India's Villagers Flock to the Cities

The quintessential Indian village, eulogized in Bollywood movies and Indian folklore as a Utopian vision, is fast turning into a liability for millions of the country's rural poor, who are migrating to the cities in an effort to create a better life.

In 1951, India's urban population was 62 million, 17 percent of the country's total. By 2011, it had shot…