ABSTRACT
According to the 2001 Census, 307.2 million out of 1028.6 million persons or almost 30 per cent of the total population of India were migrants. Among them, 42.1 million were interstate migrants. The total number of all duration of migrants from the northeastern region to other parts of India has increased from 0.4 million in 1981 to 0.6 million in 1991 and then to 1.1 million in 2001 against its population of 39 million. There has been in-migration too. In 2001, as many as 0.3 million people migrated to this part of the country from the rest of it. However, the issue of in-migration in North East India is highly sensitive one as it inevitably refers to illegal migration from the neighbouring countries, especially from Bangladesh (Sarkar 2010). In spite of the fierce sensitivity associated with it, many people have already debated fiercely on this particular issue and there now exists a good volume of literature on illegal migration. Hence, we do not consider the aspect of in-migration; rather we consider the out-migration from the northeastern region to other parts of the country which is further justified by the dearth of literature on this issue. This chapter makes an attempt to explore some dimensions of this phenomenon. A question arises as to why people migrate from the region and which destinations would they prefer? The northeastern region is different from the other regions of the country, both historically and geographically. Its social history is also different and it has been lagging behind in infrastructural and industrial development (Sharma 2006). The development process has been very slow and hesitant in spite of the fact that the region is rich in natural resources; the common feeling in many quarters about the reason for this is the continued economic neglect of the region (Sinha 2006). The underdevelopment and lack of opportunity at home motivate people to migrate. The politically disturbed states such as Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura and Assam have recorded more out-migrants than in-migrants (Krishan 2007). A detailed study on education and migration from the northeastern region found that people prefer to migrate to the nearest urban cities which have better connectivity and transport links (Chyrmang 2010). The migrants are motivated to move due to employment opportunities, higher wages, better quality of living, better education and better family considerations, and are prompted by the push of difficult conditions at home, actual or perceived. Singh (2007) argued that the students who wish to acquire good and in-depth knowledge of education need to go outside the region to study due to lack of educational infrastructure. It is also found that the women who migrate for education in Delhi end up working in unorganized sector (Shingmila 2007). 1
