Geography
Population and Settlement
Urbanisation and Settlements
Rural settlement types, census definitions of urban areas, Census 2011 urbanisation (31.1%), million-plus cities, town classification, slums and urban missions.
Prerequisites
- Census 2011 Highlights: the population base
- Migration: rural-to-urban migration is one of the engines of urban growth
- The 74th Amendment: Urban Local Bodies: how towns are governed
The Hook: From Para to Metropolis
Connect
Walk through a village in Bastar or Surguja and you will notice it is not one compact cluster: houses are grouped into separate paras (पारा), a few hundred metres apart, each often home to one community. Now take the expressway from Raipur to Nava Raipur Atal Nagar, a capital city planned on former farmland after the state was formed.
Both are settlements (बस्ती), the places where people live. How does India classify its villages and towns, how urban is it really, and what problems come with rapid urban growth?
Why it matters: Prelims asks census definitions (census town, UA, Class I city), “most urbanised state” and settlement types. Mains GS-III asks about urbanisation trends, problems and urban policy.
Part A: Rural Settlements (ग्रामीण बस्तियाँ)
A settlement is any organised cluster of human dwellings. Rural settlements depend mainly on primary activities (farming, forestry, fishing, mining); urban settlements mainly on secondary and tertiary activities.
Types of rural settlement in India
| Type | Features | Where (examples) |
|---|---|---|
| Clustered (agglomerated or nucleated) | Compact, closely built houses; streets between them; clear separation from fields | Fertile alluvial plains: the Northern Plains and north-east; also where defence or water scarcity forced people to live together (Bundelkhand, parts of Rajasthan) |
| Semi-clustered (fragmented) | A clustered core with smaller groups (often of lower castes or labourers) set apart; may arise from the break-up of a large compact village | Gujarat plains and parts of Rajasthan |
| Hamleted | The settlement is broken into several physically separate units (hamlets) sharing a common name; locally called panna, para, palli, nagla, dhani | Middle and lower Ganga plain, Chhattisgarh and lower valleys of the Himalayas |
| Dispersed (isolated) | Isolated huts or small groups of huts in remote forests, on hill slopes or among scattered fields | Meghalaya, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala; also tribal hill areas of central India |
Factors that shape rural settlements
- Water supply: villages sit near rivers, lakes, tanks and springs.
- Land: people settle near fertile land, but on raised ground in flood-prone areas (dry-point settlements).
- Building material: availability of wood, stone or mud shapes form and location.
- Defence: hilltops and islands in politically insecure periods.
- Planned settlements: villages laid out by governments, such as canal colonies and resettlement villages.
Patterns (shapes) often follow the site: linear (along a road, river or canal), rectangular (plains, around crossroads), circular (around a tank or lake), star-shaped (where several roads meet), T-shaped, Y-shaped and cross-shaped (at road junctions), and double villages on both banks of a river.
Chhattisgarh angle
Chhattisgarh is one of NCERT’s named examples of hamleted settlement. Villages, especially tribal ones, are divided into paras, often by community or lineage. This matters for administration: PESA and the state’s rules treat a habitation or group of habitations as the unit for a Gram Sabha, so hamlets can have their own voice. Plains villages near Raipur and Durg are more clustered, while the forested hills of Bastar and the north show dispersed patterns.
Part B: What Is “Urban” in India?
The Census 2011 definition of an urban area:
| Category | Definition |
|---|---|
| Statutory town | Every place with a municipality, municipal corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee |
| Census town | A place without an urban local body that meets all three criteria: (1) population at least 5,000; (2) at least 75% of the male main working population engaged in non-agricultural work; (3) density at least 400 persons per sq km |
| Urban agglomeration (UA) | A continuous urban spread: a town and its adjoining outgrowths (OGs), or two or more contiguous towns with or without outgrowths. A UA must contain at least one statutory town and have a total population of at least 20,000 (2011) |
| Outgrowth | A viable unit (a village or hamlet, a railway colony, a university campus) clearly urban in character and contiguous to a town, but not itself a statutory town |
| Million-plus city / UA | Population of 10 lakh (1 million) or more |
| Megacity | Population of 1 crore (10 million) or more |
Size classes of towns
| Class | Population |
|---|---|
| Class I | 1,00,000 and above (often called “cities”) |
| Class II | 50,000–99,999 |
| Class III | 20,000–49,999 |
| Class IV | 10,000–19,999 |
| Class V | 5,000–9,999 |
| Class VI | Less than 5,000 |
Part C: Urbanisation in Census 2011
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Urban population | 37.71 crore, i.e. 31.14% of India (final; provisional 31.16%) |
| Trend | about 11% (1901) → 17.3% (1951) → 27.8% (2001) → 31.1% (2011) |
| Growth 2001–2011 | Urban population grew about 31.8%, rural about 12.2% |
| A first | For the first time since Independence, the absolute increase in urban population (about 9.1 crore) exceeded that in rural population (about 9.0 crore) |
| Towns | 7,935: 4,041 statutory + 3,894 census towns (5,161 towns in 2001) |
| Census towns | Jumped from 1,362 (2001) to 3,894 (2011): a large share of new urban growth came from villages that became census towns |
| Million-plus UAs/cities | 53 in 2011 (35 in 2001), housing over 40% of urban India |
| Megacities | Greater Mumbai UA (1.84 crore), Delhi UA (1.63 crore), Kolkata UA (1.41 crore) |
| Villages | 6,40,867 |
State-wise urbanisation (Census 2011)
| Most urbanised | Least urbanised |
|---|---|
| Goa (62.2%) | Himachal Pradesh (10.0%) |
| Mizoram (52.1%) | Bihar (11.3%) |
| Tamil Nadu (48.4%) | Assam (14.1%) |
| Kerala (47.7%) | Odisha (16.7%) |
| Among UTs: NCT of Delhi (97.5%) |
Chhattisgarh: 23.24% urban, well below India’s 31.1%. Its two million-plus UAs in 2011 were Raipur and Durg–Bhilainagar (see Distribution and Density).
graph LR
A["Natural increase
in towns"] --> E["Urban growth
2001-2011"]
B["Rural-to-urban
migration"] --> E
C["Reclassification:
villages become
census towns"] --> E
D["Expansion of
town boundaries
and outgrowths"] --> E
Hidden urbanisation
India’s official urban share (31%) is widely thought to understate reality. Many settlements that look and work like towns are still governed as villages. The 2,500-plus new census towns of 2001–2011 are urban by census criteria but are run by gram panchayats, which are not designed to provide sewerage, drainage, planning or solid-waste services. Studies using other definitions (for example, density-based measures) put India’s “real” urban share much higher. This gap between urban form and urban governance is a strong Mains point.
Part D: Classification of Towns
By history (NCERT)
| Type | Examples |
|---|---|
| Ancient towns (over 2,000 years old, many religious or cultural centres) | Varanasi, Prayagraj (Allahabad), Pataliputra (Patna), Madurai |
| Medieval towns (headquarters of principalities and kingdoms) | Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Agra, Nagpur |
| Modern towns (developed by the British and other Europeans; post-independence planned and industrial towns) | Colonial ports (Surat, Daman, Goa, Puducherry); hill stations; planned capitals: Chandigarh, Bhubaneswar, Gandhinagar, Dispur; industrial towns: Bhilai, Hirakud, Barauni; Nava Raipur Atal Nagar is a recent planned state capital |
By dominant function
| Function | Examples |
|---|---|
| Administrative | New Delhi, Chandigarh, Bhopal, Raipur and other capitals |
| Industrial | Mumbai, Salem, Coimbatore, Modinagar, Jamshedpur, Hugli, Bhilai |
| Transport (ports, rail junctions, road nodes) | Kandla, Kochi, Kozhikode, Visakhapatnam; Agra, Dhulia, Mughal Sarai, Itarsi, Katni |
| Commercial | Kolkata, Saharanpur, Satna |
| Mining | Raniganj, Jharia, Digboi, Ankaleshwar, Singrauli; in Chhattisgarh, Korba (coal) and Dalli-Rajhara (iron ore) |
| Garrison (cantonment) | Ambala, Jalandhar, Mhow, Babina, Udhampur |
| Educational | Roorkee, Varanasi, Aligarh, Pilani, Prayagraj |
| Religious and cultural | Varanasi, Mathura, Amritsar, Madurai, Puri, Ajmer, Pushkar, Tirupati, Kurukshetra, Haridwar, Ujjain |
| Tourist | Nainital, Mussoorie, Shimla, Pachmarhi, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Udhagamandalam (Ooty), Mount Abu |
Most large cities are multi-functional; the classification is by dominant function.
Part E: Problems of Urbanisation and Policy Responses
Problems
| Problem | Detail |
|---|---|
| Slums | Census 2011 counted about 6.5 crore people in slums, roughly one in six urban residents |
| Housing shortage | Especially for the urban poor and migrants; high rents and informal settlements |
| Infrastructure deficit | Water supply, sewerage, drainage, solid waste, public transport |
| Environment | Air pollution, urban flooding, heat islands, loss of wetlands and lakes |
| Informal employment | Most urban jobs are informal and insecure |
| Governance | Weak urban local bodies with little own revenue, parastatals bypassing councils, unplanned peri-urban growth |
| Regional imbalance | Growth concentrates in large metros and the south and west, while small towns stagnate |
Urban missions (as of 2026)
| Mission | Launched | Status and focus |
|---|---|---|
| Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) | 2 October 2014 | Sanitation and solid-waste management; SBM-U 2.0 from 2021 |
| Smart Cities Mission | 25 June 2015 | Area-based development in 100 cities through special purpose vehicles; the mission formally closed on 31 March 2025. In Chhattisgarh: Raipur, Bilaspur and Nava Raipur Atal Nagar |
| AMRUT | 25 June 2015 | Water supply, sewerage, green spaces; AMRUT 2.0 from 2021 |
| PMAY-Urban | 25 June 2015 | Housing for all; PMAY-U 2.0 approved in August 2024 for 1 crore urban houses over 2024–29 |
| HRIDAY | 2015 | Heritage city development |
| Constitutional base | 74th Amendment (1992) | Part IXA, urban local bodies, Twelfth Schedule; see Local Government |
Memory Tricks
Census town: '5,000 – 75 – 400'
5,000 people, 75% of male main workers non-farm, 400 per sq km. Read it as a scoreline: “5K, 75, 400”. All three must be met, and there must be no urban local body.
Rural settlement types: C-S-H-D, plains to hills
Clustered (plains) → Semi-clustered (Gujarat, Rajasthan) → Hamleted (Ganga plain, Chhattisgarh: think para) → Dispersed (Meghalaya, Uttarakhand, Himachal, Kerala). Density of houses falls as you go up the hills.
Most urbanised states: 'Go, Mizo, Tamil, Kerala'
Goa 62, Mizoram 52, Tamil Nadu 48, Kerala 48. Least: Himachal 10, Bihar 11: “Hills and Bihar stay rural”.
Don’t Confuse
| This | vs | That |
|---|---|---|
| Statutory town: has an urban local body | vs | Census town: no ULB, meets 5,000 / 75% / 400 |
| Urban agglomeration: town + outgrowths or contiguous towns | vs | Outgrowth: an urban-like unit next to a town, not itself a statutory town |
| Million-plus: 10 lakh+ | vs | Megacity: 1 crore+ |
| Class I town: 1 lakh+ | vs | Million-plus city: 10 lakh+ |
| Hamleted settlement (Chhattisgarh, Ganga plain) | vs | Dispersed settlement (Meghalaya, Uttarakhand, Kerala) |
| Most urbanised state: Goa | vs | Most urbanised UT: Delhi |
| Largest UA: Greater Mumbai | vs | Second: Delhi; third: Kolkata |
Common Mistakes
Trap 1: census-town criteria
The 75% criterion applies to the male main working population, not to all workers or the total population. The density cut-off is 400 per sq km, not 1,000.
Trap 2: 'Tamil Nadu is the most urbanised state'
Goa (62.2%) is the most urbanised state, then Mizoram. Tamil Nadu is the most urbanised large state. Delhi (97.5%) is a UT.
Trap 3: 'Urban growth came only from migration'
Urban growth has four sources: natural increase, migration, reclassification (new census towns) and boundary expansion. Studies of the 2001–2011 decade attribute a large part of urban growth to natural increase and to reclassification of villages as census towns, not only to migration.
Trap 4: Smart Cities Mission as 'ongoing'
The Smart Cities Mission formally closed on 31 March 2025. Write about it in the past tense, with its outcomes and criticisms.
Practice
All questions below are original practice questions in CGPSC style. They are not previous-year questions.
Level 1: Foundation
- A census town must have a minimum population of ________ and a density of at least ________ persons per sq km.
- The most urbanised state in India according to Census 2011 was ________.
- Rural settlements broken into physically separate units known locally as para or palli are called ________ settlements.
Answers
- 5,000; 400
- Goa (62.2%)
- Hamleted
Level 2: Prelims MCQs
Q1. Consider the following statements regarding urbanisation in India as per Census 2011:
- The number of census towns was more than twice that in Census 2001.
- The absolute increase in urban population during 2001–2011 exceeded the absolute increase in rural population.
- Himachal Pradesh was the least urbanised state.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 and 2 only
- (b) 2 and 3 only
- (c) 1 and 3 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer and explanation
(d) 1, 2 and 3. Census towns rose from 1,362 to 3,894, nearly three times as many, so “more than twice” holds. The urban increase (about 9.1 crore) exceeded the rural increase (about 9.0 crore) for the first time since Independence. Himachal Pradesh (10.0%) was the least urbanised state, followed by Bihar.
Q2. Match List I (Type of rural settlement) with List II (Typical region):
| List I | List II |
|---|---|
| A. Clustered | 1. Hill slopes of Meghalaya and Uttarakhand |
| B. Semi-clustered | 2. Northern alluvial plains |
| C. Hamleted | 3. Gujarat plains |
| D. Dispersed | 4. Chhattisgarh and the middle Ganga plain |
- (a) A-2, B-4, C-3, D-1
- (b) A-2, B-3, C-4, D-1
- (c) A-3, B-2, C-4, D-1
- (d) A-2, B-3, C-1, D-4
Answer and explanation
(b) A-2, B-3, C-4, D-1. Clustered villages dominate the fertile northern plains; semi-clustered ones occur in the Gujarat plains and Rajasthan; hamleted ones (para, palli, nagla, dhani) in Chhattisgarh and the middle and lower Ganga plain; dispersed ones in hill and forest areas such as Meghalaya, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala.
Q3. Which one of the following is not a criterion for a “census town” in Census 2011?
- (a) Population of at least 5,000
- (b) At least 75% of the male main working population in non-agricultural pursuits
- (c) Density of at least 400 persons per sq km
- (d) Presence of a nagar panchayat or municipality
Answer and explanation
(d). A place with a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified area committee is a statutory town. A census town has no urban local body but meets the three demographic criteria (a), (b) and (c).
Q4. Which one of the following pairs (town : dominant function) is incorrectly matched?
- (a) Bhilai : Industrial
- (b) Mhow : Garrison
- (c) Digboi : Mining
- (d) Roorkee : Commercial
Answer and explanation
(d). Roorkee is classed as an educational town (home to the historic Thomason College of Civil Engineering, now IIT Roorkee). Bhilai is an industrial (steel) town, Mhow a cantonment and Digboi an oil-mining town.
Q5. Arrange the following urban agglomerations in decreasing order of population as per Census 2011:
- Kolkata UA
- Delhi UA
- Greater Mumbai UA
- Chennai UA
- (a) 3, 2, 1, 4
- (b) 2, 3, 1, 4
- (c) 3, 1, 2, 4
- (d) 2, 1, 3, 4
Answer and explanation
(a) 3, 2, 1, 4. Greater Mumbai UA (1.84 crore) > Delhi UA (1.63 crore) > Kolkata UA (1.41 crore) > Chennai UA. Only the first three were megacities (1 crore+) in 2011.
Level 3: Mains Answer Writing
Q1. (60 words) What is “hidden urbanisation” in India?
Model answer outline
- Definition: settlements that are urban in population, density and work but are governed as villages, so they are under-counted or under-served.
- Evidence: census towns rose from 1,362 to 3,894 in 2001–2011 without urban local bodies; peri-urban villages around metros.
- Consequence: no planning, sewerage or waste services; official urban share (31%) understates reality.
- Remedy: convert large census towns into nagar panchayats; metropolitan planning.
Q2. (150–200 words) Discuss the trends and problems of urbanisation in India since 2001. How far have urban missions addressed them? Refer to Chhattisgarh.
Model answer outline
- Intro: urban share 27.8% (2001) → 31.1% (2011); for the first time, the urban increase exceeded the rural increase.
- Trends: surge of census towns; 53 million-plus UAs; three megacities; regional contrast (Goa, Tamil Nadu, Kerala vs Bihar, Himachal); peri-urban sprawl.
- Problems: slums (about 6.5 crore in 2011), housing shortage, water and sanitation gaps, pollution and urban flooding, informal jobs, weak urban local bodies.
- Missions: SBM-U (2014), Smart Cities, AMRUT and PMAY-U (2015); PMAY-U 2.0 (2024). Gains in sanitation and housing; criticisms: area-based bias of Smart Cities, SPVs bypassing councils, little help for small towns.
- Chhattisgarh angle: 23.24% urban; Raipur–Durg–Bhilai corridor; Raipur, Bilaspur and Nava Raipur under Smart Cities; growth of mining towns like Korba.
- Conclusion: sustainable urbanisation needs empowered ULBs, municipal finance and planning for small and medium towns, not only metros.
Quick Revision Table
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Census town | No ULB; 5,000+ people; 75%+ male main workers non-farm; 400+ per sq km |
| Statutory town | Has a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified area committee |
| UA | Town + outgrowths, or contiguous towns; 20,000+ (2011) |
| Class I | 1 lakh+; million-plus 10 lakh+; megacity 1 crore+ |
| Urban share | 31.14% (final), 37.71 crore; 27.8% in 2001 |
| Towns | 7,935 = 4,041 statutory + 3,894 census |
| Million-plus UAs | 53 (35 in 2001) |
| Megacities | Greater Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata |
| Most / least urbanised state | Goa 62.2% / Himachal Pradesh 10.0% |
| Rural settlement types | Clustered, semi-clustered, hamleted (Chhattisgarh), dispersed |
| Smart Cities Mission | 25 June 2015; 100 cities; closed 31 March 2025; CG: Raipur, Bilaspur, Nava Raipur |
| PMAY-U 2.0 | Approved August 2024; 1 crore houses; 2024–29 |
Key Takeaways
Key Takeaways
- India was 31.1% urban in 2011, and for the first time urban growth in absolute terms beat rural growth.
- A census town needs 5,000 people, 75% non-farm male main workers and 400 per sq km, with no urban local body.
- Much new urban growth was reclassification into census towns, the root of “hidden urbanisation”.
- Rural settlements are clustered, semi-clustered, hamleted (Chhattisgarh’s paras) or dispersed.
- Urban missions improved sanitation and housing, but empowered urban local bodies remain the missing piece.
What’s Next
- Population and Settlement — Quick Revision
- Local Government: 73rd and 74th Amendments: urban governance in detail
- Urban Local Bodies in Chhattisgarh: the state’s municipalities and Smart Cities
- Industries and Transport: industrial towns and transport nodes
- Environment and Ecology: urban pollution and ecology, next chapter
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