Despite its growing significance, the link between poverty and migration remains an understudied subject in India and migration has largely remained outside of the public policy realm. In the theoretical migration literature, the primary motive for the movement of people from one sector/region to another is the differentials in earning opportunities, which could reflect differentials in employment opportunities or wages or both. These are in turn a result of the emerging patterns of development leading to the growth of the more productive sectors in specific spatial locations. If migration is a response to the expectation of improvement in earning opportunities, it should lead to an improvement in the income of migrants. Other beneficial changes should follow, unless these are counteracted by the growing congestion and worsening condition of public goods delivery in urban areas, which are usually the principal kind of destination areas. However, the income of migrants may not improve if migration is an involuntary response to distress and loss of income and livelihoods, or if migrants become involved in exploitative labour markets, or if the expected earning differentials are not realized. In the migration literature, this has led to an examination of push and pull factors underlying migration.
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