Spatial patterns and trends of internal migration in Kashmir: A study of rural-urban continuum

Intellectuals on the demography of Kashmir have focused largely on trends in fertility, mortality, and international migration. But little attention has been paid to spatial patterns and trends in internal migration, despite its strong influence on population change at the regional and local levels of Kashmir. The continuous flows from rural areas have led to the tremendous increase in urban population with strong Backwash effects on one region and weak Spread effects on the other. The present paper is an attempt to understand the pace of how fast cities are growing and rural areas are shrinking in Kashmir. Prior studies have focused mostly on net migration at the state level and in some instances case studies for particular regions or communities particularly Kashmiri Pandits have been given due consideration. The recent shift from sub-urbanization to re-urbanization that has been noted in other states of Indian has not yet been studied comprehensively in the Kashmir context. This paper adopts a spatially explicit approach to the study of migration flows between Kashmiri's cities, tribes and rural areas. The main focus of the present paper is to explore the trends of internal migration along the rural-urban continuum and to understand the trends of intra-district and inter-district migration. The research paper is based on primary observations and secondary sources of data including books, journals, periodicals, official records and internet sources as well.