CONCEPT OF VILLAGE, TOWNS AND CITIES

VILLAGE

The term ‘village’ refers to a small area with small population which follows agriculture not only as an occupation but also as a way of life. Therefore, the village is clearly an important and viable social entity to its people, who also take part in the larger society and share in the pattern of the civilization.

Literally speaking a village implies a settlement of people which originated many thousand years ago, during the early periods of human society. It contained a few hundreds of people who lived together in the surroundings of nature and whose main occupation was agriculture. Agriculture is not only their main occupation it is rather their way of life. It is a way of life in the sense that its mode of production and what it tempers is reflected in every form of village activity. It has been said that, “The village is the name commonly used to designate settlement of ancient agriculturists”. When we talk of the rural society we mean by the aggregation of villages in the country.

Characteristics of a Village Community

A village community is basically characterized as a particular area inhabited by small number of people sharing intimate and informal relationships with one another. The primary source of livelihood of the rural people is agriculture, though they also get engaged in forest produce collection, weaving, dairy etc. In the words of T.L. Smith, “Agriculture and the collecting enterprises are the bases of the rural economy, farmer and countryman are almost similar terms”. Apart from these features, the people of the village also exhibit homogeneity of population due to which they do not frequently come into conflict with each other and maintain mutual intimacy and harmony. The following are features that characterize rural community:

1.      Bases of social organization: In India there are more than half a million villages. Eighty per cent of the Indian population lives in these villages. Hence, in every respect the future of India is very much linked with the development of villages.

2.      Group of people: Village community signifies a group of people in which the people do not take part in a particular interest. On the other hand, they share the basic conditions of a common life.

3.      Specific locality: Locality is the physical basis of village community. A group of people forms village community only when it begins to inhabit in a definite locality.

4.      Smaller size: Village communities are generally smaller in size. The Census of India assigns a place with 5000 inhabitants as a village community. 80% of the Indian villages have less than 1000 population each.

5.      Significance of neighborhood: Neighbourhood relationship is another significant characteristic of village life. Two factors namely living in immediacy on the part of the rural people and an atmosphere of fellow-feeling, friendship, sympathy, affection and love available in the rural setting, encourage neighbourhood relationship in the village. So far as the village community is concerned, each one loves his neighbour as he loves himself. He, in fact, considers his neighbour more central than the relatives living far away from him. He always defends his neighbour during any crisis and is also supported similarly by his neighbours.

6.      Community sentiment: Community sentiment is the primary very core of village community. The villagers display a strong sense of belongingness and we-feeling. Often “my own village” is the normal expression of such community sentiment. Furthermore, the members have a sense of reliance on the community for both physical and psychological satisfaction.

7.      Prevalence of primary relations: A village community is often observed as a primary group. It is characterized by the preponderance of personal and as such comparatively long-lasting relations. There is relative unfussiness and genuineness in human relationships. Kinship groups play critical roles in the context of the village community.

8.      Marriage: Generally in the villages, endogamy is practiced. The traditional system of marriage is predominantly arranged marriage based on choice of parents selecting the spouse for their children. There is either no or very little freedom on the part of both boys and girls in matters of mate selection.

9.      Joint family system: The joint family system still shapes the basic structural unit in the rural community. All the members of a family stay together under the same roof, take food cooked in the common hearth, hold property together, participate in common worship and are related to each other as some particular type of kindred. It is established that the amount of joint families in villages is much more than that in towns and cities.

10.  Agricultural economy: Agriculture is considered as one of the most profound occupations in rural India. It is fundamentally a way of life for the villagers as their entire mode of social life, day by day schedule, habits, customs and attitudes spin round agriculture. A very minute segment of the rural population relies upon non-agricultural occupations such as carpentry, pottery, basket making etc for their livelihood but these occupations are also indirectly linked to the major occupation that is agriculture.

11.  Caste System: Caste system is an exceptional feature of the Indian village community. It prescribes the role, status, occupation and marital relationships of the village people. The caste system exercises such a decisive authority on the villagers that it has rightly been portrayed as the “alpha and omega” of village life.

12.  Jajmani system: Jajmani system is one more practice of village life in India. Under this system, members of a caste or many castes tender their services to the members of other castes. People to whom such services are offered are called, ‘Jajmans’ and those who offer their services are known as “Parjans” or “Kamins”. The Kamins are remunerated in terms of crops or grains either annually or half-yearly. On ritual occasions such as marriage, birth and death, the Kamins are paid additional wages. The Jajmani relations unite the families of various castes into a hereditary, permanent and multiple relationships. Of late, the system has been significantly destabilized by socio-economic and political modifications in India.

13.  Uncomplicated lifestyle: It is appealing to watch that even in the money-oriented era of today, the usually established ideal in the village is one of simple living and high thinking. The villagers are a simple and genuine people with a tranquil and peaceful life.

14.  Faith in religion: Religion plays a supreme role in the life of the village. Religious influence is visible in every significant action of village life like sowing, harvesting of crops, birth, marriage, illness, death etc. On all such occasions, the villagers observe religious ceremonies in the form of ‘Puja’, ‘Mela’ or ‘kirtan’. In this way, faith in religion is very robust in rural area.

15.  Homogeneity: Homogeneity of population is one more vital attribute of village communities. The members of a village display resemblance in their dress, speech, beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviour. There is hardly any apparent distinguishing character among the rural people and they genuinely celebrate their similarities.

16.  Panchayat system: The operation of the village as a political and social body assembled together the members from diverse castes. The traditional village Panchayat in the shape of village council performs a multiplicity of tasks, comprising the maintenance of law and order, settling of disputes, celebration of festivals and construction of roads, bridges and tanks. On the other hand, significant matters relating to the caste rules, property and family disputes and other activities of serious nature were dealt with by the caste Panchayat.

17.  Informal social control: In the rural areas, there is a prevalence of social control which is informal and direct. The primary groups like the family, neighbourhood act as influential and commanding agencies of social control in villages. The traditional village Panchayat and the caste Panchayat also exercise stringent control on the deviant members of the community. No deviance is tolerated and the criminals are severely punished.

18.  Mobility: One of the characteristics of the village population is that their territorial, occupational and social mobility is limited and scarce. The reason is attributed to the lack of satisfactory spread of education in the rural areas. However, in recent times, there have been rampant cases of rural exodus owing to the declining agricultural productivity. Rural people are leaving their hinterlands in search of better livelihood opportunities (that cities provide) and to uplift their standard of living. Migration and mobility have, hence, become quite frequent.

19.  Status of women: In general terms, the women in villages are illiterate or less educated and their social status is lower than that of their counterparts in the towns. Factors like prevalence of child marriage, joint family system, traditional ideals, old values and lack of education among females are liable for the low status of women.

20.  Standard of living: On account of gross poverty and lack of adequate employment opportunities, the standard of living of the villagers is quite low. Hence most of them do not have home conveniences and recreational facilities. Many of them suffer from acute poverty and food insecurity. They don’t have sufficient surplus income or savings.

21.  Culture: In the villages, culture is more static than in the bigger cities or towns as greater significance is attached to religion and rituals in the former. The rural population is found to be more philosophical than the materialistic urbanites. From the sociological point of view, the villages are important because they safeguard the antique culture of the Indian society. The villagers in India still have faith in the lofty ideals of the theory of Purushartha and the doctrine of Karma and lead a simple and natural life marked by sacrifice, theistic tendency etc. They worship many gods and have each and every festival to celebrate.

The above characteristics convey that the villages in India are comparatively steadier and strong. The rationale is perhaps attributed to the relative static character of ruralism as a way of life – the norms of behaviour, customs of family relations, traditions of community life etc. The aforementioned are some of the most important characteristics of a village community where life is more natural and an orderly arrangement.

In spite of the fact that villagers are not economically sound, their life continues in a vein of satisfaction because of its very simplicity. However, the aforesaid characteristics have gradually disappeared and taken over by newer terms. Over the years, these characteristics have vanished, partly or wholly, some of their purity because of the impact of processes of social change like industrialization, urbanization etc. However, these characteristics hold good by and large, if not in their entirety.

Growth of Village Community:

There are various factors for the growth of village community. They are:

1.      Topographical Factor: Topographical factors include land, water and climate. Land is one of the important factors which significantly contributed in permanent settlement of village community. The villages settled on fertile lands are more developed and prosperous. The facility of water and climate also contributes to the growth and prosperity of villages. A temperate climate is most favourable for the growth of village community.

2.      Economic Factor: We include condition of agriculture, rural economy and cottage industries under the economic factor. The growth of village community depends upon the condition of agriculture. If farming yields a good crop, the economic condition of the village people will be better. The village economy also is an important factor in the growth of village community. It is closely linked with agriculture.

The villagers should have purchasing capacity. They should have facilities to market their products. Cottage industry is also another factor. Due to the growth of cottage industries, the village people are provided some work to do. They get an additional source of income. Therefore, the areas where the cottage industries could develop were preferred for village community.

3.      Social Factors: From among the social factors, peace is Significant. People always prefer to settle in a place where peace prevails. They ensured that their crops would not be damaged by the outsiders and they could safely carryout their work of cultivation. After peace comes security. People need security for their own life and property. They always prefer secure places for their settlement.

Co-operation is another social factor for the growth of village community. Agriculture needs co-operation in each and every sphere. Social factors have played and continue to play an important role in the permanent settlement of village community.

Distinguish Between Town and City

Town and City are classification of places. Places of residences in terms of human settlements are often classified as cities, towns and villages. Cities are the largest of the three in terms of area and also have the densest population. Towns are larger than villages but smaller than cities. Difference between town and city is often a confusing one, and in different parts of the world, often the two terms are used interchangeably. There are different laws classifying a particular region as a town or a city in different countries and what may be a town in UK may classify as a city in the US and vice versa but in India a minimum population of 5,000 constituted to be a town and a population of 100,000 considered to be cities. In general however, a town is a residential area that is smaller than a city and also has a smaller population.

Town

Any human settlement which is larger or bigger than a village is termed as town in many parts of the world. In India, a census town is one which is not statutorily notified and administered as a town, but nevertheless whose population has attained urban characteristics. They are characterized by the following:

They are characterized by the following:

              i.      Population exceeds 5,000

            ii.      At least 75% of main working population is employed outside the agricultural sector

          iii.      Minimum population density of 400 persons per km²

A town refers to place were Population is more than 5,000. And it has a temple of its own. A nagar nigam. A five member Bench of Panchayat.

Tehsil

A tehsil (also known as a mandal, taluk, taluqor taluka) is an administrative division of some countries of South Asia. It is an area of land with a city or town that serves as its administrative centre, with possible additional towns, and usually a number of villages. The terms in India have replaced earlier geographical terms, such as pargana, pergunnah and thannah, used under the Delhi Sultanate and the British Raj.

City

City is generally a bigger residential place than a town but this is not the conclusive factor in a place being called a city. In earlier times, a city was a place having a cathedral in Europe. In UK, a city is a place with a Royal Charter.

Cities are generally places that have better facilities of sanitation, housing and transportation. Cities generally have well developed administrative and legal systems in place. Cities also have separate industrial, commercial and residential areas.

Location of a place and its history also play an important role in it being designated as a city or a town. In present days, Cities are expanding and the satellite towns, which were earlier always located around it are getting merged in it because or rapid rate of development. Today the situation is such that cities are having expansion at such a fast rate that one city is almost ending up in another city making it a large megalopolis.

TOWN: FEATURES AND GROWTH

Definition of Town

Up to Census 1951, the definition of a town included all habitations with population of more than 5000; every municipality/corporation/notified area of whatever size; and all civil lines not included within the municipal units. In 1961, this definition was changed and a town included:

1.      A minimum population of 5,000 and a population density not less than 1,000 persons per square mile

2.      75% of the working population should be engaged in non-agricultural activities

3.      The place should have a few characteristics and civic amenities like transport and communication, banks, schools, markets, recreation centers, hospitals, electricity, and newspapers, etc.

The above definition was continued till 2001 census. For the Census of India 2011, the definition of urban area is as follows

1.      All places with a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee, etc.

2.      All other places which satisfied the following criteria:

                    i.      A minimum population of 5,000

                  ii.      At least 75 per cent of the male main working population engaged in non-agricultural pursuits; and

                iii.      A density of population of at least 400 persons per sq. km.

The first category of urban units is called Statutory Towns. These towns are notified under law by the concerned State/UT Government and have local bodies like municipal corporations, municipalities, municipal committees, etc., irrespective of their demographic characteristics.

The second category of Towns is known as Census Town. These were identified on the basis of Census 2001 data.

 Features and Growth

A town is a large nucleated urban settlement.

Features/Characteristics of a Town

1.      A town consists of socially heterogeneous people who do not know one another very well with different lifestyle and personal contact.

2.      A town is a large settlement in habiting thousands of families of different cultural backgrounds and languages.

3.      Town possesses abundant social amenities and well infrastructural services, e.g. electricity, pipe borne water security and other necessary amenities.

4.      People in the town are engaged in secondary and tertiary activities such as manufacturing, construction and other service oriented jobs.

5.      Towns are made up of many buildings with thousands of people living in it.

6.      Town possesses superb arrangement for modern health care in hospitals and clinics.

7.      Town are highly populated which leads to high crime rate.

8.      Town possesses well developed commercial centers e.g., banks and insurance company and other self or government organizations.

Growth of Town

Modern towns have their roots in the Industrial Revolution which began on the Continent of Europe at the end of the 18th century. The great increase was a change from the economic spatial relations between towns from trade to manufacturing industries, related to the introduction of steam power and its utilization in the factories.

Growth of modern towns made it possible to increase the number of service centres where increased population engaged in tertiary activities was taking shape because of the decreased artisans engaged in handicrafts.

In India, urban modernism truly began with the advent of the British rule. In 1872, India’s first census of population was carried out. This showed that in 1872 there were only 16 cities of one lakh population and all of them were trading centres situated either on sea coasts or on river banks. Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, Patna, Surat, Varanasi and Delhi showed a growth of nearly 10 per cent in their population when compared to 1800 A.D. Kolkata was a premier city grown due to its trading activities through its rich mineral-bearing hinterland. Kolkata was having eight lakh populations in 1872. On the contrary to this fact, old ancient and medieval towns like Agra, Lucknow, Srinagar, Ahmadabad, Gaya, Baroda, Indore and Tanjore lost their former importance due to negative approach to the colonial powers towards the traditional industries, especially handi­crafts and cotton textiles of India. Earlier, trade centres which were largely on the Ganga River lost their importance. Mirzapur may be cited as an example which became a ‘sick-town’ in the beginning of the 20th century.

Another factor is the network of railways which contributed to the urban growth in India. The railways had their profound impact since 1931 and the census of 1941 showed that there were 49 one lakh cities, and in all, around 2,500 towns were on railway lines.

Another significant base of origin in India has been political. Princely states had their capital cities originated, grew and even deserted with the beginning, rise and fall of kingdoms during the course of history. Patliputra, Vijayanagar, Aurangabad, Bijapur, Golconda, etc., are some of the examples representing their political origin. After independence also, the new state capitals like Chandigarh, Gandhinagar, Bhubaneshwar, Dispur, etc., came into origin because of the political need.

The 19th century also witnessed in India the emergence of a new class of towns in the hill areas, particularly for the British to enjoy a cool temperate climate to get relief from the agonies of the summer heat. By 1870, there were over 80 hill stations in India to cater the needs of four clientele areas, viz.,

                                i.            Simla-Mussoorie - Nainital near Delhi

                              ii.            Darjeeling - Shillong near Kolkata

                            iii.            Mahabaleshwar near Mumbai

                            iv.            The Nilgiri - Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu

The major railway heads, hill stations and centres of manufacturing peculiarly had the British ethos. Modern devel­opment in towns of India indicates a striking contrast between their indigenous sector and the other Anglicized part.

It is because of the modification of the urban landscape of the existing capital towns with the introduction of civil lines, cantonments, railway colony, establishment of townships, and also with the addition of amenities like clubs, administrative and educational and hospital campuses as well as the central commercial areas flanked by the massive buildings of Roman styles.

The displaced people began to settle in and around Delhi, and there was a phenomenal rise in the population of towns in northern India. This was followed by industrial development which was responsible for three to four-fold increases in the urban population. Rise in commerce, trade and communication and also new administrative set-up gave rise to urban development.

In India, bases of origin or urban centres were not different from that of the western world. Towns primarily originated and developed in the areas which were fertile agriculturally. Most of the towns have village origin, and small towns have a substantial part of their work-force engaged in agriculture.

Market towns also appeared in and around agriculturally fertile areas to collect and dispose food-grains. Religion also played an important force for the origin of towns. Varanasi, Allahabad, Handwar, Rameshwaram, etc., have come into being predominantly because of religious sanctity at the point of their site.

The trend of origin and growth of urban centres around the world, this may be conveniently established that the underlying reasons are multifarious ranging from economic to cultural, social and political. The economic forces either generated by the ancient river valleys or by Greek’s voyages around the Mediterranean played significant role.

CITIES

Meaning of Cities

A city is a large human settlement. It can be defined as a permanent and densely settled place with administratively defined boundaries whose members work primarily on non-agricultural tasks. Cities generally have extensive systems for housing, transportation, sanitation, utilities, land use, and communication. Their density facilitates interaction between people, government organizations and businesses, sometimes benefiting different parties in the process.[1] According to Lewis Mumford (1937) writes the city as “a theater of social action”.

The word “city” and the related “civilization“ come, via Old French, from the Latin root civitas, originally meaning citizenship or community member and eventually coming to correspond with urbs, meaning “city” in a more physical sense. The Roman civitas was closely linked with the Greek polis another common root appearing in English words such as metropolis.[2]

Features/Characteristic of Cities

The study of the morphological features of Indian city cannot be ignored or underestimated. A sociological analysis of urban life and society indicates and vindicates certain features/characteristics. They are:

1.      Social Heterogeneity: If villages are the symbol of cultural homogeneity the cities symbolize cultural heterogeneity. In cities we find a variety of groups, each representing a typical culture. The villages are natural carriers of culture and they preserve its integrity intact and unbroken. On the other hand, in cities we find a confluence of many cultures which participate in this interplay and inter-reaction are changed or modified to some extent at least. Thus, whereas unity and uniformity are characteristic of villages, in cities we find multiplicity of cultures and viewpoints.

2.      Individuality: On account of voluntary associations and secondary control the city dwellers develop a personality at their own. The ideals, the viewpoints and the conduct and behaviour which a city dweller encounters are so varied and contrary that the traditional moral codes cease to have much meaning for him. a city-dweller feels compelled to fashion out his own conduct of life according to his own reason and choice. On account of this whereas his behaviour tends to be arbitrary, it also bear the indelible stamp of his own personality.

3.      Unbalanced Personality: A combination and mixture of such facts, as looseness of character and morals,, artificial environs and atmosphere, the deleterious influence of cinema and other means of entertainment, high ambition and lustful desires and general mentality of materialism, have resulted in producing unbalanced personality of city dwellers. In producing imbalance in the personality of city dweller specialization has also contributed in a big way. People are mad after false façade and artificial glitter of the city. In cities the element of humanity seems to have gone out of dwellers. We find highly literate and skilled professionals like professors, doctors, lawyers etc., in the cities but we rarely come across human beings. People in city work at fast pace but the growth of their personalities is usually one sided.

4.      Moral laxity: On account of the lack of community feeling lack of homogenous family, western influence and an atmosphere of luxury and comfort prevailing in the cities moral laxity results. In the hustle and bustle of city, there is no control over individual’s behaviour and the incidence of pre-marital and extra marital sex is fairly high in the cities. In Western cities polygamous tendencies are clearly accepted and people freely enjoy themselves.

5.      Social mobility: The most important feature of urban industrial society is its social mobility. In urban society the social status of an individual is determined not be heredity or circumstances of his birth but by his works and economic status. In cities, men are not born good but made good. Thus, in urban life a man can achieve as much progress as he wishes according to his intelligence and efforts. By the dint of hard works and good intelligence an individual can go a long way in achieving great things. In cities, the caste barriers are breaking down. The incidence of inter-caste marriages is growing. The women’s education is encouraged and the educated men and women are not orthodox in their ways and habits. In colleges and universities men and women belonging to Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra mix up without consideration of caste of class. New social changes and reforms are accepted much better by city dwellers than rural people.

6.      Secondary Control: In villages there is strict control over individual’s behaviour exercised by family, caste or class. But, however, in cities none of these groups exercises effective control over behaviour. In cities individual’s behaviour is controlled by such agencies as police, law courts etc. this is known as secondary control.

7.      Voluntary Associations: Owing to a variety of professions, castes, groups and cultures in cities, there are numerous voluntary groups and associations. The primary groups like family lose their orthodox character and have a tendency towards libertarianism.

8.      Lack of community feeling:  Not only is there lack of community feeling in villages, there is also lack of unity and harmony in the family. In cities people are not bothered by social oblique or ridicule. They can pursue their individual ends unmindedful of what others think about them. People in cities are so busy in their individual pursuits that they have no spare time in which to think about others.

9.      Lack of unity in family: In cities we find not only the lack of community feeling but there is also lack of unity, homogeneity and harmony in the family. Each member of the family, father, mother sisters and brothers are so busy with their own programmes that they do not interfere with each other’s independence. Each member has his own society and pursues his individual ends. Generally, the unity and cohesiveness among family members is not better than among the people staying in a hotel.

10.  Heterogeneity: In cities all over the world we find great disparity in the living conditions of rich and poor. Whereas some person live in grand air-conditioned mansions, their needs, attended to by an army of servants, there are many who have to shelter overhead and do not have enough victuals to appease their hunger. In cities we also find great disparity in regard to food habits, living conditions, language, religious beliefs, cultural outlook, customs and traditions and social norms of city dwellers, there is great variety and contraries in this regard. In cities people of different religious persuasions, holding different ideals, inspired by different cultural customs and traditions live. Their thinking and outlook differs widely from each other. The city dwellers, as a rule are ambitious, individualistic, rationalist, materialist, secular and alert to their personal interests.

11.  Social Disorganization: Again, owing to above mentioned features, we find social disorganization in the cities, people are dissatisfied and discontented. Many conflicts, both direct and indirect constantly ravage the mental and physical health of city dwellers. The class and status feelings are very acute. The strikes and class conflicts are frequent. The evils of communalism and factionalism are quite rampant. The interpersonal relations and intra-familial relations are also uneasy. Thus, urban society is a divided society and urban life a divided life shot with conflicts and tensions.

12.  Artificial life: The life in urban industrial society is artificial. In big housing complexes and broad lanes of cities we rarely come across nature, the greenery and animals. In the dense and congested localities of the cities the houses are dark and dingy and unwashed by the sunlight. The industrial chimneys are ever emitting carbon and foul gases. The atmosphere of cities is, therefore, full of pollution and harmful to breathe. In cities the air is foul, the offices and factories are artificially lit. in these conditions people in city work. In large factories the value of an individual worker is next to nothing. He is no more than an easily replaceable part of a machine. He does not even know, still less understand, the whole process of manufacture of a thing he is helping to make. For example, there will be few in motor company too much specialization of function in big metropolis that people have reached a stage where they function mechanically. In such circumstances the life becomes highly artificial and no natural healthy growth of the personality is possible. In cities we come across professors, doctors, lawyers and leader but we do not meet a man. These persons are so engrossed in their respective specialization that they know little or nothing about the work of other professionals. Thus, though their knowledge about their own field of specialization is immense they know so little about other aspects and their knowledge of man as a whole is so ludicrous that, on the whole, an unlettered urban society are completely artificial and, on the other, there is professional specialization. Those between them have altogether artificialized the life in the cities.

Even day-today life is becoming artificial. Naturalness is missing from everywhere. Every city dweller’s face has lost its natural colour and brightness, it has become a mask. Women of cities are ever busy trying to regain the lost radiance by artificial beauty-aids. People are more interested in artificial appearances than in natural health. The city dweller doctorate their drawing rooms not with dwellers get out of cities to see beautiful landscape of hills and is not that of an observer who sees in order to appreciate, but they take photos of such things with their still or movie camera. They do so in order to impress upon their friends about the places they visit. Even the means of entertainment in cities are artificial. While watching cinemas, theatre and reading of the novel man remains wholly passive.

The mannerisms and etiquettes in cities are also artificial. Even emotional expressions like laughter, smile, silence etc. are deceptive. They laugh in order to pass as civilized and urbane rather than because of any genuine relief or gladness. In cities we find a meaningless and ignorant rat race. Everybody runs not because he had some goal to reach but simply because other people are running.

People are too competition-minded to feel for each other and mutually work and co-operate. The life has become extremely boring and routine. An office clerk gets up well after the sun rise with the aid of bed tea and newspaper in front of him. He soon attends to necessities and is ready to pack off for office. After return from office he listens to cheap radio music, eats his food and retires to sleep. The story of city life can be summed up in Shakespearean vein that it is a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing.

Besides these characteristics, peculiarities of marital life, dynamic life i.e., dynamism in urban life, high incidence of crime and formation of voluntary associations in urban centres are worth mentioning.

Growth of City

The growth of cities unleashed revolutionary changes. There emerged several towns and cities which the main place for the rulers and the tradesmen in those times were. Towns and cities are of many kinds – temple towns, garrison towns, seaports, political capitals or administrative towns, resort centres, industrial cities, trading centres, and other types of cities. The company towns are a unique kind of community which has nearly disappeared. Most large cities are diversified, carrying out a number of activities simultaneously.

Modern Indian cities have generally undergone a well-defined socio-historical growth process. Though the origin of cities permits a great deal of speculation, by associating it with colonial period or modernization, it transcends the realm of speculation. It is to be viewed through a definite framework both as a dynamic social process as well as a result of specific social trends. These specific social trends were unleashed in the 18th century when the rise of scientific technology and the accumulation of capital took place. In the colonial period the urban centres were used as the suppliers of number of raw materials as well as the consumers of foreign products. The old urban centres went through transformations; some became solely military centres, while others were filled with the labour force and industries. However, all the features of the western cities are not seen in Indian urban areas, even though their growth coincided with the growth of large scale industrial and modern capitalism.

According to Adna Weber, concentration of people into cities was a product of the economic forces which were becoming significant with the industrial revolution, which introduced changes such as steam power, mechanization, and trade and commerce etc. The political causes of the emergence of cities were as follows:

i)        Legislation on promoting freedom of trade.

ii)      Legislation promoting freedom of migration.

iii)    Centralised administration with its location of persons in civic centres.

iv)    Free forms of land tenure politically defended in the city.

The social causes were as follows:

                                i.      Education.

                              ii.      Amusements.

                            iii.      Higher standards of living.

                            iv.      Attraction of intellectual association.

                              v.      Habituation of an urban environment.

                            vi.      Diffusion of knowledge of the values of city life.

In ancient India there were no great differences between a village and a town. Some essential conditions and requirements gave rise to towns and cities in India. The first and foremost factor among them is the availability of water. Second, the place must offer good possibilities of defence. The third essential condition was the easy supply of foodstuffs. Finally, communication lines were also a factor determining the fortune of the city. In the third millennium BC, the first probable urban civilisation emerged in India in the Indus valley with Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa as the most elaborate urban forms. According to Gordon the foundation of the city of Mohanjodaro was laid around 2600 BC. Then the Aryan version of urbanisation took its roots around 600 B.C. During the times of the Mahabharat, there were a number of cities like Hastinapura, Indraprastha, Mathura, Kanayakubja and cities like Kashi and Kausambi. Urbanisation during the Mughal period spread out all the way from north to south, east to west. In the colonial period the urban upsurge in India began after the First World War. The three major port towns, Calcutta, Bombay and Madras owe their existence to these developments.

The Different Between Towns and Cities

Though commonly confused to mean the same thing, a city and a town are, in fact, different. A common assumption is that cities are larger than towns, but this is not entirely true as definitions vary from one place to another. For starters, a town is a place where people have settled, and is larger than a village but smaller than a city in different entities. On the other hand, a city is generally an extensive human settlement with a sophisticated system of transport, communication, sanitation, and housing, among others.

Different countries in the world have different demographics and geographical definitions for cities. In Sweden and Denmark, a settlement of more than 200 people forms a town, whereas Australia and Canada have set a minimum of 1,000 people to make a town. This figure varies in France and Israel who have set a minimum of 2,000 people to make a city. In the US and Mexico, a city should have at least 2,500 people, compared to Japan where cities must have at least 30,000 people.

1.      Meaning of City and Town

City: A city is a legally defined entity with a structured system of governance, and which has delegated powers to oversee local legislation as well as the management of resources. Citizens of a city are responsible for electing representatives who form the local government that provides local services.

Town: Towns are generally places with unincorporated communities that have no structured system of government but receive services from the other levels of government. However, in some countries, governments allow towns to have some limited powers.

2.      Demography and Geography of City and Town

City: Looking at modern day cities, a pattern emerges of a high population density with residents from various ethnicities over a larger geographical location. Cities possess a diverse population of different religions, races, and languages among others. With a bigger population, cities often occupy a larger geographical location and have higher population densities with more social amenities. Cities are more permanent and, even after destruction by war or natural disasters, may be rebuilt.

Town: Towns, on the other hand, may share some geographic and demographic similarities with cities, but in smaller sizes. They tend to be less densely populated than cities and have less diversity in terms of people’s ethnicities. Towns also have smaller geographical areas.

3.      Economy of City and Town

City: Cities have bigger economies compared to towns. Because of the population that provides labor and purchasing power, businesses prefer to set base in them with the added advantage of government facilities. Multinational Corporations and other international bodies prefer setting up in cities thus boosting city economies. Development of cities usually follows a particular development plan to ensure effective service delivery to the citizens. Lastly, cities have a tendency of growing and merging with adjacent cities or towns.

Town: Towns have smaller economies usually driven by local small and medium enterprises. They have no major employers and the circulation of money is not as active as in cities. Towns do not usually grow to merge with other towns except in rare cases and, although they have plans, these plans are not as sophisticated as in the case of cities. Generally, towns have the ability to grow into cities.