The privileged pack their bags faster-16/06/2010

16/06/2010

The privileged pack their bags faster

New Delhi: A tad less than 30% of India’s 1.2-billion population are migrants, data released by government on Tuesday showed. Interestingly, it is not the poor and illiterate who migrate the most in search of better living conditions but the rich and educated. A household member whose last usual place of residence is different from the present place of enumeration was considered as a migrant member.

Migration rate among the bottom decile class -- decile is one-tenth -- of urban males in terms of monthly per-capita consumption expenditure was 10% while it keeps moving up in line with improvement in level of living to touch 46% in the top decile class, results of the 64th round of National Sample Survey (NSSO) showed. The survey pointed out that the trend is replicated among the rural population also.

The data will impact how governments -- both at the Centre and the states -- develop social welfare programmes. Noted economist Bibek Debroy said the data show the need to integrate welfare programmes across urban and rural areas. While the results of the survey precede the full-fledged rollout of schemes like National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme meant to stop this very trend of rural-urban migration, NSSO findings show that migration from urban areas in search of better jobs and living conditions will only gather pace with the resurgence of economic growth.

The data, released once in four years, showed that the majority of males from rural and even urban areas migrate for employment. For women, marriage was, of course, the major reason behind migration.

Among those who go abroad, migrants from urban areas send more money home than those from rural areas, as the former hold better jobs. Yet, it is the rural ones who are more prompt in sending money home. Among male out-migrants from rural areas who live abroad, nearly 82% had sent remittances in the last 365 days against 69% of urban migrants. On an average, a male out-migrant from urban areas residing abroad had remitted nearly Rs 73,000 during the last 365 days, which was higher by nearly Rs 21,000 of the amount remitted by a male-out migrant from rural area living abroad.

Household consumer expenditure in both rural and urban areas was the prime use of the remittances. Nearly 95% of households in rural areas and 93% of households in urban areas had used remittances for household consumer expenditure.

Source: Financial Express