Page 1 of 13
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at
http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 04 Issue 03
March 2018
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 24
Linkages between Urbanization and
Distribution of Basic Amenities in
Punjab, India: 1991-2011
Vipin Kumar
Ph.D. Research Scholar, Centre for the Study of Regional Development (CSRD), School of
Social Sciences (SSS), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi-110067
E-mail: vipinjnu3@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Access to basic amenities like drinking water, sanitation, electricity, drainage, etc. are crucial
to the human well-being because they contributes to physical and material comfort and
quality of life. There are plenty of studies suggested that the better availability and
accessibility of basic amenities not only provide better health conditions, but also increase
the overall efficiency of the population, wellbeing of the people and the overall enrollment
ratio in the schools. This paper focuses on the distribution of different basic amenities at the
district level which are considered as the most important aspects of the quality of
urbanization, particularly in the modern era where the whole issue of development is
redefined. Development is seen as a process of providing basic services to remove obstacles
and also to give freedom from all sorts of discrimination. Census of India data has been used
for this study from 1991 to 2011 census i.e. data from District Census Handbook and All
India Town Directory, Punjab. It has been found that the districts with high proportion of
urban population are better served with provision of basic civic services; it may be due to
higher levels of investments. On the other hand districts with low urban population are still
behind in attracting basic amenities like safe drinking water, safe cooking fuel, hygienic toilet
and drainage facilities, etc. This paper will also help the government and policy makers,
urban planners by emphasizing on equal accessibility and distribution of basic amenities
across all regions to promote sustainable development.
Keywords: urbanization, basic amenities, census of India, development, safe drinking water,
sanitation.
INTRODUCTION
Today, urbanization and urban growth is
indispensable because of the high intensity
and magnitude of rural to urban migration,
creation of ‘New Towns’ and increasing
investment in urban areas. From Census
2001 to 2011, in Punjab more than 25 per
cent increase in urban population is
observed that raise the total urban
population in the state to 37 % (Kumar,
2017). With the disproportionate increase
in the urban population, haphazard
development and lack of infrastructure
created the various problems which are
associated with these processes. One major
problem is the availability and
accessibility of basic urban amenities
which are not distributed equally across all
districts and it gives rise to the spurious
urbanization which is not sustainable and
Page 2 of 13
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at
http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 04 Issue 03
March 2018
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 25
healthy.Access to basic amenities also
enables the household to save foregone
hours spent to arrange when these are not
available in day to day life. They also
benefit by ensuring better health,
environment and providing opportunities
for other useful activities. Its importance
has been highlighted in the international
arena also, since it is included as one of
the target in the ‘Millennium Development
Goals’. It is considered as the primary
challenge of urbanization by the Ministry
of Urban Development as mentioned in
its Strategic Plan (2011-2016):
“Promote cities as an engine of economic
growth through improvement in the quality
of urban life by facilitating creation of
quality urban infrastructure with assured
service level and governance.”Safe water
sources for drinking purpose, particularly
and adequate availability of proper
sanitation facilities are the basic amenities
considered as the backbone of the health
system of the nation. To provide the better
health livings to people, and in other
words, to improve the health conditions of
the population at large, basic amenities
availability like of safe drinking water and
adequate sanitation and sewerage facilities
and their equitable distribution among all
the social groups are the most beneficiary
strategies. As WHO 2001 mentions that
globally provisions of adequate provisions
of sanitation services, safe water supply,
proper toilet facilities, having electricity
facilities, adequate sources of fuels for
cooking is an effective health intervention,
which reduces the mortality causes,
particularly caused by diarrhea diseases
and morbidity by 65 and 26 percent
respectively.
In Punjab, according to 2011 census, more
than 97 % of total urban households uses
sources of safe drinking water (it includes
tap water, hand pump and tubewells)
which was 89.68 % in 2001. Though the
increment in safe drinking water is good
but it is not distributed equally across all
districts. In using sources of Safe cooking
fuel (includes LPG/PNG, electricity, and
biogas), proportion of urban households in
Punjab rose to 55.92 % in 2011 from
34.28%.Access to urban basic amenities
like electricity availability among the
households, clean and appropriate
availability of drinking water, proper fuel
sources used for cooking, sanitation and
sewerage facilities are the indicators that
determined the quality of urbanization of
the region (Clegg et. al 1979). At the
national level, there marked unequal
distribution of availability of urban
amenities and so at the state level and also
at the town level having varying degrees of
urbanization. Although there is no such
correlation between the level of
urbanization and the availability and
accessibility of basic amenities, that the
highest urbanized districts are the regions
have a higher availability of basic
amenities prevailed with them, so is the
case with the larger towns and smaller
towns.There are basically four basic
amenities that are analyzed at the district
level over a period of time from the 1991
census to the recent census conducted in
2011. The indicators that are chosen at the
Household (HH) level are:
1. Sources of safe drinking water.
2. Sources of safe fuel used for cooking.
3. Hygienic bathroom, toilet and
electricity facility, households having
different sources of lighting like
electricity, kerosene, solar energy, etc.
4. Sanitation and sewerage facilities, like
different types of toilet facilities, and
different types of connectivity for waste
water outlet.
Page 3 of 13
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at
http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 04 Issue 03
March 2018
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 24
Fig. 1 Study Area
Source:
http://censusindia.gov.in/2011census/maps/administrative_maps/Final%20Atlas%20In
dia%202011.pdf
DATABASE AND METHODOLOGY
The data sources that are used for the
study mainly consist of secondary
sources and are collected from:
Census of India, Primary Census Abstract
1991, 2001 and 2011
Census of India, House listing and
housing data, H-series, Punjab, 1991,
2001 and 2011 for basic amenities data
across districts. The H-series
classification is shown below in table 1.
Table 1: Selections of Indicators of basic Amenities
S.No. Sources of Data Selection of Indicators
1. HH-6 Sources of Drinking Water
- Distribution of household of different sources of drinking water and its location.
2. HH-7 Sources of Lighting
- Distribution of households having different sources of lighting.
