Determinants of Internal Rural-Urban Migration in Odisha: A Case Study

Massive rural out-migration is a common phenomenon, especially in the developing countries of the world. A substantial part of such migration takes place within the country. It involves the migration of the working-age population from the rural areas and agriculture to the urban non-farm sector and is motivated by a complex set of forces. This study examined the relevance of major strands of migration theory to the empirics of internal rural to urban migration of workforce from a coastal region of Odisha state, India. Micro-level evidence revealed that out-migration of the rural labour force was essentially selective, mainly determined by labour market conditions obtaining in the sending rural and receiving urban areas and motivated broadly on economic forces. Age, marital status, educational attainment, household size, ownership of agricultural land, income level of the migrants, migration networks, and contacts with previous migrants were crucial in influencing migration. The findings were suggested that migration was influenced by both "push" and "pull" factors, but "pull" factors were more pronounced and prominent than the "push" factor. Quite surprisingly and contrary to received wisdom, migration from the study area was not a survival strategy out of poverty for many of the migrants.