Industrialisation and Urbanization in India

Industrialization
Introduction
The change which accompanied the advent and further development of
capitalism is industrialisation. Industrialisation may be seen as the development
of a ‘new scientific knowledge’, a consequent transformation in the source,
form, and application of energy; from animal and human to mechanical. Hence
study of Industrialization and capitalism are approached simultaneously as both
bear the implication of singular historical transformation i.e., feudalism to
capitalism. Generally historical growth of industrialization is divided into three
periods: Ancient Industry, Medieval Industry and Modern Industry. This
division is taken as general history of industrial growth for other societies
though substantial difference between west and other societies is only marked
with advent of modern industry.

Ancient Period

In the ancient or primitive period of industry we included those works which

were performed by man when he was neither literate nor civilised. In this period
no systematic industry had developed. The main concern of man during these
days was merely to fulfil its necessity for food and physical protection. For
food primitive man used to hunt animals and gather wild vegetable and fruits.
For hunting he employed bow and arrow and certain instrument made by
sharpening stone. These weapons were symbols of industrial development of
that period. Besides, making fire by friction of stone or bamboos was industrial
miracle of that time.
Medieval Period

In the medieval period there was sufficient development in industry. In this

period the signs of industry became visible by the efforts of man. A number of
manually operated machines came into use. Man also began using animal power
to meet this end. The sign of industrialisation, production of goods in excess of
consumption and stocking of goods, came in evidence during this period. The
exchange of goods and division of labour also came into practice during the
medieval phase of industrialisation. As a result of this, different industries
started operating separately. For example, blacksmith, carpenter and weaver set
up independent units. Thus began the specialization of jobs. This also endorsed
the artistic spirit (uniqueness) of the artisans.

The medieval industries age in the West can be divided into three distinct
industrial systems. The division is based on the nature of the industrial system.
There were three prominent industrial systems during the medieval time are:

1. Feudal system
2. Guild system
3. Domestic system

Feudal system
Under this system, the primary industry was agriculture. Few persons controlled
vast tract of land each and they engaged and employed hundreds of workers to
do the farming. This system was in vogue in Europe between 9th and 12th
century. Under this system the owner of the land was called feudal lord and the
persons engaged by him were called serfs. The serfs were virtual slaves of the
feudal lord. Beside agriculture, other important professions were those of
carpentry, black-smithy, pottery and weaving. Even these artisans were
dependent upon feudal lords. Under feudal system, the serfs were required to
serve all kinds of service to their respective lords.

From 11th century onwards, urban towns started coming up in Europe. With
Urbanization feudal system got a set-back, as a result labour and working class
migrated to towns and find work or better employment alternative.

Guild system
The Urbanization in Europe emancipated the serfs from the traditional slavery.
Having emancipated themselves from serfdom under feudal lords, the worker
started learning new trades and skills. As a result of specialisation and
proficiency in trades acquired by workers, centres of trade came up. Gradually,
this process gave rise to Guild system.

In Guild system, trade association representing various trades came into being.
These trade associations worked for the promotion and development of their
respective trades and it also to regulate the quality and quantity of goods
produced by the members of the associations. They were related besides
economic relations, by social, political and religious relations.

Guild system was divided in to two:

1. Merchant Guilds- main task of Merchant was to look after the interest of
businessman. They used to demand justice from government in a manner
in which Chamber of Commerce of today function.
2. Crafts Guilds- the Crafts Guilds were associations formed by craftsman
carrying on a particular craft. The craft guild worked for the promotion of
the crafts and protection of the interests of craftsman. In those days craft
guilds of blacksmiths, carpenters and weavers were particularly
prominent.
The guild system occupies a place of pride in the history of Industrial
development. This system was important in maintaining social harmony and
unity.

Decline of Guild system

1. Internal cause-Due to functions and rights of its officials were not well-
defined.
2. External cause-Due to exploitation of manufacturer traders by middle
man.
3. In those days another factor which gave death blow to guild system was
the invention and use of big machines and introduction of sophisticated
techniques of production.

Domestic System
After the decline of guild system, domestic system came into vogue. This
system was a kind of capitalism. As far as method of production was concerned,
it was not much different from that of guild system. However, in domestic
system there was no place or role for various trade and guild associations.
Under this head of family who normally was a master craftsman controlled the
entire production and everything was under his personal ownership. This system
is to be seen in the form of cottage industries.

Modern Period
A gradual rise in the population pushed up the demand for industrial goods.
With the rise in demand for goods, more and more machines were used and in
place of cottage industries, factories employing hundreds of workers sprang up.
With the establishment of factory system, industrial revolution became
inevitable. Under the factory system there was considerable rise in the
production and goods were sold at places far off from the place of manufacture.
For the introduction of factory system certain basic conditions had to be met.
These are:

1) An industry could be established only at a place where the raw material

was easily available. Besides, workers should also be easily available and
must be residing at nearby places.
2) In a factory, man and animal power are to be replaced as far as possible
by machines. The successful application of mechanical power helped
immensely to improve the quality and increase the production of goods.
3) The factory system requires huge investment of capital in the form of
money. With the help of money the capitalist is able to provide for raw
materials, workers and machinery. In this manner the capitalist is able to
raise production greatly. Besides production, the needs and requirements
of consumers have also to be borne in mind. 1

The Rise of Modern Industry in India

Industrial development is important for socio-economic and human

development of a country. India, since ancient times, has been famous in the
world for its cottage and household industries. Before the beginning of modern
industrial development, Indian pottery, muslin and silk goods were much in
demand. Traditional handicrafts industry, however, suffered after the advent of
the British in India. The British policy of exporting raw material from India to
Britain and importing finished goods into India severely hampered growth of
industries. This critical scenario improved somewhat after the mid-nineteenth
century but the growth of industries was a slow process.

The modern industrial development in India started with the establishment of

the first cotton textile mill at Mumbai in 1854, predominantly with Indian
capital and entrepreneurship. Jute industry made a beginning in 1855 with the
1
Urban Sociology, R K Sharma, p 121.
establishment of a jute mill in the Hooghly Valley near Kolkata with foreign
capital and entrepreneurship. Coal mining was first started at Raniganj in 1772.
Railways were introduced in 1854. Tata Iron and Steel Plant was set up at
Jamshedpur in 1907. Several other medium and small size industries like
cement, glass, soaps, chemicals, jute, sugar and paper followed. The two World
Wars gave an impetus to the development of specific industries, such as
chemical, iron and steel, sugar, cement, glass and other consumer goods
industries.

Among the other industries which appeared on the industrial scene of India
before the outbreak of World War I in 1914 were woollen textiles, paper and
breweries. The main industrial centres were port cities of Mumbai, Kolkata and
Chennai. This pattern of industrial location was conceived by the British rulers
to facilitate imports and exports. The sole in land industrial centre was Kanpur,
the base of military equipment production.

Inter War Period:

Indian industries made rapid strides during the First World War (1914-18) due
to rise in demand for industrial goods by the Armed Forces. However, the real
spurt was provided by the Indian Fiscal Commission set up in 1921-22. This
gave the much needed protection to industries like iron and steel, textiles,
cement, sugar, paper and metals. One of the most prominent features of Indian
industrial scene during this period was the dispersal of cotton textile industry
away from Mumbai. In 1875-76, 61.7 per cent of cotton textile mills were
located in Mumbai and by 1938-39 only 17.5% per cent of the mills remained in
Mumbai.

In fact this industry gained a lot as a result of war. On the eve of the war, India
had emerged as the fourth largest cotton manufacturing country next to the
USA, the U.K. and Japan in that order. Jute industry on the other hand,
continued to concentrate in the Hugli basin only. However, the number of jute
mills rose from 64 in 1913-14 to 107 in 1938-39.

World War II:

While Indian industry prospered during World War I, the Second World War
created problems for Indian industry. India became an active participant in war
and the entry of Japan in the hostilities brought war to India’s doorstep.
However, the impact of war was short-lived and the industry was quick to
recover from the initial shock and utilized the opportunities offered by the war.

A programme costing Rs. 4 crore for the manufacture of armaments and

explosives was launched in 1941 to meet the immediate requirements of war.
The ordinance factories started producing 700 varieties of ammunition. There
were pressing demands to meet the civilian requirements too. With this object in
view, heavy chemical industry was started in 1941 and the production of
sulphuric acid, synthetic ammonia, caustic soda, chlorine and bleaching powder
commenced. The Hindustan Aircraft Company also assembled its first aircraft
in 1941.

Metal fabricating industries such as copper were also initiated. A wide variety
of engineering industries like machine tools, machinery manufacture in respect
of cotton, tea, and oil processing industries, electrical equipment, vanaspati
manufacturing, power, alcohol, synthetic resin and plastic industries also
flourished.

However, some other industries including diesel engines, pumps, sewing

machines and electric fans suffered a setback. It is clear from above discussion
that the overall performance of industry was satisfactory. Steel, chemicals,
cement and paper industries recorded impressive gains. Cotton textile industry
also showed considerable improvement. However, jute and sugar industries
suffered decline.

Post War II and Partition:

The post war period was characterised by many ups and downs and by the
overall decline in industrial products. Several factors contributed to this state of
affairs, the most prominent among them being fall in demand, overworked
machinery, labour trouble and bottlenecks of transport and distributions till
1946. Cotton textiles, sugar, cement and steel industries were the worst
sufferers.

Partition of the country in 1947 threw everything out of gear and dealt a severe
blow to industry in India. While Pakistan accounted for only 23 per cent of the
area and 18 per cent of the population of pre-partition India, that country got 40
per cent of the cotton and 81 per cent of the jute output. Obviously, jute and
cotton industries were the worst sufferers. Further India suffered losses in terms
of markets as well as skilled labour that migrated to Pakistan. However, India
retained most of the basic and important industries.

The industrial production in pre-independence period was neither adequate nor

diversified. At the time of independence, the economy was under-developed
with agriculture contributing to more than 60 per cent of the GDP and most of
the country’s export earnings. After many decades of independence, India has
now shown the signs of becoming a leading economic power. Industrial
development in India can be divided into two phases. The Government
successively increased its control over different economic sectors during the
first phase (1947-1980). In the second phase (1980-97) it took measures to
liberalise the economy between 1980 and 1992. These measures were somewhat
ad-hoc. After 1992, the whole process of liberalization became more focused
and radically different in nature.

After independence, systematic industrial planning under different five year

plans helped in establishing a large number of heavy and medium industries.
The main thrust of the industrial policy was to remove regional imbalances and
to introduce diversification of industries. Indigenous capabilities were
developed to achieve self-sufficiency. It is due to these efforts that India has
been able to develop self-reliance in the field of industry. Today, we export a
large number of industrial goods to various countries.

In independent India, the state played the guiding role in the early stages of its
industrialisation. The large-scale enterprise, such as oil and gas refineries,
electricity, railways and defence remains the monopoly of the state with the
objective of welfarism. Apart from imposing certain restrictions and controls on
the private sector, the state also gave incentives, subsidies and tax exemptions to
encourage private capitalist enterprises, to boost industrial development. As a
result, there was a development of a considerable number of small and medium
industries in early decades of post-independent India.

Centralised planning and credit policy along with other protective measures
accelerated the country’s industrial development. The annual growth rate in
industrial output rose to 150 percent between 1948 and 1964. In the beginning
of the 1970s gross capital investment in various enterprises was estimated to be
350,000 million rupees. There has been a significant improvement in the
performance of the industrial sector in the 1980s. The average growth during
1980 to 1987 was 7.6 percent per annum.

Such a rapid industrialisation of India, particularly after independence, was

bound to bring about fundamental changes in social life as well in individuals
norms and values. Theoretically, two major types of technological influences on
social life may be discerned. First, social change may result directly from
transformation in a technological process. For instance, an installation of a
textile factory in an area would transform earlier economic mode like cottage
industry. It makes labourers (weavers) to lose jobs, though simultaneously
factory may create new job opportunities. The displaced persons would be
searching for new types of employment. As a result, the occupational structure
of the place would undergo turmoil. Second, industrialisation transforms social
institutions, such as family, marriage, kinship and caste. The first type of change
takes place in the nature and organisation of work, whereas with the second the
social relations may undergo a change.

The post-independence industrial policy emphasised the attainment of the socio-

economic objectives such as employment generation, higher productivity,
removal of regional imbalances in development, providing strength to
agricultural base, promotion of export-oriented industries and consumer
protection. A deliberate policy of locating the industries in economically
backward regions has been pursued to reduce regional imbalances in
development.

The industrial policies of 1948 and 1956 indicate the direction of the industrial
development in India. The process of industrialisation started with the launching
of the First Five Year Plan and continued through successive plan periods.

Industrial Development in the Planning Era:

Immediately after independence, need to take solid steps for improving

industrial scene was badly felt. It was realised that industrialisation was the only
vehicle which could lead the shattered economy of the country on the path of
progress and prosperity. Consequently, industry attracted special attention of
planners.

The First Five Year Plan (1951-56):

This plan became operational only four years after Independence. The main
thrust of the plan was on agriculture because the country was facing shortage
of food-grains at that time. Therefore, the emphasis was on increasing capacity
of existing industries rather than starting new ones. Cotton textile, sugar,
vanaspati, cement, paper, chemical and engineering industries showed some
progress.

Some of the new industries that emerged during this plan were newsprint,
power looms, medicines, paints and varnishes and transport equipment. In spite
of the top priority given to agriculture, irrigation and power generation in the
first five year plan, industrial production showed 40 per cent increase as
compared to 30 per cent increase recorded by grain production. As a matter of
fact, the First Five Year Plan laid down the basis for future progress of
industries.

The Second Five Year Plan (1956-61):

This plan laid emphasis on the development of basic and heavy industries and
defined the key-role which the public sector was to play in the economic
development of the country. A comprehensive Industrial Policy Resolution was
announced on 20th April 1956.

This resolution had industrial development as major thrust. Iron and steel, heavy
engineering, lignite projects and fertilizer industries formed the basis of
industrial planning. In addition to the expansion of pre-existing steel plants at
Jamshedpur, Kulti-Bumpur and Bhadravati, three new state owned plants at
Durgapur, Rourkela and Bhilai were either initiated or completed.

The Chittaranjan Locomotive Workshop, The Hindustan Shipbuilding Yard

(Vishakhapatnam), The Sindri Fertilizer Factory and the Hindustan Machine
Tools Limited (HMT) plant at Bangalore were expanded. A heavy electrical
equipment manufacturing plant was established at Bhopal. Two new fertilizer
plants at Nangal and Rourkela were set up.

The Third Five Year Plan (1961-66):

This plan laid stress on the expansion of basic industries like steel, chemicals,
fuel, power and machine building. The basic philosophy behind this plan was to
lay foundation for a ‘self-generating’ economy. The Hindustan Machine Tools
Limited had only one factory in the Second Plan and this number rose to five in
the Third Plan.

Heavy Machine Tools plant at Ranchi was also completed. Machine building,
locomotive and railway coach making, shipbuilding, aircraft manufacturing,
chemical drugs and fertilizers industries also made significant achievement.

However, the achievement fell short of the target to a great extent due to the
following reasons:

(i) Untimely monsoon rains, severe drought in 1965 and bad weather
conditions.
(ii) India’s war with China in 1962 and with Pakistan in 1965.
(iii) Non-availability of foreign credit.
(iv) Inability of rigid administrative rules to cope with such abnormal
situations.
The Annual Plans:

The Fourth Five Year Plan was deferred and Annual plans were adopted for a
period of three years (1966-69). Not much headway was made due to resource
crunch. The index of industrial production increased only by 1.7 per cent and
0.3 per cent in 1966-67 and 1967-68 respectively. However, things improved in
1968-69 and the industrial production rose by 7 per cent.

The Fourth Five-Year Plan (1969-74):

Indian Economy started recovering from recession at the beginning of the

Fourth Five Year Plan. But the growth rate showed wide yearly fluctuations
from peak of 7.3 per cent in 1969-70 to zero growth in 1973-74 as against the
stipulated annual growth rate of 8-10 per cent.

Agro-based industries such as sugar, cotton, jute, vanaspati showed uneven

growth due to shortage of raw materials and difficult power situation. Metal-
based industries and chemical industries also suffered setbacks.

However, a significant progress was reported by some other industries like

alloys and special steels, aluminium, automobile tyres, petroleum refining,
electronic goods, machine tools, tractors and heavy electrical equipment. Public
sector undertakings also showed good progress. Efforts were made to
accentuate the process of industrial dispersal through regional and local
planning process.

The Fifth Five Year Plan (1974-79):

The main emphasis of this plan was on rapid growth of core sector industries
and increase the production of export oriented articles and articles of mass
consumption. The average annual rate of growth was 8.21 per cent. The public
sector had assumed much importance.
Steel plants at Salem, Vijaynagar and Vishakhapatnam were proposed to create
additional capacity. Steel Authority of India (SAIL) was constituted. Drug
manufacturing, oil refining, chemical fertilizers and heavy engineering industry
made good progress.

The Sixth Five Year Plan (1980-85):

This plan marked a watershed in the development process which was initiated
three decades ago with the commencement of the first plan. Although
considerable growth was achieved during the first five plans, much thought
could not be given to quality, cost competitiveness or needs of modernisation.
Thus high cost, low quality production structure had emerged.

The period 1950-80 marked the first phase of industrialisation. The second
phase started with the commencement of the Sixth Five Year Plan. It was felt
that large domestic and foreign market remained to be exploited for industrial
growth.

This was possible only if our industries were efficient, globally competitive,
cost effective and modernised. For this purpose liberalisation was initiated. The
average annual growth rate was 5.5 per cent which fell short of the initial target
of 8 per cent.

Targets of capacity creation had been achieved for industries like aluminium,
zinc, lead, thermoplastics, petro-chemicals, electrical equipment, automobiles
and consumer durables. Production targets were achieved in industries like
petroleum, machine tools, automobiles, T.V. receivers, etc. Shortfall in
production was reported for coal, steel, cement, non-ferrous metals, drugs and
pharmaceuticals, textiles, jute manufacture, commercial vehicles, railway
wagons, sugar, etc.
Seventh Five Year Plan (1985-1990):

This plan registered an annual growth rate of 8.5 per cent as against the target of
8.7 per cent. The plan aimed at developing a ‘high tech’ and electronics
industrial service base. The major focus was Industrial dispersal, self
employment, improving the exploitation of the local resources, proper training
were the main planks of the plan.

Annual Plans:

Eighth five year plan (1990-95) could not take off due to fast-changing political
situation at the centre. The new Government which assumed power at the
Centre in June, 1991, decided that the Eighth Five-year Plan would commence
on 1 April 1992 and that 1990-91 and 1991-92 should be treated as separate
Annual Plans. The impact of liberalisation was felt on industries, along with
other sectors of economy.

Eighth Five Year Plan (1992-97):

The major policy changes initiated in the industrial sector in 1991 included
removal of entry barriers, reduction of areas reserved exclusively for
public sector, rationalisation of approach towards monopolistic and
restrictive practices, liberalization of foreign investment policy and import
policy, removing regional imbalances and encouraging the growth of
employment intensive small and tiny sector.

The period immediately following the reforms was marked by low growth rates
and even stagnations in the major industrial sectors. However, the growth rates
quickly recovered and the index of industrial production increased by 6 per
cent. The general annual growth rate in major sectors of industry was 12 per
cent in 1995-96.
Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002):

Industrial growth improved marginally to 6.6 per cent in 1997-98 but fell to 4.1
per cent in 1998-99. This decline was probably caused by poor performance in
mining and manufacturing sectors. The overall industrial output grew by 6.7 per
cent in 1999-2000, which again fell to 4.9 per cent in 2000-01 mainly due to fall
in manufacturing sector.

The growth rate of consumer goods including durables and non-durables

accelerated to 7.9 per cent during 2000-01. The growth rate of basic goods,
capital goods and intermediate goods declined drastically and it was estimated
at 3.8 per cent, 1.4 per cent and 4.5 per cent respectively during the year 2000-
01.

Six core and infrastructure industries, viz., electricity, crude oil, refinery, coal,
steel and cement, having a weight-age of 26.7 per cent in the average Index of
Industrial Production (IIP) grew by 5.3 and in 2000-01 compared to 9.1 per cent
in 1999-2000.

The main factors responsible for slowdown of industrial growth during the year
2000-01 were lack of domestic demand for immediate goods, low inventory
demand for capital goods, high oil prices, existence of excess capacity in some
sectors, business cycle, inherent adjustment lacks in industrial restructuring and
calamity like Gujarat earthquake, and high interest rate with an adverse impact
on private investment, and slow down in the world economy.

Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-07):

The Tenth Five Year Plan targets a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate
of eight per cent and the growth target for industrial sector has been set at ten
per cent. Indian Industry, especially the manufacturing sector, is recorded a
consistently high growth rate which shows robustness of Indian Industry,
particularly automobile/auto components and pharmaceutical sub-sectors.

For sustaining pace of growth and investment, several initiatives have been
launched for modernising, technology up gradation, reducing transaction costs,
increased export thrust, so as to enhance its global competitiveness and
achieve balanced regional development.

Further, in order to give export thrust, Department of Commerce has launched

major initiatives such as Assistances to States for Infrastructure Development
for Exports (ASIDE), Market Access Initiatives (MAI), Special Economic
Zones (SEZs) Policy, Modernisation of Director General of Foreign Trade
(DGFT), etc.

For a balanced industrial development, industrial policy packages have been

announced for special category states of Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu
and Kashmir and North East states. Social security issues have been
addressed through insurance cover for workers in handloom, agro and
rural industrial and processed marine product sector.

Textile industry is a major employment intensive sector for which special

schemes/packages were introduced. Technology Upgrading Funds Scheme
(TUFS) is one such scheme which is expected to improve the access for
decentralized power loom sector. Textile Canter Infrastructure Development
Scheme (TCIDS) will take care of infrastructure development aspect of textile
industry.

Manufacturing sector has a share of 79.36 per cent in the Index of Industrial
Production (IIP). During the year 2002-03, the IIP grew at the rate of 5.8 per
cent as compared to 2.1 per cent in 2001- 02. Manufacturing sector registered a
growth rate of 6.0 per cent as against 2.8 per cent during 2001- 02. As per the
use-based classification, production of basic foods, capital goods, intermediate
goods and consumer goods exhibited higher increase during 2002-03 as
compared to 2001-02.

2 Urbanization in India

Introduction

The urbanization is not a new process in the world. But in India it didn’t had
same pace because of historical reasons (colonial rule).Urbanization in India has
been going on at a very low pace because India was under the British Rule till
1947 and she had never really experienced an industrial revolution and also
because India’s economy is still an agro-based economy” (Rahman, 2007). But
now the situation is different from the previous that is under colonial ruler. Now
the process of urbanization is going with a satisfactory and due to this there is
problem emerging out of it such as slum and squatter settlement at a large
number in the urban area.

Earlier during the phase of industrial revolution urbanization having great

importance in the process of urbanization with a demand of labour force in the
industry as well as in the service sector as well. In the recent day, the
importance of labour market force is an essential element or part of the
industrial sector and it could not be fulfilled without the utilization of urban
unskilled or semiskilled population now a days. So, urbanization is a natural
consequence of economic change in any country in the world, which takes place
in a country for their proper growth and development in the industrial sectors as
well as service sector industries. Yet, as shown by the 2011 population census,
their urban populations of 377.1 million with an increase in urban population of
91.0 million i.e. with 31.16 % increase, of places India along with China as the
countries with the largest urban system in the world. During the 2001-2011 the
population of the country increased by 181.4 million which is a major issues to
give birth the problem like slum in urban area (Census Data 2011). Higher
productivity in the secondary/tertiary sector against primary sector makes cities
and towns centres of economic growth and jobs producer.

Urban areas have been recognized as “engines of inclusive economic growth”.

Of the 121 crore Indians, 83.3 crore live in rural areas while 37.7 crore stay in
urban areas, i.eapprox 32 % of the population. The census of India, 2011
defines urban settlement as:-

All the places which have municipality, corporation, cantonment board or

notified town area committee and with this all the other places which satisfy
following criteria are Urban:

a) A minimum population of 5000 persons;

b) At least 75 % of male main working population engaged in non-
agricultural pursuits ; and
c) A density of population of at least 400 persons per square kilometer

The first categories of urban units are known as statutory town. These towns
are notified under law by respective State/UT government and have local bodies
like municipal corporation, municipality, etc, irrespective of demographic
characteristics. For example- Vadodara (Municipal corporation), Shimla
(Municipal corporation)

The second category of towns is known as Census Town. These were

identified on the basis of census 2001 data. Cities are urban areas with more
than 100,000 population. Urban areas below 100,000 are called towns in India

Similarly Census of India defines:-

Urban Agglomeration (UA): 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 varying local conditions, there were similar other
combinations which have been treated as urban agglomerations satisfying the
basic condition of contiguity. Examples: Greater Mumbai UA, Delhi UA, etc.

Out Growths (OG): An Out Growth (OG) is a viable unit such as a village or a
hamlet or an enumeration block made up of such village or hamlet and clearly
identifiable in terms of its boundaries and location. Some of the examples are
railway colony, university campus, port area, military camps, etc., which have
come up near a statutory town outside its statutory limits but within the revenue
limits of a village or villages contiguous to the town.

While determining the outgrowth of a town, it has been ensured that it possesses
the urban features in terms of infrastructure and amenities such as pucca roads,
electricity, taps, drainage system for disposal of waste water etc. educational
institutions, post offices, medical facilities, banks etc. and physically contiguous
with the core town of the UA. Examples: Central Railway Colony (OG), Triveni
Nagar (N.E.C.S.W.) (OG), etc.

Each such town together with its outgrowth(s) is treated as an integrated urban
area and is designated as an ‘urban agglomeration’. Number of towns/UA/OG
2011, according to Census 2011 Census are :-

a. Statutory Towns — 4,041

b. Census Towns — 3,894
c. Urban Agglomerations — 475
d. Out Growths — 981

At the central level, nodal agencies which look after program and policies for
urban development are Ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation
(MoHUPA) and Ministry of Urban development. Urban development is a
state subject. At state level there are respective ministries, but according to 74th
Constitutional Amendment act,1992, it is mandatory for every state to form
ULBs and devolve power, conduct regular election, etc. Under 12 schedule of
Indian constitution, 18 such functions have been defined which are to be
performed by ULBs and for that states should support the ULBs through
finances and decentralization of power, for more autonomy. But this is not
uniform throughout all the states and still more need to be done to empower
ULBs in India.

Urban areas are managed by urban local bodies (ULBs), who look after the
service delivery and grievance redressal of citizens. There are eight type of
urban local government in India- municipal corporation municipality, notified
area committee, town area committee, cantonment board, township, port trust
and special purpose agencies.

Migration is the key process underlying growth of urbanisation; and the

process of urbanization is closely related with rural to urban migration of
people. In most developing countries of the world where rate of urban growth is
relatively higher the urban-ward migration is usually high. Rural to urban
migration is by far the major component of urbanisation and is the chief
mechanism by which urbanisation trends all the world-over has been
accomplished. After independence, urbanization in India is increasing at very
high pace, but at the same time there are some problems, which are becoming
barriers for balance, equitable and inclusive development.

History of Urbanization in India

In 1687- 88, the first municipal corporation in India was set up at Madras. In
1726, Municipal Corporation was set up in Bombay and Calcutta. In 1882,a
resolution was passed and according to which, panchayat were to be formed at
village level, district boards, taluq boards and municipalities also came into
existence. At that time Lord Ripon was Viceroy of India, and for this Lord
Ripon is known as father of local self-government in India.

Urban Growth in India:

Since independence has been focused through respective five year plans as
follows:

First two Five year plans focused on institution and organization building and
same was instructed to the states to do. For example Delhi development
Authority, Town and country planning organization came during this period.

Third plan (1961-66) was turning point in urban planning history, as it

emphasized on importance of towns and cities in balanced regional
development. So, it advised urban planning to adopt regional approach. It also
emphasized the need for urban land regulation, checking of urban land prices,
preparation of master plan, etc.

Forth plan (1969-74), continued with the theme of third plan and development
plans for 72 urban areas were undertaken. Regional studies in respect of
metropolitan regions around Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta were initiated.

During fifth plan, urban land ceiling act was passed in 1976. It also advised the
state governments to create metropolitan planning regions to take care of the
growing areas outside administrative city limits. Mumbai metropolitan region
development authority (MMRDA) in 1974 and Housing and urban development
cooperation in 1975 were established. It also emphasized the urban and
industrial decentralization.
The sixth five year (1978-83) plan stressed the need to develop small and
medium sized towns (less than 1 lakh), and a scheme of Integrated development
of Small and Medium towns (IDSMT) was launched in 1979 by central
government.

During the seventh plan, some important institutional developments were done,
which shaped the urban development policy and planning.

The National commission on urbanization submitted its report in 1988 and 65th
constitutional amendment was introduced in Lok Sabha in 1989, this was first
attempt to give urban local bodies a constitutional status with three tier federal
structure. But it was not passed and was finally passed in 1992 as 74th
constitutional amendment act and came into force in 1993.

During Eighth plan, the Mega city scheme was introduced in 1993-94 covering
five mega cities of Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Also
IDSMT scheme was revamped through it infrastructural development programs
for boosting employment generation for diverting migration from big cities to
the small and medium towns.

The ninth plan continued with the schemes of the eighth plan and also
emphasized on decentralization and financial autonomy of urban local
bodies. A new program called Swarnajayanti Shahari Rozgaryojna (SJSRY)
in 1997 with two sub plan– 1. Urban self-employment program and 2.Urban
wage employment programme, i.e. targeting for urban poverty reduction and
employment. It was decided by central government to revamp SJSRY in 2013
as National urban Livelihood Mission (NULM).

The Tenth plan (2002-07) recognized the fact that urbanization played a key
role in accelerating the economic growth in 1980s and 1990s as a result of the
economic liberalization and also stressed that without strengthening the urban
local bodies, the goal of urbanization cannot be achieved.

The eleventh plan (2007-2012) introduced some innovative changes through

capacity building, increasing the efficiency and productivity of the cities,
dismantling the monopoly of public sector over urban infrastructure, using
technology as a tool for rapid urbanization.

In this direction major initiative launched by central government was JNNURM

(Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban renewal mission) in 2005 for focused
and integrated development of the urban infrastructure and services, initially for
63 cities. This program was to be continued till 2012, but it has been extended,
covering more number of cities.

Focus of JNNURM was on provisions for urban poor, including housing, water
supply and sanitation, urban transport, road network, and the development of
inner/old city areas, etc. The earlier programs, as mentioned above like Mega
city, IDSMT, etc. were merged with it.

Under JNNURM it was made mandatory for each cities to formulate City
Development Plan (CDP) for long term vision of development. It also aimed to
make private players part of urban development through PPP (Public private
partnership)

Rajiv Awas Yojana, was launched in 2011 for creating “slum free India” as a
pilot project for two years. But now it has been extended till 2022. It is
applicable to all slums in the city whether notified or non-notified. It is also
applicable to urban homeless and pavement dwellers.

The 2011 Census was the first one that collected data on people living in slums
that have become commonplace in a rapidly urbanizing India. It found that
around one out of every six households in urban India (17.4%) is in a slum, and
that well over one-third of all slum households in the country (38%) are in cities
with a population in excess of a million.

The twelfth five year plan (2012-2017) proposed to consolidate JNNURM and
envisaged its wider role in urban reforms. During twelfth plan , the components
of JNNURM are :-

• Urban infrastructure governance(UIG)

• Rajiv AwasYojana (RAY)
• Slum rehabilitation in cities not covered under RAY
• Capacity building
• The plan has also highlighted the reasons which are acting as hurdles
in the success of the program as:-
• Failure to mainstream the urban planning
• Incomplete reform and slow progress in project implementation
• Delay in securing land for projects
• Delay in getting approval from various regulators

Challenges in urban development

Institutional challenges

Urban Governance

74th amendment act has been implemented half-heartedly by the states,

which has not fully empowered the Urban local bodies (ULBs). ULBs
comprise of municipal corporations, municipalities and nagarpanchayats,
which are to be supported by state governments to manage the urban
development. For this, ULBs need clear delegation of functions, financial
resources and autonomy. At present urban governance needs improvement
 for urban development, which can be done by enhancing technology,
administrative and managerial capacity of ULBs.

Planning

Planning is mainly centralized and till now the state planning boards and
commissions have not come out with any specific planning strategies and
depend on Planning commission for it. This is expected to change in present
government, as planning commission has been abolished and now focus is
on empowering the states and strengthening the federal structure.

In fact for big cities the plans have become outdated and do not reflect the
concern of urban local dwellers, this need to be take care by Metropolitan
planning committee as per provisions of 74th amendment act. Now the
planning needs to be decentralized and participatory to accommodate the
needs of the urban dwellers.

Also there is lack of human resource for undertaking planning on full scale.
State planning departments and national planning institutions lack qualified
planning professional. Need is to expand the scope of planners from physical
to integrated planning- Land use, infrastructure, environmental
sustainability, social inclusion, risk reduction, economic productivity and
financial diversity.

Finances

Major challenge is of revenue generation with the ULBs. This problem can be
analyzed form two perspectives. First, the states have not given enough
autonomy to ULBs to generate revenues and second in some case the ULBs
have failed to utilize even those tax and fee powers that they have been vested
with.
 There are two sources of municipal revenue i.e. municipal own revenue
and assigned revenue. Municipal own revenue are generated through taxes
and fee levied by them. Assigned revenues are those which are assigned to
local governments by higher tier of government.

There is growing trend of declining ratio of ULB own revenue. There is

poor collection property tax. Use of geographical information system to
map all the properties in a city can have a huge impact on the assessment
rate of properties that are not in tax net.

There is need to broaden the user charge fee for water supply, sewerage
and garbage disposal. Since these are the goods which have a private
characteristics and no public spill over, so charging user fee will be feasible
and will improve the revenue of ULBs, along with periodic revision. Once
the own revenue generating capacity of the cities will improve, they can
easily get loans from the banks. At present due to lack of revenue
generation capabilities, banks don’t give loan to ULBs for further
development. For financing urban projects, Municipal bonds are also
famous, which work on the concept of pooled financing.

Regulator

There is exponential increase in the real estate, encroaching the agricultural

lands. Also the rates are very high, which are not affordable and other
irregularities are also in practice. For this, we need regulator, which can
make level playing field and will be instrumental for affordable housing
and checking corrupt practices in Real estate sector.
Infrastructural challenges

Housing

Housing provision for the growing urban population will be the biggest
challenge before the government. The growing cost of houses comparison to the
income of the urban middle class, has made it impossible for majority of lower
income groups residing in congested accommodation and many of those are
devoid of proper ventilation, lighting, water supply, sewage system, etc. For
instance in Delhi, the current estimate is of a shortage of 5,00,000 dwelling
units in the coming decades. The United Nations Centre for Human Settlements
(UNCHS) introduced the concept of “Housing Poverty” which includes
“Individuals and households who lack safe, secure and healthy shelter, with
basic infrastructure such as piped water and adequate provision for sanitation,
drainage and the removal of household waste”.

Safe Drinking Water

The safe drinking water sources are also found to be contaminated because of
water in the cities are inadequate and in the future, the expected population
cannot be corrected without a drastic improvement in the availability of water.
The expenses on water treatment and reuse will grow manifold.

Sanitation

The poor sanitation condition is another gloomy feature in urban areas and
particularly in slums and unauthorized colonies of urban areas. The drainage
system in many unorganized colonies and slums do either not exist and if
existing are in a bad shape and in bits resulting in blockage of waste water.
These unsanitary conditions lead too many sanitation related diseases such as
diahorrea and malaria. Unsafe garbage disposal is one of the critical problems in
urban areas and garbage management always remained a major challenge.

Health conditions

The important indicators of human development are education and health. The
health conditions of urban poor in some areas are even more adverse compared
to rural areas. As many as 20 million children in the developing countries are
dying consequent to drinking water. About 6, 00,000 persons are losing their
lives on account of indoor air pollution (Jagmohan, 2005).

The National Family Health Survey, 2006-07 has envisaged that a lot of women
and children are suffering from nutritional anaemia and diseases like
tuberculosis and asthma are occurring in good number. Providing health care
services to the growing urban population is major challenge before the
government health care delivery system.

They have to take the help of private players as public health facilities are poor.
In case of migrants, they cannot take the benefit of government policies, so they
have to pay very high charges, which keep them in the vicious cycle of poverty.
Urban education system also is becoming elite in private institution due to
limited seats and high charged fee. The condition of public educational
institution is dismal.

Urban public transport

As high income individual are buying more private vehicle and use less public
transport. Such huge number of vehicles in cities is causing more traffic jam,
which in turn decreases the efficiency of public transport. Also the penetration
of public transport is less, which makes people use private vehicle. Public
transport
is less disabled friendly. There is also lack of infrastructure and poor
maintenance of existing public transport infrastructure

Other challenges

Environmental concern

Vulnerability to risk posed by the increasing man-made and natural disasters.

According to UNDP 70 % of Indian population is at risk to floods and 60%
susceptible to earthquakes. The risks are higher in urban areas owing to density
and overcrowding. Urban areas are becoming heat islands, ground water is not
being recharged and water crisis is persistent. Here making, water harvesting
compulsory will be beneficial

Urban Crime

Prevention of urban crime is another challenge before the government of States

having more number of urban areas and particularly metropolitan cities. The
mega cities are facing increased criminal activities on account of unchecked
migration, illegal settlements and diverse socio-cultural disparities, organized
groups, gangsters, professional criminals for wishing a lavish life in metropolis.
The cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru have accounted for 16.2 percent,
9.5 percent and 8.1 percent respectively of the total crime reported from 35
mega cities. Prevention of crime in mega cities is a challenge before the city
government in India.

Poverty

Presently, one-third of Indian urban population lives below the poverty line.
There are glaring disparities between haves and have-nots in urban areas. The
most demanding of the urban challenges unquestionably is the challenge posed
by poverty; the challenge of reducing exploitation, relieving misery and creating
more human condition for urban poor. There is rise in urban inequality, as per
UN habitat report, 2010, urban inequality in India rose from 34 to 38 % based
on consumption in period of 1995 to 2005.

Provision of Employment

Providing gainful employment to the growing urban population is a major

challenge before the government. It is generally observed that the literate and
semi-literate migrants are absorbed with minimal works, carrying lower wage
and more hour of work. The UN Habitat Report (2003) has rightly remarked
“The cities have become a dumping ground for surplus population working
in unskilled, unprotected and low wage informal service industries and
trade”.

The urban workers are increasingly being pushed into the informal sector and
without any adequate activities in the cities were carried on in public places like
footpaths, open empty spaces, parks or just in the streets. The plight of rickshaw
pullers and street vendor is widely noted and commented upon. As the rural
agriculture sectors is shrinking day by day the challenges before the urban
sector to
provide viable employment to migrating population will be a daunting task in
the coming year.

Steps Taken by Government to improve urban Development

The Constitution (74th Amendment) Act:

The act came into effect in 1993, emphasizes to strengthen urban planning,
regulation of land use, roads and bridges and providing urban amenities.
National Urban Transport Policy, 2006:

Its main purpose is to provide affordable, comfortable, safe and rapid, reliable
and sustainable urban transport system, for the growing number of city resident
to jobs, education and recreation and such other needs within our cities.

Encouraging integrated land use and transport planning in all cities so that travel
distances are minimized and access to livelihoods, education, and other social
needs, especially for the marginal segments of the urban population is improved

National Urban Renewal Mission (NURM), 2005

The primary objective of the JnNURM is to create economically productive,

efficient, equitable and responsive cities. The JnNURM consists of two sub-
missions Urban Infrastructure and Governance (UIG) and Basic Services
for Urban Poor (BSUP).

The Mission focuses on: Integrated development of infrastructure services;

securing linkages between asset creation and maintenance for long run project
sustainability; accelerating the flow of investment into urban infrastructure
services; planned development of cities including the peri-urban areas, out
growths, and urban corridors; renewal and re-development of inner city areas;
Universalisation of urban services so as to ensure their availability to the urban
poor.

Introduction to Metro trains

In Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore etc. are part of above mentioned initiatives.

Recently cabinet has also passes proposal for second phase of Bangalore Metro
(Namma Metro). In addition to this government conducted feasibility studies in
Tier-II & III cities. Now one million plus cities can go for metro project
according to new urban policy.

India’s first monorail

It will be thrown open to the public, eight years after it was first proposed, with
the Maharashtra government. With this, India will join countries like the U.S.,
Germany, China, Japan, Australia and Malaysia that run monorails.

Smart city concept

In the budget, 2014, it was projected for ‘one hundred Smart cities’, as satellite
towns of larger cities and modernizing the existing mid- sized cities. Though
there is no clear definition of smart cities, but it may include creative, cyber,
digital, e-governed, entrepreneurial, intelligent, knowledge, harnessing the
power of Information and communication technology (ICT). Smartness has to
be there with respect to governance and service delivery.

Its feature can be:-

e-governance (through Digital India initiative, National e-governance plan,

National Optical fiber network, e- panchayat project of MRD)

• Continuous improvements in design and management

• Climate oriented development
• Mass transit oriented development
• People centric technological applications (m-health, e- learning )
• Planning can be bottom up for future urbanization
• Smart PDS rationing
• Social inclusive and economically diverse.
Swachh Bharat

Clean urban areas will attract tourists and can increase the economic diversity of
the urban dwellers and it will be also source for revenue generation for ULB.

Some of the Innovative examples of urban development model in India-

‘Kudumbshree’ model

It is social empowerment scheme, launched by the Government of Kerala in

1998 for wiping out absolute poverty from the State through concerted
community action under the leadership of Local Self Governments,
Kudumbashree is today one of the largest women-empowering projects in the
country. The programme has 41 lakh members and covers more than 50% of the
households in Kerala. Built around three critical components, micro
credit, entrepreneurship and empowerment, the Kudumbashree initiative has
today succeeded in addressing the basic needs of the less privileged women,
thus providing them a more dignified life and a better future. Literal meaning of
Kudumbashree is prosperity (shree) of family (Kudumbam).

Chhattisgarh PDS model

State government has started managing information systems. It began

with computerization of Fair Prices Shops (FPS) and data related with stocks
and sales to enable swift allocation of grains. Mobile based applications
including SMS alerts for interested beneficiaries were offered which improved
the access to information about food grains lifted from godowns and their
delivery at ration shops.

In Raipur, individuals are given the choice of the fair price shop of his/her
liking, flexibility of buying in smaller quantities rather than in only one
transaction, etc. Portability of ration card across the shops helped to improve
customer satisfaction.

Solid waste management in OKHLA

Waste management is the concern for any urban city with respect to its safe
disposal, recycling of waste products and also generating energy from wastes.

Timarpur Okhla Municipal Solid Waste Management project is the first

commercial waste-to-energy facility in India that aims to convert one-third of
the Delhi garbage into the much-needed electricity, enough to serving 6 lakh
homes. It has become the first to get carbon credits from United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change in the country in 2013.

Delhi metro

It is one of the world-class metro. To ensure reliability and safety in train

operations, it is equipped with the most modern communication and train
control system. For its energy efficient practises, it has earned carbon credit
points from UN.

Conclusion

Urbanization has undermined old forms of political mobilization based on caste

and religious identities and favours local issues to be resolved on right based
approach. Urbanisation has its impact on all aspects of day-to-day life. Family
structure has also been influenced by urbanisation. In the rural society the
concept of family living is different from that in the urban society.

In the urban society usually the families are nuclear, a very small
percentage of households’ have joint families, whereas in rural society most
of the households have joint families. This change in family structure is a
direct result of urbanisation. In urban areas, especially in the metropolitan
cities, people of extremely divergent cultures live together. This has a
positive impact. People come to know about each other’s culture and they
exchange their ideas, breaking the barriers which earlier used to exist
between them. This results in cultural hybridisation.

Urbanization: Causes and Effects of Urbanization in India

Urbanisation has become a common feature of Indian society. Growth of

Industries has contributed to the growth of cities. As a result of industrialisation
people have started moving towards the industrial areas in search of
employment. This has resulted in the growth of towns and cities.

• Urbanisation denotes a diffusion of the influence of urban centres to

a rural hinterland.
• Urbanisation can also be defined as a process of concentration of
population in a particular territory.
• According to Mitchell urbanisation is a process of becoming urban,
moving to cities, changing from agriculture to other pursuits
common to cities.

Causes of Urbanisation:

Various reasons have led to the growth of cities. They are as follows:

i. Industrialization:

Industrialization is a major cause of urbanization. It has expanded the

employment opportunities. Rural people have migrated to cities on account of
better employment opportunities.
ii. Social factors:

Many social factors such as attraction of cities, better standard of living, better
educational facilities, need for status also induce people to migrate to cities.

iii. Employment opportunities:

In rural sector people have to depend mainly on agriculture for their livelihood.
But Indian agriculture is depending on monsoon. In drought situations or natural
calamities, rural people have to migrate to cities.

iv. Modernization:

Urban areas are characterized by sophisticated technology better infrastructure,

communication, medical facilities, etc. People feel that they can lead a
comfortable life in cities and migrate to cities.

Rural urban transformation:

It is an interesting aspect that not only cities are growing in number but rural
community is adopting urban culture, no longer rural communities are retaining
their unique rural culture. Rural people are following the material culture of
urban people. Urban rural transformation can be observed in the following
areas.

Spread of education:

The literacy rate has increased among the rural people. They have become more
modernised.

i. Change in Dress habits.

ii. Adoption of modern Technology
iii. Enlightenment of women.
 iv. Modern transport and communication. E.g.: Cell phones have
become common even among rural people.
v. Active involvement in politics.
vi. Growth of infrastructure like Banks, Post office.
vii. Awareness among rural consumers.
viii. Increasing demand for sophisticated products like cosmetics etc.

Thus it can be noticed that there are significant changes in the life style of
village people. Indian villages have adopted urban culture and urban style of
living. However, all villages in India are not transformed. Only certain villages
situated close to the cities have been transformed.

Effect of Urbanisation:

With a high rate of urbanization significant changes have taken place. The effect
of urbanisation can be summed up as follows:

Positive effect:

i. Migration of rural people to urban areas.

ii. Employment opportunities in urban centres.
iii. Transport and communication facilities.
iv. Educational facilities.
v. Increase in the standard of living.

Urbanization can yield positive effects if it takes place up to a desirable limit.

Extensive urbanisation or indiscriminate growth of cities may result in adverse
effects. They may be as follows:
Negative effect:

i. Problem of over population:

Concentration of population is a major problem of cities. It has resulted in

accommodation problem, growth of slums etc.

ii. Disintegration of Joint family:

Joint family can’t be maintained in cities on account of high cost of living:

People prefer to live in the nuclear type of families.

iii. Cost of living:

High cost of living is a major problem of cities. In Metro cities like Mumbai,
Bangalore etc. it is very difficult for lower income groups to maintain a decent
standard of living.

iv. Increase in Crime rates:

Urban centres are known for high rate of crimes. Theft, Dacoity, Murder,
Cheating, Pick pocketing, rape etc. are common in urban centres.

v. Impersonal relations:

Urban centres are characterised by highly secondary relations. The concept of

neighbourhood, community life are almost absent in cities. Urban life is highly
monotonous. This may have an adverse psychological effect on individuals.
People are often self centred and they have no concern for the fellow human
beings.
vi. Problem of Pollution:

In industrialized cities pollution is a major problem. It may be caused by

industries or by excessive movement of vehicles.

viii. Stress:

Urban life is characterised by stress which may even strain family relations. In
cities employment of women is almost inevitable to meet the increasing cost of
living. Changing role of women in the family creates stress in the family which
may result in divorce or strained relations. Thus urbanisation has its own merits
and de-merits. Urbanization can’t be avoided. But the negative effect of
urbanization can be minimised.
Growth of Urban Settlement or Slums

The term ‘slum’ is used to indicate housing which falls below a certain level
which is necessary to contribute to human development (Brian C. Aldrich,
1995). During the study it is found that, according to World Bank (1992), the
term ‘squatter settlement’ is used to indicate housing that is either the result of
illegal occupation or has developed in an unauthorized fashion (The housing
Indicators Programme, Washington, DC: The World Bank.)
In this regard United Nation Urban Land policies define slum- as a building,
group of buildings or areas characterized by overcrowding, deterioration,
insanitary conditions or absence of facilities or amenities which because of
these conditions or any of them, endanger the health, safety or morals of its
inhabitants or the community.

Brief Historical Perspectives on the Slum

A study of ancient Roman ruins indicates the presence of slums in ancient

times. In medieval times cities were so crowded that destitute people though
small in number were kept out of the city. The Jewish ghetto was a unique type
of medieval urban slum. Its uniqueness stems from an interesting and complex
set of social, religious, political and economic factors that created a unified
homogenous group which often lived for centuries, isolated from the rest of the
society in slum like conditions. This situation deteriorated with increasing
urbanization in Europe and U.S. The origin of the British slums during the
nineteenth century as explained by Lewis Mumford (1990) is related to the
industrial modern city and the factory system. Frederick Engels (1990) in his
study of slum conditions in Manchester in 1844, the first manufacturing city of
the world stated that the recent origin of slums belong to the industrial
epoch. So, after the industrial revolution, the poor were needed to work in
urban factories. It was then the modern slum began to grow. The low wages
permitted no decent quarters. And rapidly increasing industry multiplied the
number of urban masses. Housing has to be provided and the tenements of the
working class were made of poor material, rooms were small and low, baths
were omitted, toilet facilities and water outlets had to be shared by several
people. In U.S, the process of urbanization was quicker than in Europe, and low
paid workers immigrated in masses. Big slums were essential phenomena of a
few large cities. The invention of automobile the subsequent exodus from more
centrally located residences, added to the deterioration of once satisfactory
areas. Two World Wars during which building activities were sharply curtailed,
added to the slum problem.

The slums constitute the most important and persistent problem of urban life.
They are the chief sources of crime and delinquency, of illness and death from
diseases. Slums are of all shapes, types and forms. Mumbai has its packed
multi-storeyed Chawls, New York- its Harlem and its East side, Chicago- its
black belt, London- its east end. Families in Bangkok crowd together in ‘Pile
villages’ composed of poorly constructed wooden shacks, bamboo hubs and
straw hovels along the small lanes of Kolkata, Dacca and Lagos, which stream
with the high humidity and stink from open drains. Impoverished shantytown or
squatter shacks constructed from junks cover the hillside of Rio de Janeiro,
Lima, Hong Kong and other Asian, African and South American cities. Even
the most affluent nation in the world has slums. At least one fifth of urban
population of U.S lives in poor or substandard housing. Like U.S, other
capitalist nations of the world have slums. These nations have progressed on
other fronts but the shelter problems have eluded solutions. Even in socialist
countries where massive urban renewal programs have taken place and where
private ownership of land does not exists, slums do exist. The developing
countries or the underdeveloped countries, which have chosen the capitalist path
of development, are often referred to as the Third World, where the trends of
urbanization since the Second World War have been interesting, instructive and
alarming. Steaks of contrasts in all spheres of life characterize Third World.
Some of these contrasts assume the form of contradictions. For instances, in
Mumbai where perhaps some of the worst slums in the world can be found the
skyline is getting changed by an eruption of skyscrapers of the most modern
dimension, accommodating airline companies, five star hotels, officers of
multinationals and the affluent few of the metropolis. The slum offends the
eyes, nose and conscience but it exists all the same. We somehow learnt to live
complacently with such contradictions, which eloquently proclaim our distorted
sense of priorities. It would not be too sweeping to say that the slum has become
an inevitable and expanding feature of cities in developing countries. Shelter
less people grabs every patch of vacant spot to pitch a makeshift shack. In
Mumbai besides a few lakh who lives in slums and sleeps. In the streets, one
can see tiny, shaky dwellings made of tin sheets, mud, wood, and rags even
under the trees.

Basic Concepts and Definitions of Slum

While the UN definition of “slums” was certainly important, in reality, slums

are delimited along with national, regional or local definitions of minimum
living standards, national laws and urban planning. For instance, zoning,
construction and land regulations–which are generally defined locally–delimit
what belongs to the planned city and what does not. In some occasions housing
solutions located in zones, which are considered industrial according to Master
Plans, could still be considered illegal or informal even when complying with
construction standards.
Recently, the Registrar General of India had adopted the following definition
for the purpose of Census of India 2001; the slum is broadly constituted of:
  All specified areas in a town or city notified as ‘Slum’ by State/Local
Government and UT Administration under any Act including a
‘Slum Act’.

 All areas recognized as ‘Slum’ by State/Local Government and UT

Administration. Housing and Slum Boards, which may have not been
formally notified as slum under any act.

 A compact area of at least 300 populations or about 60-70 households

of poorly built congested tenements, in unhygienic environment
usually with inadequate infrastructure and lacking proper sanitary
and drinking water facilities.

According to National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) of India “A slum

is a compact settlement of at least 20 households with a collection of poorly
built tenement, mostly of temporary nature, crowded together usually with
inadequate sanitary and drinking water facilities in unhygienic conditions”.

According to Sri Ram Gopal in India the definition of slum varies. In India,
each state has its own definition of slum. The National Definition of ‘Slum
areas’ was set by the Slum Areas Improvement and Clearance act of 1956. It
defines them as places where buildings:
1. Are in any respect unfit for human habitation;
2. Are by reason of dilapidation, overcrowding, faulty arrangement and
design of such buildings, narrowness or faulty arrangement of streets,
lack of ventilation, light, sanitation facilities or any combination of these
factors which are detrimental to safety, health and morals.
The Census of India defines a slum as “a compact area of at least 300 in
population or about 60-70 households of poorly built, congested tenements in an
unhygienic environment usually with inadequate infrastructure and lacking
proper sanitary and drinking water facilities.”

Growth of Slum & Slum Population in India

The number of slums and slum population in all over Indian cities has been
increased during 2001-11 and it’s a major drawback showing the lack of basic
amenities in those cities. In this approach the probable reason for increasing or
upcoming of the slums are rapid urbanization, industrialization, higher
productivity in the secondary and tertiary sector rather than agriculture or in
primary sector makes the cities and town the hub or centers of economic
development, growth and producers of employment as a result the number of
urban population increasing in the cities.

According to Census of India '2001, there are 42.6 million people are found to
live in slums all over the urban areas of the country. This constitutes 22.6 per
cent of the urban population of the states or union territories and 15 per cent of
the total urban population of India. Nearly 640 cities or towns in 26
States/Union territories in India have reported slum population in the year of
2001.

That’s is why now a day’s city work as a beacons for the rural population as the
urban area or city represent a glamorous and higher standard of living and it
offers more and more opportunities to the mass which is lacking in the rural
areas.
Over the past 67 years since Independence, India is rapidly transforming into a
state of cities. Recently based on UN Projections report, it is said that Urban
India is projected to meet ahead of rural part of India in terms of population
growth by 2025. Therefore the impact of these major factor increasing and as a
result of this there is large number of people migrating towards the city to earn
their livelihood and to enjoy the urban life.

Slums in India: from Past to Present

Table : Growth of Urban Population in India

year % of Urban Population to Decadal Urban Population

Total Population Growth
1981 23.34% 46.14%
1991 25.72% 36.46%
2001 27.78% 31.36%
2011 31.16% 34.64%
Includes Slums Source: Census 2011

Hence, the negative consequences of rural-urban migration or pull factor results

in upcoming of slums generally characterized by inadequate number of housing
or its shortage and critical inadequacy in civic amenities, overcrowding,
congestion, unhygienic conditions showing as a major issues.

According to Census 2001 the Slum in India

It is first time in India; slum areas were identified across the country according
to Census 2001, predominantly, in metropolises and towns having a large
number of population i.e. 50,000 or more than in 1991 Census. Consequently,
the slum data was culled out also for towns with 20,000 to 49,999 population in
2001 and statutory towns having population less than 50,000 in the year of 1991
but it is recounted more than 50,000 populations in 2001 and were not
recognized for carving slum EBs earlier. According to census data 2011 there
are 4041 statutory towns reported from 2543 town i.e. 63% of total and the total
Slum Enumeration Blocks (SEBs) is about 1.08 lakh in the country.
It is also found that the number of Towns having slums in India based on
National Sample Survey in 2001; there are totaling number of Town reported
Slums- 1743.
During the survey it is found that Maharashtra having the maximum number of
Slums Enumeration Blocks i.e. 21359 (27.3 %) in the country (Census 2011).

According to the Slum-Census of India: Census 2011

There are three types of slums have been defined in the census of 2011, they are
Notified slum, Recognized slum and Identified Slum respectively. Out of which
in 1st phase- 640 towns and in the 2nd phase 1103 towns were found. In 2011
there are total numbers of Town reported as Slums-2613 Total Number of
Towns reported slums- 2613.

Slum Blocks

100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Number of Slum Blocks by types of
Slums in India: Census 2011
Identified Slums 37.20%
Recognised Slums 28.50%
Notified Slums 34.30%

Source: Census 2011

Based on census data 2011 there are total number of notified slums are 37072,
recognized slums are 30846 and the identified slums are 40309 are found i.e.
total 108227 number of slum blocks all over the city of India.

According to NSSO report in 2011, 377 million or 31.7 percent of the country’s
population lived in urban areas. Therefore it shows a decline in urban
population. On the basis of this account, this would be better to understood or
considered that it shows a low level of urbanization in the coming days.
Nevertheless, even the rate of urbanization having a great impact on the urban
population increase or decrease and according to which in the 2011 NSSO
report showing that the rate of urbanization is decreasing down in India with
2.81 percent per annum during the 2001-2011 when the country experienced or
achieved high economic growth in the same period. We know that a common
process which enforces urbanization i.e. the economic growth which leads to
migration and therefore urbanization. However it could not be ignored that
natural population increase contributed between 51 percent and 65 percent of
the urban population growth during 1961-2001 periods.

Factors causing the increase of slum population:

Rural-urban migration
A study on the pattern of rural-urban migration in India by J.P. Singh
(J.P.Singh, 1986) has identified that the socio-occupational changes are the
result of migration. The study observes that those who have moved from rural to
urban areas, their proportion and participation in non-agricultural activities,
professions and services have increased but this change is more horizontal than
vertical, particularly among the lower class rural migrants, even though, they
are exposed to a complex, heterogeneous new social environment, new social
identity and to a different nature of work opportunity with more earning
potentials.
 BIHAR
(29.5%)

RAJASTHAN
U.P (51%) DELHI (9%)

OTHERS
(10.5%)

Figure: Percentage population migrating to Delhi from different States.

The migration of population towards Delhi is maximum in terms of slum

migration in the country. The maximum number or percentage of migrating
population is belongs to U.P. the leading state to Delhi followed by Bihar
(29.5%), Rajasthan (9%) and others including Chhattisgarh, West Bengal which
accounted for 2.5 % of migrants in these slums. States such as Haryana,
Karnataka, M.P, and Uttaranchal also accounts for small proportion of
immigrants.

Poverty

As we know that poverty is main cause and it seeks the fulfilment of basic
needs like shelter, food and employment, ultimately it encourages the demand
and the formation of slums in the urban setting or area. Based on the study, in
the past century or decade, rural areas were traditionally thought of regions of
poverty based on its lacking basic facility to survive. Due to increased demand
and rapid shifts from rural to urban life as well as poverty migrating to urban
areas. The people who could not have typically much resources to their daily
life, come to city with a hope of employment, and very little of anything else to
survive in the big city like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, etc. typically they have no
proper access to shelter, basic urban services like sanitation, safe drinking
water, basic services and even lack of social amenities. So there is no option to
live other than slum for urban poor. So it is directly proportional or correlated to
poverty, insufficient social and economic development of the urban poor.
Therefore it also affects to the development and shows the mode of
development of city. The other aspect that also depend directly to their growth
which tells the story of city having richer the country, the lower is the incidence
of slum and it also affect the gross national income of the country as well. So it
could not be denied that poverty is the main fuel which initiates the growth of
slum.

War, Social conflict and natural disaster

Natural disaster i.e. such as flood & earthquake are the major sources of
displacement and it leads to the huge migration which ultimately creation of
temporary shelter in the city and it becomes slum after no option of shelter for
migratory people to live and finally it takes the bigger shape with deteriorating
condition of slums. After some time it becomes the permanent shelter for the
migratory people and they do not want to leave, as in the case of Burmese
Muslim refugee Rohingyas, who migrated to Delhi in the recent fleeing deadly
religious persecution and massacre in Burma, which has wiped out village after
village in these last few years. The exact numbers estimated around 20,000-
25,000 and they have spread into places like Delhi, Jammu, Noida, Mewat
(Haryana), Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Aligarh, Hyderabad and Mumbai. In
Delhi they live in the Slum of Kalindi Kunj, Khajuri, Nizamuddin and in
neighbouring Noida (The Sunday Guardian news-paper, 2nd November
2013).In Kalindi Kunj, the Rohingyas have earmarked a small place where they
can offer namaz. One of them has opened a shop inside the slum, where he sells
stuff for daily use such as biscuits, snacks, chocolates and bread. Most of them
work as daily wage labourers. Hence, natural disaster, social conflict and war
having major impact to create a slum in the city or urban areas.

Industrial Revolution and its impact on Slum

Industrial revolution is another key or role in the creation of slum around the
world in urban areas. As we aware of that Industrial revolution begins from 18th
to 19th centuries and the use of machinery started for large scale production led
to the employment generation in the urban area. The people, who seek
employment, migrated to city in search of job having no shelter to stay over
there then they started living near the open space around the industry and finally
it has taken place a huge accumulation of people in small area with fewer
amenities, sub -standard living leads to the formation of slum. So it is the result
of industrial revolution to attract the rural poor people towards city enforced to
live in slum.

Colonial and Segregation Impact

There are most of the slums existing today throughout the world are the product
of urbanization carried by colonialism. For instance, in the nineteenth century
the European came to Kenya and established urban centers like Nairobi; their
main aim had to serve only their financial interests and to exploit the resources.
They considered the Africans as short-term migrants and treated them only to
fulfil the demand of labour in the industrial work or for the supply of labour.
They were enforced to and to live in the government made settlements and they
provided in the form of single seated bed to sleep. Thus, it could be assumed
that the housing policy during that time was also not up to the mark and still it is
a problem in the urban setting for slum dwellers to live in deteriorating
condition. Due to the need of better life style and employment the rural people
started to migrate gradually with their families to the urban area. After the
migration there is problem aroused where to live, but as they could not afford to
buy land and houses in the urban centre as a result they started to live in open
space of the city area like bank of river, on footpath, public land and their
accumulated strengths known or gave birth to slums.

Rests of the slums in the world were created for the reason that of
segregation imposed by the colonial rulers. For instance, Dharavi slum of
Mumbai - now it known as largest slums of India, in Maharashtra state. In 1887,
the British colonial rulers debarred all Workplace where skins and hides are
tanned by tanneries, harmful industry and poor inhabitants who worked in the
peninsular part of the city area and colonial housing area, to the northern fringe
and this settlement known as Dharavi. After a long time the colonial ruler had
not favoured any supervision or investment in these settlement in terms of road
infrastructure, housing, sanitation or public services and then the condition gone
worst; still facing such problems at large. The migrated people shifted to
Dharavi because they could not afford housing in the city and worked as a
servant in colonial offices and homes and in the colonial owned tanneries and
many other polluting industries near Dharavi. In post-independent India slum in
Dharavi continue to grow.

In the similar manner, some of other slums of Lagos and Nigeria developed
because of negligence and policies of the colonial ruler. During the colonial
period in South Africa, under the alleged reason of sanitation and plague
epidemic prevention, racial and ethnic group discrimination was followed;
people of black colour were enforced to move into the city fringes, these
enforced policies created Soweto and other slums and officially it is known as
townships. As a result of colonial impact there were large numbers of slums
started at the outer edge of differentiated-conscious colonial city centres in the
Latin America. Therefore, the colonial ruler and the colonial era created the
most of slum or settlement in the outer edge or fringes of the city.

Poor infrastructure, social exclusion and economic failure

Slum is ultimately the result of these major consequences which leads to the
expansion of slum and slum related problem in the urban such as poor
infrastructure, social exclusion based on caste and gender, and the economic
failure in the country. Poor infrastructure comprises of many things like
unstructured and sub-standard housing, lack of proper drainage system, scarcity
of safe drinking water and sanitation, poor and unhygienic health facility in
slum locality.

Role of Urbanization

Urbanization has long been associated with industrialization, indeed they have
been considered synonymous. But manufacturing activities in cities are of a
relatively recent vintage. Cities evolved originally as markets or trading centres
and have traditionally been known more for their service sector activities than
for industry. The situation is now turning full circle. In contrast to the early days
of the industrial revolution, when the proportion of employment in the urban
service sector usually declined with rapid industrialization and urbanization, in
less developed countries today services have tended to expand as fast as
industry so that the process of urbanization is a movement of people to both
industry and service sector from primary sector i.e. agriculture (Deb, 2006, p.
62). Ultimately, slum is the product of urbanization and industrialization with
worst performance. Now it seems to be a major obstacle in the proper
development and cleaning of any city. Also it is very pathetic to urban life with
a creation of major problem like sanitation, safe drinking water, health related
problems and many more related issues like sewage, or drainage, safety etc. due
to uncontrolled growth of slum and squatter inside the urban area.
Urbanization is a pre-requisite to achieve rapid economic development. In a
country like India, economic development is generally associated with the
growth of urbanization. It is the real fact that urbanization is associated with
development and it has been experienced by developed countries where in the
process of development generally associated with many industrial cities came
into existence in these countries. Simultaneously the industrial and service
sectors also developed. As a result of urbanization, the commercial, financial
and other activities like maintenance, repair etc., got expanded, with some cities
specializing in them. The same can be said about India, where industrial town
come into existence after through urbanization process (Rahman, 2007). During
the developmental phase another desirable aspect revealed by urbanization is
the new and expanded employment opportunities that created in urban area and
this benefited to the urban population as well as the migrants from rural areas.
The process of urbanization relates to concentration of people engaged in non-
agricultural occupations and concentration of non-agricultural land-use in a
specialized area, a ‘place, as a consequences of population, occupational and
land-use shifts (S.Mukherjee, 2001).

Based on these assumptions urbanizations involves:

i. Concentration of people at a population densities higher than these

associated with agricultural population with only very rare exceptions on
either side;
ii. People’s shift i.e. migration from rural to urban areas; or people shifting.
iii. Occupational shift from agricultural to non-agricultural; and
iv. Land use shift from agricultural to non-agricultural.

Urbanization refers to an increase in the number of population living in the

urban areas mainly following non-agricultural activity. The percentage of urban
population vis a vis the total population of a country reveals the level of urban
growth. Economic development always leads to greater urbanization in an
economy. At the same time the level of urbanization of a region is classically
regarded as a meaningful indicate of economic development (Rahman, 2007).
Kingsley Davis points out that “urbanization represents a revolutionary change
in the whole pattern of social life. As it is a result of basic economic and
technological developments, it tends in turn, once it comes into being, to affect
every aspect of existence” (Davis K. , 1955) many aspect of the issues given
rise to by the rural-urban migration have economic and social implications, so
much so that they appear like two sides of the same coin. The process of
migration from rural to urban areas is essentially responsible for the rapid
increases in urban population throughout the world which has brought about
serious consequences in the field of economy, societal structure, social relations
and health.

Characteristics of the Slums

Based on different structure and availability of the approaches regarding slum it

could be summaries that the slum having their different form and characteristics
found throughout the different part of the world. Slums are not always found
symmetrical structure and it could be vary from one type to another, but certain
general patterns of slums are universal. Usually, the slum is generally visualized
and characterized by inadequate housing, lack of basic needs and deficient
facilities, sanitation problem, lack of drainage system, less hygiene, lack of
health facility, unprotected drinking-water, sewage, darkness, overcrowding and
congestions involve much more then these elements. Slum has some distinct
feature that’s why sociologically; it is a way of life, a sub culture with a set of
norms and values, which is reflected in poor sanitation and health practices,
deviant behaviour and attributes of apathy and social isolations. People who live
in slums are isolated from the general power structure and are regarded as
inferiors. Slum dwellers in turn harbor, suspicions of the outside world. Slum is
also identified as the place of crime and it also create serious environmental
problem to the urban area. On the other hand it is the place where availability of
labour is easily accessible for the construction of building, for industrial work
and many more related to the daily life of urban people.

Therefore it facilitate to the urban life to run their daily life activity which could
not be done without the help of cheap labour force; which could be easily
available to them by these area of slum, substandard housing is the prime
characteristic of a slum (Pillai A. R., 1970). Further, Nels Anderson
supplements the discussion by Bergel. ‘‘Appearance, economic status,
overcrowding, the nature of population, health and sanitary conditions, morals
and ways of life, social isolation, mobility and permanency-these are features
that characterize slum’’(Pillai A. R., 1970). It is due to which people cannot
afford the level of rent set up by market conditions. Slum may be characterized
as areas of substandard housing conditions within a city. “A slum is always an
area. A single neglected building, even in the worst stage of deterioration, does
not make a slum (Pillai A. R., 1970, p. 39). The slum is a complex product of
many factors, as is true of many other social phenomena” 2. But poverty is the
foremost cause. In the further argument by Bergel the modern slums are
characterized by other than technological and hygienic feature; social elements
have to be added: the awareness of upper socio-economic groups that conditions
have to be changed and the demand of the underprivileged for improvement.
2
“Slum and Urbanization” ,the nature of slum by Bergel.
According to Bergel there are mainly three types of slums found:

1) One is the ‘Original’ slum, an area which, from the beginning, consisted
of unsuitable building; these sections are beyond recovery and need to
be razed. e.g. Mexican slum in Wichita.
2) The second type consists of slum created by the departure of middle and
upper-class families to other sections and subsequent deterioration of
the area. e.g. South End slum in Boston.
3) And the third most unpleasant type of slum is mainly a phenomenon of
transition. Once the area around a main business district has become
blighted, physical and social deterioration spread rapidly. This kind of
slum teems with flophouses, overnight accommodation for the destitute,
house of prostitution, and speakeasies. It is populated by transients,
tramps, vagrants, chronic alcoholics, beggars, homeless men, and
habitual criminals. This type of slum clearly defies rehabilitation. The
proper remedy is better administration. Stricter zoning laws, building
codes, and a more severe condemnation policy would lead to the
demolition of many buildings (Pillai A. R., 1970, p. 43).

Another Important characteristic of Slum by:

• Appearance- This may be called a universal mark of the slum; its aspect
of neglect and disorder with respect to buildings, yards, and streets.
Appearance is generally on of structural over-age and decline
• Economic status- Residents of the slum belongs to low income or
economically deprived group such as poor tenants. In some areas, they
can also be the people, displaced by disasters or conflict. In general,
however, the slum is a poverty area.
• Overcrowding- We may find that the space is overcrowded with buildings
or the buildings may be overcrowded with people, or both.A slum
generally has high density of people within the dwelling unit on the basis
of space occupancy. Small houses or huts with narrow and dark street
lanes characterize slums in most of the cases.
• Population- In a slum of heterogeneous occupancy, many of the
inhabitants there are persons not welcome in other residential areas, or
they cannot afford to live elsewhere. Thus, it may be refuge area for the
aged, the chronically sick, the homeless, and the socially maladjusted.
• Health and sanitation- the slum is characterized by low standards of
sanitation. The slum is often most neglected by the public services for
sanitation. For mixed reasons, it may also be an area of high sickness and
death rates. A slum generally lacks access to public services such as
sewerage, water supply, roads, street lamps etc. or even if they have
them, they provide poor service facilities.
• Morals- The slum may be an area of delinquency, crime, and vice, but
this is more likely to be true of the socially disorganized slum.
• Way of life- Slum differs widely with respect to the social organization of
their inhabitants. They range from the slum in which the inhabitants are
strangers to one another, and wish to be; to the family slum in which
there is wide acquaintance between the inhabitants.
• Social isolation or Deprivation- residents of the slum may also belong to
socially deprived group such as “lower castes”.
• Mobility- The slum is usually an area of high residential mobility, but a
family-occupied slum may have a low rate of residential mobility.
• Slum permanency- In the rapidly growing area, some once occupied by
slums is later occupied for other purposes. The removed slum emerges
elsewhere. Perhaps to be replaced still later by another occupancy.
A slum is a cluster of houses - a slum is an area therefore, an individual house is
not considered as a slum. Slum areas are generally found in periphery of old
inner city, which is a marginalized area from the point of view of old
settlements and these days, which is being occupied by new migrants. Poor
housing in the slum area generally used low-cost building construction materials
with poor hygiene and sanitation. Therefore slum is characterized by this
important feature as they exist around the urban area.