What Is Behind the Emergence of Census Towns in India? Public Disclosure Authorized
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Report No: AUS7449 . Republic of India Understanding India’s Urban Frontier What is behind the emergence of Census Towns in India? Public Disclosure Authorized . August 28, 2015 . GSURR SOUTH ASIA . Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized . Document of the World Bank . Standard Disclaimer: . This volume is a product of the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/ The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect the views of the Executive Directors of The World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Copyright Statement: . 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Acknowledgements This report has been authored by Partha Mukhopadhyay and Marie-Helene Zérah based on the work of a research team co-ordinated by the Centre for Policy Research, which included in addition, Gopa Samanta (who coordinated research in West Bengal and Jharkhand), Malay Ganguly, Shankare Gowda, Bhanu Joshi, Mukta Naik, Khaliq Parkar, Biswadayal Pradhan, Kanhu Charan Pradhan, and Pranav Sidhwani. The study was carried out under the supervision of Augustin Maria (Task Team Leader, World Bank) and was guided by Onno Ruhl (Country Director, India), Barjor Mehta (TTL for the umbrella programmatic AAA under which this study was an activity), and Ming Zhang (Practice Manager, GSURR). The study benefitted from exchanges and comments from Rinku Murgai (Lead Economist, GPVDR), Deepali Tewari (Lead Urban Specialist, GSURR), Adarsh Kumar (Senior Rural Development Specialist, GFADR), and Urmila Chatterjee (Economist, GPVDR). i TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................ v I. RATIONALE OF THE STUDY ............................................................................................ 1 II. LITERATURE REVIEW AND RATIONALE FOR THE CHOICE OF SITES................... 4 II.1. On Governance and Census Towns ............................................................................................. 4 II.2. On Economic Activities and Census Towns ............................................................................... 9 II.3. On spatial transformation and Census Towns ............................................................................. 9 II.4. Methodology design .................................................................................................................. 10 II.5. Selected Census Towns in Odisha, West Bengal and Jharkhand .............................................. 14 III. CENSUS TOWNS AND THE SIZE OF URBAN INDIA ............................................... 19 III.1. Probability of Becoming a CT is not Neutral ............................................................................ 19 III.2. The limits of Census Towns do not reflect necessarily the urbanization process ..................... 20 III.3. Statutory towns may not fit the Census criteria ......................................................................... 23 IV. THE SHIFT TOWARDS NON FARM EMPLOYMENT ............................................... 25 V. THE MANY STAKES THAT CHARACTERIZE GOVERNANCE .................................. 28 V.1. A cost benefit analysis of the urban status seen from below ..................................................... 28 V.2. Articulation of urban aspirations or resistance .......................................................................... 32 VI. URBAN SERVICES AND CENSUS TOWNS ............................................................... 36 VI.1. SERVICES ................................................................................................................................ 36 VII. KEY FINDINGS ............................................................................................................... 42 VII.1. Economic Transformation ......................................................................................................... 42 VII.2. Spatial Transformation .............................................................................................................. 42 VII.3. Provision of services .................................................................................................................. 43 VII.4. Is Bihar different? Pair-wise comparison .................................................................................. 43 VII.5. Initial Policy Implications ......................................................................................................... 44 ii LIST OF TABLES and FIGURES Table I.1. Criteria for Defining Urban Local Bodies in Select States of India* ........................................... 3 Table II.1 Comparison of Census Towns and Statutory Towns for Select Services ................................... 7 Table II.2 Census Town (CT) and Extent of Urbanization 2011 ................................................................ 11 Table II.3: Census Towns close to Large Urban Areas by Number and Population .................................. 11 Table II.4 Similarities and Differences in Settlement Characteristics ........................................................ 12 Table III.1 Proportion of Villages Below 5,000 with more than 75% non-farm ........................................ 19 Table III.2 Area and Density of Selected sites ............................................................................................ 20 Table III.3 Trend of nonfarm male main worker share ............................................................................... 24 Table V.1: Administrative capacity ............................................................................................................ 28 Table V.1 Arguments in favour or against becoming an urban settlement ................................................. 30 Figure VI.1: National Household Access to Electricity for Census and Statutory Towns ......................... 40 Figure VI.1: State Wise Household Access to Electricity for Census and Statutory Towns ...................... 40 Table A1 : Basic Demography, Amenities and Assets ............................................................................... 45 LIST OF MAPS Figure II.1 Comparison of Service Levels in CTs and Statutory Towns 2011 7 Map III.1. Gopalpur and its surroundings 21 Map III.2. Jhanjharpur and its surroundings 22 Map III.3 Location of Cherra and Bishnugarh 22 Map V.1: Jhanjharpur and Behat 33 Map V.2: Proposed Satghara Agglomerate 34 iii GLOSSARY Bazar market CT Census Town GP Gram Panchayat HQ Headquarter IAY Indira Awas Yojana, central scheme for rural housing MLA Member of Legislative Assembly MGNREGS Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme NOC No objection certificate NP Nagar Panchayat Panchayat Elected group that governs a village PMGSY Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, a central sector scheme for road infrastructure Pradhan Head of gram panchayat Samiti A collective, cooperative or union Sarpanch Head of gram panchayat SA Settlement Agglomeration ST Statutory Town Zilla Parishad District Council iv EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. The definition of urbanization in India is unique. Settlements are grouped into three broad categories: (i) villages, (ii) statutory towns (STs) and (iii) census towns (CTs), the latter two being urban areas. While STs includes all manner of urban local bodies under the 74th Constitutional Amendment and are defined variously under state municipal acts, CTs are rural settlements that satisfy three criteria: population (at least 5,000), density (at least 400 persons per square kilometer) and workforce (at least 75% of male main workers in non-farm sector) set by the Registrar General of India for defining an urban area. CTs are thus in-between settlements: they are large dense settlements that are administratively rural governed by a panchayat under the 73rd Constitutional Amendment, with most of their population engaged in non-farm activity, i.e., places that are possibly urban in character, which are governed as rural areas. 2. It is important to study CTs because they currently account for 15% of urban population (which includes population of CTs) and 36% of small town (below 100,000) population and are sharply increasing in number. The 2011 census identified 3,894 settlements as CTs while there were only 1,362