NEW DELHI: India’s urban map is set to reflect the present day reality by capturing the existing facilities, as the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (ORGI) has shared a set of proforma with states and Union Territories (UTs) to update the changed composition of ‘Urban Agglomerations’ as part of soon to be launched exercise for Census -2027.
Officials said that the proforma issued by ORGI Mritunjay Kumar Narayan is designed in such a way to capture how urban centres across the country have expanded, merged or have been reclassified since the last Census benchmark in 2011.
Noting that the proforma circular was issued on August 22, the officials said, it contained the directives asking states and UTs to list “Urban Agglomerations (UA) of Census 2011, which will continue in Census 2027 without any jurisdictional change(s) after Census 2011”, to propose “Urban Agglomeration (UA) of Census 2011 proposed to be dropped for Census 2027”, and also to furnish “details of Town/Village/OG/Part OG of Census 2011, which has been merged with any of the units of the Urban Agglomeration after Census 2011”.
Each of the proformas asks the states and the UTs for standardised identifiers and context, including area in square kilometres and the relevant government notification or order in cases of mergers or jurisdictional changes, the officials said.
According to the proforma, cities whose footprints are unchanged since 2011 will be carried forward as-is, and where municipal limits have expanded or nearby census towns and urbanised village outgrowths have effectively fused into the city, the officials said, adding that those mergers “will be recorded against the relevant UA, supported by notification numbers and dates”.
Urban expansion in India routinely spills past municipal limits into adjoining towns and urbanised village segments. By requiring states to update UAs’ continuous urban spreads anchored by a statutory town and including adjoining outgrowths and nearby census towns, the Census aims to capture the functional footprint of cities rather than just their legal boundaries, they said.
New UA classification will help governments in planning for transport connectivity, housing, sanitation, and water systems and can shape eligibility or prioritisation under central and state urban schemes, the officials said, adding that asking states explicitly to list 2011 agglomerations will ensure better reflection of where people actually live and commute in the present day.