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India's first energy exodus
Down To Earth
|May 01, 2026
INDIA'S URBANISATION is one of history’s largest rural-to-urban migration stories.
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Every third Indian is an internal migrant, as per the 2011 Census. And this is an informal India that prefers to remain out of sight. Six years ago, at this time, it became visible, as workers fled cities and towns as the COVID-19-induced lockdown lingered. It was a brutal sentence for the workforce. Many likened the reverse migration to India’s partition in 1947, subconsciously accepting the binary narrative of “us” and “them”. By 2030, India’s urban population will be 630 million; a significant share of it will be the “migrants”. Migration from rural to urban areas will continue, both as a sustenance and distress adaptation.
This story is from the May 01, 2026 edition of Down To Earth.
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