Essay on Attractions of City Life – The city is a centre of attraction. From its very inception the city has been attracting a large number of people especially from the rural areas.
After the outbreak of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th Century this trend has been intensified. Various factors have made the rural people to flock to the cities. Of these two factors are significant the ‘push’ factor, and (ii) the ‘pull’ factor. The ‘pull’ factor refers to the attractions of the city.
The city is pulling people from various corners towards its nucleus. The rural people who are faced with various economic problems, burdened with a large number of children, bored with the monotony of the routine life, and attracted by the glamour of the city, have started moving towards the cities.
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The city is tempting the rural people with its employment opportunities, educational facilities, medical facilities, recreational facilities such as-movies, dramas, night clubs, cabarets, gambling centres, horse race, library, public parks, museums, orchestra, zoo, circus shows, etc.
In comparison with the village, the city provides ample opportunities for personal advancement. The city is a centre of brisk economic, commercial, artistic, literary, political, educational, technological, scientific and other activities.
The rural people who come in contact with the city for a brief spell of time get themselves impressed by its appearance, glamour, comfort and luxuries. They are likely to develop rosy imaginations of the luxuries of the city life. They have come to believe that money-making is easier in the city.
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The city men and women, their dresses, fashions, habits, styles, tastes, interests, intelligence, talents, comforts, luxuries, etc., have great impact on the rural people. As a result, they have started flocking towards the cities in a big number. This has contributed to the process of urbanisation. Urbanisation resulted in urban concentration on the one hand and rural depopulation, on the other.
Urbanisation in India:
An agrarian country like India is also undergoing the process of urbanisation. The number and the size of the cities are increasing in India. In 1901, there were only 25 cities in India each with a population of one lakh or over. By 1960 there were 107 such cities in our nation. In 1971, there were 768; major towns each with a population of 20,000 or over.
At present, 11 major cities are there in India each with a population of one million or over. Calcutta is the biggest city having a population of 92 lakhs (according to the 1981 census) followed by other cities such as Mumbai (82 Lakhs), Delhi (52 Lakhs), Chennai (43 Lakhs), Bangalore (29 Lakhs), Hyderabad (26 Lakhs), Ahmadabad (25 Lakhs), Kanpur (17 Lakhs), Pune (17 Lakhs), Nagpur (13 Lakhs), Lucknow and Jaipur (10 Lakhs each). Bangalore is one of the fastest growing cities of the world.