Internal Migration Induced Urban Sprawling in Imphal, Manipur, India and Its Sustainability

Subrata Purkayastha, North-Eastern Hill University (Nehu)
Laishram Amitraraj Singh, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong

Internal migration in general and rural-urban migration in particular comes within the domain of interest of geographers as it is impacting the socio-economic, demographic and spatial landscape of especially developing economies like India . Population induced urban growth is not only changing the land use types but resulting to urban sprawl. This haphazard urban growth chokes the existing urban infrastructure impacting both the physical and social environment, hence the question arises how far this growth is sustainable. It is in this context that Imphal the primate city of Manipur located in a valley supporting more than 60% of the total population of the state and accounting for only 10 % of the geographical area manifests a predominant one directional internal migration into this city from the surrounding hills changing the Landuse landcover (LULC) of Imphal and its suburbs. The present paper aims at analyzing the trend and volume of internal migration into Imphal, the LULC changes from 1990 onwards, associated urban sprawl and its level of sustainability. The findings of this paper suggest the significant impact of the internal migration in changing the urban dynamics which are not totally in line with sustainability.

Keywords: Internal Migration and Urbanization

See extended abstract.