Encircling Zone of Influence (Umland) of Sri Ganganagar City, Rajasthan

DRA ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2024 ON “SOCIO-ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES” Int. Jr. of Contemp. Res. in Multi. PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL Volume 4 [Special Issue 1] Year 2025 96 © 2025 Pratik Sharma, Dr. Shyam S Khinchi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY NC ND).https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Conference Paper Encircling Zone of Influence (Umland) of Sri Ganganagar City, Rajasthan Pratik Sharma 1*, Dr. Shyam S Khinchi 2 1 Research Scholar, Shri Jagdishprasad Jhabarmal Tibrewala University, Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan, India 2 Head and Professor, Department of Geography, Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar Govt. College, Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan, India Corresponding Author: *Pratik Sharma DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17966069 Abstract Manuscript Information The zone of influence or ‘Umland’ is an important term to express the inter-connection between the town and its surrounding rural settlements. The town in itself is not a self-sufficient unit but has to rely upon the surrounding rural areas for the supply of various essential supplies and raw materials. This interrelation is a key concept in urban geography. A town or city acts as a service centre for adjoining rural areas. Umland or zone of influence is an important indicator to understand the economic impact of towns or cities on their adjoining rural areas. There are two approaches to identify the umland of a city quantitative and a qualitative approach. In the qualitative approach, various service indicators are taken to identify umland, for example. Supply of food-grains, milk, circulation of newspapers, accessibility to secondary education, etc. In this study for analysing the zone of influence of Sri Ganganagar city, data is collected in two ways: one is interviews and surveys, and the other is distributing google-sheet by email. Supply of foodgrains, milk and vegetable supplies and circulation of newspaper is taken into account to analyze zone of influence in the above study. The zone of influence is evaluated based on various service indices. ▪ ISSN No: 2583-7397 ▪ Received: 12-12-2024 ▪ Accepted: 23-02-2025 ▪ Published: 26-03-2025 ▪ IJCRM:4(SP1); 2025:96-99 ▪ ©2025, All Rights Reserved ▪ Plagiarism Checked: Yes ▪ Peer Review Process: Yes How to Cite this Article Sharma P, Khinchi SS. Encircling Zone of Influence (Umland) of Sri Ganganagar City, Rajasthan. Int J Contemp Res Multidiscip. 2025;4(SP1):96-99. Access this Article Online www.multiarticlesjournal.com KEYWORDS: Zone of influence, Umland, Hinterland, Sri Ganganagar, Cityregions. DRA ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2024 ON “SOCIO-ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES” Int. Jr. of Contemp. Res. in Multi. PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL Volume 4 [Special Issue 1] Year 2025 97 © 2025 Pratik Sharma, Dr. Shyam S Khinchi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY NC ND).https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 1. INTRODUCTION Umland commands the surrounding zone of influence of an urban centre, i.e. city or town. Umland, zone of influence, urban hinterland, sphere of influence, catchment area, urban field, and city region are substitute words for Umland in geography. A city cannot sustain the life of its people by itself, but it should depend upon the surrounding countryside for its needs. A city or town acts as a service centre for its neighbouring countryside or villages. On the other hand, the city is dependent on neighbouring villages for its needs. There is a multi - directional exchange of goods and services between the city and the countryside. Therefore, the study of Umland is an important concept in economic geography. Dickinson has defined ‘Umland’ as the portion of an urban field that is nearest to the central place up to a distance of thirty - five Kilometers and is intimately associated with the daily life of the centre. Taylor has considered the Umland of a town as that portion of the surrounding country which is linked culturally with the town as a centre. The word ‘Umland’ with a geographical significance was first used by French geographer Andre Allix in 1914. Various geographers used different parameters for the study of the umland or zone of influence of an urban centre. Dickinson has used wholesaling, retailing, insurance, newspaper circulation, accessibility and other criteria in delimiting umland. Smailes used the various functions like retail trade, school, medical facilities, etc., for the study of the zone of influence of Ballymena town. In India, R.L. Singh has calculated the zone of influence of Banaras city on the basis of food grain supply, milk supply area, vegetable supply, high school service area and higher education area. Dwivedi has considered, in addition to the above-mentioned services, also studied bus service area, newspaper circulation and healthcare facilities. 2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE The study of the zone of influence has a long history. Many geographers have attempted it in a quantitative approach, while others followed a qualitative approach. Quantitative approach Prof. H.C. Carry (1858-59) tried to delimit the zone of influence between two cities based on the distance between the two cities and their respective populations. His model is known as the gravity model. 𝑖 = 𝑃1𝑃2 𝐷 Where, P1 = population of the bigger city centre P2 = population of the smaller city centre D = distance between two cities. Reilly (1931) proposed the Law of Retail Gravity, which is based on retail trade between two adjoining cities. Canvers (1949) puts forward the Breaking Point model, which is based on an intermediate point between two cities. In the Indian context, Prakash Rao (1961) has presented the study of the umland of Karnatka. Mahadev and Jayshankar (1969) used the Gravity Potential model to delimt umland of Mysore and Bengaluru. Qualitative Approach R.L. Singh (1955) [10] had identified the zone of influence of Banaras city on the basis of the supply of milk, vegetables and food-grains. Ujagar Singh (1961) identified six service indicators in delimiting the umland of Allahabad. Divedi (1964) delimited the zone of influence of Allahabad. While delimiting the Umland of Modinagar, Mukherji (2001) grouped the functions of the city into three groups. Selection of the Study Area Sri Ganganagar is the northernmost district of Rajasthan. It is a part of the Bikaner division of Rajasthan. Sri Ganganagar district extends from 28°40'N to 30°6'N latitudes and 72°30' E to 75°30'E longitudes. It borders the Fazilka district of Punjab in the north, Hanumangarh in the east, Bikaner in the south and the Bahawalpur district of Pakistan in the west. It is a wellplanned city of north – western Rajasthan. It is said to be influenced by the town planning of Paris. Its layout is divided into residential blocks and commercial blocks. The whole city reflects a checkerboard pattern. 3. METHODOLOGY The above study is based on various parameters approved by renowned geographers for the study of Umland or Zone of influence. The above study is based on food grain supply area, milk supply area, newspaper circulation and education facilities. The questionnaire method is used for the collection of data. Two different questionnaires are framed, one for the residents of the city and one for the residents of villages. These questionnaires were circulated in different colleges and schools of Sri Ganganagar city. A Google survey form was also drafted for the collection of data. Field survey and Personal interview method is also used for the collection of data. Identifying the Umland of Sri Ganganagar Each urban area is dependent upon nearby rural areas for the supplies of grains, vegetables, dairy products and so on. On the other hand urban area or a city acts as a market for a rural area. This interlinked system had great importance in urban geography. This concept is studied under the umland or zone of influence of the city. There are two approaches in the study of Umland: one is quantitative, and the other is qualitative. In this study, we have used the qualitative approach. A survey is conducted to identify the zone of influence of Sriganganagar through various techniques. Various indicators have been DRA ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2024 ON “SOCIO-ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES” Int. Jr. of Contemp. Res. in Multi. PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL Volume 4 [Special Issue 1] Year 2025 98 © 2025 Pratik Sharma, Dr. Shyam S Khinchi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY NC ND).https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ identified for determining the zone of influence. These are milk supply & vegetables, food grains, newspaper circulation and secondary education. The zone of influence is divided into four zones. Zone no.1 is based on milk and vegetables because milk and vegetable being perishable item can’t be transported to far distance. Therefore, it is identified as zone no.1. The other zone is based on the supply of food grains. Zone no.3 is based on newspaper circulation of Sri Ganganagar Sanskaran, whereas zone no.4 is based on the availability of secondary and college education. Zone No.1 Zone no.1 is based on the supply of milk and vegetables. The radius of this zone is the smallest in all directions. This zone is identified based on a survey of milkmen supplying milk in various colonies of the city. This zone covers 8-14 kms in the north upto Sadhuwali-Bhagsar villages. The north – western boundary of this zone can be taken as Koni – Fatuhi village, which is 20 kms from the city. The eastern boundary of this zone is about 18-24 kms. The eastern boundary of this zone is marked by the Banwali – Morjand Khari village. The western boundary of this zone is marked by Chunawadh – Sagarwala village, which is about 30 kms from the city. The southern boundary of this zone is marked by Manjhuwas village, which is about 30 kms from the city. The average radius of this zone would be 20 kms. Zone No.2 This zone is identified by the supply of food-grains to Krishi Uoaj Mandi, Sri Ganganagar. The demarcation of this zone is done by surveying in the Krishi Upaj Mandi and talking to various farmers individually. Another Krishi upaj mandi in the west would be Sri Karanpur and Padampur. The adjoining Krishi upaj mandi in eastern side would be Sadulsahar Mandi. The next Krishi mandi in the south is Suratgarh. Therefore, the largely administrative boundary of Sri Ganganagar Tehsil can be taken as the boundary of this zone. The northern boundary of this zone is 8-14 kms upto Sadhuwali – Bhagsar because beyond that administrative boundary of the Punjab state starts. The north – western boundary of this zone is upto Fatuhi – Hindumalkot villages, which is 32 kms from the city. The eastern boundary of this zone is marked by Chunawadh – Tatarsar village, which is about 25 kms from the city. The western boundary of this zone is upto Pakka Saharna village, which is 40 kms. The southern boundary of this zone is upto Kenchiyan – Sardarpura Bika village, which is 49 Kms from the city. The radius of zone no.2 is wider than that of zone no.1. Zone no.3 This zone is identified by the circulation of various newspapers. This zone is marked by the circulation of newspapers published in Sri Ganganagar. Various newspapers are published at Ganganagar, but two state-level renowned newspapers, Dainik Bhaskar (Sri Ganganagar Zilla sanskaran) and Rajasthan Patrika (Sri Ganganagar Zilla sanskaran), are identified for the study. These newspapers mainly cover Sri Ganganagar city, Suratgarh, Sadulsahar, Padampur, and Sri Karanpur. Therefore, its boundary would be 10 kms in the north, 53 kms in the northwest, 43 kms in the west, 35 kms in the east and 70 kms in the north. Hence, this zone covers a wider area. Zone no.4 This zone is based on Secondary and College education. As Ganganagar became the district headquarters in 1956 with the reunion of Rajasthan state therfore education facilities developed here much before other neighbouring districts like Hanumangarh and Anupgarh. Some of the leading schools and colleges situated here, like D.A.V School and College, Khalsa Shikshan Samiti and Bihani Shikshan Samiti, were set up much before independence. Currently, 2 medical colleges,4 nursing colleges,2 dental colleges,5 law colleges, 10 degree colleges, two engineering colleges and 3 polytechnic colleges are situated in the city. Besides this, more than 10 premier English -medium schools and hundreds of other schools are situated here. Therefore, students from neighbouring Hanumangarh, Anupgarh, Sri Karanpur, Padampur, Bijaynagar, Jaitsar, Gharsana, Rawla, Suratgarh, Nohar, Bhadra, and Abohar came here to study. This zone covers a vast distance and has a radius of 150 kms. In all directions. 4. CONCLUSION Umland or zone of influence is an important concept in urban Geography. It shows the economic significance of the region. The data collected helps subdivide the area. The taluka subdivision during the Mughal era was based on the economic interrelation of the adjoining areas. In the above study, various service indices have been used to encircle the umland of the territory. The radius of zone no.1 is the smallest because it is based on milk and vegetable supply, which are perishable items. The zone no.2 is wider than zone no.1, and the zone no. 3 covers the maximum area because the newspaper circulates in a wider space. The study showed that the zone of influence increases as we move from perishable items like milk and vegetables to specialised services like education and health. REFERENCES 1. Luo X, Luan W, Li Y, Xiong T. Coupling coordination analysis of urbanisation and the ecological environment based on urban functional zones. 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