Growth of cities in North-East India

The present paper tries to investigate the association between the selected urban facilities and the increasing dominance of Class-I cities over lower order towns (Census of India, 2001) and also attempts to show the growth patterns of towns and cities (Census of India, 1901 to 2001) in the North East Region of India. The study found that availability of urban amenities such as good electrification, medical facilities, recreation, cultural facilities etc. play significant role in attracting people to migrate to urban centers that lead to increasing dominance of Class-I cities. There is a remarkable differences exist  between states in  terms of number of towns and cities and their growth pattern reveals the high regional inequality nature of urban centers that  is the main feature of North East Region of the country. Over the years, while continuous growth of urban population prevails in Class-I cities, the concentration of population in medium and small towns fluctuated or decline. The number of urban centers grows from 16 to 245 during 1901 to 2001, and majority of towns became Class-I cities by 2001 Census. Assam gained the largest number of Class-I cities compared to other states in the region.