Urbanomics in India (Detailed analysis of trends and patterns of urbanization in India)

Abstract

This paper aims at studying trends and patterns of urbanization in India. Paper has been divided into 2 parts, first pre-globalization period which was from 1951 to 1981; their position of urbanization and its trends have been analyzed. Second part deals with post-globalization period which is from 1991 to 2011, their urban status and pattern of urbanization in Indian economy has been analyzed. This was further divided under indicators like social, economic and infrastructure and housing, which give state-variation in urbanization pattern and revealed what is lacking if state has low urbanization rate. In the latter half of the paper urbanization policy JNNURM was analyzed and its role in developing urban infrastructure was studied with the help of project allocation and amounts sanctioned to state for urban renewal under this policy. Lastly suitable conclusion and recommendations have been provided in view of status of urbanization in India and problems it faces. I. Introduction It has been noted by World Bank data in 19 th century, the urban population represented just 3% of total world population. At the beginning of 20 th century due to industrialization the total share of urban population went up by 13% and in the second half of the 20 th century the growth in urban population showed a drastic increase to 29.1% due to decolonization of many countries like India, Mauritius, Malaysia became independent nations, governments took self initiative to urbanize the nation, in case of India during partition people who migrated settled in urban areas which increased the number of people staying in towns. Whereas Brazil became a Spanish colony from Portuguese colony, other reasons of industrialization is also partially responsible (BRICS report), these few reasons support our drastic change in level of world urbanization. This continuous increase in world urban population was a sign of development across the globe. In 2005 these numbers went up to 48.7%, nowadays 54 % (UNDP 2014) of the threshold has already achieved the level of urbanization. It can be pragmatic that while the rural population faintly grows until becoming stable, the urban population constantly grows and exceeds the rural rates. If we take into account the development level of the countries, it can be observed that in 1950, 52.1% of developed countries population was urban; meanwhile 81.9% of the developing countries were rural. This fact means that more than half (57.9%) of the global urban population is living in developed countries, while it only represents 32.1% of the world population. The developing countries urban population has continued its growth in the second half of the 20th century. Consequently, in 2005, it represented 42.9% of these countries' population (227.3million) and 71.6% of the global urban population. On the other hand, the developed countries urban population growth has been much lower: in 2005, it represented 74.1% of the total population (around 900 million). It can be observed that the 1950 European urban population consisted of 276,8 million inhabitants and represented 37.7% of the global world population, that is, the highest percentage worldwide, followed by the Asian one (32.3%). In 2005, Asia had the highest world urban population (49.5%) and Europe had the second highest one (16.6%), which was similar to the American Latin (13.6%) and the African one (11.1%).