CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 3 Migration Notes

CBSE Class 8 Geography Chapter 3 Migration

Migration refers to the movement of people from their native place to another place. It constitutes an important factor in redistributing population over time and space.

• When people move from one place to another, the place they move from is called the place of origin, whereas the place they move to is called the place of destination.
• The place of origin shows a decrease in population, whereas it shows an increase in the place of destination.
• According to the data compiled by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees),

Five countries accounted for two-thirds of all refugees in 2017:

1. Syria (6.3 million)
2. Afghanistan (2.6 million)
3. South Sudan (2.4 million)
4. Myanmar (1.2 million)
5. Somalia (986, 400).

The total number of people forced to flee their homes rose from 42 million in 2007 to 68.5 million by the end of 2017.

• This means that one in every 110 people in the world is displaced. This figure of 68.5 million displaced people includes 25.4 million refugees, 40 million internally displaced and 3.1 million asylum seekers.
• Migration can be forced or voluntary. When people migrate for better job opportunities, it is voluntary migration. Some migrations, though voluntary, are forced by circumstances, such as famines, epidemics and wars.
• Some people are forced to migrate because of fear of being persecuted because of their race, religion, nationality or membership ofa particular social or political group.
• Some people are forcibly expelled or taken away as prisoners. All these people who migrate in such conditions and are unable or unwilling to return to their homeland are called refugees.
• When refugees ask for protection in places other than their native place, it is up to their place of destination to decide whether or not to give them refuge. Such refugees whose claim has not been finally decided are called asylum seekers.
• So, every refugee is initially an asylum seeker, but every asylum seeker may not be recognised as a refugee.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Types Of Migration

Migration may be permanent, temporary or seasonal. When people migrate to another place over a long distance to live there for a long period, it is called permanent migration

However, the seasonal movement of labourers to work in the fields or transhumance, i.e., seasonal movement of pastoral people with their flock of animals to warmer pastures in winter and their return in summer, are examples of temporary migration. Migration may take place from rural to rural areas, rural to urban areas, urban to urban areas and urban to rural areas.

Based on these criteria, migration is of the following types:

Internal Migration

When a large number of people migrate from one region or state in a country to another region or state within the same region or country, it is known as internal migration. This type of migration happens when people move from rural to urban areas, like from villages to towns or cities, and small urban areas to large urban areas, like from towns or small cities to bigger cities or metropolitan cities

External Migration

When people move from one country to another country, it is called external migration or international migration.

• This type ofmigration may be intracontinental i.e., between countries in the same continent. When Indians migrate to China, Japan and UAE (within Asia) it is intracontinental migration.
• However, when people from India migrate to the USA, Great Britain, any European country or Australia, it is intercontinental migration.
• When people move to any other country, they are called emigrants by the people of their own country. But in the country to which they migrate, they are known as immigrants.
• Sucha  type of migration is known as emigration and immigration, respectively.

Rural to Urban Migration

This is the most common form of internal migration. People migrate from villages to cities in search of job opportunities, higher income and better standard of living. In India, states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, and Delhi attract large number of migrants from other states, especially Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha.

• The main reasons for their migration to these cities include poverty, high population pressure on the land, lack of basic facilities like health care, education, etc.
• Besides, natural disasters like floods, landslides, droughts, storms, earthquakes, tsunamis and local conflicts also induce people to migrate to cities. Most of these migrants are initially men.
• However, after working for some time, they also bring their families to the cities.

Rural to Rural Migration

People migrate from one village to another village in search of better prospects related to availability ofland, water for drinking and irrigation and other facilities like healthcare, education, markets and short distance to the nearby cities. Often women migrate from rural to rural areas when they get married in another village.

Urban to Rural/Suburban Migration

This type of migration is also known as ‘reverse migration’. It takes place when the size of the population reaches a point where it becomes more than the carrying capacity of a city.

• This leads to shortage of resources, congestion, pollution, unhygienic living conditions, growth of slums and traffic jams.
• Consequently, people living in the cities shift to the suburban areas where land is in plenty, houses are spacious, there is lots of greenery around, traffic snarls are absent, and it is easy to commute to the city for work or other activities.
• Some workers, who cannot afford the high costs of city life, move to nearby villages from where they commute to the cities daily, usually by public transport.
• Most of suburban migration takes place around big cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Shanghai, Bangkok, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Urban to Urban Migration

This type of migration is usually seen in the highly developed countries of the world. People move from one city to another city, generally for better employment opportunities. For example, IT professionals living in Delhi move to Bengaluru for better job opportunities and improving their standard of living.

Climate Refugees

These are the migrants who are forced to leave their homes due to sudden or long-term changes to their local environment.

• Such changes include droughts, desertification, sea level rise, and disruption of seasonal weather patterns like the monsoons.
• Climate refugees migrate to another country or they may migrate internally within their own country.
• The people of the Carteret Islands in Papua New Guinea have been forced to relocate to another place as the rising sea levels are swallowing their land. As such, they have become climate change refugees.

CBSE Class 8 Geography Causes Of Migration

People migrate from their native place to another place for many reasons. These reasons are broadly categorised into two groups —Pushand Pull Factors. Push Factors are the factors that cause people to leave their place of residence or origin.

These include the following:

• Lack of job opportunities, low income from agriculture and other activities:
• High population pressure on land, low yield of crops and shortage of food;
• Lack of basic amenities like clean drinking water, power supply, health care, education, transport, etc.
• Natural disasters like floods, landslides, droughts, famines, earthquakes, cyclonic storms and tsunamis.
• Wars.
• Persecution of people due to wars, race, religion, social and political beliefs.

Pull Factors are the factors that attract people to move to places other than their native place.

These include the following:

• Better job opportunities, availability of regular work and higher wages.
• Better opportunities for education, health care and sources of entertainment.
• Favourable climate.
• Peaceful and comfortable location.
• Lower risk of natural disasters
• Availability of all kinds of freedom and fundamental rights.

Impact of Migration

Migration is caused by the uneven distribution of opportunities over space.

• People move from areas of low opportunity and low safety to areas of higher opportunity and better safety.
• This in turn,creates both positive and negative effects for the areas from where people migrate (donor regions) and in the areas where they migrate to (receiver regions).

These impacts are given in the table below:

Brain Drain

Brain Drain refers to the exodus or emigration of individuals, who are highly skilled and educated, such as scientists, engineers, doctors, economists, management and IT experts and teachers from their native place to another country. It is also known as human capital flight. This is because it refers to the migration of human resource of a region to another region. It usually occurs from less developed countries to more developed countries.

Donor Regions:

Receiver Regions:

Brain Drain Causes

Brain Drain is caused by both the push and pull factors present in less developed and more developed countries, respectively.

These include the following:

Push Factors:

• Less beneficial prospects in salaries and other facilities.
• Lack of opportunities for enhancing their faculties or improving their talent.
• Lack of resources and funds for research.
• Poor working conditions, lack of freedom and favouritism.
• Economic or political instability.
• Persecution based on religion, race, social customs and political beliefs.

Pull Factors:

• Higher monetary benefits, better job opportunities and better quality of life.
• Better chances of research and improvement in his/her field of specialisation.
• Proper opportunities for enhancing their faculties that give them the feeling of highest fulfilment.
• Good work culture with lots of freedom without any bias.
• Better recognition of their capabilities and greater appreciation of their work.
• Economic and political stability in the country they migrate to.

Impact of Brain Drain

Through brain drain, a country loses its most educated and highly skilled individuals to other countries. This is seen as a problem because these individuals leave their own country and contribute their expertise in the development of another country. The loss for the donor region is a gain for the receiver region.

So, brain drain has both positive and negative impacts. These are given below:

Positive Impact:

When highly skilled and talented individuals migrate to developed countries, they hone their skills and enhance their knowledge based on research.

• When they return, their knowledge is used for the development of their own country.
• The remittances sent by the migrants help in improving the standard of living of the family members of the migrants and also in the development ofthe home country’s economy.
• The lure of emigrating to a developed country led many people to attain the best of education and skills. Some of these people, who cannot migrate, serve their home country.

Negative Impact:

The home country loses the expertise of its highly skilled people, and that affects its development.

• The huge amount of money spent on giving education and training to doctors, engineers, management and IT experts, technicians, etc., is wasted when they migrate to other countries.
• When these migrants take their families with them, their children lose touch with the culture and ethos of their home country and adopt the language, culture and ways of living of the receiving countries
• There is a loss to the exchequer because it loses the taxes that the emigrants would pay.
• The migrants, in spite of higher salaries and higher standard of living, remain virtual outcasts in the countries they have migrated to.