Understanding Migration: Decision-Making Activity: India Labor Migration

Section 4 is based around an advocate/decision-making activity, or "controlled debate." Instructions and worksheets are included, along with a series of case studies designed to be used in this activity. Each case study includes two pages of essential reading, along with supplemental materials that can be used, if time allows, or can be assigned as homework. We have made a conscious effort to use as many primary document sources as possible in order to help build critical reading and interpretation skills. Case Study: Should people in India move from rural areas to the city to find work? Like other parts of South Asia, India is experiencing an explosion of rural-to-urban migration. Pressures on agricultural land and the hope for a better life are motivating the rural poor to seek employment in the country's sprawling cities. Many rural households now have members who have migrated to cities for work and these urban migrants often contribute the majority of the household's income. Students will read primary source documents to defend their position in the Advocate/Decision-Making Activity.