Journal Press India^®

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The crisis of return migration of interstate migrants in India during lockdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic attracts attention to interstate migration and its various aspects. Interstate migration is the key income generation strategy for the people in less progressive states of India. They move to advanced states in search of better economic and social opportunities. All Indian states are not standing at the same level of economic development. The disparities in industrial and agricultural development further widen the regional differences, promoting interstate migration. The backward states, such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and West Bengal, are involved as migrant senders, and progressive states like Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, etc. are the migrant receiver. Interstate migration is one way by which redistribution of income among Indian states from high-income states to low income states. Interstate migration increased from 42.3 million in 2001 to 54.3 million in 2011. The increment in interstate migration is 28.4 percent during the same decade. Therefore, it would be indispensable to explore various aspects of interstate migration, such as trends, patterns, nature, and reasons for migration. This study used secondary data on migration from the Census 2001 and 2011.

Keywords

Interstate migration, regional disparity, progressive and backward states

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