UPSC DAW Mains Answer Writing 2025 23rd August

UPSC DAW Mains Answer Writing 2025 23rd August

Question

Migration has been one of the major sources of global progress and advancement across generations. Explain how migration fosters development, while also posing socio-political challenges. (15 marks, 250 words) 

Model Answer

Introduction:  

  • Globalisation has intensified flows of people, ideas, capital and culture. In India, migration, both internal and international, is a key driver and consequence of this process. The PLFS ‘Migration in India, 2020-21’ finds an all-India migration rate of 28.9% (male 10.7%; female 47.9%), highlighting the scale at which Indian society is being reshaped by mobility. 

 Migration Fostering  Development:  

  • Labour mobility and economic integration: 

  • Economic Survey 2016–17 estimated around 9 million people migrate annually inter-state for work. 

  • Globalisation has created demand hubs (construction, textiles, IT services) attracting migrants from rural to urban India. 

  • Remittances & economic resilience: 

  • The Indian diaspora contributes to technology, trade and diplomacy. The remittances sent back home by Indians working abroad have registered a 14 per cent rise in the financial year 2024-25 to a record 135.46 billion dollars, according to data compiled by the RBI. 

  • Urbanisation & global city growth: 

  • Migrants fuel India’s urbanisation, especially in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru. Thus, making them globalised cities. 

  • World Development Report 2023 notes migrants enhance productivity by filling skill mismatches. 

  • Diaspora diplomacy: 

  • Over 32 million Indians are abroad and are critical to India’s global standing, investments, and cultural soft power. 

  • Economic Development: 

  • Migrants support labour-intensive industries (construction, agriculture, domestic work). 

  • E.g. A 1 percentage point increase in the inflow of immigrants relative to total employment increases output by almost 1 percent by the fifth year. 

  • Innovation & Knowledge Economy: 

  • High-skill migrants in IT/medicine abroad create reverse flows of capital and technology.  

  • E.g., Silicon Valley Indians in AI/tech industry. 

 Socio-Political Challenges of Migration: 

  • Exclusion & Precarity: 

  • Migrant workers often lack contracts or safety nets. There are being addressed under Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020. 

  • COVID-19 crisis showed vulnerability where Supreme Court in 2021, through the In Re: Problems and Miseries of Migrant Workers ordered States to ensure food & transport. 

  • Identity politics & discrimination: 

  • Migrants sometimes labelled ‘outsiders’, as evident from the recent attacks on North Indian migrants (2025) in Bengaluru illustrate growing xenophobia. 

  • Urban stress & housing insecurity: 

  • In all major Indian cities, the migrant workers mostly live in sprawling slums; Census 2011 Slum Data confirms rising housing stress. 

  • Affordable Rental Housing Complexes aims to provide affordable rentals for urban migrants. 

  • Voting rights & political invisibility: 

  • Migrants often excluded from electoral rolls due to mobility. ECI reforms (2021–23) introduced four qualifying dates and improved Summary Revisions, but portable voting is still absent. 

 Conclusion:  

  • Migration has been a bedrock of global progress and remains central to India’s growth story in the era of globalisation. While it enriches diversity and fosters development, it also brings socio-political tensions around identity, exclusion, and welfare access. To truly harness migration’s potential, India must transform migration into a force of inclusive development, which will be true to the constitutional vision of unity in diversity.