India’s urbanization differs markedly from that of the more developed regions.While urban growth in the more developed regions is slowing down, India’surbanization is moving with a speedy pace. India has been facing a serious problemof the rapid rise of population since the last seven decades. The huge size of urbanpopulation population has reached nearly 400 million now, while until the nineteenthcentury no developed country had a population of more than 100 million. Only a few metropolises dominate the remainder of the country so excessivelythat they prevent other parts from developing, causing increasing regionalimbalance. The rapidly increasing population requires a commensurate increasein the number of jobs in urban areas, if this population is not to starve or bereduced to total dependence. The expansion in the industrial sector of the economyhas lagged far behind the population growth. This has resulted in increasingunemployment, slums, deterioration in urban living, crime, political tension, povertyand similar other problems. It appears that India is likely to confront still greaterurban problems in future. With the hasty rise of population the quality of life inbig cities has deteriorated quite significant.

Urbanization of Dibrugarh, a town in Assam.

This volume presents a comprehensive study of the urbanization of Bengal from ancient to postcolonial times. It analyses the notion of urban space, examines the institutions which constitute the ‘urban’, and explores the crises brought about by the Partition. The book highlights the key features of urbanization in colonial Bengal––the print culture, institutions of Western education and Western medicine, and the census as a ‘modern form of knowledge’. It also looks at the refugee movement and discusses the contribution of Partition refugees in urbanizing Bengal. Rich in archival sources, this book will be indispensable for scholars and researchers of urban history, urban studies, Indian history, colonial history, postcolonial studies, partition studies, and South Asian history, particularly those interested in Bengal.