India, Oct. 23 -- A parliamentary standing committee has called for a review of India's criteria for identifying urban areas, highlighting that one of the existing tests relies only on the share of male workers in non-agricultural employment and does not adequately reflect women's participation in the economy.

The panel has also flagged that while the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (ORGI) received the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs' (MoHUA) February 23, 2024 Office Memorandum and deemed the proposed regional relaxations to be non-objective, the ORGI never communicated this finding back to MoHUA or asked them to furnish objective criteria.

The Standing Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs also p...