FEMALE MIGRATION TO MEGA CITIES AND DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA

Pattern and causes of female migration are changing in India. An increasing proportion of women are moving towards cities, particularly big cities for reasons other than marriage. The present paper tries to understand the pattern, causes and trends of female migration to mega cities of India and its linkage with development. The study is based on secondary data collected by Census. It is found that most of the migrants to cities originate from socio-economically backward states of India. Marriage is still the most important factor of female migration in India but its importance is declining over the periods. On the other hand, it is quite encouraging to find that the proportion of females migrating for work, employment and education is increasing over the period of time. The volume of female migration to all the six mega cities has also increased over the period of time. Regression results linking the migration with the development indicators of the states shows that the states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa which have lower level of development have witnessed higher volume and rate of female out-migration. Similarly states like Maharashtra and Delhi having higher level of development have received more in-migration.