The asymmetry in migration numbers into Bengaluru- both from Karnataka and the rest of India shows uneveness o... Read More

The population of Bengaluru, as per the 2011 census was 96.2 lakh people. Of these, a staggering 44.3 lakh people are classified as migrants, based on migration data recently released by the Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner.

Almost half the people living in the state capital are migrants – a whopping 50.6% . (As per the census figures, the population of Bengaluru – both urban and rural is 96,21,551. For the purposes of this story, we have considered only Bengaluru’s urban population – 87,49,944) The number of migrants more than doubled since the previous census – when the city had a migrant population of 20.8 lakh out of a total population of 65,37,124 people. The share of migrants in Bengaluru at that time was 31.9%. The 44.3 lakh people migrating into the city is almost double (175.8%) the number of people who have migrated out of Karnataka: 25 lakh.

Internal and External

The largest share of migrants to the city are from other places in Karnataka. These take up 64% of the city’s migrants. Of the migrants from other states, migrants from Tamil Nadu take up the largest share. There were, as per census figures, 5.2 lakh migrants from TN, 30% of whom had come to the city for work.

Unsurprisingly, most of the migrants into Bengaluru were from the neighbouring Southern states. Unified Andhra Pradesh (Telangana did not exist at the time) had the next highest number of migrants: 3.6 lakh, 34% of them here on work. There were 1.7 lakh people from Kerala in the city at the time of the census.

Of the 44.3 lakh migrants in Bengaluru, 3.6 lakh were from the scheduled castes. 19% of them were here to work, 16% were here because they were married to people who lived here. Most (92% of the latter were women. In contrast, there were far fewer migrants from scheduled tribes – 88,405 – in 2011. 27% of them were here on work.

Bengaluru has the reputation of being one of India’s most cosmopolitan cities. It’s not surprising, given that the city was initially a hub for the public sector – and later tech and IT were responsible for significant levels of migration into the city. In fact, work and marriage were among the biggest reasons for people moving into namma Bengaluru.

But looking at the migrants from outside the state, there are a few surprises. The next highest number of migrants, apart from the three neighbouring states, comes from Rajasthan. The 2011 census notes that there were 82,468 people from Rajasthan living in the city – a number that had almost doubled from the previous census in 2001, when there were 41,395 Rajasthanis in Bengaluru. Again, most of them were in the city on work, but around 10% (9.7%) were here doing business. Rajasthanis were the most businessoriented of migrants from other states into Bengaluru.

In terms of states with the fastestgrowing numbers in Bengaluru, the 2011 census data shows that migrants from Jharkand, Tripura and Manipur recorded the highest growth.

More than anything, what the census demonstrates is the huge imbalance in Karnataka’s urban development. The number of migrants into Bengaluru dwarfs the entire populations of every other city in Karnataka – in fact – it is greater than the sum of the populations of Mysuru, Mangaluru, Hassan, Dharwad and Bellary combined.

Other Towns, Other Trends

The smaller cities and towns have seen migrant growth, too, with Gulbarga and Chitradurga seeing the highest year-on-year growth between 2001 and 2011, at 18% and 10% respectively. But in their case, most migration was from within the state. In fact, most of Karnataka’s cities have more than 50% of their population made up of migrants, but by and large, migrants from within the state make up more than 90% of migrants in the smaller cities and towns.

Mysuru, for example, has a migrant population of 48% as per census data. Of its population of 9.2 lakh, 4.5 lakh people claim to be migrants. But 90% of that number are migrants from other parts of Karnataka, and only 10% come from other states. Of the smaller towns, only Ballari and Mangaluru have a significant percentage of out-ofstate migrants. Ballari with 34% of its migrants coming from outside Karnataka, and Mangaluru with 29%. Given its proximity to the Andhra border, it’s not surprising that 30% of Ballari’s migrants come from our Telugu-speaking neighbours. In Mangaluru’s case, a significant population of people from Kerala make up a large chunk of its migrant population.

The port city also has the highest percentage of people migrating for education – 8% of it’s migrant population moved to Mangaluru to study. Other cities attractive to students in the state are Shivamogga and Chikkamagaluru. Mysuru has the maximum absolute numbers of student migrants, but they constitute only 4.6% of its migrant population. Mangaluru has the next highest number – 16, 726, and they make up 8% of the city’s migrant numbers. Of this number, the highest number of students were from other parts of Karnataka, followed by Kerala. At third place were foreigners - students from “Countries in Asia beyond India”.

Surprisingly, Davanagere, despite being known as a centre for learning, saw a meagre 6,717 student migrants, just about 3% of the city’s migrant population.

After Mysuru, the twin cities of Hubli-Dharwad had the most migrants: 3,74,230. Here, apart from a majority of internal migrants, there were significant populations of people from Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan. In most cases, migrants from these states were here because of marriage – 29%, 28% and 19% respectively.

(This is the first part of an ongoing series looking at trends in migration, in and out of Karnataka)

