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At present, urbanization is taking place rapidly all over the world and India is also not untouched by it. In the last few decades, along with the rapid economic development in the country, urbanization has also taken place at a rapid pace. The present study analyzed  the trends and level of urbanization in India and its environmental impact. Secondary data have been used for the present study. According to census reports 2011 about 35.86 crore population resides in the 7935 cities of India which is 31.2 percent of the total population. Over the period of time a large number of people have migrated from remote rural areas and towns to urban centers  for employment and better life. The increasing population in the cities has given rise to various environmental problems. Resources are limited in Indian cities, as a result of which environmental degradation has taken place rapidly. Forest destruction has taken place on a large scale to meet the housing needs of the growing population, on the other hand, due to residential and commercial constructions on agricultural land, the area under agriculture has decreased. Due to increasing pollution, the quality of water, air and land has deteriorated. At present, the quality of water and air in many Indian cities is below the standard level. Most of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are from our country. Slums are increasing in cities due to rapid urbanization. Industrialization has taken place on a large scale in the cities, due to which the environment has been degraded. Industrial waste causes pollution of water, air, and land, which is mainly responsible for environmental degradation.

Objectives of the present study mainly includes-

1. To study the growth and level of industrialization In India.

2. To study the state wise pattern of urbanization.

3. To study the impact of urbanization in India

4. To study the environmental degradation caused by urbanization.

Urbanization and environment are a popular subject among the scholars. The issues of environmental degradation and transformation are emerging as the major problem of the country. As per the need of the study census reports, various books, unpublished PhD thesis and research journals have been consulted for the purpose. Several scholars have studied about urbanization and its impact on environment. Vishwakarma (2005) has analyzed the environmental problem caused by urbanization. Shukla (2005) attempt to explain environmental assessment as a tool for environmental management. Shrivastava (2008) examine the role of urbanization in the transformation of Jabalpur region. Ramchandra and Bharat (2014) examine the urban structure of Kolkata. Agrawal (2021) discussed about the sustainable model of urbanization for Indian cities.

Trends and level of urbanization in India:

India has an ancient tradition of cities. Kashi has been considered as oldest city in India. The Indus valley civilization of India was an urban civilization. The towns of Indus valley civilization were established in a planned way. Ayodhya, Mathura, Nalanda, Kurukshetra are some ancient cities which are also existing today. Cities like Fatehpur Sikri, Agra, Daulatabad, Hyderabad ,Amritsar Ajmer, Jaipur ,Madurai, Kanchipuram ,Mysore are established in medieval period. Modern city in India were established by British and Madras (Chennai) was the first city which was established by British in 1639 followed by Mumbai in 1661 and Calcutta in 1686.Some cities are established by French and Portuguese in early nineteenth century. Urbanization in India mainly started after independence due to industrial revolution, expansion of government sector, increase in economic opportunities and growth of private sector.

Table 1: Trends of Urbanization in India

Census	No of Towns	Urban Population In million	Percent	Decadal Growth Rate(%)
1901	1916	25.9	10.8	-
1911	1908	25.9	10.3	0.35
1921	2048	28.1	11.2	8.27
1931	2220	33.5	12.0	19.12
1941	2422	44.2	13.8	31.97
1951	3060	62.4	17.3	41.42
1961	2700	78.9	18.0	26.41
1971	3126	109.1	19.9	38.22
1981	4029	159.5	23.3	46.02
1991	4689	217.6	25.7	39.32
2001	5161	284.5	27.8	31.48
2011	7935	358.6	31.2	31.80

Source: Census Reports 1901 -2011

Urban population during 1901 to 2011 has increased about three times. In 1901 only 10.8 percent of total population were residing in cities which is increased to 31.2 percent in 2011 similarly the number of towns increased from 1916 in 1901 to 7935 in 2011.Table No. 1 shows the trends of urbanization in India during 1901 to 2011.The urban population grew very slowly between 1901 and 1941.During this period the urban population increased from 25.7 million to 44.3 million. After 1961, the urban population increased rapidly and during the thirty years between 1961 and 1991, the urban population increased by 1834 lakhs. in census 2011 urban population grew to 35.8 million showing a growth rate of 2.76 percent per annum during 2001-2011 and the level of urbanization in the country at a whole increased from 27.8 percent in 2001 to 31.2 percent in 2011 with an increase of 3.3 percent. About 2772 cities grew between 2001 and 2011. 

State wise level of urbanization in India:

  Among the states southern and western states have higher percentage of urban population as compare to other parts of the country. Currently Goa is most urbanized state of India with 62.1 percent people are living in urban area followed by Mizoram with 52.11 percent, Tamil Nadu with 48.4 percent, Kerala with 47.7 percent and Maharashtra with 45.2 percent while Himachal Pradesh has lowest proportion of urban population with only 10.0 percent followed by Bihar with 11.3 percent, Assam with 14.1 percent, Orissa with 16.7,and Meghalaya with 20.1 percent respectively. Among the states 12 states have higher percent then countries average. According to census reports 2011 highest concentration of urban population found in Maharashtra with 508.2 lakh urban population followed by Uttar Pradesh 444.95 lakh, Tamandu 349.17 lakh, West Bengal 290.93 lakh and Andhra Pradesh 282.2 lakhs. About 50 percent of the total urban population is found in these five states. More than 32.0 percent of the total urban population found in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi, Kerala and Rajasthan while only 1.5 percent urban population resides in Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, Manipur and Meghalaya.

The present study is based on secondary data. Data related to population and urbanization has been collected from census reports while data related to pollution, air quality, housing forest and land use have been collected from the reports of various agencies. The collected data were processed by cross tables using simple statistical methods. The processed data is presented by using various cartographic methods. Considering the nature of the study various tables has been used for the data presentation.

Environmental Impact of Urbanization

1.1  Development of Slums:

Slums are defined as areas within the city with lake of basic amenities and infrastructural facilities. A slum is usually overcrowded and dirty to live.

Table 2: Percent of Slum Population in major cities of India

City	Percent of Slum population
Mumbai	41.8
Delhi	18.0
Kolkata	32.2
Chennai	28.8
Pune	22.1
Kanpur	14.0
Bengaluru	10.0
Hyderabad	32.7
Ahmedabad	04.4

Source: Census Reports 2011

According to census 2011 about 65.5 million people are living in slums which is 22.5 percent of total urban population of India. Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh accounted for more than one third of slum population, both state have over two crore slum population. Table no. 2 clearly shows that among the metropolitan cities Mumbai has largest slum population with 41.8 percent followed by Hyderabad with 32.7 percent, Kolkata with 32.2 percent, Chennai with 28.8 percent, Pune 22.1 percent, Kanpur 14.0  percent ,Delhi 18.1 percent and Bengaluru 10.0 percent. According to census report 2011 Tamandu, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujrat and Rajasthan together accommodating 81.0 percent of the total slum population while Nagaland Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and union territories of Chandigarh, Pondicherry and Andaman Nicobar share only 0.6 percent of the total slum population and remaining states has about 18.4 percent of the total slum population.

Slums are the result of rapid population growth in urban areas .Migration from rural areas is another important factor for the development of slums in town and cities . Slums are generally centers of crime. Due to lake of land and open space many environmental problems , water and land pollution is found in slums in excessive amount.

1.2 Impact on Air Quality:

Urbanization has the biggest impact on the air quality of the cities. Increase in the number of vehicles and industrialization in urban centers is the main cause of it. During 1990 to 2000 the number of vehicles increased from 19152 thousand to 53100 thousand in 2000.Most of the industries are spreading air pollution by violating environmental rules and regulation. According to world bank reports 14 out of 20 most polluted cities in world are situated in India. Kanpur rank first with 173 PM2.5 value followed by Faridabad with 172, Varanasi with 151,Patna with 144 and Gurugram with 131 PM2.5. Air quality in most of the cities is much below the prescribed standards. About 45 percent of the air pollution is caused by industrial sector followed by vehicles with 17 percent, waste burning with 14 percent and domestic cooking with 7 percent. Air quality in India has affect the health of the individuals. According to global burden of disease study around five lakhs’ deaths occurred from air pollution related diseases in India.

1.3   Solid waste and Garbage:

Urban areas of our country produces solid waste in a very large scale including garbage from houses ,industrial and medical waste. This hazardous waste is degrading the quality of air, water and land in urban areas.

Table 3 : Solid waste and Garbage in Metropolitan Cities

Metropolitan City	Waste in lakh tones
Delhi	30.6
Mumbai	24.9
Kolkata	40.0
Chennai	18.3
Hyderabad	16.4
Ahmedabad	12.1

Source: Collected by Author from reports of various agencies.

Above table shows that metropolitan cities of India produces solid waste in a huge quantity. Urban centers of India generate about 62 million tones of waste annually and it has been predicted that this will reach 165 million tones by 2030. About 72.5 percent solid waste is generated in class -1 cities of India.43 million tones of municipal solid waste is collected annually out of which 31 million tones is dumped in landfill sites. Solid waste on improper disposal affect the environment in many ways such as pollution in air, water and contamination of land. Among the metropolitan cities of India Kolkata produce 40.0 lakh tones garbage followed by Delhi 30.6, Mumbai 24.9,Chennai with18.3 and Hyderabad 16.4 tones. In India only 12.45 percent waste of the total waste collected is scientifically processed and the rest is disposed of open dumps. Municipalities of Indian cities are struggling with the daily generated municipal solid waste and large amount of solid waste remain untreated due to several reasons which caused environmental degradation . 

1.4 Degradation of Water Quality:

Rapid urbanization has affected the quality of water in urban centers. It affects not only surface water sources but also ground water. Available water sources can be contaminated from many sources such as garbage dump, toxic waste and chemical storage, untreated savage water, contaminants from automobiles and industries. The water of most of the rivers flowing through the cities is not potable. River Yamuna in Delhi turns in to dirty nallah. Same condition has Ganga in Kanpur and Patna. The polluted water coming out of 45 leather factories, 12 cotton mills and 02 jute industry located in Kanpur is degrading the quality of water in Ganga river.  The water released from thousands of cotton printing centers located in Jaipur, Jodhpur and Pali is degrading the nearby water sources.

1.5 Deforestation:

Forest are being cut on a large scale to provide housing for the increasing population in urban areas which creates many environmental problems. The forest land around the cities and urban area is transforming into commercial  land because of this the area of forest land has decreased. Present land use pattern of the country indicate that the proportion of forest land is 692394 square kilometer which is about 21.06 percent of the total geographical area. During 1950-51 to 1970-71 land under forest has decreased by 42000 square kilometer after that National Forest Policy was introduced in 1973 resulted the increase in forest land. The land use pattern of the country shows that the over all forest land increase from 4.0 crore hectares in 1950-51 to 6.9 crore hectare in 2014-15 .According to India State of Forest Report In 2021 total forest and tree cover of the country is 80.9 million hectares but land use pattern of the all-major cities of the country shows that the proportion of land under forest has decline rapidly.

In Mumbai natural vegetation has significantly reduced by 5.5 percent during 1990-2000 and 16.2 percent during 2000-2015.In last twenty-five years there is huge increase in built up area while cultivated and wetland has decreased. Similarly, the land use pattern of Kolkata indicates that the proportion of land under forest decline from 33.6 percent in 1980 to 7.36 percent in 2015.

After independence, the urban population in India increased at a very rapid pace. this rapid urbanization  in India  is currently growing at an uncontrolled pace and due to this environmental degradation is increasing rapidly. Urban population during 1901 to 2011 has increased about three times. In 1901 only 10.8 percent of total population were residing in cities which is increased to 31.2 percent in 2011 similarly the number of towns increased from 1916 in 1901 to 7935 in 2011. At present about 358.6 million (31.2 %) people are living in towns and cities in India. This rapid growth in urban population have caused the environmental degradation in many wase. Poor housing facilities, over population in cities, large scale excreta, contaminated and dirty water garbage and industrial pollutants are the main cause for this. About 65.5 million people are living in slums which is 22.5 percent of total urban population of India. According to world bank reports 14 out of 20 most polluted cities in world are from India .Urban centers of India generate more than 62 million tons of waste annually. Now urgent attention should be given to promote plane urbanization and developed infrastructure. Necessary attention should be given to reduce the generation of solid waste, industrial pollutants and automobile pollutants through mandatory regulations.

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