• Good roads have changed the transport system from the use of bullock carts , horse carts to the introduction of bicycles , motorbikes , buses and other
Why do people from villages migrate to towns and cities ?
From last year ’ s theme article on “ Changes over 40 years in the Samaj ”, I quote ----- Migration of people or a community has been a natural phenomenon since the beginning from one environmental condition to another . One may ask the reason for it . There can be many . However , there has always been an urge to “ develop ”, to “ improve ”, to “ raise one ’ s status ” and so on at an individual , family or community level ; thus , bringing “ changes ” in the mode and style of living , social and cultural thinking and behaviour . Some of the factors which have contributed to the movement are :
Emigration from India
The migration of people from villages to towns and cities has been a common phenomenon in the history of the world . However , more adventurous and farsighted people have taken the risk of leaving their countries in search of better pastures far and wide .
Think of the Silk Road or the Silk Route , the ancient network of trade routes ( sources of valuable goods such as spices and silk ). For centuries were used through the regions of Asian continent , connecting East and West from China to the Mediterranean Sea . However , due automobiles
• Electricity and Gas is starting to reach most Indian villages and villagers are enjoying modern technological advancements
• Basic amenities like 24 hour electricity , good roads and water supply are still far away in most of the areas in both rural and urban India
• Rural areas being mostly agricultural based , there is slow development of local markets where farmers can get better rates for their production . This happens due to improper Supply Chain and Distribution System . As a result of this , many farmers are selling their land and moving to cities in hope of a better life
• Lack of good education has become a hindrance for the development of the villages
• Under the principle of eminent domain , the state as the ultimate
to the decline of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1450s , the land route to Asia became dangerous .
Hence , sea routes to Asia were explored by the Portuguese - sailing around Africa and also westwards . Bartholomew Diaz reached a part of South Africa naming it the Cape of Storms in 1488 and Vasco da Gama , naming it the Cape of Good Hope , went around and came to the present day Kenyan seaport of Mombasa ( Mvita ) and from Malindi , by the help of an Indian , reached Calicut ( India ) in 1498 . Meanwhile , considering sailing westwards to be a quicker
• Some villages have disappeared , but other villages have grown and merged and often form hubs within the general mass of suburbia
owner of land and natural resources , acquire land for public purposes for ‘ development ’. This causes the involuntary migration of people from their places of original residence . The Narmada Valley Project , India ’ s largest valley project , submerged hundreds of villages and hundreds of hectares of land including forest areas , thus displacing their place of residence
• The introduction of several industries made the villagers move to urban areas . They joined different industrial organisations as workers or labourers and found alternate occupation other than farming
• Caste and communal riots have affected the life style and displaced the residence status
way , Christopher Columbus , an Italian explorer , not knowing the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean , sailed west and reached the Indies , the present day West Indies .
These initial voyages opened up the trading routes as well as the process of colonisation from Europe . The colonial era in India began in 1502 , when Portuguese Empire established the first European trading centre in Kerala . This was followed by the Dutch East India Company and then British East India Company . The British East India Company eventually came to rule large areas of India with its own private armies ,
1820 : First Indian immigrants arrive in the US
1825 : First massive immigration of Indian workers from Madras is to the islands of Reunion and Mauritius brought in to work in the sugar estates
1835 : Mauritius receives 19,000 immigrants indentured labourers ( contracted for a fixed period of time ) from India 1837 : Britain formalises emigration of Indian indentured labourers to supply cheap labour 1838 : British Guyana receives its first 250 Indian labourers
1860 : S . S . Truro and S . S . Belvedere dock in Durban , S . Africa , carrying first indentured servants ( from Madras and Calcutta ) to work in sugar plantations . With contracts of five years and up , thousands emigrate over next 51 years
1879 : The “ Leonidas ,” first emigrant ship to Fiji , adds 498 Indian indentured labourers to the nearly 340,000 already working in other British Empire colonies
56 vol . 41 | Prajapati Sandesh 2016