Million cities of India: a review of 2001 census data
- 2001
- p.97-110
- Jul-Dec
The last few decades have seen a mushrooming of the million cities in India. They now reveal a wide spatial distribution, excluding the northeastern and hilly states and the peripheral islands. This paper poses two questions: Are all these million cities growing at the same rate? Does the differential growth shed any light on the nature of Indian urbanization? These questions are explored by analyzing the population growth patterns of the million cities of India on the basis of the latest census data and past reports. The paper concludes that the younger million cities with sound industrial bases have grown at a much faster pace than the older mega-cities. As a result, Indian urbanization has assumed a multi-peak character with declining importance of four mega-cities. - Reproduced.