Mumbai, migration and population

One issue that’s getting continuous attention in Mumbai – apart from reservations – is its crumbling infrastructure and the need to build better and better systems to cope up with it. One of the main causes for all the infrastructure and population problems in Mumbai, and for that matter Delhi, is migration. It’s not only migration from smaller places in Maharashtra but since the states around Maharashtra are poor, lots of people find livelihood in Mumbai. Of course, most of them end-up staying in shanties alongside roads and under bridges, but looking at the population growth in Mumbai, one could safely conclude the conditions here in Mumbai, which is bad, is better than the states from which they migrate from. After reading the news clip yesterday that commented on how major roads can be widened, I was immediately reminded of another news clip about the population growth rate that I read some 3 days back. From "Population grows North"

At 0.96 per cent and 0.91 per cent Tamil Nadu and Kerala, for instance, have recorded population growth well below the national average of 1.6 per cent. In sharp contrast for the northern States such as Bihar, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh the rate was 2.2 per cent with Madhya Pradesh a shade better at 2.06 per cent.

This forebodes are far reaching problem. Even with the booming economy, the growth has been out of reach for a whole lot of people in the BIMARU states and hence hordes of them opt to migrate into richer cities. And the upper half of the country has few options – such as Delhi and Mumbai. With population growing in these states, the migration doesn’t seem to be stopping anywhere in the near future. Unless the conditions in these states improve, migration would continue. Net-net, I don’t think we’d be very better off with new flyovers and widened roads since there is always a good bunch of people who are waiting to get in.

The other front running cities in the country – Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad etc – are heavily insulated against this migration due to two reasons – distance from these states, and more importantly, language problems. With population saturating in these states and the limited problems of migration, I think the quality of the living would certainly get better and better in these cities – and we do see some glimpses right away. On the other hand, cities like Mumbai and Delhi have to accommodate the migrating population from neighboring states.

The only real long-term solution to Mumbai seems to be the overall, not regional, betterment of the country – including the states like Bihar, MP and UP. Before I close, I too realize how this post has become a 'economic analysis' kind of one. I certainly didn't plan to write it this way, but then, I guess that's what you end up doing if you really let your thoughts fly. Long live blogdom!