Rural Urban divide in India
The sharp increase in rural-urban disparities in India after decades of planned development is alarming, for planning itself was conceived as an instrument to narrow down such disparities.
RURAL-urban disparities, particularly in post-colonial countries, have for long been one of the causes of concern for the policymakers. The disparities are seen in all spheres of human life - economic and non-economic. The long colonial rule in India had created an urban-rural divide. What causes great concern now-a-days is the sharp increase in the level of disparities after a few decades of planning, especially because planning was conceived as an instrument to narrow down rural-urban disparities.
The rural-urban disparities is found across the World, as is indicated with the fact that Cities take up less than two percent of the Earth’s land surface, but are home to almost half of the world’s population and utilize seventy-five percent of the Earth’s resources. In 1998 47 percent of the world’s population lived in cities as opposed to 29 percent in 1950. Globalization is leading to increased urbanization. According to the World Bank, urban areas in developing countries account for an estimated 60 - 80 percent of GDP. Urban populations mainly have greater access to water and sanitation services, but an estimated quarter to a half of those populations live in slums or squatter settlements.
As regards India, the statistics are about 70% of the people live in more than 550,000 villages, and the remainder in more than 200 towns and cities.
Rural India is characterised by low income levels, poor quality of life and a weak base of human development. Nearly one-third of the national income comes from villages, but there is a significant rural-urban divide.
Agriculture is the mainstay of most post-colonial countries. It supports roughly two-thirds of the