Migration is one the most important demographic component to determine the size, growth and structure of population of a particular region, besides fertility and mortality. For a large country like India, the study of movement of population in different parts of the country helps in understanding the dynamics of the society and societal change better. Bhubaneswar is one of the magnets for migrants in east India attributing to its exponential growth rates. This is an attempt to map the migration pattern in the city and the state.
Migration Profile of Odisha with focus on Bhubaneswar
1. Paper on
MIGRATION PROFILE OF ODISHA WITH FOCUS ON
BHUBANESWAR
KAMLESH KUMAR
DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY
DELHI SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS
University of Delhi
2. GENERAL OVERVIEW
Migration is one the most important demographic component to determine the size, growth and
structure of population of a particular region, besides fertility and mortality. For a large country
like India, the study of movement of population in different parts of the country helps in
understanding the dynamics of the society and societal change better. The numbers are largely
informed by the Census and National Sample Survey Org. (NSSO). As per the Census the
reasons include (i) Work / Employment (ii) Business (iii) Education (iv) Marriage (v) Moved
after birth (vi) Moved with household (vii) Any other reason. Migrants constitute a ‘floating’
and invisible population in the society. In India, internal migration has been accorded very low
priority by the Government.
STATE OVERVIEW
Migration has been considered as the persistent problem of Odisha for a long time. The State
suffers from distress migration mostly from south west regions including Kalahandi-Bolangir-
Koraput (KBK) districts. The prevalence of small farmers having small sized land holdings,
seasonal unemployment in Odisha forced the people to search for alternate sources of
livelihood. As per Migration Information and Resource Centre (MiRC), more than 60,000
families, or two lakh people, from the districts of Bolangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Boudh,
Sonepur and Bargarh go to Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Additionally, around 40,000 to 50,000 people find work at the 150 brick kiln units that are
located within a 40km radius of the twin cities of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. Yet, it’s not easy
keeping a track of these migrants. Umi Daniel, Head, Migration Thematic Unit, Aide-et-
Action, Bhubaneshwar said "Most migrants don't get registered. Various estimates show
highest people from Ganjam migrate for work. However, there number is very low in the
government data". According to the government figures, only 4966 labourers from Ganjam
migrated outside the state for work. There is a dominance of women in the migration estimates
due to the large-scale movement of women for marriage purposes and to work in brick kilns.
Further, women are also known to feature more in short-term migrant streams.
BHUBANESWAR URBAN AGGLOMERATION
The Administrative Jurisdiction of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation spreads over an
extent of 135 sq. km. The entire Municipal area is divided into 47 administrative divisions
called ‘Wards’. The city had a population of 843402 in 2011, with a growth rate of 29.27%
during the period 2001-2011. It was observed that the city always had a population growth rate
higher than that of the State. As per 2011 Census the density of the Bhubaneswar City is 6228.4
persons per sq. km. The Sex Ratio of the city is 890 and the child sex ratio is 904 whereas the
literacy rate is 91.87%. The male literacy rate is 94.66% and female literacy rate is 88.73%.
The total slum population of Bhubaneswar City is 19.5%. The Workforce participation rate is
35.55%. There are 106 urban local bodies in Odisha and every urban body in the State has more
or less migrant populations. Bhubaneswar as the capital city has attracted migrants from both
rural and urban areas for better opportunity for business and employment. Bhubaneswar, the fast-
growing cities in India has lost its earlier planned status due to massive growth of migrant population
and the increased informal sector activities in the recent years. Migrant labourers of Bhubaneswar
are the construction worker, shop man, rickshaw puller and daily worker. Some are also
engaged as street vendor, hawkers, domestic jobs like house and utensil cleaning etc. lacks of
employment in the surrounding rural pockets are the main reason for their migration to the city.
Some of them are seasonal migrants. Whenever agricultural starts they go back to their village
3. and during the off-season, they come to the city in search of work. The migrant labourers of
Bhubaneswar generally settle in the Bastis of various slum pockets of the city. Many of them
reside in kutcha houses in Basti and some have no house in basti also. In many cases
unaffordable rents in slums force them to live at their workplaces, on the verandas of the shops
and markets, shop pavements, railway stations or in open areas in the city in night. Most of the
time, they experience harassment by the police and other local authorities.
IN-MIGRATION
In case of Odisha like most of the eastern states urban centres are few and they show a high
concentration of population indicating primacy. Khordha district is a good example as the
capital Bhubaneshwar acts as a magnet of growth, growing at the expense of the surrounding
regions.
PLACE MIGRANTS MALE FEMALE
Intra-state 594574 305847 288727
Intra-District 186906 95685 91221
Other dist 407668 210162 197506
Other States 50114 27623 22491
Jammu & Kashmir 316 181 135
Himachal Pradesh 72 39 33
Punjab 666 333 333
Chandigarh 72 39 33
Uttarakhand 132 76 56
Haryana 362 199 163
Delhi 2105 1157 948
Rajasthan 1016 560 456
Uttar Pradesh 2879 1738 1141
Bihar 8647 5497 3150
Sikkim 58 27 31
Arunachal Pradesh 66 25 41
Nagaland 58 22 36
Manipur 61 40 21
Mizoram 6 4 2
Tripura 122 64 58
Meghalaya 90 42 48
Assam 1021 584 437
West Bengal 13053 7045 6008
Jharkhand 5036 2873 2433
Chhattisgarh 927 478 449
Madhya Pradesh 909 478 431
Gujarat 815 433 382
Daman & Diu 1 1 0
Dadra & Nagar Haveli 1 1 0
Maharashtra 1826 969 857
Andhra Pradesh 7443 3597 3846
Karnataka 693 391 302
Goa 48 24 24
Lakshadweep 3 1 2
Kerala 536 274 262
Tamil Nadu 722 399 323
5. Migrants experience migration with the whole of the household the most in which the largest
constituent is of the females. Other factor in which there has been observed a large migration
by females is due to marriage. Male4s continue to dominate the sphere of work and
employment.
MIGRANT WORKERS IN BHUBANESWAR UA
Migrants can be mainly classified into two type, seasonal migrant and permanent migrant.
Seasonal Migration is those migrants during different season for different business purpose.
For example, Seasonal Migrants are those people who come to the cities to work in the non-
agricultural season. During summer they come for three months i.e. March, April and May and
again go back to their native place for cultivation. These workers are mainly work as labourers.
Seasonal Migrants often migrate without their family.
24.9
5.3
17
7.81.2
31.9
11.9
REASON FOR IN-MIGRATION IN PERCENTAGE
Work/Employment
Business
Education
Marriage
Moved After Birth
Moved with Household
Others
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Total Male Female
100
53.4
46.6
62.4
32.4 30
37.6
21
16.6
SEX-WISE %AGE SHARE OF MIGRANT WORKERS
Total Permanent Seasonal
6. The table shows that percentage share of male migration is more than the female. It is revealed
that the percentage share of permanent migrants 62.4% is more than the seasonal migrants
which is 37.6% only. It is also observed that the percentage of male migrants in higher than the
female migrants both in case of seasonal as well as permanent migrants. It is because the
workers engaged in the Construction Sites are those who have migrated without family. They
use to leave their family members at their home town and come to this place to sell the items
as per requirement. Therefore, the male percentage of migrants is 53.4% whereas the women
migrant is 46.4%. Male percentage of both the Seasonal and Permanent Migrant is 21 and
32.4% is higher than the women Seasonal and Permanent Migrant which is 16.6 and 30%
respectively.
INTER-DISTRICT MIGRATION
DISTRICT PERCENTAGE MIGRANTS (%)
GAJAPATI 9.39
NAYAGARH 7.71
JAGATSINGPUR 8.26
JAJPUR 6.33
CUTTACK 25.6
KHORDHA 31.4
OTHERS 11.3
Prepared by: Kamlesh Kumar
7. If we look at the over-all picture of migration in the study area. The city experiences migration
from different districts of Odisha like Khorda, Cuttack, Gajapati, Jagatsingpur, Nayagarh,
Jajpur, etc. 31.4% of workers are from Khorda, 25.6% workers are from Cuttack, 9.4% workers
are from Gajapati, 8.3% workers from Jagatsinghpur, 7.7% workers from Nayagarh, 6.3%
workers from Jajpur, and rest of the 11.3% are from other diatricts. Khorda shares the highest
number of percentages of construction worker followed by Khorda, Cuttack, Gajapati,
Jagatsingpur, Nayagarh, Jajpur, etc. The Ravenstein’s Law of Migration is applicable for the
inter-district migration. It has been observed that the people from the neighbouring districts
have migrated more than the others districts of Odisha.
The migrant workers settle in the slums in the city. The family structure in the slums at
Bhubaneswar is however entirely different. Here one finds the migrant slum dwellers living in
a single jhuggi along with their entire family. In Bhubaneswar, the percentage of married male
and female residents is almost the same. This is due to the fact that the married male members
live along with their wives and children in their respective jhuggis. The slum dwellers in
Bhubaneswar however had an entirely different opinion regarding the education of their
children. They generally felt that spending money on education is a waste when they did not
have sufficient income to meet both ends meet. Apart from the above factor they also felt that
since education fails to provide any job there is no necessity of sending the children to the
school. The slum culture in Bhubaneswar did not encourage the residents to think about
education. Those who send their children do so as long as they don't have to pay for their
studies. However, the scenario is changing gradually as many slum dwellers are getting fancy
with their lifestyle with the tide of modernisation.
OUT-MIGRATION
Odisha is known as one of the key migration source states of India. Khordha is among the 11
most migration-prone districts along with Bargarh, Balangir, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Sonepur,
Ganjam, Gajapati, Koraput, Nabarangpur and Rayagada. The office of the Labour
Commissioner of Odisha states that the district of Khordha has the highest number of migrants
followed by Bolangir district. The next highest outflow of migrants has been from the district
of Ganjam including Chhatrapur. The out-migration of the male members engaged in
agriculture in large numbers leading to an apparent view that the villagers now had changed
their occupation from primary activities to secondary activities.
As per the Department of Labour, Govt. of Odisha, close to 1.3 lakh workers migrate
to other states to work as migrant labourers. However, unofficially, there are 2 million migrants
are working in various states in India as migrant workers. Majority of the migrant workers are
from coastal region which accounts for 50% of the total migrants. Migration is an outcome of
frequent disasters that strike Odisha at regular intervals. Cyclones, floods, droughts and
famines hit the state at different times in different regions and Bhubaneswar being just at 60kms
off the coast is hit hard each time. Due to this, thousands of people especially migrants leave
in search of food and employment. They work in brick kilns in the neighbouring State of
Andhra Pradesh, the construction sites of the other cities. Besides, nearly thousands of
labourers go to Surat, mostly in the textile-weaving and diamond-polishing businesses. This
migration occurs as a survival strategy and not a step for better livelihood options.
The number of migrant workers to other States is rising steadily. Compared to 55,000 workers
migrating from Odisha in 2007, 1.46 lakh left the State in 2015. 87,000 migrant workers left to
other states in 2008, which rose to 1.05 lakh in 2012, 1.2 lakh in 2013 and 1.35 lakh in 2014.
8. Maximum migrants were from the
Bolangir district all these years
(45,000 in 2015). The state also
has been reporting large number
of workers who are migrating to
Gulf and other international
destinations as construction
workers.
CONCLUSION
Bhubaneswar, the fast-growing
cities in India has lost its earlier
planned status due to massive
growth of migrant population and the increased informal sector activities in the recent years.
There is not enough provision for the housing and other infrastructural facility for the migrant
people in the city. They suffer from poor living and working conditions, social isolation and
poor access to basic amenities. In fact, cities grow in different ways, which can be difficult to
distinguish. It may be through migration or the natural growth of the city’s
population. Migration to cities significantly contributes to urbanisation. Therefore, the city
needs planning for the migrants. There is a need to improve institutional preparedness and build
capacity for facilitating and promoting migration. Unplanned migration can be a serious
problem for the city. Migrant population should be included in the city planning process. If
well planned, migration can enhance the dynamism of cities and making the cities healthier,
more profitable and more interesting places to live in future. Moreover, as most of the migration
is un-registered, it needs to be considered well as to serve the planning process as very vague
data is available on migration.
References
• Odisha Economic survey 2017-18
• Odisha Review December 2010
• The Times of India
• orissamigration.blogspot.com
• theweekendleader.com
• dailypioneer.com
• Census of India 2011
• Migrants in urban informal sector: A case study of construction workers in
Bhubaneswar; International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development,
Online ISSN: 2349-4182, Dr. Pritirekha Daspattanayak, Sourobh Roy, Anuradha.
• Patterns and Potential of Urbanisation of Khordha district, Odisha, India; Debika
Banerji, September 2016
• Report of The Working Group on Migration, January 2017; Ministry of Housing and
Urban Poverty Alleviation
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
140000
160000
2007 2008 2012 2013 2014 2015
MIGRANTS WORKERS
