Towns and villages differ from each other where their functions are concerned. Villages are mainly associated with production related to agricultural activities. The surplus is used by the villages in exchange for other commodities, which they themselves do not produce, from other villages or towns. The village, accessible to all others, generally becomes the focal point for exchange of commodities. This village generally develops into a town. Once a town comes up, it acquires one or more of the functions depending on a number of factors.
The hierarchy of these functions is discussed below:
1. Processing:
Processing is one of the most basic functions of a town and involves processing of agricultural products, for instance, wheat into wheat flour and oilseeds into oil. The most easily accessible village generally becomes the processing centre. This may have been the reason for the emergence of the earliest towns.
2. Trade:
After processing, the next level of towns are associated with trade. The towns act as the centres for exchange of processed items or manufactured goods between two or more places. These markets may operate on a daily or weekly basis. Weekly markets are a common feature throughout India. These centres may also specialise in one or more items such as fruits and vegetables, cattle and food-grains.
3. Wholesale Trade in Agricultural Products:
Towns engaging in wholesale trade in agricultural products for the next high level in functional pattern of towns. Transport facility is a crucial factor in such towns. These towns generally fulfill processing functions also. Later, they may develop manufacturing and other services also.
They are generally small in size and dispersed, often specialising in one commodity or the other. For instance, Hapur is a wholesale centre for food-grains, Ahmedabad and Tiruppur for cotton, Sangli and Erode for turmeric, Bangalore for silk and Guntur for tobacco.
4. Services:
In towns, services like education, health, administration and communication, not adequately available in villages, are well- developed. Of all these functions, administration is the most important one. A town may be the headquarters of a panchayat union, a state cooperative or a district. Administrative towns also have law courts, police stations, government departments associated with developmental works, etc. Chandigarh is a good example of an administrative town.