Statistical analysis of push and pull factors of migration: A case study of India

Abstract

The migration from India with special reference to Bihar has a long history. Slaves from this area were sent to British colonies like Fiji, Mauritius, Guyana, and Suriname as Girmitiya during the British colonial period. During the early years of independent India, many people from this area moved to Calcutta and Assam, Later, in the aftermath of the green revolution, people relocated to the Punjab, Haryana, and the northern states in search of financial prosperity. In the new globalized world, people are either moving to cities like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kolkata, and Chennai, or to countries in the Gulf. Therefore, it becomes necessary to examine the major cause of migration from the research area towards the Gulf countries. The examination was quantitative and based on samples survey approach. To examine the objective and test the hypothesis, descriptive statistics, Principal component analysis, reliability analysis, and regression analysis were utilized. The study confirms that the push factor plays a significant role in people migrating. The major cause of migration was ‘lack of jobs’, ‘low wages’, ‘poor financial condition’, ‘debt. on the family’, ‘social insecurity’, & ‘social discrimination. Apart from the push factor, a few pull factors such as ‘better employment opportunities’, ‘improved living standard’, ‘personal development’, ‘presence of relatives’ & ‘attractive environment’ also plays a significant role in Gulf migration. The further result reveals that 41% of the migrants moved mainly by push factors, 6% by only push factors, 23% mainly by pull factors, 3% by only pull factors and 27% have chosen both factors as the cause of migration. The study also found that the marital status, age, family type, and religion of migrant workers are significant positive determinants of the length of their stay. On the other hand, the level of education and pre-migration income of migrant workers are significant negative determinants of the length of their stay.