Dynamic use of remittances and its benefit on rural migrant households: insights from rural West Bengal, India

The present paper examines the significance of remittances by the male outmigrants on socio-economic development of the receipient households in a frequently drought affected Bankura district in the Rarh region of West Bengal State of India with particular emphasis on the varied impacts with respect to differential access to landholding or lack of it. As many as 185 out of a total of 756 households were randomly selected for collection of data with the help of a structured household schedule. Logistic regression model has been fitted to analyse the relation between the size of migrant remittances and important socio-economic determinants. The study revealed that the size of the remittance depends on nature and types of work undertaken by the migrants at the destination. Only a small proportion of the recipient migrant households utilized the remittances received by them for a single purpose though the majority used it for a multiple of purposes. Majority of the migrant households utilized the remittances for food consumption as well as to repay the loans taken by them before adopting migration as a strategy to improve their living. Outmigration for a short or longer period appears to be a successful strategy for these households to withstand chronic poverty suffered by the most marginalised segment while the somewhat better-off sections manages to further improve their living conditions with the help of remittances received.