Geography 3 Marks Question

Three characteristics of dispersed settlement in India Eire:

1. It appears in the form of isolated huts or hamlets of few huts in remote jungles.
2. It also appears on small bills with farms or pasture on the slopes.
3. Its extreme dispersion is caused by extremely fragmented nature of the terrain and land resource base of habitable areas.

Differences between Rural and Urban settlements in India:

• Rural settlements derive their life support from land based primary activities while urban settlements depend on processing of raw materials and various services.
• Cities act as nodes of economic growth. They provide goods and services to both urban and rural centres.
• Rural settlements supply food and raw materials while urban areas provide services.
• Both settlements differ in social relationships, attitude and outlook.
  

Three features of urban settlements in India;.

• Urban settlements are generally compact and larger in size.
• Some towns and cities specialize in certain functions and they are known for some specific activities, products and services.
• People are engaged in non-agricultural activities, economic and administrative functions.

The basic difference between towns and villages is that in towns the main occupation of the people is related to secondary and tertiary sectors, while in the villages most of the people are engaged in primary occupations such as agriculture, fishing, lumbering, mining, animal husbandry etc.

(a) Rural
(b) Urban

• Rural and urban lifestyles differ from each other from the point of view of lifestyle and social structure.
• Occupational structure is different. In the rural areas people predominantly are engaged in primary activities.
• Level of development varies vastly especially in the developing countries.

Features:

• Semi-clustered settlements may result from tendency of clustering in a restricted area of dispersed settlement.
• Such settlements may also result from fragmentation of a large compact village,
• In this case, one or more sections of the village society is forced to live a little away from the main village

Dispersed settlement pattern in India appears in the form of isolated huts or hamlets of few huts in remote jungles or on small hills with farms or pastures on slopes.
Reasons for development:

• It develops due to extremely fragmented nature of the terrain.
• These settlements are land resource base

The clustered rural settlement is a compact or closely built up area of houses. In this type of village the general living area is distinct and separated from the surrounding farms, barns and pastures. The closely built up area and its intervening streets present some recognisable pattern or geometric shape. Q16. Give one example of ancient historical town of Bihar. (A.I. 2014)
Pataliputra (Patna)

Given below are the criterion that I will use to judge whether a given settlement is to be classified as a town or not:

• Population size should be 5000 or more.
• Density of population should be more than 400 persons/sq. km
• More than 75% of male workers should be engaged in non-agricultural activities.

On the basis of their functions different types of towns are as follows:

• Administrative towns and cities
• Mining towns
• Industrial towns
• Garrisson cantonment towns
• Transport cities
• Educational towns
• Commercial towns
• Religious and cultural towns
• Tourist towns

An urban agglomeration may consist of any one of the following three combinations:

• A town and its adjoining urban outgrowths,
• Two or more contiguous towns with or without their outgrowths, and
• A city and one or more adjoining towns with their outgrowths together forming a contiguous spread.

With increasing investment in rural areas, a large number of medium and small towns have developed all over the country. The level of urbanization in India in 2001 was 28 per cent, which is quite low in comparison to developed countries. Total urban population has increased eleven fold during twentieth century. Enlargement of urban centers and emergence of new towns have played a significant role in the growth of urban population and urbanization in the country.

There are various factors and conditions responsible for having different types of rural settlements in India. These include:

• Physical features – nature of terrain, altitude, climate and availability of water,
• Cultural and ethnic factors – social structure, caste and religion.
• Security factors – defence against thefts and robberies.

Urbanization refers to development of villages and rural areas into towns with high standard of living and civic amenities. The level of urbanization is measured in terms of percentage of urban population to the total population. The level of urbanization in India in 2001 was 28%.

Features of urban settlements:

• Urban settlements have a close relationship with technology and man made things.
• Most of the people are engaged in secondary, tertiary and quaternary activities in these areas.
• The settlement size is large and there is high density of population.
• Urban settlements are located near industrial areas, ports, administrative centers, etc.
• In order to take care of urban areas, Municipality, Cantonment Board or Notified Area Council are formed. Similarly, in Latin American countries, such as Brazil and Bolivia, any administrative centre is considered urban irrespective of its population size.

Features of rural settlements:

• Rural settlements are most closely and directly related to land.
• They are dominated by primary activities such as agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing, etc.
• The settlements size is relatively small and rate of growth and expansion is low.
• Usually rural settlements are located near water bodies such as rivers, lakes, and springs where water can be easily obtained.
• People living in rural areas have strong relationship among themselves because they are similar in their culture, social and religious issues.
• The houses in rural areas are similar in their construction pattern which is according to the climatic conditions.

Clustered settlements are found in fertile alluvial plains and the north-eastern states. People live in compact village for security or defence reasons, such as in the Bundelkhand region of central India and in Nagaland. In Rajasthan, scarcity of water has necessitated compact settlement for maximum utilisation of available water resources.
Their features:

• It is an area of compact or closely built up area of houses
• The general living area is distinct and separated from the surrounding farms and pastures.
• The closely built-up area and its intervening streets present some recognisable pattern or geometric shape, such as rectangular, radial, linear, etc.

There are many factors and conditions responsible for different types of rural settlements in India. They are:

• Physical features – nature of terrain, altitude, climate and availability of water,
• Cultural and ethnic factors – social structure, caste and religion.
• Security factors – defence against thefts and robberies.

Urban settlements are generally compact and larger in size and they are engaged in variety of non agricultural, economic and administrative functions. Cities are functionally linked to rural areas around them. Exchange of goods and services with food and raw materials is either performed directly or sometimes through market towns and cities.

According to census of India the cities with population between 1 to 5 million are termed as metropolitan cities. An urban agglomeration is a stretch of urban area which may comprise two or more cities. Many of the metropolitan cities of India are basically urban agglomeration.

Desert regions are characterized by aridity that is lack of water, hence scanty vegetation which is xerophytic in nature. Main factor in the desert for settlement patterns is supply of water. In Rajasthan in India there tend to be clustered settlements around oasis and other regions of water availability. Since these are the only few regions where water is available, therefore settlement around the water source become clustered and is the main driving force for habitation.

An urban agglomeration consists of any one of the following three combinations:

• a town and its adjoining urban outgrowths,
• two or more contiguous towns with or without their outgrowths, and
• a city and one or more adjoining towns with their outgrowths together forming a contiguous spread.

Examples of urban outgrowth are railway colonies, university campus, port area, military cantonment, etc. located within the revenue limits of a village or villages contiguous to the town or city.

Garrison towns are the towns whose formation is a result of the setting up of a military base. They are also referred to as cantonment towns. Ambala, Mhow, etc can be referred to as garrison towns. The main function of the garrison towns is to cater to the needs of defence and people employed in defence services of the nation. These are specially designed for the purpose of military, navy or airforce activities.

Compact or clustered village is a universal feature in the northern plains due to following reasons:

• Level and fertile land
• More labour force
• Abundant supply of water for various activities
• Social security
• Better transportation facilities
• Major portion of the population is landless; hence they are bound to live together.

6 classes of towns.
Class I — More than 1 lakh population
Class II — 50,000 – 99999
Class III — 20,000 – 49999
Class IV — 10,000 – 19999
Class V — 5000 – 9999
Class VI — Less than
Class I towns have highest percentage.