Sustainable livelihood through migration in Bihar: A micro analysis

The role of migration has been studied in improving the sustainability of livelihood of migrant households in Bihar, based on the primary data collected by interviewing 50 migrant households of two villages, located in two districts, namely Madhubani and East Champaran. Empowerment index has been worked out to get an idea about the level of women empowerment on migrant households. Analysis of data has revealed that about 51 per cent of income is contributed by the agriculture sector, including agricultural wages by the migrant households. Non-farm income has also emerged as an important source of livelihood, contributing 49 per cent of income generated on the migrant households. While analysing the data on the use of remittances in supporting livelihood, more than one-third of remittances have been allocated to house maintenance (38%), since the villages under study are flood-prone and it is necessary to repair the house atleast every flood-year. Food has been observed as the second important item because these poor households are food insecured. It has been observed that women of migrant households are empowered in taking agricultural and other household decisions, particularly in decision-making during postharvest operations. Livestock enterprise is the second important activity, where women empowerment is seen more pronounced, because livestock are looked after by women, particularly in poor/socially backward households. The study has concluded that the labour migration has helped in improving the sustainability of livelihood in Bihar.