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People may move within a country between different states or between different districts of the same state or they may move between different countries. Therefore, different terms are used for internal and external migration.
Internal migration refers to migration from one place to another with a country, while external migration or international migration refers to migration from one country to another.
‘Immigration’ refers to migration into a country from another country and ‘emigration’ refers to migration out of the country. These terms are used only in connection with international migration.
For example migrants leaving India to settle down in the United States or Canada are immigrants to the United States or Canada and emigrants from India.
Information on migration for India, as a whole and its different parts is obtained through the use of the Census. Indian census gives information regarding migration streams made from ‘birth place’ statistics from 1872 onwards.
However, in 1961, the birth place was classified as rural or urban, and put into four categories of space migration (i) within the district of enumeration, (ii) outside the district but within the state of enumeration, (iii) outside the state of enumeration, i.e., inter-state, and (iv) outside India.
The 1971 Census defined these statistics by including a question on place of last residence, and 1981 Census included a question on reasons for migration.
In India, the migrants are classified into four migration streams, namely, rural to rural, rural to urban, urban to urban and urban to rural.
Rural to rural migration has formed the dominant migration stream since 1961. There have been substantial increases in the proportion of rural to urban, and urban to urban migration with the passage of time. Another important point is that the proportion of the females is much higher in rural to rural migration, while in the other three streams the proportion of the males is comparatively much higher. This is simply because the females change their residence on getting married, and new places could be in the neighbouring districts.
However, there have been substantial increases in the proportion of rural to urban and urban to urban migration with the passage of time, the increase being much more during the decades of 1970s, 1980s and 1990s than of the 1960s.
Rural to rural migration is mostly dominated by the females. The female migration is largely sequential to marriage, because it is a Hindu custom to take brides from another village.
An important characteristic is the age selectivity of the migrants. Generally, young people are more mobile. Most migration studies, especially in developing countries, have found that rural-urban migrants are predominantly young adults and relatively better educated than those who remain at the place of origin. It is obvious that migration for employment takes place mostly at the young adult ages. Also a major part of the female migration consequential to marriage occurs at the young adult ages. Thus people have a tendency to move when they are between their teens and their midthirties (15-35 years) than at other ages.
Another important characteristic is that the migrants have a tendency to move to those places where they have contracts and where the previous migrants sere as links for the new migrants, and this chain is thus formed in the process, and is usually called chain migration. Various studies show that people do not blindly go to a new place. They usually have kinship chains and networks of relatives and friends who help them in different ways. In some cases, the migrants not only tend to have the same destination but also tend to have the same occupation.
The important factors, therefore, which cause migration or which motivate people to move may broadly be classified into four categories: economic factors, demographic factors, socio-cultural factors, and political factors.
Pull factors refer to those factors which attract the migrants to an area, such as, opportunities for better employment, higher wages, better working conditions and better amenities of life, etc.
There is generally cityward migration, when rapid expansion of industry, commerce and business takes place.
In recent years, the high rate of movement of people from India as well as from other developing countries to the USA, Canada and now to the Middle-East is due to the better employment opportunities, higher wages and better amenities of life, variety of occupations to choose from and the possibility of attaining higher standard of living.
Sometimes the migrants are also attracted to cities in search of better cultural and entertainment activities or bright city lights.
However, pull factors operate not only in the rural-urban migration, but also in other types of internal as well as international migration.
Sometimes a question is asked which factors are more important, push or pull? Some argue that the push factor is stronger than the pull factor as they feel that it is the rural problems rather than the urban attractions that play a crucial role in the shift of the population. On the other hand, those who consider the pull factors as more important emphasise high rates of investment in urban areas leading to more employment and business opportunities and greater attraction for the city way of life.
This classification of motives for migration into push and pull factors is very useful in analysing determinants of migration, but all migratory movements cannot be explained by these factors alone. Moreover, sometimes migration may occur not by push or pull factors alone but as a result of the combined effect of both.
World Bank released the migration and development brief report. According to the report the remittances of India will fall by 9% by the end of 2020. India’s remittances will drop down to 76 billion USD due to covid-19 crisis and the Global economic recession .
The report says that the top five countries that will receive lowest foreign remittances will be India, China, Mexico, Philippines and Egypt. The amount of money the migrant workers sending home is expected to reduce by 14% in 2021 as compared to that of 2019.
Remittance flows to the low income and middle income countries are predicted to fall by 7% in 2020. This will be around 508 billion USD. Further remittance is to decline by 7.5% in in 2021. This has been predicted as 470 billion USD. Factors affecting the declining remittances
The major factors that are driving the reduction in remittances are weak oil prices and depreciation of currencies as against the US dollars. Region wise predictions
The major decline is to be found in regions such as Central Asia and Europe. This will be followed by East Asia and Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, sub Saharan Africa, South Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. Remittances of South Asia is to decline by 4% in 2020.
Global Migration Report 2020’ has been released by International Organisation for Migration’s (IOM).
Key findings - India specific:
India accounts for the highest share with 17.5 million Indians living outside the country.
India is the leading recipient of remittances. International remittances in 2018 (2020 report) reached $689 billion, out of which India received $78.6 billion from the 17.5 million living abroad.
Remittances received by India have consistently increased between the 2005 and 2020.
The top migration corridors for Indians are the United Arab Emirates, the US and Saudi Arabia.
Highest number of migrants entering India come from Bangladesh. Global scenario:
As compared to the 2000 Global Migration Report, the number of international migrants has nearly doubled in the 2020 report, from 150 million to 272 million.
India is followed by Mexico (11.8 million) and China (10.7 million).
Roughly two-thirds of international migrants are labour migrants.
The United States was the top remittance-issuer, at $68 billion, followed by the United Arab Emirates ($44.4 billion) and Saudi Arabia ($36.1 billion).
The US is followed by Germany, Saudi Arabia, Russian Federation and the UK.
The proportion of female international migrants has only marginally changed between the two reports, from 47.5% in 2000 to 47.9%.
The share of international migrants who were children has dropped from 16% in 2000 to 13.9%.
Oceania is the region with the highest proportion of international migrants.
The UAE is the country with the highest proportion of international migrants.
More than half of all international migrants (141 million) live in Europe and North America. Reasons for migration: Economic conditions. Ongoing conflicts and violence.
The linkages between migration and development are often suggested by the migrant involvement in development activities.
The involvement is not always problem-free; there is a risk of shifting responsibility for creating conditions for national development away from governments towards individual migrants and migrant associations.
Not all migrants (and non-migrants) are willing to become entrepreneurs or ‘development workers’.
This expectation and other such fixed ideas among policy makers do not capture the mixed motivations for migrants involving themselves in development in origin countries.
Projecting these policy hopes and expectations onto individual migrants is likely to be a recipe for policy failure.
Although many migration and development activities focus on rural areas and agricultural activities, migrants’ activities and investments are increasingly concentrated in urban areas.
Migrants bring added value to development not only as ‘development agents’ but also by bringing new perspectives into the debate.
Migrants can serve as pressure groups with the aim to improve public debate and encourage government reforms. For example, poor countries do not have the resources to establish the broad coverage of education and health facilities that are required to achieve the goals on education, gender and health.
Children have to travel from their villages in order to pursue all but the most basic education, quality being as, if not more, important to parents than local availability. The distribution of heath facilities too, means that people have to travel even for basic treatment.
Inequalities in the distribution of services are often as important as the unbalanced distribution of employment opportunities in explaining local population movements. Our analysis has so far focused on the long run steady state.
In the short run, with unanticipated migration, emigration of educated workers is a net loss to the home country.
In particular, there is a large economic and sociological literature emphasising that the creation of migrants’ networks facilitates exchanges of goods, factors, and ideas between the migrants’ host and home countries.
Almost all forms of non-forced migration is demand-driven. When people get to know about opportunities elsewhere, and that itself is a function of education, they tend to move towards them. Hence, as countries develop, migration tends to increase.
Over the longer term, as societies and economies progress through a demographic transition from higher to lower fertility and mortality, they may also move through a migration transition from net emigration to net immigration.
However, this development sequence does not imply that outmigration ceases, simply that the net flow reverses.
Developed States such as of Maharashtra and Delhi, for example, are major states of in-migration. The types of migrants coming into the state of Maharashtra are from the under-developed states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and other BIMARU states.
Poor isolated parts and areas often have low rates of migration whereas those actively participating in the global system are characterised by high levels of migration and mobility.
Migration is one of the more obvious manifestations of globalisation. In the context of migration, globalisation and development, women have emerged as global workers. Let us look at the situation of ‘global women’ as a product of globalisation.
Because of increasing global inequality, female labour is migrating from the poor countries to the rich ones to work as nannies, maids and sex workers.
The gendered specific work of women is transferred from the global South to global North in which migrant women have been able to support and lift up their families from desperate poverty.
According to Ehrenreich and Hochschild this form of female negotiation can be referred as a ‘worldwide gender revolution’. And because of gender revolution, female migrant workers from the Third World are not only improving their family’s material conditions but also finding the situation liberating as well. The migrant female workers are also seen as independent breadwinners for their
family. The global inequality has pushed women out of their homes for paid labour and at the same time they are faced with innumerable challenges as workers.
As a cause of social change, migration has been analysed from a cultural perspective that emphasises its potential for value/normative transformation and from a structural perspective that highlights its demographic and economic significance.
Studies of change vary in scope, focusing at the micro-level of individuals and families; the mesolevel of communities and regions; and the macro-level of nation-states and the global economy.
Just as the scope of analysis varies, so does the depth of the processes of change attributed to migration.
Effects may simply scratch the surface of society, affecting some economic organizations, role expectations, or norms.
On the other hand, they may go deep into the culture, transforming the value system, or into the social structure, transforming the distribution of power.
Such profound transformations are precisely what opponents of migration in receiving societies fear and what they have traditionally railed against.
The power of migration to effect change either in sending or receiving regions and countries depends on three main factors: a) the numbers involved; b) the duration of the movement; c) its class composition.
Concerning the first, it is obvious that small displacements have little causative power, seldom going beyond the lives of those involved and their immediate kin. In the United States and Europe today, the fears expressed by opponents of immigration commonly portrays a rising out of the poorer nations and overwhelming the social systems and the culture of the developed world. Such fears are readily contradicted by the numbers –scarcely 200 million migrants in a planet of 6 billion, with only a minority going to the advanced countries and by the capacity of the host societies to fend off drastic change.
Concerning the second factor, circular flows of short duration tend to produce less durable change than permanent displacements. Under certain conditions, cyclical movements may reinforce the existing social structures rather than change them. This may occur, for instance, when migrant workers’ earnings help support the development of rural productive structures at home, thereby strengthening their long-term viability. Similarly, temporary labour migration to Western Europe in the 1960s and 1970s helped significantly its economic expansion without making much of a dent into European social structures or cultures until the compulsory end of the program turned temporary workers into permanent migrants. Permanent out-migration can significantly alter the demographic structure of sending societies, as when entire regions are depopulated. Permanent migrants can also have a stronger influence on sending regions by weakening local productive systems, and changing the culture in the direction of out-migration as the sole normative path to upward mobility. A settled permanent immigrant population of any size will also have a greater impact in the culture and social structure of host societies, as is evident with the transformation of circular to permanent immigration among Turks, Moroccans, and Algerians to Western Europe and with the end of cyclical labour migration across the U.S.-Mexican border, paving the way for a permanent unauthorised migrant population in the United States. Also, the composition of migrant flows affects the change potential of migration in unexpected ways.
Gender equality refers to the equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities of women and men and girls and boys. Gender equality implies that the interests, needs and priorities of both, women and men are taken into consideration, recognizing the diversity of different groups women and men (for example: women belonging to ethnic minorities, lesbian women or women with disabilities). Gender equality is both, a human rights principle and a precondition for sustainable, people-centered development.
Inequality is when some people or things are privileged over others. So, it follows that gender inequality is when one gender is privileged over others. It means treating people unequally because of their gender.
Ideological: the idea that one gender is better than others.
Economic: paying people of one gender more than others.
Legal: laws that treat one gender in a more privileged fashion.
Opportunity related: giving more opportunities to people of one gender.
Emotional: talking disparagingly about people of a certain gender compared to others.
Social effects: gender inequality has, unfortunately, shaped many of our societies and traditions.
Loss of talent: when we nurture the talents of one gender more than others, our talent pool is diminished.
Confidence issues: treating people of a certain gender disparagingly can harm their confidence.
Emotional: discriminating against people of one gender can cause great sadness and stress.
Economic: discrimination can cause one gender to be – overall – richer than others.
Joint family system, domestic violence, dowry, migration, urbanisation, sexual violence and workplace experience are some of the pressing gender issues in India. In this part, we will be discussing each of these issues in detail. The status of women in India has been subject to many great changes over the past few millennia. From equal status with men in ancient times through the low points of the medieval period, to the promotion of equal rights by many reformers, the history of women in India has been eventful. In modern India, women have held high offices including that of the President, Prime Minister, Speaker of the Lok Sabha and Leader of the Opposition. However, women in India continue to face atrocities such as rape, acid throwing, dowry killings, and the forced prostitution of young girls.
The patriarchal nature of Indian society, which even though gives respect to women as they are our mothers and sisters, has greatly hampered both the independence as well as the safety of women. Women in India continue to face violence from womb to the tomb. While in womb they face the ever looming threat of feticide and after birth, they are subject to various forms of violence and harassment at different points of their lives, at the hands of different actors, ranging from their parents to their husbands to the members of general public to their employers. This state of affairs exists even when the Constitution of India guarantees to all Indian women equality (Article 14), no discrimination by the State (Article 15(1)), equality of opportunity (Article 16), and equal pay for equal work (Article 39(d)). In addition, it allows special provisions to be made by the State in favor of women and children (Article 15(3)), renounces practices derogatory to the dignity of women (Article 51(A) (e)), and also allows for provisions to be made by the State for securing just and humane conditions of work and for maternity relief (Article 42).
The family in India does not consist only of husband, wife and their children but also of uncles, aunts and cousins and grandsons. This system is called joint family or extended family system. But to have a clear understanding of the meaning of joint family we must have to analyze some of its definitions: According to Smt. Iravati Karve, “A joint family is a group of people who generally live under one roof, who eat food cooked at one hearth, who hold property in common and who participate in common worship and are related to each other as some particular type of Kindred.” According to K.M. Kapadia, “Joint family is a group formed not only of a couple and their children but also other relations either from father’s side or from mother’s side depending on whether the joint family is patrilineal or matrilineal.” Thus, we conclude that the joint family comprises of a large number of members which has greater generation depth and who are related to one another by property, income, household and mutual rights and obligations. It is organised on the basis of close blood ties. Joint family has the following features or characteristics: (1) Large in Size (2) Joint Property (3) Common Kitchen (4) Common Residence (5) Common Worship (6) Similar rights and obligations (7) Close blood ties (8) Absolute power of the head (9) Co-operation (10) Socialistic Ideals.
A comparison of women in nuclear households with those still living in joint families revealed that the former enjoy greater decision-making power, greater freedom of movement outside the house premises and greater participation in jobs. Women in joint households not only had less decision-making power but they also needed the permission of other family members more often to execute even routine household activities. Women’s autonomy in joint families is differentiated by economic status, caste and household location. Women in richer joint households have more autonomy in intra-household decision-making but less freedom of movement outside the home. For women in poorer joint households, it is just the opposite: they have greater freedom of movement outside the home but less autonomy in intra-household decision-making. Geographic location of the household affects women’s autonomy: women in joint households in northern India have less autonomy compared to their counterparts in southern India. Interestingly, in the south, the effects of family structure on women’s autonomy are weaker.
Women from upper caste groups are more likely to reside in a joint family system than those from disadvantaged groups. The higher social status associated with being upper caste acts as an inhibitor for ‘allowing’ women to leave the house for paid work Domestic duties including childcare might be keeping many Indian women from working but living with the in-laws does not mean that women are more able to take up jobs, new research indicates. On the contrary, women who live in joint families are significantly less likely to participate in the labour market. Non-farm employment rates for women from joint families lag substantially behind those for women in nuclear households. Such work typically involves leaving the house and working among people other than one’s family, and the rates of non-farm employment are lower for women from joint families in all education categories, narrowing only for tertiary education levels. According to more recent data from the National Family Health Survey and the National Sample Survey Office, the presence of children aged 0-5 is a strong predictor of dropping out of paid work. The primary reason that women engaged in “domestic duties" (including childcare) gave to NSSO surveyors in 2011- 12 for not being part of the workforce was that there was no one else to carry out their domestic duties.
Domestic violence, or intimate partner violence (IPV) as it is sometimes called, is a worldwide problem. Domestic violence in India is endemic. Around 70% of women in India are victims of domestic violence, according to a former Union minister for Women and Child Development. This all occurs despite the fact that women in India are legally protected from domestic abuse under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act.
Death, illness, injury and disability — domestic and family violence is the leading cause of death, illness and disability for women aged under 45.
Emotional and psychological trauma — the devastating impact on an individual’s physical, mental and emotional health including depression, shame, anger and suicide.
Homelessness — many homelessness say domestic and family violence is an issue.
Use of alcohol and other drugs to deal with the pain.
Physical health injuries and problems, which may not get medically treated.
Children growing up without learning about positive and respectful relationships
Abusers going to prison
Higher rates of alcohol and other drug use, and mental health problems
These are deaths of young women who are murdered or driven to suicide by continuous harassment and torture by husbands and in-laws in an effort to extort an increased dowry. Dowry deaths are found in many countries, but India reports the highest total number of dowry deaths. Dowry death is considered as one of the many categories of violence against women, alongside rape, bride burning, eve teasing, and acid throwing. Dowry deaths in India are not limited to Hindus or any specific religion. The ratio of dowry deaths is about the same as the ratio of population in India by religions.
This social malaise has multifarious effects, some of them discussed below.
The most prominent effect of dowry system is the prevalence of domestic violence, which is a crime against humanity. Domestic violence in turn has many other effects which have been discussed above.
The continuously decreasing sex-ratio is also attributed to dowry system, because daughters come to be seen as financial burden on the families. As a result, the daughters are killed just after they are born (infanticide) or they are killed even before they come into this world (feticide).
The widespread prevalence of mental disorders, especially among women, has been attributed to the tortures they have to face from their in-laws and husband. According to a study, more than 60 percent Indian women are suffering from one or the other forms of mental disorders.
The persistent conflict and squabble between parents over the issue of dowry may be detrimental to the upbringing and personality development of their children.
Right from the inception of the Constitution of India, policymakers in India have been aware of the problem of gender inequality in India. Accordingly, various legal and developmental measures have been taken from time to time to ameliorate the situation. In this part, we will look at some the important constitutional safeguards, legal safeguards and government schemes that have been put in place to reduce gender inequality by empowering women in India.
The Ministry of Women and Child Development is implementing various schemes for empowerment of women across the country under the Centrally Sponsored Umbrella scheme ‘Mission for Empowerment and Protection for Women’. The details of major schemes are:
Mahila Shakti Kendra scheme empowers rural women through community participation by involvement of Student Volunteers. The scheme is envisaged to work at various levels and at the national and state level technical support to the respective government on issues related to women is provided.
Swadhar Greh scheme targets the women victims of unfortunate circumstances who are in need of institutional support for rehabilitation so that they could lead their life with dignity.
Ujjawala is a comprehensive scheme to combat trafficking with the objective to prevent trafficking of women and children for commercial sexual exploitation, to facilitate rescue victims and placing them in safe custody, to provide rehabilitation services by providing basic amenities/needs, to facilitate reintegration of victims into the family and society, to facilitate repatriation of cross border victims.
Working Women Hostel aims at providing safe and affordable accommodation to working women. These hostels have Day care facility for the children of inmates too. The Ministry provides financial support for establishing such hostels by NGOs or State Governments.
Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme is a tri-ministerial initiative of Ministries of Women and Child Development, Health & Family Welfare and Human Resource Development with a focus on awareness and advocacy campaign for changing mindsets, multi-sectoral action in select districts, enabling girls' education and effective enforcement of Pre-Conception & Pre Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC&PNDT) Act. The specific objectives of the scheme include preventing gender biased sex selective elimination; ensuring survival and protection of the girl child and ensuring education and participation of the girl child.
One Stop Centre (OSC) facilitates access to an integrated range of services including police, medical, legal, psychological support and temporary shelter to women affected by violence. The Scheme is funded through Nirbhaya Fund.
Women Helpline – The Scheme is being implemented since 1st April, 2015 to provide 24 hours emergency and non-emergency response to women affected by violence through referral and information about women related government schemes/programmes across the country through a single uniform number (181).
Mahila Police Volunteers (MPVs) Scheme is implemented by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in collaboration with the Ministry of Home Affairs. It envisages engagement of Mahila Police Volunteers in States/UTs who act as a link between police and community and facilitates women in distress.
By: Barka Mirza ProfileResourcesReport error
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