URBANISATION
United Nations is keen to bring awareness in governments and the agencies to plan our urban future to solve urban problems including the effects of climate change and enable improvement of living conditions.
United Nations is keen to bring awareness in governments and the agencies to plan our urban future to solve urban problems including the effects of climate change and enable improvement of living conditions.
India has 2.3% of the World’s area, but has 17.5% of the World’s population. The population of India was 1.22 billion in the year 2011.It is expected that by the year 2021, India will be the most populous country in the World with 1.6 billion population.
India’s population is next only to China with 1.22 billion in the year 2011. Urban population in India is 377 million i.e. 31.42% of the total population and rural population is 68.52%.The urban population in Germany is 74% of the total population, 80% in United Kingdom, and 82% in U.S.A. Population increase in India is about 15 million per year, which is equal to the total population of Australia. Addition of 15 million population every year will increase the problems faced if Governments do not match economic activities, infrastructure, and facilities required to cater to the additional population in such large numbers.
India has the second largest urban system in the World. The urban population by the year 2021 will be about 503 million. The addition of about 126 million urban population by 2021 ie. in another nine years requires provision of employment in non–agricultural activities, affordable housing, water supply, power, and other infrastructural facilities as otherwise the urban problems will increase like; slums, inadequate water, power cuts, traffic congestion, etc. It is expected that the urban: rural ratio will be about 40: 60 by the year 2021..
It is observed that growth of mega cities is rapid in view of employment facilities , better connectivity to other cities in the state and the country as well as foreign countries ,higher educational opportunities, super-specialty health facilities, recreational facilities, etc. in spite of serious urban problems. Small and medium cities are not growing for want of those facilities. According to 2011 Census , Mumbai was India’s most populous city with 18.4 million persons followed by Delhi with 16.3 million persons, Kolkatta 14.1 million , Chennai 8.91 million, Bangalore 8.72 million, Hyderabad 7.74 million, Ahamedabad 6.35 million, Pune 5.04 million, Surat 4.5 million, and Jaipur with 3.07 million persons. The land and rental values are prohibitive in large cities. Even middle income families are not able to afford independent houses. One land in Mumbai was sold at Rs. 107 crore /acre during 2011. In Bangalore , rates are quoted in Cantonment area up to Rs.25,000/sft.
The effects of unplanned urbanization is bad. About 23.5% of the population are below the poverty line. Only 67% of the household in India have electrical connection. Regarding the urban services, only about 50% of the households have taps in their houses, and 60% of the households have no sanitation facilities. Why in India such a situation exists sixty seven years after Independence in spite of large budget provisions in five year plans of governments and yearly budget provisions of state governments and statutory agencies, is to be answered by the leaders who rule the Country
The total geographical area of India is 328.726 hectares, out of which agricultural area is 169.659 hectares. In future, only urbanization will take place. Area under agriculture is limited. There is no way to increase
agricultural land. Gradually area under agriculture will reduce due to urbanization. Whereas increase in urban space is possible by increasing number of floors in buildings in urban areas. If urban sprawl continues utilizing agricultural lands, food production to meet the requirements of future population will be affected and food grains will have to be imported. It is therefore necessary to conserve the limited agricultural lands by resorting to high density development in urban areas on wider roads. Higher density should depend on the size of the urban area.
Karnataka had a population of 61.13 million in 2011. It is about 70.2 million in 2012. Bangalore is the only large city in Karnataka unlike Tamilnadu and Maharashtra where there are several large cities. Bangalore is the fifth largest city in India with 8.72 million population in the year 2011, and about 10 million at present. 23% of the urban population of Karnataka are living in Bangalore City. During 1951, it was only 17%. The primacy of Bangalore is increasing due to the urban infrastructure available in Bangalore including connectivity to other cities in India and foreign countries. Investors prefer Bangalore due to this reason. Other cities in the state without the above advantages are not developing and efforts are not being made by Government to upgrade the infrastructure in those cities and attract economic activities.
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