Trends and Implications of Urbanization in India During the 20th Century

Abstract

India became independent in 1947. The partition of India in 1947 and the mass migration of refugees had its impact on urban growth and the decade 1941–51 recorded the highest ever rate of urbanization. The 1951–61 decade was largely free from the impact of “abnormal” circumstances such as epidemics, war and partition. It was also the first decade of planned economic development in India and a decade of rapid industrialization. Indeed, for a proper study of industrialization, urbanization and economic growth in India, this decade should be considered as the starting point. Incidentally, this is also a first decade for which fairly adequate data are available for the study of urbanization in relation to economic growth. The rural-urban dichotomy in the presentation of all basic census data was introduced in the tabulation scheme for the first time in the 1951 census. It must also be noted that the question on “place of birth: rural or urban” and “the duration of residence in case of those whose place of birth was not the place of enumeration”, were also introduced for the first time in the 1961 census, thereby yielding a mass of data on migration (subject to the limitations of migration data on the basis of place of birth). The National Sample Surveys were introduced in 1950 and this decade also saw the undertaking of a large number of socio-economic and demographic surveys. Thus, there has been a tremendous improvement, in quantity and quality, in regard to the availability of data for the study of industrialization, urbanization and economic growth in India.