PUSH AND PULL FACTORS
It is convenient to divide the causes of migration in terms of push and pull factors. Certain negative factors may push people to move away from the place of origin and certain positive factors may attract them to the place of destination. In the case of rural-urban migration there are several possible push factors operating in the rural areas: lack of work and employment; domination, exploitation and oppression; inequality; lack of education and health facilities; caste hierarchy; dislike for traditions: and lack of opportunities to do something meaningful. Figure 7.1, produced in UNFPA's State of World Population 2009, shows the effect of push factors on migration. The pull factors operating in urban areas are: better work and employment situation including possibility of getting a more decent work; higher wages; greater social equality; better education and health facilities; closeness to the seat of development and power; charm of city life; modernization; better connectivity with the outside world; and better living condition. In India, we also talk of certain push-back factors operating in urban areas because of which rural-urban migrants feel pushed back to native, rural places. They are: lack of expected employment opportunities, ethnic segregation and discrimination, greater vulnerability to various risks, poor quality of life and exploitation.
However, migration is not a simple function of pull and push factors. Various geographical and legal barriers prevent people from migrating even when they are aware of potential advantages of migration. Other factors remaining same, people will have the tendency to move to such places which are socially, culturally and politically closer to the place of origin. Also, there are individual differences which are better explained in socio-psychological terms. Certain types of personalities could be more prone to migration than others. While this is true that certain sociological factors are closely associated with migration, this is also true that in the same conditions, some people migrate while others do not. This indicates the existence of relationship between personality and migratory tendency.
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