Artha Vijnana: Journal of The Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics

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Structure and Pattern of Migration in Northeast India: Some Insights from Two Census Data


Affiliations
1 Professor, Department of Economics, Sikkim University, Gangtok 737102, Sikkim, India
2 Professor, Department of Geography, Sikkim University, Gangtok 737102, Sikkim, India
     

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Migration has been a topic of intense debate among academia and policymakers in North-east India (NEI) since the pre-independence era. With the help of the last two census data and the observed facts, the present paper analyses structure and pattern of migration in NEI. By employing descriptive statistics, the paper finds that the volume of the net migrants in Assam and Manipur within the region has been negative. Despite its simmering political and internal unrest, the region as a whole received large numbers of inmigrants, mainly contributed by Bihar and followed by West Bengal. Within the region, Assam turned out to be the largest labour migrant sender to its sister states, and these migrants have their ischolar_mains either outside the country or erstwhile migrated from different parts of the country. These in-migrants mostly work in low-wage positions that locals are either unwilling or unable to fill. Due to the shortage of educational infrastructure in the region, a large number of people are also moving out for educational pursuits.

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  • Structure and Pattern of Migration in Northeast India: Some Insights from Two Census Data

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Authors

Komol Singha
Professor, Department of Economics, Sikkim University, Gangtok 737102, Sikkim, India
Sohel Firdos
Professor, Department of Geography, Sikkim University, Gangtok 737102, Sikkim, India

Abstract


Migration has been a topic of intense debate among academia and policymakers in North-east India (NEI) since the pre-independence era. With the help of the last two census data and the observed facts, the present paper analyses structure and pattern of migration in NEI. By employing descriptive statistics, the paper finds that the volume of the net migrants in Assam and Manipur within the region has been negative. Despite its simmering political and internal unrest, the region as a whole received large numbers of inmigrants, mainly contributed by Bihar and followed by West Bengal. Within the region, Assam turned out to be the largest labour migrant sender to its sister states, and these migrants have their ischolar_mains either outside the country or erstwhile migrated from different parts of the country. These in-migrants mostly work in low-wage positions that locals are either unwilling or unable to fill. Due to the shortage of educational infrastructure in the region, a large number of people are also moving out for educational pursuits.

Keywords


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References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.21648/arthavij%2F2021%2Fv63%2Fi4%2F210589