Regional Pattern of Migration Flows in Uttarakhand, India

Abstract

Migration of active manpower from Uttarakhand hill areas continued from villages to towns and cities within and outside the state for sustenance for decades. Even the creation of Uttarakhand as a new state more than a decade ago seems not helped checking this trend and the migration of people remains the biggest challenges faced by the State in its social and economic development. The growing economic opportunities and better infrastructure and facilities outside with varied means of communication have boosted the migration of people from one place to other on temporary or permanent basis. Such movement of people has greater impact on socio-cultural and economic conditions and even in physical environment of both the pushing (out-migration) and pulling (in-migration) areas. This has threatened the very base of the hill economy i.e., agriculture besides a serious threat to the existence of the marginal hill society . This paper examined the inter district migration pattern both within the state and outside the state to other states and city and metropolitan centers in India. It deals with the population movements and changing regional patterns based on the census data released by census of India. Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques are used to make the analysis better and more presentable. The Census data available at District level were compiled to trace the changing regional movements of both in-migrants and out migrants in the state. The regional break-up further reveals interesting pattern of migration trends. In this trend a highlighting fact to note is that on the one hand there is lack of active local manpower due to out-migration, there are in-migrant unskilled as well as semi-skilled laborers coming from other States of the country and outside country, e.g., Nepal, finding their means of livelihood in the region.