Department of Economics, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana—141 004, Punjab
The study has brought out that the major factor which motivated the migrant vegetable sellers to come to the state of Punjab was the economic distress faced by these persons at their native places. The study has revealed that 49 per cent of the respondents had come from Uttar Pradesh and 45 per cent from Bihar. It has been found that 84 per cent of the respondents were educated. The majority of the respondents (64%) had come to Punjab after 1990 and 30 per cent after 2000. There were only five per cent respondents who had come before 1990. Only one respondent in the sample had come to Punjab before 1980. The study has revealed that 64 per cent of the respondents belonged to the lower castes, i.e. 54 per cent were scheduled castes and 10 per cent belonged to the backward castes.
In the study, the average net income of the respondents has been found to be Rs 47040 in the year 2004–05. It has been observed that earnings of the migrant vegetable sellers are not very high but they are better off than their counterparts who are doing physical labour like construction workers, agricultural laboures, rickshaw pullers, etc. and unskilled industrial workers, shop attendants, etc.
