Changing Patterns of Migration in Haryana

 

Rahul ¹

 

¹ Ph.D. Research Scholar, Department of Family and Generations, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, India

 

1. INTRODUCTION

Migration has a significant impact on both the people and places involved in this process. Migration can be classified as internal or international based on the political boundaries of a place. While internal migration is the movement of people across the smaller administrative units within a country, international migration deals with the movement of people across the boundary of a country. The study of internal migration is vital for the population redistribution resulting from these migratory movements because of economic and social factors Rele (1969). The present study primarily focuses on the internal migration of the state of Haryana. The freedom of movement and freedom to settle down in India are enshrined in clauses (d) and (e) of Article 19 (1) of the Constitution  Working Group on Migration, (2017), Aggarwal et al. (2019). However, using the data from several rounds of the Census of India, the present study attempts to study the magnitude, trends, direction, and composition of internal migration and linkages with various indicators of development for the state of Haryana. The state of Haryana came into existence on November 1st, 1996. It has made rapid strides in developing its industrial sector since its inception as a separate state Government of Haryana. (2022). Though the share of the agricultural sector in GSDP has declined significantly during the last seventy years, more than eighty per cent of the population is still, directly, or indirectly, dependent on agriculture Shushma (2004). The share of agriculture and allied sectors in gross state domestic product (GSDP) was 60.7 per cent, which decreased to 16.7 per cent in 2021-22 Government of Haryana. (2022). This sectoral transformation of the state's economy from agrarian to non-agrarian has dramatically affected the migration process in Haryana during the last seven decades. Thus, it has become crucial to study the changing pattern of migration in an economically developed state like Haryana.

Migration, a vital demographic process, has become a universal phenomenon in modern times. Migration has been a historical and complex process affecting people in origin and destination places. The state of Haryana has a long migration history, which has shaped its socio-cultural composition and development pattern. As stated by Kumar (2018), India's partition due to a political blunder in 1947 has led to the migration of many people into and from the state as a cultural and family migration process. Apart from the partition of India, the country's economic reforms during the early nineties also affected the process of migration in the state. The economic reforms during the early 1990s were undertaken to reduce government expenditure to reduce the fiscal deficit by encouraging export-oriented growth, removing government control, and licensing, and pushing for private participation Bhagat (2010). It was believed that these economic reforms would increase internal migration, primarily towards urban areas Bhagat (2010). The UNDP Human Development Report of 2009 stated that there are four times as many internal migrants worldwide as international migrants.

According to the great philosopher Aristotle, inequality determines the magnitude and destination of migration Bhagat (2021). Growing social and economic inequalities in terms of the level of urbanization and availability & accessibility of educational and employment facilities are crucial factors that govern the magnitude and direction of migration. However, migration is a decision regarding personal needs, livelihood challenges and opportunities, stress, urgency, and uncertainty Czaika and Reinprecht (2022).

 

2. DATA AND METHODS

In India, there are two primary sources of data on migration: the Census of India and the National Sample Survey. The exercise of the census in India is conducted by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India under the Ministry of Home Affairs. In contrast, the Director General conducts the Nation Sample Survey under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. The Census of India provides data on migration since 1881 based on place of birth. In contrast, the National Sample Survey provides data based on the usual place of residence, if a person's place of birth and place of the last residence is different from the place of enumeration, s/he is called a migrant, whereas the National Sample Survey defines a place as a person's usual place of residence if a person occupies that place for six months or more. The present study is based on the migration data based on the place of the last residence provided by the Census of India. As per the Census, if the place of birth and last residence is different from the place of enumeration, she/he is defined as a migrant. In 1971, in addition to the place of birth, the census of India started to collect migration data on the place of last residence and duration of residence of migrants at the place of enumeration. Thus, it became possible to calculate intercensal migration, which is the migration between two census periods. Village (rural) and town (urban) are the lowest administrative unit for collecting the data on migration in the census. Hence, it is impossible to calculate movement within a village or town. Migration data were provided as a change in residence elsewhere in the district of enumeration (intra-district), in other districts of the state of the enumeration (inter-district), and in states in India beyond the state of enumeration (interstate). In the present study, intra-district and inter-district migration are combined and, thus, represented as intra-state migration. In 2011, the state of Haryana was divided into 21 districts. Therefore, as no data is available on the distance of migration, one may consider intra-state as short-distance and inter-state as long-distance migration. The census also gives data on the reasons for migration since 1981. There are seven broad classifications of the reasons for migration in the census, such as migration for work or employment, business education; migration marriage; moving after birth and moving with a household; and various "other reasons" for migration. Furthermore, all migration-related data such as intra-state, inter-state, duration of migration, and reasons for migration are provided on a total, rural and urban basis. However, in the present study, an attempt has also been made to study the migration by the rural and urban residence status at the place of enumeration and last residence.

 

3. TRENDS AND PATTERN

As per the 2011 census, the estimated number of the total migrants in Haryana was 10.5 million based on their place of the last residence that represented nearly 42 per cent of Haryana's total population. Although the number of total migrants has increased 1.6 times since 1991, the proportion has decreased from 44 per cent in 1911 to 35 per cent in 2001, and then again increased to 41 per cent in 2011. The proportion of immigrants constituted only 0.6 per cent of the total population of Haryana in 2011—a decline of 2 percentage points from the level of 1991. Most of the international migrants in the state are displaced migrants who opted for India during the partition of the country at the time of independence in 1947. It may be seen further from Table 1 that the proportion of intrastate and interstate (in) migrants to the state's total population was 26.9 per cent and 14.6 per cent in 1991 respectively, which decreased to 22.2 per cent and 12.7 per cent in 2001, respectively. The declining proportion of immigrants from 2.6 per cent to 0.6 per cent from 1991 to 2011 shows that many of the older immigrants who came to Haryana seven decades ago have died.

Table 1

Table 1 Internal and International Migrants Based on the Place of Last Residence, Haryana, 1991-2011
Census	Total Population (000s)	Total Migrants (000s)	Total migrants (%)	Intrastate Migrants (%)	Interstate- In (%)	Interstate- Out (%)	Immigrants (%)
1991	14463	6399	44.2	26.9	14.6	--	2.6
2001	21144	7574	35.8	22.2	12.7	12.0	1.0
2011	25351	10585	41.8	26.8	14.3	11.0	0.6
Source Census of India, 1991-2011

 

Table 2 presents the distribution of migrants by gender and duration of residence at the place of enumeration. Nearly two-fifths of males and one-third of females reported duration of residence of 0–9 years in 2011, compared with more than two-fifths of males and more than one-third of females in 1991. This decline in the proportion of migrants with a 0–9-year duration of residence at the place of enumeration was accompanied by a large proportion of males (18 per cent) and females (8 per cent) migrants who did not report their duration of residence in 2011. Of the 10.6 million total migrants, about 1.1 million did not report duration, and the majority of them (58 per cent) were short-distance or intra-district migrants. The share of migrants who did not report their duration of residence increased from 3 per cent to 10 per cent during the period 1991–2011.

Table 2

Table 2 Distribution of Internal Migrants by Gender and Duration of Residence at the Place of Enumeration (%),1991-2011
Duration	1991		2001		2011
	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
Less than one year	8.0	3.0	8.4	3.5	7.5	3.8
1-4 years	22.5	15.5	22.6	15.5	16.3	14.3
5-9 years	16.0	15.6	15.5	14.5	14.6	14.3
10-19 years	20.2	25.3	19.9	24.6	20.5	22.7
20 years and above	25.0	38.3	20.0	37.0	22.8	37.6
Duration not stated	8.3	2.2	13.6	4.9	18.2	7.3
Total migrants (In 000s)	1230	3938	2106	5468	3795	7389
Source Census of India, D2 table

 

Table 3 shows that the majority of migrants are inter-state migrants (43 per cent). Most of the inter-state migrants are female (62 per cent) who customarily change their parental households and join the household of the husband after marriage Srivastava and Sasikumar (2003). The share of intra-district and inter-district migrants to the total migrants are 28 and 27 per cent, respectively. It may be seen that the annual growth rate of inter-state migrants was very high (nearly 6 per cent) during the period 1991–2001 compared to the period 2001–2011. There is no doubt that due to the introduction of a new economic system in the early 1990s, interstate mobility has increased. However, migration flow at the state level among females is still dominated by marriage-related regions, which are socio-cultural. In Haryana, interstate migration flow during 2001–2011 has been found towards the districts which are more urbanized like Gurgaon, Faridabad, Panipat, and Panchkula. It was found that more than half (51 per cent) of the migrants to Haryana from other states of India moved to Gurgaon, Panipat, Faridabad, and Panchkula only. If we see the flow of interstate migrants in the state, more than two-thirds have moved to only the four districts mentioned above. Among all types of migration except intra-district, the annual migration rate decreased during the last decade of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century.

Table 3

Table 3 Size and Growth Rates of Migrant Populations by Type of Movements, Haryana, 1991-2011
Type of Movements	Size of migrants 2011 (000s)	Percentage distribution, 2011	Annual growth rate (%)
			1991-2001	2001-2011
Intra-district	1033	28.5	2.30	3.26
Inter-district	984	27.2	2.78	2.03
Inter-state	1575	43.5	5.69	2.47
International	31	0.9	5.52	1.67
All Migrants	3626	100.0	3.83	2.56
Total Population	25351	--	3.80	1.81
Source Census of India, D2 table

 

It is also important to examine the pattern of migration by the streams of migration in order to assess the role of economic and social factors in this phenomenon. The streams of migration are from rural to rural, from urban to urban, from urban to rural, and from urban to urban. From the perspective of push or pull factors, the rural-urban stream is the most important. The rural-to-urban migration streams add to the urban growth of an area. It is estimated that net rural-to-urban migration contributed more than one-fourth of urban growth during the period 2001–2011 Rahul (2021). Urban-urban migration stream, on the other hand, shows movement within urban areas and from one urban centre to another. Although urban to rural migration appeared to be the least preferred migration stream due to the gap in basic amenities between these rural and urban areas, but rural areas in the proximity of metropolitan cities appeared attractive to many retired and wealthy people Bhagat (2010). Many urban residents may return to their villages to look after their parents' property, such as land and houses.

Table 4 shows the streams of migration by intrastate and interstate migration. Intrastate migration includes both movements within a district and from one district to another. The movement within the same district is known as intra-district migration, and movements from one district to another are inter-district migration. The rural-to-rural migration stream constituted almost half of the intra-state migrants, compared to less than one- third of the inter-state migrants. By contrast, the rural-to-urban migration stream accounted for 24.9 and 32.9 per cent of intrastate and interstate migrants, respectively.

Table 4

Table 4 Size and Growth Rates of Migrant Population by Migration Streams, Haryana, 1991-2011
Migration Streams	Size of migrants 2011 (000s)	Percentage distribution	Annual growth rate (%)
			1991-2001	2001-2011
Intra-state
Rural-rural	946	49.07	1.8	0.4
Rural-urban	479	24.88	3.4	3.5
Urban-rural	141	7.3	1.3	6.3
Urban-urban	361	18.7	2.1	7.7
Interstate
Rural-rural	443	29.1	6.4	-1.0
Rural-urban	501	32.9	7.5	3.53
Urban-rural	69	4.6	4.6	-1.4
Urban-urban	510	33.5	2.4	6.2
Source Census of India, D2 tables

 

The growth rates of migrants by streams of migration show that there was a significant decline in the number of migrants from the decade 1991-2001 to that of 2001-2011. The annual migration rate was highest among intrastate and interstate migrants who moved from rural areas to urban areas during the period 1991–2001, compared to the migrants who moved from urban-to-urban areas during the period 2001–2011. During the period 2001-2011, at the interstate level, the movement towards rural areas has reported a negative annual rate of growth, -0.95 and -1.41 per cent in rural and urban areas, respectively. Following the new economic policy of liberalization, which was introduced in the early 1990s, the annual migration rate from rural to urban areas was 3.41 per and 7.5 per cent at intrastate and interstate levels, respectively, during the period 1991-2001. Along with a very high rate of growth in interstate urban-to-urban migration, the rural-to-urban stream also maintained its tempo during 2001–2011.

 

4. MALE V/S FEMALE MIGRATION

In both short-term and long-term migration, women seemed to dominate the migration pattern. Table 5 shows that the gender ratio (male/female) increased from 1991 to 2001 in all types of migration, indicating that males increasingly participated in this phenomenon in Haryana. This was also found to be true when gender ratios were calculated by migration streams, as given in Table 6. Unlike in India, the migration of women in South- East and East Asian countries primarily takes place due to the expansion of urban-based services Skeldon (1986). However, the gender ratios derived from the 2011 census show a reversal of the increasing number of male migrants that could be observed until 2001. This is because, in the era of globalization, females have increasingly taken part in most streams of migration. There were 426 male migrants for every 1000 female migrants in 1991, which increased to 534 in 2001 and decreased to 514 male migrants per 1000 female migrants in 2011. The gender ratio, or the number of males for every 1000 female migrants from 2001-2011, among all migration types except intra-district migration, increased to 457 from 359.

Table 5

Table 5 Gender Ratio of Migrants by Migration Type, Haryana, 1991-2011
Migration type	Males per 1000 females			Annual rate of growth (%)
	1991	2001	2011	1991-2001	2001-2011
Intra-district	319	359	457	1.2	2.4
Inter-district	283	302	274	0.7	-1.0
Inter-state	688	877	756	2.4	-1.5
International	1440	2133	1070	3.9	-6.5
All Migrants	426	534	514	2.3	-0.4
Total Population	135	139	121	0.3	-1.4
Source Census of India, D2 tables

 

Table 6 shows the gender ratio of intrastate and interstate migrants by the migration streams. It is seen that the gender ratio (male/female) declined from 1991 to 2011 in all types of migration in the state of Haryana, which indicates that women were increasingly participating in this phenomenon of migration in the state.

For example, in the case of migration streams, the gender ratio among intra-state and inter-state migrants moving via urban-urban stream increased from 1991 to 2011, which shows the increasing participation of men in the process of migration within an urban area.

Table 6

Table 6 Gender Ratio by Rural and Urban Streams, Haryana, 1991-2011
Streams	Males per 1000 females
	1991	2001	2011
Intrastate
Rural-rural	159	154	133
Rural-urban	811	802	740
Urban-rural	341	458	515
Urban-urban	562	600	696
Interstate
Rural-rural	435	715	521
Rural-urban	1172	1337	1071
Urban-rural	587	714	476
Urban-urban	779	769	790
Source Census of India, D2 tables

 

5. REASONS FOR MIGRATION

Census of India started to provide data on reasons for migration in 1981. However, it became possible for the researcher to study the broad determinants for migration. However, there has been a change in the list of broad reasons from time to time. For instance, in the 1991 census, "business" was added to the list of reasons, while in the 2001 census, the reason "natural calamities" was dropped. Table 7 provides information on the reasons for migration. It is worthwhile to note that the reasons for migration varied significantly between males and females. Work or employment appeared as the main reason for males to migrate (42.8 per cent), whereas marriage seemed to be the main driver for female migration (60.5 per cent). About 7 per cent of migrants reported having "moved after birth."

Table 7

Table 7 Reasons for Inter-State Migration, Haryana, 2011
Reasons of migration	Number of migrants (000s)			Percentage migrants
	Persons	Male	Female	Persons	Male	Female
Total	3626	1230	2395	100.00	100.00	100.00
Work	627	526	100	17.3	42.8	4.2
Business	17	11	5	0.5	0.9	0.2
Education	49	29	20	1.4	2.4	0.9
Marriage	1473	24	1448	40.6	2.0	60.5
Moved After Birth	148	81	67	4.1	6.6	2.8
with HH	1029	416	613	28.4	33.8	25.6
Others	280	140	139	7.7	11.4	5.8
Source Census of India, table D3

 

6. MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT

In order to assess the role of various factors in influencing migration, an attempt has been made to see if any correlation exists between the various indicators of development and in-migration and out-migration rates at the state level in Haryana. Due to the limited data availability, the analysis is confined to seven indicators of development (given in Table 8). Haryana is one of India's most economically developed states in terms of per capita income. Table 8 shows a correlation matrix between measures of in-and-out-migration rates and those of per capita income, work participation, literacy rates in rural and urban areas, level of urbanization, and percentage of the non-agricultural workforce.

Table 8

Table 8 Relationship Between Migration and Development Variables at District Level (Correlation matrix), 2011
Variables	Intrastate migration rate	In-migration rate (interstate)
Rural work participation rate	0.450	-0.383
Urban work participation rate	-0.421	0.735
Urban literacy rate	0.074	0.150
Rural literacy rate	0.067	-0.006
Per capita income	-0.644	0.619
Level of urbanization	-0.381	0.704
Non-agricultural workforce	-0.473	0.729
Note The in-migration rate is calculated by dividing the total number of interstate in-migrants by the total population of the state whereas the intrastate migration rate is calculated by dividing the total number of intrastate migrants divided by the total state’s population. Both rates are given in percentage.

 

7. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

The present paper discusses the emerging patterns and trends of migration and their characteristics for the state of Haryana by using the last three rounds of the Indian census from 1991 to 2011. The number of total lifetime migrants in Haryana was 6.39 million in 1991, which increased to 10.58 million in 2011. On the other hand, there was a steady decline of nearly 10 per cent in the rate of migration from 44 per cent in 1991 to 35 per cent in 2001, and then again it increased to 41 per cent in 2011. However, this increase in the rate of migration was primarily by intra-state migration as a result of the policies of liberalization, globalization, and privatization as a part of the economic reforms of India during the early nineties. These migrants were mainly from rural areas and migrated to urban areas of the state. In the state, migrants moving within a district have recorded the highest annual migration rate during the period 2001-2011, indicating that migration is becoming a short-distance phenomenon. The present study revealed that the inter-state in-migration rate had a significant positive association with per capita income, the work participation rate in urban areas, and the level of urbanization. However, it may be said that the higher the level of the state's income and urbanization, the higher the rates of in-migration from other states of India into Haryana. Various studies have shown that push factors like low income, low literacy, dependence on agriculture and high poverty are associated with a person's place of origin. In contrast, high income, high literacy, and dominance of industries and services are the pull factors that attract migrants Bhagat (2009). This study highlighted that during the first decade of the 21st century, male migrants from other states of India migrated to Haryana in search of work or employment, whereas females primarily moved due to the patrilocal marriage system.

 

 

CONFLICT OF INTERESTS

None. 

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author is very thankful to Professor R B Bhagat, Head of the Department of Migration and Urban Studies, International Institute for Population Sciences-Mumbai, for his guidance and encouragement to complete this study.

 

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