BHUBANESWAR: Orissa continues to live in its rural heartland. The pace of urbanisation has been slow, just about 16.68 per cent during the decade 2001-11. However, comparatively it is marginally higher as the decade 1991-2001 had seen a growth of 14.99 per cent . The rural-urban distribution in Orissa, which was released by the Directorate of Census on Monday, shows that there has been slow growth in the profile of urban centres. The number of towns has increased from 138 in 2001 to 223 but there has been no rise in the number of statutory towns over the decade. The number of census towns showed a rise from 31 to 116. While a place with a corporation or a municipality or a cantonment board or an NAC is designated as statutory town, a place with a minimum population of 5,000 and 75 per cent male workers engaged in non-agriculture pursuits is a census town. In comparison, a rural area is qualified by a revenue village notification of the Revenue Department. As per the provisional figures of Census 2011, the number of villages has showed a marginal decline over the last decade - from 51,349 in 2001 to 51,313 in 2011. Population comparison between the two decades shows that rural population rose in the State but at a declining rate. From 3,12,87,422 in 2001, it grew to 3,49,51,243. However, the pace, in keeping with the overall population growth, had seen a decline from a little over 14 per cent to 11.71 per cent. In case of urban Orissa, however, the fall in growth rate was faster. The 30.28 per cent rate of growth in 1991-2001 saw it declining to 26.80 per cent during 2001-2011. The urban population, meanwhile, stands at 69,96,124 against 55,17,128 in 2001. Rural population, as per the Census, is pegged at 83.32 per cent of the total, recording a steady yet slow decline from 85 per cent in 2001. The urban population, which constitutes 16.68 per cent in 2011, registered a rise of 1.69 per cent over the decade. According to Director, Census Operations, Orissa, Bishnupada Sethi, Boudh district has the highest rural population of 95.35 per cent whereas Khurda, as expected, has the highest urban population at 48.11 per cent. In terms of growth among districts, Balangir showed the highest growth in rural population rate (22.7 per cent), while Nayagarh showed the highest population growth (at 115.09 per cent) among urban areas. The growth in urban population is attributed to migration, natural increase and more areas being designated as urban. At least six districts showed a 40 per cent-plus growth in urban population. The districts are Nayagarh, Jajpur, Kandhamal, Nabarangpur, Bargarh and Malkangiri. A comparison shows that in 1901, 97.53 per cent population of Orissa was in rural pockets. By 1951, the percentage had fallen marginally to 95.94 per cent. Now it stands at 83.32 per cent.
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