Migration to cities

The Dhaka city is experiencing all the odds as the fallouts from rapid migration from rural to urban areas. The ones coming to Dhaka are very largely from the poorest segments of the population. The come to Dhaka desperately in search of a livelihood. The destitution of these people may have been natural calamities, progressive loss of earning opportunities or jobs in rural areas, river erosion, etc. They come to Dhaka practically without any assets and take shelter in pavements. Later, on finding ways of income, they switch to shanties which are unsuitable for decent habitation with hardly any sanitation and utility services. About 40 per cent or more of the population of Dhaka city and its adjoining areas, according to an estimate, are presently living in these shanties as they cannot afford better accommodation. In this backdrop, the discussants at a recently held seminar in Dhaka have focused on how the rural people are streaming into the major cities of the country. Though no breakdown of the number coming to different cities was given there at the seminar, it can be safely assumed that the highest number are coming to Dhaka city adding to its overburdened conditions. The highlight of the seminar was that at the current rate of migration to cities, the urban population of the country would rise to some half of the total population by 2040. Presently, a little over ten per cent of the people have an existence in the urban areas. Such a situation does make it amply clear the way the shanties in Dhaka city are increasing in number and size day by day. If the current trend of migration from the rural areas continues, as indicated in the seminar, then Dhaka would indeed be the most populous city in the world by 2040 or three decades from now. But it would be also a great reservoir of poor people who would be adding to its squalor, social tensions and crimes. Understandably, urbanization leads to some kind of subsistence for the migrants as they take up all kinds of menial jobs in the cites. But even the demand for such jobs can decrease sooner rather than later. Already, this phenomenon is affecting a considerable number of the urban poor who are getting more and more radicalized in their temperament and attitude and getting hooked to vices and crimes while justifying the same as the means to subsistence. The polarization of metropolitan Dhaka between the haves and the have-nots is already quite sharp. Further sharpening of this polarization cannot augur well for the peaceful and harmonious coexistence of people in this city. Urbanization is an universal phenomenon. It is occurring at a faster rate than ever before, in almost all places on earth. Urbanization can be also a lift-up process for the migrants in different ways. But it is also important that its rate should be at a bearable level compared to the absorbing capacities of the urban areas. More important is controlling migration so that the urban areas can grow in a planned manner. The urbanisation picture in Bangladesh presents a spectacle of utmost chaos and potential for future dangers. Thus, it is imperative to slow down the headlong rush to the cities. The greatest single reason for the too rapid pace of migration to cities in Bangladesh is the lack of income opportunities in the rural areas. Only planned activities to set up local growth centres away from the cities that would increase occupational opportunities for the potential migrants at their points of origin, will play a part in putting some brake on the rural migration. The government, as the reports indicate, is headed to set up seven special economic zones in each of the seven administrative divisions of the country. This is a good move. It needs to be bolstered further by regional programmes of 'assisted areas' under which a policy framework would support industrialisation away from the main cities through a string of fiscal and other policy supports. As entrepreneurs are tempted to enjoy such facilities, they would be more and more interested to set up their enterprise in these non-urban areas generating new employment in the same.