Determinants and Farm- Level Impacts of Labour Outmigration in the Indo-Gangetic Plains of India

Abstract

Inter-state migration in search of livelihood is an important feature of the Indian economy. The direction of migration is determined by the direction of the inequality. Rural-urban migration is a mechanism of adjustment by an individual or group to development gaps created between the dynamic industrial sector in urban/peri-urban areas and the more inert agricultural sector in rural areas (Guery, 1995). Expanding transportation and communication facilities along with changes in the economic activities have influenced the size and impact of outmigration. Currently, the rural migrants account for about 81 per cent of the total migrants of the country. The rate of rural male outmigration is high among the states of Bihar, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. In Uttar Pradesh, all landholders’ groups, except the larger landholders, have depicted a relatively high propensity to migrate (Oberai et al., 1989). Recently, proportionately more migration has been observed for longer periods of time among labour force in search of livelihoods outside their native place. Labour migration is very much prevalent in the Indo-Gangetic plains of India with maximum incidence of outmigration reported from Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh. The farm economy of the Middle Gangetic Plains (Eastern region of Uttar Pradesh) of India is characterised by the existence of a large number of small and marginal farmers and low farm productivity (Srivastava, 1999). Rice is the dominant crop that is grown on about 50 per cent of the total cropped area in Eastern Uttar Pradesh. Faced with the grim prospect of eking out a living from their meager incomes, the rural poor are forced to migrate to relatively more developed areas in search of better employment. Consequently, there is a shortage of active labour force in the farm sector. In the case of rural male outmigration, young men seek employment in cities, leaving behind their family (spouse, children and old parents)