Urbanization their Problems and their Remedies | UPSC – IAS

Urbanization their Problems and their Remedies | UPSC – IAS

(The Nature and Concept of Urbanization)

Urbanization refers to the population shift from rural areas to urban areas, the gradual increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas, and the ways in which each society adapts to this change.

Urbanization is a universal process implying economic development and social change. Urbanization also means, “a breakdown of traditional social institutions and values”. However, . in india, one cannot say that urbanization has resulted in the caste system being transformed into the class system, the joint-family transforming into the nuclear family, and religion becoming secularized.

Two trends are clear regarding urban life:-

1. Dependence upon agriculture for livelihood has steadily decreased; and
2. Population of towns and cities has increased over the years.

Both the trends indicate an increase in the processes of industrialization and urbanization. Towns and cities offer jobs and better amenities, whereas people in villages live a hard life. Due to urbanization, traditional bonds based on religion, caste and family have weakened in the villages. Anonymity, as found in towns, is absent in rural areas.

Structure of towns and cities | UPSC – IAS

Towns: For the Census of india 2011, the definition of urban area is as follows:- All places with a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee, etc.

All other places which satisfied the following criteria:

1. A minimum population of 5,000;
2. At least 75 percent of the male main working population engaged in non-agricultural pursuits; and
3. A density of population of at least 400 persons per sq. km.

The first category of urban units is known as Statutory Towns. These towns are notified under law by the concerned State/UT Government and have local bodies like municipal corporations, municipalities, municipal committees, etc., irrespective of their demographic characteristics as reckoned on 31st December 2009. Examples: Vadodara (M Corp.), Shimla (M Corp.) etc.

The second category of Towns (as in item 2 above) is known as Census Town. These were identified on the basis of Census 2001 data.

Urban Agglomeration in India | UPSC – IAS

Urban Agglomeration (UA) in India: An urban agglomeration is a continuous urban spread constituting a town and its adjoining outgrowths (OGs), or two or more physically contiguous towns together with or without outgrowths of such towns. An Urban Agglomeration must consist of at least a statutory town and its total population (i.e. all the constituents put together) should not be less than 20,000 (as per the 2001 Census)

• In other words – An urban area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. A city is defined as a place having population of 1,00,000 or more.
• The ratio of rural population to urban has not changed drastically ,since 1901; but there is a trend towards its slow decline.Today, cities are overcrowded. They contain many more people than the number for whom they can comfortably provide civic amenities.
• Cities which are state’s capitals have become overburdened. The cities of Delhi, Bengaluru and Jaipur have shown rapid increase in their populations over the past two decades. All towns and cities do not have a uniform pattern of population growth and development

Urbanization in India | UPSC – IAS

The following points have been made about the nature of urbanization in India:

• Whether the nature of urbanization is co-terminus with westernization?
• Can a valid distinction be made between villages and cities?
• Urbanization is seen in relation to social change, hence urbanization is not an independent variable of  social change; and
• Urbanization has brought new forms of social organization and association

Features of Urbanization in India | UPSC – IAS

Students of urban life have identified some dominant features that distinguish life in cities and towns from that in village;

• Ritual and kinship obligations are diluted; caste and community considerations yield to economic logic. This results in secularization of outlook.
• In the urban context the traditional social structure undergoes a process of losing up.
• The quality of human relationships tends to become more formal and impersonal.
• Urbanization leads to greater functional specialization and division of labour.
• Urbanization life is organized around community organizations and voluntary associations.
• Towns have substantial cultural, educational, recreational and religious resources that become institutionalized.
• Urban areas provide impulses for modernization is society as a whole.

Major Problems and Remedies of Urbanization in India | UPSC – IAS

Among the myriad problems of urban India following four problems are usually highlighted:

• Poverty
• Housing ( or the lack of it)
• Civic amenities
• The great cultural void of the poor.

Despite being one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, a significant percentage of Indians still live in poverty. It had a growth rate of 7.11% in 2015, Nearly half the population of India (or 41 per cent, if we lend credence to official statistic) is below the poverty line. Rural India is better able to disguise and handle poverty; urban India cannot do so. Its poverty is growing, particularly which eludes them in the cities. The poverty directly affects the quality of life, particularly in the areas of nutrition, health and education.

Social scientists have not made any concerted studies of the cultures of the pavement dwellers and slum dwellers; all we have are some socio-economic surveys which provide bare but stark statistics. Novelists, short-story writers, and some exceptional film makers, on the other hand, have provided penetrating and incisive insights into their ways of life. There are many simple, hard-working men and women living in the slums, but they also have extortionist dons, bootleggers, and smugglers. They have dens of vice and the flesh trade. These aspects present the ugly face of urban life.

• There are few civic amenities for the poor. Water taps work only for an hour or so in the morning and evening. As slum areas have but a few public taps, there are long rows of people waiting their tum to fill their vessels. Most hand pumps are in a state of despair; the few that work are overused.
• There are few lavatories; most people have to ease themselves in the open, pigs and stray dogs provide some sanitation, but they also spread disease. The roads and lanes are slushy.
• Primary health centres are not adequately staffed and stocked.
• Important life-saving drugs are always in short supply and nave to be bought from druggists. The schools, in uninviting settings, impart only nominal instruction.
• Public transport is expensive and crowded.
• Cinemas and video parlours provide some entertainment, to be supplemented by drinks, drugs, and gambling

Most pavement and slum dwellers find themselves detached from their tradition moorings, living in a cultural void. Many of them live away from their families, unable to adapt to the urban ethos. They lead lonely lives or fall into evil company. Those living with families also encounter many problems. While men are away at work there is not much security for the women left behind in the slums. As parental authority becomes weak, adolescents become unmanageable.

Remedial measures of combating problems of urbanization | UPSC – IAS

Remedial measures suggested for removing the problems. The problem of urbanization has acquired certain distortions and imbalances in the planned processes of development. Given the alarming situation and the condition that prevails in rural areas the push factors are likely to operate in the villages. Thus, urban areas will continue to attract village populations. Besides this there is going to be a natural increase in the population of town and cities. This is unavoidable.

However, adequate measures of planning and efficient management of the problems associated with it may provide some relief to the people living in village and the urban areas. Some of the remedial measures are given below:

• Planned communities for the migrants with adequate housing facilities.
• Efficient public transport
• Improved water and power supply
• Improved sanitary conditions
• Improves health infrastructure for preventive and curative medicine
• Improved education facilities
• Improved civic amenities

The needs of the poor have to be kept in mind so that they have an access to good living condition. What is all the more important is the fact that these civic amenities and infrastructural facilities need to be extended in rural areas as well, so that large scale migration of displaced population due to economic compulsions may be checked from moving to urban centres.