Understanding India's Urban Frontier : What Is Behind the Emergence of Census Towns in India?
This paper presents the results of an investigation of selected census towns in northern India. Census towns are settlements that India's census classifies as urban although they continue to be governed as rural settlements. The 2011 census fe...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/378351482172055283/Understanding-Indias-urban-frontier-what-is-behind-the-emergence-of-census-towns-in-India http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25822 |
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okr-10986-258222021-06-08T14:42:46Z Understanding India's Urban Frontier : What Is Behind the Emergence of Census Towns in India? Mukhopadhyay, Partha Zerah, Marie-Helene Samanta, Gopa Maria, Augustin urbanization census towns urban planning service delivery governance rural settlements market towns administrative status This paper presents the results of an investigation of selected census towns in northern India. Census towns are settlements that India's census classifies as urban although they continue to be governed as rural settlements. The 2011 census featured a remarkable increase in the number of census towns, which nearly tripled between 2001 and 2011, from 1,362 to 3,894. This increase contributed to nearly a third (29.5 percent) of the total increase in the urban population during this period. Only part of this evolution can be attributed to the gradual urbanization of settlements in the vicinity or larger towns. Instead, the majority of census towns appear as small "market towns," providing trade and other local services to a growing rural market. The case studies of representative census towns in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, and West Bengal show the role of increased connectivity and growing rural incomes in driving the demand for the small-scale and non-tradable services, which are the main sources of nonfarm employment in these settlements. The case studies also reveal that the trade-offs between urban and rural administrative statuses are actively debated in many of these settlements. Although statistical comparisons do not show a significant impact of urban or rural administrative status on access to basic services, urban status is often favored by the social groups involved in the growing commercial and services sectors, and resisted by the residents still involved in the traditional farming sectors. 2017-01-05T23:04:54Z 2017-01-05T23:04:54Z 2016-12 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/378351482172055283/Understanding-Indias-urban-frontier-what-is-behind-the-emergence-of-census-towns-in-India http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25822 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 2923 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper South Asia India |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English en_US |
| topic |
urbanization census towns urban planning service delivery governance rural settlements market towns administrative status |
| spellingShingle |
urbanization census towns urban planning service delivery governance rural settlements market towns administrative status Mukhopadhyay, Partha Zerah, Marie-Helene Samanta, Gopa Maria, Augustin Understanding India's Urban Frontier : What Is Behind the Emergence of Census Towns in India? |
| geographic_facet |
South Asia India |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 2923 |
| description |
This paper presents the results of an
investigation of selected census towns in northern India.
Census towns are settlements that India's census
classifies as urban although they continue to be governed as
rural settlements. The 2011 census featured a remarkable
increase in the number of census towns, which nearly tripled
between 2001 and 2011, from 1,362 to 3,894. This increase
contributed to nearly a third (29.5 percent) of the total
increase in the urban population during this period. Only
part of this evolution can be attributed to the gradual
urbanization of settlements in the vicinity or larger towns.
Instead, the majority of census towns appear as small
"market towns," providing trade and other local
services to a growing rural market. The case studies of
representative census towns in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, and
West Bengal show the role of increased connectivity and
growing rural incomes in driving the demand for the
small-scale and non-tradable services, which are the main
sources of nonfarm employment in these settlements. The case
studies also reveal that the trade-offs between urban and
rural administrative statuses are actively debated in many
of these settlements. Although statistical comparisons do
not show a significant impact of urban or rural
administrative status on access to basic services, urban
status is often favored by the social groups involved in the
growing commercial and services sectors, and resisted by the
residents still involved in the traditional farming sectors. |
| format |
Working Paper |
| author |
Mukhopadhyay, Partha Zerah, Marie-Helene Samanta, Gopa Maria, Augustin |
| author_facet |
Mukhopadhyay, Partha Zerah, Marie-Helene Samanta, Gopa Maria, Augustin |
| author_sort |
Mukhopadhyay, Partha |
| title |
Understanding India's Urban Frontier : What Is Behind the Emergence of Census Towns in India? |
| title_short |
Understanding India's Urban Frontier : What Is Behind the Emergence of Census Towns in India? |
| title_full |
Understanding India's Urban Frontier : What Is Behind the Emergence of Census Towns in India? |
| title_fullStr |
Understanding India's Urban Frontier : What Is Behind the Emergence of Census Towns in India? |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Understanding India's Urban Frontier : What Is Behind the Emergence of Census Towns in India? |
| title_sort |
understanding india's urban frontier : what is behind the emergence of census towns in india? |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2017 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/378351482172055283/Understanding-Indias-urban-frontier-what-is-behind-the-emergence-of-census-towns-in-India http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25822 |
| _version_ |
1764460237611335680 |