Rural Occupational Migration: A Coastal India Study

Abstract

The current study was conducted in 3 districts of West Bengal, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh states for rural occupational migration post COVID in 2022. Approximately 58% of our country’s demographic dividend is associated with agriculture as their primary source of income. However, due to changing global trends caused by urbanisation, the rural population is more likely to shift their focus to other sources of income. For the first time in Post-independence India, there was an absolute decline in agricultural employment (23.7 million) between 2004‒2005 and 2009‒2010, with 22.5 million being unpaid family workers. So, the current study was undertaken to analyze the extent and pattern of migration in the rural households in three coastal states of India using ex post facto research design with a multi stage random sampling technique. This paper has deduced the pattern observed among the migrated respondents of Purba Medinipur, Bhogarai and Sompeta districts of the 3 states in terms of gender, income, time period, social participation and type of occupation undertaken. This may not have an immediate impact, but it may have long-term consequences in the form of consumable goods for future generations. Certainly, government should come up with new policies formulations made by focusing such pattern in order to stop the people from migration and engage them in agricultural and allied activities with help of extension personals through effective training and awareness programs.