Urbanisation

Story hook

It is 25 March 2020, 8:00 pm. Prime Minister Modi announces a nationwide lockdown in a four-hour notice. Within days, millions of migrant workers — construction labour, domestic workers, factory hands, vendors — find themselves stranded in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Surat, Ahmedabad without wages, without food, without transport. The Anand Vihar bus terminal in Delhi becomes a global iconic image: tens of thousands of men, women, children, infants pushing toward home villages 500-1500 km away. Many walk. At least 198 die on foot (compiled by Stranded Workers Action Network); the Ministry of Labour later tells Parliament 10,466 migrants died in 2020.

This crisis didn't reveal something new. It unveiled what was always there. Census 2011 had counted 45.36 crore internal migrants in India — 37.3% of the population. Most were invisible: counted in their origin, working in destinations without ration cards, voter IDs, healthcare access. India has the world's largest internal migrant flow + the world's largest slum population (~6.5 crore officially; ~10 crore by independent estimates). India's urban population grew from 28% in 2001 to ~36% by 2024 + is projected to cross 50% by 2050 — adding ~40 crore people to cities in the next quarter-century.

This unit is at the centre of the GS-I Indian Society syllabus. The syllabus literally reads: "Urbanisation, their problems and their remedies" + "Effects of globalization on Indian society"

• "Population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues". Urbanisation, migration, slums, gentrification — these four faces are the largest social transformation underway in India today.

Why this matters for UPSC

Mains GS-I has asked: "Discuss the changes in the trends of labour migration within and outside India in the last four decades" (2015), "Critically examine the role of WHO in providing global health security during the Covid-19 pandemic" (2020, with migrant context), "Despite of having strong labour laws, the migrant labourers are unprotected in India. Discuss in the light of recent issues" (2022 GS-I/II).

Prelims tests: Smart Cities Mission, AMRUT 2.0, PMAY-U, Census definitions of urban areas, slum classifications (notified/recognised/identified), NSSO/PLFS migration data, Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act 1979, Streets Vendors Act 2014, Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana.

Interview boards ask: "Why are Indian cities not generating enough jobs?", "How would you handle a slum demolition?", "Is Mumbai's Dharavi redevelopment fair?".