Though rural-urban migration has been on for ages, of late, both migrants and their hosts are found to be facing severe problems. What are those problems?

Looking for greener pastures is human instinct, and it makes rural people move out to urban landscapes. This has been a practice for ages, and now both the migrants and their urban hosts happen to undergo certain problems.

For the migrants, the most pressing problem is the space constraints. Since they are used to larger areas, great green covers, calm and clean surroundings, the urban life is extremely hostile for them. Confined living spaces and unfriendly surroundings  exemplify it. This stress is further compounded by the exponential difference in the cost of living. For example, supporting a life in any urban landscape is a much more demanding job than it is in a rural locale where expenses on essentials are not much high either. Finally, the fast, furious and unconcerned life of the urban landscape is putting the rural folk in great troubles.  

When it comes to their hosts, there is a different set of headaches. The primary thing is they are increasingly losing their peace in the sense that they happen to find great many strangers around them. For example, the presence of alien people might raise their mercury of insecurity, especially for the oldies and small children. Coupled with this is the constant defacing of urban landscapes. Slums, makeshift dwellings and their littered premises are eyesores for any urbanite. The pressure on essential supplies is yet another nag. Water, power, cooking gas, sanitation services and the like are getting scarce for all.

In short, since migration is the order of the day, both the parties cannot ignore the fact that they are benefitted each other in countless others ways. These benefits come at a cost, in the form or problems. They are expected to learn to live with them.

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28.2.15 4 30 am