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NepalCircular Migration
Circular migrants, both internal and external, were
classified
as absentee population in the 1981 census. The major
difference
between the two groups was that the internal absentee
population
generally consisted of short-term or seasonal migrants.
Such
migrants left the hills in search of temporary jobs in
nearby towns
or at construction sites and generally returned to their
villages
after the winter season to resume farming. On the other
hand, the
external absentee population was largely composed of
long-term
migrants. In the cases of both types, most migrants were
adult
males although some husbands periodically took their wives
with
them after they were well established in their jobs.
The volume of circular migration, or absentee
population, has
been rising. In the mid-1950s, such migration totaled
almost
217,000 persons, most coming from the hills. More than 90
percent,
or more than 198,000 people, were external migrants; the
vast
majority went to India. In 1981 the absentee population
totaled
almost 591,000 people. Of these, 188,000 people, or 32
percent,
were internal migrants, and approximately 403,000 people,
or 68
percent, were external migrants. Even though the
percentage of
external migrants in the total absentee population had
declined
from 90 percent in the mid-1950s to 68 percent in 1981,
their
absolute number had increased by 205,000 people. Whereas
the
increasing number of absentee population from the hills
was an
unmistakable indicator of the region's deteriorating
economic and
environmental conditions, the decreasing percentage of
external
migration in the total volume was largely the result of
the
emergence of the Tarai as an alternative, internal
destination.
The vast majority of migrants came from the Hill and
Mountain
regions. Together, they made up 141,200 (85 percent) of
the total
of internal migrants and about 365,000 (91 percent) of
total
external migrants. Unlike in the Hill and Mountain
regions, the
majority of the Tarai's 82,650 absentees were found within
the
country.
An analysis of reasons for absence from home revealed
quite a
contrast between lifetime internal migration and circular
migration. Service, which included a variety of jobs,
surfaced as
the most dominant reason for being absent from home in
both
internal and external cases of circular migration. On the
average,
64 percent of external migrants mentioned service as their
reason
for migration, the highest rate being posted by the Hill
migrants;
28 percent gave no reasons, or other reasons (see
table 6,
Appendix).
Data as of September 1991
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