Advantages Of Urbanization 403r71

1. INTRODUCTION: The father of our nation, Mahatma Gandhi, once said that the villages were the heart of our country. But with the advent of globalization the pulse of our fast growing economy runs through the cities. In the early eighties and nineties, if you had asked a wayfarer the names of major Indian cities, his answer would have been: Delhi, Bombay, Madras & Calcutta. However with the turn of the millennium the answer has expanded to include new names. With the arrival of the IT, cities have turned into a fast multiplying species. The growing gulf between the rich & the poor has now turned into the gulf between the city dwellers & the rural immigrants.

1.1. URBAN SECTOR: An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets. Urban areas are created and further developed by the process of urbanization. Measuring the extent of an urban area helps in analysing population density and urban sprawl, and in determining urban and rural populations. The level of urbanization is an index of transformation from traditional to modern one. It an established generalisation that an increase in urbanisation which boosts the secondary sector and reduces the dependence on

primary sector is considered as a symbol of economic

growth and development. Urbanisation is an integral part of economic development. Any increase in urbanisation is welcome. Most modern economic activity takes place in cities, and growth in productivity and income is easier in an urban context. Economics growth influences the urbanisation while urbanisation in turn affects the rate of economic growth.

1.2 RURAL SECTOR: Page | 1

Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture. The degree to which areas of wilderness are included in the term varies; very large wilderness areas are not likely to be described by the term in most contexts. In most parts of the world rural areas have been declining since the 19th century or earlier, both as a proportion of land area, and in of the proportion of the population living in them. Urbanization encroaches on rural land, and the mechanization of agriculture has reduced the number of workers needed to work the land, while alternative employment is typically easier to obtain in cities. In parts of the developed world urban sprawl has greatly reduced the areas that can be called rural, and land use planning measures are used to protect the character of rural areas in various ways.

2. Objectives: The main objectives of our study are to • • •

Study the basic aspects of Urban and Rural sectors. Comparative study of rural and urban sector growth. Suggest some measures for promoting better urban-rural linkages. Page | 1

Methodology: We have adopted a secondary study methodology for carrying out this study. We studied the definitions of rural and urban sectors and their basic characteristics. We then studied the pros and cons of each. Then we have seen the reasons for migration from rural areas to urban sector. We have chosen the current trends in India as a case study in which we studied the current trends of urbanization in India. We then focussed a little on the International scenario. A comparative study of growth in rural sector and urban sector was followed. We then concluded by suggesting some policy measures to be taken by the government for promoting better rural-urban linkages.

3. Urbanization: pros and cons Urbanization has played an important role in the development of under developed and developing countries. It is believed that the developed countries of the world could achieve fast economic progress due to large scale urbanization. Urbanization during the industrial revolution helped fast development of some European countries. However, the environmental challenges of urbanization have been quite difficult to deal with. Before we know more about the challenges of urbanization, let us know about its advantages in detail.

3.1Advantages of Urbanization Urbanization is a process in which overall development of a particular region takes place. •

Industrial growth: Page | 2

As the industries of the world are growing fast, urbanisation is proceeding so rapidly that it is generating a wide range of employment. New investments in various industries and this in turn help to create large scale employment which is much needed in developing countries. Due to employment, the per capita income of the people rises and the region achieves prosperity. Urbanization provides plenty of opportunities for people from all sections of society to excel and achieve their goals. Many factories are built in urban areas since economic benefit was the sole purpose of the urbanisation from the beginning, which will benefit to local economy, which goes to the wealth of government. Then the government find another place to develop. •

Technical growth: The major advantage of urbanization will be technical progression and

there by developing scientific attitude of the people .The result of technical advancement is mechanisation that increases the countries’ output. •

Major per cent of country’s GDP comes from urban sector. For example if we consider India’s GDP in the year 2008-09, it was 3339375cr (taking

base year as 99-00) out of which urban contribution was 2221347cr i.e. nearly 66%. As many investments were favoured towards urban sector, many facilities are available in many cities and thus favouring factor for people to migrate from rural to urban areas. •

Infrastructure: Urban infrastructure is a physical or structural part of the city that include its

transportation systems (roads, bridges, highways, public transportation, etc.), sewage system, utility systems (gas, electricity, water treatment and delivery), and its buildings (schools, court houses, sports facilities, and its public and private housing developments). Urbanization provides better infrastructure facilities, medical facilities and educational opportunities to millions of people .The overall standard of living of the people rises considerably because of urbanization. It helps the region to prosper and cater to the needs of a large population. The well-developed schools and universities in the urban areas lead to increase in literacy rate of population and thereby increase in skills of the labour. For example literacy rate of India was 84.97% while urban literacy rate was 74.04%. ○

Health care facilities:

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Urban areas continued to develop being the seats of power, money and intellect. They also became the first places to experiment with ideas. As a result, various agencies of health representing municipal, provincial and national levels developed simultaneously with voluntary, private and philanthropic institutions. For example: In India, there are well-developed health care facilities available in urban sector because of the government’s various health care programmes. Some of the policies are: ➢ Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) is an important step towards achieving the goal of Health for All. ➢ Urban Malaria Scheme : The main objective of the scheme is to control malaria

transmission by eliminating aquatic stages of vector mosquitoes by weekly application of larvicides in breeding sources. ➢ National Filarial Control programme .

➢ Leprosy control programme.

3.2 Challenges of Urbanization Environmental pollution and Degradation: Pollution and degradation of the environment is one of the most prominent challenges of urbanization. The increased number of vehicles on the roads and industrial wastes are the main sources of air pollution. Urbanization also leads to a rise in the noise pollution levels. Contamination of sea, river and lake water due to various human activities is also a serious issue resulting out of fast urbanization. Land pollution is also a matter of great concern. These types of pollution can cause adverse effects on the health and well being of people. Population Explosion: Population explosion means a great rise in the population of a particular area over a period of time. It has been observed that industrialization and urbanization leads to an increase in the population of the region at a very fast pace. The population growth results in a situation where the facilities provided by the government are to be shared among many people. This can further give rise to inequitable distribution of wealth and resources. Providing the huge population with essential resources becomes a big challenge due to population explosion. It also puts a tremendous strain on the finances of the country. Sanitation, Water and Transport Problems: Page | 2

The rise in the number of vehicles puts a huge strain on the infrastructure available for transport such as roads and railways. Water problems are quite common in many parts of urban cities. Keeping the cities clean and well maintained is surely one of the biggest challenges of urbanization. Housing: Providing shelter to a big population is indeed a big challenge posed by urbanization. The lack of space for construction of houses and buildings results in deforestation which causes several environmental problems. The problem of slums in urban cities is becoming more and more difficult to tackle due to the issue of displacement that the huge population residing in these slums will face. Rising Cost of Living and Wealth Inequality: The cost of living in urban cities is quite high compelling many people to live in poverty. Inequalities in the distribution of wealth which widens the gap between the rich and the poor is also a serious problem to deal with. Increase in Crime: one of the biggest challenges of urbanization is the increase in the crime rate. Surveys conducted suggest that the crime rate is much higher in urban cities as compared to backward regions. The rise in the number of crimes is due to the need to earn wealth which results in people resorting to unfair means. The common man in the urban areas suffers the most because of the rise in criminal activities.

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4. Urbanization trends in India 4.1Demographic trends: In India, the definition of urban is more rigorous. Both civic status as well as demographic criteria is taken for declaring a settlement urban. The census of India defined the urban places on the basis of the following criteria (Census of India 2001). •

All places with a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee, etc. (known as Statutory Town)

•

All other places which satisfied the following criteria (known as Census Town): ○ A minimum population of 5,000; ○ At least 75 per cent of the male main workers engaged in non-agricultural pursuits; and ○ A density of population of at least 400 per sq. km.

In each census, the rural-urban framework is prepared based on the above definition of urban. Many new towns are added and some existing towns revert to rural status if they do not satisfy the criteria. Thus the rural-urban classification used in India is a dynamic process. Urbanization trend: Demographically speaking, the level of urbanisation is measured by the percentage of population living in urban areas. Level of urbanization increased from 27.81% in 2001 Census to 31.16% in 2011 Census. For the first time since Independence, the absolute increase in population is more in urban areas that in rural areas. According to the 2011 census Rural – Urban distribution: 68.84% & 31.16%. It is important to note that the comparison of the level of urbanisation at the world level is affected by definition of urban areas followed in each country. Urban population is usually presented in six-fold classification in Indian censuses. While the first size-class comprises cities i.e., urban places having 100 thousand and more population, the last category consists of the tiny towns i.e., places having population less than 5000. In order to provide a meaningful analysis of the changes in size-class composition of urban population, the last three categories namely towns having population 10,000-19,999; 5000-9999; and less than 5000 are grouped together and termed as small towns. Medium Page | 3

towns are defined to have population in between 20,000 to 49,999; and large towns constitute population in the range of 50,000 to 99,999. The places having more than 100 thousand population are named as cities. On the other hand, cities having population 1 million and more are termed as million plus cities.

The urban population in India at the beginning of 20th century was only 25.9 million constituting 10.84 per cent of India’s population in 1901, which increased to 377.1 million comprising 31.2 per cent of total population in 2011. The growth rate was highest observed during 1971-81 (46.14 per cent) and there was subsequent slowing down of urbanisation. The continuous increase in size cannot be sustained in the long run, and every town and cities has to experience decline, but the threshold of decline could vary enormously and not easy to predict. The size of town and city is a negatively related to urban growth rates. It is quite natural that as city grows it expands the economic base and activities of the cities leading to increased advantage to the trade and commerce as well as to industries from the agglomeration economy. But it cannot be sustained very long. The decline in growth rate will certainly set in with increase in the size of city in the long run. Hence, effort to restrict city size is not always necessary and it could even be detrimental to the economic growth at the early stages of Page | 2

economic development in a country (Mills and Becker (1986). Therefore, cities should be allowed to grow naturally in order to reap the benefits of its growth momentum. In fact, the optimality of city size is elusive and each city could find its own in due course of time. This decreasing trend can be seen in the following graph

This is consistent with forces of privatisation and liberalisation of the economy, which have more benefited the cities compared with towns. The growth of small towns might be due to higher natural increase among them as they are not very different from villages. Further, the rural poor have little choice but to migrate only to short distances with small and medium towns as their destinations. The cost of living in cities as well as metros has also risen enormously along with saturation of informal sector and decline in jobs in organized sectors (Kundu 1997; Planning Commission 2001). In such a situation migration to the nearby towns is an alternate possibility left to the rural poor. 4.1

Industrial growth in India: India has made considerable economic progress since its Independence. Most

noticeable are the expansion and diversification of production both in industry and agriculture. New technologies were introduced in many industries. Industrial investment took place in a large variety of new industries. Modern management techniques were introduced. An entirely new class of entrepreneurs have come up with the system from the

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Government, and a large number of new industrial centres have developed in almost all parts of the country. Over the years, the Government has built the infrastructure required by the industry and made massive investments to provide the much-needed facilities of power, communications, roads etc. A good number of institutions were promoted to help entrepreneurship development, provide finance for industry and to facilitate development of a variety of skills required by the industry as well as agriculture. The Government also followed a policy of encouraging indigenous industries and provide them all facilities and encouragement. As a result, we have now a widely diversified base of industry and an increased domestic production of a wide range of goods and services. The index of industrial production has gone up from 7.9 in 1950-51 to 154.7 in 1999-2000. Electricity generation went up from 5.1 billion Kwh to 480.7 billion Kwh in the same period. A variety of promotional policies were followed by the Government to achieve this success. In the early years, Indian industry thrived within protective tariff walls. The policy was to encourage Indian industries and though foreign technical collaborations were encouraged, direct foreign investment in any corporate body was restricted to 40%. In 1991, this policy was changed completely and foreign majority investment was encouraged in a variety of industries, import restrictions were removed, customs tariff was brought down and the doors of the Indian economy were opened for foreign competition.

4.2Infrastructure development in India: The process of urbanization has gathered considerable momentum in recent years and this has put urban infrastructure and services under severe strain Urban transport: The major objective of urban transport initiative is to provide efficient and affordable public transport. A National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP) has been formulated with the objective of ensuring easily accessible, safe, affordable, quick, comfortable, reliable and sustainable mobility for all. Delhi and Kolkata have introduced Metro Rail system in their cities. Delhi Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS), a t venture between the Government of India and the Govt.of National Capital Territory of Delhi, is being implemented by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). Educational institutions: Page | 2

Development of Education in India has

attained new level essentially after the

independence of the country. Development

of education in India brought about a

transformation and the concept of education got modified. Literacy rate has increased from around 3% in 1880 to around 65% in 2001. According to the 2011 Census, the Literacy Rate is recorded to be around 74%. All levels of education in India, from primary to higher education portray a challenge. India got well-known educational institutions such as the IITs, IISc, IIMs, NITs, AIIMS, ISI, JU, BITS, and ISB. The higher education system of India is the third largest in the world, after China and the United States. Development of education in India regards that free and compulsory education should be provided to all children up to the age of 14. Moreover, the 86th Amendment of the Indian constitution makes education a fundamental right for all children aged 6-14 years.

4.4 Urban Policies: The government of India has introduced many policies for development of urban areas. Some of them are as follows: ➢

Urban Development

JNNURM --- Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission Statement: The aim is to encourage reforms and fast track planned development of identified cities. Focus is to be on

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efficiency in urban infrastructure and service delivery mechanisms, community participation, and ability of ULBs/ Parastatal agencies towards citizens. Expected Outcomes of the JNNURM: On completion of the Mission period, it is expected that ULBs and parastatal agencies will have achieved the following: (1) Modern and transparent budgeting, ing, financial management systems, designed and adopted for all urban service and governance functions. (2) City-wide framework for planning and governance will be established and become operational (3) All urban residents will be able to obtain access to a basic level of urban services (4) Financially self-sustaining agencies for urban governance and service delivery will be established, through reforms to major revenue instruments (5) Local services and governance will be conducted in a manner that is transparent and able to citizens (6) E-governance applications will be introduced in core functions of ULBs/Parastatal resulting in reduced cost and time of service delivery process.

UIDSSMT --- Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns. Introduction: Urban infrastructure Development Scheme for Small & Medium Towns was launched on 3.12.2005 for improvement in urban infrastructure in towns and cities in a planned manner. It subsumed the erstwhile schemes of Integrated Development of Small and Medium Towns (IDSMT) and Accelerated Urban Water Supply Programme (AUWSP). Coverage: The scheme will apply to all cities/towns as per 2001 census, excepting cities/towns covered under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). TAX FREE MUNICIPAL BONDS: In 2000-01, the Government inserted a new clause (vii) in Section 10(15) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, exempting interest income from bonds issued by local authorities. Funds raised Page | 2

from Tax Free Municipal Bonds are to be used only for capital investments in urban infrastructure for providing one or more of the following:i. Potable Water Supply ii. Sewerage or Sanitation iii. Drainage iv. Solid Waste Management v. Roads, Bridges and Flyovers; and vi. Urban Transport (if this is a municipal function under respective state legislation) Ministry of Urban Development has been designated as the nodal agency for processing applications for issue of tax free bonds. NERUDP --- North Eastern Region Urban Development Programme (NERUDP) The North Eastern Region Urban Development Programme (NERUDP) Phase-I is being implemented by the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) with the financial assistance from Asian Development Bank (ADB). It covers capital cities of 5 North Eastern States viz. Agartala (Tripura), Aizawl (Mizoram), Gangtok (Sikkim), and Kohima (Nagaland). The project covers priority urban services viz. (i) Water Supply, (ii) Sewerage and Sanitation, and (iii) Solid Waste Management. In addition, Project Management and Capacity Development of the ULBs through institutional and financial reforms have also been included so that the ULBs become capable of planning and implementing infrastructure projects. ➢

➢

➢

Urban Water Supply and Sanitation •

Service Level Benchmarks

•

Public Private Partnership

•

National Urban Sanitation Policy

Urban Transport •

Delhi Metro Airport Express Line, GR, 2010

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Bangalore Metro Railway GR, 2011

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Bangalore Metro (Opening of Public Carriage for engers) Rules, 2011

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CMC and AFC System

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Metro Railway Act 2009

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Funding of Buses under JNNURM

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SUTP -Sustainable Urban Transport Project

Local Self Government Page | 2

•

NUIS -- National Urban Information System

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RCUES --- Regional Centre for Urban and Environmental Studies

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SLB on E-Governance ------ Service Level Benchmarks

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Advisory on State Finance Commissions

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Centres of Excellences.

5. Rural sector: pros and cons ➢ Rural is any territory that is not urban.

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5.1 Advantages of rural sector: •

More natural environments

•

Better social/ network

•

Less stressful environment

•

Perceived as safer

•

Class differences are not as distinctive Page | 2

•

Pollution free environment

5.2 Disadvantages of Rural Sector: •Illiteracy: The main cause of this is lack of proper educational facilities. There are no corporate schools in villages as in urban areas which provide better educational facilities. The available facilities provided by government schools are inefficient which made rural sector lagging in literacy compared to urban sector. •Limited employment opportunities: The employment opportunities are limited because of lack of industrial growth. The main occupation in rural sector is agriculture which doesn’t provide much employment opportunities .The other occupations in rural sector also face the same problem. •Lack of proper health facilities: Rural sector lags a lot in health facilities. There are no proper hospitals with good infrastructure. Even the health facilities provided by government are not efficient. There are no proper medical camps organized and no emergency facilities like 108 , etc. which leaves rural sector lagging behind the urban sector. •Lack of infrastructural facilities: •Limited transport available •Less immediately available social services •Slower social, political progress

6. Rural India The Rural Development in India is one of the most important factors for the growth of the Indian economy. India is primarily an agriculture-based country. Agriculture contributes nearly one-fifth of the gross domestic product in India. In order to increase the growth of

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agriculture, the Government has planned several programs pertaining to Rural Development in India. The Ministry of Rural Development in India is the apex body for formulating policies, regulations and acts pertaining to the development of the rural sector. Agriculture, handicrafts, fisheries, poultry, and diary are the primary contributors to the rural business and economy. The introduction of Bharat Nirman, a project set about by the Government of India in collaboration with the State Governments and the Panchayat Raj Institutions is a major step towards the improvement of the rural sector. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 was introduced by the Ministry of Rural Development, for improving the living conditions and its sustenance in the rural sector of India. Integrated development of rural areas is one of the abiding tasks before the Government of India. The National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) of the Central government reiterates the cardinal importance of villages to the overall development of the country and commits to work towards development of rural areas, which for various reasons could not keep pace with urban areas in the past. In conformity with this commitment of the Government, the Ministry of Rural Development accords foremost priority to development in rural areas and eradication of poverty and hunger from the face of rural India. A number of initiatives have been taken in the recent years for creation of social and economic infrastructure in rural areas to bridge the rural-urban divide as well as to provide food security and fulfil other basic needs of the rural populace. The renewed emphasis on rural development is also visible in the commensurate progressive increase in the allocation of resources for implementation of poverty alleviation programmes. For the Tenth Five Year Plan, the allocation of funds for rural development programmes has been enhanced to Rs. 76,774 crore as against Rs. 42,874 crore in Ninth Plan Addressing the challenge of unemployment in the rural areas of the country is central to the development of rural sector for ameliorating the economic condition of the people. Wage employment is provided in rural areas under National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY)

whereas

self-employment is provided under Swarnajayanti Gram

Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY). Besides generating employment these wage employment schemes also ensure creation of durable assets in rural areas. Initiatives are also taken by the Ministry to build and upgrade the basic rural infrastructure through various schemes. Under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) construction and repairing of rural roads are taken up to ensure rural connectivity. It is expected under the scheme that an expanded and Page | 2

renovated rural road network will lead to an increase in rural employment opportunities, better access to regulated and fair market, better access to health, education and other public services so as to accelerate the pace of economic growth in rural areas. Similarly basic amenities for housing, drinking water and toilets, etc. are provided under Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY), Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARWSP) and Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) to enhance the welfare and well-being of the vulnerable sections of rural population. Area Development is encouraged through Watershed Programmes to check the diminishing productivity of waste land and loss of natural resources. The aims of ministry of Rural Development are: •Bridging the rural-urban divide. To ensure rapid development, budgetary for implementing the various rural development schemes has increased many fold over the years. •Guaranteeing wage employment and ensuring food security. This is sought to be achieved through the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. •Making rural people the arbiter of their own destiny and to provide for their economic uplift through promotion of self-employment. •For the development to be in consonance with the people's wishes aspirations,emphasis is put on participation of people, as also social mobilization of rural poor through Self-Help Groups and Panchayati Raj Institutions. •Creating rural infrastructure for better economic opportunities and growth. Connectivity is provided to all unconnected habitations through Pradhan Mantri GramSadak Yojana (PMGSY) and village infrastructure is also created through works undertaken under wage employment schemes. •Providing for dignified living .The Ministry provides shelter, water and clean environment through rural housing, drinking water and sanitation schemes. •Restoring lost or depleted productivity of the land. This is done through watershed development programmes and initiating effective land reform measures for providing land to the landless rural poor. Rural Development (RD) programmes comprise of following: •Provision of basic infrastructure facilities in the rural areas e.g. schools, health facilities, roads, drinking water, electrification etc. •Improving agricultural productivity in the rural areas. Page | 2

•Provision of social services like health and education for socio-economic development. •Implementing schemes for the promotion of rural industry, increasing agriculture productivity, providing rural employment etc. •Assistance to individual families and Self Help Groups (SHG) living below poverty line by providing productive resources through credit and subsidy.

6.1 Rural Development policies Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY): This is a scheme launched and fully sponsored by the Central Government of India. The main objective of the scheme is to connect all the habitations with more than 500 individuals residing there, in the rural areas by the means of weather-proof paved roads. Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY):This was implemented as a total package with all the characteristics of self-employment such as proper training, development of infrastructure, planning of activities, financial aid, credit from banks, organizing self-help groups, and subsidies. Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana (SGRY): This scheme aims at increasing the food protection by the means of wage employment in the rural areas which are affected by the calamities after the appraisal of the state government and the appraisal is accepted by the Ministry of Agriculture. Indira Awaas Yojana (Rural Housing): This scheme puts emphasis on providing housing benefits all over the rural areas in the country Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA): The primary objective of this act is augmenting wage employment. Its auxiliary objective is strengthening natural resource management through works that address causes of chronic poverty like drought, deforestation and soil erosion and so encourage sustainable development. MGNREGA aims at enhancing livelihood security of households in rural areas of the country by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in a Page | 2

financial year to every household whose adult volunteer to do unskilled manual work. Provision of Urban amenities in Rural Areas ( PURA): The objectives of the scheme are to provide livelihood opportunities and urban amenities in rural areas for bridging rural-urban divide and improving the quality of life. The scheme will be implemented under the frame work of Public Private Partnership (PPP) between Gram Panchayats and Private Sector Partner.

6.2 Reasons for migration: In a country with 600 million farmers, of which 40 percent are willing to quit farming for various reasons, mass migration from rural to urban areas has increased rapidly. Between 2001 and 2011, nearly 85 million people have migrated from the rural areas to elsewhere. Mass migration is a phenomenon that is a consequence of various problems in the rural India. There are umpteen number of reasons for this, namely: health, poverty and hunger, water and sanitation, women and children, education and employment, environmental problems, resources, industries and corporates, etc.

HEALTH: In of health, India has one of the most neglected health care systems in the world. India’s ranks among top five countries in the world with most number of HIV positive cases, present IMR in India is 52 deaths per 1000 live births and MMR is 230 per 100, 000 live births according to WHO statistics. Though, private and corporate hospitals are blossoming in the cities, villages in rural India still suffer from lack of proper health care services. Setting up public health centers (PHC) and community health centers (CHC) have solved a few problems in the villages. However, lack of proper equipment, operation theatres, paramedics, technicians and doctors are leaving most of these health centers in shams. Services like 108 have been introduced in villages in case of emergency, but the patient will be driven in a van through roads which almost kill the person before reaching the PHC or the CHC which is mostly located in towns, about an hour drive from any village. Once we probe deeper into issues related to health, hunger and poverty stand tall in the list of factors affecting the health of people. India ranks 63rd in poverty Index and its rank in the standard of living compared to that of 186 countries is 126, which is much lower than many Page | 3

other developing countries. More than 320 million people go hungry to bed every day. Of these, many die, many suffer from various diseases. Most of them among the 320 million hungry people are the ones who live on less than Rs. 20 a day. The government calls a family as below poverty line (BPL) family if a person consumes less than 2100 calories a day. And if it is greater than 2100 calories a day, it is an above poverty line (APL) family. Poverty line provides conceptual rationalization for looking at the poor as a ‘category’ to be taken care of. It does not take into important aspects of poverty such as ill health, low educational attainments, geographical isolation, ineffective access to law, powerlessness in civil society and caste and gender based disadvantages. Apart from food security, what we also need to look at is water and sanitation problems. Even today, many people in the rural areas walk 10 kilometers or more to get water from the nearest drinking water sources. They are infected with various diseases because of sanitation problems. Depletion in ground water level and water pollution due to prevalence of toxics, sewage and other pollutants is also a trouble.

EDUCATION: Education is another aspect one has to concentrate on. The Right To Education (RTE) act that came into force last year made it compulsory for every child to get free education between 6 to 14 years of age. The government sees this as an achievement of its own. However, what matters is the quality of education. Government schools in villages do not have enough teachers. In some schools, one teacher teaches many subjects irrespective of whether she knows the subject or not. The poor do not have enough money to send their kids to the school .On the other hand, the schools in the cities demand high fee, and therefore, impart better quality of education. Unemployment is another section one has to explore about. Even the ones who are educated do not have jobs. Forty million people in India are unemployed. India has the largest share of illiterate women in the world. The literacy rate is 65.5% for males and 37.7% for females. Even environment is one of the most significant areas one has to talk about when it comes to rural to urban migration. In the name of environmental sustainability, entire rural set-up is being destroyed.

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AGRICULTURE: Farming has been major occupation in India. But, in the past decade, 200,000 farmers’ deaths were reported. With this came food crisis, food inflation and “agrarian crisis” as if they are new schemes introduced in the country. A report on farmer suicides stated that the past six years recorded the worst number i.e. 17,036 farmer suicides. Crop failure due to the entry of GM crops, less rainfall or floods or drought, infertile soil, soil erosion and many other aspects have taken a toll on the lives of people in rural areas. For Example: GM crops are being distributed in market. Many farmers think they would produce high yield, but the crop fails and the farmers cannot save some of it for their next cultivation. Apart from this, allergens, weeds affect crops and weedicides, pesticides are sprayed which make the pests immune to them, often damaging the crop. In the name of Special Economic Zones (SEZs), the government has been on a land grabbing spree, promising to rehabilitate the displaced ones. The land that is grabbed from the poor people is resource rich and income-generating one .In this whole process, ecosystem people are converted into ecological refugees .For several years, these people have lived on those lands, generating income through agriculture, producing food for the country and now, in the name of development, food is snatched away from them, their homes demolished and they are asked to leave the place. What one needs to understand is that, the government in the name of development is destroying people’s lives and depriving them of basic rights they are entitled to. This deprivation leads to mass migration and therefore, the migration rate has increased rapidly. All the above mentioned factors are better off in the cities in of facilities, infrastructure and basic amenities. So, there is migration from rural to urban areas. After all every person has the right to live a dignified life.

7. International scenario Page | 3

As more and more people leave villages and farms to live in cities, urban growth results. The rapid growth of cities like Chicago in the late 19th century and Mumbai a century later can be attributed largely to rural-urban migration. This kind of growth is especially commonplace in countries. This growth can also be attributed to new job opportunities. The rapid urbanization of the world’s population over the twentieth century is described in the 2005 Revision of the UN World Urbanization Prospects report. The global proportion of urban population rose dramatically from 13% (220 million) in 1900, to 29% (732 million) in 1950, to 49% (3.2 billion) in 2005. The same report projected that the figure is likely to rise to 60% (4.9 billion) by 2030. However, French economist Philippe Bocquier, writing in THE FUTURIST magazine, has calculated that: "the proportion of the world population living in cities and towns in the year 2030 would be roughly 50%, substantially less than the 60% forecast by the United Nations (UN), because the messiness of rapid urbanization is unsustainable.” Both Bocquier and the UN see more people flocking to cities, but Bocquier sees many of them likely to leave upon discovering that there’s no work for them and no place to live. Percentage of World Population: Urban vs. Rural.

According to the UN State of the World Population 2007 report, sometime in the middle of 2007, the majority of people worldwide will be living in towns or cities, for the first time in history; this is referred to as the arrival of the "Urban Millennium" or the 'tipping point'. In regard to future trends, it is estimated 93% of urban growth will occur in developing nations, with 80% of urban growth occurring in Asia and Africa.

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Urbanization rates vary between countries. The United States and United Kingdom have a far higher urbanization level than China, India, Swaziland or Niger, but a far slower annual urbanization rate, since much less of the population is living in a rural area. 

Urbanization in the United States never reached the Rocky Mountains in locations such as Jackson Hole, Wyoming; Telluride, Colorado; Taos, New Mexico; Douglas County, Colorado and Aspen, Colorado. The state of Vermont has also been affected, as has the coast of Florida, the Birmingham-Jefferson County, AL area, the Pacific Northwest and the barrier islands of North Carolina.



In the United Kingdom, two major examples of new urbanization can be seen in Swindon, Wiltshire and Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. These two towns show some of the quickest growth rates in Europe.

8. Comparative Study on Rural and Urban Growth: In this section we will present a comparative study on the growth in Rural Sector with the growth in the Urban Sector. This section is organized as follows. We will first show the importance of rural-urban linkages for the overall growth of an economy. Then we will argue about the existence of disparities between these two sectors in Indian economy followed by the causes for the existence of such disparities. This section ends with a focus on the extent to which these disparities are present in Indian Economy.

Importance of Rural-Urban Linkages :

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These linkages matter because rural and urban livelihoods are interconnected economically, financially, and socially. From a rural perspective, most farmers depend on urban markets to secure their livelihoods. Rural households also depend on urban centers or small towns for various services (e.g., hospitals, banks, and government offices) and for the provision of various private and public goods. Likewise, urban areas are linked to the rural For example; various urban businesses and enterprises depend on rural demand for their goods and services. They also rely on rural areas for the supply of raw materials. Urban consumers, on the other hand, benefit from cheap and sustained food supply from rural areas. Furthermore, many poor urban households partly depend on rural activities (e.g., farming) for their livelihoods. The rural sector can also act as a buffer from the impact of macroeconomic shocks on the urban economy by providing labor when the urban economy flourishes and absorbing labor back in times of economic contraction. Links between the rural and urban sectors also include flows of information, such as markets and employment opportunities, as well as flows of people moving between rural and urban centers on a temporary or permanent basis. Development policies that facilitate these rural-urban linkages can promote economic growth and poverty reduction.

Economic theory suggests that resources should move freely so that marginal returns are equalized between sectors and regions. An increase in agricultural productivity may precede the growth of urban settlements. But as new innovations take place in the urban sector, urban labor productivity and wages rise, making migration from the rural to urban sector attractive. In the meantime, urban development may also improve access to capital, inducing further mechanization or other innovations relevant to agricultural production. As a result, agricultural productivity grows, narrowing the productivity and income gaps between rural and urban areas. When innovations take place again in the urban sector the gap in productivity and income widens between the two sectors. Rural labor begins to migrate to the urban sector, and capital moves to rural areas. A new equilibrium emerges. This process of moving from disequilibrium to equilibrium due to technological innovations in both sectors is the major source of economic growth and development. But many developing countries disrupt this natural economic development process. Very often governments interfere in favor of the urban sector, distorting capital and labor markets to favor urban over rural areas, in an attempt to jumpstart development or leapfrog this Page | 2

process. As a result, overall efficiency is lost, as resources do not flow to their “freemarket” locations where they would naturally earn the highest rate of return. As a consequence, the rural-urban gap increases, and the natural growth that would occur in rural areas, as well as in urban areas, is circumvented. This rural-urban divide evolves when governments in developing countries give preference to the urban sector in their public policies. Such preferential practices may include, for example, price policies, public investment, and welfare transfers that favor the urban over the rural population. In part this urban bias may also occur because urban centers in developing countries may be better organized politically and thus have greater influence on policy makers than the rural population. We see the effect of urban bias in the gap between urban and rural areas in of labor productivity, per capita income, and poverty rates. The greater the gaps among these indicators, the larger is the bias. Naturally, per capita income and productivity differences have to be adjusted by labor quality and cost of living in the two sectors.

Rural-Urban divide in India: For India, urban bias has usually arisen from the combination of three different but related policies. The first and most common one relates to policies affecting the of trade (i.e., price policies). Very often agricultural outputs are underpriced, with levels that are much lower than those that would result from a free market situation or in the international market. Second, overvalued exchange rates in most developing countries exacerbate this bias, adversely affecting all traded goods, but frequently agricultural products in particular. Third, governments’ tendencies to favor urban centers are reflected in their spending policies. Like other government policies, public spending endeavors to promote more equitable development and increase efficiency by correcting market failures. The consequences of urban-biased policies are obvious. First, these policies leadto larger gaps between rural and urban areas in of many development indicators, such as education, health, nutrition, per capita income, and poverty.

Rural-Urban Dynamics: A Historical Perspective in India:

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During the first three Five-Year Plan periods (1951-1966), the newly independent India emphasized self-reliance and gave priority to rapid industrialization. This development strategy required a substantial amount of investment in urban industries from the state at the expense of the agricultural sector. The first Five-Year Plan (1951-56) allocated 31 percent of the budget to the agricultural sector. Rural outlays, however, decreased thereafter to 20-25 percent as India formally adopted the socialist strategy of heavy industrialization during the Second Five Year Plan (1956-61). Under this strategy, agricultural policy was infused with a pro-urban bias. In order to provide cheap food and cheap basic inputs for industrial development, farm prices were kept artificially low and agricultural exports were curtailed through quantitative restrictions and an overvalued exchange rate. Moreover, basic food products were made available at subsidized prices in urban areas and food deficit regions. The government concerned itself with controlling the price of food grains because the relative price of food grains was thought to be an important determinant of savings and investment rates. [It was thought that high food grain prices would discourage investment in the industrial sector as they would increase pressure to raise wages, which would in turn increase labor costs and consequently decrease profits ]. An important element of India’s food policy and food security system is the Public Distribution System (PDS), which started as a rationing system in the 1940s. The PDS aimed at “protecting low-income groups from increases in retail prices by purchasing grain from farmers (at the price) and selling it to consumers at subsidized prices”. But the urban sector profited most from the PDS. After the mid-1960s, India’s government began to prioritize the development of the agricultural sector. The government adopted an agricultural strategy aimed at improving productivity in the agricultural sector. Under this strategy, various agricultural price mechanisms and input subsidies were introduced, which helped the success of India’s Green Revolution. Emphasis was also given to the development of small-scale industries in rural areas. Various measures were adopted, including subsidized loans to promote the development of rural industries. Beginning in 1991, India adopted a series of sweeping macroeconomic and structural reforms in non-agricultural sectors including industry, exchange rate, foreign trade, and investments. Although the reforms were implemented in the nonfarm sector, they affected agriculture in at least two important ways. First, the reforms adopted between 1991 and 1993 resulted in rapid economic growth and therefore to a rise in per capita income. These improvements had a significant impact on food demand. Higher per capita incomes—which grew at 4.5 per cent per annum in the early 1990s compared to 3.6 Page | 2

per cent in the 1980s —led to the diversification of food demand for non-food grain crops such as fruits and vegetables, as well as meat, poultry, and dairy products from a rising middle class. Second, the decrease in industrial protection significantly enhanced the incentive framework for the sector, as the domestic of Trade (TOT) between agricultural and industrial prices improved during the 1990s. The TOT rose from 0.9 to 1.2 between 1991 and 2000.The improved TOT for agriculture resulted in an increase in the profitability of the primary sector relative to industry. As a result, private investments in agriculture rose substantially and are now double the amount invested by the public sector. These private investments were increasingly directed to horticulture, and poultry, fish, milk, and egg production, in response to booming consumer demand for these high-value agricultural products. These changes in demand led to a remarkable growth in the production of these high-value commodities during the 1990s relative to the previous decade. Despite these improvements, government fiscal and investment policy is still oriented towards the urban areas. New investments under the Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs) privileged mostly urban areas as well as more prosperous regions. Gujarat and Maharashtra, for example, received 37 per cent of industrial investments between 1991 and 1994 and within these two states a large share of the investment was concentrated near the large city of Mumbai. Moreover, the focus of government policies, subsidies, and fiscal incentives has shifted away from agriculture towards industry under the SAPs. For example, government subsidies are directed mainly towards high-skilled industries such as the software sector. These industries also benefit from exemptions from custom duties and corporate income taxes. Likewise, government subsidies in the health sector tend to favour urban areas while the provision of basic health services in rural areas is still lacking. Overall expenditures on social services have declined under the SAPs in relative . Even more disturbingly, subsidies have been redirected away from rural areas towards urban industrial centres. While the rural sector is home to about 65 per cent of the Indian population, only 20 per cent of the health subsidies are directed towards this sector, for example. Political intervention and economic forces, as well as government policies, have been identified as the sources of the skewed distribution of health-care services in favour of the urban sector. A similar disparity exists between urban and rural areas in of literacy. Typically urban populations have better access to schools and also enjoy better quality education. As a result of this urban bias in policies, an income gap also exists between rural and urban residents in India, even after adjusting for cost-of-living differences. Page | 3

In 1951, the ratio of urban to rural per capita mean income was 1.4, and gradually increased to 1.6-1.7 during 1954-55. It then declined to a historic low of 1.3-1.4 during 1966-69 due to the adoption of new technologies and greater agricultural production during this initial stage of the Green Revolution. But the ratio has stayed at 1.5-1.6 since then.

Empirical Evidences of Rural-Urban dsiparities in INDIA :

8.1 GDP: The contribution of rural urban sectors in the GDP of India in the Post-Independent era evaluated at constant Prices of 1999-00 are as shown :

GDP of India showing the Rural and Urban Contributions: Year 1950-51 1960-61 1970-71 1980-81

GDP (at 99-00prices)

Rural Contribution

Urban Contribution

224097

147058

77039

32856

20839

12017

6

3

3

(in Crores Rs.)

473592 67803 3

27771 4

195878

365299

312734

1990-91

1083572

530886

552686

2000-01

1864300

77256

1091737 Page | 4

3 2008-09

3339375

1118028

2221347

Note: GDP is measured at constant prices of 1999-2000. Graph showing the Rural and Urban contributions to GDP of India :

The increasing share of Urban Sector Contribution to GDP and the decreasing contribution of Rural Sector :

8.2 Poverty Levels: Poverty is widespread in India, with the nation estimated to have a third of the world's poor. According to a 2005 World Bank estimate, 41.6% of the total Indian population falls below the international poverty line of US$ 1.25 a day (PPP, in nominal 21.6 a day in urban areas and 14.3 in rural areas). According to a new UN Millennium Development Goals Report, as many as 320 million people in India and China are expected to come out of extreme poverty in the next four years, while India's poverty rate is projected to drop to 22% in 2015. The report also indicates that in Southern Asia, however, only India, where the poverty rate is projected to fall from 51% in 1990 to about 22% in 2015, is on track to cut poverty in half by the 2015 target date The Rural-Urban disparities are clearly reflected in this aspect also. But the positive sign is thet the disparity in of Poverty seems to be coming down.

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8.3 Per-Capita Income: The NSSO survey on household consumer Expenditure assumes heightened significance as India relies on it to measure income growth across the country, in the absence of an official income survey. The survey brings to light, the prevalence of the deep urban-rural divide in of consumption spending (and hence, income).

NSSO survey brings India’s deep urban-rural divide into focus : The survey estimated average MPCE in 2009-10 to be INR1054/USD23.71 and INR1984/USD44.63 in rural India and urban India respectively implying per capita Page | 2

expenditure level of the urban population was on an average 88% higher than the rural counterpart. Urban-rural disparity is accentuated at the state level:

Ironically, the flip side of Maharashtra’s successful urban story is that the state also had the greatest urban-rural divide with urban MPCE being 110% of rural MPCE. Other examples of states where urban MPCE was double that of rural MPCE, are Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and West Bengal. West Bengal is an example of a state where on the one hand both rural (INR952/USD21.42) and urban MPCE (INR1965/USD44.21) were below the corresponding national averages and on the other, the urban-rural disparity (106%) was one of the greatest. The state of Punjab showed a very balanced pattern of urban growth across the size categories of towns and cities in the state. As the development process in the state is rooted in agricultural sector in the wake of green revolution unlike other states, the cities benefited as much as the small and medium towns as a result of expansion of agro based industries and marketing of agricultural products. The rural-urban trade-off is, therefore, much balanced in Punjab compared with other states in the country An overview of the trend based on the data on per capita consumption expenditure from NSS at current prices gives a similar trend. The growth rates in both have picked up Page | 3

slowly during seventies and eighties (Graph). The rise, however, has been particularly very steep in urban expenditures in the nineties and subsequent years. It may be mentioned that figures up to the year 2004-05 are based on the large sample data of NSS while that for the subsequent years - shown in the Graph in dotted lines - are from the small sample. The trend of growing inequality however emerges clearly from both the data sets.

Graph All-India Per Capita Consumption Expenditure (Rs.) 1972-73 to 2007-08

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References Central Statistical Organisation. 2007. National s Statistics – Sources and Methods, Government of India, New Delhi. Deaton, A. 2005. "Measuring Poverty in a Growing World (or Measuring Growth in Poor World)." The Review of Economics and Statistics. MIT Press. 87(1). pp. 1-19,04.

All-India Average Per Capita Income 1970-70 to 2004-2005

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Some Positive Points from the Survey: ➢ Rising rural MPCE in absolute is a reflection of India’s economic

growth: It would however, not be correct to state that rural India has not benefited at all from the nation’s economic progress. During the latest survey (between 2004-05 and 2009-10) the Indian economy grew at an average annual rate of above 8%. Coinciding with such economic growth, rural MPCE rose 64.5% in absolute during the same period, only marginally trailing the 68% rise in urban MPCE. A section of the experts opine that in case of developing countries like India, a growing urban-rural divide is, to a great extent ,inevitable and should not be a major cause for concern as long as rural income levels also improve in absolute . ➢ Composition of the consumer expenditure basket : Decline in share of food and rise in the share of non-food items like durables in consumption portfolio indicates economic progress. The survey also concludes that consumers spent more on non-food items such as durables and services. Share of durables for Page | 1

example, rose from 3% to 5% for the rural population and from 3% to 7% in urban areas since 1987-88. The 10 percentage point rise in expenditure of non-food items byte rural population since 1987-88 can be viewed as another indication of economic growth benefiting rural India.

8.4 Literacy: Similar trends can be seen in the Literacy Rates in the Rural and Urban areas.Because of the availability of better facilities for Education, the urban areas are having the better literacy rates than the rural areas. But, the gap seems to converge which is a positive sign for the rural sector.

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9. How to Promote Better Rural-Urban Linkages: In this section, we see some measures to be adopted by the government to curb these disparities and to promote better rural-urban linkages. Page | 1

India historically followed development strategies favouring the urban sector. However, in the past two decades, the of trade for agriculture have improved as part of the reform process, and have somewhat countered the previous urban bias. However, various types of urban bias still prevail, particularly in of government investment priorities, which disproportionately favour urban areas in both countries. To some extent, this impedes the efficient allocation of factors, therefore contributing to the unequal development between the rural and urban sectors. Increasing public investment in rural areas is therefore crucial in order to achieve greater poverty reduction. Adequate provision of infrastructure such as transportation and communication, for example, is essential for achieving better rural-urban linkages as this would facilitate mobility and therefore access to markets, employment, and services for the rural population. In addition, promoting nonfarm employment, rural-to-urban migration, and the development of rural towns can also lead to much stronger rural/urban links and greater synergies between the two sectors. We recommend the following policies to help correct urban bias, strengthen the links between rural and urban sectors, and promote growth and poverty reduction. ✔ Increase Public Spending in Rural Areas: Past studies have consistently shown that public investment in the rural sector promotes rural growth in India. Growths in the rural sector can also benefit urban areas in many ways. Growth in the rural economy also generates fiscal and financial outflows from rural to urban areas(taxes from rural-based industries for example).In a recent study, Fan and Chan-Kang (2005) estimated the returns of rural and urban road development on rural and urban growth as well as on rural and urban poverty reduction. The study finds that benefit/cost ratios for rural roads are about four times larger than for urban roads when the benefits are measured as a contribution to national GDP. Even in of urban GDP, these ratios are much greater for rural roads than for urban roads. In another study, Roopa Purushottam found out that A 10% increase in: ➢

Urban expenditure is associated with a 3.9% increase in rural household income per

head; and ➢

Public investment in agriculture is associated with a 1.1% increase in rural household

income per head.

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Rural economic growth consequently generates employment, income, and growth to the rest of the economy. Therefore, India needs to continue to increase spending in rural areas in order to promote growth and reduce poverty in both urban and rural areas. ✔ Develop the Rural Nonfarm Sector: The rural nonfarm sector is important for the growth of the rural economy as well as for poverty reduction. It also provides opportunities for livelihood diversification for poor rural households. Roopa Purushottam found out that ➢

A 10% increase in rural nonfarm employment translates into a 1.7% increase in rural

household incomes, at a 98% significance level. ➢ Related work shows that a 10% increase in urban expenditure could lead to a 4.8%

increase in rural nonfarm employment In India, Dev. (1986) indicated the bulk of the poor are landless or live on small farms with inadequate land for their own food needs. Consequently they depend heavily on earnings from supplying unskilled wage labour to other farms or to nonfarm enterprises. Public investment in physical infrastructure (road, transportation, communication) as well as in education and health is crucial for the small farms to establish their own business and to access nonfarm jobs in the rural nonfarm sector. ✔ Develop Small Rural Towns:

The proximity and accessibility to small rural towns and urban centres by rural residents is crucial for the rural economy, especially for the development of the rural nonfarm sector and for livelihood diversification (Bhalla 1997; Shukla 1992; Jayaraj1994; Eapen 1995). These linkages are well discussed in Wandschneider (2004), who studied the impact of small rural towns in local economic development in Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, two poor states of India. The author found that small rural towns and nearby villages are strongly linked through consumption, production, employment, and financial linkages, and various types of economic and social service provision. While villages benefit strongly from small towns through these linkages, the reverse is also true. Small towns and urban centres depend and benefit from labour, inputs, and markets of nearby villages. The development of small rural towns is also associated with better infrastructure (in of quantity and quality), which in turn will facilitate access to markets and lower transportation costs. Moreover, by absorbing agricultural labour surplus, small rural town development in India helps to alleviate the pressure on bigger cities, while contributing to the growth of the national economy. Page | 1

✔ Increasing private investment: A section of the experts have blamed the plight of the agricultural sector and inefficacy of the rural social safety net programs as the chief factors responsible for widening of the urban-rural divide. Decline in per capita food production, poor state of rural infrastructure such as power, roads etc. and underperformance of social safety net programs like rural job schemes and public distribution systems have restricted rural income growth. The positive impact of India’s thrust on economic growth has so far been largely limited to the urban population and is yet to widely percolate to the rural population. Such a premise implies the need for the government to adopt effective strategies tailor-made for the rural population. Encouraging private sector participation, unilaterally and via public-private partnerships (PPP), to create inclusive and innovative business models to cater to the needs of the rural population is one such strategy being experimented and implemented successfully in other developing countries.

10. Conclusion Like many developing countries, India followed development strategies biased in favour of the urban sector over the last several decades. These development schemes have led to overall efficiency losses due to misallocation of resources among rural and urban sectors. It also led to large income gaps between rural and urban areas. India has corrected the rural-urban divide to some extent as part of reform processes. But the bias still exists. Other studies also the idea presented here that correcting this imbalance will not only contribute to higher rural growth, but also secure future urban growth. More important, correcting the urban bias will lead to larger reductions in poverty as well as more balanced growth across sectors and regions. Correcting a government’s bias towards investment in urban areas is one of the most important policies to pursue. In particular, more investment in education, infrastructure, and agricultural research and development has proved to be both pro-growth and pro-poor. Facilitating the mobility of productive factors, such as labour, is another means to correct any bias. In particular, providing health, education, housing, and pension services for rural migrants in urban areas is essential to promoting human capital movement from rural to urban areas or to the industrial sector. Promoting the development of the rural non-farm economy and rural small towns is another effective way to correct rural/urban bias and to create significant synergies between the two sectors.

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Today we have enough money, food, resources and technology to rid the world of hunger and poverty. It is just that some key people have to make up their minds. The Planning commission of India must therefore work efficiently to meet the needs of both the urban & rural population. As a parting note, we can say that though urban life is advantageous, rural life does have its merits. With proper development of infrastructure even rural areas can become as good as urban areas.

11. BIBILOGRAPHY ♦ Urban Growth by City and Town Size in India –by Ram B. Bhagat PhD ♦ Rural and Urban Dynamics and Poverty: Evidence from China and India –by

Shenggen Fan, Connie Chan-Kang, and Anit Mukherjee. ♦ Is Urban Growth Good For Rural India by Roopa Purushottaman

♦ Rural Urban distribution of Population by Dr.C.Chandramouli. ♦ Urbanization, inequality and economic growth: evidence from Indian states by Massimiliano Cali ♦

NSSO Household Expenditure Survey 66th Round

♦

www.wikipedia.org

♦ www.rural.nic.in ♦ www.mhupa.gov.in ♦ www.india.gov.in ♦ www.urbanindia.nic.in ♦ www.re-emergingworld.com

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