Impacts of Rural Labour Migration of South Bengal: A Case Study of Bankura and Purulia Districts of West Bengal, India
Labour migration is a pervasive feature of economic development. People mobility for temporary or permanent labour purposes is a routine part of agricultural and industrial activity. There are very significant migration flows in some developing areas, with considerable impacts on individuals, households and regions at origin. Despite the growing debate about motivations and impacts of recent migration flows, costs and returns of this global phenomenon are still unclear and remain far outside the public policy realm. This is true especially with respect to migration of people from rural areas of developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to review key issues relating to rural labour migration and its links to economic development at origin. What is the impact of migration, both personal and social, on rural and socio-economic development in source regions. The study indicates that maximum rural labourers migrated with their family member during the period of peak seasons. The study revealed that poverty (90.2%), unemployment (89.2%) and landlessness (44%) were observed as major causes of rural labour migration. The results also indicate that migration is prevalent, and is a source of support for households to supplement their livelihood. The majority of migrants moved away from home to look for a better income and employment opportunities at the destination place. Remittances form a significant proportion of the total rural household income, surpassed only by salary and wage earnings. Even though the amounts of remittances and their uses are extremely varied within and between the studied areas with compare to rural non-migrants, they provide one of the important means through, which migrants maintain close links with the households left behind, and contribute significantly to the livelihood of a large proportion of the rural population. In South Bengal it is found that labour migration is more relevant in terms of economic, social, personal and household enh
