Read the following passage and answer question based on the concept.
Considered from an urban point of view, the rapid growth in urbanization shows that the town or city has been acting as a magnet for the rural population. Those who cannot find work (or sufficient work) in the rural areas go to the city in search of work. This flow of rural-to-urban migration has also been accelerated by the continuous decline of common property resources like ponds, forests and grazing land. These common resources enabled poor people to survive in the villages although they owned little or no land. Now, these resources have been turned into private property, or they are exhausted. (Ponds may run dry and no longer provide enough fish; forests may have been cut down and have vanished. If people no longer have access to these resources, but on the other hand have to buy many things in the market that they used to get free (like fuel, fodder or supplementary food items), then their hardship increases. This hardship is worsened by the fact that opportunities for cash income are limited in the villages.
Decline in common property resources like ponds, forests has led to acceleration of:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Rural to urban migration
Option (1) Rural to rural migration — Incorrect. This is movement from one village to another. The passage speaks of people who leave the villages for the town or city in search of work, not of people moving to other villages.
Option (2) Urban to rural migration — Incorrect. This is the reverse direction, from towns to villages. The loss of ponds, forests and grazing land makes village life harder, so it pushes people out of the villages, not into them.
Option (3) Rural to urban migration — Correct. Common property resources like ponds, forests and grazing lands enabled poor people to survive in the villages even when they owned little or no land. Now these resources have been turned into private property or are exhausted, so the poor have to buy in the market what they once got free, such as fuel and fodder, while chances of earning cash in the village are few. This hardship has accelerated the flow of rural-to-urban migration.
Option (4) Urban to urban migration — Incorrect. This is movement from one town or city to another. Common property resources are a feature of village life, so their decline affects those who live in the villages, not people moving between cities.
NCERT (2025-26): “2.6 Rural-Urban Differences … Considered from an urban point of view, the rapid growth in urbanisation shows that the town or city has been acting as a magnet for the rural population. Those who cannot find work (or sufficient work) in the rural areas go to the city in search of work. This flow of rural-to-urban migration has also been accelerated by the continuous decline of common property resources like ponds, forests and grazing lands. These common resources enabled poor people to survive in the villages although they owned little or no land. Now, these resources have been turned into private property, or they are exhausted (Ponds may run dry or no longer provide enough fish; forests may have been cut down and have vanished…). If people no longer have access to these resources, but on the other hand have to buy many things in the market that they used to get free (like fuel, fodder or supplementary food items), then their hardship increases. This hardship is worsened by the fact that opportunities for earning cash income are limited in the villages.…” |