Urbanisation in India is officially defined by two metrics:
Administrative Definition
Census Definition
As India rapidly urbanises, these traditional measures are inadequate to capture the complex phenomenon, especially when we study this at the state or local level. To begin with, there is a large difference between urbanization as defined by the two official definitions. For example, Kerala is 15% urban by the administrative definition, but 47.7% by the census definition. The built-up density on ground processed from the satellite map of Kozhikode shows how the urban expansion ignored the administrative boundary between 1975 and 2014. Other definitions reveal even larger gaps.
Status of Urbanisation in India
Future Challenges
India’s Current Approach to Urbanisation
India’s current approach to urbanization is focussed on several objectives: