Abstract
In order to establish the linkages between non-farm employment growth, urban growth and the changing settlement morphology at the state level, urbanisation process in Gujarat is examined in detail in the fourth chapter. Structural transformation embodies rising rural incomes and growing demand for non-farm services that play a role in bringing about the growth of RNFS. Scholars also argue that structural transformation is a consequence of urban spill over to rural non-farm ‘self-employment’ activities. Small towns are defined as ‘first-tier markets and service providers for rural enterprises and development’ and originate as villages that due to agglomeration economies develop over time as urban centres by virtue of their functions and services. Economic development and urbanization are thus related. This chapter deals with the nature of urbanization process in India with particular reference to Gujarat. With the help of secondary data for the towns of Gujarat, it explores the relationship between the emergence of census towns and the pre-existing metropolitan areas. The constituents of urban growth in Gujarat are decomposed in order to unravel the contribution of census towns and in-situ urbanisation. An attempt is made at identifying the factors that determine the emergence of small/census towns in Gujarat, keeping the district as the enumeration unit. The magnitude of the future development challenge faced due to unrecognized urbanization is ascertained by looking at the status of large villages that are on the threshold of being defined as urban. By relaxing the definition of an urban centre, the challenges of urban growth process are discussed. The last section provides a summary of discussion and highlights issues critical for policy support.
An earlier version of the work in this chapter has appeared in an edited volume (Role of Public Policy in Development Process, New Delhi: Academic Foundation). The present chapter comprises of a more comprehensive analysis and is included with the permission of Academic Foundation, New Delhi.
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Notes
- 1.
The census provides the distance of each settlement with the nearest class 1 towns; both the nearest city having population of 1 lakh and the second having 5 lakh and above. This information has been used for the present computations, and not the radial distance of each class 1 town based on GIS mapping.
- 2.
As per the census of India out growths are settlements located adjacent to but outside the limit of statutory towns. These are however not independent units, but dependent on the neighboring larger city.
- 3.
6 in Ahmedabad UA, 3 in Okha UA, 1 each with Jamnagar UA, Navsari and Kanavav, 4 with Surat UA, 2 each with Valsad and Vapi towns. The process of merging of census towns with the larger city is ongoing.
- 4.
Quite obviously merging of STs and reclassification of other urban settlements into ST will not have an effect on the urban population.
- 5.
A Nagar Panchayat or Notified Area Council (NAC) or City Council is a settlement in transition from rural to urban. The determination of such areas is left to the states taking into account some criteria like total population, density of population, non-agricultural employment, annual revenue generation, etc. A lot of variation exists amongst the states. The Constitution (74th Amendment) Act, 1992 had specified a population range of 10 to 20,000 for a Nagar Panchayat.
- 6.
As we proceeded for our primary survey of CTs in Gujarat, we encountered that this has in fact already happened with a number of CTs in the periphery of UAs.
- 7.
The density criteria could not be calculated due to absence of readily available data from the primary census abstract of the villages.
- 8.
In 1991, when the detailed breakup of workers was last available, it was shown that only 3.6 percent of the main workers were engaged in allied sectors, with Kutch, Mehsana and Kheda having the highest share (ranging between 6 to 8 percent of main workers).
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Mehta, N. (2018). Structural Changes and Implications for Urbanization. In: Rural Transformation in the Post Liberalization Period in Gujarat. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8962-6_4
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