Definition of “URBAN”
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Urban India generates 2/3rd of Nat. GDP
- municipalities controlling <1% of tax revenue
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statutory town: all administrative units with Municipal corporation, or cantonment board, or town area committee or town panchayat etc + Population > 1L
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Census town: not a statutory town, but has following criteria
- population >5k
- 400ppl/sq km
- >75% male working population in non agricultural
Important because this same definition is taken from older census and retained for the upcoming one
Issues:
- focus on male workforce, ignoring women contribution (tailoring, shopkeeping, fishing, textile etc)
- criteria changed since over 50 yr, failing to reflect modern socio-economic realities
- definition doesn’t encompass critical infra eg. sanitation, waste management, housing etc so large parts of country called urban despite not having basic facilities
- similarly, census towns despite not being urban in the common manner, still classified as urban
Way forward
- make definition gender neutral
- adopt Degree of Urbanization (DEGURBA) method supported by UN Statistical Commission