Context:
• Bihar Assembly election campaign (Phase-1 completed) – migration has become a central theme.
• Differing political narratives → whether outward migration = policy failure OR natural labour mobility.
Key Highlights:
Political Positions
• Opposition (RJD) blames ruling NDA for “export of migrants” due to lack of jobs/opportunities.
• BJP–JD(U) alliance counters by raising illegal immigration narrative to portray threat, though Special Intensive Revision (electoral rolls) shows no large-scale illegal migrant presence.
• Opposition slogan → “Generate employment, stop migration”.
Data & Demographic Realities
• 2011 Census → ~54.5 lakh migrants from Bihar spread across India.
• Bihar has younger demographic profile → labour mobility inevitable, mirrors internal migration trends nationwide.
Key Analytical Idea
• Migration ≠ always negative → labour mobility can be human capital enhancing.
• Short-term political narratives create xenophobia → phantom “anti-Bihari sentiment” elsewhere.
• Real developmental focus must be:
– skilling + education
– healthcare + nutrition
– turning migrants into value-adding contributors to national growth
Relevant Prelims Points:
• Internal migration in India → governed mainly by Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act (1979); now subsumed under OSH Code 2020.
• Push factors → agrarian distress, low wages, poor industrial base.
• Pull factors → urban job clusters, infrastructure, higher wages.
• Economic theory: migration smoothens marginal productivity of labour between regions.
Relevant Mains Points:
• Migration → an outcome of uneven regional development, not a pathology.
• Governance challenge: ensure dignity + safety + portability of entitlements (eShram, One Nation One Ration Card).
• Elections often weaponise “outsider narratives” → politicisation of identity over structural economics.
Way Forward:
• Treat migration as development link, not as administrative failure.
• Bihar needs education-led skill upgrading → harness demographic dividend → boost remittance-linked capital formation in home districts.