Abstract: To find out the reasons for migration in the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh a study was conducted. The data was collected through a self-design questionnaire, from migrants, of Malwa region. Three districts of the Malwa region - Ratlam, Mandsaur, and Neemuch were selected. From each of the three districts around 85 respondents were selected, thus, a sample of 250 respondents was collected. For the maximum number of respondents, the reason for migration was a lack of job opportunities at the place from where they have migrated or in search of better jobs elsewhere. The top five reasons for migration were migration due to lack of job opportunities, in search for better jobs, availability of better services and facilities at the migrated place, better business opportunities at the migrated place, and migration due to poverty, i.e., migrants were unable to meet their basic need at the place they were living before migration. The reasons given for migration were later classified into push and pull factors and a test was applied to know which factor is more significant for migration. The test result showed that pull factors were more significant for migration as compared to push factors. This result indicates that better job opportunities, better business opportunities, availability of better services, better facilities of education, good climatic conditions, etc. attracted migrants towards the migrated place as compared to conditions due to which people were compelled to migrate.

Keywords: Migration, Push Factor, Pull Factor, MGNREGA, Malwa Region.