The paper begins with an analysis of the pattern of the loss in human development, estimated by UNDP in its Human Development Reports while computing the inequality adjusted indices for different countries, by grouping them into three categories, based on their levels of human development. A similar analysis is attempted by considering inequality linked losses in different states of India in the three dimensions of human development. An overview of the trend in a number of socio-economic indicators suggests that rural-urban gap is the most significant component of inequality in the Asian countries in general and in India, in particular. Also here, inequality in education and health are more serious than income inequality. There is no evidence that they account for a larger share of urban growth in Asian countries. Besides, there is already an excessive concentration of population in large cities. An overview of interrelations among select indicators suggests that urbanization, in general, is not being sustained up by economic growth. However, there is no evidence that urbanisation is associated with the destabilisation of agrarian economies and poverty. The low rate of urbanisation in recent years, despite a fairly high rate of growth in GDP in India can be linked to the capture of urban space by the upper and middle classes, resulting in exclusion of the poor from the migration stream. Rural welfare and poverty alleviation programmes have also contributed to this. All this questions the proposition that urban growth dynamics will shift to Asia or India in the next few decades.
