Read and develop points for discussion on GD Burning topic: Exodus of rural population from villages to city.
Migration of population from villages to city has become a very big trend since last few years. In developing countries, people are moving out of towns and villages and running towards a city life. The migration from smaller towns to the biggest cities has been a very common trend in developed nations like United States of America, Canada etc.
However, the rural flight (term for migration of rural population to the cities) has been a rather new phenomenon in developing nations like India. The pattern has been much accentuated in the last few years.
1.Agriculture demands hard work and provides very less scope for good money: In countries like India, agriculture provides very less scope for earning good profits. There are many reasons behind it. To start with, the agricultural practices in India are still old and quaint. Though the Government has introduced various schemes and subsidies, the agricultural practices still remain old and in much need of development. The farmers have to depend largely on the monsoon rains for irrigation of crops. High Yielding Varieties of seeds are popular in only a few states. The goodness of green revolution has remained concentrated to only a few states. The farmers in other states remain largely poor. Thus, there is absolutely no stability or growth in India. This is one of the reasons why farmer move to cities in search of better lives and pay.
2.The best of the job opportunities are available in the cities only: When a person moves away from the village, it is only in search of a more stable job that would give the worker a constant and regular income with yearly increases. Most of the big firms and industries which provide employment are located in cities, the reason being the easy availability of raw material and resources and also the good infrastructure and transport facilities. There are many more reasons apart from the ones specified above. Thus, all the workers from the villages migrate to the city as the labor is much in demand in these cities. In villages and towns, there are never much job opportunities and even those that are they, are not actually the well paid jobs. The city beckons.
3.City Life offers pleasures: No one can deny the fact that the man is a slave to his desires. Every man likes to have a little fun and a little pleasure. The town side offers to no places to have fun in the real sense of the world. In countries like India, developments owing to the modernization, has remained concentrated to the cities. Whether it is shopping in a mall where one can find all the designer stores and brands under one roof or going to a night party; whether it is about eating in a good food chain like McDonalds or Pizza Hut or about watching the expensive luxury cars on the road, the city life has its own charms. The opportunities that one gets while living in a city are never there when a person is living in the village.
These are some of the reasons which explain precisely the reason behind the exodus of rural population from villages to city. However, the question that arises next is- Is it good for any country that its rural population moves towards the cities?
The movement of people from the rural to the urban areas affects the small towns and the small communities which exist in these places. The population of these towns goes on decreasing. In developing countries like India, migration to the city is not an answer to the economic problems.
In India, a major part of the GDP still comes from the agricultural sector. The country cannot, thus, undermine the power of agriculture. To developing countries like India, migration of rural population to the cities is not the answer. Instead, the government should concentrate on developing the agricultural practices and making them modernized.
The onus of the government should be on developing agriculture as a means on livelihood in India rather than promoting the migration to cities. In reference to the current scenario prevalent in India and other developing nations, agriculture is important and thus, it should be promoted and converted into a mainstream enterprise rather than subsistence means of living.