William Wordsworth’s back to nature call seems to have lost all its relevance in Punjab with rapid urbanisation of its population.
The urban population in Punjab has witnessed 25.9 per cent increase over the past decade with the State’s population increasing from 2.45 crore in 2001 to 2.77 crore in 2011 comprising 37.5 per cent in urban areas.
The urban component of Punjab population has increased from 33.9 per cent in 2001 to 37.5 per cent in 2011, with all the districts recording an increase in percentage of urban population.
In India, Punjab ranks thirteenth among States and Union Territories in terms of urbanisation bringing it among the States which are relatively urbanised.
Top on the list is ludhiana district with 59.16 per cent of urban population, followed by SAS Nagar (Mohali) with 54.76 per cent, Amritsar with 53.58 per cent and Jalandhar with 52.93 per cent with more than half of their population residing in urban areas.
On the other hand, the border district Tarn Taran is least urbanised with only 12.66 per cent of its population residing in towns. Other districts with low urban populace are SBS Nagar (Nawanshahr) with 20.48 per cent, Hoshiarpur with 21.11 per cent, and Mansa with 21.25 per cent.
The figures are the part of Punjab Census Data, released on Tuesday by the State Census director Seema Jain, also the joint secretary in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
“Punjab is experiencing rapid urbanisation, and the increase in urban population at 25.9 per cent is more than thrice the increase of rural population by 7.8 per cent,” Jain told The Pioneer.
She highlighted that where the urban population in India is 31.2 per cent, and 68.8 per cent of the population is rural, Punjab has 37.5 per cent population in urban, and 62.5 per cent rural.
Urban population in Punjab has witnessed an increase in all the districts whereas rural population, on the other hand, has increased in all except Nawanshahr and Mohali where it had recorded as dip by 3.9 per cent and 2.3 per cent respectively.
During 2001-2011, the highest urban population growth rate has been recorded in SAS Nagar (Mohali) district at 90.2 per cent from 38.3 per cent of its population in towns and cities in 2001 to 54.8 per cent in 2011. The lowest growth rate in urban population was recorded in Faridkot district at 12.1 per cent.
“This is mainly due to Mohali’s proximity to Chandigarh which is entirely urban city. Punjab Government is developing Mohali just like Chandigarh, and even developing the surrounding areas, upto Kharar in terms of residential facilities, educational facilities, and even recreational facilities to tap the maximum urban populace,” an official of the Census department said.
The State’s urban population is distributed over 217 towns or urban agglomerations. For the purpose of census, the towns are classified into different classes depending on its population — Class I between one lakh and above, Class II between 50,000 and 99,999, Class III between 20,000 and 49,999, Class IV between 10,000 and 19,999, Class V between 5,000 and 9,999, and Class VI is below 5,000.
The class I cover 16 cities or urban agglomerations, together accounting for 57.2 per cent of the total urban population in the State. Interestingly, ludhiana municipal corporation and Amritsar urban agglomeration are two million-plus cities in the State and contain 26.7 per cent of the total urban population.