GeoMag

L AY E R S O F E M E R G I N G I N D I A

SUHAN SHAH

LAYERS OF EMERGING INDIA

The Limpopo River All images by Matthew Duggleby, Divisions, Year 10

In modern, emerging India, there are three core layers in the transition from urban to rural areas. Firstly, the well developed and completely industrialised cities, come together to form ‘Metro India’, including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad. The second layer is industrialising cities and towns, which mostly consist of state capitals; these are mostly known as ‘India-Bharat’ cities. The third and final layer is ‘Bharat’, this layer mainly consists of all the agricultural parts of the country. To be able to understand and influence the country’s future, we must understand what connects them and what divides them and how the politics and economics work. In the first layer, we start with Metro India. This is the vast majority of Indians, who use the internet for work, to study and aspire to work in transnational corporations; they are quite heavily interacted in the westernised world. Another massive influence is the Anglo-phone Western population, with whom Metro India share a common language and a diasporic population. Many people suggest that the west is the main and primary inspiration of Metro India’s own future but also the long-term vision of India’s future. The role of the media has reinforced the idea that India consists of simply Metro India; these locations could be excellent settings to shoot a nice movie or to convey some heart-breaking news story, but there is much more to the India. ‘India-Bharat’ covers a much larger physical area than Metro India. It encompasses diverse places. Much of India Bharat, especially in the south and west, is booming. This layer of India is benefiting from an increase in urbanisation, a huge upgrade in the development of the infrastructure and an explosion in media, mainly large forms of social media, television and to a lesser extent in print through newspapers. The media is more of a regional source of information than a national one. Political involvement is much deeper than Metro India, but the inspiration of the future is derived from Metro India. Understandably, India Bharat is in a transition phase between Metro India and Bharat. Thirdly, Bharat covers a vast majority of the country, both in size and in population. Its material and social condition

Temple, India Dhylan Halai

32 | Geographical Magazine • Merchant Taylors’ School

2021/22 Edition | 33