Need for Urbanization and Infrastructure Development in India

Urbanization is basically a developmental process which involves a rapid growth of cities in a country. City is the central figure in this process and it refers to the urban civilisation.  A city is a symbol of culture and a product of man and his achievements. It symbolizes the creation of healthy surroundings and environment by the mankind, it can be defined as a small community featured by a large heterogeneous population, specialization, wide opportunity for social mobility, advancement in the living standards, improvement of the infrastructure, enhancement of social, political and technological areas of the society, better options of occupations and a formalized system of local government. Today India is making remarkable achievements with the arrival of globalisation and industrialization in its framework and simultaneously, a need to expand and to get more advanced in terms of domestic surroundings and environment is, rising up. Every country aspires for betterment and in order to fulfil this aspiration, the infrastructure of the country requires an exclusive concern besides the expansion of its other institutions and development programmes. There is a need to enhance the living standards of the people and to make their lives better in a holistic way. Fulfilling the basic needs of the people will not be sufficed when a country is aspiring for the new horizons of advancement. Therefore the infrastructure of the country should be in such a way which facilitates a growth in the living standards of the people.

Cities are the hub of opportunities and growth hence their growth and development would surely help the country to flourish.

Growth of cities in India in the present time is at the Acceleration stage. And there are many factors which are responsible for this increase in cities and towns in India. Nowadays a huge portion of rural population is migrating towards the cities. Old cities are getting better and many new cities are emerging while providing numerous of alluring opportunities and reasons to the largest population of villages to migrate to the cities. Big cities possess many features that attract the people of all groups and classes to become an active part of those and therefore uplifts the process of urbanization, such features are:

Cities facilitate better health conditions, sanitation and clean water supply, offer better opportunities and facilities to elaborate one’s potential and skills, increase social mobility, increase socialization and lessen the social stratification/rigidity and motivate new ideas and inventions. The Economic factor is the central push factor which encourages the rural people to migrate to the big cities. A large number of farmers and agricultural workers solely depend upon agriculture for their livelihoods. Farmers of India are not fully benefited by the Indian Government hence they are being pushed towards the cities in search of some other economic opportunities which can provide them better living conditions and better sources of income for their families.

Industrial revolution in cities has given huge and better job opportunities to the rural people. A major portion of rural people work in factories and production industries which provide them suffice conditions to work and to live in the cities. Also, there is an attraction among the rural people for the big cities, cities work like fascinating agent since they provide and encourage ample opportunities for advancement in employment, education, medical and recreational activities.

A city is an active and quick centre for commercial, political, technological, scientific, literary and artistic activities. Rural people are somewhere spelled by the trends, customs, social life, interests, comforts and luxuries of the cities. Transportation facilities are also found to be better and the connectivity among cities and villages is getting wider.

However Urbanization is increasing in India at a fast pace but the matter of concern over here is that, has it been commenced in a proper way? By now it must be very much cleared that growth of cities; is the best way to commence the infrastructural development of the country. Only this process can provide every single opportunity for advancing the potential, widening the scopes and for improving the living standards of the people. But there are many loopholes persisting in this process which do not allow it to serve its required purpose. However, when urbanising takes place, the socio-economic problems are bound to be generated. But these problems are not beyond solutions. What is most required over here is to apply the attention towards the right objective. During this process, balanced attention should be given to the undeveloped, under-developed and developed areas.

While taking Urbanization as the best way to visualize the growth of the country following are the few solutions and suggestions to implement it in a better way:

•  CITY PLANNING: In India the major urban problems have aroused due to the improper planning of the cities. City planners should consider a long term planning instead of considering few present objectives. They should plan while considering it to be useful for the further 20 years. Planning is a foremost layout of the city; this planning is going to determine the actual picture of it hence it should be done very efficiently. The planning committee should consider the few points like:
  1. Which region of the city needs more attention and should be prioritized into the plan
  2. Best methods should be used in the preparation of the plan.
  3. Growth, connectivity, transportation facilities, roads construction and infrastructural development (schools, hospitals, and citizen parks) should be on the top priorities of the plan.
  4. Security of the people should also cover an important part of the planning.
  5. Plan must be prepared and implemented under the supervision of honest and sincere bureaucrats and administrators.

• BETTER HOUSING PLANNING: Most of the big cities are facing slum problem today and those who migrate to the city also face the housing problems. The present housing accommodations in cities are also not satisfactory for the existing residents. Hence better facilities of housing should be provided to the existing residents and provisions for more accommodations should be made for the people which are affordable. This would help in minimising the problem of slums and over crowd in cities and would also enable the migrants to have some shelters for themselves. Slums degrade the quality life of the city, it creates dirt and pollution hence the better shelter facilities would be provided by the state government the cleaner and organised a city would become.

• DIVERSIFIED JOB OPPORTUNITIES: A city is a hub of professional opportunities but if those opportunities are centralised and only approachable among few selective mega cities then it would rather create an imbalance in the process of urbanising.  Job opportunities should be scattered and diversified among the cities and not rather be fixed. There should be same opportunities available for an engineer/doctor/specialized person in small cities as available in big cities. This would require the small cities to become advanced in this aspect. Till the job opportunities are centralised in mega cities, it would give rise to unemployment, competitions, under-employment and in fact joblessness.

• EXTENSION OF URBAN FACILITIES TO RURAL AREAS: Government should also prioritise to extend the urban facilities like electricity, newspapers, private schools, hospitals, games and sports and recreational activities in the rural areas. Use of modern technology should not remain an alien concept for the people residing in rural areas. The facilities which attract the rural population and moreover which make the cities different and beneficial, should be made approachable. The gap between the rural and urban standard of living should be minimised. And hence each and every person should live good life that reflect higher standard of living.

• IMPROVEMENT IN INTER & INTRA TRASPORATION: Transportation connectivity is one of the important factors that may directly connect two or more different cities in few hours.  However, transportation facilities are getting better but only in the mega cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai and so on. And there are still many states where cities are isolated and the transportation is awful. In the remote and rural areas commutation is a big matter of concern for a person. Connectivity should be improved among the cities. Railways, airways and especially the road transportation should get advanced. Metro routes should be widespread which that not only increases the intra connectivity but also the inter connectivity among the cities.

• ENVIRONMENTAL CHECK IS MUST: With over crowdedness, slums and industrialization the environment is getting polluted in the mega cities. There should be sufficient attention given to the control of this pollution. Industrial areas and new industries should always be far away from the residential areas. Garbage facilities should be enhanced, sanitation facilities should also be increased there should be more provisions for public toilets especially for the slums. There are garbage houses but there is less number of personnel appointed to clean that garbage, hence more cleaners should be appointed for doing the cleaning timely. Nowadays markets except the malls are the dirtiest, polluted and unsafe places. They are over-crowded, unhygienic and full of noise pollution. Hence they should be more managed, clean and organized. Besides this there should be a sense of personal responsibilities among the citizens to keep their city clean and safe. City represents the mindset of the people residing into it hence reflecting the right mindset is the responsibility of the people.

To conclude, we may say that urbanization is a process that creates better conditions for a country; it symbolizes the advancement and expansion under the same. India is still a developing country where the growth and development of cities, is taking place at a steady level. The need of the hour is to implement this process in a properly planned way. Concentrating and expanding the already developed and mega cities would not help to much extent rather it would give rise to many other urban problems. There should be a planned approach for this so that each and every city becomes developed, stay connected and keep growing in every aspect. Infrastructural and social development of the country can assure a better future for the citizens of it. If the people of India are living healthy, they are established, properly organised, provided adequate facilities and surroundings then India would soon make a place in the list of the developed countries.

“We should remember that, only a balanced and appropriate planning can facilitate the process of urbanization otherwise anything else would be a waste of time and resources”.