Food Insecurity, Poverty and Migration in Urban India: A Study of Vulnerability

The relationship between migration and urban poverty has been extensively investigated in the literature, and yet it is difficult to speak of generally accepted conclusion on the matter. It is against this backdrop that this paper provides an explanation by examining 64th Round of National Sample Survey (2007-08) data for evidence of whether there are linkages between poverty and migration status and migration types in urban India. The households in urban India have been categorized into non-migrant, forced migrants, employment related migrants, post employment migrants and other migrants. Monthly per capita expenditure and a composite index of food insecurity as derived from PCA have been used as proxy for poverty at household level. Besides k-means analysis, MCA and multivariate regression analyses have been used in this study. Findings throw light on the much debated topic on the relationship between food insecurity and migration status. Levels of food access significantly vary across migration-types even after controlling for socio-economic factors. Findings reveal that there are three distinct groups within migration-status in terms of vulnerability. Results show that except for forced migrants and early job seekers, migrant households are better-off than non-migrant households in urban India.