“God made the country And man made the town.”
(W. Cowper)
Urbanization means a constant drift of population from the villages towords the cities and towns. There is a clear cut difference between life in rural and urban areas. As the poet says life in villages is natural and simple. On the other hand, it is artificial and showy in towns and cities.
The whole world is confronted with the problem of urbanization. It is more acute and problematic in agricultural countries like Pakistan. In Pakistan about 70% people live in villages. The villagers are simple and easy going. They work and toil on the fields. Their life is hard. The rustics live in clusters of mud built and thatched houses or huts. Life in villages in monotonous, unchanging and charmless.
The villagers are generally poor, uneducated. They do not know rules of health and hygiene. Most of them are conservative. The modern means of amusement and recreation like T.V., Radio, Parks, sports etc. are unknown to them. Majority: of them does not get clean drinking water. Most of the villages have no schools, no hospitals no means of transport and no: electricity. They live and die in squalor and poverty.
They see some brights days during harvest seasons. After the harvest they are unemployed and hard pressed. These are the reasons for their migration to the towns and cities. Most of them come in search of jobs, service and employment. As they are uneducated, they work in cities as servants and maids. Most of them are self- employed. They become hawkers and vendors; many of them become laborers.
They settle in far-flung colonies and huddle in one room. They have no amenities of life. Some sleep on the footpaths, verandas or under trees. The worst victims of urbanization are Karachi, Hyderabad, Lahore and Pindi. Urbanization creates great problems for the city dwellers and the government. Life is full of pulls and push. It résults in ruralization of towns.
Over-crowding of cities has created many social and economic Problems for the government. Transport, water problem, housing, cleanliness and poor public services are some of them. Urbanization has also resulted in road accidents and law and order situation. Illegal settlements, unauthorized water connections, in lawful electric connections and gutter lines and bribery are common complaints. Break-down of public services is another problem.
If the government wishes to check and stop preying of man on men, it must control urbanization by law. It mars the beauty of whole city lite
