SOIL Report 2008 - ACCESS Development Services

The People: Their Livelihoods and Critical Challengesmore vulnerable. Migration also occurs because of natural disasters like flood, drought, cyclone etc, whichresult in a loss of livelihoods. In fact, natural disasters were considered one of the main reasons formigration in the 1981 and 1991 census, but surprisingly this has dropped in the 2001 census. However,migration also now takes place because of caste and communal conflicts and riots. 10 So, there are issuesof enumerating the various dimensions of migration. A bird’s-eye view on comparative reasons listedin census and NSS data is a testimony to this fact (see Table 2.4).Table 2.4: Reasons for Migration: A Comparison of Census andNational Sample Survey (NSS) dataCensus 1981 Census 1991 Census 2001 NSS1. Employment 1. Employment 1. Work/employment 1. In search of employment2. Education 2. Business 2. Business 2. In search of better employment3. Familymoved 3. Education 3. Education3. To take up employment/betteremployment4. Marriage 4. Family moved 4. Marriage 4. Transfer of service/contract5. Others 5. Marriage 5. Moved with birth 5. Proximity to place of work6. Natural calamitieslike drought,floods etc6. Moved with household6. Studies7. Others 7. Any other reason 7. Acquisition of own house/flatSource : Census of India 1991 and 2001, NSSO( 2001)8. Housing problem9. Social/political problem10. Health11. Marriage12. Migration of parents/earningmember13. OthersLooking at census data it is estimated that migration is predominantly short distance – 60 per cent migratewithin the district, 20 per cent within the state and 20 per cent outside the state.5.1 Issues related to migration of resource-poor people have been largely ignoredby policymakers due to the lack of reliable data.Though migration has been an age-old phenomenon, labour migration over the last few decades hasbecome a complex issue and has rarely been reliably studied. 11 Mobility has been really very critical to thelivelihoods of migrant labour especially amongst tribal people, socially deprived groups and people fromresource rich and economically poor areas. However, because of lack of classified data, the issues relatingto migration of resource-poor people has largely remained invisible and ignored by policy makers. 1210Bhagat, Ram.B (2003) Conceptual Issues in Measurement of Internal Migration in India, paper presented in XXVth IUSSP International Conferenceheld in Tours, France, 18-23 July11Srivastava,Ravi and Sasikumar (2003) An Overview of Migration in India, its impacts and key issues ( paper presented at he Regional Conferenceon Migration, Development, and Pro-poor Policy Choices in Asia, sponsored by DFID, held in Dhaka on 22-24 June12Ibid.,49