CHAPTER 4: Human Settlements (Date : 02-09-2022)

Question 1:

Consider the following statements regarding rural settlement:

Clustered Settlements is a compact built up area of houses and generally separated from the surrounding farms, and pastures.
Semi-Clustered Settlements are fragmented into several units physically separated from each other.
Dispersed settlement patterns appear in the form of isolated huts or hamlets of few huts in remote jungles, or on small hills with farms or pasture on the slopes.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1 only
1 and 2 only
2 and 3 only
1 and 3 only

Correct Answer : D

Explanation

Human Settlement means cluster of dwellings of any type or size where human beings live.
Settlements vary in size and type. They range from hamlets to metropolitan cities.
Rural settlements in India can broadly be put into four types:
- Clustered, agglomerated or nucleated,
- Semi-clustered or fragmented,
- Hamleted, and
- Dispersed or isolated.
Clustered Settlements
- The clustered rural settlement is a compact or closely built-up area of houses, and the general living area is distinct and separated from the surrounding farms and pastures. Such settlements are generally found in fertile alluvial plains and in the northeastern states. Sometimes, people live in compact villages for security or defence reasons, such as in the Bundelkhand region of central India and in Nagaland. Hence statement 1 is correct.
Semi-Clustered Settlements
- Semi-clustered may result from the tendency of clustering in a restricted area of dispersed settlement. In this case, one or more sections of the village society choose or are forced to live a little away from the main cluster or village. In such cases, generally, the land-owning and dominant community occupies the central part of the main village, whereas people of lower strata of society and menial workers settle on the outer flanks of the village. Such settlements are widespread in the Gujarat plain and some parts of Rajasthan. Hence statement 2 is not correct.
Hamleted Settlements
- Settlement is fragmented into several units physically separated from each other bearing a common name. These units are locally called panna, para, palli, nagla, dhani, etc. in various parts of the country. This segmentation of a large village is often motivated by social and ethnic factors. Such villages are more frequently found in the middle and lower Ganga plain, Chhattisgarh and lower valleys of the Himalayas.
Dispersed Settlements
- Dispersed or isolated settlement patterns in India appear in the form of isolated huts or hamlets of few huts in remote jungles, or on small hills with farms or pasture on the slopes. Extreme dispersion of settlement is often caused by the extremely fragmented nature of the terrain and land resource base of habitable areas. Many areas of Meghalaya, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala have this type of settlement. Hence statement 3 is correct.

Question 2:

In which one of the following environments does one expect the presence of dispersed rural settlements?

Alluvial plains of Ganga
Arid and semi-arid regions of Rajasthan
Lower valleys of Himalayas
Forests and hills in the north-east

Correct Answer : D

Explanation

Dispersed Settlements
- Dispersed or isolated settlement patterns in India appear in the form of isolated huts or hamlets of few huts in remote jungles, or on small hills with farms or pasture on the slopes. Extreme dispersion of settlement is often caused by the extremely fragmented nature of the terrain and land resource base of habitable areas. Many areas of Meghalaya, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala have this type of settlement.
Hence statement D is correct.

Question 3:

Which one of the following is not a criterion to define a town as per the Census of India?

Population density of 400 persons per sq km.
Presence of municipality, corporation, etc.
More than 75% of the main male working population engaged in non-agricultural activities.
Population size of more than 5,000 persons.

Correct Answer : B

Explanation

Census towns are areas that are not defined as a town by state governments but have urban characteristics such as:
- a minimum population of 5,000,
- at least 75% of the main male working population in the town engaged in non-agricultural activities, and
- population density of at least 400 persons per square kilometre.
The presence of bodies like municipality, corporation, and municipal council is not a criterion to define any area as a town according to census 2011.
Hence, option B is correct.

Question 4:

Consider the following statements:

An urban center with a population of more than one lakh is called a city or class I town.
Cities having population size between one to five lakhs are called metropolitan cities and more than five lakhs are mega cities.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1 only
2 only
Both 1 and 2
Neither 1 nor 2

Correct Answer : A

Explanation

Classification of Towns on the basis of Population Size:

Census of India classifies urban centres into six classes,
Urban centre with a population of more than one lakh is called a city or class I town. Hence statement 1 is correct.
Cities accommodating population size between one to five million are called metropolitan cities and more than five million are mega cities. The majority of metropolitan and mega cities are urban Agglomerations. Hence statement 2 is not correct.
An urban agglomeration may consist of any one of the following three combinations:
- a town and its adjoining urban outgrowths,
- two or more contiguous towns with or without their outgrowths, and
- a city and one or more adjoining towns with their outgrowths together forming a contiguous spread.

Question 5:

Consider the following statement regarding urbanisation in India:

More than 50% of urban population lives in class 1 cities.
Greater Mumbai is the largest agglomeration among all urban agglomerations.
The growth rate of urbanisation has slowed down during the last two decades.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

1 and 2 only
2 and 3 only
3 and 1 only
1, 2 and 3

Correct Answer : D

Explanation

It is evident from Table: 4.5 that more than 60% of urban population in India lives in Class I towns. Hence statement 1 is correct.
- Out of 468 cities, 53 cities/ urban agglomerations are metropolitan cities.
- Six of them are mega cities with a population of over five million each. More than one-fifth
- (21.0%) of urban population lives in these mega cities.
Among them, Greater Mumbai is the largest agglomeration with 18.4 million people. Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad are other mega cities in the country. Hence statement 2 is correct.
The level of urbanisation is measured in terms of percentage of urban population to total population. The level of urbanisation in India in 2011 was 31.16%.
The total urban population has increased eleven-fold during the twentieth century. Enlargement of urban centres and emergence of new towns have played a significant role in the growth of urban population and urbanisation in the country.
But the growth rate of urbanisation has slowed down during the last two decades. Hence statement 3 is correct.