Urbanization Problem in India and Ways of Solving It - Term Paper Example

URBANIZATION PROBLEM IN INDIA AND WAYS OF SOLVING IT By of the of the of the School 7 May 2014 Introduction All around the world, the problem of urbanization is becoming severe as days go by. While the problem is not that serious in developed nations, it is quite serious developing nations. This is because the twenty-first century has been marked by rapid urbanization in developing nations such as India, which is the country of study in this paper and around the world. Jana and Majumder define urbanization as “the physical growth of urban areas from rural areas as a result of population immigration to an existing urban area” (2010, p. 134). In India, the rise of urbanization has been rapid. Singh points out that in India, “in 1951, the urban population was 65.28 million, which increased to 217.18 million, spread over 3768 urban agglomerations/towns in 1991” (1996, p. 161). In 1996, India had the fourth largest urban population worldwide, which was estimated to reach one billion by the end of the twentieth century (Singh, 1996). Before the beginning of the twenty-first century, urbanization was predicted to be one of the most powerful demographic trends of the century. This is evident from the fact that in the overall world population growth between the year 2000 and 2030, most of it is expected to be concentrated in urban areas (Parveen 2005). In this scenario, developing and less developed nations are predicted to be more vulnerable to the rise of urbanization compared to developed nations. According to Parveen, “the United Nations estimates that India’s urban population will reach 600 million or 45 percent of the total population by the year 2025” (2005, p. 9). The problem of urbanization in India comes from the fact that the benefits brought about by urbanization are not fairly distributed over geographical space and across the various sections of the population, despite the fact that the urban economy accounts for over half of India’s Gross Domestic Product (Parveen 2005). The scenario in India is one denoted by primary cities and primary regions of urbanization that are “developing with haphazard urban growth and resultant urban decay and decline” (Parveen 2005, p. 9). This is the main reason why cities in India are characterized by overcrowding which spells poverty. In India, urbanization is related to a number of factors with the first two being rapid industrialization in urban areas and lack of employment opportunities in the nations agricultural sector. Due to the fact that urbanization is not just about the movement of people from rural to urban areas, but rather provision of the necessary amenities and infrastructure services to them, failure to provide these necessities makes urbanization a serious problem, such as that facing India. Today, India has one of the largest urban populations worldwide. Dutt, Misra and Chatterjee assert that “the adverse effects of urbanization in India are seen in the form of overcrowding, insanitary conditions, water and air pollution, all which affect both the physical and the mental health of the residents” (2008, p. 121). This paper is a discussion on the problem of urbanization in India and how the problem can be solved. History of Urbanization in India Urbanization is considered as the second phase of socio-economic revolution by pre-historians. Agricultural revolution that took place in the Neolithic period is considered as the first phase of socio-economic revolution. Jha points out that, “the first set of urban centers in India evolved out of the agricultural villages in the river valley of the Indus as early as 5000 years ago” (1998, p. 127). With time, the administrative, religious and economic needs of villagers in regions such as Harappa and Mohenjodaro among others led to the development of the regions as urban centers. He adds that “after the prehistoric phase, cities developed in ancient India….these religious or religio-administrative towns of ancient India added to themselves, certain commercial and indigenous urban functions” (1998, p. 127). In the 1990s, liberation developed in India (London and Hart 2011). This led to rapid growth of the Indian economy. According to London and Hart, “as a consequence, tens of millions of people were lifted out of poverty, and India’s information technology and business service industries became the envy of the world” (2011, p. 92). During the time, Mumbai, which was already an Indian business hub, became another global financial capital, while Hyderabad and Bangalore cities experienced booms in terms of newly constructed buildings. Although Indian urban centers experienced rapid growth, rural regions were left behind. Over half of India’s population, most of whom lived in the villages, were yet to see the benefits of globalization (London and Hart 2011). This gradually led to political implications. Urbanization however continued to grow rapidly leading to an emergence of urban slums, shantytowns, tent cities and squatter communities among other problems that persist to this day. Problems brought about by Urbanization in India Pollution: India stands among the nations with the highest urban population worldwide (Netzband, Stefanov and Redman 2007). Water and air pollution are the top environmental effects that rapid urbanization in India has caused. The 1987 Indian Air Amendment Act defines air pollution as “any solid, liquid or gaseous substances present in the ambient atmosphere in such concentration that they tend to be injurious to human beings or other living creatures or plants or property or enjoyment” (Dutt, Misra and Chatterjee 2008, pp. 121-122). Air pollution in India comes from five primary sources, which are burning of waste, exhaust gases from vehicles, burning of fossil fuels, gas emissions from industries and other sources. In urban areas, pollution caused by exhaust gas emissions from vehicles accounts for approximately 70% of the total air pollution (Dutt, Misra and Chatterjee 2008). Each year, the named sources emit thousands of tons of pollutants into the atmosphere. The pollutants include “carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, hydrocarbons such as benzene and methane, metallic elements such as lead, mercury etc. and suspended particulate matter” (Dutt, Misra and Chatterjee 2008, p. 122). According to Miklian and Kolas, “one of the biggest challenges posed by rapid urbanization is that of waste water management” (2013, p. 155). In India, waste water is rarely processed. In addition, ground water is a valuable resource all over the world as it provides drinking water to the populations. According to Kumar, industrial pollution caused by seepage of effluents and urban pollution caused by drainage waters, septic tanks effluents and municipal landfills are the primary sources of water pollution in urban areas. For this reason, protection and proper management of ground water is becoming an area of concern in the country. In municipal areas, lack of proper drainage systems and improper sanitation cause a lot of ground water pollution. Housing problems: In most Indian cities and towns, overcrowding and congestion are very serious to the extent that public health and public living is a menace. Overcrowding is a sign of shortage of housing and congestion. According to Singh, “housing shortage in urban areas in India was about 2.58 million units in 1951 which rose to 9.3 million in 1961 and to over 12 million units in 1971” (1996, p. 170). Over the years, shortage of housing has continued to rise and the problem has moved from bad to worse. The problem is so severe that in small and medium Indian towns and metropolitan cities, thousands of people sleep in public places due to lack of housing. Slums that can hardly be separated from urban life, as well as insanitary living conditions are another consequence of rapid urbanization in India. Slums result from industrialization of urban areas. It is a fact that, when people migrate from rural areas to cities and towns in search of employment opportunities, they can hardly “afford to buy a piece of land for house construction because of the very high price of urban land and they accept whatever and wherever space is available and do not even mind being a party to illegal occupancy” (1996, p. 171). For most, locations near their workplaces are the best and so they opt to construct places of living with wooden planks, tin sheets and scrap tarpuleen sheets. Since these places lack proper amenities, the conditions of living are insanitary, especially due to lack of bathing facilities, toilets, air, light and privacy. Strain on civic amenities: The provision of civic amenities in India has also been affected by rapid urbanization. Due to the fact that the financial resources available for urban governments are minimal, and the urban population keeps growing, it is difficult for them to provide basic services such as public health, sanitation, drainage, lighting, sewerage and drinking water (Singh 1996). In almost all Indian towns and cities, shortage of drinking water is a permanent feature with some localities going without water for days. In reference to drainage, open drains are common in cities and towns and some flow very close to houses. Although urban governments have made efforts to supply electricity regularly and at full voltage, the services are yet to become satisfactory. Transport and traffic problems: Transport facilities in urban India are inadequate. City governments are responsible for provision of mass transport facilities, but funds for this are inadequate to cater for the demands of a huge population. Singh points out that “in the cities and towns, many modes of transportation like camel carts, khachar rehras, trucks, buses, scooters, bicycles, rickshaws and tongas” create traffic problems (1996, p. 174). Problems arise in effectively managing traffic from the different modes of transportation, especially due to the fact that they move at different speeds. The consequences of these are long queues and traffic jams. Ways of Solving the Urbanization Problem in India From this analysis, it is clear that urbanization in India has been taking place at a very rapid pace. As years go by, more and more people continue to migrate to urban areas in search of better lives. It is however not too late to mitigate the problems brought about by urbanization. The following are the solutions proposed to solve the problem of urbanization in India: Creation of employment opportunities in rural areas: Lack of meaningful employment in rural areas is the major reason people move from rural to urban areas. The Indian government is responsible for controlling migration from rural to urban areas. This can be done through establishment of cottage industries in semi-urban and rural areas, so that they can provide meaningful employment to the people in rural areas. Another way would be through creation of agro-based industries. Effective management of housing problems: Local urban governments need more government funding so that they can avail more housing to their populations. Cooperative Building Societies have the capability of raising substantial amounts of money to construct more buildings for the urban population and so the Indian government should encourage their formation. Another solution would be provision of housing facilities to employees by the government, and some amount, in form of installments can be deducted from their salaries to cover for the cost of houses they acquire through this method. Charging taxes and supporting local governments for provision of civic amenities: Urban dwellers should not just demand efficient services from the government without playing their part. For this reason, they should also contribute a small amount in terms of taxes, which will in turn supplement the financial resources of local governments. The Indian government also needs to take a similar step. Controlling pollution: In regard to air pollution, vehicles and industries should have anti-pollution gadgets installed in them. The governments should take serious measures towards this. Water pollution on the other hand, needs to be prevented through construction of water treatment plants. Conclusion It is a fact that urbanization has created serious problems, especially for urban governments. This has become a menace that needs to be checked so as to end the miseries experienced by those living in urban areas. Integrating urban growth with development of rural areas would certainly control the problems that emerge as a result of rapid urbanization. Reference List Dutt, Ashok K., Misra, H. N. and Chatterjee, M. ed., 2008. Explorations in Applied Geography. New Delhi: Prentice-Hall of India Private Limited. Jana, B. K. and Majumder, M. ed., 2010. Impact of Climate Change on Natural Resource Management. New York: Springer Science + Business Media. Jha, M., 1998. India and Nepal: Sacred Centres and Anthropological Researches.   New Delhi: M D Publications PVT Ltd. London, T. and Hart, S. L., 2011. Next Generation Business Strategies for the Base of the Pyramid: New Approaches for Building Mutual Value. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. Miklian, J. and Kolas, A. ed., 2013. Indias Human Security: Lost Debates, Forgotten People, Intractable Challenges. London: Routledge. Netzband, M., Stefanov, W. L. and Redman, C., 2007. Applied Remote Sensing for Urban Planning, Governance and Sustainability. New York: Springer. Parveen, S., 2005. Changing Face and Challenges of Urbanization: A Case Study of Uttar Pradesh. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company. Singh, M. ed., 1996. Policy and Administration in India. New Delhi: M D Publications PVT Ltd. Read More