Profile of the banjara community in Ratnagiri district

The study was conducted in Ratnagiri district of Konkan region of Maharashtra. Four tahsils were selected randomly from Ratnagiri district. The migrants were selected randomly from each tehsil, and from each tahsil three villages were randomly selected. Thus total 120 Banjaras (migrants) were selected for present study. The study indicated that majority of the migrants were in middle age category with high school level of education having farming as a major occupation, favourable for perception about migration, medium category of family size, medium category of annual income, nature of migration is permanent, family members take decision for migration, medium category of economic motivation and moderate category of livelihood. It was revealed that slightly more than medium of migrants had medium level of migration behaviour index of migrants. The study reported that the selected variables like age, perception about migration, family size, nature of migration and livelihood were found significantly associated with migration behaviour index. The constraints analysis and suggestions given by migrants necessary to take into consideration for betterment of their livelihood.