Which of the following statements about different types of urban settlements are correct?
(A) All settlements with more than 5000 people are considered census towns in India.
(B) Conurbation is merging of two or more nearby towns/cities.
(C) London is the first million city of the world.
(D) Megalopolis is a Greek word meaning great city.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → (B), (C), (D) Only
(A) All settlements with more than 5000 people are considered census towns in India. — Incorrect. A population of 5000 alone does not make a place urban. The Census of India, 1991 also needs at least 75 per cent of male workers in non-agricultural work and a density of at least 400 persons per sq km.
(B) Conurbation is merging of two or more nearby towns/cities. — Correct. A conurbation is a large area of urban development formed by the merging of originally separate towns or cities, such as Greater London.
(C) London is the first million city of the world. — Correct. London was the first urban settlement to reach one million people.
(D) Megalopolis is a Greek word meaning great city. — Correct. Megalopolis is a Greek word meaning “great city”. It is a union of conurbations.
Note: Statements (B), (C) and (D) are taken from the pre-rationalised NCERT book. The latest edition (2026-27) does not have these statements. An extract of the pre-rationalised NCERT book is given below for the benefit of students.
NCERT (2026-27):
Box (Chapter 2: Human Settlements)
Pre-rationalised NCERT: “Conurbation The term conurbation was coined by Patrick Geddes in 1915 and applied to a large area of urban development that resulted from the merging of originally separate towns or cities. Greater London, Manchester, Chicago and Tokyo are examples.” “Urban Settlements … The first urban settlement to reach a population of one million was the city of London by around. A.D. 1810 By 1982 approximately 175 cities in the world had crossed the one million population mark.” “Megalopolis This Greek word meaning “great city”, was popularised by Jean Gottman (1957) and signifies ‘super- metropolitan’ region extending, as union of conurbations.” |
