Volume : 5 | Issue : 6 | June 2016 ISSN - 2250-1991 | IF : 5.215 | IC Value : 77.65 63 | PARIPEX - INDIAN JOURNAL OF RESEARCH Research Paper Spatial Variation of Intra-District and Inter- District Pattern of Out-Migration in Sikkim, India *Manoj Debnath Research Scholar, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, India * Corresponding author Sheuli Ray Research Scholar, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, India Geography KEYWORDS Out-Migration, Intra-District Out-Migration, Inter-District Out-Migration, Loss and Gain Migra- tion ABSTRACT Migration is a socio-economic phenomenon.There are various problems observed in the study area. Migration is the third component of population change, while two other important components of population change are of fertility and mortality. The area has no enough resource to enhance the industrial growth. Most of the parts of the state are covered by mountain region and there is a little space for agriculture. So in this area industrial activity is not suitable. In Sikkim, North district faced high rate of Out-migration Because of extreme climatic and physiographic factors. Among the four districts of the state East Sikkim district faced lowest out-migration, highest in Migration and highest net migration compare to other districts.Those people who live in rural areas more likely face a higher risk of poverty and lower incomes compared with urban areas. That’s why, a large number of rural people of Sikkim are migrating from these areas for their sustenance. Introduction Migration is mainly occurred from those places which have lack of job opportunities, extreme climate, rugged ter- rain, under developed in agriculture etc. Sikkim is a small hilly state in North-East. Most of the part of this state is covered with mountains. Especially North Sikkim faced extreme climatic condition over the year. The problems of this area are associated with rugged terrain, road in- accessibility and interrupt growth of settlements. Oberai and Singh (1980) discussed that the main causes of out migration are employment or improvement of income and education. Nath and Choudhury (1995) said that male migration (age group 15-25) rate is greater from rural to urban areas due to educational and employment oppor- tunities.Out-migration is greater in the poorly developed agricultural areas and particularly high amongst the land- less farmers (Parganiha, et.al; 2009). In Sikkim East Sikkim recorded high rate of intra-district out-migration and low rate of inter-district out-migration. East Sikkim has great job opportunity in tourism sector, economic sector, infor- mal sector as well as transport sectors than other districts of the state. Objectives: 1. Here following objectives have been undertaken for the study: 2. To identify Inter and Intra-district out-migration inSikkim and 3. To analyse the reasons for out-migration. Choice of the study area: For the purpose of the present study, Sikkim is taken as the study area. Sikkim is a small hilly state in north-east India. The state is bounded by Tibet in the north; Bhutan in the east; West Bengal in the south; and Nepal in the west. Sikkim lies between 87° 59’ E to 88° 56’ E longitude and 27°5’N to 28°9› N latitude.Sikkim has four districts in 2001. North Sikkim consists with two subdivisions i.e. Chungthang and Mangan. East district consists with three subdivisions i.e. Gangtok, Pakyong and Rongli; South and West districts are also has two subdivision. Most of the people of this state live in rural areas (75.03%, 2011 cen- sus). Fig 1: Showing Location of the Study area Data base and Methodology: For theAnalysis ofintra and inter district pattern of out-migra- tionin Sikkimis based on secondary data. Secondary data has been collected from different sources like census of India, Migration Table (D series, 2001). District wise information on migration data and the related aspects are collected from census of India. The study is based on both descriptive and analytical in nature. The district is taken as the basic unit of the study. Sikkim has four districts. This number is good for spatial analysis of migration load in Sikkim.For the analysis of variation of intra and inter district pattern of out-migration in Sikkimdifferent data representation method like diagrams, bar graphs and maps showing spatial variation with chorop- leth technique has used with the help of GIS software. Result and Discussion: Intra-District out-migration patterns: People born in the district but enumerated elsewhere in some other district of the state are the emigrants or out-mi- grants. Intra-district out-migration rate is defined as the proportion of total out-migrants in the given district to to- tal population of this district during the specific period of time. Intra-district rural out-migrants are those persons who are migrating from rural area to other rural or urban areas within the district. Intra-District out migration is shifting of population from rural areas to the cities or other rural areas either willingly or forcefully for the betterment of their life style. Parganiha et.al; (2009) pointed that out-migration is greater in the poorly developed agricultural areas and par- ticularly high among the landless farmers.Most of the rural male persons are migrating far from their village and most