NET, IAS, State-SET (KSET, WBSET, MPSET, etc.), GATE, CUET, Olympiads etc.: Indian Geography Urban Regions

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Fundamentals of Geography

Urban Regions of India

Year Population residing in Urban Areas.

  • 1901 10.9%
  • 1941 14.1%
  • 1951 17.6%
  • 1961 18.3%
  • 1971 20.21%
  • 1981 23.7%
  • 1991 26.0%

Entire urban regions of India can be divided into six zones

Regional Urban Geography

  • Himachal Pradesh: total urban population is 74,44, 824. It has 55 urban centres smallest is Naina Devi (500) , largest is Shimla (1,09, 840) . Chamba is most dense (4,000 people/sq. km.) ; least dense is Narkanda (300) . only 10% of total population resides in urban areas, important urban centres are: Shabatha, Dagshai, Jutosh, Kassanti, Solan, Yole, Dalhousie etc. Chamba is situated on Ravi and Kullu Manali on Beas. Shimla is at the altitude of 2205 m. In 1861, it was made the summer capital of India.
  • Madhya Pradesh: has 433 towns and 15 million people live in urban areas which is 15% ofthe total population of M P important cities are Indore (it is the best and most well planned city and has 10,86, 000 people) , Bhopal (10,63, 000) , third is Jabalpur (88,000) , Murwara, Mahalda, Balaghat, Narsinghpur, Ambikapur, Umaria, Kaimur (all these are mining and industrial towns and cities) .
  • Chhattisgarh: Most important city is Raipur, Bhilai, Rajhara and Nandini. There are some planned cities like Panchsheel Nagar, Shankar Nagar.
  • Maharashtra: Total population 40 million; 4 crore live in urban areas i.e.. 25% of the total population; it has 291 urban centres; earliest towns are Paithan, JunnarKarad, Deogiri. Market towns are Sholapur and Barsi (Bhima Valley) , Satara in Krishna Valley, Nandurbar, Bhulia (Tapti Valley) . towns during MarathasSangli, Kurundwad, Miraj, Ichalkaranji, Phattan, Bhor, Aurangabad, Kolhapur, Pune, Mumbai. Greater Mumbai has largest population (1 crore, 26 lakh) than Kalyan, Thane, Udhampur, Navi Mumbai.
  • Orissa: 42 lakh population in urban areas. Has 119 urban centers & 1011% people live in urban areas. Important industrial towns Rourkela (Sundargarh dist.) , Hirakud (Sambalpur dist.) , Balagir. Mining towns areDhenkanal, Kyonjhar and Mayurbhanj. Historical towns Bhubneshwar, Cuttack and Konark. Commercial towns Sonpur, Besllanguntha, Jharsuguda, Kalahandi and Korapat.
  • Tamil Nadu: 260 urban centres, 190 million population in urban areas, important towns are centred around Nilgiri & Vellore, Salem and Chennai (54 lakhs) .
  • Gujarat: 14 million urban areas, 225 urban centres. Important centres are Vadodra, Rajghat, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar, Ahemdabad & Surat. Port city is Kandala. Religious centres are Dakor, Dwarka & Somnath. Gandhinagar is on Sabarmati river.
  • Karnataka: 254 urban centre, 14 million people. Oldest towns: Vatapi, Pampapur, Gokhran, Singeri, talakad, Halebid, Bilm. Fort towns: Belgaun, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Kalyani Jalikot, Devanbali, Parvada, Shinaripur, Hosadwarja. industrial towns: Mandya, Godag, Jainagar, Gandhingar. Banglore has 41 lakh people.
  • Andhra Pradesh: 18 millions in urban areas, 213 urban centres, historical cities are Kurnool, Mothagudam, Sirpur, Mancheriyal etc.
  • Hyderabad is the largest urban centre (40 lakh) , then Vizag. Uttar Pradesh: 28 million, 702 urban centres; highly urbanized sector is Yamunapur (30.4%) . Kanpur has largest population (19.62 lakh) , Lucknow (15.92 lakh) , then Varanasi (9.29 lakhs) , then Agra, Allahabad and then Meerut.
  • Punjab: 60 lakh in urban, 119 urban areas, 30% population in urban areas. Ambala is highest urbanized, then Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jallandhar, Patiala, then Gurudaspur.
  • Rajasthan: 10 million in urban areas, 214 urban areas; Largest population in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Bikaner, Ajmer, Udaipur, Alwar, Bhilwara, Ganganagar
  • Jammu and Kashmir: 49 urban centres, 23.89% of population in urban areas. Anantnag, Baramula, Sopor in Srinagar Valley; Mirpur, Udhampur, Poonch and Leh are also urban areas.
  • West Bengal: 27.39% in urban areas, 19 million, 160 urban centres.
  • Manipur: 27% in urban areas, 30 urban centres; Imphal is largest.
  • Assam: 221 urban centres, 25 lakh in urban centres.

Analysis:

Class V 2.6% ; 735 towns. Class VI 0.30% ; 196 towns. India has 35 such cities whose population is more than 10 lakh or 1 million. Western India is more urbanized than Eastern India. Southern India is more urbanised than Northern India.