VOLUNTARY TRIBAL MIGRANTS AND THEIR ROLE IN ORIGIN PLACE: A STUDY OF THE PANGWALA TRIBE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH (INDIA)

Abstract

The permanent or semi-permanent movement of an individual, “community”: or group of people from one place to another is known as migration. Migration implies spatial mobility of the population embracing all sorts of territorial movements-intra-regional, inter-state; and international. It causes redistribution of population and is of great importance in the understanding of changing man-resources relationships. In fact; migration is a universal characteristic of all human groups; irrespective of their socio-economic development. In economic migration, migrants emigrate from one place to another to improve the living standard. This migration occurs because of insufficient job opportunities in the origin place of migrants. The present study focused on tribal migration with reference to voluntary migration. The research was conducted in the Pangi Block of District Chamba in Himachal Pradesh (India). The main motive of the research was to assess the push and pull factors responsible for migration. A total of 32 samples were surveyed among people who had permanently migrated from their place of origin. The samples were selected using the help of snow ball sampling method. These samples were selected from the people who had constructed their permanent houses at the district headquarter Chamba only. Rests of the places where Pangwala tribe reside permanently have been excluded from the study. Primary as well as secondary data were used to complete this study. The findings of the study show that prosperity is one of the main reasons for voluntary migration. It was also found that the role of migrants towards their origin place is gloomy.