Page 66 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH

Unit 2: Major Segments of Indian Society

On Rural-Urban Fringe Notes
One change witnessed after independence is the occurance of rural-urban fringe around cities.
The cities have penetrated into rural areas to a distance of 14-15 km. Much of this development has
occured in unplanned, haphazard and spontaneous manner. As one moves out of the city, one
observes new residential colonies, a few factories, commercial squatters on either side of the road,
cold storage plants, warehouses, timber yards, etc. These features symbolise the physical expansion
of the city. The term rural-urban fringe has been used to designate such areas. The fringe area is,
thus, defined as “an area of mixed urban and rural landusers between the point where city
services cease to be available and the point where agricultural landuses predominate”.
These areas not only affect the social life of the people living there but they have also generated
jobs for the rural population. Even those who continue with farming, get an expanding market for
vegetables, fruits, milk, etc. This affects the traditional attitudes and values as well as the lifestyle
of ordinary rural people.
Structurally, rural-urban fringe comprises urban fringe plus rural fringe. The former consists of
municipal or non-municipal town and urbanised villages contiguous to town/city. The latter
consists of municipal or non-municipal town, partially urbanised villages away from the main city
and wholly rural villages. Thus, urban-rural fringe includes urban corridors and suburbs but not
satellites and green belts. The ‘corridor’ sometimes extends to a distance of over 30 km from the
city centres while the ‘suburb’ implies a location near the periphery of a city. Most suburbs are
purely residential in character. People in the suburbs identify them-selves with the city and claim
to be living within the city. The difference between the suburb and satellite is merely one of
distance from the city centre. Suburbs are closer to the city while satellites are located farther
away.
The villages in the fringe area undergo a process of change in three ways: (a) changes in land uses
within the village, (b) occupation changes, (c) changes in the social and economic life styles of the
people of the village.
It may be concluded that cities in India are now developing unevenly. Pollution, inequality,
absence of transport facilities to cover distance from home to work-place and back—all these and
other similar factors require that policies of settlement and providing amenities in different areas
in the city should not be left only to state governments and local bodies but the local residents
must also be effectively and beneficially involved in any revitalisation of their localities. Louis
Wirth’s model of rural-urban, and the Gemeinschaft-Gesellschaft framework of Toennies, now
seem inadequate as conceptual frameworks to deal with contemporary urban issues.
Unemployment, poverty, caste and communal conflicts, public disorder and pollution, have
increased the urgency of the debate on urban policy.
Self-Assessment

1. Choose the correct option:
(i) The Garibi Hatao slogan was given by ............... in 1971.
(a) Jawarhar Lal Nehru (b) Rajiv Gandhi
(c) Indira Gandhi (d) None of these
(ii) The IRDP was launched all over the country in ............... .
(a) 1982 (b) 1885 (c) 1990 (d) 2000
(iii) Jawahar Razgar Yojna was announced in April ............... .
(a) 1988 (b) 1989 (c) 1990 (d) 1991
(iv) The Panchyati Raj System was initially set-up by three states in ............... .
(a) 1959 (b) 1958 (c) 1950 (d) 1954
(v) The Tribal Population in India according to the 1991 census, was ............... .
(a) 67.76 million (b) 6.6 million (c) 7.3 million (d) 56.5 million

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