Page 65 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH

Social Structure and Social Change

Notes issues. The NHP is oriented towards rich developers, land-lords and contractors. The NHP has to
discourage luxury housing and promote cooperative and group housing societies. It has to develop
special schemes for the poor and low-income people. It has also to provide incentives to employers
to build houses for the employees.. It has to increase its authorised capital of Rs. 100 crore which
cannot go anywhere near meeting its financial needs. Unless a more pragmatic NHP is adopted,
it will be impossible to achieve the set goals.
Structural Decentralisation
One proposal by innovative planners and some radicals envisions a structural decentralisation of
local self-government itself. This could entail the creation of ‘neighbourhood-action groups’, to be
called ‘community centres’ consisting of representatives of residents and municipality officials.
These centres will identify and act upon neighbourhood needs. For example, many new colonies
have come to be established in many cities in which as many as 10,000 to 50,000 people reside.
Thus, these colonies are small towns by themselves. Some taxes like house tax, road tax, light tax,
etc., could be passed on directly to these community-centres instead of giving them to municipalities.
The centres would direct the affairs of the neighbourhood without reference to the city municipal
corporation and use the collected money for maintaining roads, lights and so forth. The argument
for this kind of decentralised structure within the city is that the same system that allows lakhs of
people a substantial control over their civic destiny denies them an effective role in shaping the
institutions that shape their lives. Community centres will allow them to create their own exclusive
environment.
To conclude, it may be pointed out that the effects of urbanisation and urbanism and the problems
of cities can never be solved until urban planning is modified and radical measures are taken.
These should not be based on profit motive which would benefit a few vested interests. The use of
land, technology, and taxes should be for the benefit of the people and not for the benefit of a few
powerful interests. City dwellers have to become active and organise themselves and agitate to
change the existing economic and social systems in the cities.
De-Urbanisation of Cities and Urbanisation of Villages

If we analyse city not as a physical entity but as a focal point of activity of groups of people, the
most powerful of whom are businessmen, politicians and civil servants, we find that sometimes
these groups act in concert and sometimes in conflict but their major decisions affect the lives of
the rest of the people. Further, in cities (as in Ludhiana, Calcutta, Mumbai, Indore, Bhilwara, etc.)
the area around the business centre is inhabited by low income groups and beset by social problems.
In addition, advanced technology and large scale industry make craft industries and other small-
scale production units obsolete and uncompetitive. Much new economic development, notably in
the service sector occurs outside the old, inner urban industrial areas. People, therefore, migrate to
other areas. Those who remain in the inner city are drawn disproportionately from the old, socially
disadvantaged, unskilled and semi-skilled workers. They are joined by immigrants who are
prepared to do unskilled and semi-skilled work in the inner city. This process of economic decline
of urban areas and of population movement out of them are referred to collectively as ‘de-
urbanisation’. On the other hand, ‘urbanisation’ of many suburban rural areas also occurs. Of
course, not all urban areas decline. It is mainly the ‘old’ industrial cities that experience de-
urbanisation. Many industrial towns undergo a parallel increase in population. Nor is the process
of de-urbanisation irreversible.
In Delhi, when the High Court ordered the shifting of heavy industries from Delhi to other areas
for preventing pollution, thousands of persons working in these industries had to leave Delhi and
settle near the new place of industry. Many government offices were also shifted from Delhi to
Ghaziabad and nearby Gurgaon town which also compelled the affected people to leave Delhi.
The suburban areas where these industries and offices are opened gradually become urbanised.
Thus, de-urbanisation process affects the urbanites and the urbanisation process affects the villagers.

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