The researchers and scholars have noted that male migration from Bihar had been on rise and they include the graduates who move to other States to eke out a living.

These findings were projected in a research paper by Debolina Kundu, an associate professor at the National Institute of Urban Affairs at the silver jubilee celebrations of ADRI here on Monday. Analysing the migration patterns in urban Bihar and India, Kundu, stated that the number of adult male migrants in urban areas of Bihar has increased from 17 per cent in 1999-2000 to 26 per cent in 2007-2008 whereas a decline of 1 per cent (from 32 per cent to 31 per cent) happened nationally in the corresponding period. During the same period, the share of adult female migrants increased from 55-58% in India and 48-68% in Bihar.

Illiteracy is higher among non-migrant male in India and particularly in Bihar, she observed and added correspondingly, the share of graduates, and above is significantly higher among male migrants as compared to non-migrants in Bihar.

She observed that all urban migration trends in Bihar showed a decrease from 29.6 per cent to 27.8 per cent with respect to Scheduled tribes, but otherwise the trends showed an increase- 25.8 per cent to 38.9 per cent (SC), 31.5 per cent to 43 per cent (OBC) while the ‘Others’ category registered an increase from 35.1 per cent to 55.5 per cent.

Kundu also said the employment was the dominant reason for out-migration of men, especially from rural areas. “Share of urban migrants for education from Bihar is higher than other States. Irrespective of rural and urban status, marriage is the predominant factor in the migration of women across India. The share of migrants from Bihar is high in Delhi (18.3 per cent) followed by Jharkhand (18.2 per cent), Dadra & Nagar Haveli (15.6 per cent), West Bengal (11.8 per cent) and Haryana (11 per cent). Biharis migrate across India including Arunachal Pradesh, Punjab, Sikkim, Chhattisgarh Uttarakhand and Chandigarh,” she observed.