Srilata Sircar

The classification of 2 532 new settlements in the Census of India 2011 as 'urban', and specifically as 'Census Towns', has brought small and emerging urban centres back into the purview of urban studies and urban development in India. Taking this to be a point of entry, this article seeks to explore how the urban has been framed and approached from different and competing epistemolog-ical standpoints in the Indian context. First, it attempts to outline the different epistemologies of the urban in India, which may be seen as competing traditions because of the unequal stakes they have claimed so far in public and policy discourse. Then, it presents two brief case studies of Census Towns from the state of West Bengal to put forth new questions in this regard. The case studies illustrate significant gaps and discrepancies between the lived experience of the urban and its representation in dominant epistemological frameworks such as the official census. I argue that the historical development of various settlement systems, which constitutes the core narrative of urbanization in India, cannot be understood in all its complexity through mere census extracts or aerial images, but requires engagement with rich, embedded epistemologies that have taken shape within these settlements.

The subject of rural-urban migration in India and its close association with the question of rural development has been studied over a long period of time. Official data suggests that short-term migration is a rare phenomenon in India while several case studies from across the country reveal quite the opposite. This paper has attempted to identify some loopholes in the official data. It has further reviewed the existing literature and case studies to identify informal indebtedness as a prime motivation for temporary migration. On the whole, the paper seeks to explore the arenas and potential for future research on the theme of temporary rural-urban labour migration in the context of India.