Migration is as old as human history. The massive movement of population in modern times has wide social, economic, political, demographic and economic implications. The unskilled labour migrate from their native to destination do not expect a very high economic gain as in the case of skilled workers or highly educated persons. The basic need of unskilled workers is primarily for a continuous work throughout the year. The migration of this type is considered as migration from underdeveloped region to developed region or backward region to forward region. Alang ship breaking is known as world’s largest ship breaking yard, which employs 30,000 labours directly, and 1.5 to 1.6 lakh labours indirectly in downstream and upstream industries. In Alang ship breaking yard majority of the labourers are migrated from different states of the country viz, U.P., Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand and Gujarat. There are various factors associated with the migration of labour from their place of origin to Alang ship breaking yard. The aim of this paper is to focus on the process of migration of labour to Alang ship breaking yard and also on the differentials and determinants of migration. This paper also tries to identify the factors influencing out-migration of the rural poor labour.

KEYWORDS: Migration, Ship breaking, employment, India.