Describe the rural urban composition of the population
Answers
The population of the country can also be divided into rural and urban.
It is because rural and urban lifestyles differ from each other in terms of livelihood and level of development.
Majority of people are engaged in primary activities in rural areas and most people are employed in the secondary sector in urban areas.
In Asian countries like India, Nepal and Pakistan, the situation is reverse.
Since males from rural regions migrate to urban areas in search of employment, they have outnumbered the females in urban areas.
The number of females in rural areas remains comparatively high.
Answer:
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.e approx 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
All the other places which satisfy following criteria :
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 category of urban units are known as Statutory town. These town 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 :-
1 Statutory Towns — 4,041
2 Census Towns — 3,894
3 Urban Agglomerations — 475
4 Out Growths — 981