🔆 India’s Urban Definition & Its Limitations

📍 Key Highlights:
✅ 2011 Census definition: Urban = statutory towns (municipalities) or census towns (pop. ≥5,000, 75% male workforce in non-agriculture, density ≥400/sq km).
✅ Many growing towns & peri-urban regions function like urban areas but remain under rural governance, leading to poor infrastructure and planning gaps.
✅ 75% male workforce rule outdated—ignores women’s informal/unpaid work & rise of service/gig economy in rural/semi-urban spaces.
✅ Urbanisation is blurring rural-urban boundaries, but rigid definitions undercount population and misclassify settlements.
✅ Retaining old definition for 2027 Census risks misgovernance, underfunding, and exclusion of emerging urban areas.

📍 Implications:
✅ Need a dynamic, inclusive definition of urban to reflect India’s evolving settlement patterns.
✅ Critical for equitable resource allocation, service delivery, and policy planning.

✅ Mains Question:
“Critically examine how outdated census definitions of ‘urban’ affect governance and resource allocation in India. Suggest measures to make urban classification more inclusive.” (250 words)

✨ #Urbanisation #Census2027