Which of the following correctly gives the three situations of urban impact on villages described by M.S.A. Rao?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Emigration to far-off cities; nearness to an industrial town; growth of metropolitan cities
Option (1) Emigration to far-off cities; nearness to an industrial town; rise of nearby tea plantations — Incorrect. The first two situations are Rao's, but tea plantations are not one of them. Tea plantations in Assam belong to the colonial story of industrialisation. Rao's third situation is the growth of metropolitan cities.
Option (2) Emigration to far-off cities; growth of metropolitan cities; rise of nearby tea plantations — Incorrect. It leaves out nearness to an industrial town such as Bhilai, which is Rao's second situation. In its place it puts tea plantations, which come from the colonial period.
Option (3) Emigration to far-off cities; nearness to an industrial town; growth of metropolitan cities — Correct. Rao's three situations are villages whose people work in far-off cities, villages near an industrial town, and villages around a growing metropolitan city. Each brings a different kind of urban impact.
Option (4) Nearness to an industrial town; growth of metropolitan cities; rise of nearby tea plantations — Incorrect. It drops the first situation, villages whose people have sought work in far-off cities. Tea plantations take its place, and they are not part of Rao's account.
NCERT (2026-27): “Urbanisation in Independent India … “Firstly, there are villages in which a sizeable number of people have sought employment in far-off cities. They live there leaving behind the members of their families in their natal villages. In Madhopur, a village in north central India, 77 out of 298 households have migrants, and a little less than half of all the migrants work in two cities of Bombay and Calcutta. About 75 percent of the total migrants send money regularly, and 83 per cent visit the village from four to five times a year to once in two years... A considerable number of emigrants reside not only in Indian cities but also in overseas towns. For instance, there are many overseas migrants from Gujarat villages living in African and British towns. They have built fashionable houses in their natal villages, invested money on land and industry, and have donated literally to the establishment of educational institutions and trusts... The second kind of urban impact is to be seen in villages which are situated near an industrial town...When an industrial town like Bhilai comes up in the midst of villages, some villages are totally uprooted while the lands of others are partially acquired. The latter are found to receive an influx of immigrant workers, which not only stimulates a demand for houses and a market inside the village but creates problems of ordering relationships between the native residents and the immigrants... ...The growth of metropolitan cities accounts for the third type of urban impact on the surrounding villages...While a few villages are totally absorbed in the process of expansion, only the land of many others, excluding the inhabited area, is used for urban development...” |