History Of Urbanization In India

History of Urbanization in India
In 1687- 88, the first municipal corporation in India was set up at Madras. In 1726, Municipal Corporation were set up in Bombay and Calcutta. In 1882,a resolution was passed and according to which, panchayat were to be formed at village level, district boards,taluq boards and municipalities also came into existence. At that time Lord Ripon was Viceroy of India, and for this Lord Ripon is known as father of local self-government in India.

Urbanization since independence has been focused through respective five year plans as follows:
First two plan focused on institution and organization building and same was instructed to the states to do.
For ex. Delhi development Authority, Town and country planning organization

The pattern, however, has undergone significant changes over the past few decades. A large proportion is currently concentrated in six most developed states, namely Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Punjab and West Bengal, accounting for about half of the country 's urban population. This can largely be attributed to colonial inheritance, all these states reporting percentage of urban population much above the national average of 27.8 in 2001. Several studies have shown that the levels of urbanization in the states with high per capita income are generally high, the opposite being the case of less urbanized states (Sivaramakrishna, Kundu and Singh

Since Independence until 1991, most of the developed states have shown medium or low growth of urban population. In contrast, high urban growth was registered in economically backward states, viz. Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, the states also having low percentages of urban population. The small north eastern states deserve special mention as they too have recorded rapid pace of urbanization due to the process of their becoming economically integrated with the national economy. This, unfortunately, did not get reflected in their levels of economic development. On the whole, the relationship between level of urbanization and urban growth works out to be negative. However, a couple of developed states like Maharashtra and Haryana may be considered as exceptions, as they have recorded urban growth slightly higher than that of the country.
Table India; Trends of Urbanization 1901-2001:
Year Number of Towns / Urban Areas Urban Population (in Thousands) % of Total Population Decennial Growth (%)
1901 1827 25851.9 10.84 —
1911 1815 25941.6 10.29