Correspondent
With 69%, Nagaland recorded the highest decadal growth of urban population in the country as against the national growth rate of 21%.
The proportion of urban population in 1971 was only 10% of the State’s total population, which reached 17.21% in 1991 and jumped to 28.97% in 2011.
However, as per the 2011 census, the distribution of urban population was not uniform in the State, with the concentration being higher in few towns like Kohima and Dimapur that alone accounted for more than 55% of the State’s total urban population.
Migration from rural to urban areas has contributed largely to the rapid growth of urban population in the State. In 1981, the urban population of the State was 1.2 lakh, which raced to 3.5 lakh in 2001.
This population migration has seriously impacted the environment, besides causing stress on the limited urban services and infrastructure, leading to spike in urban poverty and unemployment. From 2001 to 2011, the population of Dimapur increased by more than 59 and of Kohima by 56%.
Now, experts fear that if urban population continue to increase at the current rate, especially in Kohima and Dimapur, the towns and cities will be infested with problems of congestion in two to three decades and urban resources will be under huge pressure.
And in the absence of adequate supply of basic urban amenities, all the prevailing urban socio-economic, political and health issues, including pollution and drinking water shortage, will only multiply, they contend.
Meanwhile, the 2011 revealed that agriculture employed more than 70% of Nagaland’s population. However, with the migration of rural population to urban areas over the years, the farming community is slowly diminishing and there has been a decline in agricultural production and area.
Confirming this, head of Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) of Tseminyu and Kohima Dr Ruokuovilie Mezhatsu told Nagaland Post that manpower was the ultimate factor that was responsible for low agriculture produce.
While agricultural mechanisation tools were available, he said only few of them were feasible in Nagaland due to its hilly terrain.