“GROWING TRENDS TOWARDS URBANIZATION AND ITS IMPACT ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT”

Economic development is generally associated with the growth of urbanization. During the first half of the 20th century, India passed through period of economic stagnation. Consequently, the extent of urbanization was very limited. Urban population, which accounted for 11 per cent of total population in 1901 lazily, crept to the figure of 14 per cent in 1941. With a very liberal definition of the urban area adopted in 1951, urban population became 17.6 per cent of total. Much of the increase, therefore, was statistical. This explains why the adoption of a little more strict definition of the urban area in 1961 census resulted in recording a very small increase in the urban population and it was estimated at 18.3 per cent of total population. The 1981 census has also continued with the definition adopted in 1971, both from the point of view of administrative convenience and maintenance of comparability. An urban area has been defined as follows ---1) All places with a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee. 2) All other places, which satisfy the criteria such as Minimum 5000 population, atleast 75 per cent male working population, engaged in non-agriculture pursuits and density of population 400 persons per sq.km.