Literature Review Of Rural To Urban Migration

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter includes a detailed discussion of the theoretical and conceptual perspectives of rural to urban migration integrating these with the objectives of the study set out in briefer fashion in Chapter 1. Section 2.1 presents the theoretical literature review including the concept of internal migration, the nature of data on migration, conceptual issues in the measurement of internal migration, migration theories, gender dimension and social structure of India. Section 2.2 reviews the empirical literature showing the trends and patterns of internal migration in India, especially the rural to urban labour migration. Section 2.3 shows the conceptual framework of the proposed study.

In academic research, relatively little

In the income differential perspective, the variable explaining migration is the difference in the discounted expected streams of real income. Wages are only considered as proxies for the present value of income flows or for permanent income. Not only is the use of wages as a proxy debatable, but earnings may be biased with measurement error, especially in rural areas. In all rigors, incomes should be corrected for remittances potentially paid or received. Moreover, it is real wages that should be used in the estimations and not nominal wages, but coming up with a relevant local cost of living to deflate nominal wages can be problematic. Finally, it is worth stressing that the migration decision could be specified as a function of the difference in expected wages (and not just wages), especially when the stylized facts confirm that many workers migrate before having found a job. Unfortunately, standard datasets seldom provide information on workers’ pre-migration earnings

In such a context a gender perspective on migration examines the gender specific causes of migration, the vulnerability as well as the potential for empowerment of migrant women and the consequences of internal/international migration. Though globalisation has opened up a range of new opportunities for women still women predominate and tend to work in female occupations including domestic work garment industry, nursing and teaching. Whether they are in traditional or modern job, migration itself can be an empowering experience for women since they move away from situations where they were under traditional patriarchal authority to situations in which they can exercise greater autonomy over their own lives (Hugo 2000). When women get empowered they benefit themselves and the larger community. ‘The expansion of women’s capabilities not only enhances women’s own freedom and well-being but also has many other effects on the lives of all. An enhancement of women’s active agency can in many circumstances contribute substantially to the lives of all people – men as well as women, children as well as adults’ (Sen