AEGAEUM JOURNAL ISSN NO: 0776-3808

LEVEL OF URBANIZATION AND CONSISTENCY MEASUREMENT IN , ,

Pompa Moadal1 & Dr. Tapas Mistri2 1Research Scholar of The University of Burdwan, West Bengal. 2Assistant Professor in Geography, The University of Burdwan, West Bengal. (Corresponding Author) Email: [email protected] [email protected] Abstract: Urbanization is the process of concentration of people in densely populated settlements where major portion derive their livelihood from other than primary occupation. It indicates the increase of the number of people living in urban areas mainly due to the natural growth, rural to urban migration, reclassification. Urbanization also reflects the level of development of any unit. To formulate the plan and policies of the development and to overcome the urban problems of any area it is necessary to know the nature and level of urbanization of this unit. Present study is concerned with the level of urbanization based on four selected urbanity and socio-economic indicators and consistency measurement in S. 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India. Hence, different statistical, cartographic and GIS methods have been used to fulfil the aim and objectives. This study reveals that the study area is a highly urbanised district both in terms of growth of urban population and urban centres but in sense of share of urban population it stands much bellow the state average. It also reveals that there is huge intra spatial disparity in the level of urbanization and the consistency of the urbanization in the study area.

Keywords: urbanization; level of urbanization; spatial disparity; consistency; GIS. Introduction: Urbanization is the proportion of urban population to the total population of any area. Urbanization is a quite natural process and a reflection of signature of human culture. In every parts of the world this process is continuing unabatedly that started since the time immemorial. Urbanization occurs when certain settlements grow at the cost of their surrounding countryside. Urbanization is the result of a combination of natural increase of the urban population and net in- migration to urban areas (Pacione, 2005). Urbanization is the process which reveals itself through temporal, spatial and sectoral changes in the demographic, social, economic, technological and environmental aspects of life in a given society. Urbanization is a Progressive concentration of population in urban unit (Colmer, n.d.). Urban growth is related to the urban sprawl is the result of extreme population pressure in the core of the city and man’s desire to live in cities or adjacent to the cities but very limited space in the city heart that already facing congestion. No of urban centres, sizes of population, density, area occupied by urban area are other factors in the study of urbanization. In demographic perspective level of urbanization is the share of urban population to the total population of the area, but in true sense to measure the level of urbanization it must be studied other criteria such as percentage of urban area to total urban area of the C.D. Block, urban population density, urban spacing means number of urban centres per sq km know the actual status of the area in terms of urbanization (Paul and Chatterjee, 2012).

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To understand the level of urbanization in any area specially the growth pattern, development and other changing population dynamics are very important. The level of urbanization gives us an idea to which extent an area gradually evolves into urban unit by changing its rural characteristics. It also helps to understand the extent and rate of urban growth in our study area. The process of urbanization in third world country mostly shows in the study area as an urban unit of India where cities mainly primate city plays an active role in the process of urbanization. According to dependency theory of urbanization continuously expansion of cities gives birth of peripheral urbanization which creates a strong rural urban linkage and obscures the traditional rural urban distinction (Pacione, 2005). Location of the city of adjacent to the study area controls the urbanization process in it. South 24 Parganas is a part of Kolkata Urban Agglomeration. Overcrowded mega city encourage the process of de-concentration which means people from core of the city migrated towards the peripheral areas to enjoy less land value, fresh fruits and vegetables and to avoid negative externalities such as pollution, traffic congestion etc. That’s why rate of urbanization in the study area is more in adjacent areas to the city of Kolkata and decreases toward southwards direction. On the other hand Over the year it is observe that the characteristics of rural area adjacent to urban units changing very rapidly and due to rural urban migration, natural increase of population land use land cover changes are being so fast that the old agrarian non industrialised slow monotonous rural life is gradually transforming into a place of diversified economy fast moving by the influence of huge infrastructural and economic changes that becoming slowly insulated into the rural nerves.

Literature review: The Researcher has reviewed books, journals, reports, conference proceedings etc. related to the present the study. In important observation Davis (1965) explained the nature of urbanization, and progress of census towns of the surrounding important towns in different parts of the world which have grown with the direct influence of various important mother cities. In a similar observation Pacione (2005) identified the relevance of dependency theory and the symptoms of peripheral urbanization in the third world countries are diagnostically conforms to the level of urbanization. Colmer (NA) relates the level of urbanization in India with its demographic changes. In another way Kundu (2011) analysed the trends and processes of urbanization in India where he projected the relationship of contemporary urban growth with migration from adjacent areas. The similar pattern of urbanization related to huge migration is also observed in the present study in the district of South 24 Parganas. Level of urbanization has analysed in different ways by Paul and Chatterjee (2012). Different indicators of the level of urbanization and techniques of consistency measurement of the level urbanization have also adopted in the present study. For the analysis of level of urbanization composite score and other empirical techniques may be useful in this study area Banerjee (2014). Sarkar (1989) focused on urbanization in West Bengal and its city size distribution from 1901 to 2001. From this study it is found that in West Bengal small and medium towns consistently declined in size due to lack of infrastructural facilities and poor attraction capacity whereas larger cities and towns have grown exponentially due to diversified functions and infrastructural facilities. Bagchi and Chatterjee (2015) analysed degree of urbanization in South 24 Parganas, West Bengal by using

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Figure 1: South 24 Parganas: Location Map

Fig.1 Source: District Planning Map Series, NATMO, Kolkata

the four major urban attributes where they found that the urbanization in the study area is still the city of Kolkata centric followed by peripheral urbanization.

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The Study Area: The study area, South 24 Parganas a district of West Bengal lies between 21°29'0" N to 22°33'45"N latitudes and 88°3'45" E and 89°4'50" E longitudes covering an area of about 9960 sq.km with twenty nine community development blocks, seven (Fig.1). The district is bounded by North 24 Parganas, Kolkata and district in the North and by Bay of Bengal to the South. In the West it is bordered by and by Bangladesh to the East. According to the 2011 Census this district is a 2nd most populous district in West Bengal with total population of 81, 61,961. From 1951 to 2011 growth rate of urban population is 2083.35% which is 10 times greater than the growth rate of rural population (Census of India, 1951-2011).

Objectives: The main objectives of the study are- 1. To show the trend of urbanization in the study area 2. To analyse the level of urbanization in the study area. 3. To measure the consistency of the level of urbanization for the study area.

Material and methods: After the extensive review of literatures of different aspects on urbanization mainly the level of urbanization in different countries of the world and relevant reports such as District Human development Reports of S 24 Pgs, Human development Reports of West Bengal secondary data were collected from different sources such as Census of India (District Census Handbook, S 24 Pgs 1901-2011), the Bureau of Applied Economics and Statistics: Government of West Bengal (District Statistical Handbook, S 24 Pgs. 2005-2013), different Local Urban Bodies (Municipalities), various administrative and thematic maps related to the study were gathered from National Atlas and Thematic Mapping Organization, Census of India, local urban offices etc. After calculating the data collected from different secondary sources different statistical measures are used to analyse the data and fulfil the objectives. Different remote sensing and GIS software like Q GIS, Map Info, Arc View, are utilised four mapping the resulted values. I. Decadal growth rate of urban population of an area for a particular time represents by the following formula. Thus, Decadal growth of urban population (2001-2011) = [Urban Population (2011) ─ Urban Population (2001)] ÷ Urban Population (2001) * 100

II. Proportion of urban population with respect to the total population of an area for a particular time represents the rate of urbanization. Thus, Proportion of urban population with respect to the total population = (Urban Population÷ Total Population) * 100

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III.A There are different parameters to measure the level of urbanization. But in the present study four main parameters are used to quantify the level of urbanization (Paul and Chatterjee, 2012): a) Percentage of Urban Area to Total Urban Area (UA) of any unit indicates the percentage of urban area with respect to total area for a particular time. Thus,

UA= Urban area / Total area *100 b) Percentage of Urban Population to Total Urban Population (UP) of an area represents the percentage of urban population with respect to total population for a particular time. Thus, UP= Urban area / Total area *100 c) Urban population Density (UPD) of an area indicates density of urban population with respect to the urban area. Thus, UPD= Total urban population/Total urban area d) Urban Spacing (US) of area unit represents number of urban centres per 100 squares Kilometre. US = Number of Urban Centres / 100 sq. km.

III.B. To measure the level of urbanization statistically-

a) Standard score (Z) has been calculated in the present study. Z score for each indicator for each C.D. block has been calculated by using the following formula (Mahmood, 2008).

Zn = (Xn –Mean of Xn) / δi

th [Where Zn= standard score of the n indicator, Xn= Actual value of the nth indicator, Mean of Xn = Average value of all C.D. blocks of the nth indicator

th δi = Denotes standard deviation of the n indicator.] b) Composite Score of each C.D block has been calculated to measure the level of urbanization in the study area using the standard scores of each C.D block according to the following equation (Mahmood, 2008). Composite Score for a particular block = Zn + Zo+ ...... +Zy. [Where Zn = Standard score of the nth indicator of that block, Zo = Standard score of the oth indicator of that block,

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Zy = Standard score of the y th indicator of that block.] Those C.D blocks which have not any urban population are exempted for calculation of the level of urbanization in the study area. IV. To measure the Consistency of urbanization Coefficient of Variation calculated by following formula (Mahmood, 2008). Coefficient of Variation (CV) = [Standard Deviation / Mean] ×100

Result and discussion: Distribution of urban population 2011: Thakurpukur-Mahestala, I & II, & II and Sonarpur sub district of S. 24 Parganas share maximum urban population of the district. Nature of the urbanization in this North and North Eastern part of the district is mainly city of Kolkata concentric. To get better facilities such as education, health treatment, job opportunities people from remote areas of the district come and settled down in this area. On other hand excess people from already saturated and overcrowding city of Kolkata people out migrate to this area to enjoy their life by getting less pollution, fresh fruits and vegetables, cheap land value etc. Fig.2 shows the number of urban population at sub district level where Thakurpukur-Mahestala and Sonarpur sub district contain more than 450000 urban populations and Budge Budge I cover 170440 and 197219 urban population respectively. Rest of the sub districts comprise less than 100000 urban Figure 2: South 24 Parganas: Distribution of total urban population, 2011

Fig. 2

Source: District Census Handbook of S.24 Parganas, 2011

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populations except which has 123216 urban populations. No of urban population decreases towards the Southwards direction away from northern part of the district reveals by the size of the sphere (Fig. 2). Trend of urbanization 1951-2011:

Figure 3: South 24 Parganas: Decadal growth rate of urban population, 1951-2011

Decadal growth rate of urban population in South 24 120 Parganas (1951-2011) 98.03 100 92.21

80 69.92 63.55 60 44.48 42.85 40

20

0 1951-61 1961-71 1971-81 1981-91 1991-2001 2001-11

Fig. 3

Source: Computed by the Authors from District Census Handbooks, South 24 Parganas, 1951- 2011

Urban growth rate in the study area always become higher than that of the state. Not only that its urban population grows at a much higher rate than that of its neighbouring districts namely Kolkata, North 24 Parganas and Haora. Emergence of new municipalities and jurisdictional changes of , formation of many Census Towns due to reclassification of villages which may be considered as a ‘pseudo-urbanization’ (Pacione, 2005) are the significant factors for increasing the percentage of urban population. In between 1951 to 1981 urban growth was very high due to consequent migration and subsequent infiltration after the partition of India (Fig. 3). Maximum migrants came from Bangladesh and settled down in and around Kolkata which helped to increase the urban growth rate in the study area. On the other hand due to reclassification of villages ninety seven census towns emerged in 2001 and added up to 799313 persons to the total urban population of the district. As a result South 24 Parganas become the second ranking district i.e. 92.21% among the all districts of West Bengal in 2011 in terms of urban growth rate according to Census of India 2011. It is a form of in-situ urbanization where migration plays minimum role in terms of urban population growth (Y, Zhu. 2002). Main components of the urban growth in the study area are- i) Jurisdictional changes of towns. ii) Natural increase of urban population. iii) Rural-urban migration. iv) Formation of new independent towns

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Among these four components most important one is jurisdictional changes. From 1981 to 2001 it plays an active role in urbanization in South 24 Parganas especially during 1990’s. According to census of India up to 2001 number of Census Town increased normally but in between 2001 to 2011 this number increase abruptly from 14 to 111 because of the reclassification of villages. Due to emergence of 97 Census Towns non municipalities contain 46.97% of the total urban population. After 1991 formation of two new towns and Municipalities and expansion of Rajpur-Sonarpur Municipality changed the picture of urban growth significantly. Natural increase of urban population is a common factor but rural urban migration plays relatively minor role in urban growth in the study area. Figure 4: West Bengal: Percentage of urban population to total population, 2011

120 Proportion of urban population to total population in West 100 Bengal (2011) 80 60 40 20 0

Fig.4

Source: Computed by the Authors from Census handbook of W.B, 2011 Figure 5: West Bengal &South 24 Parganas: Gap in the percentage of urban population, 1951-2011

Gap in proportion of Urban population to total population between West Bengal and South 24 Parganas (1951-2011) 35 30 25 20 15 % of urbanpop. 10 5 0 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2011 s.24 pgs 4.58 7.05 8.84 11.99 13.3 15.73 25.58 west bengal 24.8 24.45 24.75 26.47 27.48 27.97 31.87 Fig.5

Source: Computed by the Authors from District Census Handbooks, South 24 Parganas, 1991- 2011

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In respect of the percentage of urban population to the total population South 24 Parganas always stands much bellow the state average. It ranked eleventh position in the state of West Bengal among the all districts according to census of India 2011(Fig.4). Not only that this district has always been obtained lowest position among the all districts surrounding the city of Kolkata. But this difference gradually decreases with time. For instance this difference between the district and state was 22.2%, 15.91%, 14.18%, 6.29% in 1951, 1971, 1991 and 2011 respectively (Fig.5). In 1951 share of urban population to the total population was only 4.58% in the study area. Up to 1970 bellow 10% of the total population of the district was urban population. This figure reached into 15% in 2001 and according to 2011 census near about one fourth of the total population are urban dwellers. Level of urbanization (1991-2011): There are different parameters to measure the level of urbanization. But in the present study four main parameters are used to quantify the level of urbanization (Paul and Chatterjee, 2012). They are- I. Percentage of Urban Area to Total Urban Area of the C.D. Block (UA), II. Percentage of Urban Population to Total Urban Population of the C.D. Block (UP), III. Urban population Density (UPD) [Urban population/ urban area of the C.D block.] IV. Urban Spacing (US). [Number of Urban Centres / 100 sq. km.]

Table 1: South 24 Parganas: Spatial Distribution of C.D. Blocks according to Level of Urbanization (LU), 2011

CENSUS HIGH MODERATE LOW VERY LOW YEAR >6 +2 to +6 -2 to +2 >-2

1991 Mahestala. Budge Budge I, Sonarpur, Budge Budge Baruipur, Diamond Thakurpukur – II, Harbour I , Canning I, Metiabruz. Joynagar II, Bishnupur I & II

2001 Budge Budge I Thakurpukur – Baruipur, Diamond , Joynagar I Mahestala, Harbour I , & II, Bishnupur I Sonarpur II, Budge Budge II, Bishnupur II

2011 Budge Budge I, Sonarpur, Baruipur, Bhangar I, Joynagar II, Thakurpukur – Bishnupur II. I & , Mahestala. II, Magrahat I & II, Mathuraur I, Falta, Budge Budge II, Canning Canning II, , I, Joynagar I, Bishnupur Basanti. I

Source: Computed by the Authors from District Census Handbook, South 24 Parganas, 2011

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Fig.6 Source: Computed by the Author from District Census Handbooks, South 24 Parganas, 1991, 2001& 2011

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According to the level of urbanization C. D. Blocks have been classified into four categories such as high, moderate, low and very low (Table 1 & fig. 6). It shows that C. D. Block level between 1991 and 2011 produces more interesting results. In 1991 degree of urbanization was high in Maheshtala, and moderate in Thakurpukur-Metiabruz and Budge Budge I. Sonarpur, Budge Budge II was at low level. Rest of the urbanized blocks were fallen in very low level of urbanization. Situation changed remarkably during the following period. Budge Budge I attained high and exceptionally high level of urbanization in 2001 and 2011 respectively. In fact, both number of urban centres per 100 sq. km. and share of urban area in total were the highest in Budge Budge I among all C. D. Blocks. Another major transition was observed in case of Sonarpur. It moved from low to moderate and then to middle high level between 1991 and 2011. Thakurpukur-Maheshtala also moved towards a high level of urbanization in 2011. Another noticeable feature is the shifting from low to high level of some C. D. Blocks, namely Bishnupur II, Baruipur, Bhangar I, Diamond Harbour I, Magrahat II, Budge Budge II, from very low to low levels level during this phase. In 2011 C. D. Blocks Baruipur, Bhangar I, Diamond Harbour I & II, Magrahat I & II, Budge Budge II, Canning I, Joynagar I, Bishnupur I having low level of urbanization and very low level of urbanization in Joynagar II, Mandirbazar, Mathuraur I, Falta, Canning II, Kulpi, Basanti in 2011.

Table 2: South 24 Parganas: Growth Rate of Urban Population at P.S/ C.D Blocks

Police 1951-61 1961-71 1971-81 C.D. Block 1991-2001 2001-11 station Thakurpukur- 41.91 29.37 Metiabruz - 134.85 -13.21 Maheshtala

Maheshtala 491.45 84.55 85.79 Bishnupur I 4.97 99.91 Bishnupur II 120.79 469.47 Budge 59.73 53.23 71.6 Budge Budge I 39.3 22.96 Budge Budge Budge II -65.18 166.29 Bishnupur - - 117.05 Sonarpur 134.51 39.15 Baruipur 0.17 279.49 Sonarpur 52.13 38.61 144.22 Bhangar I - 311.93 Baruipur 47.31 50.65 27.94 Magrahat II - 670.62 Diamond 3.23 28.98 55.29 Diamond 23.02 68.68 Harbour Harbour I Canning 60.48 48.76 34.73 Jaynagar I - 814.73 Jaynagar II 15.32 64.28 Jaynagar 6.16 7.34 7.39 Canning I -100 -

Source: Computed by authors from the Census Handbook 1951-2011

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Consistency in Level of Urbanization To determine the actual level or condition of any economy it is important to analyze the consistency of urbanization of that unit. So here an attempt has taken is to test the ‘status of consistency of C.D. Blocks’ with reference to their level of urbanization (Paul and Chatterjee, 2012). Different aspects related with level of urbanization (LU) such as percentage of urban area to total urban area (UA), percentage of urban population to total urban population (UP), urban population density (UPD) and urban spacing (US) have taken as parameters to calculate this status of consistency. i. Category – A (Perfectly Consistent): No deviation or coincidence of ranks. ii. Category – B (Moderately Consistent): Deviation by 1 or 2 ranks. iii. Category – C (Marginally Consistent): Deviation by 3 or 4 ranks. iv. Category – B (No Consistency): Deviation by more than 4 ranks. Such as

1. if, RLU – RUA = 0 Perfectly Consistent; 2. if, RLU - RUA = + 1 or + 2 Moderately Consistent; 3. if, RLU - RUA = + 3 or + 4 Marginally Consistent and, 4. if, RLU - RUA = > + 4 No Consistency.

[Where, RLU is Rank of Level of Urbanization and RUP is Rank of percentage of urban area to total urban area of the C.D block.]

If the rank of any C.D block in LU is same to its rank in any of the aspects say UA, then the C.D. Block will fall into category A and will be treated as consistent in respect of the aspect UP. In the same way, if the absolute difference between the ranks of LU and the aspect of UA is 1or 2 and 3 or 4, the C.D. Blocks will fall under category B and C respectively. Four example the ranks of LU four Sonarpur and Dimond Harbour I are 3rd and 5th while their ranks in UA are 3rd and 7th respectively in 2011. Thus Sonarpur C.D Block falls into category A and Dimond Harbour I C.D Block belongs to the category B. In the same way C.D. Block could be categorized four each of the four aspects separately four census years of 2011 (See table no 3,4,5,6).

Consistency status of the C.D blocks of S. 24 Parganas in level of urbanization 2011

Table 3: South 24 Parganas: Percentage of Urban Area to Total Urban Area (UA), 2011

Perfectly Consistent Moderately Marginally No Consistency Consistent Consistent

Name of the Budge Budge I, Thakurpukur Diamond Harbour I, Budge Budge II, Mandirbazar, blocks (21) Sonarpur, Mahestala, Magrahat I & II, Canning I, Falta, Bhangar I, Bishnupur II, Jaynagar I, Bishnupur I, Jaynagar Baruipur, Diamond Canning II, Basanti. (7) II, Kulpi. (6) Mathurapur. (4) Harbour II (4)

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Table 4: South 24 Parganas: Percentage of Urban Population to Total Urban Population (UP), 2011

Perfectly Consistent Moderately Consistent Marginally No Consistent Consistency Name of the Budge Budge I, Thakurpukur Bishnupur I & II, Baruipur, Jaynagar II, Canning I, blocks (21) Mahestala, Sonarpur, Diamond Falta,Magrahat I & II, Mathurapur. Bhangar I, Harbour I, CanningII, Basanti Jaynagar I, Budge Budge II, (2) Diamond (6) Kulpi, Mandirbazar (10) Harbour II (3)

Table 5: South 24 Parganas: Urban Population Density (UPD), 2011

Perfectly Moderately Consistent Marginally No Consistency Consistent Consistent Name of the Thakurpukur Baruipur, Magrahat II, Jaynagar Budge Budge I & II, Bhangar I, Diamond blocks (21) Mahestala, I, Bishnupur I, Kulpi, Falta, Magrahat I, Diamond Harbour II, Jaynagar Sonarpur. (2) Mathurapur, Mandirbazar. (8) harbor I, Basanti. (5) II, Canning I & II, Bishnupur II,. (6)

Table 6: South 24 Parganas: Urban Spacing (US), 2011

Perfectly Moderately Consistent Marginally No Consistency Consistent Consistent Name of the Budge Budge Bishnupur I & II, Canning I & II, Baruipur, Jaynagar I, Magrahat I, Falta, blocks (21) I, Basanti. (2) Kulpi, Thakurpukur Mahestala, Budge Budge II, Bhangar I, Diamond Harbor I, Magrahat II, Diamond Harbour II, Sonaarpur. (4) Mandirbazar, Jaynagar II. (10) Mathurapur. (5)

Source: Computed by the Authors from District Census Handbook, South 24 Parganas, 2011 Statistical Measurement of the Level of Urbanization:

Coefficient of variation (See table no.7) was computed for all the four aspects, UA, UP, UPD and US with LU separately for three consecutive census years i.e. 1991 - 2001. The obtained results support findings.

Table 7: South 24 Parganas: Coefficient of Variation (%) of four measures

year UP UPD UA US 1991 84.5 31.74 100.27 133.45 2001 120.25 30.54 147.42 135.48 2011 94.57 42.9 111.32 94.01

Source: Computed by the Author from District Census Handbook, South 24 Parganas, 1991, 2001; Primary Census Abstract, West Bengal, 2011

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This analysis identified that share of urban area to total area of C. D. Blocks and number of urban centres per 100 square kilometres in C. D. Blocks, as more variable in nature. The proportion of urban area to total area always very high in Metiabruz, Maheshtala, Budge Budge, high in Sonarpur and medium to low in other places. Similarly, number of urban centres per 100 square kilometres was much higher in Metiabruz and Maheshtala, higher in Budge Budge and Sonarpur up to 2001. Later Budge Budge I occupied the top position in this respect. Analysis on variability in percentage of urban population in total population shows that the magnitude increase 36 % in between 1991 to 2001 with formation of Mahestala, Pujali and Rajpur-Sonarpur municipalities containing giant share of urban population during 1990s. But it fell again in 2011 by 26% due to overwhelming spread of urbanization over a vast part of the study area. In case of urban density magnitude of variability was the minimum that is below 50%.

Conclusion: There are wide disparities in respect of level of urbanization over the district which shows by the spatio-temporal analysis of the different parameters of urbanization. Overall growth rate of urban population is high but the level of urbanization definitely bears symptoms of immaturity. The nature of urbanization is mainly the city of Kolkata centric and the process of urbanization continuously spreads towards the Southwards direction away from Northern part of the district with time. On the other hand urbanization over the most part of the district has been taking place recently based on rural agrarian setup. Another important feature of the urbanization in the study area is suddenly increased in number of census towns and urban population. But the dependency of the urbanization of the district on the city of Kolkata needs to be decrease by providing the different urban infrastructural facilities such as health services, educational facilities, and employment opportunities. So that proper attention and planning of the Government and Non-Government organizations should also be needed to provide the infrastructural facilities and overcome different urban problems.

References: 1. Bagchi, E., Chatterjee, K. (2015). Nature of the process of urbanization in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, India: A spatio-temporal analysis. Archives of Applied Science Research, 7 (5), 73-90. Retrieved from http://www.scholarsresearchlibrary.com 2. Banerjee, A. (Ed.). (2013). Contemporary urbanization in India: Issue and challenges. New Delhi India 3. Banerjee, S. (2014).Level of urbanization: An empirical study of North 24 Parganas. International Research Journal of Social Sciences, Vol. 3(10), 12-20. Retrieved from http://www.isca.in/IJSS/Archive/v3/i10/3.ISCA-IRJSS-2014-179.php 4. Bhattacharya, B. (2006). Urban development in India. New Delhi, India: Concept publishing Company. 5. Census of India. (1951, 1961, 1971, 1981) . District census handbook: 24 Parganas, West Bengal Series. Office of the Register General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved from http://www.censusindia.gov.in

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6. Census of India. (1991, 2001, 2011). District census handbook, South 24 Parganas, West Bengal Series. Office of the Register General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved from http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011-Common/CensusData2011.html 7. Colmer, J. (n.d.). Growth, urbanization and development: Evidence from India. London School of Economics. London, UK. 8. Davis, K. (1965). The urbanization of the human population. Scientific American, 213 (3), 40-53. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/24931110. on 05.05.2019 9. District Statistical Handbook 1(2014). Development and Planning Department Retrieved by June 26, 2019, from http://www.ubplan.gov.in/docs/Handbook_2001/24Pgs(S)1.pdf . 10. Kundu, A. (2011). Trends and processes of urbanization in India. Human Settlement Grou , IIED ,London Population and Development Branch, UNFPA, New York. Retrieved from http://pubs.iied.org/10597IIED.html. on 03.05.2019 11. Mahmood, A. (2008). Statistical methods in geographical studies. New Delhi, India :Rajesh Publications 12. Mondal, P., Mistri T (2018). Urban growth and its impact on land use pattern of Rajpur- Sonarpur municipal area, South 24 Parganas, West Bengal. In Biswas. B (Ed.), Discourses on Human Nature Interaction in Eastern India (pp.229-242). Kolkata, India: Rhito Prakashan. 13. Pacione, M. (2005). Urban geography: A global perspective (2nd ed.). Madison, NY: Routledge. 14. Paul, S., Chatterjee, K. (2012). Urbanization and consistency measurement: A study on district of North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India. Archives of Applied Science Research, 4(5), 2052-2067. Retrived from http://scholarsresearchlibrary.com/archive.html on 23.04.2019 15. Preston, S. (1988). Urban growth in developing countries: A demographic reappraisal. Population and Development Review, 5(2), 16-20, 23-26.). DOI: 10.2307/1971823. 16. Sarkar, A. (1989). A Study of Urban Growth in West Bengal During the Period 1901-81, Geographical Review of India, 51(4), 65-74 17. Sivaramakrishnan, K. C., Kundu, A., Singh, B.N (2005). Handbook of urbanization in India: An analysis of trends and processes (1st ed.). New Delhi, India: Oxford University Press 18. Y, Zhu. (2002).Beyond large-city-centered urbanization: In situ transformation of rural areas in Fujian province. Asia Pacific viewpoint, 43(1), pp. 9-22. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8373.00155

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