Latest: Need for a unified urbanisation plan

Need for a unified urbanisation plan

The Union Budget, Economic Survey and Finance Commission recognise that India is urbanising across a rural-urban continuum. Yet Census 2027 will use the 2011 definitions, deepening the undercount of urban India; a National Urbanisation Policy can recognise this gap and build the institutional and fiscal mechanisms to bridge it

India’s 2027 Census, happening after 16 years, will classify a settlement as urban if it is either notified by a State as a statutory town or meets three census-town criteria | Photo Credit: Getty Images India’s 2027 Census, happening after 16 years, will classify a settlement as urban if it is either notified by a State as a statutory town or meets three census-town criteria: a population of at least 5,000, a density of at least 400 persons per sq km, and at least 75% of male workers engaged in non-agricultural work. Everything else will be counted as rural.This preserves comparability across Census years, but it also means the Census will measure urban India with a yardstick that our own economic and fiscal institutions have begun to move beyond.

Published - November 04, 2026 07:00 am IST