Rural-Urban Migration: Case Study of Empty Houses in Bhutan

Running head: RESEARCH PAPER
Rural-Urban Migration: Case Study of the empty houses in Bhutan
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Acknowledgement
Thank you to all of those who have helped listened and encouraged me throughout this study. I
am indebted to my supervisor ......................... whose guidance, advice and patience have
been immeasurable. My sincere thanks to all members of the............... [Mention your
university/college name], both staff and students, whose continuous support have made this
thesis possible.
I would like to thank all of the participants in the study: students, teachers and Local Education
Authorities, for the time and help given throughout. Without their participation, this research
would not have been possible. In this context, I am also thankful to them, whose research work
helped me to execute this paper well.
Finally, I thank my family, without whom this thesis would not have been started or completed!
Your encouragement and support have never faltered; thank you.

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Abstract
Bhutan is a small independent country located within the region of Southeast Asia. A recent
trend that is noticeable not only in Bhutan but all over the world is the increasing level of
migration from the urban to the rural areas. This has become more visible after the period of
globalization. The aspect of globalization opened up the borders of the different territories of the
world to each other and ensured the easy flow of people from one nation state to that of another
country. This aspect of migration is not only inter-state, but it is also occurring in a high scale
within the territorial boundary of a state itself. As a result of this migration from the rural areas
to the advanced urban areas, an emerging problem has been noticed, particularly within the
context of Bhutan where the houses in the villages are abandoned by the people and therefore,
are left empty. There are many reasons for the rise in this concerning issues and consequently, it
has its implications for the region of Bhutan as a whole. The overall aim of the research is to
analyze the issue of the increase in the number of empty houses in Bhutan and for this purpose,
the various causes of the issue and its implication for the people of Bhutan will be looked in to a
greater detail in this research study. This has been looked at in a great detail and analysed
accordingly in this research study.

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................5
1.0 Background of the Study.......................................................................................................5
1.1 Aim of the Research..............................................................................................................6
1.2 Research Objectives...............................................................................................................6
1.3 Research Approach................................................................................................................6
1.4 Structure.................................................................................................................................7
1.5 Research Methodology..........................................................................................................8
1.6 Summary..............................................................................................................................13
Chapter 2: Literature Review.........................................................................................................14
2.0 Summary..............................................................................................................................14
2.1 Theme 1: Reasons for empty houses in Bhutan...................................................................14
2.2 Theme 2: Issue of empty houses in Bhutan and how it has impacted the government of
Bhutan and its society................................................................................................................16
2.3 Theme 3: Impact of the problem of rising empty houses on the local communities of
Bhutan........................................................................................................................................19
2.4 Theme 4: Recommendation provided to reduce the number of empty houses in the region
of Bhutan...................................................................................................................................21
2.5 Summary..............................................................................................................................22
Chapter 3: Case study: The impact of empty houses on the government and society of Bhutan..23

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3.0 Overview..............................................................................................................................23
3.1: The reason for the occurrence of empty houses in Bhutan.................................................23
3.2 Impact of empty houses on the government and society of Bhutan....................................25
3.3 Summary..............................................................................................................................27
Chapter 4: Conclusion and Recommendation...............................................................................28
4.0 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................28
4.1 Linking with Objectives......................................................................................................28
4.2 Recommendation.................................................................................................................28
4.3 Future Scope of Research....................................................................................................28
References:....................................................................................................................................29

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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.0 Background of the Study
Bhutan is a small independent country located within the region of Southeast Asia (Hutt,
2017). It is a landlocked country in the sense that it s surrounded by India in the South, China
and Tibet in the North and Nepal to the west. The country of Bhutan is known for its concern
over the aspect of happiness of the people in the sense that it measures the Gross Domestic
Happiness of its population to understand if its citizens are satisfied with the actions and policies
of the government and with the society (Sithey, Thow, and Li, 2015). Bhutan has been been
colonized during the period of colonization and has always tried to maintain a friendly relation
with all of its neighbouring powers (Ansari, 2017). The official religion of the country is that of
Buddhism and it is currently under the rule of the House of Wangchuk.
A recent trend that is noticeable not only in Bhutan but all over the world is the increasing
level of migration from the urban to the rural areas. This has become more visible after the
period of globalization (Kaivan, and Rosenzweig, 2016). The aspect of globalization opened up
the borders of the different territories of the world to each other and ensured the easy flow of
people from one nation state to that of another country. This aspect of migration is not only inter-
state, but it is also occurring in a high scale within the territorial boundary of a state itself (Ueda,
2016). In other words, an increasing trend of migration is noticeable in terms of rural to urban
migration where the people in the villages or the countryside are migrating to the advanced urban
areas in search of better opportunities for education (Tacoli, McGranahan and Satterthwaite,
2015). This in turn, would help to ensure a better growth in career which aids in maintaining a
decent standard of living. As a result of this migration from the rural areas to the advanced urban
areas, an emerging problem has been noticed, particularly within the context of Bhutan where the

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houses in the villages are abandoned by the people and therefore, are left empty (Chand, 2017).
There are many reasons for the rise in this concerning issues and consequently, it has its
implications for the region of Bhutan as a whole (Lagakos, Mobarak, and Waugh, 2018).The
purpose of this paper is to analyze this issue in a greater detail.
1.1 Aim of the Research
The overall aim of the research is to analyze the issue of the increase in the number of empty
houses in Bhutan and for this purpose, the various causes of the issue and its implication for the
people of Bhutan will be looked in to a greater detail in this research study.
1.2 Research Objectives
The objectives of the research are as follows -
1. To analyze the issue of the rise in the number of empty houses in Bhutan.
2. To identify the various reasons for the occurrence of the issue of the rise in the number of
empty houses in Bhutan.
3. To examine the consequences of the presence of empty houses in Bhutan, both for the
government of Bhutan and of the people of the state.
4. To provide certain recommendations to help solve this issue of the rise in the number of empty
houses in Bhutan.
1.3 Research Approach
For the effective understanding of the aim of the research, the method of literature review
shall be followed in this research study. The method of literature review shall first be used in
order to understand the presence and the extent of the issue of the rise in the number of empty

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houses in Bhutan. For this, extensive use of newspaper articles and other sources of media shall
be utilized where cases pertaining to this issue has been reported in the media. After garnering a
clear insight in to this concerning issue, various articles, journals and books shall be consulted in
order to analyze the various reasons for the occurrence of this unique event within the context of
Bhutan. The information gathered with the aid of such sources of literature shall be examined in
a subjective manner with the help of thematic analysis whereby the reasons shall be looked in to
from a qualitative perspective. Moreover, the various sources of literature will also enable the
researcher to understand the implications of the rise in the number of empty houses in Bhutan for
the government of Bhutan and for the people of the country. Thus, the literature review shall
prove to be beneficial to synthesize and collate all the existing information pertaining to the issue
and enable the researcher to identify any particular gaps in such studies which this research study
can help to address in an effective manner.
1.4 Structure
Chapter two shall look in to the meaning of empty houses and discuss about its presence
within the territorial boundary of Bhutan. For this purpose, this chapter shall also look in to the
extent of prevalence of the number of empty houses within Bhutan.
Chapter three will analyze the various causes for the occurrence in the rise in the number of
empty houses in Bhutan. In this respect, the chapter will analyse the various sources of literature
where relevant information is there pertaining to the issue of empty houses.
Chapter four will reflect on the data gathered from the previous chapters and shall synthesize
this knowledge in order to analyse the findings and reach a conclusion. For this purpose, the
chapter shall examine the implication of the presence of empty houses in Bhutan on the