Strengthening rural-urban linkages for inclusive urban development

Urbanization is rapidly reshaping the world, with over half the global population residing in urban areas. This trend is projected to continue, reaching around 66% by 2050, predominantly in developing nations. In line with this global trend, India is also undergoing a substantial urbanization phenomenon, as evidenced by the fact that 33% of its population currently resides in urban areas. Experts project that this figure will escalate to 50% by 2050. In these perspectives, the paper attempts to make an insightful study of urbanization, its trends in some selected states of India, rural-urban linkages, etc., with the help of secondary data sources. The paper explores the interdependencies, flows of goods and services, labor markets, and value chains between rural and urban regions, providing recommendations for achieving sustainable and inclusive urbanization.