Migration results in varied impact upon the migrants as well as source and destination region. These challenges and impacts are discussed as follows:

Migrants:

• Problem of document and identity which deprives them of social security benefits and government socio-economic programmes.
• Migration and slums are inextricably linked. Most slums are inhabited by the migrants. Such slums are deprived of basic healthcare and sanitation facilities.
• Slum dwellers who are migrants sometimes face the added challenge of establishing tenure—the right to remain on a particular piece of urban land, and the right to compensation if the dwelling on that land is seized by the government for redevelopment. Many migrants are not even able to live in slums but live at work site or pavements.
• Limited Access to Formal Financial Services results in them being exploited by their employers and they face risk of theft and personal injury in saving and transferring their earnings.
• They face political exclusion because most of the times they don’t have voting rights at the destination. Further they are target of political rhetoric of local identity politics and sometimes subjected to violence and abuse.
• Migration flows are mediated by an elaborate chain of contractors and middlemen. There are no written contracts, no enforceable agreements regarding wages or other benefits, and no commitments regarding regular provision of work. This leads to rampant exploitation of migrants.

Source Region:

• Results in loss of human resource for the state, especially if the migration is of employable people.
• A change in the demographic profile of the region. Generally young population migrates in search of employment or education. The remaining population is
elderly and less productive. This has resulted in deserting of erstwhile urban areas, a phenomena being observed in some cities of Uttar Pradesh.
• States also gain from the remittance that is sent in by the migrants.
• States can employ greater focus and energy in improving the socio-economic conditions of the reduced population.

Destination Region:

• Migrants are perceived to take away the jobs of the local, compete for basic amenities and city services such as water and sanitation, which has resulted in friction and violence.
• Incessant mismanaged migration has resulted in the formation of slums and ghettos, which sometimes act as source for outbreak of disease etc.
• Areas inhibited by migrants often report high criminal incidents owing to their relative deprivation.
• Natives dislike migrants as they fear that their culture and tradition is being destroyed by migrants.

Thus, interstate migration throws multiple challenges along with few opportunities. The challenges can be tackled and opportunities utilized if the following steps are taken earnestly:

• Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act of 1979 protects the rights of migrants and prevents their exploitation. However, this act is overwhelmingly ignored by state governments. As such, it articulates ideal working conditions for interstate migrants, but lacking provisions for enforcement, it has not been used to create a better policy environment in practice. It should be implemented strictly by the government to protect the migrants.
• Rather than treating migration as problem, destination states should aim to accommodate them into the economy of the state. There is ample evidence to
support the fact that migrants generally take up those jobs and businesses which are not done by the locals.
• The planning of cities should keep in mind the needs of the migrants.
• Political class, civil society and NGOs should conduct inter group interactions to ward off mistrust between natives and migrants. Development of a composite culture without the distortion of local traditions should be aimed at.
• Schemes like Adhaar and Jan Dhan Yojna be implemented selectively for migrants to provide them social, financial and legal inclusion.
• Source states should re-orient their development policies so as to prevent the loss of their precious human resource and productive asset.
• Feminisation of labour in rural areas.