Background/Objectives: The Valley of Kashmir is a conflicted zone. It has a rugged topography and least level of industrialisation. It is also entirely rural in character. Despite of all these drawbacks the Kashmir Valley is abode of many in-migrants from other states of India. These in-migrants are found working in carpet, handloom, manufacturing, construction, mining & quarrying, hotel, banking, mushroom, sericulture, khadi, wood carving, poultry and several other small industrial units. The study will mainly focus on the work opportunities available for in-migrants in Kashmir Valley, as a migration pull. It will also look at the industrial and occupational absorption of in-migrants in the Valley.
Methods/Findings: Kashmir Valley attracts many in-migrant labourers from other parts of India mainly from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and West Bengal. Present study will use census data of the year 2001 to measure the number of in-migrants and to cover their economic activities and will cover in-migrant workers in the Valley whocome each year from other states and union territories of India but excluding localintra-district and inter-district migrants within the state. The period of the study willbe year 2001, as no other state representative data on in-migration in Kashmir Valleyis available. The study has covered in-migrants which have spread their access in almost all industries and occupations. They have made the state economy dependent. Mostly they work in agriculture and allied industries as they come from rural areas without having much skill.
Application: Migrants mostly workin the informal sector of the economy. It is very important to study why migrants arecoming to the Valley and where are they employed? Why these in-migrants prefer to migrateto a rural area having very scant small-scale industries, harsh climatic andgeographical conditions and bad social and political situations. The study will also beimportant for the reason of small amount of available literature. The attempt in thestudy will be to through light on all these aspects of in-migration in the Valley ofKashmir.