People moving from their places to other places to searching of better
opportunities is called ‘Migrations’. Migration arises out of various social,
economic or political reasons.
For identifying a person as a migrant, two criteria are used by the census:
♣ “birth place” – place where the person was born
♣ “last usual place of residence” – a place where the person had stayed
continuously for a period of six months or more
In India, according to census 2011, about 307 million people have been
reported as migrants. Migrations can happen due to many reasons. While females
report marriage as the most common reason for migration, employment or seeking
employment is the most common reason for males to migrate. Dissatisfaction with
employment opportunities in the native place, better opportunity for studies,
losses in business, family feuds etc are also some of the other reasons that
people have stated as reasons for migration in the census surveys.
