Indian Society
Urbanisation: Problems and Remedies
GS Paper I
Urbanisation — Quick Revision
One-page UPSC revision on urbanisation: Census 2011 urban data, town definitions, the 74th Amendment, urban problems and missions with launch years.
SyllabusGS I · Urbanisation, their problems and their remedies
A last-week sheet on urbanisation. Prelims tests definitions and Articles; Mains tests whether you can link problems to governance remedies.
Census 2011 Urban Data
| Indicator | Figure |
|---|---|
| Urban population | 37.7 crore |
| Urban share | 31.16% (27.8% in 2001) |
| Statutory / census towns | 4,041 / 3,894 (total 7,935) |
| Census towns in 2001 | 1,362 |
| Million-plus cities/UAs | 53 |
| Slum population | About 6.5 crore in 2,613 towns |
| Most / least urbanised State | Goa (62.2%) / Himachal Pradesh (10.0%) |
Definitions
| Term | Rule |
|---|---|
| Statutory town | Has a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee |
| Census town | 5,000+ population; 75%+ male main workers in non-farm work; 400+ per sq km |
| Urban agglomeration | Town plus contiguous outgrowths, or contiguous towns |
74th Amendment (1992)
| Article | Provision |
|---|---|
| 243Q | Nagar Panchayat, Municipal Council, Municipal Corporation |
| 243S | Wards Committees (3 lakh+) |
| 243T | Reservation, including one-third for women |
| 243U | Five-year term |
| 243Y | State Finance Commission |
| 243ZA | State Election Commission |
| 243ZD | District Planning Committee |
| 243ZE | Metropolitan Planning Committee (10 lakh+) |
| Twelfth Schedule | 18 functions |
Missions
| Mission | Year |
|---|---|
| JNNURM | 2005 |
| SBM-Urban | 2014 (2.0 in 2021) |
| Smart Cities, AMRUT, PMAY-U, HRIDAY | 2015 |
| Rurban Mission | 2016 |
| National TOD Policy | 2017 |
| PM SVANidhi | 2020 |
| AMRUT 2.0 | 2021 |
High-yield facts
- 2001–11: urban population increase exceeded rural increase for the first time since Independence.
- Census towns are generally governed by panchayats, not municipalities.
- Ahmedabad issued India’s first municipal bond (1998).
- UN World Urbanization Prospects 2018: India to add about 41.6 crore urban dwellers by 2050.
Traps
- Twelfth Schedule functions are devolved at the State’s discretion, not automatically.
- Urban growth = natural increase + migration + reclassification — not migration alone.
- Mizoram is more urbanised than Tamil Nadu in percentage terms; Tamil Nadu leads among the large States.
Related Topics
- Urbanisation in India: Problems and Remedies
- Urbanisation — practice questions
- Local Government
- All quick revision sheets
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