Deepak Singh
Student of P.G. Diploma in Town Planning
IGNOU, Delhi (India)
Abstract: In the past few years, a large
section of people have shifted from villages to cities in hope of better living
conditions. This however has led to an increase in crime, poverty, lack of
sanitation, traffic jams and many more problems in the cities. Despite facing
these challenges, cities have also developed
into hubs of culture and civilisation. This gas made the cities active and
alive in a different sense. According to an estimate, in 1971 around 20.2
percent of population lived in cities whereas this number rose to 31.16 percent
in 2011. This large rise in city population is primarily due to migration from
villages. Lack of facilities in villages forces people to migrate to cities in
search of a better livelihood which leads to rapid urbanisation.
Keywords: Urbanisation in India
Introduction: Technically, a megacity is a city
with a population of over 10 million inhabitants. In 1950 there was only one
megacity New York. In 1985, there were five and in 2001 this number rose to 15
including Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi from India. As of 2010 there are 25
megacities in which 19 are from developing countries. According to an estimate,
this figure is expected to rise to 36 megacities. This rapid expansion means
more need of resources for residents. Which leads to clearing of wetlands, forests
etc to house the rapid expanding population. This unknowingly decreases the
quality of life in a town. The definition of a town is a complex one as it can
be constructed on the basis of demography or various other factors like
density, quality of life etc. This makes
it necessary to make an efficient urban planning. The definition of a town in
India was the same till the census of 1950-51 but in 1961, a new definition was
brought to use. It has been estimated that in coming years, some small town are
going to grow into big cities also due to rapid population expansion. To cope
up with this situation in India there is a dire need of town planning. Further,
we will discuss the problems and solutions to this rapid urbanisation of India.
Research Methodology: The present
research paper is based on both the primary and secondary sources of data
collection. Most of the research material has been taken from the census data
from 1901-2011, various journals and reference books including some official
websites related to the research problem. However, the research is exploratory
in nature, nevertheless, to pace the study; the researcher has also used some
observational facts.
Research Objectives: This
research paper aims at the following research objectives:
·
To know the
concept of Urbanisation and its various aspects.
·
To
highlight the process and trends of Urbanisation in India.
·
To find out
the problems created by the process of Urbanisation in India.
The Concept of Urbanisation: Generally,
Urbanisation is a process of population transformation from rural areas to
urban areas. According to the definition given by the United
Nations, countries regard all places with more than 20,000 inhabitants living
close together as urban. However, it is not as simple as it looks as nations
compile their statistics on the basis of many different standards. Although,
definitions might vary from nation to nation but many scholars have presented
their own perspective. Louis Wirth (1938:49) has described the four basic
pillars of urbanism. They ways in which urbanisation affects the urban dwellers
are as follows:
·
Transiency:
An urban dweller develops new relations and breaks
previous bonds. Urbanisation affects his social circle.
·
Superficiality:
An urban dweller interacts with very few people and
often his relations with them are formal or informal. People are often inter
dependent on each other for a livelihood and interacts for their own personal
gains.
·
Anonymity:
People living in cities often want more privacy than
those in villages. Village life is more about soviet and social interaction
whereas a city dweller has anonymity and limited social interaction.
·
Individualism:
In cities often a person pays more attention to his
selfish motives. There is not much of communalism.
The Emerging Trends: The villages used to represent a
large section of society in ancient. Even before the green revolution a large
population resided in the villages of India. Then prime minister, Jawahar Lal
Nehru even stated that the future of India lies in its villages. But in the
modern day context, only a few people live in villages. Most of them have
migrated to cities. The present trend is that more and more people are shifting
towards cities and the cities which were earlier known as small cities are now
becoming bigger and overcrowded. However, it is noteworthy here that the growth
of cities does not entirely depend on the migration but is affected by other
factors like political, social and historical reasons. The growth of cities has
also created more opportunities for labour class as construction works stay in
full swing to build new infrastructure for the people coming to towns. The
different town are urbanised due to different reasons. Taking a look at India
scenario the reasons could be many a few of them are listed below:
·
State
Capitals: Cities like Bhopal, Jaipur and Mumbai faced heavy
migration because of being the capitals of their respective state.
·
Political
Importance: Delhi had a
large no. of migrants because it was the national capital and every political
party wanted to establish themselves there. This was one of the many reasons.
·
Military
Importance: Certain cities like Khadagvasla, Ambala etc got more
migrants because they were important centres of military establishment.
·
Industrial
Importance: Cities with industries are the one with most no. of
migrants as industries create more job opportunities and people flock in from
various states in search of job opportunity. Cities like Bhilai, Ludhiana went
through this process in India.
·
Religious
Importance: In India, religion plays a crucial role and hence
cities like Varanasi, Haridwar faced rapid expansion because of these reasons.
·
Educational
Importance: Cities like Kota, Pilani have expanded because many
students migrated to study in the various educational institutions located
there.
To further statistically explain the trends of
urbanisation in India, take a look at the table given below:
Table 1: Urban Population and No. of
Towns
|
S. No.
|
Year
|
Urban Population (in millions)
|
Urban as % of Total Population
|
No. of Towns
|
|
1.
|
1901
|
26
|
11
|
1,627
|
|
2.
|
1951
|
62
|
17.6
|
3,060
|
|
3.
|
1961
|
79
|
18.3
|
2,700
|
|
4.
|
1971
|
109
|
20.2
|
3,126
|
|
5.
|
1981
|
160
|
23.7
|
4,029
|
|
6.
|
1991
|
217
|
25.8
|
4,689
|
|
7.
|
2001
|
285
|
27.8
|
5,166
|
|
8.
|
2011
|
377
|
31.16
|
N.A.
|
(Source: Census of India, 1901-2011)
From the following table, we can
analyse that the urban population was 26 million in 1901 which almost became 14
times to 377 in 2011. This rapid explosion is clearly due to migration cause by
urbanisation. Also, earlier in 1901 only 11 percent of people of India lived in
cities whereas this number reached to 31.16 percent in 2011. So, now a large
section of the India society lives in cities rather than its villages. Not only
number of people in town has increased but the cities which were earlier just
small town have developed into big towns. As we can see in the table the number
of cities in 1901 were 1,627 which increased almost four times that are 5,166
in 2001. This increase in number of towns is clearly because of the increasing
demands of urbanisation. Thus, we have seen that because of urbanisation,
smaller towns are turning into larger cities whereas the cities which were
already large are facing a large migrant population which they have to deal
with.
(Source: http://www.indiaspend.com)
From the following figure which has
statistics of 2008, we can analyse that in five major states, namely Tamil
Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Punjab, had the highest rate of
urbanisation and the highest population in urban areas. Tamil Nadu is tops the
list of urbanisation due to certain factors like better education opportunities
etc. Whereas, Gujarat is close second because of the high rate of
industrialisation in this state. Gujarat is famous in India for trading and
companies like AMUL. Thus the factor of industrial importance as mentioned
above has lead to a high rate of urbanisation in Gujarat. Whereas Bihar is a
state daunted by high corruption and poverty. Thus the rate of urbanisation is
very less. But, it is noteworthy here that this does not mean there is no
migration from Bihar. Migration is taking place from Bihar but the migrants are
flocking to other states. Therefore, there is a complex relation between
migration and urbanisation in India,
Problems of Urbanisation: As we have seen above that
urbanisation puts a lot of pressure on the infrastructure of the cities. It has
its own fair share of problems. Some of the problems created because of
urbanisation are:
·
Increase
in Housing and Slums: It is a huge challenge for the
administration to decrease homelessness in urban cities of India. According to
a report by the U.N.I. one fourth to half of the people in big cities are
forced to live in slums or poor conditions. Half of the Indian population is
forced to live in degraded houses or have to spend 20 percent of their income
on paying rent. Because of the high demands of housing in cities, the landlords
often increase the price of rent and follow unfair trade practices. Hence,
either the housing is very less or the existing one is very costly.
·
Overcrowding:
Lack of housing often forces tenants to live in overcrowded conditions. Many
people are forced to live in small, poor conditioned rooms. Living in
overcrowded conditions affects the physiological conditions of a person .This
often leads to conflicts and fights between the tenants or creates stress,
depression.
·
Drainage
and Sanitation: It is quite well known to all the people living
in cities that there is never 24 hours supply of water in the houses. Due to discontinuous
supply of water, vacuum is developed in the water pipes due to which the
leaking joints in the pipes attract pollutants. This often leads to
contaminated water supply. Also, the sewage pipes have to carry more amount of
waste than the limit because of which often sewage pipes leak and pollute the
area.
·
Traffic
Congestion and Pollution: A large no of people living in cities
often commute using public transport but a major share of people use their own
vehicles. This exceeds the limit of vehicles on roads and people have to often
face long traffic jams which last for hours. People living in cities are very
well aware of long and tedious jams. These traffic jams are huge contributors
to air pollution as the vehicles stranded in jams continuously emit fumes.
Also, large population pollutes the drainage and heavy waste is generated from
cities which pollute the environment. According to an estimate around 40-60
percent of this untreated waste is directly dumped into the rivers thus
polluting them.
·
Heavy
Power Consumption: Cities with their modern machinery
are heavily dependent on electricity. Also, power is needed to meet the demands
of a large population residing in cities. This often leads to long power cuts
and lack of electricity in the urban areas.
Conclusion: To conclude, it can be said that
urbanisation creates a lot of pressure on the existing infrastructure. To deal
with it a few solutions can be suggested. Urban centres need to be developed
and more job opportunities should be created in villages which can stop the
large migration. There is also a need of regional planning along with the city
planning. It is the responsibility of town planning to rise up to the occasion
to deal with rapid urbanisation needs. Industries need to be shifted to
backward areas so that they can be developed instead of putting pressure on the
cities. Privatisation of transportation is necessary as it will increase
competition and improve service at the same time removing the autonomy of trade
unions. There is also a need of rent control act which will help the city
dwellers. Thus, if the management follows the above said suggestions,
urbanisation can be dealt with in an easy way. Urbanisation will therefore
contribute a lot to the progress of India.
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[8].
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