Urbanization has become very common in Indian society. The growth of industries have directly contributed to the growth of cities. Because of industrialization, people in search of employment have started moving towards the areas of industrial growth. This has resulted in the increase of towns and cities.
Urbanization is defined as the influence of urban centers and cities that leads to a rural hinterland. Urbanization also can be defined as the process in which the population of a nation gets concentrated in a particular territory.
According to Mitchell, urbanization is the process of becoming urban and moving to cities and changing profession from agriculture to other pursuits which are common in cities.
Causes
There are various reasons which have led to the growth of cities. They are given below:
Industrialization is the primary cause of urbanization. It has expanded the employment opportunities to a great extent. Rural people are migrating to cities for better employment opportunities.
There are social factors like attraction towards cities; better standard of living, better education, and status as well as the lifestyle that have led people to migrate towards cities.
In rural areas, people are mostly dependent on agriculture for livelihood. However, Indian agriculture is mostly dependent on monsoon. Therefore, in drought situations and natural calamities, these rural people have to migrate towards cities for employment opportunities.
Urban areas are having various sophisticated technology, better infrastructure, medical facilities, communication, etc. Therefore, people feel that they will have a very comfortable life in cities and so they are migrating to cities.
Urban-Rural Transformation
Rural areas are also now adopting the urban culture. Urban-rural transformation can be seen in the following areas:
- Literacy rate has increased a lot now in rural areas. They are becoming more and more modernized.
- Dressing habits have been changed of rural people
- They have also adopted modern technology.
- Women have been more enlightened in rural areas.
- Communication and transport services are modernized.
- The cell phone has become very common in rural areas.
- Rural people are also actively involved in politics.
- Infrastructure growth like banks and post office is done.
- Awareness has increased in rural people.
- Sanitation and hygiene have improved a lot in rural India.
- Demands for sophisticated products and cosmetics have been increased.
Thus it can be noticed that significant lifestyle has been changing among village people. Indian villages have adopted the urban culture and urban style of living. However, all the villages in India have not been transformed. Villages which are closed to the city have been transformed.
Effects of Urbanization
Significant changes have taken place and can be summed up as below:
Positive Effect:
- Migration of rural people to urban areas
- Employment opportunities in urban centers
- Better Communication and transportation facility
- Educational facility
- The standard of living has increased
Urbanization can have the positive effects if they are taking place in desirable limits.
Negative Effect:
Extensive urbanization will lead to the growth of discrimination amongst people in cities and will lead to adverse effects as follows:
- Over Population in cities is a common problem.
- Maintenance of Joint family is challenging in cities. This leads to the rise of nuclear families.
- The high cost of living in cities.
Conclusion
Although life in cities may seem lucrative there is a lot of struggle here too. It is up to the Government to do development of rural areas too so that urbanization is controlled.