Relevance: Sociology-II
Urbanization is the movement of people from rural to urban areas, thereby increasing the concentration of population in urban areas. In economic terms, it refers to movement of people from agriculture-based community to other communities which are generally larger and whose primary economic activities are centered in government, trade, manufacturing and allied activities.
Urbanization is multi-dimensional process which not only involves changes in place of residence and economic activities but also results in changes in the migrant’s belief, attitudes and behavior patterns. Urbanization in India has fairly long history dating back to the period of Indus Valley Civilization. Urban centers grew up in various periods of history including medieval period. During the British period Urbanization was primarily for governmental requirements or for facilitating trade outside India. However, these centers were limited and most of the population resided in villages. As per 1901 census only 10.8% population lived in cities, according to 1951, 17.3%, 2001 it was 27.81% and 2011 census report it is 31.16% population residing in cities. The above data indicates that pace of urbanization increased after independence.
Urbanization refers to migration of people from rural to urban areas. It can be due to two factors:
1) push factor,
2) pull factor.
Push factor implies that people move from villages to avoid poor quality of life in villages and pull factor indicates that people are attracted towards cities for better life. Although combination of both these factors results into urbanization but in context of India push factor dominates.
The reason for the same is increase in population which led to decline in the size of agricultural land holdings and in some cases, reduction is to such an extent that people is not able to support their family. Moreover, reduction in landholdings is not adequately matched with increase in the employment opportunities at local level. As a result, either people live in abject poverty or migrate to industrial center to look for a job.
Sustainable development refers to “the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. It can be best seen in the light of need vs. greed debate as suggested by Gandhiji. The resources of the world are limited and the environment has a certain limited capacity to regenerate its resource.
Various parameters of sustainable development:
- Region: There should be parity in the regional development, otherwise there will be migration of people from less developed regions to more developed regions. This will put more pressure on the developed area and will lead to social tensions which will ultimately affect its sustainability. For e.g. influx of Bihar people to Mumbai leading to “sons of soil” theory.
- Religion: All the religions must be given equal opportunity to flourish. If one community is not properly developed than the policies must be made to develop that community. Otherwise, there will be communal tensions which will affect the sustainable development of any society.
- Caste: The structural barriers present in the social structure must be removed so that the development of low and marginalized castes takes place. Reservations in the form of protective discriminations are an important step in this direction. Proper political participation is a must condition for inclusive development.
- Class: Equitable distribution of the fruits of development is the necessary condition a harmonious society. Most of the times communal riots take place in the guise of economic disparity. Though schemes are launched by the government but the focus must be on developing capabilities of the poor in the long run.
- Gender: Women are the integral half of the society. They must be given proper opportunities to develop themselves through education and employment. As they are intrinsically linked to environment, their views must be taken into consideration while making & implementing policies.
- Environment: There exists complementarity between growth and environmental protection. More growth will provide more resources for environmental protection and the development will not be fruitful without environmental protection. For e.g. Uttarakhand tragedy is a classic example of pursuing development without environmental considerations
Urbanization is usually seen as an indicator of development as it indicates that more and more people are engaged in secondary and tertiary economic activities. Unfortunately, this is not the case in India. Here the government while prioritizing industry has failed to maintain its equitable geographical distribution. This has created some industrial pockets which required more and more worker while rest of the country lacks reasonable employment opportunities.
The urbanization in India has been lopsided and therefore has come with several problems. The push factors have created an exodus from village. As no systematic effort was made to develop industries in smaller towns which could provide employment to these people, this group landed in cities which were not geared up to provide even basic facilities to these people.
First requirement of these migrants was accommodation and when the city could not meet their demands, slums came up in cities, in which people lived in highly dilapidated situation. As per draft mission document of National Urban Livelihood mission under the ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation population residing in urban slums has been estimated at about 93 million. As per data provided by census, 2011, 3% of urban population does not have exclusive room for living, while 32% live in 1-room house, 29.4% does not have access to tap water, 18.6% do not have latrine facility within the house and 7.3% do not have access to electricity. This aspect of urbanization can hardly be accepted and brings with itself a host of economic, social and environment problems.
Moreover, urbanization based on pull factor does not have any adverse impact on cities but this drains the village of skilled and educated population.
Major issues with urbanization in context of India are:
Pace of urbanization is uneven and is also biased in favour of big centres. Lack of co-ordination between various governmental department and agencies, local bodies, research organizations, NGO’s leads to overlapping and duplication of work. Thus, leading to inefficiency.
There is paucity of dedicated cadre for city management along with leadership deficit. A study conducted in context of Karnataka reveals that in rural areas for every 380 people there is one elected representative whereas in urban areas for every 3400 people there is one elected representation. Hence, with reference to the parameters given, it is evident that Rapid urbanization and sustainable development are not in sink. Therefore, there is a significant urge to cater to the problems associated with urbanization on priority basis.
Hence first of all we need to develop our infrastructure so as to accommodate the needs of migrating population.
Secondly, administration of cities is the responsibility of municipalities which lack expertise to deal with the rapid changing scenario hence the aim should be to develop dedicated cadre of city managers to ensure efficient administration.
Thirdly stress should be laid on long term planning and short term goal satisfaction should not be the aim every time. Awareness should be created among people and ensure greater participation. Government should aim to develop alternative employment opportunities in rural areas, develop agriculture based small scale industries and ensure balanced regional development.
Moreover, small towns needs to be focused upon so as to ensure there is balanced urbanization and for this industries using local resources should be developed in small towns which will provide better quality of life in towns. The proposed solution is not impossible to achieve.
With proper planning, requisite political will, efficient administration we can ensure that even in context of India urbanization proves to be an indicator of development.