Socio-cultural and motivational dimensions of rural migration decision in Himalayan region: an exploratory factor analysis

Mountainous rural Himalayan region in India is facing acute livelihood distress and socio-economic crisis in the region. To cope up with this crisis, rural people increasingly consider out migration as an option of achieving economic stability, access to various services and development opportunities. The large out bound migration from the rural areas typically leads to disruption of delicate ecological balance along with the serious social, economic, and ecological consequences. As a result, arresting and reversing rural migration has been a policy goal of various national and state governments in India. Using exploratory factor analysis, study identified livelihood adequacy, ease of living, social and cultural factors, market linkage status in the area, quality of basic services and lifestyle aspirations of rural people as six important motivational dimensions, which influence migration decision of rural people. Study findings indicate that rural migration is a multidimensional issue and cannot be looked from the narrow economic and livelihood prism. Study suggests that any rural migration mitigating intervention strategy must address these six dimensions of rural migration to ensure effectiveness of rural migration tackling strategies.