Which one of the following is a pull factor for migration?

Correct — B, High wage. Migration is analysed through two sets of forces. Push factors operate at the place of origin and make staying unattractive — drought, flood, unemployment, poor pay, insecurity, lack of land. Pull factors operate at the destination and make going attractive — better paid work, education, healthcare, security, urban amenities. The prospect of a higher wage is the textbook pull factor and the largest single driver of rural-to-urban movement in India, and it is the only option here that describes something the migrant is moving towards.

• (a)Natural disaster — A natural disaster forces people out of the place they are living in, which makes it a push factor. Flood, drought and earthquake displacement all belong on that side.
• (c)Housing shortage — A housing shortage is a condition at the origin that people leave in order to escape, so it pushes rather than pulls. Where it exists at the destination it discourages migration instead.
• (d)Low income — Low income at the source is the most widespread push factor of all, and it is the mirror image of the high wage that pulls.

Migration studies separate the causes of movement by where they act. Push factors are the adverse conditions at the origin; pull factors are the attractions of the destination; and intervening obstacles such as distance, cost, language and legal restriction sit between them. In India the census records marriage as the largest single reason for migration overall, largely because of female migration on marriage, while employment dominates male migration and drives the rural-to-urban stream.

One word decides this item: 'towards'. Push and pull are named from the migrant's point of view, so the test is whether the condition described is something being escaped or something being sought. Three options here are conditions nobody moves towards. It also helps to see that low income and high wage are the same factor seen from the two ends of the journey, which is why examiners like to place them in the same list.

• Push factors act at the place of origin; pull factors act at the destination.
• Better paid employment is the leading pull factor for rural-to-urban migration in India.
• Natural disasters, unemployment, low income and poor services are standard push factors.
• Intervening obstacles such as distance, cost and language moderate the flow between the two.
• In Indian census data, marriage is the largest single reported reason for migration, chiefly because of female migration.

• Classifying a factor by whether it sounds positive or negative rather than by where it acts.
• Overlooking that the same condition can push at one end and deter at the other.
• Assuming employment is the largest recorded reason for migration in India overall, when the census puts marriage first.

A single-word classification item; CDS asks the same body of data by requiring the largest recorded cause of female migration, which tests the census figures rather than the theory.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following is a push factor in migration?

  • (a)Better educational facilities at the destination
  • (b)Recurrent drought at the place of origin
  • (c)Higher wages in the city
  • (d)Improved healthcare at the destination

  Answer(b) Recurrent drought at the place of origin — a condition being escaped, not one being sought.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The dominant internal migration stream in India in terms of numbers is

  • (a)rural to rural
  • (b)urban to rural
  • (c)urban to urban
  • (d)rural to urban only

  Answer(a) rural to rural — largely because of marriage migration, though rural to urban dominates employment-led movement.