Administrative town
Topic: Human Settlements and Urbanisation in India · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 2 "Human Settlements"
Meaning
An administrative town is a town whose main job is government. It serves as the headquarters of a higher level of government, such as a national or state capital. Offices, courts, secretariats and government staff drive its economy. NCERT uses it as one class in the functional classification of towns, which groups towns by their main job.
Example
Chandigarh is a planned town designed by Le Corbusier. It is the shared capital of Punjab and Haryana. Other examples are New Delhi, Bhopal, Shillong, Guwahati, Imphal, Srinagar, Gandhinagar, Jaipur and Chennai.
Don't confuse with
- Statutory town: any place with a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee. The term is about the town's legal status, not its job. Almost every town in India is run by such a body, but only a few are administrative towns.
- Garrison town: a town built around a military station. It is a defence base, not a seat of civil government.