Which of the following statements about Urban Agglomeration are correct?
(A) A city and one or more adjoining towns with their outgrowths together forming a contiguous spread
(B) Two or more contiguous towns with or without their outgrowths
(C) A town and its adjoining urban outgrowths
(D) Chennai is the largest urban agglomeration of India
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → (A), (B), (C) only
An urban agglomeration is a town or city that has grown together with the built-up areas around it. It can form in any one of three ways.
(A) A city and one or more adjoining towns with their outgrowths together forming a contiguous spread — Correct. A city and the towns around it join into one contiguous spread.
(B) Two or more contiguous towns with or without their outgrowths — Correct. Towns that touch each other grow into one urban area.
(C) A town and its adjoining urban outgrowths — Correct. One town together with the urban outgrowths next to it.
(D) Chennai is the largest urban agglomeration of India — Incorrect. Greater Mumbai is the largest urban agglomeration, with 18.4 million people. Chennai is one of the other mega cities.
Note: This question is taken from the pre-rationalised NCERT book. The latest edition (2026-27) does not have this part. An extract of the pre-rationalised NCERT book is given below for the benefit of students.
Pre-rationalised NCERT: “Classification of Towns on the basis of Population Size Census of India classifies urban centres into six classes as presented in Table 4.2. Urban centre with population of more than one lakh is called a city or class I town. Cities accommodating population size between one to five million are called metropolitan cities and more than five million are mega cities. Majority of metropolitan and mega cities are urban agglomerations. An urban agglomeration may consist of any one of the following three combinations: (i) a town and its adjoining urban outgrowths, (ii) two or more contiguous towns with or without their outgrowths, and (iii) a city and one or more adjoining towns with their outgrowths together forming a contiguous spread.” “Among them, Greater Mumbai is the largest agglomeration with 18.4 million people. Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad are other mega cities in the country.” |