a community (Dhagamwar 1989:172-173) but the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (LAQ) has an
individual patta as the basis of compensation. Exceptionally the CPR dependants may be
compensated but not the landless who depend on the village as a community. Even individual
owners are given only monetary compensation. Often intermediaries appropriate it (Viegas
1992). The issue of compensation is contentious in the Fifth and Sixth Schedule areas where the
customary law is given constitutional recognition. Their essence is community ownership.

Moreover, even if the financial aspect is attended to, the psychological consequences such as
alienation from one's culture and community and insertion into a new work culture are ignored.
As a result, many of those forced into a new work culture and economy, often outside their
region, fall into bondage or become victims of absenteeism and alcoholism (Mankodi &
Gangopadhyay 1983:81). However, most decision-makers view the project in isolation and make
no long-term plan for the region. It often results in multiple displacements as it happened to the
Rihand dam DPs of Madhya Pradesh (Ganguly Thukral 1989: 47-48), the Soliga tribals of
Mysore (Cheria 1996) and the DPs of Orissa villages (Fernandes and Raj 1992: 25).

Problems around the Rehabilitation Policy

There is absence of an adequately comprehensive Rehabilitation Policy in India although a
rehabilitation policy was promulgated in February 2004, and a second one on October 31, 2007.
The Government of India is now working on a Rehabilitation Bill, but it is not sure as to when it
will take the form of the law.
 8

Until now, only Maharashtra has a rehabilitation law for all DPs, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka
have laws, MP and Rajasthan have policies for irrigation, Orissa has a comprehensive policy and
Coal India and the National Thermal Power Corporation have their own policies. No North-
eastern State has a rehabilitation policy. In Asom fewer than 10 projects rehabilitated their DPs
1947-2000 (Fernandes and Bharali 2006). Jharkhand does not have a Rehabilitation policy either
despite rampant displacement taking place all over the state. The proposed study is meant to be a
contribution to the formulation of a new policy not only for Jharkhand but also for the whole
country.

Need of an Alternative Policy

The New Tribal policy is being revised and most changes it suggests are acceptable. Based on
Art. 21 that recognizes the right of every Indian to a life with dignity, it considers rehabilitation
a right of the DPs/PAPs and a duty of the requiring agency to rehabilitate them. It also accepts
some other principles enunciated by the civil society during the process around the policy in the
1990s. One of them is prior informed consent and the other is that the lifestyle of the DPs/PAPs
should improve after the project because they pay its price. It has provisions to ensure gender
justice and has a focus on the tribals. It deals with many past shortcomings such as
compensation, land for land, the definition of the DP/PAP and jobs. It suggests that it should
apply to the DPs of ten years before its promulgation. Ways have to be found of identifying
them.

The failure to evolve a just rehabilitation law or policy reinforces the view that the decision-
makers ignore the DPs/PAPs because most of them belong to powerless groups. Besides, in the
absence of a law, even those who understand the consequences of displacement without
rehabilitation are unable to take many steps in favour of the DPs. Therefore, before undertaking
any project, an extensive study has to be conducted on its viability taking into account its entire
social, environmental and economic cost.

Cost-benefit Analysis
Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) estimates and totals up the equivalent value—financial, social,
cultural, religious, environmental, psychological, and so on—of the costs and benefits of projects
to establish whether they are worthwhile. These projects may be development projects, such as
dams, highways, infrastructure, mining, industries, defence, and wild-life, or can be capacity
building training programs, education programme, health care systems, employment schemes,
and so on. The idea is to assess whether the amount allocated and spent on a project is worth the
cost in terms of benefit to the groups or persons it is meant for. There are systematic methods for
measuring such costs and benefits.

Collaboration is needed at the level of respect and dignity. Choice of the individual has to be
respected. Communities have to enter into relationship of collaboration with one another and not of
domination. Hence, there should rather be a demand of a ‘Displacement Policy’, viz. one which
 9

asks for alternate ways of project planning that would minimize displacement or avoid it
altogether. The new Policy, however, looks like a clear design for land acquisition and nothing
else. A policy is policy all the same. Unless it is converted into a law there is no binding on the
part of the government or of the enforcing authorities. Every community has the right to develop
and grow – using the framework to enter into discovery, develop itself by making use of what is
available.

Check Your Progress II

Note: Use the space provided for your answers.
1) What is the relationship between displacement and livelihood?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………...
…………………………………………………………………………………………
2) What are the problems of displacement and rehabilitation?
…………………………………………………………………………………......
…………………………………………………………………………………......
…………………………………………………………………………………......

2.4 DEFINING MIGRATION

According to M. S, Rao, Migration is a shift in the place of residence for some length of time.
While it excludes short visits and tours, it includes different types of both voluntary and
involuntary movements. Examples of involuntary movements are migration under such crisis as
war, transfer of population, riots, floods, droughts and earthquakes. It also includes marriage
migration, virilocal, uxorilocal or neolocal and transfer migration. There are other situations of
migration where movement is part of people’s earning a livelihood. These are nomads, shifting
cultivators, itinerant traders and salesman, artisans and labourers. Transhumance is a special type
of migration between two sets of settlements in different seasons (Rao, 1986: 19-20).

Internal migration is related to the international migration either overseas or overland. The latter
creates imbalances in certain region in labour supply and internal migration comes as an answer.
For instance, in Punjab continuous waves of overseas migration to England, United States,
Canada, and now to Gulf countries have created shortage of labour and this gap is filled by
migrants from Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Migrants from Jharkhand include significant
 10

percentage of tribals. However, international migration needs to be studied in its own right.
There are immigrants from Tibet who have been rehabilitated in different parts of India. There
are also migrants from Nepal and Bangladesh - both legal and illegal, and they need to be studied
from the point of view of adjustments. Another aspect of international migration is the question
of return migration and repatriation of Indian overseas migrants. For instance, there were about
80,000 Tamil repatriates in Tamilnadu in 1986 (Rao 1986:25).
International migration is a part of global social system of ‘flows’ of communications, capital,
resources, goods and services which have development consequences for both sending and
receiving countries including social and economic conditions, population stocks and population
flow (Van Arsdol, 1989: 391).
Rao observes that there are two aspects of migration. First, what happens to the migrants in the
place of destination, how they adjust themselves and the kind of social consequences that
follow? Second, what are the feedback effects of migration in the place of origin of the migrants?
The continuing interaction process between the place of origin and place of destination is an
essential aspect of migration study. In the view of Rao, a cultural interpretation is important in
gaining deeper understanding of the process of migration. Of all the social scientists interested in
migration, economists have been the foremost in advancing theories to explain migration flows.
Migration is considered to be a function of labour reallocation in response to market demand so
that the demand and supply of labour are always in equilibrium. Migration is also considered as
an investment in human capital involving cost-benefit analysis at different levels. At the
individual level, it is argued that migration is based on careful calculation involving money and
non-money (psychological cost). While some economists do consider the importance of non-
economic factors in explaining migration, others assume that the individual is a rational
economic man interested in maximization of profit or utility. And it is the poor who move out
attracted by higher wages. The limitation of this theory is that it does not explain why, among
people placed in the same economic circumstances, some migrate and others do not. Secondly, it
does not explain why people who are economically sound also move to other cities. So economic
consideration does not wholly explain why people migrate. They provide only the necessary
conditions for people to migrate, the sufficient conditions are provided by non-economic factors
which explain how migrations occur (Rao, 1986: 29-30).

2.5 PATTERNS OF MIGRATION

The pattern of migration in India can be divided into various analytical categories on the basis of
causal factors, which force migration, census figures and duration of migration. In this regard,
Rao (1986: 20) has divided the pattern of migration into three categories:
(1) Involuntary migration: migration under crisis such as war, transfer of population, riots,
floods, droughts, earthquakes, construction of the hydel projects. It also includes marriage
migration, virilocal, uxolocal or neolocal and transfer migration.

(2) Voluntary migration: means people move out in search of livelihood. It includes nomads,
shifting cultivators, traders and salesman, artisans and labourers.
 11

(3) Transhumance migration: it is a special type of migration between two sets of settlements
in different seasons.

Rao has constructed the category of migration on the basis of the causal factors, while Malavika
Karlekar (Schenk-Sanbergen 1995:24) has constructed four migration streams on the basis of
census figures, namely: (1) rural to rural, (2) rural to urban, (3) urban to rural, and (4) urban to
urban. In turn, these four streams signify the direction of the flow of the people.

Irrespective of the direction of the flow of the people, Malavika Karlekar has categorized
migration into four sections on the basis of time spent by the migrants outside their place of
residence (Schenk- Sanbergen, Loes, 1995:25-26):
(1) Permanent migration: migrants move from the area of birth for a lifetime though some
contact with the place of origin is maintained through visits on the occasion of marriage, death
and other ritual occasions within the kin group. Some of them might send the remittances to the
dependent family members.

(2) Temporary migration: migrants who remain out of their home for few months in a year
come under this category.

(3) Seasonal or Circular migration: It relates to short term stay, normally under a year, outside
the place of residence by those at the subsistence level and it is likely to be repeated in the
coming years as well.

(4) Return migration or relay migration: Different members of the same family migrate in
turn outside their place of residence to earn some money for the family. This feature is common
among the Mexican peasant families.

Migration from the tribal areas

In the light of the above various categories of migration, the migration of tribals from the central
and eastern India has been divided into three categories: (1) Seasonal migration (circular
migration) to the nearby towns; (2) Yearly or permanent migration to large cities; and (3) Relay
migration - family members going out in turns to earn the livelihood.
 12

The migration of tribals from their regions or place of origins is not voluntary in India. In fact,
they are forced out due to ecological degradation, landlessness and land alienation,
unemployment and poverty. However, the propelling factor in such migrations is to ensure
survival for himself/herself and the family.

Check Your Progress III

Note: Use the space provided for your answers.
1) What are the patterns of migration?
…………………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………………..
2) What is specific about migration of tribals?
…………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………

2.6 CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF MIGRATION

Everett S. Lee has emphasized the role of pull factors or incentives associated with the
destination areas, push factors or those associated with the areas of origin, intervening obstacles
such as ethnic barriers, distance, cost and the personal factors to explain the migration of people
from one area to another. The pull factor includes employment opportunities in the cities and the
push factor includes labour surplus with low productivity in the rural areas, disguised
unemployment and the exploitative relationships that exist in the villages. This theory has been
utilized to explain the rural-urban migration in India (Premi, 1980: 10). But it has been criticized
for over simplification of the migration analysis as push factor can also operate in the urban
areas. So, a migrant looks at both, the positive and negative factors at the place of origin as well
as the place of destination before finally decided to migrate.
Labour equilibration model by W.A. Lewis (1954) and J.C.H. Fei and G. Janis (1964) has also
tried to provide an explanation for migration; the model works on the assumption of a dual
economy that of labour attempting to move out from subsistence, low or zero productivity
economy to the fast growth capitalist, urban sector with higher wages. However, the critics
suggest that labour productivity is not zero in the rural areas; moreover, it is the structural factors
relating to the mode of production, which lead to low production rather than little work in the
villages (ISI, 1993: 14).
 13

Harris and Todaro considered migration to be a function of labour allocation in response to the
market demands, so that the demand and supply of labour are always in equilibrium. According
to this theory, labour mobility occurs in direct response to the expected wage differential
between rural and urban areas. The theory further elaborates that if wage differential between the
rural and urban sectors is in excess of equilibrium, the inter-sectoral transfer will continue until
there is equality. The theory goes on to say that given higher wages in the urban areas, people
would be attracted from low-income underdeveloped regions in numbers much larger than the
available employment opportunities on the chance of getting a job (Rao, 1997: 30). The
assumption of this theory is that the individual is a rational economic person interested in the
maximization of profit or utility and it is basically poor who migrate as attracted by the higher
wages. The premise of this theory is on the economic factor while the non-economic factors have
not been given adequate attention. This theory would fail to explain why, among the people
placed in the same economic circumstances, some migrate and the others do not. In addition,
there is a question as to why people who are well off also migrate to the cities.
Sameul A. Stouffer has developed the hypothesis of migration and intervening opportunities. He
argued that degree of migration would be inversely related to the distance between the two
places as also the extent of intervening opportunities but directly related to the opportunities in
two places (Premi, 1980: 10). Premi has thus argued that source and the destination areas are
both likely to have attractive and the repulsive elements, that these will be weighed differently by
different individuals.
J. Clyde Mitchell has theorized the idea in a more comprehensive way. He has stated that a
single factor explanation of migration is totally inadequate and that listing all possible
motivations is also not very useful. He has seen the need to link together and has related the
multiple causes in a logical framework and suggested a classification whose major headings are
“the nexus of a centrifugal tendencies” and “the nexus of the centripetal tendencies” sub divided
by social, psychological and economic factors (as cited in Premi, 1980: 11).
Premi has identified employment, income and rapid population growth, as the three key
variables, which determine the extent and pattern of the migration flows. Migrants flow from
areas where employment opportunities are stagnant, income is low and rate of population growth
is high. Conversely, they are attracted to the areas of new industrial development, regions of
higher per capita income and the areas where the disparity between birth and death rate is low
(Ibid.).
Rao (1986: 31) has also pointed out that isolated variables cannot adequately explain the reason
for migration. Hence, he has taken the multi-dimensional approach for the analysis of migration.
In this way, Rao has identified the following key factors in the multi-dimensional approach:
historical development of the region; wider economic and political conditions, which regulate
and condition the nature of employment opportunities; economic and social conditions in the
place of origin; at individual level: level of skills, family circumstances, process of socialization
and the personality factors; and presence of the resource network such as social network, which
acts as the most effective channel of communication that favours decision making in migration.
Consequences of Migration
 14

The consequence of migration is no less important. The consequences of migration may be

analyzed in the framework of changes at the place of destination and changes at the place of
origin (Rao, 1986: 29). The impact of migration (Malavika Karlekar in Schenk-Sanbergen 1995:
51-64) on the people at the place of destination can be analyzed in the following dimensions,
namely: (1) Wage discrimination and exploitation; (2) Sexual harassment; (3) Vulnerable
migrant child: girls in particular; and (4) Destruction of culture, kin networks and social
relations.

Croll (1986), while analyzing the migration of rural women to the urban centers in China, has
argued that domestic workers are necessary as it releases the urban women from their domestic
responsibilities to gain access to paid employment outside the home. Furthermore, domestic
workers are required in China to allow other women to increase their contribution to production
and the modernization programmes in the country. However, a study by Neeta Lodha (2003:
371) shows that tribal women who migrate to the urban centers for employment in the lean
season face several problems. The tribal women mainly work on the construction sites on the
basis of daily wages. Lodha’s study has demonstrated that minimum wages for the tribal men
and women are not uniform and tribal women are both sexually and economically exploited.
Moreover, presence of infant children obstructs to the tribal women’s economic participation.

As a result of shift to the urban areas, tribal women suffer from ‘Cultural’ as well as
‘Knowledge’ and are unable to adjust to the individualist life pattern in such areas. It may be
added here that women enjoy relatively high social status in the tribal societies. The research by
Lodha reveals that women are the main decision makers in the household work and partial
decision makers in the activities related to the agriculture and livestock/poultry. However, the
shift to the urban areas for employment reduces the status of women in the families as they lack
awareness of the new working environment, credit facilities, market and savings (Lodha, 365-
372). The illiteracy of the tribal women along with lack of any technical knowledge has
completely removed women from the decision making process in the family and made them
completely dependent on the men-folk. Women in such circumstances suffer from being
uprooted from their traditional locale and milieu and face a sense of socio-psychological
insecurity.

The impact of migration on the people at the place of origin can be analyzed on the following
dimensions, namely (1) Effect of male migration: improvement in the socio-economic condition
of the family, but increased burden on the women; and (2) Effect of female migration:
improvement in the socio-economic condition of the family, position of women in the family and
in the community.
Rao and Kumar (1997), while highlighting the impact of migration on the women folk, pointed
out that male migration actually enhances both physical and financial burdens on the women in
terms of overwork leading to poor health and indebtedness. In the absence of male, women have
the sole responsibility to looking after the children, cattle and doing the household chores.
Further, the cash remittances from the male members are irregular and the need to run the
 15

household on a daily basis till such time as cash remittances arrive puts additional burden on
women. As a result, women have to look for jobs as the wage labour in the surrounding villages,
which puts her at the risk of physical and economic exploitation of the outsiders.

2.7 LET US SUM UP

This unit has attempted to highlight the characteristic features of displacement and migration and
their inter-relationship. These are sociological phenomena, although some of them are voluntary
and others involuntary. This unit highlights lacunae of the Government policies regarding
rehabilitation and resettlement. There are inner contradictions in those policies. The victims do
not have any participation in the decision making process. There is a close relationship between
displacement and migration which can be derived from the unit. Displacement is one of the many
factors responsible for forced migration. There are many patterns of migration, which has been
dealt with briefly in the unit. Apart from the causes of migration the consequences of migration
are also analyzed. These consequences have social, cultural, economic, social and psychological
implications.

2.8 KEY WORDS

Globalization : Increasing unification of the world’s economic order through

reduction of barriers to international trade, such as tariffs and export fees.
Industrialization : The process of socio-economic transformation of a human group from an
agrarian society to an industrial one.
Rehabilitation : The process of restoration of the earlier state of displaced/affected
persons/families in a new habitation.

2.9. FURTHER READINGS AND REFERENCES

ACHR Weekly Review, December 2006.

Baxi, Upendra. “Notes on Constitutional and Legal Aspects of Rehabilitation and
Displacement,” in Fernandes, Walter. Rehabilitation Policy and Law in India: A Right to
Livelihood. New Delhi:Indian Social Institute.1997.
Cheria, Anita. 1996. Ecodevelopment in Nagarahole, India: A Critique Unpublished Paper.
Croll, E.J. 1986, Domestic Service in China, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XXI, No. 6,
1986.
Dhagamwar, Vasudha. “Rehabilitation: Policy and institutional changes Required,” in
Fernandes,Walter. Rehabilitation Policy and Law in India: A Right to Livelihood. New
Delhi:Indian Social Institute.1997.
 16

Fernandes Walter & Paranjpye. Ed. “Hundred Years of Involuntary Displacement in India: Is the
rehabilitation Policy An Adequate Response?” in ‘Rehabilitation Policy and law in India:
A Right to Livelihood.’ New Delhi: Indian Social Institute, 1997.
Fernandes, Walter and Enakshi Ganguly Thukral. 1989. "Introduction: Questions on
Development, Displacement and Rehabilitation." in Walter Fernandes and Enakshi
Ganguly Thukral. Eds. Op. Cit. pp. 1-10.
Fernandes, Walter and Gita Bharali. 2006. Development-Induced Displacement in Assam 1947-
2000: A Quantitative and Qualitative Study of Its Extent and Nature. Guwahati: North
Eastern Social Research Centre (mimeo).
Fernandes, Walter and S. Anthony Raj. 1992. Development, Displacement and Rehabilitation in
the Tribal Areas of Orissa. New Delhi: Indian Social Institute.
HRW, January 2006. http://migration.ucdavis.edu /mn/index.php
Indian Social Institute. “The Tribal Domestic Workers at the Cross Roads: A Search for
Alternatives.” A Report on the Status of Domestic Working Women in India” New
Delhi: Indian Social Institute, 1993.
Kothari Uma. “Women paid domestic work & rural transformation: A study of safeguard”,
Economic and Political Weekly. Vol. XXXII. No. 17.
Lodha, Neeta. Status of Tribal Woman. Jaipur: Mangal Deep Publications, 2003.
Mankodi, Kashyap and Tanushree Gangopadhyay. 1983. Rehabilitation: The Ecological and
Economic Costs. Surat: Centre for Social Studies.
NCAS. Displaced and Rehabilitation. National Centre for Advocacy Studies, 2002.
Neetha N. “Making of Female Breadwinners.” Economic and Political Weekly. Vol. XXXIX.
No. 17. 2004. pp.1681-1688.
Neha Dara. “Maid to Order, but no safety guarantees.” in Sunday Hindustan Times, New Delhi:
February 6, 2005.
Premi, Mahendra K. Urban Outmigration, A study of its nature, causes and consequence. New
Delhi: Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
Premi, Mahendra K. “Aspects of Female Migration in India.” in Economic and Political Weekly.
Vol.XV, No-15, April 12, 1980.
Rao, M. S. Ed. Studies in Migration: Internal and International Migration in India, Delhi:
Manohar Publication, 1986.
Rao, Nitya & Rana, Kumar. Women’s Labour & Migration: A case of Santhals, Economic and
Political Weekly. Vol. XXXII, No. 50. 1997.
Schenk-Sanbergen, Loes. Women and Seasonal Labour Migration, Sage Publications, New
Delhi, 1995.
 17

The Tribal Domestic Workers at the crossroads: A search for Alternatives,, A Report on the
Status of Domestic Working Women in India. New Delhi: Indian Social Institute, 1993. p.
14.
Van Arsdol, Maurice D. “Overview: Sociological and Related Issues,” in The Impact of
International migration on Developing Countries, Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development, 1989.
Viegas, Philip. 1992. “The Hirakud Dam Oustees and Development: Thirty Years After,” in
Enakshi Ganguly Thukral. Ed. Op. cit. pp. 29-53.