Rural & Urban Settlements in India

Rural India

Rural areas are also known as the 'countryside' or a 'village' in India. It has a very low population density. In rural areas, agriculture is the chief source of livelihood along with fishing, cottage industries, pottery etc.

The quest to discover the real rural India still continues in great earnest. Almost every economic agency today has a definition of rural India. Here are a few definitions:

According to the Planning Commission, a town with a maximum population of 15,000 is considered rural in nature. In these areas the panchayat makes all the decisions. There are five persons in the panchayat. The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) defines ‘rural’ as follows:

·         An area with a population density of up to 400 per square kilometer,

·         Villages with clear surveyed boundaries but no municipal board,

·         A minimum of 75% of male working population involved in agriculture and allied activities.

RBI defines rural areas as those areas with a population of less than 49,000 (tier -3 to tier-6 cities).

It is generally said that the rural areas house up to 70% of India’s population. Rural India contributes a large chunk to India’s GDP by way of agriculture, self-employment, services, construction etc. As per a strict measure used by the National Sample Survey in its 63rd round, called monthly per capita expenditure, rural expenditure accounts for 55% of total national monthly expenditure. The rural population currently accounts for one-third of the total Indian FMCG sales.

Urban India

For the Census of India 2011, the definition of urban area is as follows:

1.   All places with a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee, etc.

2.   All other places which satisfied the following criteria:

1.    A minimum population of 5,000;

2.    At least 75% of the male main working population engaged in non-agricultural pursuits; and

3.    A density of population of at least 400 persons per sq. km.

Panoramic view of Delhi, the capital of India

Source: A PDF file named '1. Data Highlight' accessed on 11 April 2012 from Census of India, 2011 The figure below is the population statistic for the year 2011.

This is a list of city population and it does not indicate urban agglomeration population.

Rank	Name	State/UT	Pop.	Rank	Name	State/UT	Pop.
1	Mumbai	Maharashtra	12,478,447	11	Lucknow	Uttar Pradesh	2,815,601
2	Delhi	Delhi	11,007,835	12	Kanpur	Uttar Pradesh	2,767,031
3	Chennai	Tamil Nadu	8,425,970	13	Nagpur	Maharashtra	2,405,421
4	Hyderabad	Telangana	6,809,970	14	Indore	Madhya Pradesh	1,960 521
5	Bangalore	Karnataka	5,570,585	15	Thane	Maharashtra	1,818,872
6	Ahmedabad	Gujarat	4,681,087	16	Bhopal	Madhya Pradesh	1,795,648
7	Kolkata	West Bengal	4,486,679	17	Visakhapatnam	Andhra Pradesh	1,730,320
8	Surat	Gujarat	4,462,002	18	Pimpri-Chinchwad	Maharashtra	1,729,359
9	Pune	Maharashtra	3,115,431	19	Patna	Bihar	1,683,200
10	Jaipur	Rajasthan	3,073,350	20	Ludhiana	Punjab	1,613,878

Settlement

The form of settlement in any particular region reflects man’s relationship with his environment. The various types of settlements have evolved over a long period of time. The development and growth of settlement also depends upon the religious and social customs of the society. The buildings used for various religious and social purposes, give the settlements their distinctiveness.

The settlements are generally divided into two types-urban and rural or towns and villages. The urban settlements are differentiated from the rural settlements on the basis of certain characteristics, such as the size and density of population, economic basis, administrative basis, and the number and quality of public utility services.

Every urban or rural centre has its own form and it is the product of its site and surroundings. The haphazard growth gives the settlement an irregular shape. The urban settlements are mostly classified on the basis of their functions. 

The village, as a form of settlement, is closely related with the agricultural activities. The rural settlements are of two types compact and scattered. In the compact settlement, the houses are closely spaced and the streets are narrow. Such settlements develop mostly in the river valleys and fertile plains.

A rural settlement is a community involved predominantly primary activities such as farming, lumbering and mining. A urban settlement engages in predominantly in secondary and tertiary activities such as food processing and banking.

A rural settlement tends to have small population and low population density. Urban settlement often has a large population size and high population density.