Towns: evolution and urbanisation

What counts as a town? The Census counts a place as urban if it has a municipality, corporation or similar body; or if it meets three conditions: a population of at least 5,000; at least 75 per cent of male workers in non-agricultural work; and a density of at least 400 persons per sq km.

Indian towns grew in stages:

• Ancient towns, such as Varanasi, Prayagraj, Patna and Madurai, grew as religious and cultural centres.
• Medieval towns, such as Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow and Agra, grew as fort towns and capitals of kingdoms.
• Modern towns came with the British and after: ports, colonial capitals, hill stations, industrial towns like Jamshedpur (after 1850), and new capitals after independence, like Chandigarh and Bhubaneswar.

Urbanisation (the share of people living in towns) reached 31.16 per cent in 2011. India's urban population grew eleven-fold in the twentieth century. Satellite towns also grew around big cities, such as Ghaziabad, Rohtak and Gurugram around Delhi.