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URBAN SOCIAL PROBLEMS, INTRODUCTION, Although India is one of the less urbanized countries of the world with only 27.78 per cent of her population living in urban agglomerations/towns, this country is facing a serious crisis of urban growth at the present time. The process of industrialisation has added much to the phenomenal growth of cities. Due to the rapid industrialisation cities have grown in an unsystematic manner. Industrialisation and urbanisation have brought along with them many vices. Here we discuss seven serious social problems in urban area. Those are crime, juvenile delinquency, slums, housing problems, environmental problems poverty and unemployment., In this unit you will learn urban social problems such as crime, juvenile delinquency, slums, housing problems, environmental problems poverty and unemployment problems in a detailed manner., INDIA – URBAN SOCIAL PROBLEMS, When a particular social phenomenon or condition disturbs the social order and hinders smooth working of social institutions that comes to be identified as a social problem. At the initial phase such conditions are neglected since they do not have any serious adverse effects on the social system. But gradually, they get accumulated and begin to affect normal social life. Then such condition is recognised as a social problem. Once social problem takes roots and develops beyond the bounds of tolerance, there arises resentment against it and there is a demand for remedy in the interest of social harmony., Although India is one of the less urbanized countries of the world with only 27.78 per cent of her population living in urban agglomerations/towns, this country is facing a serious crisis of urban growth at the present time. Whereas urbanisation has been an instrument of economic, social and political progress, it has led to serious social problems., DEFINITION OF SOCIAL PROBLEM, A more precise, though broad, definition is given by E. Raab and G.J.Selznick. According to them, “a social problem is ―a problem in human relationship which seriously threatens society itself or impedes the important aspirations of many people.”, CRIME, The sociology of crime (criminology) is the study of the making, breaking, and enforcing of criminal laws. Its aim is to understand empirically and to develop and test theories explaining criminal behaviour, the formation and enforcement of laws, and the operation of criminal justice system., DEFINITION OF CRIME, 1. Tappan has defined crime as “an intentional act or omission in violation of criminal law committed without defence or Justification”., 2. Thorsten Sellin has described it as ―”violation of conduct norms of the normative groups”., 3. Mowrer had defined it as “an anti-social act”., CHARACTERISTICS OF CRIME, Hall Jerome (1947), according to him, no action is to be viewed as crime unless it has five characteristics, It is legally forbidden, It is intentional, It is harmful to society, It has criminal objective, Some penalty is prescribed for it., Confinement of Correction of Criminals, Two methods are mainly used in our society in punishing/treating the criminals., Imprisonment and release on probation, Prisons, The conditions in Indian jails were horrible up to 1919-20., It was after recommendations of 1919-20 Indian Jails Reform committees that changes like classification, segregation of prisoners, education, recreation, assigning productive work and opportunities for maintaining contacts with family and society were introduced in maximum-security prisons., That is central jail, district jails and sub-jails, Probation, Probation is an alternative to a prison., It is suspension of sentence of an offender by the court and releasing him on certain conditions to live in the community with or without the supervision of a probation officer., The system was introduced in India in 1958 by passing the Central Probation Act., Through section 562 in 1898 IPC permitted release of an offender on probation but it applied only to juvenile delinquents and first offenders., CRIME IN CITIES, Indian Penal Code (IPC), Due to the increasing disparities in the urban areas of India, particularly the million plus cities, urban crime has been on the rampant in most of the areas. The common types are theft of property, crime against women, crime against children, crime against the aged and cyber crimes., A total of 297679 cognizable crimes under the IPC (Indian Penal Code) were reported from the 35 million plus cities in 2002, (National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, 2002), as compared to 289775 crimes during 2001, thereby reporting an increase of 2.7 percent compared to the national scenario on a marginal increase of 0.6 percent. The Indian metropolises witnessed an increase of Murder (5.9 percent), attempt to commit murder (6.2 percent), dacoit (37.1), riots (1.3) and dowry deaths (10.1). In addition, the metropolitan centers, had also contributed to 45.9 percent of the total Auto thefts cases in the country, 31.5 percent cheating cases and 28.6 percent of counterfeiting cases of the nation‘s total crime., Crimes under Special and Local Laws (SLL), The 35 metropolitan cities reported 1625689 cases of SLL crimes in 2002 compared to 1763759 cases in the previous year. Contrary to the National level increase of 4.9 percent, cities reported a decrease of reported cases of 7.8 percent over 2001. Despite this, the 35 million plus cities contributed significantly towards the nation‘s share for cases under Copyright Act (36.9 percent), Indecent Representation of Women Prohibition Act (22.4 percent), Immoral Traffic (P) Act (17.9 percent) and Arms Act (19.9 percent). Ludhiana reported the highest percentage of 78.2 percent, followed by Varanasi 72.3 percent. In addition, Kolkata and Vijaywada also reported much higher incidences of cases under SLL., Cyber Crimes, In recent years Cyber Crimes have also increased in the Indian Cities. The Information technology (IT) Act of 2000, specifies, the criminal acts under the broad head of Cyber Crimes. Of the total 70 cases registered under IT Act 2000, around 47 percent cases pertain to obscene publication and transmission in electronic form. 38 persons were taken in custody for such offences during 2002. Other such cases include hacking, signature fraud, breach of confidentiality etc. The urban centers of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Delhi reported the maximum number of these cases., JUVENILE DELINQUENCY, Delinquency is a kind of abnormality. When an individual deviates from the course of normal social life, his behaviour is called ”delinquency”., Juvenile delinquents are simply under-age criminals constitute crimes when committed by adults between the age group of 7 to 16 or 18 years, as prescribed by the law of the land., When a juvenile, below an age specified under a statute exhibits behaviour which may prove to be dangerous to society and/or to him he may be called a ‘Juvenile delinquent‘. Each state has its own precise definition of the age range covered by the word 'juvenile‘., Crime committed by children under statutory age is known as juvenile delinquency. As per statistics released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), juvenile criminals between 16 and 18 years accounted for more than 60% of the crimes registered against minors in India in 2013., DEFINITION OF JUVENILE DELINQUENCY, 1. According to Reckless (1956), the term ‘juvenile delinquency' applies “violation of criminal code and/or pursuit of certain patterns of behaviour disapproved of for children and young adolescents”., 2. Cyril Burt defines delinquency as occurring in a child “When his antisocial tendencies appear so grave that he becomes or ought to become the subject of official action”., 3. Friedlander says, “Delinquency is a juvenile misconduct that might be dealt with under the law”., 4. The Second United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders (1960) states, “By juvenile delinquency should be understood the commission of an act which, if committed by an adult, would be considered a crime”., 5. C.B. Mamoria writes, “The phrase ‘juvenile delinquency' may be loosely used to cover any kind of deviant behaviour of children which violates normative rules, understanding or expectations of social system”., In simple words, it can be said that juvenile delinquency is a type of abnormal or antisocial behaviour by a juvenile who is below an age specified by statue., CHARACTERISTICS OF JUVENILE DELINQUENCY, On the basis of these studies and on the basis of data compiled by National Crime Records Bureau, 1998, following characteristics of juvenile delinquency in India may be given:, 1. The delinquency rates are many times higher for boys than girls, that is, girls commit fewer delinquencies than boys., 2. The delinquency rates tend to be highest during early adolescence (12-16 years age group)., 3. Juvenile delinquency is more an urban than a rural phenomenon., 4. Children living with parents and guardians are found to be more involved in the juvenile crimes., 5. Low education background is the prime attribute of delinquency., 6. Poor economic background is another important characteristic of juvenile delinquency in India., 7. Nine out of 10 juvenile delinquents are first-offenders and only one-tenth is recidivists or past-offenders., 8. Not many delinquencies are committed in groups. In India, it appears, a large number of delinquencies are committed all alone., 9. Though some delinquencies are committed in groups yet the number of juvenile gangs having support of organised adult criminals is not large in our country, FACTORS IN JUVENILE DELINQUENCY, Individual factors, 1. Submissiveness, 2. Disobedience, 3. Lack of sympathy, 4. Irresponsibility, 5. Feeling of insecurity, 6. Fear, 7. Emotional conflicts, 8. Lack of self-control, Situational factors, Family, Movies, Peer group relations, School environment Family, 1. Parents' discipline, 2. Parents' affection, 3. Cohesiveness of family, 4. Conduct-standards of home, 5. Replacement parents, 6. Father‘s work habits, 7. Economic conditions of family, 8. Conjugal relations of parents, 9. Broken homes, School environment, 1. Adjustment to school mates, 2. Attitudes toward school, 3. Failure in classes or academic interests, PREVENTIVE PROGRAMMES, General improvements in the institutional structure of the society, for example, family, neighbourhood, school, 1. Raising the income levels of poor families, 2. Providing job opportunities to children, 3. Establishing schools, 4. Improving job conditions, 5. Providing recreational facilities in neighbourhoods, 6. Improving marital relations through family counselling services, 7. Imparting moral and social education, TYPES OF JUVENILE DELINQUENCY, Howard Becker (1966: 226-38) has referred to four types of delinquencies:, (a) individual delinquency,, (b) group-supported delinquency,, (c) organised delinquency, and, (d) Situational delinquency., (a) Individual delinquency, This refers to delinquency in which only one individual is involved in committing a delinquent act and its cause is located within the individual delinquent., (b) Group-supported delinquency, In this type, delinquencies are committed in companionship with others and the cause is located not in the personality of the individual or in the delinquent‘s family but in the culture of the individual‘s home and neighbourhood., (c) Organised delinquency, This type refers to delinquencies that are committed by formally organised groups. This concept refers to the set of values and norms that guide the behaviour of group members encourage the commission of delinquencies, award status on the basis of such acts and specify typical relationships to persons who fail outside the groupings governed by group norms., (d) Situational delinquency, Situational delinquency provides a different perspective. Here the assumption is that delinquency is not deeply rooted, and motives for delinquency and means for controlling it are often relatively simple., SLUMS, A slum is a heavily populated urban informal settlement characterized by substandard housing and squalor. While slums differ in size and other characteristics from country to country, most lack reliable sanitation services, supply of clean water, reliable electricity, timely law enforcement and other basic services. Slum residences vary from shanty to poorly built, deteriorated buildings. In the 20th century, slums were predominantly found in urban regions of developing and undeveloped parts of the world, but also found in developed economies., Slums form and grow in many different parts of the world, for many different reasons. Some causes include rapid rural-to-urban migration, economic stagnation and depression, high unemployment, poverty, informal economy, poor planning, politics, natural disasters and social conflicts. Strategies tried to reduce and transform slums in different countries, with varying degrees of success, include a combination of slum removal, slum relocation, slum upgrading, urban planning with city wide infrastructure development, and public housing projects., NATURE OF SLUMS, Slums may be characterized as areas of substandard housing conditions within a city. A slum is always an area. The term housing conditions refers to actual living conditions rather than mere physical appearance of the area. The substandard is to be taken not in an objective or technological but rather in a relative social sense i.e. compared with the recognized standard at a given time in a specific country. The cave dwelling of prehistoric people, the dugouts etc. of pioneers are all substandard according to our notion, but they do not create slum conditions. Slum word has a long and a negative connotation. It has been almost an epithet, implying evil, strange and something to be shunned and avoided. It is being apparently derived from slumber as slum were once thought by majority to be unknown, back streets presumed to be sleepy and quite., There is a disagreement over whether people make slums or slums make people. Are substandard housing conditions due to social standards behaviour of certain groups or vice- versa? The slum is a complex product of many products as it is true of many other social phenomena. But poverty is the foremost one, interplay of objective economic facts and subjective group standard. Low-incomes force people to live in slums. Slum residents are negligent and do not mind dirt. They have neither money nor time to their area clean or clean if themselves. Lack of basic infrastructure, like drains, drinking water, electricity and location gives the slums a very ungainly picture., TYPES OF SLUMS, According to Bergel, there are three types of Slums –, 1. Original Slum – An area which from the beginning consisted of unsuitable buildings, these sections are beyond recovery and need to be razed., 2. Converted slums – Houses earlier built according to the prevailing standards, but now vacated by the original dwellers and occupied by the lower income groups turn into slums as new occupants cannot maintain them e.g. in proper Mumbai earlier bungalows or big apartments are converted into one room chawls with common toilet facilities., 3. Slums developed due to transition – Once the area has become blighted, physical and social deterioration spreads rapidly. This kind of slum is characterized by having semi permanent structures, overnight accommodation of the destitute, cheap entertainment clubs and houses. It is populated by transients, tramps, vagrants, chronic alcoholics, beggars, homeless men and habitual criminals. Such slums need rehabilitation and not the demolition of building., CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SLUMS, Slums vary from one type to another, but certain general patterns of slums are universal. Although, the slum is generally characterized by inadequate housing, deficient facilities, overcrowding and congestions involve much more then these elements. Sociologically, it is a way of life, a sub culture with a set of norms and values, which is reflected in poor sanitation and health practices, deviant behavior and attributes of apathy and social isolations. People who live in slums are isolated from the general power structure and are regarded as inferiors. Slum dwellers in turn harbour, suspicions of the outside world. Some of the features of slums are:, 1. Housing conditions, In terms of the physical conditions and housing standards it is important to keep in mind the comparative nature of the definitions. A slum should be judged physically according to the general living standards of a country. Slums have commonly been defined as those portions of cities in which housing is crowded, neglected deteriorated and often obsolete. Many of the inadequate housing conditions can be attributed to poorly arranged structures, inadequate lighting and circulation, lack of sanitary facility, overcrowding and inadequate maintenance., 2. Overcrowding and congestion, A slum may be an area which is overcrowded with buildings or a building over-crowded with people or both. Density does not always result in unfortunate social consequence, the issue is primarily one of overcrowding. Congestion is again a judgment about the physical condition of the building in terms of high density per block, acre or square mile. William. F. Whyte (1943) in his well-known sociological study, Street Corner Society situated in Boston‘s north end, stressed upon the importance of overcrowding as a criterion for measuring slum conditions. Some slum areas like in Delhi, have 40, 00,000 people per square mile., 3. Neighbourhood facilities, A poor slum is invariably associated with poor facilities and community services. Along with shabbiness and dilapidation, schools are of poor quality and other public facilities are often insufficient. Streets and sidewalks often go un-repaired and rubbish and garbage are infrequently collected adding to the undesirable environment. Shortage of water, electricity and sanitary facility are common in most of the slums., 4. Poor Sanitation and Health, Slums are generally been dirty and unclean places which is defined largely in terms of the physical deterioration, stressing particularly unsanitary conditions and lack of sufficient facilities like water and latrines. These factors have resulted in high rates death and disease. These factors have always been typical of slum areas where overcrowding and presence of rats and other pest complicate the problem of health and sanitation. In slum areas of developing countries, the rate of disease, chronic illness and infant mortality are exceptionally high., 5. Deviant Behavior, A high incidence of deviant behavior- crime, juvenile delinquency, prostitution, drunkenness, drug usage, mental disorder, suicide, ill legitimacy and family maladjustments have long been associated with slum living. It is a fact that vice may be found in slums but is by no means confined only to the slums. Due to the lack of money and power often slum dwellers are prove to be pressurized by the goons of upper classes to commit crime. It is a vicious cycle for the sum dwellers., 6. The Culture of the Slum- a way of life, Slums differ widely with respect to the social organization of their Inhabitants. They range from the slums in which the inhabitants are strangers to one another, to the family slums in which there is a wide acquaintance between the inhabitants., Slums inhabited by immigrant groups may have a firm social organization. Culture might be defined as system of symbols or meanings for the normative conduct of standards, having three distinct properties. It is transmittable, it is learned and it is shared. The slum has a culture of its own and this culture is the way of life. This way of life is passed from generation to generation with its own rationale, structure ad defence mechanism, which provides the means to continue in spite of difficulties and deprivation. It is the habits, customs and behavior pattern people have learned and which they hold that move them to act in a particular way. Although, these cultural patterns are typical of the slum, form ethnic groups to ethnic groups, from own society to society to another., 7. Apathy and Social Isolation, Every residential area within the modern city tends to be socially isolated from others, partly by choice and partly by location. The slum is especially so, as it is inhabited by the people of the lowest status. The chief link with rest of the community is their identification with labour market, but there may be an additional link through politics. A slum also has an image in the eyes of the larger community. There is a societal reaction to slum dwellers. The non-slum dweller often associates the physical appearance and difficult living conditions of the slums with belief in the ―Natural inferiority of those who live in slums. This reaction has important consequences in the social isolation of slum dwellers and their exclusion, from power and participation in urban society. The slum dwellers often lack an effective means of communication with the outside world. Because of apathy, lack of experience in communicating with outsiders and their own powerlessness to make their voice heard. William. F. Whyte (1943) stated that although the north end slum studied in his work on street corner society was a mysterious, dangerous and depressing place to an outsider, it provided an organized and familiar environment for those who lived in it., FUNCTIONS OF THE SLUMS, The slums have met various needs and have served several useful functions for the slum residents. The most common functions of the slums have been to provide housing for the lowest income groups and migrants in the city. The slums also serve as places where group living and association on the basis of villages, regions, tribes or ethnic or racial groups may develop. Whyte (1943) found an organized way of life in slums, which offered satisfaction to its residents. The slums also perform a function as a type of ―School‖ to educate newcomers to the city. It gives them a place to become oriented upon arrival, to find first jobs and to learn the ways of city life. Another important function of the slum is that of offering a place of residence to those who prefer to live an anonymous life. It includes migratory workers, criminals, chronic alcoholic and workers in illegal enterprises., APPROACHES TO THE SLUM PROBLEMS, Some experts advocates the policy of slum clearance while others believe proving welfare services to slum dwellers. Still others stress providing greater economic opportunity for slum dwellers. All however have serious limitations as solutions either alone or together to the slum dwellers., The traditional welfares approaches advocate the policy of destroying the slums, tearing it down physically and redevelopment with subsidized housing. It is believed that providing welfare services to slum dwellers is the best way to bring about changes in slum areas and to solve the slum problems., Urban community development offers a new developmental approach to some of the problems of urban areas in general and of the slums in particular. It involves two fundamental ideas:- the development of effective community feeling within an urban context and the development of self-help and citizens participation, of individual initiative in seeking community integration and change., The Marxist and Socialist approach to the problem of slums clearly points out that if only the land in urban areas is nationalized and removed from the orbit of market operation., URBANISATION AND SLUMS, The Government of India Slum Area (Improvement and Clearance) Act of 1954 defines a slum as ―any predominantly residential area, in which light or sanitary facilities or any combination of these factors are detrimental to the safety, health or morals‖. According to NSS (National Sample Survey), ―a slum is a compact settlement with a collection of poorly built tenements, mostly of temporary nature, crowded together, in unhygienic conditions, usually with inadequate sanitary and drinking water facilities. Such an area is considered as a Non-Notified Slum if at least 20 households live in that area. Notified Slums are those areas notified as Slums by Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) or development authorities. The vast majority of the city ward migrants belongs to the working class and finds it difficult to secure accommodation within their means. Therefore they squat on every open space available, nearby their work places and construct huts with cheap temporary building materials. In this way, slums grow in number and population. Total and slum population in India according to size/class of towns during 1991 showed that 41 percent of the total slum population was residing in million plus cities where 27 percent of the total population of India resided. However, cities with population between 0.5 – 1 million have only 9 percent of total slum population, where 20 percent of the total population was residing. Further, cities with population between 0.3 to 0.5 million had only 6 percent of total slum population where 19 percent of total population was residing. This shows that cities with population between 0.5 to 1 million and city with population between 0.3 to 0.5 million has very less percentage of slum population whereas million plus cities have more percentage of slum population. It reveals that the opportunity in the medium cities is less than that offered by the million cities., ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS, Localized environmental health problems such as inadequate household water and sanitation and indoor air pollution., City-regional environmental problems such as ambient air pollution, inadequate waste management and pollution of rivers, lakes and coastal areas., Extra-urban impacts of urban activities such as ecological disruption and resource depletion in a city‘s hinterland, and emissions of acid precursors and greenhouse gases., Regional or global environmental burdens that arise from activities outside a city‘s boundaries, but which will affect people living in the city, ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS OF MODERN CITIES, Urban environmental problems are mostly inadequate water supply, wastewater, solid waste, energy, loss of green and natural spaces, urban sprawl, pollution of soil, air, traffic, noise, etc. All these problems are particularly serious in developing countries and countries with economic transition, where there is a conflict between the short-term economic plan and the protection of the environment., ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS OF URBAN AREA, Development of Slum, The areas within the cities and towns (urban areas) without civic and basic amenities are called Slums. The slum settlement arises due to influx of rural peoples into urban areas and shortage of housing facilities for them., They construct their dwellings using rusted tins, empty tar barrels, tarpaulins, jute sacks etc. Although these areas become overcrowded, these lack civic amenities like light, water supply, drainage, roads, toilets and medical facilities. The areas of slum become centres of a number of environmental problems. Some important environmental problems may be outlined as follows:, (i) These areas without proper water supply dispose their waste in an unplanned manner which pollutes air and water., (ii) The contamination of water causes diseases like typhoid, cholera, enteric fever and gastroenteritis., (iii)The unplanned waste dumping places and open defecation become the sites of the growth of a number of disease carriers like flies, mosquitoes etc. These cause health hazards not only in slum areas but also in other nearby places., Thus, to avoid the above environmental problems, the slum areas should be developed by providing the civic amenities like light, water supply, drainage, toilet and medical facilities., 2. Management of solid waste, Thickly populated urban area consumes large quantities of material and simultaneously releases a lot of solid wastes. The solid wastes include municipal wastes, industrial wastes, hazardous wastes etc. The solid waste production increases with an increase in population. When these solid wastes are dumped for a longer period of time, these produce foul smell and poisonous gases and become breeding grand‘s of vectors of different diseases., The gases produced cause air pollution, surface run-off from the wastes cause water pollution and vectors cause different diseases. In order to avoid the above environmental problems, suitable methodology should be adopted to dispose the wastes scientifically or to recycle them or segregate organic, inorganic and recyclable wastes., 3. over exploitation of natural resources, Due to high population density and expensive life style, the rate of consumption of natural resources (e.g. water, energy, fossil fuel, forest products etc.) is very high in urban areas. There is also misuse of natural resources whose immediate compensation becomes difficult. Few acute problems of urban areas are scarcity of drinking water especially the ground water, scarcity of forest products, power cut due to excessive use of electricity etc., 4. Non-availability of open space, Due to unplanned urbanization and thick population density, urban areas are highly congested without open spaces for parks, play grounds and recreation centres. This results in non availability of free and clean air and space of playing and recreation., 5. Air pollution, The air of urban areas get polluted due to a lot of anthropogenic activities, flying of large number of automobiles, industries etc. These activities release pollutants like carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, oxides of sulphur, hydrocarbons, vapours of organic compounds, particulates, and toxic metals etc. which are capable of inducing a number of health hazards., 6. Noise pollution, The noise produced from automobiles, vehicles, social functions, industries etc. cause noise pollution in urban areas which causes psychological and physical ailments., 7. Violation of urban planning rules, The unplanned urbanization leads to violation of rules laid down for establishing ideal urban settlements where one can lead healthy and comfortable life. The buildings constructed do not obey the prescribed floor space index or floor area ratio., 8. Water-logging and drainage, The migration of large number of poor and rural people without any civic sense, disposal of a large amount of solid waste, unplanned settlements etc. in urban areas cause water logging and drainage problem., 9. Traffic and floating population, The large migration of rural peoples in search of job to the urban areas causes serious traffic problem and environmental pollution of all kinds., 10. Unusual rise in temperature, The unplanned constructions of large buildings in urban areas absorb solar radiation and in the afternoon, these emit heat radiations increasing the climatic temperature., POVERTY, Poverty studies in India have concentrated on counting the number of units-usually households or individuals –falling below a certain level of consumption expenditure or income. Amartya Sen (1973) wrote, “The Indian poor may not be accustomed to receiving much help, but they are beginning to get used to being counted. The poor in this country have lately been lined up in all kinds of different ways and have subjected to several sophisticated head counts”., POVERTY IN INDIA, Poverty is one of the most widespread socio-economic problems of India. It is, indeed, a common problem which is being faced with most of the underdeveloped and the developing countries of the world. It is not only socio-economic but even emotional, cultural and political in nature. The developments that have been taking place in this land for the past six decades have not been able to wipe out poverty. Poverty has been the root cause of many of the problems., URBAN POVERTY IN INDIA, The acceleration of structural changes and poverty analysis is that, the level of urban is more closely linked with overall indicators of economic development than with specific indicators related to industrialization or urbanization. Indeed, the close correlation with level of rural poverty indicates that the two cannot be viewed separately. Given relatively high labour mobility, this is not surprising. Increasing level of urban welfare naturally pulls in job aspirants from rural areas if conditions there are much worse. Conversely, rural prosperity has its reflection in relative urban prosperity through generation of urban activities resulting from demand stimulation. It is also of some significance that the variance in rural poverty is much higher than in urban poverty. Urban activities are essentially footloose- urban labour markets are probably more national in character than the rural labour markets. Moreover rural productivity is more clearly rooted in immovable assets –land and hence less prone to greater variance between states. The rate of change in the employment structure has lagged far behind that of output and value added. Manufacturing activities have indeed grown apace but not perhaps fast enough., There is a clear evidence of an accelerating change in the employment structure also, contrary to the popular impression manufacturing employment and not the tertiary sector has been the fastest growing sector. There seems to have been a greater tendency of industrial dispersal up to the mid –1970 the subsequent. From the evidence it is difficult to argue that industrial dispersal had any significant effect on urban poverty removal- though the correlation of urban poverty and manufacture activity are generally in the right direction. The key regional pattern that emerges is really on east-west divide. The states with persistently high poverty level both rural and urban are Bihar, MP, Orissa, UP and Tamil Nadu. The advance states of West Bengal and Maharashtra are also exhibit high level of rural poverty. Thus the three traditionally advanced industrial states: West Bengal, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu all exhibits high levels of rural poverty. As a result their urban poverty levels are also not low as might have been expected. What is of great interest is that Haryana and Punjab are found to be the most successful in all spheres and this has been achieved without large-scale industrial investment. Yet the growth in manufacturing employment is among the highest in these states including employment in household industries, which is generally declining elsewhere. The level of urban poverty is lowest in these states as well, non-agricultural employment in both rural and urban areas., Along with all these changes, urbanization also accelerated significantly in these states. So the key to removal of urban poverty is agricultural growth. It is difficult to sustain high growth rate in manufacturing activity and employment without the accompanying improvements in agricultural productivity. In deed the magnitude of non-agricultural employment growth that is needed for poverty removal can only occur if there is adequate growth in agricultural productivity. The evidence from the older industrialized states is clear: poverty removal in these states is stymied by languishing hinterlands despite high levels of industrialization and urbanization. The effect of accelerated agricultural growth would be most felt in the generation of non-agricultural activities both in rural as well as in the small and medium towns whose primary function is the service of their hinterland., Big cities are then indirectly affected through operation of the labour market and through enhanced demand for their products and services from the small and medium towns. The decay of the eastern region emerges as the most significant problem. The strategy of locating heavy industries in the eastern and central states has had little beneficial impact in terms of poverty removal. Vast areas in Bihar, MP, Orissa, UP, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka have very low productivity agricultural regions. Their levels of urbanization and industrialization are among the lowest in the world-along with some of the highest indices of poverty. Industrial dispersal in the absence of significant direct attack on agricultural productivity will do little to reduce urban or rural poverty in these areas. All the evidence suggests that the slow decrease in poverty in India has been caused by slow overall structural change. The fact that employment structure has changed much more slowly than that of value added suggest that the investment strategy has been wrong, being aimed at a dispersal of heavy and large industry rather than agriculture and light industries. A self-sustaining plan poverty removal in urban and rural areas can only be reached if the investment strategy is oriented toward a much more accelerated generation of non-agricultural employment., DEFINITION OF POVERTY, 1. Gillin and Gillin : “Poverty is that condition in which a person either because of inadequate income or unwise expenditures, does not maintain a scale of living high enough to provide for his physical and mental efficiency and to enable him and his natural dependents to function usefully according to the standards of the society of which he is a member”., 2. Adam Smith: “A person ... is rich or poor according to the degree in which he can afford to enjoy the necessaries, the conveniences and the amusements of life”., 3. Goddard: “Poverty is insufficient supply of those things which are requisite for an individual to maintain himself and those dependent upon him in his health and vigour”., ABOSOLUTE POVERTY AND RELATIVE POVERTY, Absolute Poverty, Right from the 19th century, some researchers are trying to fix some yardstick for measuring poverty in precise terms. Ideally speaking such a yardstick would help us establish a fixed level of poverty, known as “poverty line” below which poverty begins and above which it ends. Such a yardstick is believed to be universal in character and would be applicable to all the societies. This concept of poverty is known as “Absolute poverty”. Absolute poverty is often known as “subsistence poverty” for it is based on assessments of minimum subsistence requirements of basic “physical Needs” such as food, clothing, shelter, health requirements etc. Some concepts of absolute poverty would even include the idea of “basic cultural needs”. This broadens the idea of basic human needs beyond the level of physical survival. Drewnowski and Scott include education, security, leisure and recreation in their category of “basic cultural needs”., Relative Poverty, The difficulties involved in the application of the concept of “absolute poverty”, made some researchers to abandon the concept altogether. In place of absolute standards, they have developed the idea of relative standards that is; standards which are relative to particular time and place. In this way, the idea of absolute poverty has been replaced by the idea of relative poverty. “Relative poverty is measured in terms of judgements by members of a particular society of what is considered as reasonable and acceptable standard of living and styles of life according to the conventions of the day. Just as conventions change from time to time, and place to place, so will definitions of poverty”. in a rapidly changing world, definitions of poverty based on relative standard will be constantly changing. Hence, Peter Townsend has suggested that any definition of poverty must be “related to the needs and demands of a changing society”., UNEMPLOYMENT, Unemployment, also referred to as joblessness, occurs when people are without work and are actively seeking employment. During periods of recession, an economy usually experiences high unemployment rates., DEFINITION OF UNEMPLOYMENT, 1. C.B Mamoria define "Unemployment is a state of work less for a man fit and willing to work, that is , it is a condition of involuntary and not voluntary idleness", 2. “Unemployment is defined as a condition in which an individual is not in a state of remunerative occupation despite his desire do so” D. Mello, 3. "Unemployment is often described as a condition of involuntary idleness” Nava Gopal Das, TYPES OF UNEMPLOYMENT, Classical: occurs when real wages for jobs are set above the market-clearing level. It causes the number of job seekers to be higher than the number of vacancies., Cyclical: occurs when there is not enough aggregate demand in the economy to provide jobs for everyone who wants to work. Demand for goods and services decreases, less production is needed, and fewer workers are needed., Structural: occurs when the labor market is not able to provide jobs for everyone who wants to work. There is a mismatch between the skills of the unemployed workers and the skills needed for available jobs. It differs from frictional unemployment because it lasts longer., Frictional: the time period in between jobs when a worker is searching for work or transitioning from one job to another., Hidden: the unemployment of potential workers that is not taken into account in official unemployment statistics because of how the data is collected. For example, workers are only considered unemployed if they are looking for work so those without jobs who have stopped looking are no longer considered unemployed., Long-term: usually defined as unemployment lasting longer than one year., URBAN UNEMPLOYMENT IN INDIA, Urban unemployment in India is estimated at 15 to 25 per cent of the labour force. This percentage is even higher among the educated people. It is estimated that about half of all educated urban unemployed are concentrated in four metropolitan cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai). Furthermore, although urban incomes are higher than the rural incomes, they are appallingly low in view of high cost of living in urban areas., One of the major causes of urban unemployment is the large scale migration of people from rural to urban areas. Rural-urban migration has been continuing for a pretty long time but it has not always been as great a problem as it is today. The general poverty among the rural people pushes them out to urban areas to migrate in search of livelihood and in the hope of a better living., But the growth of economic opportunities fails to keep pace with the quantum of immigration. The limited capacity of urban areas could not create enough employment opportunities and absorb the rapid growth of the urban labour force. Efforts made by the central and the state governments to create employment opportunities in rural areas and to check the large scale rural-urban migration have not met with much success., UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IN URBAN, The latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) states that the unemployment rate (UR) in both rural and urban India is at its highest since 1972., The unemployment rates among men and women in both rural and urban groups are also the highest ever. The increase in the UR is more than three times among rural men and more than double among rural women according to the usual status since 2011-12., In urban areas, the UR among men is more than twice and has increased twice among women since 2011-12. It is to be noted that the UR between 1972 and 2012 was almost static or did not have many differences. Besides, the UR rose sharply among youth of ages between 15-29 years and those who got better education., The measurement of unemployment is based on the usual status and Current Weekly status. The Usual Status approach to measuring unemployment uses a reference period of 365 days i.e. one year preceding the date of the survey of the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) for measuring unemployment., The Current Weekly Status (CWS) approach to measuring unemployment uses seven days preceding the date of survey as the reference period. A person is considered to be employed if he or she pursues any one or more gainful activities for at least one hour on any day of the reference week., The Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation had constituted PLFS under the chairmanship of Amitabh Kundu. The data was collected by NSSO from July 2017 to June 2018. The survey was spread over 12,773 first-stage sampling units (7,014 villages and 5,759 urban blocks) covering 1, 02, 113 households (56,108 in rural areas and 46,005 in urban areas) and enumerating 4, 33, 339 persons (2, 46, 809 in rural areas and 1, 86, 530 in urban areas)., The unemployment rates in urban areas are higher than those in rural areas. In urban areas, the UR is 7.8 per cent according to the usual status. The overall unemployment rate is 6.1 per cent in India according to the usual status. According to CWS, the urban rate is 9.6 per cent. The overall unemployment rate is 8.9 per cent., UNEMPLOYMENT RATE OF MALE AND FEMALES IN URBAN, In urban areas, the unemployment rates for females are higher than those for males., The unemployment rate among youth between 15 and 29 years has risen sharply since 2011-12. Among rural males and females, the UR is almost three times since 2011-12, whereas among urban males and females, this rate is more than double., The UR has also sharply increased among those who are more educated. Since 2011-12, the UR among rural males has increased by almost three times, from 1.7 per cent to 5.7 per cent. Those who have higher degree of education and those who are completely not-literate have witnessed almost the same level of unemployment., Interestingly, unemployment among rural not-literate females has reduced and among urban females, the number of those who are literate up to primary-level jobs is the same as 2011-12., CAUSES OF UNEMPLOYMENT AT URBAN AREAS IN INDIA, Some of the Causes of Unemployment at Urban Areas are as follows:, According to Madan, the causes of unemployment can be divided into three categories, namely:, (i) Personal factors, Personal factors refer to the physical disability, weak mentality, accidents, defective education and training. Elliott and Merill have explained the following under the personal factors., Age factor, The very young and old persons are at a disadvantage in securing employment due to inexperience and inefficiency, respectively., b. Vocational unfitness, Many young people have no understanding of their own abilities or interests and have no particular task in mind when they have to get their training. Willingness to do anything may seem to indicate a worthy desire on the part of the person seeking work. Employers, on the other hand, may seek qualified and competent trained workers. Similarly, there may be more men trained in a particular profession than required. The demand is less than the supply and hence unemployment., c. Illness or physical disabilities, A number of workers may be temporarily unemployed because of illness or physical disabilities. Illness may be caused due to conditions in the occupation and disabilities may arise due to accidents., (ii) Technological and economic factors, Another important factor causing unemployment is disorganization in the economic structure and the dislocation in industries. Due to advancement in science and technology, a high specialization in the division of labour takes place. Due to this, able-bodied and capable men remain unemployed. The unemployment generated under this category is due to trade cycles, technological advancement, seasonal variations and lack of mobility among the labour force. Unemployment is a result of both technological changes and cyclical variations of business and trade, which are deeply connected with the production process., (iii) Mass migration, Mass migration is an important cause for unemployment in urban areas. People migrate from rural areas in large groups when there is drought or when any other unfavourable conditions occur. A city or town can ill-afford to provide employment opportunities to all of the migrated people, thus, causing mass unemployment., The problem of unemployment that exists in India is an outcome of several cumulative factors such as the British rule and its policies, the Zamindari system, which exploited the farmers, the policy of laissez faire and free trade, which hindered the progress of rapid industrialization, the rapid growth of population, the decay of small-scale and cottage industries, which led to a large-scale migration from rural to urban areas, and the low levels of investment that resulted in the slow expansion of the secondary and tertiary sectors., MEASURES TO MINIMIZE UNEMPLOYMENT IN INDIA, It is disturbing as well as distressing to find that the standard of living of man is still below the desired level and unemployment is on the increase. In order to meet the problem of unemployment, the following measures are to be taken:, a. According to Madan, the personal disabilities include illness, physical handicaps, old age and inexperience. The methods suggested to overcome these disabilities are socialized health services, adequate wage provisions to maintain health, vocational rehabilitation, vocational education and educational planning, workmen‘s compensation and other social security schemes and new vocational opportunities., b. Planned development by accelerating industrialization, removing the deficiency of demand, stabilizing the rate of domestic investment and consumer demand can fight the problem of unemployment., c. Creating more employment opportunities in the rural areas through intensive farming, greater irrigation facilities, extension of community projects, organization of cooperative farming, development of village industry and settlement of agricultural labourers on the reclaimed land. Emphasis should also be laid on the development of small-scale and cottage industries to relieve the pressure on land. These not only help in creating employment opportunities but also check the rate of migration from rural to urban areas., i. According to Madan to eliminate seasonal unemployment, the manufacturers can take up the production of some other commodities in the slack season., ii. Providing temporary work for those who have lost employment. In India, the surplus labour power can be utilized for various public works programmes, afforestation and expansion of cottage industries and so on., iii. The present education system needs a thorough overall check to meet the changing pattern of demand not only through re-orientation but also by diversifying the courses in the field of commerce, trade, banking, insurance, technical and managerial personnel so that the adjustments of demand and labour in various occupations become easy., iv. Development of small-scale and village industries can increase the rate of employment. For this, the government should guide the small-scale industries in financing and marketing., v. Self-employment schemes for the unemployed youth have to be launched to enable them to start their own business or small-scale firm, which can also generate employment for many others