Question

Answer the following question:

Explain the characteristics of rural settlements.

Answer 1

• Based on functions, settlements can be divided into two types - rural and urban.
• Agriculture and allied agricultural activities like fishing, livestock rearing, lumbering, etc., are the most economic activities in rural areas.
• The classification of land use in rural areas is done according to the Land Records Department.
• As per Land Records Department, the land in rural areas is mainly used for agriculture-related activities, such as some land under agriculture, some under permanent pastures and grazing lands or some under tree crops or culturable waste-land or fallow land, etc.
• Most rural settlements are semi-clustered or fragmented and small in size.
• Primary activities like agriculture, lumbering, fishing, and livestock rearing are more developed in rural settlements.
• In rural areas, sometimes agricultural areas are converted into residential or industrial areas.
• Many people in rural areas commute daily to city areas for work. Thus, rural and urban areas are connected.
• There is an area between rural and urban areas called the rural-urban fringe. Rural settlements are beyond the rural-urban fringe.