OCR A GCSE Geography Similarities and Differences

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The city started experiencing ribbon development along the transportation corridors with poor quality dwellings. Many of the public open spaces and river banks were occupied by migrants. A large number of huts were erected without any supporting infrastructural facilities. Establishment of industries in some areas fostered the growth of many more slums and squatter houses in their vicinity. In spite of many physical developmental schemes undertaken by the government, the slums became an unavoidable part of the city. Thus, the layout of Rajkot, which was well planned in the grid-iron pattern with some open spaces as lungs and a river bank water-front, started decaying with the emergence of slums. Presence of squatter settlements made the city areas over-crowded, polluted the environment and deteriorated the standards of living of the people. The slums in Rajkot are experiencing a faster growth rate than that of the city and many times that of the provision of facilities. There were 24 slums with 4927 households in Rajkot in 1972-73. At present, there are 74 slums with 28,000 households. This indicates an increase of 468 per cent in slum population in just twenty-five years. The population in the slums varies from one locality to another. Religion and caste play an important role in the social structure of the Rajkot slums. This is normal from the nomenclature itself. Certain slum pockets are known by the caste of its inhabitants. The majority (almost 90 per cent) of the slum dwellers are Hindus, the remaining being Muslims & Christians. In Rajkot slums, children below school going age form 8.91 per cent and older children (above 6 years) form 3.67 per cent of the total population. The age group 5-17 pre-dominantly consist of school going children and account for 22.7 per cent of the total population. Primary and secondary education is free of cost. Rajkot Municipal Corporation runs 95 schools with Naga