54 SOCIAL SCIENTIST the emerging problems over time and approaches and policies formulated towards their solution. We intentionally do not bring in here the historic cities of Mohenjo-daro, Harappa. Pataliputra or VaranasL It is not to say that these cities did not experience urban phenomenon, or they did not have any urban problems. Since information on Indian towns and urban population significantly increased after the 1930s, we choose to examine the urban problems of today with a brief look at their relatively recent past. In Pre-Independence Days The emergence of the British and their rule over the country made India not only a colony with transhipment points around its peripheral coasts but also influenced the economy to a tremendous extent. The Industrial Revolution and its various innovations paved the way for the emergence of centres where the means of production were changed creating labour surplus in different transitional sectors and sub-sectors of the economy. During the colonial rule, "the tendencies of hierarchy and social and political cleavage tended to be reinforced by the interests of the colonial powers. Thus the major cities became the entrepots for the collection of the material resources of the nation. It may not be too much of an exaggeration to characterize the major cities during the colonial period as e( 'exploitative cities' geared specifically to funnelling valued resources from the country to the colonial power and the human resources enslaved or paid the lowest possible wage'5.2 Cities like Calcutta, Bombay, Madras became the prime cities which were also the seats of imported culture. These were the cities which characterized themselves with continuous industrial growth. How much the various location theories of economics determined the spatial distribution pattern of these industries is difficult to ascertain but one can be certain about the considerable role British polices played in helping them grow at certain points. Since 1901 Indian urban population has increased fourfold, reaching a figure of 109.1 millions in 1971 from 25.7 millons in 1901. During this period, migration to urban areas almost reflected a snowball effect and the Class I cities kept on swelling with incoming population. Of the total urban population 55.7 percent lived in the Class I towns in 1971, with 11.4 percent, 16.3 percent and 11.3 percent living in Cl^ss II, III and IV towns respectively. There,were 73 towns with a population of 200.000 and above the same year. Calcutta had the highest population of 7,031,000, followed by Bombay with 5,971,000 heads. Other towns with a descending order of population were Delhi, Madras, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Kanpur and Pune. These towns saw a considerable increase in their population over time posing urgent problems of "obviating the consequence of chaotic urban growth."3