IJCRR - 4(21), November, 2012
Pages: 31-42
Date of Publication: 15-Nov-2012
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URBANIZATION AND ITS IMPACTS ON THE SUB-URBS OF BANGALORE CITY
Author: Manjunatha S., Anilkumar B. Kote
Category: General Sciences
Abstract:The process of urbanization has far reaching impacts throughout the world in every society, particularly in Indian society. It is evidently apparent that in India the sub-urban regions are the most affected/influenced by the process of urbanization. In this paper the major aim was to explore the possible impacts of urbanization on the sub-urban regions of Indian society justifying it with the field research. Furthermore here the understanding of urbanization has been clarified since the concept of urbanization is itself in the midst of ambiguity. In the domain of urban sociology the understanding of urbanization has changed gradually with the changing impacts of urbanization. Five major sub-urban regions in Bangalore district (Karnataka, India) were taken for the field study. Review of urban studies in this paper provides a valuable base for a research in the field of urban sociology. And a significant part of the article has been devoted in discussing the problems associated with the urban planning. At the end of the study significant suggestions were made for a better planning of urban growth in India.
Keywords: Urbanization, Sub-Urbs, Urban Sociology, Urban-Rural Continuum.
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INTRODUCTION
Urbanization is an index of transformation from traditional rural economies to modern industrial one. Kingsley Davis has explained urbanization as process (Davis; 1962) of switch from spread out pattern of human settlements to one of concentration in urban centres. It is a finite process: a cycle through which a nation pass as they evolve from agrarian to industrial society (Davis and Golden; 1954). The process of urbanization is not same in all the regions of the world. The process of urbanization varies from society to society, culture to culture and region to region. Thus, here in Indian society the process of urbanization has its own uniqueness and exclusiveness. In Indian society process of urbanization differs from western society‘s process or urbanity due to many reasons. The process of urbanization in India is not a new phenomenon and it has a history of thousands of years. India has a long experience of urban communities through the ages of Indus Valley civilization. Studying urban communities and urbanization has been a major domain in the field of sociology since its origin as a separate discipline. But the understanding of urbanization has changed gradually with the changing impacts of urbanization around the academic setting. Furthermore, today urbanization connecting with globalization has far reaching impacts on Indian society, particularly on its sub-urban regions. India shares most characteristic features of urbanization in the developing countries. However, at the moment, India is among the countries of low level of urbanization. Number of urban agglomeration/town has grown 1821 in 1901 to 5161 in 2001. Number of total population has increased from 23.84 crores in 1901 to 122 crores in 2012 whereas number of population residing in urban areas has increased from 2.58 crores in 1901 to 37 crores in 2012. As I already stated earlier urbanization in India has been relatively slow compared to many other developing countries. The percentage of annual exponential growth rate of urban population reveals that in India it grew at faster pace from the decade 1921-31 to until 1951. Thereafter it registered a sharp drop during the decade 1951-61. The decades of 1961-71 and 1971-81 showed a significant improvement in the growth which has thereafter steadily dropped to the present level 2.7. The sharp drop in urban rate during 1951-61 was mainly due to declassification of a very large number of towns during that period. In India urban growth can be attributed to mainly three components: 1) Natural increase, 2) Net migration, 3) Areal reclassification. It is very clear that the process of urbanization is not merely ?migration lead? but a product of demographic explosion due to natural increase. People migrate to cities not due to urban pull but due to rural push. In Indian society there are some areas which are too far to conclude as village and too tough to add into the category of urban. Hence which are called as sub-urban areas? In Indian society we can see many such types of areas, where people share both cultures and represent urban and rural life styles. This new emerging phenomenon has to be dealt with a systematic research. This kind of research will be having greater significance for the better future life. For many reasons I have chosen Bangalore sub-urban region to examine the prepositions, which were stated earlier in this paper. This unique process has dual impact on society and it involves pros and cons. These problems can be tackled by a well planned urban setting. Hence, the present study on ?Urbanization and its impact on the sub-urbs of Bangalore city? is precisely looking at the process and forces that drive the phenomena of urbanization. Many scholars have recognized that cities provide exclusive opportunities for growth, development in general, entrepreneurship, creativity, and the generation of wealth, in particular. It is just a single face of the duality. Another face includes a host of intractable problems, often accompany rapid urban growth. Kasarda and Parnell note below that; ?… high rates of unemployment and underemployment as urban labour markets are unable to absorb the expanding number of job seekers, soaring urban poverty, insufficient shelter, inadequate sanitation, inadequate or contaminated water supplies, air pollution and other forms of environmental degradation, congested streets, overloaded public transportation systems, and municipal budget crises.? In the light of these complexities, this study is not per se, a mere exploration of built form as archive of the city – that is as a repository of its history – but of a notion of city-as-archive, and it is an attempt to understand the nature of contemporary cities by the process of urbanization, as the city transforms into a global city, with its fast moving generation. The present study was aimed at conducting a field research based study to explore the possible impacts of urbanization on the suburban regions in Indian society. Furthermore it was also sought to test the theoretical model in the light of empirical data. In today‘s world everything has to be planned and the same holds good in the case of urbanization. Urban planning is most needed in the country. History has taught us the worst impacts of urban growth. And some empirical studies too suggested the need for a planned urban growth. Thus, the present study has explored the processes of urban transformation – both physical and symbolic – taking place in the Indian cities today. The rapid urbanization of human society in post modernization era has certainly wide scope for the study.
Theoretical Explanation of Urbanization Many of the early sociologists had a fascination with the city and urban life. The classical sociologists Max Weber wrote a book called ?The City? in which he traced the conditions that made modern capitalism possible back to the medieval, Western city. Other early theorists were more concerned with the way in which the development of the city changed the social as well as the physical environment. The work of Georg Simmel and Ferdinand Tonnies provided two of the most important early contributions to urban sociology (Giddens, Anthony, 1993; 895). A number of writers associated with the University of Chicago from the 1920s to the 1940s, especially Robert Park, Ernest Burgess and Louis Wirth, developed ideas which were for many years the chief basis of theory and research in urban sociology. Two concepts developed by the Chicago School are worthy of special attention. One is the so-called ecological approach in urban analysis; the other is the characterization of urbanization as a way of life, developed by Wirth (Wirth 1938; Park 1952). The ecological approach has been as important for the empirical research it has helped to promote as for its value as a theoretical perspective. Many studies, both of cities and of particular neighbourhoods, have been prompted by ecological thinking, concerned, for example, with the process of ?invasion‘ and ?succession‘ mentioned above. However, various criticisms can justifiably be made. The ecological perspective tends to underemphasize the importance of conscious design and planning in city organization, regarding urban development as a ?natural‘ process. The models of spatial organization developed by Park, Burgess and their colleagues were drawn from American experience, and fit only some types of city in the United States, let alone cities in Europe, Japan or the developing world. Wirth‘s thesis of urbanism as a way of life is concerned less with the internal differentiation of cities than with what urbanism is as a form of social existence. Although for a period the urban ecology approach fell into disrepute, it was later revived and elaborated in the writings of a number of authors, particularly Amos Hawley (1950, 1968). Rather than concentrating on competition for scarce resources, as his predecessors had done, Hawley emphasized the interdependence of different city areas. Differentiation—the specialization of groups and occupational roles—is the main way in which human beings adapt to their environment. Groups on which many others depend will have a dominant role, often reflected in their central geographical position. But the zones which develop in urban areas, Haweley points out, arise from relationships not just of space, but of time. Business dominance, for example, is expressed not only in patterns of land use, but also in the rhythm of activities in daily life – an illustration being the rush hour. Claude Fischer (1984) has put forward an interpretation of why large-scale urbanism tends actually to promote diverse subcultures, rather than swamp everyone within an anonymous mass. Those who live in cities, he points out, are able to collaborate with others of similar backgrounds of interest to develop local connections; and they can join distinctive religious, ethnic, political and other sub cultural groups. A small town or village does not allow the development of such sub cultural diversity. Those who form ethnic communities in cities, for instance, might have little or no knowledge of one another in their land of origin. When they arrive, they gravitate to areas where others from a similar linguistic and cultural background are living and new sub community structures are formed. More recent theories of urbanism have stressed that it is not an autonomous process, but has to be analyzed in relation to major patterns of political and economic change. The two leading writers in urban analysis, David Harvey (1973, 1982, 1985) and Manuel Castells (1977, 1983), have both been strongly influenced by Marx. Drawing on broadly Marxist ideas, David Harvey1 has argued that urbanism is one aspect of the created environment brought about by the spread of industrial capitalism. In traditional societies, city and countryside were clearly differentiated. In the modern world, industry blurs the division between city and countryside. Agriculture becomes mechanized and is run simply according to considerations of price and profit, just like industrial work, and this process lessens the differences in modes of social life between urban and rural people. In modern urbanism, Harvey points out, space is continually restricted. The process is determined by where large firms choose to place their factories, research and developmental centres and so forth; by the controls asserted by governments over both land and industrial production; and by the activities of private investors, buying and selling houses and land. After the Second World War, for instance, there was a vast expansion of suburban development in major cities in the United States. This was partly due to ethnic discrimination and the tendency of whitest move away from inner-city areas. However, it was only made possible, Harvey argues, because of government decisions to provide tax concessions to home buyers and construction firms, and by the setting up of special credit arrangements by financial organizations. These provided the basis for the building and buying of new homes on the peripheries of cities, and at the same time promoted demand for industrial products such as the motorcar. In England, the growth in size and prosperity of towns and cities in the south in the post-war period is directly connected to the decline of older industries in the north, and the consequent movement of investment to new industrial opportunities. Like Harvey, Castells stresses that the spatial form of a society is closely linked to the overall mechanisms of its development. To understand cities, we have to grasp the processes whereby spatial forms are created and transformed. The layout and architectural features of cities and neighbourhoods express struggles and conflicts between different groups in society. In other words, urban environments represent symbolic and spatial manifestations of brooders social forces. For example, skyscrapers may be built because they are expected to provide profit, but the giant buildings also symbols the power of money over the city through technology and self confidence and are the cathedrals of the period of rising corporate capitalism (Castells; 1983). In contrast to the Chicago sociologists, Castells sees the city not only as a distinct location the urban area but as an integral part of processes of collective consumption, which in turn are an inherent aspect of industrial capitalism. The views of Harvey and Castells have been widely debated, and their work has been important in redirecting urban analysis. In contrast to the ecologists‘ approach, it puts emphasis not on natural spatial processes, but on how land and the created environment reflect social and economic systems of power. This marks a significant shift of emphasis. Yet the ideas of Harvey and Castells are often stated in a highly abstract way, and have not stimulated such a large variety of research studies compared with the work of the Chicago School. In some ways, the views set out by Harvey and Sastells and those of the Chicago School usefully complement each other, and can be combined to give a comprehensive picture of urban processes. The contrasts between city areas described in urban ecology do exist, as does the overall impersonality of city life. But these are more variable than the members of the Chicago School believed, and are primarily governed by the social and economic influences analyzed by Harvey and Castells. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Urban Sociology in India is a major contribution to urban studies. Urban studies have evoked much interest in Historical and comparative perspectives. Research in urban sociology in India is still in infancy although the nation has the best census records of any country going back to 1901 and consequently provides excellent data for planning and various programmes. In an early overview of studies of Indian urbanism, Satish Sabarwal rightly remarked that this terrain has until recently remained singularly devoid of intellectual landmark. In the early 1950‘s following a UNESCO study on migration into India cities, the topic of urbanization did gain a separate space within the Indian Sociological Association and the Indian Economic Association. Major inputs for urban studies came from the profile sponsored by this planning commission of 20 major Indian cities. Indeed well articulated demographic profile of Indian cities at National, regional and local levels among the first contributions to urban studies. Other comparative studies were conducted under the aegis of Research Programmes Committee. Hoselitz (1961) studied the cities of Calcutta, Kanpur and Jamshedpur. Pethe (1962) compared the socio-economic conditions of Hyderabad, Poona, Sholapur, Baroda, Hublic, Cuttack, and Puri to indicate the overall levels of inequalities between the different strata in the communities. Bulsara (1964) also made a comparative study of four metropolises, i.e., Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi, and Madras. All these studies are very useful but are lacking in analysis. Kosambi (1994) conducted the third survey of literature on urban studies covering the period from 1979 to 1988 and reviewed 900 items including books and articles culled from about 50 journals and printed doctoral theses, which appeared during the period 1979 to 1988 in India and elsewhere. This number itself is an indication of growth of literature in the field because D‘Souza reviewed only 250 and 350 items for the first and second survey, respectively. During the eighties, there were many studies on urbanization patterns and trends, but issues pertaining to metropolitization and regional planning remained inadequately explored. Migration studies also highlighted the all-India trends as well as regional variations in terms of male and female socioeconomic differences. The spatial structure of cities has not been systematically explored and theoretical contributions in the field were relatively meagre. Among the various urban problems, there was some fresh thinking on the concept of urban poverty. As in the eighties, studies on different aspects of slums and squatter settlements received due attention (Misra and Gupta; 1981, Rao and Rao; 1984, Jha; 1986). Kosambi also found that a set of definitive theoretical statements about the urban impact on the traditional institutions or about the important relationship between the caste and class in urban areas was lacking. During the eighties, sociologists still favoured sample surveys with interview schedules and questionnaires; social anthropologists continued to prefer the study of small communities; while demographers, economists, and geographers used sophisticated quantitative techniques in analysis the data. The sociologists, by and large, shied away from the advanced statistical methods. As in the eighties, urban studies remained attractive for scholars during the nineties. The National Commission on Urbanization (NCU) report, published in five volumes, highlighted the problems of urbanization at the grassroots, substate and state levels. This decade has also seen some valuable studies on slums and squatter settlements such as: Kaldate; 1989, Dhadave; 1989, Sandhu; 1989, Rao R. N; 1990, Das; 1993, Desai; 1995, De wit; 1996, Purewal; 2000, Lobo and Das; 2001. In addition to this, many other publications appeared as conferences and seminars volumes on different aspects of urbanization such as human settlements, urban poor and sustainability of human settlements. Some of the important works are Mohanty; 1993, Didde and Rangaswamy; 1993, Roy and Das Gupta; 1995, Kundu; 2000, Sandhu et al.; 2001, Sharma and Sita; 2001. A few significant studies of the villages near a town, city or metropolis in India reveal changes in their social and economic structure, which approximate to some of the characteristics of the fringe society—A.R. Beal‘s study of Hattarahalli, a village near Bangalore, and T.S. Trent‘s study of Namhalli, a village near a sugar factory town in Mysore (see Srinivas; 1956), Chapekar‘s (1954) study of Badlapur, a village near Kalyan; Acharya‘s (1956) study of four villages around Nasik; and Kapadia‘s (1956) study of five impact villages around Navsari. Following extensive research in the most ill-famed slum of Calcutta, India - Anand Nagar, i.e. ?city of joy? – the journalist turned writer quite simply but compellingly carries us through the life stories of several slum dwellers, often through their own words. The study concerns the trials and tribulations of people who are living in Calcutta (Kolkata), India. Kovalski is trying to help and understand life in the slum called Anand Nagar (City of Joy) and the life of rickshaw puller, Hasari Pal (the sufferer). Mumford in his book 'The city in history' (1961 Harcourt, Brace and World (New York) sees cities as enlarging all dimensions of life as the scattered as the scattered activities of society are brought together so releasing the energies of mankind in a tremendous explosion of creativity. The city has augmented capabilities for participation and widened the basis of personal experience. In the writings of Neo-Marxists like Mills, Marcuse, there is a consensus that conditions of capitalist urbanization are mutilative of the personality, inhibitive of community formation, destructive of social engagement or involvement and conducive to apathy, alienation and anomie. Class consciousness is inhibited and diverted in mass movements, unreason and not reason typifies social response. Sociologists from Tonnies to Wirth developed counter-theory to Marxism for the explication of social change led to acceptance of a fundamental cleavage between rural and urban, tradition and modernism which was in sharp opposition to any variant on Marxist theories of development. The urban is accepted as a frame of reference and the urban society as a specific mode of social organization becomes the object of scientific study. Tonnies in his book Community and Society (2002) explained the impact of the market economy on traditional forms of social association; the implications of urbanization and the development of the state for the conduct of social life and the mechanisms of social solidarity in an individualized society. The distinction he draws between the two forms of human association, gemeniscaft and gesellschaft has become the basis for a succession of typologies of which the best known are the pattern variables formulated by Parsons and folk-urban typology drawn by Redfield and Wirth. George Simmel (1903) presents social interaction in terms of abstract categories. The study of society could only proceed by means of logical analysis of the forms of association. The forms are cognitive categories. Simmel belonged to the neoKantian tradition which frankly denies the possibility of the study of the natural or the social world without selection and ordering by the observer. Simmel was trying to expound on three themes; first the consequences of a money economy for social relationships. Second the significance of numbers for social life and lastly the scope for the maintenance of independence and individuality against the sovereign powers of society. ?Urbanization and Some Social Problems‘, D. Narain (1960) makes a distinction between the existence of cities and urbanization as a dynamic force in a society. He considers that the real history of urbanization begins from 1800 A. D. Europe and America underwent the most profound changes known in history and emerged as qualitatively new societies; they also influenced urbanization in Asia. Urbanization in Asian countries is an outgrowth of colonialism and the process is now subjected to central planning and governmental intervention as against its operation through the free market in Europe. Asia is less urbanized than any continent, excluding Africa. In 1950, about 13 percent of Asia‘s population lived in cities of 20,000 or more, as compared to 9 percent in Africa. Cities have been seen in the wider context of history of civilization by many scholars, such as G. Botero A.F. Weber, Spengler, Toynbee, Geddes, Mumford and Wirth. While Betero and Weber sought more specific causes and conditions for the growth of cities in different civilizations. Spengler and Toynbee generally considered world history in terms of city history. Geddes viewed the city as a mirror of civilizations. Mumford and Ghurye have elaborated this idea in different historical contexts. Wirth also maintained that the history of civilizations should be written in terms of the history of cities and that the city was the symbol of civilizations. An attempt has been made in the study to place urban sociology in India in the wider context of problems and perspectives of urban studies. It has a detailed analysis on 1) Theoretical problems, 2) Historical aspects. 3) Demographic and ecological aspects 4) Immigrant communities and Neighbourhood 5) Social stratification and mobility. 6) Marriage and family 7) Religion 8) Polity and 9) Urban influence on rural life. Slums and urbanization ed. by A R Desai and S. Devadas Pillai is another pioneer study on urbanization with the rapid pace with urbanization taking place in the developing countries, slums have become an alarming reality. From Bermuda to manila almost every city is dotted with slums. This book indeed focus attention on this desperate problem by a careful arrangement of extracts and papers representing different points of view, sometimes conflicting with each other but essentially dealing with certain crucial issues underlying the urban process. Now it is possible that the exclusive and misplaced emphasis on such factors as the growth of size and density of population in defining the situation as urban may lead one to develop a sort of demographic argument in urban sociology, and in India this seems to be in the writings of Ashis Bose (1965; 1970a; 1970); and G.S. Ghurye (1962). It is also dominant in the studies of changes in the urban population of India done by Davis (1962) as well as Bogue and Zachariah (1962). However, it must be pointed out here that in exploring the intricacies of India‘s urban ecology, rich dividends are more likely to be obtained by the analysis of patterns of residence of Indian cities by income, education, occupation, caste, and religion. Such pioneering studies were already made by D. R. Gadgil in his Poona surveys (1945; 1952) as well as the resurvey of the same city done by Sovani, Apte and Pendse (1956). The more specific socio-economic-cum-social-ecological analysis of the city of Poona is done by Surinder K. Mehta (1968; 496-508) with statistical sophistication unmatched by other studies. In the same way, I P Desai (1964) in his studies of the city of Poona as well as Mahuva a town in Saurashtra, makes similar observation regarding the continuity traditional structures. This leads us to support A. M. Shah‘s suggestion that one of the most fruitful approaches in this case would be to examine the developmental process of households, both progressive and regressive which is assumed to be operative in the villages, towns, and we believe, the cities of India. Only a few studies analyze urban neighbourhood in India, as in many cases most of one‘s neighbours may be one‘s kin, as shown by Vatuk, Gandhi, and Chatterjee. And where the non-kin are found to reside as neighbours, most of them may be members of the same caste or sub-caste. This is also noted by Lynch (1967: 143) in his study of Agra city which he found to be ?divided into well over 200 mohallas or bastis (?neighbourhoods,‘ ?wards‘). One of the first continuities with village organization…is the tendency towards residential segregation by caste and caste groups within those mohallas or bastis… The mohallas of the Jatavs tend to be either dominated or completely occupied by them. Sujatha Patel and Kushal Debe‘s Urban Studies (2009), using inter-disciplinary approach, this volume examine aspects of diverse urban life including life in the city and industrialization. It also discusses issues of urban planning, slums, health and sanitation. The Promise of the Metropolis: Bangalore‘s 20th century by Janaki Nair: (2005) Bangalore‘s recent emergence as a metropolis and its internationally acknowledged status as India‘s Silicon Valley have made it known the world over. While providing a well-researched perspective on the city, this book analyses how it has been shaped by the ideologies and principles of planning, instrumentalities of law, and by the mobilization of ?City Beautiful‘ aesthetics. It also discusses the unanticipated uses of space that fashion a city quite different from the one envisaged by planners and technocrats, revealing ways in which citizenship and democracy are being reconceptualized. This study is massively researched and lucidly written, it presents a critical history of the making and unmaking of modern Bangalore. The book explores certain historical themes, particularly the legacies of the past that have gained legibility in the contemporary city, focusing in particular on its divided history. The fifty years since Independence are disused in terms of the success with which they overcome divisions marked by the nation, the region, and the global capital. The chapter concludes on the note that Bangalore ‘has suffered from the general neglect of urban studies in social science disciplines’, even though select works have been carried out by Noel Gist, Venkatrayappa, R L Singh, Prakasa Rao, VK Tewari and James Manor. In conclusion of this critical evaluation of the urban studies in India, it must be emphasized that although the Western theories of urban society have some applicability to the India urban situation, as in the case of urban social stratification, the dichotomous tradition emphasizing rural-urban contrasts would be of little value. Since marriage, kinship, family and religion in urban India exhibit certain specific structural and cultural characteristics of their own, neither the Western theories of urban society nor the hypothesis derived from them could be valuable in understanding, interpreting and analyzing those institutions. But the social structure of urban India is continuously under the pressure of internal as well as external forces of change. The task before the urban sociologist of India is to formulate more meaningful hypothesis, based on the intimate knowledge of the Indian urban situation, concerning continuities and change of its various structural elements.
METHODOLOGY
This paper attempts to understand the impacts of urbanization on the sub-urban regions of Indian society. For the said purpose, field research was carried out in five significant area of Bangalore south district of Karnataka State, India. The primary field sites for the research are Konanakunte, Yediur, Marenahalli, Uttarahalli, Doddakallasandra, in Bangalore, because they are considered to be the most important centre recently for several reasons which provide richer comparative data. The research strategy was primarily qualitative aimed at producing in-depth knowledge about the topics investigated, although quite a reasonable survey of inhabitants of migrated population was also designed to generate some amount of quantitative data. Altogether, 300 people have been interviewed who were living in these areas. In addition to that we spent maximum number of days in observing the actual living practices, environment, work practices, meetings, social events, and the like, with various community organizations which added substantially to the archive of research material collected. Along with semi-structured interviews were framed with coolie workers and construction workers whose economic profiles were still at the marginal or subsistent level. A combination of ethnographic and sociological methods has been adopted, including a questionnaire-based survey, in-depth interviews, group discussions, participant-observation, and documentary research. Bangalore is the principal administrative, cultural, commercial, industrial and knowledge capital of the state of Karnataka. Bangalore city has been growing rapidly over the period of time. In 1946 the area of Bangalore had been limited to 69 sq. km, but soon after 1963 it has got momentum and increased till 112. At present BBMP (Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike) covers 741 sq. km. Along with its population, Bangalore city is also growing at a quicker pace. According to Bangalore Metro Population World Gazetteer, in 2011 Bangalore‘s population is 78 lakh. In 1901 it was only 1 lakh and in 1951 it was increased to 5 lakh. The above said over all data clearly explains the tremendous process of urbanization. Hence, impact of urbanization on the Bangalore city prevails existing changes. This study examines such implications of urbanization on Bangalore city in general and on the sub-urbs of south Bangalore in particular. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The present study was placed to explore the impacts of urbanization on the sub-urbs of Bangalore city. In doing so, the study has endeavoured to analyze the socio-economic composition of Bangalore city and test the existing theoretical models regarding urban growth with special reference to five sub-urbs of Bangalore city: Konanakunte, Yediur, Marenahalli, Uttharahalli and Doddakalasandra. This section briefly examines the major implications of the process of urbanization on the above stated suburban regions. There is no doubt that urbanization plays an important role in the process of ?development‘ of any country and sub-urbs are more influenced by the process of urbanization than any other region. It is evidently found in this study. Among these sub-urbs though nuclear families are increasing the existence of joint families are also common and there is a decline in agricultural occupation but animal husbandry, coolies and construction work remained as a major occupation. In these sub-urban regions the impact of urbanization is felt from last ten years. Though caste underwent certain modification, here people believe caste is very important in their daily dayto-day activities. Marriage, caste associations and political parties are being used as weaponry for the protection of caste identity by the people of these regions. Comparing with rural regions in these sub-urban regions the status of women has largely improved. However, these sub-urban people also celebrate village festivals every year just like in villages. Here with reference to migration of the respondents push and pull factors play an important role. From the above findings it is clear that both characteristics of urban and rural do exist in these sub-urban regions. Hence the concept of rural-urban continuum can be evidently found here. In these regions economic planning and state intervention have come to be accepted as the best strategies for the promotion of overall economic growth and development for raising the general levels of living. As stated earlier, from the first five year plan to the current five year plans are based on certain fundamental principles which are the basic policies setting up priorities in the development of different sectors of the economy. Therefore, instead of the crazy idea of conversion of Bangalore into Singapore, the policy makers and urban planners should respect the location- specificity and capabilities of the city of Bangalore and promote its growth and development if not as an ?ideal city‘ which means ?a city without slums, traffic congestion, house and ground congestion, air and water pollution, and with population growth matching the requirements like housing, health, education, and the people living in an attractive urban environment at a cost which a city can bear‘, but, ?as a city of profound aesthetic and environment culture with a balanced urban ecosystem in terms of land use, infrastructure and human beings belonging to various socioeconomic strata‘. As a matter of fact, the system of iron clad inequalities of wealth, income and opportunities had led the framers of the constitution to include among the directives principles of state policy, a provision which says that ?in economic sphere, the State is to direct its policy in such a manner as to secure distribution of ownership and control of material resources of community to sub serve the common good and to ensure that operation of economic system does not result in concentration of wealth and means of production to common detriment.? All the five year plans have been emphasizing this very objective and some social legislations have been enacted to reduce inequalities, disparities. But very little success seems to have been achieved, and gaps between the rich and the poor continue to grow. The public is no longer enamoured with slogans alone. India has failed to achieve the declared goals as enumerated in the constitution and the various documents of the five year plans. It has not raised the level of living for the masses; it has not reduced the vast inequalities of income; it has not prevented further concentration of wealth; and it has not liquidated widespread unemployment. By 2031, India will have the larger urban population of about 350 million in the world; and it is projected that cities of one million-plus population will increase to about 35 containing almost 40 percent of the total urban population which may reach nearly 150 million. Actually, it may be admitted that the whole India is blighted by slums, shanty towns and squatter settlements where living conditions are not merely poor but deplorable. The problem of footpath dwellers whose number has increased to several million is another dimension of the poor. Such problems in metropolitan cities are becoming more severe and acute partly because of the continuous flow or rural migration and relatively high urban fertility rates, and partly because of the existing shortages in housing and infrastructural facilities. The task of improving metropolitan cities is really the task of housing the poor and development of overall employment opportunities. This presents a great challenge which is complex and staggers human imagination. Apart from the long term national policies for the development of rural areas more intensively to stabilize rural population and urban policies to redistribute migrants to small and medium cities, short term programs and strategies are needed for the massive construction of several millions of new housing units consisting of one or two rooms with a kitchen and a bath which are in the jurisdictions of the existing metropolitan cities. Hence, the future city of Bangalore should look like, a city with a balanced vertical and horizontal growth having greenery all around interspersed with well planned self-contained residential neighbourhoods, infrastructure and services with minimum travel needs. Since, any city for that matter cannot function alone in isolation with its immediate region; Bangalore should be developed along with its region to maintain the city-region symbiosis. The functional reality of the region as an agricultural region is disrupted due to imposed demand by real estate. As a result, rural inhabitants of the region are forced to leave their traditional occupation of agriculture, and settle down as ?so called urban residents‘ with a hope that some policy interventions will provide them a decent future. In fact, Bangalore is already experiencing this problem more seriously. May be as a component of the city-region development, the government of Karnataka has also proposed to develop a few satellite towns around Bangalore probably with an intention to siphon-off the existing as well as future population pressure likely to experience by the city. However, these satellite towns should be planned as self-contained units with least dependence on the city which is restricted to specialized commercial, health and administrative services. Hence, for the planned development of the city of Bangalore and its region together, the existing planning institutions like BDA (Bangalore Development Authority) and BMRDA (Bangalore Metro Railway Development Authority) have to work together with proper coordination to achieve the sustainable city-region development. Ultimately, such a dream city with a well-balanced city-region system is possible only with the combined efforts of dedicated stake holders such as urban planners, policy makers, non-government organizations, and more significantly the citizens of Bangalore. Thus in this way the process of urbanization affects the sub-urbs and growth of cities also affects the villages near cities and absorption of villages into a city is eminent and a city like Bangalore is gradually changing itself and other areas. CONCLUSION For the better planning of urban growth governmental agencies should take steps to bring in planning, housing, financial, regulatory, institutional and legal reforms and devise macroeconomic policies to enable flow of resources to the housing and infrastructure sector by encouraging private investment in housing, one of advanced technology to build low cost houses. For doing they should evolve plans, strategies and parameters for optimal use of available resources including land for sustainable development and devise action plans for the provision and creation of adequate infrastructure facilities like water sources, connectivity and power supply. Governmental bodies should also develop and enforce appropriate ecological standards to protect the environment and provide a better quality of life in human settlements. They must continue and pursue urban reforms with a focus on revision of bye-laws, municipal laws, simplification of legal and procedural framework, initiation of partnership, reduction of municipal manpower, introduction of property title, introduction of regulators, implementation of urban street vendor policy, etc. So far there are many social scientists who do believe in clear contrast between rural and urban. But this research work has provided a different analysis from earlier studies. Throughout this study the main assumption has been contested that rural-urban terms are not independent but rather complementary.
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