Human Settlements

Agra is located at the banks of the river Yamuna in Uttar Pradesh

Patna is located at the banks of the river Ganga in Bihar.

Kolkata is located in the banks of the river Hooghly in West Bengal.

The census of India, 1991 defines urban settlements as “All places which have municipality, corporation, cantonment board (Option B) or notified town area committee and have a minimum population of 5000 persons (Option D), at least 75 per cent of male workers are engaged in non-agricultural pursuits ( Option C) and a density of population of at least 400 persons per square kilometers are urban (Option A). (p.2, Chapter 10, Fundamentals of Human Geography)

Hence, in the given question only option C. stands as not a criterion for definition of a town.

Arid and semi-arid regions of Rajasthan, (C). Lower valleys of Himalayas and (D). Forests and hills in north-east, are regions where the climate and the soil fertility present conditions for dispersed rural settlements.

The rich alluvial plains of Ganga provide ideal location for clustered settlements.

Greater Mumbai is the largest city in India, in terms of population.

Delhi comes second.

Bengaluru comes third.

Chennai comes sixth.

Kolkata comes seventh.

Option (A). is the closest to the reality.

Garrison towns are those which has troops permanently settled on it. It functions as a reserve post/station of the military in a region. These towns enable the armed forces to make quick intervention in times of need.

An urban agglomeration can be identified with any of the following three combinations:

a) a town and its adjoining urban outgrowths

b) two or more contiguous towns with or without their outgrowths, and

c) a city and one or more adjoining towns with their outgrowths together forming a contiguous spread.

The main factors that influence the location of villages in desert regions are:

• physical features – nature of terrain, altitude, climate and availability of water.

• Cultural and ethnic factors – social structure, caste and religion.

• Security factors – defence against thefts and robberies.

In India, cities are differentiated on the basis of population size. A metropolitan city is one which has a population between 1 million (10 lakh) and 5 million (50 lakh), and more than 5 million a city becomes mega city. Majority of metropolitan and mega cities are urban agglomerations, but it is not true the other way around.

Urban agglomerations arise when a metropolitan or mega city, due to limited space outgrowths its natural boundaries to encompass the towns/cities around it.

To Remember

Class 5<Class 4<Class 3<Class 2<Class 1<Metropolitan City<Megacity

Urban agglomeration is a type of mega city or a metropolitan, it is defined on the basis of population size but its formation. But UA’s inevitably are the largest in terms of population size, i.e., population growth induced expansion leads to Urban Agglomeration.

Rural settlements in India can broadly be put into four types-

• Clustered, agglomerated or nucleated,

• Semi-clustered or fragmented,

• Hamleted, and

• Dispersed or isolated.

Clustered Settlements

• Is compact or closely built up area of houses.

• The general living area is distinct and separated from the surrounding farms, barns and pastures.

• The intervening streets present some recognisable patter or geometric shape, such as rectangular, radial, linear, etc.

• Are generally found in fertile alluvial plains and in the north-eastern states.

• This type of settlement is preferred for

o Security or defence reasons: in Bundelkhand region of central India and Nagaland.

o Scarcity of water: in Rajasthan where water scarcity has necessitated compact settlement for maximum utilisation of water resources.

Semi-Clustered Settlements

• Result from the tendency of clustering in a restricted area of a dispersed settlement.

• Often such settlement patter may result from segregation or fragmentation of a large compact village.

• For instance, one or more sections of the village society choose or is forced to live a little away from the main cluster or village.

• Generally, the land-owning and dominant community occupies the main village, whereas people of lower strata of society and menial workers settle on the outer flanks of the village.

• Are widespread in the Gujarat plains and some parts of Rajasthan.

Hamleted Settlements

• Settlements, sometimes, are fragmented into several units physically separated from each other bearing a common name.

• This segmentation of a large village is often motivated by social and ethnic factors.

• Are more frequently found in middle and lower Ganga plains, Chhattisgarh and lower valleys of the Himalayas.

Dispersed Settlements

• Common in the form of isolated huts or hamlets of a few huts in remote jungles, or on small hills with farms or pasture on the slopes.

• Extreme dispersion of settlement is often caused by extremely fragmented nature of the terrain and land resource base of habitable areas.

• Found in areas of Meghalaya, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala

One-function towns are a defunct term nowadays. To find a town carrying out only one function is utterly rare. People have realised the benefits that comes from diversifying their functions, these functions are often complementary and can add to the overall output of the town/city in which they live. For certain reasons, one-function may come to dominate all the other functions and often is substituted with the name of the town.

For instance, say Agra, it has a rich historical heritage but that town is known for more – leather industry. Thus, one-function towns are a thing of past. Presently, towns perform multiple functions, but one function may come to dominate the region (often a function for which has been famous for).

Cities become multi-functional as and when it grows. A small town/city often resorts to specialise in a single activity to remain relevant for the economy. But when the city grows, population increases and expands over space, it no longer can rely on the single activity to sustain itself. The city will embrace newer functions to keep it sustainable. Thus, the cities are not static in their function. The function changes due to their dynamic nature. Over time, the functions get so intertwined that the city cannot be categorised in a particular functional basis.