12 Chapter 4
12 Chapter 4
12 Chapter 4
4.1 Introduction
longitudes at the northern part of one of the smallest states of India, Aizawl is the
administrative capital of the state of Mizoram. The city derived its name from a
combination of two Mizo words, ‘Ai’ meaning Aidu (Amomum dealbatum) and ‘zawl’
meaning ‘flat’. It may mean a piece of flatland where Aidu grows. Presently, the place
from where Aizawl derives its name is located near Raj Bhavan - the official
Aizawl is the primate city of Mizoram. It comprises 26.89 per cent of the
entire population of the state. In 2011, the population of Aizawl was 293,416 and
classified as a class I city as per the Census of India classification of urban centres.
The city is administered by Aizawl Municipal Council (AMC). In 2011, there were 19
Municipal wards under the AMC which altogether comprises 82 Local Councils
(LCs). These Local Councils, previously known as Village Councils (VCs) are the
lowest administrative units. Each Local Council is locally known as Veng. However,
it is to be noted that the term veng has more meaning than a mere administrative
within the territory of veng. Throughout the book, terms like veng, locality and
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Figure 4.1 Location of Aizawl City.
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Figure 4.2 Locations of Local Councils, Aizawl City.
Code Local Council Code Local Council Code Local Council Code Local Council
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4.2 Growth of Aizawl City
Britishers who invaded (or pacified in colonial parlance) the Mizos and subsequently
occupied their homeland to prevent them from invading their neighbouring tea estates.
The Aizawl outpost consists of a military barrack and a few bungalows only. The
personnel only. With increasing migration from the surrounding areas, the outpost
The population of Aizawl increased rapidly after the British occupation from
perceived the Aizawl outpost as an enclave. To restraint the increasing native people
around the fortified outposts, the colonial administrators imposed two methods of
kind of tax known as ‘Personal Residence Surcharge’ (PRS). The number of houses
was fixed for each locality. The following Table 4.1 gives the number of houses
permitted in each locality amounting to a total 722 houses within the settlement.
Thakthing veng which is presently a small locality was permitted the highest number
of houses while Maubawk was permitted only 20 houses. Although there were a few
government quarters at Babutlang, Zarkawt, the area was not considered as residential
area at the time. Apart from these localities, there were residential areas like Sriman
Tilla (Present Zotlang), Dokhama veng (present Bungkawn), Survey Tilla (present
Hmarkaii Nu Veng and Suklala Veng at the present Chanmari West. No Mizo houses
was found in the first four localities but were occupied by the immigrant Gorkhalis
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(McCall, 1950:101). As such, number of permitted house was not earmarked for these
localities. By this time, the population of Aizawl was a little higher than 3000 only.
The personal residence surcharge (PRS) was introduced only in Aizawl (Fort
Aijal) and Lunglei (Fort Lungleh) – the headquarters of North Lushai Hills and South
Lushai Hills respectively. The main objective of the system was “to control and
discourage settlement around Aijal and Lungleh” (McCall, 1980:78). The colonial
migration to these two settlements would increase reduction of forest through shifting
cultivation and consequent decline of rainfall and accelerated denudation. The tax was
not levied to government employees. The government also exempted the permanent
staff of the Welsh Mission at Mission Veng from payment of PRS although the
number of houses was fixed at 82 by mutual agreement between the two parties.
The occupation of Aijal by the British introduced not only a new kind of
political and economy system, it also created a new form of residential pattern
markedly different from the native settlements. Firstly, segregation was observed. The
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colonizers fenced their residences and barracks to separate them from the local people
out of fear of death or invaliding from epidemic and other contagious diseases.
Fenced residences were provided with proper drainage, ventilated housing, better
sewage disposal and water supply. All these provisions were made to reduce the risk
of infection from native diseases like malaria and other contagious diseases. It is
argued that fear of catching native diseases provided a pretext for segregation in
The case of the missionaries was different. For the missionaries, it was
unthinkable to segregate themselves from the local people whom they have to
befriend and proselytize. However, they maintained strict regulation on Mission Veng
which they set up as their headquarters after buying from the chief of Tlangnuam.
They maintained that houses should be kept apart by 75 foot distance and every
household should have toilet and domestication of animal was not allowed. The
intention of the missionaries was to keep their backyard clean and to prevent native
diseases from spreading. Mission veng may be considered as the only locality which
population. During 1951-1991, the decadal growth rates of Aizawl had continuously
number of factors may be attributed to the high growth rates witnessed during this
period. Firstly, with the Independence of India in 1945, the strict migration control
policy imposed by the Colonial Raj came to an end. This resulted in uncontrolled
push-pull factors.
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Table 4.2 Growth of Population, Aizawl City, 1901-2011.
Figure 4.3 Growth of Aizawl City (Source: Town and Country Planning Wing (2002),
Government of Mizoram).
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Secondly, a state-wide insurgency happened between 1966 and 1986. During
the 20 years of insurgency, Aizawl received a large number of ‘war refugees’. This
resulted in large-scale migration to the relatively safer Aizawl town out of fear of
violence, better economic opportunities and quality of life in the growing city.
Thirdly, the upgradation of Mizo Hills District Council into Union Territory in 1972
was highly significant in the process of urbanization. With the attainment of Union
Territory, the power and functions of the local government increased manifold which
1981 was spectacular. The decadal growth rates were 122.35 per cent and 134.70 per
cent during 1961-1971 and 1971-1981 respectively. Apart from these, outlying
villages were subsequently incorporated within the city proper. In 1982, the number
1980s. During 1981-1991, the decadal growth rate was reduced to 108.39 from 134.69
in the preceding decade. After the 1990s, the growth rate has declined abruptly to
47.05 during 1991-2001. The growth rate went down further to 28.56 during 2001-
2011. It seems that the pull factors of the city has been waning with increasing
1998 may also contributed in reduction of inflow of internal migrants from other
places.
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(a) A View of Northern Part of Aizawl City from Pi Hangi Lunglentlang, Durtlang
Leitan.
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The rapid urbanization in the post-Independence era has led to the
proliferation of housing units at less favourable sites like pre-uninhabited low lying or
very steep sloping surfaces as well as at more favourable sites in the peripheral areas
of the city. Peripheral settlements were gradually incorporated into the city while
existing localities were divided into multiple localities as less favourable sites in these
dominate the skyline of the inner city to accommodate the increasing population.
locations are avoided for human settlements although poorer people are usually
also have significant impacts upon the well-being and quality of life of the residents.
Being the southernmost part of the Patkai Hills of the Eastern Himalaya,
Mizoram or in geographical term, the ‘Lushai Hills’ comprises of many hills. The
crests of these hills have been the abode of the early Mizo settlers the reasons of
which may be a number of factors mainly due to health and defensive reasons.
Pachuau (2010) has maintained that the configuration of land surface, climate, water
basis of location viz. settlement on the hilltops and hill-slope, settlement along the
watershed, settlement along the main road and settlement along the river. He also
mentioned that about 50 per cent of the total settlements in Mizoram are situated on
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hilltop and hill-slopes. Aizawl city is also a hilltop settlement, resting on the crest of a
Two relief maps have been prepared to show the spatial variations of altitude
and slope of the entire city. The raw data for these maps were obtained from the
satellites and the process of ‘Digital Elevation Model’ (DEM) was carried out to
As shown in Figure 4.4 below, the entire city of Aizawl is classified into 5
altitudinal areas viz. very high, high, medium, low and very low altitudinal areas by
applying equal interval method of classification. The highest class with above 1200
meters occupies an area of 2.26 per cent of the total geographical area of 97 km2. On
the other hand, an area of 0.39 km2 that constitute 0.41 per cent of the total area is
classified under the lowest group (below 300 m). Half of the city’s geographical area
lies within the height of 600 to 900 meters and is classified as medium altitudinal
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Figure 4.4 Altitude Map of Aizawl City.
From Figure 4.4, it may be observed that an elongated ridge cuts across the entire city
into western and eastern parts. This is the main ridge on the crest of which the most
important road in the city is running through. Some ridges extend from the main ridge
in the western and eastern directions. Low altitudinal places (below 600 m) are
normally found at the peripheries. The highest points are found at the most northern
part of the city. Although the city’s landscape is distinctly defined by the elongated
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Aizawl Tlang (Hill) from which the city takes its name, the city may be described as
‘City of Hillocks’ as it comprises a number of small hills. Some of the more important
Slope is another important aspect of relief. The city is divided again into five
zones on the basis of degree of slope viz. very steep slope with more than 40 , steep
slope (30-39.9 ), moderate slope (20-29.9 ), gradual slope (10-19.9 ) and gentle slope
(>9.9 ) as shown in Figure 4.5. Very steep and steep sloping surfaces constitute 20.71
per cent of the total area while 40.58 per cent comes under less than 20 slope.
Many parts of the city are steeply sloping surfaces and they look like
uninhabitable areas. In the past, steep hill-slopes and low lying areas are usually
avoided. However, due to population pressure, even the most steeply sloping surfaces
occur on these steeply sloped terrains during rainy season when excessive Monsoon
rain falls on the relatively young and immature geology of the Mizo Hills.
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Figure 4.5 Slope Map of Aizawl City.
occurs during Monsoon in some parts of the city. Tectonically, the region is a product
of prolonged subduction of the Indian plate into the Asian plate. As a result, the
geology is unstable and the region is one of the most earthquake-prone regions of the
country.
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4.3.2 Climate
In spite of its tropical location, Aizawl city enjoys a pleasant and moderate
temperature throughout the year due to its altitude and forest. The climate is
maximum and minimum temperature of Aizawl ranges between 26.3°C in April and
11.4°C in January during 1937 and 1992. Local climatic condition does not differ
secondary data and the difficulty to ascertain micro-climatic differences at small area,
has been observed that valleys and low-altitudinal places are relatively warmer and
more humid in comparison to hilltops. They were considered less healthy due to
has allowed man to overcome limitations imposed by nature and people started to
Table 4.5 Mean Monthly Temperature and Rainfall, Aizawl City, 1937-1992.
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Seasonal distribution of rainfall affects the quality of life and environment in a
number of ways. Mizoram receives heavy excessive rainfall during Monsoon season
that lasts for 6 months while very little rainfall has been received during the remaining
6 months. The average annual rainfall in the city is 2350.9 mm. out of which 60-70
per cent falls during the Monsoon period. The marked seasonal variation in rainfall
distribution has heavily affected the domestic water supply. For domestic use, the city
is almost wholly depending upon Tlawng River which is the longest river system in
the State that runs along the western side of the city. Normally, the volume of the
river heavily declines during the last months of dry season. A number of city dwellers
are forced to buy water from private sellers while many low income households have
to depend on public water springs. The public-owned springs are not found in every
locality but mainly available in the lower reaches of the hill-slopes. In any case,
people have to wait for a long time to fill up their buckets during extreme dry months.
Cities are built on land and the nature of land on which the city is founded
may determine the layout of the city. They layout of a plain city may be different
from the layout of a hill city due to difference in the nature of land. Moreover, the
location and characteristics of land influence the value of the land which in turn
affects residential choice. Hilltops are more preferred and more valued than hill-
slopes and valley floors. The values of hill-slopes may also vary depending upon the
degree of slopes.
Land is a highly valued and scarce resource in Aizawl city mainly due to
availability of a few good and suitable lands for housing. Land use is directly related
to land value. A particular land use may increase or decrease the value of the land. It
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also affects the quality of the natural environment, with impacts on air quality, water
quality, water supply, the costs of natural hazards such as flooding and earthquakes,
the probabilities of hazards including flooding, and the functioning of terrestrial and
determinants of urban land-use and land-cover. Again, LISS-III images from Indian
Remote Satellite (IRS) have been used to obtain raster data of land-use/land-cover.
These raw data were processed through supervised classification in Erdas Imagine
Forest covers as large as 68.52 per cent of the total geographical areas of the
city. The physical environment including climate and topography is highly suitable
for natural vegetation. High proportion of forest cover may be attributed to the
topography of the city and the gradual incorporation of peripheral localities within the
ambit of municipal area. Very steep sloping areas with rocky surfaces are not suitable
for housing and are normally come under scrub or open forest depending on the
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Dense forests are found at the low-lying, unpopulated peripheral areas. In
hilly-tropical areas, the undergrowths of forests are thickly covered by plants and
shrubs which provide an ideal home for poisonous insects and malarial parasites. As a
result, the importance of green spaces like natural parks and forested areas has been
climate and water flows, a lot of preservation of forest and reforestation works has
been taken out by local people as exemplified in the case of dense forest in Pachunga
Built-up area concentrated along the main ridge of the city which is the also
the most densely populated part of the city. Generally, built-up areas coincide with the
crest of the hills and the hill-slopes. Roadways are usually constructed at the crest of
the hills in which settlements are usually set up. New settlements may come up after
construction of roadways.
commercial land-use and residential land-use is rather difficult because shops and
markets are usually found together with residential dwellings at the same building.
The geographical areas covered by industrial and recreational land-uses are almost
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Figure 4.6 Land-use/Land Cover Map of Aizawl City.
pattern and quality of life. In a traditional Mizo context, land belonged to the Chief
while the commoners have free access to every pocket of land except the Jhum field
a village, the Chief’s house usually sited at the most accessible, good view-point,
usually flat hilltop which was surrounded by the houses of the chief’s councilors. The
common people were allotted the hill-slopes and less favourable sites. In bigger
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villages, there were a number of localities or veng which were differentiated on basis
The disruption of the traditional culture of the Mizo society after the British
economy has led to the opening of land to the market. After Independence, Village
villages on behalf of the government. The village council has the right to allocate land
for residential purposes. The government issued Land Settlement Certificate (LSC) to
those who obtained village council pass for holding the land. In this way, land
valued immoveable property. The value of land has been sky-rocketing in bigger
towns. The poorer section of the population could not afford to buy a parcel of land in
the more accessible locations. Here, there is a continuity of the past traditional
residential pattern. The richer section occupies the central areas and the poorer section
moves to the peripheries. The richer people utilize their advantageous position and
locational advantage by obtaining and accumulating land and also inventing in their
flourishing commercial activities and increasing population. This kind of process may
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4.5 Transportation Network
quality of people’s life. Generally, the best locations in the city are the most
accessible locations. In fact, transport network is an important factor that affects land
values within a city. In western cities, the ‘flight to the suburbs’ happened as a result
suburbs failed to develop in less developed hill cities like Aizawl city due to
the city. The most important route runs along the North-South direction at the crest of
the main ridge of the city. This route - Bawngkawn to Kulikawn route (B-K route)
connects the most important sites of economic, social and political institutions. Land
value is the highest along this B-K route. Other important routes which are connected
to B-K routes include Vaivakawn to Temple road which meets B-K route at Temple
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square, Vaivakawn to Chanmari road at Chanmari veng, College Veng to Republic
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Traffic congestion is one of the most challenging problems faced by the city.
Roads are usually narrow and congested. Absence of land-use planning, rampant
growth of vehicles, narrow roads and maximum utilization of space along prominent
transport routes have combined to create the city as one of the least inaccessible cities
in the country. The quality of life of urban dwellers and the livability of the city have
The city has been witnessing expansion of residential areas along existing or
new transport routes and vacant areas nearby existing neighbourhoods which were not
determining residential choice. Therefore, unfavourable sites nearby markets and high
status residential areas are gradually inhabited. These sites could be obtained at a very
Cities are the focal points of regional growth and development. The immature
process of development in the state has been lopsided and highly imbalanced in
favour of Aizawl city. It has been argued that the increasing accumulation of
resources by the city due to sustained favouritism has been creating discontentment
among the lower towns thereby producing serious repercussions in the political
measures of development. From Table 4.8, the urbanization effect may be observed as
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the percentage shares of both cultivator and agricultural labour have been declining
consistently during 1981-2011. On the other hand, the proportion of ‘other workers’
transport, factory, plantation and mining and construction etc has been increasing
from 80.97 per cent to 91.79 per cent during the same period.
The above data clearly reflects the economy of the city as well as the regional
economy that has been witnessing the decline of traditional economy and the rise of
overwhelming share of ‘other workers’ may also reflect the status of the city as the
It may be seen that work participation rate (WPR) has increased tremendously
from 32.91 per cent to 45.40 per cent during 1981-1991 but has also declined rapidly
to 40.78 per cent in 2001-2011. Female work participation rate has shown a positive
trend until 2001 but also declined considerably during 2001-2011. The declining work
participation rate after 1991 census may indicate the problem of unemployment which
is one of the most acute problems in the state. The city attracts many unemployed
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youths from various corners of the state. Many of them are educated people who seek
blue collar jobs while there are also skilled and semi-skilled job seekers who want to
live out of unproductive ‘Shifting or Jhum cultivation’ and hope to earn a living in
Large-scale rural-urban migration is one of the main reasons behind the rapid
growth rate of Aizawl city. The city also attracts manual workers from its
informal and service sectors as porters, construction workers, barbers etc. Without
migrants are few and the city’s population is dominated by the local Mizo tribe. A
number of tribes belonging to Mizo-Kuki-Chin group from outside Mizoram are also
settled. These people have their own dialect but they also speak the local Lusei dialect
and by and large, socio-spatially assimilated into the Mizo mainstream. Besides, many
of them are not permanently settled but short-term migrants due to employment and
other reasons.
The ethnic homogeneity has been maintained due to internal and external
forces that keep the entire state isolated from the rest of the country. The remoteness
of the state in terms of location and distance, low level of industrialization and the
failure of the state to integrate in the globalizing world could be considered as the
main reasons behind the economic isolation and ethnic homogeneity. An important
explanation may be the presence of legislative provisions like ‘Inner Line Regulation’
and those land laws that barred non-local people to obtain or purchase land within the
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State. Thus, while most of the cities throughout the world are tending towards
heterogeneity, Aizawl has shown the opposite by increasing the proportion of the
tribal population who are mostly local people. From Table 4.9, it may be seen that the
during 1981-2011 while the Scheduled Castes population (SC_P) and those who are
neither Scheduled Caste nor Scheduled Tribes hereby denoted as ‘General’ population
In terms of social development measures, Aizawl city has set a high standard
among its contemporary cities in India. Literacy rate is relatively high with 98.36 per
cent of the total population considered literate. It has increased from 76.45 per cent in
1981. On the other hand, average size of household has been decreasing as
size decreased from 5.91 to 4.83. Decreasing household size may imply fragmentation
of households which in turn lead to increasing demand for housing. It may also imply
the decline of traditional lifestyle in which large family size was equated with honour
and prestige.
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Table 4.10 General Socio-Economic Characteristics of Aizawl City, 1981-2011.
Female literacy rate is almost equal to male literacy rate. Sex ratio is also
considerably high with 975 females per 1000 males. The gap between female work
participation rate and total work participation rate is also decreasing as shown in
Table 4.10. Females are involved in almost all kinds of work except in transport and
related sectors. On the other hand, they dominate trade and commercial activities. All
these indicate the presence of low level of gender discrimination, if not absent at all.
development; and, frequently, are used by politicians to create dissension and strife
(Weightman, 2011). Christian population constitutes 87 per cent of the total Mizoram
are the Presbyterian Church and the Baptist Church which dominated the northern and
southern parts of Mizoram respectively. Being located in the northern Mizoram, the
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most dominant denomination in Aizawl City is the Presbyterian Church. Non-local
residents are either Hindus or Muslims while some of them are converted to
Christianity.
The present condition of Aizawl city reflects the absence of planning. There
was no proper physical planning except the minimal planning taken out by the
Missionaries at Mission Veng. The most visible characteristics of the city including
stepped footpaths, absence of sidewalks along major roads, absence or limited spaces
between two adjacent buildings etc are good indicators of absence of planning. As a
places. There are no available spaces for establishment of parks and leisure places
within the city proper. The costs of construction and widening of existing roads would
be very high. The future of quality of life in the city seems to be very bleak.
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