Urban area
Topic: Urban Local Government: Municipalities and Cities · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 8 "Local Governments"
Meaning
For the Census, an urban area is a place that fits one of two types. The first is a statutory town: a place notified by law with a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified area committee. The second is a census town: a place with at least 5,000 people, at least 75% of male main workers outside farming, and at least 400 persons per sq km. Cities are bigger and more mixed than villages, so they need their own elected local government.
Example
Census 2011 counted about 377 million urban people, or 31.1% of India. Class 11 rounds this to "about 31%". There were 7,933 towns and 53 million-plus cities. The urban share today is estimated to be above 35%.
Don't confuse with
- Metropolitan area (Art. 243P): this is a constitutional term for an area with 10 lakh or more people. It is not the general Census test for what counts as urban.