Impact of Rural-Urban Migration in Bangladesh

8/10/2019 Impact of Rural-Urban Migration in Bangladesh

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Impact of RuralUrban Migration in

Bangladesh: The Case of Dhaka City

Name: Khondokar Sabera Hamid

United International University (UIU), Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Master in Development Economics (MDS)


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Abstract:

The rapid growth of rural-urban migration (RUM) has been a common feature of the developing

countries. There are various reasons for its occurrence and these reasons may vary from country

to country. However, the consequences of this type of migration have similar effects for different

countries. RUM is the most crucial component of internal migration of any country. It poses

some problems in the rural as well as in the urban areas, even though there are benefits derived

from it (Ullah, 2003). In recent years, most of the cities in Bangladesh are experiencing rapid

urbanization and RUM is the most important factor behind it. Bangladesh is one of the highest

rates of growth of urban population. According to UN projection, the size of the urban

population will be about 100 million by the year 2025 (UNESCO, 2009). Millions of rural

people are migrating to divisional cities of Bangladesh. Migration to Dhaka, the capital city of

Bangladesh is the main focus of this paper. In this paper an attempt has been made to explore

why a large number of people from rural Bangladesh are migrating to this city and what are the

consequences of this movement on the physical and social environment of the city. Although the

consequences of RUM are diverse and deep, both at the urban destination and at the rural origin,

this study focuses only on the urban destination.

Key Words:

RuralUrban Migration, Urbanization, Population Growth, Dhaka City,


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Part- A

Introduction:

Many Third World cities lack sanitary y sewage disposal, and about 50% of the people do not

have an adequate supply of drinking water. Furthermore, because most of these cities are in

tropical countries, where population growth is most rapid, and public health issues are

compounded. Bacteria thrive in temperatures of 75 Fahrenheit, or 24 Celsius and above. For

them, it is like living in an incubator.

Rural urban migration is the principle component of rapid and unplanned growth of towns and

cities in the developing countries. Gross disparities in socio-economic opportunity between

urban and rural areas and frequent natural disasters in some regions encourage large flow of

migrants from rural Bangladesh to the large cities. For various reasons Dhaka is an attractive

destination for the rural migrants. Migration to Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, is the focus

of this article which identifies the factors contributing to the migration process. The impact of

migration is diverse both at the urban destination and at the rural origin. At both ends there are

economic, demographic, environmental and socio-cultural impacts. This paper focuses on the

urban end. It examines the overall conditions of the underprivileged, poor migrants and the

consequences of migration on the physical and social environment on their choice of destination.

At independence in 1971 Bangladesh emerged as a country of a large population (approximately

70 million) with a low level of urbanization. Only about 4 percent of its population lived in urban

areas at that time. But a phenomenal growth in the urban population took place in the years

following independence. The urban trend remains almost similar today.

Urbanization in Bangladesh is characterized by the concentration of urban population in three

major metropolitan areas, namely Dhaka, Chittagong and Khulna. The three cities together

account for nearly 50 percent of the nations total urban population. This is a strong case of


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three- city primacy in urban population distribution. Dhaka alone contains over one- third of the

countrys total urban population. Dhakamaintained such single city primacy status for the last

several decades and is likely to do so in the near or even distant future unless very radical

programs are implemented for decentralized urbanization and reduction of the Dhaka- bound

migration flow.

Rural to Urban Migration and Urbanization:

There are some kinds of migration steam: rural-rural, rural-urban and urbanrural. Poor people

move rural to rural res where agriculture work is available. But the main form migration in many

developing countries is rural urban migration, for example in Bangladesh two-thirds of all

migration is rural to urban and this flow is increasing very rapidly.

Migration is broadly defined as a relocation of residence for a specified duration and various

reasons (Hossain, 2001). Migration incorporates all kinds of movement of people from one place

to another. It may take place within a particular geographical boundary of a country and then

beyond its boundaries.

RUM is the movement of people from the country side to the urban centre. Migration may be

permanent in nature or it may be temporary. People may choose to migrate voluntarily or they

may be forced into it. Both at the urban destination and at the rural origin there are demographic,

economic, socio-cultural and environmental impacts of migration which is diverse and deep.

Rural-urban migration is the movement of people from the countryside to the city.

This causes two things to happen:

1. Urban growth - towns and cities are expanding, covering a greater area of land.

2. Urbanization - an increasing proportion of people living in towns and cities.

Urbanization is a continuous process through which rural peoples life style is migrated t o

industrial and commercial areas. Urbanization refers to the concentration of people in cities

(many of the world's cities have populations of more than 5 million) and towns. A social trend in

which people adapt to life styles, residential patterns and cultural values of those who live in or

near cities. Urbanization is the process by which more and more people leave the countryside to

live in cities (Cambridge Dictionary).


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Urbanization generally refers to a process in which an increasing proportion of an entire

population lives in cities and suburbs of cities. Historically, it has been closely connected with

industrialization. Urbanization initiates industrialization-led economic growth and transition

from agricultural-based income and employment to no-agriculture based livelihood

opportunities. Rapid urbanization causes shift in rural livelihood base and often result in

migration of the farm laborers to off-farm activities in the cities. Thus urbanization, migration

and development are inter-linked and the relationships between migration and urbanization,

between urbanization and development and between migration and development are well known.

The relationships are a two way phenomenon. With each pair one variable may be the cause as

well as the effect of the other.

Benefits and Costs of Urbanization:

Benefits:

Economies of scale arise as a result of economic growth. When suppliers and consumers are in

closer proximity to each other, this allows for savings in communications and transportation

costs. Large cities also offer a variety of employment opportunities with higher wages, all of

which may help accelerate the pace of technological innovation. Urban growth also allows

governments to provide services such as sanitation, water supply, electricity, and transportation

more efficiently.

Costs:

Against these benefits, a major consequence of rural-urban migration is excessive urbanization.

There is a very strong link between excessive urbanization and rural-urban migration. Migration

has increased urban populations significantly over the years. A common view held by

policymakers and economists in developing countries is that urban growth rates are excessive.

This view is brought about by the large numbers of unemployed or underemployed young people

in many Asian, African, and Latin American cities. Most economists however, believe that

urbanization is an inevitable consequence of rural stagnation and successful economic

development, not an undesirable force that must be suppressed. Migration instead should be

recognized as an equilibrating response to disequilibrium elsewhere in the economy. Excessive


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urbanization leads to high rates of city congestion, crime and poor infrastructure such as proper

sewage systems, clean drinking water and other amenities. There is also the problem of chronic

unemployment which is also a key cause of crime, as people need to find ways of putting food

on their tables. Excessive urbanization has brought with it the creation of large slums and shanty

towns, as new migrants find it difficult to get proper housing. In developing countries, slum

settlements represent over one-third of the urban population; in many cases they account for

more than 60% of the urban total.

The cost of travel associated with large cities begins to rise as urbanization becomes excessive,

because congestion takes place which wastes resources such as time and fuel. The expansion of

cities causes the cost of providing basic services to increase; as a result the quality and

availability of existing services deteriorate rapidly. Excessive urbanization and the problems

associated with it are all examples of negative externalities. Negative externalities lead to market

inefficiency, which would cause market failure to occur. In the case of urbanization, market

failure can come in the form of excessive urbanization, or city sizes that are above the socially

desirable level. As the Economic Review states, this occurs because there is a divergence

between social costs and private costs. This is shown in the figure below:

The Cost of Migration and Excessive Urbanization:

MSC

Cost,

Rev MPC

Po

MPB

Q* Qo

Size of cities


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In the figure, marginal social cost (MSC) is above marginal private cost (MPC), because the true

social cost is equal to the private cost plus the cost migration in excess has on a city by causing

overcrowding to occur. Since marginal social cost is greater than the marginal private cost, this

demonstrates that there is excessive migration. Potential migrants are faced with the choice of

whether or not they should leave the rural areas for the cities. They will migrate as long as their

benefits from migration exceed their costs. In other words they will migrate up to the point

where marginal private cost (MPC) is equal to marginal private benefit (MPB). This point is not

efficient because it takes place at Q0, while the efficient city size is Q*. The distance Q0-Q*

represents the excessive urbanization that takes place or the degree to which cities are too big.

Factors of Rural to Urban Migration in Bangladesh:

The factors of migration are characterized by two major categories - one is Pull and the other is Push.

According to Braun (2004), people tend to be pulled to the areas of prosperity and pushed from the areas

of decline. Push factors attribute to the negative characteristics operating at the centre of origin whereas

pull factors identify the positive characteristics at the centre of destination (Dalta, 2002).

Actually, migration is the combined effect of both push and pull factors (Everett, 1996). Within

Push-Pull Model push factors are operative at the rural end while pull factors are operative at the

urban destination. Push factors push people toward the cities and pull factors attract them. Urban

bias is held responsible for RUM (Han, 1999).

RUM is a multi-causal phenomenon. It is usually compound by environmental, social, economic,

political and other factors. Much of the literature on migration focuses on RUM as a result of

environmental or economic crises. But a large proportion of RUM are due to marriage and other

familial reasons (loses of husband, divorce, joining family/relatives etc).

The following table summarizes the findings of several studies (Islam, 1999; Ullah, 2003;

Haider, 2010) on factors of rural migration to urban Bangladesh.

People move because they think life will be better in Urban areas

There will be factors which PUSH them from where they live now (RURAL ORIGIN)

PULL them to a new place (URBAN DESTINATION)


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Table: Push and pull factors of RUM in Bangladesh:

Push Factors Pull Factors

Landlessness

Adverse person to land ratio

Frequent and severe natural

disasters (drought, flood, monga,

river bank erosion)

Homelessness Loss of income sources

Unemployment and poverty

Absence of industries

Law and order situation

Village politics

Lack of social and cultural

opportunities (education, health

care, recreational facilities)

Do not like village (particularly

rural rich)

Job/Earning opportunities

Easy access to informal sector

Higher incomes/Rural-urban

wage differentials

Rural urban disparities in social

amenities and services(education, health care,

recreation)

Positive information about the

city (garments factory jobs)

Better livelihood

Fast and colorful life in city

Joining families/relatives

Willingness to change and see

new places


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Reasons behind Dhaka bound Migration Flow:

For the millions of rural poor in Bangladesh, Dhaka is an attractive destination. Migrants in

Dhaka predominantly come from the Northern and Southern parts of the country. Comilla,

Sherpur and Barisal are the top three districts from where rural urban migrants predominantly

come (Ishtiaque and Mahmud, 2011).

Compared to any other place in the country, Dhaka offers the best chance for economic

opportunity. Administrative headquarters and civil employments, financial and banking services,

international commerce and business are all largely concentrated in Dhaka (Islam, 1999). More

than 80 percent of the garment industries of Bangladesh are located here. With these industries a

large number of young female came to Dhaka.

Despite the growth of formal sector industrial and other employment, Dhaka is dominated by the

presence of a huge informal sector of economic activities. It has been estimated that about 65%

of all employment in the city is in the informal sector (World Bank, 1999).Work in the informal

sector has a potential role in influencing RUM.

Many migrants seek opportunities in the informal sector and make their living. Here a large

number of people are involved with the informal economy of rickshaw pulling, hawker, roadside

business, junk collecting etc. Others find jobs as drivers, mechanics, carpenters, barbers, daily

laborers and personal servants. Anyone can make some kind of living in Dhaka. Various

economic activities and variety of services tend to support a continuous influx of migration in the

city. A large segment of the migrant population tends to be uneducated, unskilled and ill

equipped for the city. Yet they migrate with expectations of a better life in the metropolis.

The migrants carry with them the hope and dream of better living and livelihood. They come to

the city to fulfill their needs and desire which cannot be fulfilled in the rural areas as rural

Bangladesh lack opportunities. Migrants are usually concerned with the benefits they hope to

gain by moving and usually give less thought to the problems that they will incur as a result of

the process.


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Origin of the Migrants:

Dhaka is the prime focus of Bangladesh. It is considered as the nucleus of the country. It is not

surprising; therefore, that Dhaka is always the first choice for rural-urban migrants. Bangladesh

consists of 64 districts wherein the two largest slums of Bangladesh have migrants from 40 districts. Comilla,

Sherpur and Barisal are the top three districts from where rural-urban migrants predominantly

come. Migrants come both from northern and southern Bangladesh.

Chittagong is the second largest city of Bangladesh and is known as the portcity.Chittagong

plays an important role in serving the rural-urban migrants of neighboring districts.Sylhet is also a rich

divisional city and it also serves its surrounding districts. That is why people of north-eastern and

south-eastern districts generally feel no pull from Dhaka. In the case of the northern and southern

parts, there are three big cities- Rajshahi, Khulna and Barisal. These cities lack employment

opportunities and financial dynamism. For this reason people from their surrounding districts prefer to

go to Dhaka than to them.

Impact of Migration:

The overall physical environment in an urban area is determined by some specific facilities such

as housing, sanitation, sewerage, drainage, drinking water supply, gas supply, electricity, garbage

disposal and waste management. In Dhaka city these services are extremely unsatisfactory and of

poor quality, which is due to rapid increase of urban population (in-migration of the rural poor to

Dhaka city) and limitation of resources. There is a chronic shortage of housing, congestion in

public transport, acute crisis in supply of water, gas and electricity. Increasing pressure of

population upon the civic amenities has resulted in air, water, noise pollution and an increase in

urban crimes. The city is characterized by high level of poverty and social vulnerability, shortage

of housing, infrastructure and social services, poor quality of physical and social environment

and inefficient urban management (Hossain, 2006).

The impacts of migration are:

1. Shortage of housing facilities and squatter settlements:

Shortage of housing is quite acute as the prevailing situation fails to accommodate the rapidly

growing city population. As a result slums and squatter settlements are widespread in different


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areas of Dhaka city. It has been reported that, all the thanas of Dhaka Metropolitan area have

slum population. Slums and squatter settlements have mostly developed in the peripheral thanas

of Mirpur, Mohammadpur and Demra (Hossain, 2008). Actually, most of the slums of Dhaka are

composed of rural migrants from various regions of the country. They come to the city in search

of jobs, in most cases for the sake of survival and find themselves shelter less. This situation

compels them to live in slums.

Dhaka alone contains about 3.4 million people in 4966 slums. (Ishtiaque and Mahmud, 2011).

The population density of the slums is extremely high. Most of the slums and squatters have a

single room for the whole family that makes them highly congested and unhealthy.

Slums dwellings in Dhaka can be found in such low laying areas as ditch embankments and on

the edges of lakes, rivers, sewers and near the road side and railway line. Most of the slums have

temporary structure with semi-permanent building materials (thatch, bamboo, wood, straw and

scraps). The practical situation of all these settlements indicates a dreadful life with poor lighting

and ventilation. Due to the location and the forms of these houses basic services and amenities

cannot be provided in these houses. This poor housing, lifestyle and dwellers activities are

creating not only environmental problems but also social crime. In many of the slums, overall

conditions in housing service and health are worse than those in the rural areas. Indoor pollution,

degradation of air quality, increase incidence of communicable diseases is attributable to this

poor housing. The health conditions in slums are extremely bad and hazardous for both dwellers

and other citizens. Fire is a common hazard in the citys slum areas. Over the years, the situation

is aggravating and it is becoming a threat for the serious environmental disaster of the city.


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2. Delivering of basic services:

Additional people have created tremendous pressure on the urban utility services. Dhaka city

faces problems in almost all areas of its basic utility services.

2.1. Gas and electric supply:

The slum dwellers do not have access to the gas supply. They use various traditional forms of

fuel like wood, straw, cow dung and waste paper for cooking. Access to electricity is far from

universal and sometimes access to these services is accomplished through illegal means.

2.2. Water supply and sanitation facility:

In Dhaka 49% of the population have access to piped water supply and the remaining have to depend on

private hand pumps and unspecified sources. People living in slums do not have access to piped water.

Piped water is unsafe to drink directly. Inadequate safe drinking water increases health risks.

Only a small portion of the city dwellers have access to sewerage system. None of the slums get proper

sewerage service from Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (DWASA). A large number of people use

open space, ditches and drains for defecation. Particularly the slum poor have no proper fixed toilets.


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2.3. Garbage disposal and waste management:

There is no proper arrangement of collection and disposal of garbage. Garbage is usually

dumped along the road corner, open areas, unused lands, and ditches into nearest water bodies.

Only 9% of the slum population manages to get solid waste management services (IOM, 2010).As a result both household waste and human generated wastes go directly or indirectly into the

low lying lands, open spaces or water bodies of the city and causes a number of environmental

and health problems.

2.4. Drainage facilities:

Poor drainage system brings sufferings to the city dwellers. All areas of Dhaka experience rain

water stagnation. The situation becomes worse during flood. The flood water submerges andquickly destroys the low lying and slum areas.


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3. Urban poverty:

Dhaka city has a dichotomous reality. It is a place of deprivation and plenty, growth and

congestion, poverty and wealth. There is a sharp contrast between the rich and the poor. The

incidence of urban poverty resulting from rapid urban growth is indicated by the proportion of

slum dwellers in Dhaka who live below the poverty line. High density of population makes the

environment of the slums more than abominable.

Aiming to get a better job, thousands of extreme poor migrated to the urban centers to improve

their lives and after dashing their hopes they take shelters in slums, the ultimate destination forrural poor in urban lives.

Urban population is growing at an estimated 3.7 percent per year in Bangladesh and almost 68

million people, representing more than one third of the entire population, will live in urban areas

by 2015, according to official estimation. About 35 percent of the population in the six largest

cities live in slums, 20 and 23 percent of whom are poor and extreme poor, respectively. A recent

international study showed that about 500,000 people every year move to the capital city Dhaka

from coastal and rural areas.

4. Unemployment/informal sector activities:

Most of the migrants involve themselves in the informal sector activities. People employed here

get less monetary benefits. In many cases they adopt unfair means for livelihood like smuggling,


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begging, drug trafficking, trafficking of women, prostitution etc (Nasir&Pervin, 1997).More

often, the migrant may fail to get in town the appropriate job he wants. The long period of

waiting for job increases his pecuniary cost and psychological tension. Often he ends up getting

no job at all, and thus remains unemployed. What is worse, he may out of frustration choose

criminal paths for making a living.

5. Antisocial activities:

Now Dhaka has emerged as a city of crime and insecurity. Among the many negative social

consequences of migration are the increase in the incidence of crime and violence. Social unrest,

theft, robbery, hijacking, kidnapping, murder, illegal rent or toll collection, frustration, drug

addiction is prominent among the serious city problems.


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Criminal and anti-social activities are found to be located especially within slums. Quarrel, clash,

conflict in the slums and squatter settlements is a regular phenomenon which creates noise and

violence that disturbs the nearby city dwellers. Thus a healthy social environment in the city is

being threatened.

6.Surviving Pattern of Women and Children Migrants in

Urban Bangladesh:

Migration is an important aspect of globalization and has implications on local, regional and

international development. Women and children are vulnerable segments of population almost in

every part of the world. It is also true for Bangladesh because of its social inequality, unfavorable

economic condition, political climate, joblessness etc. The large-scale migration of women and

children to urban areas is not entirely a recent phenomenon, nor is it equally common in all parts

of the world.

In Bangladesh, landlessness and the modernization of the agricultural system, frequent natural

calamities, as well as prevailing poverty and the scarcity of work in the villages forced many

women and their families to migrate to the cities. The movement of entire poor nuclear families

to the city opened up new opportunities for women to enter the cash-earning economy and to

contribute to family income. Poor womens participation in Dhakas informal economy is crucial

to the survival of most of the poor households living in the slums and squatter areas of the city.

Within nuclear families, very often, the household heads income is not sufficient to maintain the

entire family in the city. Hence, women have little choice but to involve themselves in some kind

of income-earning work, and this work has a vital role in the initial stages of urban adaptation.

Surviving Pattern of Women Migrants:

Womens movement to Dhaka has opened up new opportunities for them to enter the cash-

earning economy and address poverty. Poor women have always been active participants in therural agricultural economy, earning some cash but mostly receiving payments in kind for their

families. Although seasonal fluctuations affected the demand for female labor in the agricultural

economy, the lack of work outside the agricultural seasons and the deteriorating economic

conditions in the villages in recent years have led women to follow the household head to urban

destinations. The demand for poor womens work is ever present in Dhaka. To ensure the


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survival of the family, they have little choice but to undertake wage-earning activities of various

kinds. Many of the migrant families are composed of a very young population and the household

heads income is generally inadequate for maintaining the entire family. Although earning cash

for the family is vital, the lack of education among women, which is more prevalent than among

men, restricts them when choosing or competing for wage-earning activities. They also have to

combine income-earning activities with their responsibilities for household work and child care.

As a result, many of these women are limited to part-time or self-employed home based work for

which they may not earn as much as those who work full-time outside their homes.

Migration affects women in different aspects depending on the category to which the women

belong such as -

- Married women who migrate along with their husbands

- Unmarried women who migrate alone or with other unmarried girls

- Married women who stay back while the husbands migrate (both short term or long term)

- Women who have migrated in the past but are back now to their own village

- Old women

Issues that affect women in the context of migration

- Low wages

- Nonpayment of wages

- Gender disparity in wages

- Forced sex work & trafficking

- Violence, domestic violence

- Exploitation of single women

- Lack of education & neglect of childrens education

- Lack of health services for self as well as children

- Reproductive health issues

- Lack of identity papers


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- Breakdown of social network such as self help groups in the destination

- Social exclusion

- Non application of registration of birth and marriages

- Food insecurity & malnutrition

- No legal mechanism for protection

- No awareness on rights and facilities of protection

Surviving Pattern of Children Migrants:

Migration of rural children is an increasing phenomenon in Bangladesh. It is mainly because of

unbalanced development between city and village, growing unemployment or under

employment, landlessness and lack of opportunities in the villages. Most of them come fromunderprivileged families and their family backgrounds are broken and standard of living is low.

Causes of migration of Children from Rural to Urban Areas:

Major Causes Attributes

1. Poverty Landless

Natural disaster

Lack of food and shelter

To support family

2.Unemployment Jobs are not available in rural areas

Parents send searching for job

Seeking opportunities in the city

3.Family conflict Father drove children out of home

Father abandoned mother

Torture by step father/mother

Divorce between parents

Parents disappearance

4.Village conflict Conflict with influential neighbor

Oppressing by local elites

5.Others

Voluntary migration Influenced by others.

The migration of children to the street is the result of extreme poverty where basic needs of

social security are not met within the household. They survive abuse at home and from other

street children, live in poverty- afflicted, chaotic neighborhoods and have almost no access


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educational and health services. They become vulnerable to drug use and being trafficked.

Almost every day they confront risks of being tortured, beaten, trafficked and coerced into sexual

exploitation and substance abuse.

Child labor is a major social problem found in most of the developing countries throughout the

world. But it may be said that the way most of the children are made neglected, deprived,

exploited and oppressed in Bangladesh is probably unparalleled in the world. There is another

important aspect of child labor in our country is that the suffering of the girl children here is

beyond anybodys imagination. A girl child is always expected to do domestic works without

Health

Problem

Excessive

Work LoadAcceptance of

Exploitation as a

Coping Strategy

Involve in

Illegal

Activities

Low

Income

Low Skill

Low

Education


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taking into account her rights which she is supposed to exercise. Child labor could be of two

types in Bangladesh: working and street children. The working children usually stay along with

their parents or other guardians during the night. On the other hand, most of the street children

do not have permanent address and their employment depends on the availability of works.

These children mostly pass night on the street itself or some other place which does not belong to

them. Street children may be described as homeless having no local guardians or some of them

might have fled away from home. Rahman (1997) shows that urban child workers are worst hit

of the situation. Urban child worker are engaged in around 300 types of economic activities and

on the other hand rural child workers in 90 types of agricultural and non-agricultural activities

(Islam, 1998). Children are forced to work in order to extend financial help to their family and

sometimes, of course their own survival. The situation of urban children has worsened because

of decline of the traditional society, growing industrialization and urbanization, and the

migration that is heavily taking place mostly from rural to urban areas.

Part- B

Rural to Urban Migration and Unsustainability:

Rural urban migration is the principle component of rapid and unplanned growth of towns and

cities in the developing countries. Gross disparities in socio-economic opportunity between

urban and rural areas and frequent natural disasters in some regions encourage large flow of

migrants from rural Bangladesh to the large cities. For various reasons Dhaka is an attractive

destination for the rural migrants. Migration to Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, is the focus

of this article which identifies the factors contributing to the migration process. The impact of

migration is diverse both at the urban destination and at the rural origin. At both ends there areeconomic, environmental and socio-cultural impacts.

The overall physical environment in an urban area is determined by some specific facilities such

as housing, sanitation, sewerage, drainage, drinking water supply, gas supply, electricity, garbage

disposal and waste management. In Dhaka city these services are extremely unsatisfactory and of


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poor quality, which is due to rapid increase of urban population (in-migration of the rural poor to

Dhaka city) and limitation of resources. There is a chronic shortage of housing, congestion in

public transport, acute crisis in supply of water, gas and electricity. Increasing pressure of

population upon the civic amenities has resulted in air, water, noise pollution and an increase in

urban crimes. The city is characterized by high level of poverty and social vulnerability, shortage

of housing, infrastructure and social services, poor quality of physical and social environment

and inefficient urban management.

Economic

Social

Environmental

Economic Impact:

Despite the fact that the overall poverty situation in the country has improved over the years,

Dhaka Citys situation has become worse in terms of both upper and lower poverty lines

through the accelerating rate of rural-urban migration of the rural poor. Poverty in Dhaka

City is clearly seen in patterns of income, consumption and household assets.

Dhaka city has a dichotomous reality. It is a place of deprivation and plenty, growth and

congestion, poverty and wealth. There is a sharp contrast between the rich and the poor. The

incidence of urban poverty resulting from rapid urban growth is indicated by the proportion

of slum dwellers in Dhaka who live below the poverty line.

More often, the migrant may fail to get in town the appropriate job he wants. The long period

of waiting for job increases his pecuniary cost and psychological tension. Often he ends up

getting no job at all, and thus remains unemployed.

Consequences of Rural

to Urban Migration in

Bangladesh


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Poor people are involved in low paid jobs and they have insufficient earnings to support their

livelihoods. Almost half of the poor households of Dhakas slums are hardcore poor whose

monthly household income is insufficient for their basic needs. Consequently their low level

of earning means the expenditure level is also low. The hardcore poor spend the majority of

their earnings on food. As a result, essential non-food items like health and education are

often neglected. In contrast, the absolute poor can afford to spend part of their earnings on

non-food items. The urban poor usually buy food items at a low cost and generally avoid

costly items. Chronic malnutrition and poor health is the result of deprivation of such

necessary food items over a long period of time. Furthermore, the urban poor lack of access

to formal sources of credit and other resources and are consequently usually forced to seek

credit from informal sources. In fact, a low level of household assets is usually paralleled by

a high level of deprivation caused by poverty including disease, hunger, malnutrition and

lack of income.

Malnutrition

Reduce Physical

Strength

Loss of Work

Loss of

Productivity

Loss of Income

Poverty


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Working and street children of our country are mainly forced to take up some kind of job in

order to survive. So it is extreme poverty which usually pushes our innocent children to

work. Economic poverty has been presented both as a direct and indirect factor that pushes

children onto the street. It is argued that children move out of the household as a direct

coping strategy, to diversify the households portfolio of income generating activities, and

that at the same time, economic poverty leads to stresses and tensions within the household,

that become an indirect cause of street migration.

Poor children are in a vicious cycle of exploitation. It starts immediately after being

employed and continue as long as they are involved. Children work in lieu of education

condemns their life to poverty. If a child cannot study, then the cycle of poverty is repeated

and s/he never gets out of the cycle. It is a life-long process from which other than very few

none of the children can escape.

The cycle follows the pattern:

Poverty

Hard LaborLow Skill

ExploitationLow

Motivation

LowConsumption

MeagerIncome


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Migration reduces the number of the young, able-bodied, and the relatively better educated

people in the villages. A continuous movement of this category of people from villages to

towns may cause an imbalance in the quality of human resources between rural and urban

areas, which may eventually impede rural development.

Social Impact:

The social consequences of rural to urban migration for the urban destination areas may be

examined in terms of the effects on the degree of exposure of migrants to the city, the effects

on the patterns of resocialization of migrants into the urban way of life, their acculturation

and cultural transformation, the effects of rural to urban migration on the location and

adjustment of migrants into the urban social setting and the effects on the nature of

interaction between the migrants, the overcrowding of migrants and its impact on urban

employment.

Migration is a function of certain objective social conditions operating at the rural source and

at the urban destination. Those conditions are generally referred to as rural push and urban

pull factors of migration. The interplay of these push pull factor plays an important role in

determining the flow of out or in migration. Migration is both a separative and additive

process. It separates people from the place of origin and adds them to the place of

destination. These functions of migration have important social consequences. The

immediate effect of migration is the separation of individual migrants from the origin areas.

One consequences of rural to urban migration is overcrowding. If migration takes place too

quickly or unexpectedly, the planning necessary to accommodate growth will not be in place.

Overcrowding leads to issues such as higher rents, traffic and pressure on resources such as

schools and medical centers. Urban pressures weaken traditional family values and social

control over children. Schools are not always available which further breeds vicious cycle of

disparity. Interaction between children and parents, recreation and cultural stimulation are all

lacking.


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The growth in the working population will also mean more competition for jobs. The lack of

jobs may lead to problems of vagrancy, prostitution and unfair treatment to the least skilled

workers in the workforce. Addressing the challenges in spite of their vital contribution to the

city's economy, the urban poor do not receive the benefits of city life. Their isolation is

manifested in slums, which are a reflection of inequality and social exclusion in urban areas.

The major problematic areas of urban amenities were identified as electricity, housing,

transportation and gas. Irrationally high rent for the house, owners monopoly to raise the

house-rent and lack of rental house for unmarried persons were identified the main problems

in the housing sector. The main problems in the transportation sector were identified as

traffic-jam, lack of vehicle and insufficient road.

If a country is advanced in infrastructure and basic social amenities, there is no point to

classify it as developing. To this point, it is common to see most developing countries having

limited social amenities and infrastructure. This may include schools, roads, places of

convenience, pipe borne water among others. As people troop from the rural to the urban,

they increase the usage of these limited amenities in the urban areas. This leads to massive

and quick deterioration of the amenities and hence an increase in the cost of repairs and

maintenance and thus government expenditure. The Increase in the population in the urban

areas relative to a constant land area leads to overcrowding at a particular area and most

specially the urban areas.

The dream of a better quality of life is being undermined by an increasing menace of urban

violence. There is hardly anyone who somehow or the other have not been affected by

violent acts. Violence ranges from street crime, such as muggings, mobile snatching,

robberies, and carjacking; to kidnappings, murder, drug-related violence, and organized

crime conducted by gangs; to assaults, sexual violence, and personal abuse. Exposure to

violence is psychologically traumatic and damaging. It inhibits productivity and creativity of

the individuals by inducing the state of learned helplessness and hopelessness, which is

ultimately affecting the collective growth of the society.


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Environmental Impact:

Urbanization in Bangladesh is facing a crisis. The capital city-centric development strategy

has led to an explosion of Dhaka citys size, without corresponding expansion of the

infrastructure. As a result, basic urban utilities are now in acute shortage. Greenery and water

bodies are disappearing and slums have spread beside high rise buildings. Horrific traffic jam

is bringing life to a standstill, imposing huge costs on the economy.

The environmental condition of Dhaka has deteriorated significantly. Dhaka is a city of

noise, air and water pollution. The rivers of Dhaka city (Buriganga, Balu, Turag and Tangi

khal) are already polluted. The rivers are becoming dead due to the illegal occupation of the

people. Almost everywhere the air is polluted. Air pollution in all indicators in Dhaka is one

of the highest in the world (Islam, 1999). There is also high level of noise pollution. Massive

traffic congestions have become regular feature of the city which leads to noise and air

pollution. Uncollected garbage increases in noxious odor. Noise, overcrowding,

inappropriate design, and stresses contribute to the growing psychosocial health problems of

many urban dwellers in developing countries, especially adolescents and young adults.

Common chemical pollutants in urban areas are lead, indoor air pollutants from fuel

combustion, toxic hazardous wastes, and ambient air pollution. A shortage of fresh water is

often why some urban households do not have a safe and adequate water supply. Pollution

has become a serious threat. The air quality remains dangerously poor. Household, medical,

and electronic wastes are increasing in volume and worsening in composition. Untreated

sewerage contaminates neighboring rivers unceasingly. Lacking Effluent Treatment Plants

(ETP), most industrial enterprises are dumping their toxic effluents into neighboring water

bodies and rivers.

Some people co-exist with garbage in the city. Land is a scarce commodity in the city.

More than 70% of the citys population has no access to land. The price of land in the city is

beyond the ability of the common people. Land filling is a very common practice in the city

especially to mitigate the land pressure. Traditionally solid wastes have been used as a

convenient way to infill land. Domestic and toxic waste are not always treated separately and


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often dumped together in the same site. This creates a lot of environmental hazards in Dhaka

city (Ahmed, 1996).

Deforestation, cutting down of trees, encroachment and filling of water bodies are caused

mainly by overpopulation. This has resulted in an adverse effect on the environment of the

city. The environment of the city is physically and socially lacking because an adequate

proportion of its land has not been put aside as open space. Some of the open spaces, such as

parks, are being constantly encroached on by land grabbers with the support of those in

power. Also, the increasing presence of anti-social elements in the places (particularly in

parks and cinema halls) poses a serious threat to their proper use by citizens (Siddqui et al.,

2000). Childrens are deprived of open playgrounds. Slum children have nothing but streets

to play on.

Environmental hazards in Dhaka mainly affect poor people especially women, children, and

migrants -- the people who are least able to avoid the hazards and least able to deal with the

illness or injury they cause. Poor people are priced out of safe, well located, well serviced

housing and land sites. Hazards include biological pathogens; chemical pollutants; scarce,

poor quality natural resources; physical hazards; natural resource degradation; and global

environmental degradation. These preventable health burdens cause disease, accidents, and

premature death. Biological pathogens have the most serious impact on human health.

Crowded conditions, poor sanitation, and inadequate water supplies, poor facilities for

preparing and storing food, and inadequate hygiene contribute to biological etiology of

pathogen included ill health.

Open space is used by the urban poor to tie up cattle owned by them. Sanitation is the most

pressing issue in a majority of slums with situations varying from existence of individual

toilets which lead into open drains to public toilet. Public toilets provided in slums suffer

from lack of regular cleaning, rendering them unusable. Children defecate in drains in most

slums. Drains are open and narrow, which remain blocked due to disposal of solid waste and

absence of regular cleaning. In some areas of Bangladesh open spaces are used for sewage

and garbage disposal, creating an extremely unhealthy environment.


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Public taps and hand pumps provided in slums often dry up in summer, leaving residents

dependent on groundwater for meeting their basic needs. Water quality is poor. At times

residents access the drinking water by inserting pipes through the waste water itself. Slum

children below two years of age are underweight, and some are severely underweight.

Open space is used by the urban poor to tie up cattle owned by them. Sanitation is the most

pressing issue in a majority of slums with situations varying from existence of individual

toilets which lead into open drains to public toilet. Public toilets provided in slums suffer

from lack of regular cleaning, rendering them unusable. Children defecate in drains in most

slums. Drains are open and narrow, which remain blocked due to disposal of solid waste and

absence of regular cleaning.

Part- C

Sustainable Development & Policies

Sustainable Development:

Sustainable development refers to development that meets the needs of the present generations

without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In other words

it's the use of renewable and non renewable resources in a manner that satisfies our current needs

without jeopardizing future availability of resources.

In 1986, IUCL and World Wild Life Fund Ottawa Declaration mentioned five conditions of

sustainable development:

1. Unification of development and conservation,

2. Meet the basic needs of people,

3.

Equity and social justice,

4. Social self-control and preserve cultural diversity,

5. Preserve ecological heritage.


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Sustainable development has three dimensions:

Economical

We should balance between

three of these dimensions.

Environmental Social

Economic dimension:

Capital: produces a stream of goods and services into the future

Financial capital

Manufactured capital; durable capital

Human capital; stocks of learned skills

Intellectual capital; accumulation of knowledge and skills not embodied in individuals

Social capital; Set of institutions and customs

Natural capital; renewable and nonrenewable

An economically sustainable system must be able to produce goods and services on a continuing

basis, to maintain manageable size of government and external debt and to avoid sectoral

imbalances (maintain diversity).

The core idea of sustainability is that current decisions should not impair the prospects for

maintaining or improving future living standards. This implies that our economic system should

be managed so we can live off the dividends of our resources

Environmental dimension:

Sustainable development is (1) development subject to a set of constraints which set resource

harvest rates at levels not higher than managed natural regeneration rates and (2) use of the


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environment as a waste sink on the basis that waste disposal rates should not exceed rates of

managed or natural assimilative capacity of the ecosystem. A stable resource base, do not

overwhelm neither the waste assimilative ability of the environment nor the regenerative services

of the environment, deplete non-renewable only to the extent we invest in renewable substitutes.

SD is about maintenance of essential ecological processes and life support systems, the

preservation of genetic diversity and the sustainable utilization of species and ecosystems.

Social Dimension:

Achieve distributional equity, adequate provision of social services including health and

education, gender equity and political accountability and participation.

SD is directly concerned with increasing the standard of living of the poor, which can bemeasured in terms of increased food, real income, education, health care, water supply, sanitation

and only indirectly concerned with economic growth at the aggregate.

The principle:

Protect the environment and at the same time fulfill economic and social objectives

Operational criteria:

Economic objectives should not be maximized without satisfying environmental and

social constraints.

Environmental benefits should not be maximized without satisfying economic and social

constraints.

Social benefits should not be maximized without satisfying economic and environmental

constraints.


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Policies to Improve the Unsustainability Caused by Rural to

Urban Migration:

To undertake the policy programme we should have a clear idea about the causes and

consequences of the problem. The causes and effect of the focal problem (Rural to Urban

Migration) is shown by a problem tree here.

Problem Tree:

Effects

Causes

Rural to Urban MigrationFocal Problem

Unemployment

& Poverty

wer Job

pportunities

Rural Areas

Lesser Financial

Resources for

Business in Rural

areas

Natural Disaster

Homelessness Loss of

Income

Sources

Positive

Information about

the City

Earning

Opportunities

Better

Livelihood

Economic Effect

Sharp Contrast

between the Rich

& the Poor in

Urban Areas

Unemployment

Social Effect

Social Crime

Female Abuse Child Abuse

Hijack,

Snatch,

Stealing

Environmental Effect

Air, Water &Sound

Pollution

Deforestati

Increase of

Diseases


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Policies to Improve the Unsustainability Caused by Rural

to Urban Migration:

Recommendation:

Improve educational facilities for quality education in rural areas, which matches the skill

needs of rural labor markets including vocational and training facilities.

Promote programs to enhance more and better opportunities for employment and

entrepreneurship development in rural Bangladesh to provide alternatives to distress rural-

urban migration, especially for youth.

The Government should also invest in better labor market information systems and job

information services so that youth can access to better jobs and undertake migration in a

more informed manner.

Actions to prevent and eradicate child labor, especially its most hazardous forms, with

particular attention to unaccompanied child migrants.

Decentralize both administrative and developmental activities to discourage the

concentration of rural-urban migration to capital city in particular and other big cities in

general.

Local government should make proper arrangements for safety and security in rural areas for

a sound environment to make rural stay hassle and anxiety free to discourage rural-urban

migration and encourage reverse migration.

Conclusion:

This study may help the planners and social scientists for implementing and extending the

rural development programs and designing urban planning, as it gives an overview of the

people involved in rural-urban migration process, identifies the determinants as well as root

causes of migration, and find out the nature and extent of the problems faced by the migrants

and urban people at destinations. In order to have a sound overall outcome and optimize the

rural-urban migration process the study suggests some policy implications that include

increasing the education facilities in the rural areas, particularly establishing the quality

educational institutes; taking proper steps for the refugee migrants (affected by natural

calamities such as river-erosion, drought, tidal bore, cyclones etc.) to direct them to rural-


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rural regional migration instead of rural-urban migration; immediate actions are required to

decentralize the administration, industrialization, commercialization to minimize the

untoward rural-urban migration flow; undertaking motivational programs to motivate the

corporate management to extend their CSR (corporate social responsibilities) facilities to the

internal out-migration prone areas to facilitate local amenities for education, health and

income generation in order to give the potential migrants incentives not to strive for internal

migration; motivating the local industrialists, merchants, and other wealthier persons towards

establishing different services-oriented institutes from the view-point of philanthropy or

trusteeship rather than profit and income generating SMEs in rural areas to lure the would-be

migrants for retention as well as the retired persons for reverse migration (urban-rural);

establishing SMEs in rural areas through Public Private Partnership (PPP) with the solvent

returned international migrants using foreign remittances to enlarge income generating

facilities for an optimal migration process; and urban facilities should be increased keeping

pace with the level of migrants and hence future urbanization should be well-planned in and

around the growing towns and cities in order to ameliorate the inconveniencies of the already

as well as inevitably potential migrants at the destination places. Finally, to optimize the

internal migration and its outcome in Bangladesh through discouraging the rural-urban

migration flow and encouraging the urban-rural migration flow, overall infrastructural

facilities, both social and physical, must deserve to be increased to provide amenities for

living a sound human life in rural areas.

References:

From different books and publications related to migration problems...pictures are taken

from different websites..

Documents

Impact of Rural-Urban Migration in Bangladesh