RURAL-URBAN CONTINUUM IN THE DISTRICT SANT KABIR NAGAR WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO KHALILABAD TOWN THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF Doctor of Philosophy In Geography BY RAISUL BARI UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF PROF. ABDUL MUNIR DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH (INDIA) 2017 ABSTRACT Acknowledgements First of all, I am highly grateful to Almighty “ALLAH” ‘the one universal Being’ who blessed me with strength and required passionate ardor to overcome all the obstacles in the way of this toilsome journey for knowledge. In utter gratitude I bow may head before Him. Alhamdulillah, I have come to the successful completion of my Ph.D. which was unrealizable without the support and encouragement of all the admirable and extraordinary people around me. It is my proud privilege to express my gratitude with wholehearted and gratefulness to my esteemed and illustrious supervisor Dr. Abdul Munir, Professor, Department of Geography, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, for his genius guidelines, constant encouragement, continuous inspiration and valuable suggestions. His enthusiasm as well as critical viewpoints gave me the directions leading to the completion of the thesis. I am indebted to him for showing keen interest and concern in the accomplishment of the present work. I feel privileged to have worked under his guidance and would like continue doing so. I am highly indebted to Professor Ateeque Ahmad Chairman, Department of Geography, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, for his inspiration and scrupulously provided me all the necessary facilities in the department. I would remain indebted to Prof. Nizamuddin Khan Sir, Dr. Mumtaz Ahmad Sir, Dr. Shafiqullah, Dr. Sabbir Ahmed, Dr. Munazir Bari and Dr. Mohd. Sadiq Salman of the department for all their support. They were always forthcoming with their constructive suggestions at all stages of the study, right from the conceptualization to the end. I take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to all my teachers of the department for their support and for developing healthy academic environment in the department. Moreover, I am also grateful enough to University Grants Commission (UGC) for granting me the Senior Research Fellowship (UGC- JRF) that really helped me to devote my energies fully into research work without any financial hindrance. I convey my thanks to the Maulana Azad Library, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh and Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi for helping me in getting the necessary materials for my research work. I sincerely thank the Research Seminar Librarian of the Department of Geography, AMU, Aligarh specially Mr. Q.I. Hashmi, Mrs. Talat Kaneez, Mrs. Shaheen Zahid, Mr. Mohammad Arif and cartographers Mr. Munney Khan and Dr. Ayaz Ahmad for their precious and valuable information and support. I am also thankful to Mr. Mazharul Haque, Mr. i Nooruzzaman and Mr. Fazlur Rahman for being kind, friendly and supportive. I would like to express my sincere thanks to Registrar General, Census of India (New Delhi), State Census Office (Lucknow) and District Statistical Officials for providing me relevant data and information. I praise the help and hospitalities extended to me by my respondents, villagers and informants. I duly acknowledge the constant support of my seniors Mr. Zafar Iqubal, Suhail bhai (Sociology), Suhail bhai (English), Nisar bhai, Nasib bhai, Meraj Bhai and Khursheed bhai. I am also thankful to my colleagues Sadaf, Tasneem, Akram Bhai, Saher and Uzma for their motivation and cooperation. I owe my special thanks to my friends at my home (study area) Kamil, Nazeer, Mokarram, Ayaz bhai, Er. Obaidurrahman sb. and my older brother Saidul Bari who have been supportive in my entire journey of research work. I cannot forget to acknowledge the moral and logistic support of my room partners Zahoor, Hilal, Sayedil Islam (Remedy) and Amit who have been around me all the time of my sorrow and happiness. With a profound sense of gratitude and love I must acknowledge the kind and generous support that I have been receiving from my beloved mother and elder sister, whose blessings have remained a constant source of enlightenment in all my academic endeavors. They are the ones who lit the flame of learning in me and whose affection, sacrifice, devotion and constant encouragement helped me to gain this success. I dedicate the present work to them. My adored elder brothers Faizul Bari and Zafrul Bari also need to be acknowledged for their pristine love. My thanks are due to Shabbir Chachu, Asad Bhai and Mujibullah Sir for their support and encouragement. I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to my friends and juniors Nasim Aktar, Shahanshah, Chand, Tanseer Bhai, Ateeqa Tajdar, Asgor, Akhtarul, Umar, Tabassum, Zafar, Pasarul, Asif, Ehtaram, Fahad, Mahtab, Nisar, Shamshad Alam, Nafees, Md. Dilshad, Fayyaz Afzal, Faizan, Wasiullah Bhai, Ariful, Hifzur, Naushaba, Shabina, Mujahid Bhai, Mayank Yadav, Sana Asma, Rajni sharma and Adnan Bhai. These are the wonder people who have been around me for my entire academic life. In the last but not the least, I thank to all my well wishers, and everyone who helped me in my research work. Raisul Bari ii ABSTRACT The present work is an attempt to study the dynamics of rural-urban continuum in the Sant Kabir Nagar district. Rural-Urban Continuum is a new concept of settlement geography which surfaced as a response to the concept of ‘Rural-Urban Dichotomy’. It implies that there is something completely (either physically or socially) rural and urban entity that has clear demarcating line. The propagators of the concept of Rural-Urban Continuum envisage the idea that there are no sharp and acute breaking points between countryside and urban areas because they both have something in common. In this unprecedented urbanization countryside is being encroached by the urbanity and the rural areas receded back towards more rural areas. Thus, rural–urban continuum proposes a linear depiction of the contrasting natures of socio-economic relationships of rural and urban settlements. It is a zone of transition between the two extreme poles of purely urban areas where in one place urban activities can be clearly identified and second is the place of purely rural areas where rurality dominates. With the globalization this region became extremely unstable and dynamic in the face of rapid change, chiefly from rural to urban character. Robert Redfield (1897-1958) designated this area as ‘Continuum’ for the first time, it is to be noted that actually continuum, is a zone rather than a line and it is difficult to define. Sinclair (1967), while studying land use pattern designated this region as peri- urban belt, where the pattern of land use is peculiar of its own. The Khalilabad town (headquarters of the district offices) serves the administrative as well as economic and commercial bondages that have social and economic linkages with its countryside. The district has been selected as study area and special attention was given to Khalilabad town to highlight the development and pattern of rural-urban continuum of the region. After creation of Sant Kabir Nagar district in 1997, Khalilabad town became the hub of different activities. It is the only important town of the district where urbanization is taking place at a great pace. Being centre the of attraction, the town has attracted people of the surrounding regions for job, education, health, administrative and other facilities. People of the countryside get settled here for different facilities which lead to the demographic and social change in the region. Khalilabad is an important town which is playing a pivotal role in maintaining the interrelationship with its rural belt. It has linkages with the 1 surrounding areas in terms of administrative works, health, education, selling and purchasing and recreation facilities. The facilities provided by the town have attracted commuters of the surrounding villages and have a strong interrelationship and it has gradually developed a rural-urban continuum. The main objectives of this research are as follows: 1. To distinguish the purely rural areas and purely urban areas of Sant Kabir Nagar in relation to Khalilabad town and also to mark off the area where rurality and urbanity intermingle. 2. To assess the rural-urban linkages and relationship in the district of Sant Kabir Nagar. 3. To study the change of the land use pattern of rural-urban continuum of Khalilabad. 4. To find out the pattern of rural-urban continuum in the district. 5. To show the socio-economic problems related to the rural-urban continuum in the study area. 6. To evaluate the impact and influence of Khalilabad town on its surrounding rural areas. Hypotheses The hypotheses used to achieve the aforesaid objectives are: 1. Whether there exist strong linkages between rural and urban areas in the continuum? 2. Whether there is a positive relationship between rural-urban continuum and household facilities and amenities? Database and Methodology The study is based on both primary as well as secondary sources of data related to the rural-urban continuum. The primary data was collected through the extensive household surveys of 21 villages selected from all the nine blocks of the district. Relevant data was collected with the help of a well-structured questionnaire. The villages and Khalilabad town has been taken as the unit of analysis. To achieve the objectives, the following methodology was adopted for the study. 2 In order to identify different sampled villages, stratified purposive sampling was adopted on the basis of: (a) Distance of village from the town i.e. (i) less than 6 Km, (ii) 6 – 12 Km and (iii) more than 12 Km. (b) Population Size of villages i.e. (i) less than 1,000 (ii) 1,000 – 1,500 (iii) more than 1500. In the second stage 10 per cent of the households from the selected villages were selected for primary data collection.