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India is one of the countries in which urban centres and urbanization flourished as early as 3000 B.C.

The urban centres of Mohenjodaro, Harappa and Lothal may be cited as the examples of pre-historic urbanization in India.

During the ancient and medieval periods of Indian history, numerous towns and cities developed, mainly because of socio-economic, geo-political and cultural reasons. Most of them were walled cities like Delhi, Sirhind, Lahore etc. which were centres of regional powers and trade.

The arrival of the East India Company led to the development of many cities and towns. The urbanization during this period is vastly different as the British developed towns according to their functions and were different from the earlier Indian cities. The major types of towns developed by the British can be classified into the following categories:

1. Cantonments at strategic places within India to contain disaffection by the rulers of states and principalities. Some of the major cantonments are Ambala, Ahmedabad, Agra, Jhansi, Meerut, Roorkce, Mhow etc.

2. Hill Stations in Himalayas and Western Ghats mostly as sanatoria where Europeans could brave out the harsh Indian summers. Shimla was developed as the summer capital of India. Other hill stations developed by the British are Mussoorie, Nainital, Kasauli, Darjeeling, Almora, Kodaicanal, Ooty etc.

3. Ports or Trading Centres to export Indian raw material and import English finished goods for redistribution in the Indian market. Kolkata, Mumbai, Vishakhapatnam, Chennai, Amritsar, Kanpur, Lucknow etc.

4. Industrial cities like Jamshedpur, Bhadravati, Asansol and Dhanbad near the sources of minerals to convert them into raw form from the ores, especially metals.

5. Modification of the older cities by addition of civil lines and cantonments, which were primarily British residential and office areas with modern amenities, better sanitation, metalled roads, piped water, electricity etc.

Although the process of urbanization recorded a steady growth after 1921 (Table 7), it got a quantum jump after independence (1947). During the last fifty years, not only-the old cities and towns have expanded in population, size, density and area, several hundred new towns have been established and developed. The cities of Chandigarh, Panchkula and Gandhinagar are the examples of newly developed towns and cities.

The urban population of India (2001) far exceeds the total population of all the countries of the world except China. Similarly, there were only three countries in the world namely, China, U.S.A. and Russia which have a size of urban population comparable with that of India.

Defining an Urban Area

In India, all statutory towns, i.e., all places with municipal corporations, cantonment boards or notified area committees are treated as urban. In addition to this, places which fulfil following criteria arc also termed as urban centres :

1. A minimum population of 5000.

2. 75 per cent of their male working population is engaged in non-agricultural activities.

3. A density of population of at least 400 persons per square kilometre.

Along with that the directors of census operations are also given discretionary powers to classify marginal cases as rural or urban taking into consideration the local circumstances such as major project colonies, areas of intensive industrial development, railway colonies, and important tourist centres etc.

Thus, there are two types of towns in India, one by virtue of statutory notification, and two, on the basis of three criteria or at the discretion of the census operations. The towns of the first category are known as municipal towns and, the towns of the second category are known as census towns or non-municipal towns.

The definition of an urban centre varies from country to country. In order to make the international data comparable, the United Nations suggested that the national data on urban populations should be presented according to a standardized scale.

Consequently, countries including India have classified their urban settlements into a number of categories mainly on the basis of population size.

1. Class I:

those having a population of 100,000 or more;

2. Class II:

those having a population between 50,000 and 99,999;

3. Class III:

those having a population between 20,000 and 49,999;

4. Class IV:

those having a population between 10,000 and 19,999;

5. Class V:

those having a population between 5,000 and 9,999;

6. Class VI:

those having a population of less than 5,000.

According to 2001 Census, 27.78 per cent population of India lives in urban centres. If one compares this figure with the urban share of population in 1951, which is approximately 6 per cent; one can say that in the past 50 years, India has not achieved the desired rate of development since the level of urbanization is a very fair indicator of the level of development.

Yet, a few pockets in India have experienced an exclusive growth of urban centres. After examining the urban growth in India one realizes that it is the big urban centres which have attracted lot of population. Medium and small size urban centres have not grown at the same pace.

1. Union territories such as Delhi, Chandigarh, Pondicherry, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu have high level of urbanization. These areas are highly industrialized. They provide greater opportunities of employment, services, education, and health facilities; hence they are a greater attraction for migrants.

2. States of Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Mizoram and UT of Andaman and Nicobar Islands are all more developed in comparison to other states and hence show levels of urbanization higher than the national average of 27.78%.

3. States of Haryana, Uttranchal, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala have almost same levels of urbanization as the whole country.

4. Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Manipur, Arunachal, Rajasthan and UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli have 20 to 25% urbanization.

5. 15 to 20% population of Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya lives in urban areas.

6. In contrast to the above, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Assam and Bihar have the lowest figures that is less than 15%. Low urban population in these areas may be mainly because of physical, social and political factors that do not permit or are not conducive for economic development.