Page 313 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH

Social Structure and Social Change

Notes increase in the incidence of unemployment both for males and females on the whole and
in particular for rural areas. In the case of urban areas, however, there was a sharp decline
between 1983 and 1993-94 from 5.1 per cent to 4.6 per cent, which has been somewhat
eroded by a subsequent increase to 4.8 per cent in 1999-2000.
(ii) Migration
In the process of urbanisation in India, migration of the rural people to the urban areas
has been continuous and is an important feature. The Urban Commission of India viewed
rural urban migration to be “of vital importance for the development of rural areas”. The
Commission again points out that besides releasing the surplus labour from the rural
areas, for the landless labourers, harijans and adivasis these cities provide the opportunities,
which are enshrined in our constitution. For these millions, our urban centres will continue
to be havens of hope, where they can forge a new future.
In India, this increase in urban-ward migration is of fairly recent origin which began in
the late 1930s. Of the total migrants in urban areas 20 per cent persons are displaced from
Pakistan, 51 per cent from rural areas of the same state and 2.5 per cent from the rural
areas of other states. An important feature of the immigrant stream in urban areas is its
predominantly male character. Due to the increase of unemployment in the rural areas,
surplus rural labour force gets pushed to urban centres with the hope of getting
employment. The other factors, which have pulled sections of the rural population
(including the affluent sections) toward the city, have been the expectation of a variety of
glamorous jobs, good housing, medical, educational and communication facilities.
4. Socio-cultural Character
In the process of urbanisation the towns and cities of India have achieved heterogeneous character
in terms of ethnicity, caste, race, class and culture. In the urban areas there has always been
coexistence of different cultures. Studies show that though various ethnic and/or caste groups
have adjusted themselves with each other in the city, they have also tried to maintain their
traditional identity. The migrants have maintained distinctive cultural traditions in the towns.
Various migrant groups have maintained their own cultural identity. N.K. Bose points out that
the migrants tend to cluster around people with whom they have linguistic, local, regional,
caste and ethnic ties. A study by Jagannathan and Haldar on the pavement-dwellers in Calcutta
shows that they retain close ties with kinship and caste groups for socialising and transmitting
or receiving information from the village. Thus, cultural pluralism has been an important socio-
cultural dimension of the urbanites. Many of the Indian towns have a “mixed” character, i.e.,
they are the capital cities, centres of trade and commerce, important railway junctions etc. In
these types of cities a “core” area which consists of the old inhabitants. This area is the oldest in
the city and on its fringe the new immigrants. The pattern of residence of this “core” population
shows a close relation to language, caste and religion. Bombay is cited as an example of this
type of city. Lynch also points out that in many Indian cities, especially in the traditional cities
like Agra, neighbourhoods have remained homogeneous in terms of caste and religious groups.
There the untouchable Jatavs caste is concentrated in particular areas called mohallas (ward).
But changes have taken place mostly because of politicisation, spread of education, and
occupational diversification. But D’Souza noticed that in the planned city like Chandigarh
neighbourhood has not been developed on the basis of ethnicity, common interest and other
similarities. In this city the religious activities, friendship and educational ties are often outside
one’s own neighbourhood. Social stratification has taken a new form in the urban society. It is
assumed that with urbanisation caste transforms itself into class in the urban areas. But caste
systems do exist in the cities though with significant organisational differences. Ramkrishna
Mukherjee demonstrates that people in Kolkata rank themselves in terms of caste-hierarchy.
Stratification has also taken place on the basis of occupational categories. For example, Harold
Gould (1965) points out that the rikshawalas of Lucknow belonging to several religious and
caste groups exhibit uniformity in the pattern of interaction and attitudes in respect to their
common occupation. Again it has been found that caste has not played a significant role in
determining the choice of occupation in the urban areas.

308 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY