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development in India (v) Wood as roof material is common in northern mountainous region of India.
within this category, there are two types. First, in the north-eastern states
wooden slabs are carefully superimposed and joined with rounded corners
protect house from snow and rainwater. In lower altitude particularly
Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir the houses are
covered with tin or water proof material.
Notes (vi) Bricks make flat and smooth roof in the form lintel mixed with iron rods and
cement, a practice in vogue, in modern type rural house particularly in rural
market centres and commonly found in the houses of rural rich.
The use of traditional building material is decreasing and it is being replaced by
building material like, iron, tin sheets, cement, etc.
INTEXT QUESTIONS 29.2
Answer the following questions briefly
(i) What are the three factors that influence the type of rural settlements in India?
(a) __________________ (b) _______________ (c) ______________
(ii) Name any three aspects of ethnic and cultural factors which influence rural
settlement.
(a) __________________ (b) _______________ (c) ______________
(iii) Which is the most common and oldest material used for building walls in
India?
_______________________________________________________
(iv) Where do we found timber or woods as building material for wall in India?
_______________________________________________________
(v) Which parts of our country stone slabs or flakes are used as building material
for roof?
_______________________________________________________
29.5 URBAN SETTLEMENTS
According to the census of India urban areas are those which satisfy the conditions
given below.
(a) All places with a municipality corporation, cantonment board or notified town
area committee etc.
(b) All other places which satisfy the following criteria:
(i) a minimum population of 5000;
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(ii) at least 75 percent of male working population engaged in non- development in India
agricultural sector; and
(iii) a density of population of at least 4,000 persons per square kilometer.
Besides, the direction of census operation in states and Union Territories were
allowed to include in consultation with the state governments and Union Territory
administration and the census commissioner of India, some places having distinct
urban characteristics as urban even if such places did not strictly satisfy all the Notes
criteria mentioned under category (b). Such cases include major project colonies,
railway colonies, areas of intensive industrial development, important tourist centres,
etc.
Therefore, there are two broad groups of town or urban settlement. The places
which satisfy the conditions mentioned in category (a) are known as statutory
town and the conditions mentioned in category (b) are known as census towns.
Urban agglomeration may consist of any one of the three combinations given below:
(i) a town and its adjoining urban outgrowth;
(ii) two or more contiguous towns with or without their outgrowths; and
(iii) a city and one or more adjoining towns with their outgrowths together forming
contiguous streatch.
Examples of urban outgrowths are university campus, cantonment area, port area-
seaport and air port, railway colonies, etc.
But, one should remember that these towns are not always permanent. In each
census, towns are subjected to de-classification and re-classification based on the
prevailing condition at that particular time.
29.6 TYPES OF URBAN SETTLEMENTS
Like rural settlements, urban settlements are classified on various bases. However,
classification based on size and function are most common. Let us discuss them
one by one
Classification based on Population Size
According to population size, census of India classifies urban centres into six classes.
Classwise urban settlements and their population are given below in a tabular
form.
Table 29.1 Classification of urban settlement
Class Population
Class I 1,00,000 and above
Class II 50,000 – 99,999
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development in India Class III - 20,000 – 49,999
Class IV - 10,000 – 19,999
Class V - 5,000 – 9,999
Class VI - less than 5,000
There is another classification of urban settlements. The classification is as follows:
Notes Town Places which have less than one lakh population
City Urban centres having population between one lakh to one
million.
Metropolitan Cities Cities having population in between one million to five million
Mega cities Cities having more than 5 million population
Functional Classification
This is the most popular and widely accepted classification of urban places in
India as well as in other parts of the world. In India various scholars attempted to
classify urban centres on the basis of functions. But the most popular and widely
accepted functional classification was given by Ashok Mitra a noted demographer
and the then Registrar General of India.
Ashok Mitra’s Functional classification of Indian cities
Ashok Mitra’s classification is based on a categories of workers classification
available in the census of 1961 and 1971. Functional classification of towns and
cities could not be used in 1981 census due to non-availability of town level data
based on industrial classification of workers into nine industrial categories. In 1991,
an effort was made to classify all urban places in terms of their functional character
with slight modification by adjusting the industrial categories into five broad economic
sectors. The classification is as follows:
Table 29.2 Functional Classification of urban places
Sector Industrial Category
1. Primary Activity I. Cultivations
II. Agricultural labourers
III. Live stock, forestry, fishing, hunting,
plantations, orchards and allied activities.
IV. Mining and quarrying
2. Industry V. Manufacturing, processing, servicing and
repairs.
(a) household industry
(b) other than household industry
VI. Construction workers
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3. Trade VII. Trade and commerce development in India
4. Transport VIII Transport, storage and communication
5. Services IX Other services
The procedure adopted for functional classification in 1991 census was as follows:
(i) For each Urban Agglomeration/town, the percentage of total main workers
in each of the five sectors was worked out. Notes
(ii) The functional category of the UA/town was then determined on the following
basis:
(a) if workers in one sector constituted, 40% or more, the UA/town was
classified in the relevant mono-functional category;
(b) If the percentage in one sector was less than 40%, two sectors having
the largest percentages were combined to see, if they together
constituted 60% or more. If so, the UA/town was classified in the
relevant bi-functional category.
(c) If no two sectors added up to 60% or more, three sectors having the
largest percentage were combined and the UA/town was classified in
the relevant multi-functional category.
(iii) To determine the functional category of each UA/town, in certain cases where
at least 1/4th workers were engaged in one of the four activities, viz (a)
forestry/fishing (including livestock, plantation, etc.), (b) mining and quarrying
(c) manufacturing in household industry, and (d) construction, the respective
UA/towns have been classified in the relevant sub-functional categories
provided such activity happen to be the first or second leading function of
those UA/town.
Using the above mentioned procedure, all the 3,697 UA/towns of India (excluding
J&K) have been classified into different functional categories. Following results
have been obtained by applying the above scheme.
(i) Almost half of the UA/towns (1756 to be precise) were classified in the first
category i.e. primary activity, but they contains only 15.85% of the urban
population of the country. Most of the towns belonging to this category were
of small size. About 2/3 rds of such places were having mono-functional
character while about one-fifth were multifunctional. Uttar Pradesh had the
largest number, i.e. 371 such UA/towns.
(ii) 723 UA/towns had industry as the predominant function. These places
accounted for almost half of the urban population. More than one third of
these places were having one lakh or more population each and these places
accounted for more than four-fifth population of UA/towns classified under
industrial category. Less than half of such places had mono-functional character
and the number of bi-functional places was quite less. Tamil Nadu had the
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development in India largest number of 101 industrial UA/towns followed by Uttar Pradesh (91)
and Gujarat (87) under this category.
(iii) 460 UA/towns were classified in the category of trade but these places
comprised 7% of the urban population. Most of these trading towns/UA had
multi-functional in nature and most of the rest towns/UA are bi-functional in
nature. Uttar Pradesh has the largest number of UA/towns i.e. 123 and the
rest of the states have very less number of trading towns.
Notes
(iv) Only 23 UA/towns were classified as transport accomodating less than 1%
of the urban population of the country. Most of them are small towns except
a few like Kharagpur in West Bengal, Mughal Sarai in Uttar Pradesh. So far
as their functional character is concerned, 10 had mono-functional and another
10 had multi-functional character
(v) As many as 736 UA/towns had services as the leading function and these
accounted for more than one fourth of the urban population. Most of the
population (about 70%) lived in Class I towns. As far as functions are
concerned majority of the towns/UA are either multi-functional or bi-functional.
Uttar Pradesh had the largest number of such places (114) followed by
Madhya Pradesh (82)
After a detailed discussion on functional classification of cities, the given table
shows functions and few names of the cities in India that belong to that particular
function.
Table 29.3 INDIA : Cities according to functions
Functions Name of the cities
1. Administrative New Delhi, Chandigarh, Bhubaneshwar, Gandhi
Nagar, Thiruvananthpuram, Imphal, etc.
2. Industrial Jamshedpur, Bhilai, Salem, Coimbatore,
Modinagar, Surat, etc.
3. Transport Port cities like Kandla, Kochi, Vishakhapatnam,
etc. Road and Railway Junctions like Mughal
Sarai, Itarsi, Katni, Kharagpur, Agra etc.
4. Commercial towns Kolkata, Mumbai, Saharanpur, Indore, Chennai,
etc.
5. Mining towns Raniganj, Jharia, Dhanbad, Digboi, Ankaleswar,
Singrauli, etc.
6. Cantonment Meerut, Ambala, Jalandhar, Mhow, Pathankot,
etc.
7. Educational Roorkee, Pilani, Manipal, Aligarh, Varanasi, etc.
8. Religious Puri, Mathura, Madurai, Tirupati, Katra, Amritsar,
Allahabad, Varanasi, etc.
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9. Tourist Nainital, Mussorie, Shimla, Pachmarhi, development in India
Udagamandalam (ooty), Mount Abu, Gangtok
etc.
INTEXT QUESTIONS 29.3
Answer the following questions briefly Notes
(i) What is an Urban Agglomeration?
_______________________________________________________
(ii) What are the two types of town according to census of India?
_______________________________________________________
(iii) Define mega-cities.
_______________________________________________________
(iv) According to 1991 census, which functional city was maximum in number.
_______________________________________________________
(v) Name any two educational cities of India.
_______________________________________________________
WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNT
Settlement can be defined as any form of human habitation which ranges from a
single dwelling to a large city. Settlements can be broadly divided into two types –
rural and urban. The basic difference between rural and urban is on the basis of
function. In India rural settlements are broadly grouped under four categories.
These are compact, semi-compact, hamleted and dispersed. Compact settlements
have closely built up area and dwellings are concentrated in one central site.
Maximum settlements of our country comes under this category and geographically
it spreads almost every part of the country. There are as much as eleven patterns
are found within the compact settlement. Semi-compact settlements are
characterised by a small but compact nuclear around which hamlets are dispersed.
Some of the important patterns bound in semi-compact settlements are
checkerboard, elongated and fan-shaped. Such settlements are found in tribal
areas of Chota Nagpur region and Nagaland in north-eastern states of India.
Hamleted settlements are those settlements where central or main settlements is
either absent or has less influence on the other units whereas dispersed settlement
is a unit of small size which may consists of a single house to a small group of
houses. Physical ethnic or cultural and historical or defence are some of the important
factors which influence the type of rural settlements in India. There is variations in
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development in India house types also. The variations are determined by topography, climate, availability
of building materials, etc. As far as building materials are concerned, these can be
grouped under two categories – (i) building material used for walls and (ii) building
material used for roofs. Building materials used for walls are mainly mud, stone,
brick, timber and wattle whereas building materials used for roofs are thatch,
mud, tiles, tine, stone slab, wood, brick, etc.
Notes According to census of India, urban settlements are (a) all places with municipality,
corporation, cantonment board, or notified town area committee etc. and (b) all
other places which satisfy the following criteria: (i) a minimum population of 5000;
(ii) at least 75% of male working population engaged in non-agricultural pursuits;
and (iii) a density of population of at least 4,000 persons per square kilometre.
The places which satisfy the conditions mentioned in category (a) are known as
statutory towns. The towns which satisfy conditions mentioned in the category (b)
are known as census towns. Like rural settlements, urban settlements are classified
on various bases. However, classification based on size and function are most
common. On the basis of population size all urban settlements can be town, city,
metropolitan city and mega city. On the basis of functions, cities can be grouped
as administrative, industrial, transportation, commercial, mining, cantonment,
educational, religious, tourist, etc.
TERMINAL QUESTIONS
1. What is a settlement ? Describe various types of rural settlement in India.
2. Explain various patterns of compact settlements of India with examples.
3. Describe various factors influencing settlement types in India.
4. Explain the building materials used for walls and roofs in India.
5. Define an urban area as given by census of 2001. Explain the procedure
adopted for functional classification of cities in 1991 census.
ANSWERS TO INTEXT QUESTIONS
29.1
1. (i) Any form of human habitation which ranges from a single dwelling to
large city is called settlement.
(ii) (a) function, (b) population
(iii) (a) compact, (b) semi-compact, (c) hamleted, (d) dispersed
(iv) Compact settlement
(v) Hamleted settlement is fragmented into several small units. Where central
or main settlement is either absent or has very less influence on the
other units.
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(vi) (a) Tribal areas of central part of India, (b) hills of north Bengal, Jammu development in India
and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
29.2
(i) (a) physical, (b) ethnic and cultural, (c) historical or defence
(ii) (a) caste, (b) community, (e) ethnicity, (d) religion (any three)
(iii) mud Notes
(iv) (a) Forest areas, (b) hilly parts of the country where woods are available in
plenty (Any one)
(v) (a) mountainous, (b) hilly and plateaus
29.3
(i) Urban agglomeration can be any one of the three combinations (a) a town
and it’s adjoining urban outgrowths (b) two or more contiguous towns with
or without their outgrowths and (c) a city and one or more adjoining towns
with their outgrowths together forming contiguous streach.
(ii) (a) Statutory town, (b) census town
(iii) Mega cities are the cities having more than 5 million population.
(iv) According to 1991, city work primary activity was maximum in number
(1756).
(iv) (a) Roorkie, (b) Pilani, (c) Manipal, (d) Aligarh, (e) Varanasi (any two)
HINTS TO TERMINAL QUESTIONS
1. Refer to section 29.1 and 29.2
2. Refer to 1. compact settlement under section 29.2
3. Refer to section 29.3
4. Refer to part 1 and 2 of section 29.4
5. Refer to section 29.5 and Functional classification under section 29.6
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