India : Urbanization (Part – II)

Several factors lead to urbanization in India, including

• Economic factors: Urban areas offer more job opportunities and higher wages. For example, the growth of the IT industry in cities like Bangalore and Hyderabad has led to an influx of people seeking employment in these sectors.
• Social factors: Urban areas offer a wider range of social and cultural opportunities. For example, access to quality education and healthcare facilities in cities like Mumbai and Delhi attracts people from rural areas.
• Political factors: Government policies have encouraged urbanization. For example, the government's "Smart City" initiative, which aims to develop 100 cities across India, is expected to drive urbanization.
• Environmental factors: Natural disasters have driven people from rural to urban areas in search of safety and stability. For example, Cyclone Fani, which hit coastal Odisha in 2019, displaced many people, and they migrated to nearby urban areas.
• Infrastructure development: Improved transportation and communication systems such as metro rail have made it easier for people to move to and from urban areas, and also improved the quality of life in urban areas.
• Demographic factors: India's population has been growing rapidly in recent years, contributing to the growth of urban areas as more people seek out housing and other services..

Global scenario
At the international scale, levels of urbanization are closely correlated with levels of economic development, while rates of urbanization are inversely correlated with levels of economic development.

Demographic processes of immigration and migration, as well as natural population growth, are important determinants of urbanization, but these are in turn underpinned by other processes, especially structural economic change.

The most urbanized regions are Northern America with 82% of its population living in urban areas (as of 2018), Latin America and the Caribbean (81%), Europe (74%), and Oceania (68%). Asia has about 50% level of urbanization in Asia and Africa remains mostly rural, with only 43% of its population living in urban areas.

• As per the Economic Survey 2022-23, 65% of India's population lives in the rural areas and 47% of the population is dependent on agriculture for livelihood.
• Contrary to the common perception about predominance of agriculture in the rural economy, about two thirds of rural income is now generated in nonagricultural activities.
• According to the Economic Survey, the agriculture sector has grown at an average annual growth rate of 4.6% in the past six years. However, agriculture and rural incomes are under stress for several reasons.

Thus, among the given States (and in all Indian States) Uttar Pradesh has the largest rural population, while in terms of population percentage, Himachal Pradesh (90%) has the largest percentage of rural population in India.

As per Census 2001 and 2011, Himachal Pradesh has the highest percentage of rural population among all States.

Thus, among the given States, Haryana has the lowest child sex-ratio both in rural and urban areas. In fact, among all Indian States/UTs, Haryana has the lowest total and urban child sex-ratio, while Delhi has the lowest rural child sex- ratio (814).

As per the data of NSS-76th Round, among the households living in houses, about 76.7 percent of the households in rural areas and about 96.0 percent of the households in the urban areas (83.3 percent at all-India level) had the house of pucca structure.