ABSTRACT
Independent India no longer had such outlets of overseas migration, with the exception of the recent migration to the Gulf states, which is, however, of a temporary nature only and attracts skilled personnel rather than unskilled labourers. Internal migration from the countryside to urban centres was also limited in India. Urbanisation as defined by demographers refers to the exogenous growth of urban areas only and not to the internal reproduction of the urban population; it is measured in terms of the growth of the share of the urban population in the total population. Theoretically, this share could also grow in the absence of migration, if the rate of reproduction of the urban population were much higher than the rural one, but normally the rate of reproduction is higher in rural areas and therefore this theoretical possibility can be safely neglected.
