UPSC Mains 2024 GS1 Q5: model answer
Why do large cities tend to attract more migrants than smaller towns? Discuss in the light of conditions in developing countries.
What the question wants
Pull factors of big cities over small towns in developing countries, plus consequences.
How to structure it
Intro: urbanisation in developing countries concentrates in a few big cities. Body: (1) Why big cities attract more: Jobs, Higher wages, Networks, Services; (2) Conditions in developing countries. Conclusion: Strengthening small and medium towns through industrial corridors and the Smart Cities and AMRUT missions can.
- 1(1) Why big cities attract more: Jobs, Higher wages, Networks, Services
- 2(2) Conditions in developing countries
Model answer
In developing countries, migration flows mostly towards a few big cities: Mumbai, Delhi, Lagos, Dhaka, São Paulo. Smaller towns grow far more slowly.
Why big cities attract more
- Jobs: agglomeration of industry and services; a large informal sector absorbs unskilled workers.
- Higher wages than in villages or small towns.
- Networks: earlier migrants from the same village or caste help with housing and work.
- Services: better schools, hospitals, colleges.
- Anonymity and freedom: escape from caste and gender restrictions.
- Investment bias: capitals and ports get more public and private investment.
Conditions in developing countries
- Agricultural distress pushes people out; small towns lack industry to absorb them.
- Urban primacy: one city dominates the urban system.
- Result: slums (about a sixth of urban India's population in the 2011 Census lived in slums), congestion and pressure on services.
Strengthening small and medium towns through industrial corridors and the Smart Cities and AMRUT missions can spread growth more evenly.
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
agglomeration informal sector migrant networks urban primacy slums
Where most answers lose marks
- Generic push-pull without the developing-country angle.
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Question text as printed in the official UPSC question paper: https://www.upsc.gov.in/sites/default/files/QP_CSM_2024_GenStud_I_03102024.pdf The model answer is original Battle IAS work; use it to learn structure, not to memorise.