In 21st century, we are all on the move. Migration has become a household phenomenon in a globalized world. People migrate in all the directions and at all the levels. Whether it is from city to city, state to state or nation to nation, there is swift movement taking place in all the categories. One of the major catalysts of such a phenomenon is development of fast modes of transportation and communication which have tried to bridge the distance between ‘MatraBhoomi’ and ‘KarmaBhoomi’.But developments in transportation and communication sector have not been able to completely calm down the anxiety which exists in mind of the people whose Karmabhoomi is far away from their Matrabhoomi.

To be very sure, it is very difficult to define MatraBhoomi. However, roughly it can be located as the place where the formative years of one’s life are spent and whose culture has a lasting impression on one’s mind. Indeed, most of the people who are away from their home-place do miss it at one point or another. Some miss their city , some miss their state and some miss their country. On the other hand, it is the Karmabhoomi which not only gives identity to an individual but also gives him an opportunity to fulfill his professional aspirations. KarmaBhoomi plays a major role in establishing an individual and making his life more meaningful.

The contemporary generations are used to distance between Matrabhoomi and Karmabhoomi yet it is many a times source of uneasiness and discomfiture for many people. The social landscape is getting drastically affected by this high mobility in the economic landscape of the world. The first casualty is the joint family system. Joint family system may not find many takers in a contemporary world but it is a very significant social model of providing geriatric care to the older generations. Also, it has an advantage of providing socialization to kids as the percentage of working couples goes up in the economy.

The second casualty is the economic depreciation of wealth generated by the previous generations in their Matrabhoomi. With children migrating to other places, parents who struggle for their whole life to create better life for their children suddenly find that half of their effort was futile.The children move to other places leaving behind what their parents had built throughout their life. Thus, the Matrabhoomi doesn’t get the benefit of compounding the wealth over the generations though it may get some remittances.

While it is not possible to insist on the convergence between KarmaBhoomi and MatraBhoomi but it is definitely possible to reduce the distance between them. This can only be done if all the Matrabhoomis strive to become KarmaBhoomis. The creation of economic activity in areas suffering form ‘push’ migration is an important economic tool to retain people in places nearby their home-place. Pull migration will always be there , however, encouraging entrepreneurship among the pull migrants and explaining them power of compounding over generations can be a game changer.

Someone’s Matrabhoomi is someone else’s Karmabhoomi and vice-versa. Both KarmaBhoomi and Matrabhoomi play an important role in life. However, it is important that the distance between two should not become so large that it takes away the peace of being near to one’s family members. A family as a social institution not only provides emotional support but also provides many other services like education and geriatric care whose replacement by state in a country like India is neither feasible nor possible. Therefore, it is essential that regional imbalances in development are urgently addressed and a comfortable bridge be built between workplace and home-place so that people don’t lose their personal peace in their pursuit of professional aspirations.