Factors and Impact of Rural Out-Migration in Assam
Utpaljit Deori1, Rangalal Mohapatra2
1Utpaljit Deori*, M.phil Research Scholar, Department of Economics, Sikkim University, Sikkim, India.
2Dr. Rangalal Mohapatra, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Sikkim University, Sikkim, India.
Manuscript received on April 30, 2020. | Revised Manuscript received on May 06, 2020. | Manuscript published on May 30, 2020. | PP: 1972-1980 | Volume-9 Issue-1, May 2020. | Retrieval Number: A2777059120/2020©BEIESP | DOI: 10.35940/ijrte.A2777.059120
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: The present study attempts to measure the factors of rural out-migration and to assess the impact of rural out-migration on agriculture mainly on labour availability, crop yield and farm income on agriculture in origin areas of migration mainly of the Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Non-ST communities in Dibrugarh district, Assam due to the fact that there is continuous decline in agricultural cultivators, increase in the slum population and increase in the unemployment rate. A total of 150 samples were collected from the farm households with migrants for more than one year. The rural out-migration from the study areas were mainly dominated by male and mostly by married male migrants of the age-group of 25-34 years old with a monthly income in the range of ₹ 10,000-15,000 in the destination. The push factors such as unemployment, crop failure, lack of unemployment opportunities and pull factors such as better wage, continuous income etc play an important role in the rural out-migration. However, the ST community opines that soil erosion and poor housing condition is a major factor of rural out-migration as they reside near the river Buridehing and flood damages the houses and erodes the soil of the homeland areas of the houses that are just living beside the river and as result of which their homeland area decreases year after year. The ST people migrate to far off places whereas the Non-ST people migrate within the states of the study area. Remittances and the net sown area are the major factors of the impact on agriculture. The impact of rural out-migration is felt in negatively on the labour supply and positively on increase in the land area, increase in food crop production and vegetable production and increase in the flow of income of the household. The Non-ST community find tea plantation is an additional source of income for sustainable living. Migration can be checked if more focus is given on the creation of small and cottage industries along with the optimum utilization of the agricultural resources. Lastly, area-specific programme should be launched to absorb the local skill and unskilled people.
Keywords: Rural out-migration, agriculture, logit regression, net sown area.
Scope of the Article: Software Economics