According to United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) latest report, rural-to-urban population shift is on a decline in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Chandigarh and Kolkata.
According to United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) latest report, rural-to-urban population shift is on a decline in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Chandigarh and Kolkata.
Citing 2011 census data, the report, which makes special reference to India and Mumbai, says that in 1991-2001, Mumbai registered 20% growth, while in the 2001-2011 period, the growth was just 4.7%. The report says that in Indian cities like Mumbai, traditional city-centric populations are shrinking and peripheralisation is increasing due to high cost of living and lack of job opportunities. In such peripheral settlements, people have lost the advantage of both urban and rural life.
According to the report, that’s the reason centuries-old Thane has swelled with a population of 11 million — 9.84% of the state’s population. This is a jump of 36% in a decade as compared to Mumbai, which has shown a negative growth of 5.75% during same period.
Citing India as a very important subject, as it is home to one-third of the world’s poor (410 million), the report says that Indian income gaps are widening and the poor can’t sustain in cities now.
The report quotes economics professor Amitabh Kundu of Jawaharlal Nehru University. Kundu says, “Earlier, people would come from a village and start polishing shoes in the city or push carts. The rural to urban migration is diminishing because such jobs are not available now. That’s why percentage of poor in Delhi has gone down from 55% to 7% in three decades.”
UNFPA, Maharashtra coordinator, Dr DK Mangal says, “If people get opportunities in their own area, they will never come to Mumbai or other metros to struggle and live on footpaths or in slums. Now, backward states and smaller cities are also growing.”
Faujdar Ram, director, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, says, “City’s negative growth rate doesn’t necessarily mean that rural-to-urban shift is declining. The negative growth is due to the high costs, which force people to stay in areas on the outskirts or distant suburbs. Rural-to-urban shift is still prevailing. NREGS scheme has stopped migration of families and women to an extent, but the scheme doesn’t offer any solution to skilled labour.”
With 20 Million NRIs, India is migrant #2 after China
The report also says that China and India are competing against each other in migration. With 35 million people living outside the country, China is number 1 in the world, whereas India is number 2 with 20 million migrants, says the report.
The report says that both countries are struggling to deal with migration within the country as well. It emphasises that internal migration and its social and economic effects should be taken more seriously, as crores of people move in search of livelihood not always from rural-to-urban but from urban-to-urban route also.
India is facing migration from Bangladesh and Nepal. An estimated 5 million Nepalese are working in India.
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