A Short note on Indian Cities

India has grown a huge number of cities in the past century as its population grows massively. Every city is unique in nature or by culture.  There are also different types of language, different types of food habits and religious belief can be seen in different Indian cities. 

List of Indian Cities 

Here is a list of cities along with the population as per the Census of India, 2011 – 

• Mumbai – The biggest city in Maharashtra is Mumbai, it consists of 12,442,373 people as per the Census of India, 2011. 
• Delhi – The capital of India has a population of almost 11,007,835 people.
• Bangalore – This city alone has a population of 8425970.
• Hyderabad – Has a population of almost 6809970 people in it.  
• Ahmedabad – This city from the state of Karnataka has a population of almost 55lacs people in it. 
• Chennai – This city from Tamil Nadu has almost 44.5 lacs people in it. 
• Kolkata – Kolkata is the biggest city of West Bengal with a population of 44.5 lacs people. 
• Surat – A Gujarat city that has a population of around 44.2 lacs. 
• Pune – A city from the state of Maharashtra holds a population of around 31.1 lacs people. 
• Jaipur – A Rajasthan state city which has a population of 30 lacs people. 
• Lucknow – A city from Uttar Pradesh has a population of 28 lacs people in it. 
• Kanpur- a city from Uttar Pradesh has a population of 27 lacs people. 
• Nagpur – A Maharashtra city that has almost 25 lacs of population. 
• Indore – Indore is a city from Madhya Pradesh has a population of around 1.7 million people.
• Thane – This is a city from Maharashtra that has a population of 1.8 million people. 
• Bhopal – It is a Major City of Madhya Pradesh that has a population of around 1.7 million people. 
• Visakhapatnam – This city is from Andhra Pradesh and at least has a population of 1.7 million people. 
• Patna – This city state from Bihar almost has a population of 1.6 million people. 
• Vadodara – A Gujarat state-controlled city that has almost 1.6 million people. 
• Ghaziabad- This is an Uttar Pradesh state controlled city that has almost 1.6 million people. 
• Ludhiana – A city in Punjab state that has almost 1.6 million people in it. 
• Agra – A city of Uttar Pradesh state has a population of 1.5 million people in it. 
• Nashik – A city from Maharashtra has almost 1.5 million people in it. 
• Ranchi – It is the most Known city in Jharkhand state and has a population of around 1.4 million people. 
• Faridabad – Is a city from Haryana state that has almost 1.4 million people.
• Meerut – A city from Uttar Pradesh has almost 1.3 million people in it. 
• Rajkot – This is a city from the state of Gujarat that has almost 1.3 million people. 
• Varanasi – This is a city from Uttar Pradesh that has almost 1.2 million people in it. 
• Srinagar – Interestingly this city from the state of Jammu and Kashmir has a population of 1.2 million people in it. 
• Aurangabad – This is a city from Maharashtra that has almost 1.17 million people in it. 
• Dhanbad – This is a city in Jharkhand state that has almost a population of 1.15 million people in it. 
• Amritsar – This city is from Punjab state and has a population of 1.1 million people. 
• Navi Mumbai – This is a city in the state of Mumbai that has a population of 1.1 million people. 
• Allahabad – This is a city from Uttar Pradesh that has a population of 10 lacs people. 
• Howrah – This is a very well known city from West Bengal that has almost 10 lacs people in it. 

Urbanisation in India

Measurement of the degree of urbanisation in a country like India is considered very important. Various measures are being used for the purpose. As per the first simple method we observed that the total urban population in India in 1981 was a little less than one fourth of the total population in comparison to that of one-ninth in 1921 and one-sixth in 1951. 

When we contrast India’s degree of urbanisation to that of industrialised countries, we can see that India lags considerably behind the elevated nations. In 1985, the percentage of urban inhabitants to the overall population in the United Kingdom was 92 percent, 86 percent in Australia, 76 % in Japan, and 74% in the United States, compared to only 25% in India. 

In India, towns are divided into six distinct categories. According to census statistics, the share of urban human settlements in Class I towns (those with a population of more than 1 lakh) went from 25.7 percent in 1901 to 60.4 percent in 1981. As a result, there is an increasing tendency toward human settlements in larger cities. During the period 1901-81, the share of urban population in Class II and Class III towns remained nearly steady at 26 to 28 percent. However, the relative number of urban megacities in the remainder Class IV, Class V, and Class VI towns fell drastically from 47.2 % in 1901 to just % in 1981. Apart from the continuance of the urbanisation movement, a number of Class II towns have been converted into Class I towns, bringing the total number of Class I towns to 74 in 1951 to 216 in 1981.

Causes behind the growth in city populations

Natural process

As a result of the high rate of natural population growth, rapid urbanisation is occurring. When the birth rate in urban areas surpasses the death rate, a natural rise occurs. Because of improved health and medical infrastructure, the natural annual growth of the urban population is greater than that of the rural population.

Migrations

Another key element contributing to India’s fast urbanisation is rural-urban migration. Even during the post-independence era, various causes contributed to sparsely populated migrations. As a consequence of the creation of various manufacturing and trading activities as a result of industrial growth, rural people have migrated to urban regions in search of jobs and greater earnings.

Conclusion

The number of cities started to develop as the speed of industrialisation increased. Cities in India, like other regions of the world, have grown primarily as a result of migration from villages. The number of urban regions has increased as the urban population has grown significantly over the past few years.