Growth behaviour of Census Towns in Jalpaiguri district, West Bengal, India

The growth history of the Census Towns (CTs) of Jalpaiguri district shows the fact that there are no constant growth characteristics from the first decade of the CTs to the last few decades. Very slow, slow and negative growth rate of some CTs proves poor growth rate of district urbanization. But the past two decades, the growth rate is increasing due to the increase in the number of CTs of such a district. The 1961-1971 and 1971-1981 period was identified as a very slow growth period with negative growth of Alipurduar Railway Junction CT during the 1971-1981 decade. The period from 1981 to 2001 has been identified as a slow growth period due to the emergence of a few census towns (CTs). The number of CTs was increased from 7 in 1981 to 12 in 1991. The period from 2001 to 2011 has been considered a high growth period due to the emergence of several new Census Towns (CTs) over the past decade. The number of CTs was increased from 13 in 2001 to 35 in 2011. Using the different measurement tools, it was found that the Census Towns (CTs) experienced low growth and experienced significant to high growth percentage over time from inception to the last census.