Transport, population and urbanisation

Why it matters

A constable meets this topic on duty every day: highway and railway patrol (transport), crowds (population), and fast-growing towns and slums (urbanisation).

• Transport is the movement of people and goods by road, rail, water, air or pipeline.
• Population geography studies how many people live in a region, how they are spread (density), and who they are (sex ratio, literacy).
• Urbanisation is the rise in the share of a country's people who live in towns and cities.

In the Constable written test these appear as short factual questions in the Indian Geography part of General Studies ("Which port is a tidal port?", "What was India's sex ratio in Census 2011?"), and sometimes as a small calculation of sex ratio or density. They are quick marks if you know the facts and why they are so.

Core concept

Level 1 – Transport: the five modes

Roads

Roads give door-to-door service, are cheaper to build than railways, work in hilly areas, and act as feeders to stations, ports and airports. India has one of the world's largest road networks.

Type of road	Built and maintained by
National Highways	Central Government (Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, NHAI)
State Highways	State Government (Public Works Department)
District roads	Zila Parishad
Village roads	Panchayats; PMGSY (2000) gives villages all-weather roads
Border roads	Border Roads Organisation (BRO), set up in 1960

Important road projects:

• Golden Quadrilateral – about 5,846 km of highway linking the four metros Delhi – Mumbai – Chennai – Kolkata.
• North–South Corridor – Srinagar to Kanyakumari.
• East–West Corridor – Silchar (Assam) to Porbandar (Gujarat).
• NH 44 (Srinagar–Kanyakumari) is the longest National Highway.

Railways

Railways carry bulky goods (coal, iron ore, cement, foodgrains) and large numbers of passengers over long distances at a low cost per km.

• The first passenger train ran on 16 April 1853 from Bombay (Bori Bunder) to Thane, a distance of 34 km.

• Gauge is the distance between the two rails: broad gauge 1.676 m, metre gauge 1.000 m, narrow gauge 0.762 m or 0.610 m.

• Konkan Railway (fully opened in 1998) runs from Roha (Maharashtra) to Thokur near Mangaluru (Karnataka) through Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka, using many tunnels and bridges along the Western Ghats.

• Kolkata Metro (1984) was India's first metro railway.

Why is the rail network uneven? Railways need flat land. The Northern Plains are level and crowded, so the network is dense. The Himalayas, the Thar Desert and the hilly Northeast have few lines because tracks there are costly and demand is lower.

Waterways and ports

Water transport is the cheapest mode for heavy, bulky goods and causes less pollution. The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) was set up in 1986.

• NW-1: Ganga–Bhagirathi–Hooghly, Haldia to Prayagraj (Allahabad), 1,620 km – the longest.
• NW-2: Brahmaputra, Sadiya to Dhubri, 891 km.
• NW-3: West Coast Canal, Kottapuram to Kollam (Kerala), 205 km.

The National Waterways Act, 2016 raised the number of National Waterways to 111.

Important major ports:

• West coast: Kandla (Deendayal Port), Gujarat – a tidal port built after Partition to replace Karachi; Mumbai – largest natural harbour; Jawaharlal Nehru Port – built to ease Mumbai's load; Mormugao (Goa) and New Mangalore (Karnataka) – iron-ore export; Kochi – natural harbour at a lagoon mouth.
• East coast: Tuticorin (V.O. Chidambaranar) – natural harbour; Chennai – one of the oldest artificial ports; Kamarajar (Ennore) – built to ease Chennai's load; Paradip (Odisha) – iron-ore export; Kolkata (Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port) – riverine port on the Hooghly, with Haldia as its subsidiary.

Airways

Air transport is the fastest mode and the best for remote, hilly areas. It began in 1911 with an airmail flight of about 10 km between Allahabad and Naini. Airlines were nationalised in 1953, and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) was formed in 1995. Pawan Hans runs helicopter services, mainly for ONGC's offshore platforms and hilly areas. UDAN (2016) is the regional air connectivity scheme.

Pipelines

Pipelines carry crude oil, petroleum products and gas. The initial cost is high, but running cost is low and flow is continuous.

• HBJ gas pipeline: Hazira (Gujarat) – Bijaipur (Madhya Pradesh) – Jagdishpur (Uttar Pradesh).
• Salaya – Mathura crude oil pipeline: Gujarat to Uttar Pradesh.

Level 2 – Population: measures and Census facts

The Census counts every person in India once every ten years. It is a Union List subject, conducted under the Census Act, 1948 by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner (Ministry of Home Affairs).

• First census (not held everywhere at once): 1872. First synchronous census (whole country together): 1881.
• Census 2011 is the latest completed census. It was the 15th census overall and the 7th after Independence. The 2021 census was postponed.

Formulas you must know

• Density = Population ÷ Area (persons per sq km)
• Sex ratio (India) = (Females ÷ Males) × 1,000
• Literacy rate = (Literates aged 7+ ÷ Population aged 7+) × 100
• Decadal growth rate = (New population − Old population) ÷ Old population × 100
• Total Fertility Rate (TFR) = average children per woman in her lifetime; 2.1 = replacement level

A literate, as per the Census, is a person aged 7 years or above who can both read and write with understanding in any language.

Census 2011 at a glance

Item	India	Highest state	Lowest state
Population	about 121 crore (17.5% of world, 2.4% of land)	Uttar Pradesh	Sikkim
Density	382 per sq km	Bihar (1,106); Delhi UT over 11,000	Arunachal Pradesh (17)
Sex ratio	943	Kerala (1,084)	Haryana (879)
Literacy	74.04% (most quoted provisional figure)	Kerala (about 94%)	Bihar (about 62%)

Decadal growth in 2001–11 was about 17.7%. The child sex ratio (0–6 years) was below 920, lower than the overall ratio – a sign of fewer girls being born or surviving.

Why does density differ? People crowd where there is flat land, fertile soil, water and jobs – the Ganga plains and the coastal plains. They are few where there are high mountains, deserts or thick forests – Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh, western Rajasthan.

Four phases of population growth

Period	Phase	Reason
1901–1921	Stagnant	High births and high deaths (famines, epidemics); 1911–21 is the only decade with a fall
1921–1951	Steady growth	Better health care lowered deaths; 1921 = "year of the Great Divide"
1951–1981	Rapid ("population explosion")	Deaths fell fast; births stayed high
1981 onwards	High but slowing	Birth rate began to fall

India started the world's first national family planning programme in 1952. The National Population Policy 2000 aims at a stable population by 2045. According to NFHS-5 (2019–21), India's TFR is about 2.0, just below replacement level. World Population Day is 11 July. As per UN estimates, India became the world's most populous country in 2023.

Level 3 – Urbanisation: definitions and patterns

What is an urban place? The Census uses two kinds of towns:

1. Statutory town – any place with a municipal corporation, municipality, cantonment board or notified town area committee.
2. Census town – a place that meets all three conditions:
   • population of at least 5,000;
   • at least 75% of the male main workers in non-farm work;
   • density of at least 400 persons per sq km.

An urban agglomeration (UA) is a continuous urban spread: a town with its outgrowths, or two or more towns that touch each other.

The Census groups towns into six classes by size; a Class I town has 1,00,000 people or more, and a million-plus city has at least 10 lakh.

Census 2011 urban facts

• About 31% of Indians lived in towns; there were 53 million-plus cities / UAs.
• Largest UAs: Greater Mumbai, then Delhi, then Kolkata – each above 1 crore.
• Most urbanised state: Goa (about 62%); among big states, Tamil Nadu. Least urbanised state: Himachal Pradesh (about 10%). Delhi (UT) is about 97% urban.

Urbanisation vs urban growth. If a town's population rises but the village population rises even faster, urban growth happens while urbanisation (the share) can fall. Exams sometimes test this difference.

Why do people move to cities? Push factors in villages (lack of jobs, poor farming income, few schools and hospitals) and pull factors in cities (jobs, wages, education, services). Men migrate mostly for work; for women, the main reason for migration is marriage.

Problems of fast urbanisation: slums (Dharavi in Mumbai is one of Asia's largest), traffic jams, water shortage, waste, pollution and crime. Government responses include Swachh Bharat Mission (2014), Smart Cities Mission (2015, 100 cities), AMRUT (2015) and PMAY-Urban (2015).

Towns by main function: industrial (Jamshedpur), mining (Jharia), garrison (Mhow), religious (Varanasi), tourist (Shimla). Chandigarh, designed by Le Corbusier, is India's best-known planned city.

Worked examples

Example 1 – Sex ratio. A town has 52,000 males and 49,400 females. Find its sex ratio.
Sex ratio = (49,400 ÷ 52,000) × 1,000 = 0.95 × 1,000 = 950 females per 1,000 males.

Example 2 – Density. A district has a population of 18,00,000 and an area of 4,500 sq km.
Density = 18,00,000 ÷ 4,500 = 400 persons per sq km. (Shortcut: cancel two zeros first – 18,000 ÷ 45 = 400.)

Example 3 – Decadal growth. A village had 80,000 people in 2001 and 92,000 in 2011.
Growth = (92,000 − 80,000) ÷ 80,000 × 100 = 12,000 ÷ 80,000 × 100 = 15%.

Example 4 – Is it a census town?

• Place A: 6,200 people, density 520 per sq km, 80% of male main workers in shops and small factories → passes all three tests → census town.
• Place B: 4,800 people, density 600, 90% non-farm male workers → fails the 5,000 test → not a census town (it would be urban only if it had a municipality).

Example 5 – Fact to question. "Porbandar is the western end of which corridor?" You know the East–West Corridor runs from Silchar to Porbandar, so that is the answer. Reject "Golden Quadrilateral" – Porbandar is not a metro city.

Real-world connection

• Highways and railways are where much police work happens: accident response on National Highways and Government Railway Police at stations.
• Density and urbanisation explain why city police stations handle far more cases and crowds than rural ones.
• Census data guides where new schools, hospitals and police stations are opened.

How it is asked in the exam

You have about 54 seconds per question. With no negative marking, never leave a blank – eliminate and guess.

Formats seen in this kind of paper:

1. Direct fact – "The first passenger train in India ran between ___." (10–15 seconds.)
2. Match the following – ports with states, waterways with rivers, corridors with end points.
3. Statement-based – "Which of the statements given above is/are correct?"
4. Odd one out – "Which is NOT on the Golden Quadrilateral: Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai?"
5. Small calculation – sex ratio, density or growth rate.

Difficulty levels

• Easy: one fact – "Which state had the highest sex ratio in 2011?" (Kerala).
• Medium: a calculation – "60,000 males and 57,000 females; sex ratio?" (950).
• Hard: statement pairs or near-miss options – 943 versus 940 and 933, or an urban place with no municipality.

తెలుగు సారాంశం (Telugu summary)

రవాణా అంటే మనుషులను, సరుకులను ఒక చోటు నుంచి మరో చోటుకు తరలించడం. రోడ్లు, రైల్వేలు, జలమార్గాలు, వాయుమార్గాలు, పైప్‌లైన్లు దీని ఐదు ప్రధాన రూపాలు.
భారతదేశంలో మొదటి ప్రయాణికుల రైలు 1853లో బొంబాయి నుంచి థానే వరకు (34 కి.మీ.) నడిచింది. బ్రాడ్ గేజ్ వెడల్పు 1.676 మీటర్లు.
స్వర్ణ చతుర్భుజి ఢిల్లీ, ముంబై, చెన్నై, కోల్‌కతా నగరాలను కలుపుతుంది. ఉత్తర–దక్షిణ కారిడార్ శ్రీనగర్ నుంచి కన్యాకుమారి వరకు, తూర్పు–పడమర కారిడార్ సిల్చార్ నుంచి పోర్‌బందర్ వరకు ఉంటాయి.
జాతీయ జలమార్గం-1 గంగా నదిపై హల్దియా నుంచి ప్రయాగ్‌రాజ్ వరకు 1,620 కి.మీ. పొడవు ఉంది. కాండ్లా ఒక టైడల్ ఓడరేవు, కోల్‌కతా నదీ ఓడరేవు.
జనాభా లెక్కలు ప్రతి పది సంవత్సరాలకు ఒకసారి జరుగుతాయి. చివరిగా పూర్తయినది 2011 జనగణన.
2011 ప్రకారం దేశ జనాభా సుమారు 121 కోట్లు, జనసాంద్రత చదరపు కిలోమీటరుకు 382, లింగ నిష్పత్తి 943, అక్షరాస్యత 74.04 శాతం.
లింగ నిష్పత్తి అంటే ప్రతి 1000 మంది పురుషులకు ఉన్న స్త్రీల సంఖ్య. కేరళలో ఇది అత్యధికం, హర్యానాలో అత్యల్పం.
పట్టణీకరణ అంటే పట్టణాల్లో నివసించే ప్రజల శాతం పెరగడం. 2011లో ఇది సుమారు 31 శాతం.
జనగణన పట్టణం కావాలంటే కనీసం 5,000 జనాభా, 75 శాతం పురుష ప్రధాన కార్మికులు వ్యవసాయేతర పనుల్లో ఉండాలి, జనసాంద్రత చదరపు కిలోమీటరుకు కనీసం 400 ఉండాలి.

Key terms (English — తెలుగు)

• Transport — రవాణా
• National Highway — జాతీయ రహదారి
• Railway gauge — రైలు పట్టాల మధ్య దూరం (గేజ్)
• Port — ఓడరేవు
• Census — జనాభా లెక్కలు (జనగణన)
• Population density — జనసాంద్రత
• Sex ratio — లింగ నిష్పత్తి
• Literacy rate — అక్షరాస్యత రేటు
• Urbanisation — పట్టణీకరణ
• Census town — జనగణన పట్టణం
• Migration — వలస
• Slum — మురికివాడ