Internal migration in India: Are the underprivileged migrating more?

India has seen an upsurge in economic growth since 1991. The 2001 census shows that internal migration picked up rapidly during the 1990s. Compared with intrastate (short-distance) movement interstate (long-distance) migration particularly rural-to-urban migration has grown much faster. The states with a higher per capita income and a larger dominance of the non-agricultural sector not only show high in-migration rates but also high out-migration rates. The poverty ratio is not found to be related with out-migration rates at the state level. By contrast migration rates are found to be higher in households with higher monthly per capita expenditure. Also the socially disadvantaged groups such as scheduled castes and scheduled tribes do not show higher mobility compared with other population categories. Thus the increased mobility of India’s population after liberalization of the economy in 1991 seems to be confined to better-off sections of the society.