Old Census town criteria inadequate for India's urbanisation, Housing Ministry tells Parliament panel

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has told a parliamentary panel that the existing Census definition of towns, unchanged for four decades, fails to capture India's actual urbanisation patterns. The ministry cited the definition's inability to account for economic transformation, regional diversity and the growth of areas around major cities.

A parliamentary standing committee has called for wider consultations among states and stakeholders before any new criteria for classifying urban areas are finalised. The existing framework, the ministry indicated, does not reflect the ground reality of how cities and urban centres are evolving across the country.