(World Urbanization Prospects: the 2014 Revision)
4. Urbanization in India
India has a long history of urbanization with spatial and temporal discontinuities. It is an ongoing process that has never stopped and has rarely, slowed down since its beginning. Urbanization in India is divided into different phases, beginning from Indus valley civilization to reaching watermark during the Mughal period and also contribution from the British made to the process of urbanization in India. Post-independence witnessed rapid urbanization in India on a scale never before achieved. The major changes that have occurred in India's urban scene after India's urban independence are the building of new administrative cities, the construction of new industrial cities and township near major cities, the rapid growth of one-lakh and one million cities, the massive growth of slums and rural-urban fringe, the introduction of city planning and the general improvement in civic amenities.
The pace of urbanization in India is now set to accelerate as the country sets to a more rapid growth. Economic reform has already unleashed investment and growth offering its citizens rich opportunities. Surging growth and employment in cities will prove a powerful magnet. If not well managed, this inevitable increase in India’s urban population will place enormous stress on the system.
For India to be more inclusive, it is imperative that both economic growth and urban population be more equitably distributed. Therefore, any meaningful long-term vision for India would be incomplete without planning for the cities of tomorrow.
Urban India today is “distributed” in shape—with a diverse range of large and small cities spread widely around the nation. India will probably continue on a path of distributed model of urbanization because this suits its federal structure and helps to ensure that migration flows aren’t unbalanced toward any particular city or cities.
As the urban population and incomes increase, demand for every key service such as water, transportation, sewage treatment, low income housing will increase five-to seven fold in cities of every size and type. And if India continues on its current path, urban infrastructure will fall woefully short of what is necessary to sustain prosperous cities.
There has been an incomplete devolution of functions to the elected bodies as per 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, possibly because of the unwillingness of the state governments. In addition, very few Indian cities have 2030 master plans that take into account peak transportation loads, requirements for low-income affordable housing and climate change. In general, the capacity to execute the urban reforms and projects at the municipal and state level has been historically inadequate.
As per 2011 Census, 377 million Indians comprising 31.1% of the total population live in urban areas. The United Nations (UN) Habitat World City’s 2016 Report estimates that urban population in India reached 420 million in 2015.
During 1981-2001, urbanization in India was mainly driven by natural increase in the population of cities (around 60%), followed by rural-urban migration, expansion of boundaries of cities and re-classification of rural areas into urban areas. However, between 2001 and 2011, the share of natural increase in the cities’ population declined to 44% while the share of reclassification of rural areas into urban areas strengthened and the share of rural-urban migration increased to 24%.
While this progress is welcome, the extent of urbanization in India remains significantly below those in other major developing countries. According to the World Bank, urban population as a proportion of the total population in 2015 stood at 86% in Brazil, 56% in China, 54% in Indonesia, 79% in Mexico and 82% in South Korea