[Reader-list] 6th Posting - Migration and emerging issues

[Rutul Joshi]

6th Posting – Migration and emerging composition



Surat urban agglomeration has high growth rate of 85.09% and low sex ratio of 760. The density of Surat Municipal Corporation was lower than that of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation in 1981 but it has become higher than that of AMC in 2001. The population in Surat urban agglomeration is almost doubled in last 10 years and showing the growth rate of 85.09%. at the same time, the sex ratio in Surat urban agglomeration has become 760, which clearly show very high male in-migration in the Surat urban agglomeration area. This in-migration has put lot of pressure in the areas for infrastructure and other civic facilities. 

The phenomenal migration of people from different parts of the country, particularly from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Orissa and other parts of Gujarat are attracted to the city because of its industrial growth. The growth of industrial production has been on a substantial scale by means of small industry carried on in workshops, rough sheds and households. The industries that are either wholly or partly in the small or less regulated or informal sector are textiles including the production of artificial silk (Surat produces 60% of India’s artificial silk) and zari industry, textile processing and the production of parts of textile and garment making, diamond cutting and polishing (30% of India’s turnover in this sector is from Surat), plastics, engineering and chemicals and dyes. There has also been growth in the high investment organized sector, notably chemicals and petrochemicals, and in the financial sector and the transport sector. An extremely high job potential in
 Surat emanating from its flourishing industrial base has resulted in 57.60% male work force participation rate which is the highest in all the six big cities in Gujarat. 




   The unemployment rate in Surat is only about 1.2% of the total labour force. Though, it is also important to note that the proportion of casual labour among the employed is highest in Surat. More than half of the female workers in Surat are casual labourers.






   The city monitor report 2002, which compared seven cities of India for various indictors of quality of life states that income inequality is highest in Surat where nearly 60% of the households have annual income below Rs. 25,000. 






   since 1961, the city has been consistently experiencing a decline in the sex ratio as it moved from 921 in1961 to 831 in 1991. No other city in the state had experienced such a drastic decline in the sex ratio during the same period. The declining sex ratio in Surat is mainly attributed to the growing industrialization in the city during the 1960s and 1970s, which resulted in a large number of migrant workers from different parts of the country working in various industries who generally come alone, leaving behind their families back at home. In many cases even if the migrants come with their families they remain male dominated ones and contribute further to the deterioration of the sex ratio in the city.


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