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Essay on Emigration In India
In India, information on migrants relating to economic activity at the time of leaving the communities of origin and at the destination has been collected in a number of large-scale and localized ample surveys. Yet the population census has remained the most important source of migration data. Analysis of interdistrict and interstate migration streams has been made on the basis of birthplace statistics collected on all people enumerated in all the censuses from 1981 onward (Visaria, Pravin, and Devendra Kothari, 1984.
It was not until 1961; however, that birthplace was classified as rural or urban and as (1) within the district of enumeration-interdistrict, (2) outside the district but within the state of enumeration-interdistrict, (3) outside the state of enumeration but within India-interstate, or (4) outside India. Information on duration of residence at the place of enumeration was also collected for the first time in the 1961 census. The 1971 census refined these statistics by including a question on "place of last residence," and the 1981 census included yet another question on "reasons for migration." With the availability of these data, researchers undertook several studies during the 1960s and the 1970s to examine the quantum and pattern of migration flow.
Characteristics of the migrants in terms of sex, age, marital status, educational attainment, and employment status have also been studied from census data.
Based on place of birth (or last residence) and place of enumeration, internal migrants can be classified into three migration streams which are roughly indicative of distance of migration:
Intradistrict migrants: persons born (or with last residence) outside the place of enumeration but within the same district
Interdistrict migrants: persons born (or with last residence) outside the district of enumeration but within the same state
Interstate migrants: persons born (or with last residence in India but beyond the state....
