International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture(IJIRSSC) Vol: 2, Issue:1, (June Issue), 2016 ISSN: (P) 2395-4345, (O) 2455-2909 © IJIRSSC

Demographic Structure and Changing Pattern of Muslim People in of : A Case Study

Nasrin Sultana Ahmed Department of Geography, Lakhimpur Girls’ College, Lakhimpur- 787031, Assam,

ABSTRACT : Population is the most essential factor for the development of an area. Geographic study of population is currently assuming great significance. Most of the economic, socio-cultural, political and environmental aspects of any area are directly and indirectly associated with demographic structure. Changes and variations in different components of demographic character, viz. birth rate, death rate and migration among the community may bring significant changes in the growth pattern, age-sex composition, marital status, dependency ratio, etc. Similarly age and sex composition determines the future pattern of fertility, mortality and migration and condition of future demographic trends. The present study is an attempt to analyze the present demographic structure and changes found in last 20 years in a sampled village (Sensowa) of Lakhimpur district, Assam. Due to increase in the number of educated persons in the village, the number of population is decreased now a day. This study was based on both primary and secondary data. Simple statistical methods were used to compare the demographic changes found in the last 20 years.

Keywords: Changing pattern, Demographic structure, Fertility, Mortality, Population.

______I. Introduction:

Population or a demographic structure of a particular region forms an important component in the process of socio-economic development. Muslims constitute the second ranking religious community accounting for 14.23 percent of the country’s population. Muslim witnesses sharp fall in growth rate to 24.60% (2001- 2011) from 29.3% (1991- 2001) for the country, (Census-2011). Assam has a diversified population composition and a long history of cultural co-existence and communal harmony and also they had made massive contribution to the various fields. Assamese Muslims are integral part of the society of Assam. According to 2011 Census of Assam experienced 34.2% of Muslim population. The highest Muslim population was found in district with 15.5 lakh population compared to 3.88 lakh Hindus. Literacy and educational attainment of a female or a person is one of the most important factors which affect on demographic structure. There is a relation between literacy rates of women to rate of fertility. If the literacy rate is more the fertility rate will be less and vice-versa. Immigration has always been a major contributing factor to the exceptionally high growth of population in the state. The pervasive impact of unabated immigration on www.ijirssc.in Page 157

International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture(IJIRSSC) Vol: 2, Issue:1, (June Issue), 2016 ISSN: (P) 2395-4345, (O) 2455-2909 © IJIRSSC demographic, economic, socio-cultural patterns is quite apparent (Bhagabati, Kar, , 2007, p. 109). According to the population census of Assam, 2011 Lakhimpur district had a population of 10,42,137. Out of which the male and female were 5,29,674 and 5, 12,463, respectively. It constituted 3.34% of total population of Assam. The total Muslim population of Lakhimpur district is 1,93,476 which is 18.57% of the total population of the district. The area selected for the study was Sensowa village of Lakhimpur district, Assam 7 Km away from North Lakhimpur town. The village is well connected with the nearby Lakhimpur town and other adjacent villages with metalled and non-metalled roads. The total population of the village was reported to be 254 and the number of household is 50. The village has one major community i.e. Muslims. There are two groups found among the Muslim of the village, indigenous and immigrant. The indigenous group has a greater conformity with the majority of the population of the village. “Sayed” and “Goria” are the two social groups named among indigenous Muslim

II. Objectives of the Study: The present study has been undertaken with the following aims and objectives- 1. To analyze the demographic structure of the Muslim people in the study area. 2. To explore the changing pattern of demographic characteristics in this study area. 3. To study the relationship between education and fertility of the Muslim household in this study area.

III.Methodology: This study was based on the primary data collected through field survey and secondary data collected from various government sources. Individual observation was also considered. This study was undertaken in Sensowa village of Lakhimpur district of Assam. All the households were surveyed and the “Gaonburha” (village chief) was also interviewed. A questionnaire was used to generate the data regarding demographic structure- birth rate, death rate, age of death, age composition, sex composition, dependency ratio, marital age. The secondary data regarding demography were obtained from Census, 2011 and various government sources. The primary data were thoroughly checked, processed using simple statistical techniques and finally represented using suitable tables and diagrams. The demographic characteristics of Muslim people of this village were depending on literacy. Higher the literacy rate lowers the birth rate. Out of the total households in the Sensowa village 50 numbers of houses were surveyed in which 254 respondents were interviewed.

IV. Results and Discussion: Geographical outline of the study area

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International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture(IJIRSSC) Vol: 2, Issue:1, (June Issue), 2016 ISSN: (P) 2395-4345, (O) 2455-2909 © IJIRSSC

District Lakhimpur was selected for the present study. t is situated on the orth- ast cover of ssam. he district lies between 2 4 and 2 3 latitude and 3 42 and 4 2 ’ longitude (approximate). Lakhimpur district is one of the administrative districts of Assam and the headquarter is situated at North Lakhimpur. This district is bounded on the north by Siang and Papuan Pare district of Arunachal Pradesh and on the east by district and Subansiri River. sub-division of District on the southern side and Gohpur sub-division of is covering the west side. Lakhimpur District covers an area of 2,277 sq. km. (Census Report, 2011).

Demographic structure Birth Rate

The birth rate during the last 20 years was found to be 73 in total population of 254. Birth rate was 287.40 per 1000 out of which 32 (43.8%) male child and 41 (56.16%) were female.

Table 1: Birth rate of Sensowa village and their male and female percentage.

Sex No of Birth Percentage Male 32 43.8 Female 41 56.16 Note: Source- Field survey

Death Rate With compare to the birth rate, the death rate was lower. The death rate of the village during the last 20 years was found to be 9 in 254 which would be 35.43 in 1000 accounted 3 (33.3%) female and 6 (66.6%) were male. Table 2: Percent death rate of Sensowa village of Lakhimpur district of Assam.

Sex No of Death Percentage Male 6 66.6 Female 3 33.3 Note: Source- Field survey

80 Total 60 Male 40 Female

% % 20 0 Birth rate Death rate

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International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture(IJIRSSC) Vol: 2, Issue:1, (June Issue), 2016 ISSN: (P) 2395-4345, (O) 2455-2909 © IJIRSSC

Fig. 1: Percent birth rate and death rate for male, female and total death rate. Note: Source- Field survey

Age of Death:

The high age of death was found in the village. This was found the age of 46-60, where among 3, 2 were male deaths category and 1 was female category.

Table 3: Age of death individual in Sensowa village.

Age Strength Percentage Male Female 0-5 1 11.1 1 0 6-25 2 22.2 1 1 26-45 1 11.1 0 1 46-60 3 33.3 2 1 Above 60 2 22.2 2 0 Note: Source- Field survey

35 30 25 Percentage 20 15 Male 10 Female 5 0

Population strenght strenght Population 0-5 6 25 26Age-45 46-60 Above 60

Fig. 2: Age wise death percent of Sensowa village. Note: Source- Field survey.

Age Composition: The age composition of the village was found to be different. Among the age groups of the people the age between 15-50 years have the highest percentage with 55.11%. The age group between 0-14 was found 23.62 % and above 50 was 21.25 %. Table 4: Age Composition in Sensowa village

Age Strength Percentage Sex Sex % Male Female Male Female 0-14 60 23.62 38 22 63.3 36.6 15-50 140 55.11 50 90 35.7 64.2 ABOVE 50 54 21.25 29 25 53.7 46.2 Note: Source- Field survey www.ijirssc.in Page 160

International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture(IJIRSSC) Vol: 2, Issue:1, (June Issue), 2016 ISSN: (P) 2395-4345, (O) 2455-2909 © IJIRSSC

70 Total 60

50 Male% 40

30 Female % 20

10 % composition % 0 0-14 15-50 Above 50 Age

Fig 3: Percent age composition of Sensowa village. Note: Source- Field survey.

Sex Composition: The sex composition in the village was different from the other areas of the district. The female was the high in number rather than male population. In the survey, out of the total 254 respondents 117 were male respondents and 137 were female respondents. 137 female were recorded against 117 male which showed a male female ratio of 1000: 1171. This is a very good indication for social justice for girl child.

Table 5: Sex composition in Sensowa village.

Sex Sex in percentage Male Female Male Female 117 137 46.06 53.93 Note: Source- Field survey.

Sex composition

Female Male 46% 53.9%

Fig. 4: Sex composition of Sensowa village. Note: Source- Field survey. www.ijirssc.in Page 161

International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture(IJIRSSC) Vol: 2, Issue:1, (June Issue), 2016 ISSN: (P) 2395-4345, (O) 2455-2909 © IJIRSSC

Age of Marriage: The population or the birth rate is related with the age of marriage. Where the age of marriage is low the fertility and the birth rate is high. Most of the people in this surveyed area have the age of marriage above 20. More than 80% of people in this age of marriage, including 50 are male and 43 are female. Most of the people which have their age of marriage at 20 or above all are literate. Only the few uneducated people of the old age of the village have their marriage at the age of 12-15. But now these peoples are not supported to the low age of marriage, where their children’s are married at the age above 2 or 2 . At the age of 16-20 the no of people is 18, where 8 are male others are female, accounting 15.5% of the total married population of the village. Most of the people marriages at this age are all above 18 years. Age of marriage was done in three age section; 12-15, 16-20, and above 20.

Table 6: Marriage age of Muslim people of Sensowa village.

Age Number Male Female % 12-15 5 2 3 4.3 16-20 18 8 10 15.5 Above 20 93 50 43 80.1 Note: Source- Field survey

100

80

60 Total number

40 Male Female % Marriage% 20

0 12 15 16-20 Above 20 Age

Fig. 5: Age of marriage of Muslim people of Sensowa village. Note: Source- Primary survey

Education and fertility: Education and fertility have been found to be negatively correlated (Chandna, 2009, p. 162). The level of educational attainment is also significant. Lower educational level has very little impact on fertility. Chatterjee (1979, p. 123) observed that the fertility of women with only primary education is sometimes greater than that of illiterate women. It is only at the www.ijirssc.in Page 162

International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture(IJIRSSC) Vol: 2, Issue:1, (June Issue), 2016 ISSN: (P) 2395-4345, (O) 2455-2909 © IJIRSSC secondary level of education that the female’s education begins to play an effective role (Agarwala, 1977, p. 150). The pattern of educational attainment among the people including new born babies to the old aged persons of this village, which is different from male to female. The highest percentage is found in the high school level where some are attaining schools and some are leave their education in the high school level. Among the 51 high school attainders the female is highest in the high school level. Some middle aged women are attained high school level. n illiterate including the new born child’s and few are the old aged persons where 10 is male and 17 are female. In the primary level 13 persons are male and 26 are female. Among the M.E school attainder 8 are male and 22 are female where the male is too less than female. In the matriculation level among the 49 persons 26 are male and 23 are female. In the H.S level among the 31 attainders 20 male and 11 are female. Among the 24 people of graduation level 13 are male and 11 are female. Very few masters are found in this village, where only 3 persons are masters which 2 are male and 1 is female. Only in the primary, M.E, high school level have the highest female than male population where the illiterate is also high than the male. Besides in the matriculation level, female is only few percent less than the male population. The pattern of educational attainment was observed as below-

Table 7: Educational attainment of the Muslim people in Sensowa village.

Educational level Strength Percentage Male Female Illiterate 27 10.62 10 17 Primary 39 15.35 13 26 M. E 30 11.81 8 22 High 51 20.07 23 28 Matriculattion 49 19.29 26 23 H.S 31 12.20 20 11 Graduation 24 9.44 13 11 Masters 3 1.18 2 1 Note: Source- Field survey.

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International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture(IJIRSSC) Vol: 2, Issue:1, (June Issue), 2016 ISSN: (P) 2395-4345, (O) 2455-2909 © IJIRSSC

60 Strength 50 Male

40 Female

30

20

10 % educational attainment educational % 0

Fig 6: Educational attainment of the people in Sensowa village. Note: Source- Field survey.

Education of the earlier generation: The education of the earlier generation of this village area was low. The female literate is very low where now the female literate of the present population is almost equal to the male population. Female population of the early age of this village was held early marriages and they does not goes to school for formal education, they only learn the Arabic language to read and write as the need of the Muslim society. They were gone to the ‘Madrassa’ for their learning of rabic literature and other religious work like ‘ amaz’, recitation of ‘Quran’ etc. he males were also gone to this ‘Madrassa’. Most of the earlier generation of this village is agriculture dependent and they are males and females are work in the agricultural field from their childhood rather than they go to school for education. Only the 10 percent of female in the earlier generation was literate, which was very less comparing to the new generation female literacy. Besides with comparing the females male educated was high, which were 90 percent distributed only in the economically strong families of this village. The education of the earlier generation of the respondent’s family’s are-

Table 8: Education of the earlier generation

Literacy No of Male No of Female Male in % Female in %

Literate 24 5 48 10

Illiterate 26 45 52 90

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International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture(IJIRSSC) Vol: 2, Issue:1, (June Issue), 2016 ISSN: (P) 2395-4345, (O) 2455-2909 © IJIRSSC

Note: Source- Field survey.

Table 9: Relation between literacy and fertility

Year Literacy rate Literacy % Birth rate Birth rate %

1995-2005 29 58 129 50.78

2005-2015 254 89.4 56 22

Note: Source- Field survey.

Above table 10 shows that the literacy rate and the birth rate is correlated. At the year between1995-2005 the literacy level was low, where the higher birth rate was found. And in the year 2005-2015 the higher literacy was found, where the birth rate shows only 22 percent. From this relation between education and fertility we may say that higher the literacy rate lowered the birth rate and lower the literacy rate higher the birth rate.

300

250

200

150 Literacy rate

100 Birth rate

50

0 1995-2005 2005-2015

Fig. 7: Relation between Education and Fertility. Note: Source- Field survey.

Demographic Change : Birth Rate The changing pattern of birth rate in the village is found in the last 20 years. In the last 10 years the birth rate is coming down 129 to 56 total births, which were 507.87 to 220.47 per 1000 population. It is decreased more than half of the total birth rate in the year 1992-2002. This is only because of the high educational attainment of the village people especially the women of the village. The socio-economic condition was also developed in this village; therefore the birth rate is decreased during the last 10 years. Table 10: Changing pattern of birth rate

Year Total Birth Rate Percentage Per 1000 www.ijirssc.in Page 165

International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture(IJIRSSC) Vol: 2, Issue:1, (June Issue), 2016 ISSN: (P) 2395-4345, (O) 2455-2909 © IJIRSSC

1995-2005 129 50.78 507.87 2005-2015 56 22.04 220.47

600 500 400 Total birth 300 Percentage 200 Per 1000 people 100 0 1995-2005 2005-2015

Fig 8: Changing pattern of birth rate of Sensowa village. Note: Source- Field survey.

Death Rate: The last 20 years death rate in the village Sensowa is found 35.43 per thousand populations. The death rate is also decrease in the last 10 year, which was 5 percent in the year 1995-2005 and in the year 2015 it is less than 3 percent due to the socio-economic development of the villagers.

Table 11: Changing Death Rate of Sensowa village

Year No of deaths in the village Percentage Per 1000 Population 1992-2002 14 5.51 55.11 2002-2012 6 2.36 23.62 Note: Source- Field survey.

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International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture(IJIRSSC) Vol: 2, Issue:1, (June Issue), 2016 ISSN: (P) 2395-4345, (O) 2455-2909 © IJIRSSC

Fig. 9: Changing death rate of the village. Note: Source- Field survey.

Age of Death: he age of death among the Muslim population of ssam is found as the country’s Muslim population. The infant child mortality is high among the immigrant Muslim population of Assam which has low economic status. The life expectancy of the village people have 60 years and above. At the earlier time it was low but now the increasing medical facilities have increased the life expectancy of people.

Sex Ratio: The sex ratio is low among the Muslims of Assam. But it increases in the last few decades. The sex ratio is low in some areas where sex selective migration was found. But in the surveying village, the sex ratio is high. Here the number of female per 1000 male is 1170.94, which is higher than the states sex ratio of the Muslim population. This is a very good sign for this village. The male population is less in number of this village, where the death rate is high than the female, which is due to lower life expectancy of the male than the female population whole over the world.

Age of Marriage: The age of marriage is comparatively low among the Muslims particularly the females. At the earlier time there was low educational attainment of the Muslim females rather than males, therefore they are married at the low age of below 18 years. But now the educational level has increase which influence on the decrease of low age of marriage among the Muslims. The age of marriage is seemed to be different in the last two decade in the surveying village.

V. Conclusion: The findings of the study and the conclusions there of are presented as follows- 1. The high birth rate is found among the females of the village which is 287.40 per 1000 population. 2. The death rate among the Muslim people of the village is seemed to be low, which is 35.43 per 1000 population. The male mortality is higher than the female. 3. The sex-ratio among the Muslim people of the village is balanced than that of the other places of Assam. The sex-ratio is 1170.94. This is primarily because of the equal status of the females with that of males and among the Muslim couples in the village. 4. The life expectancy of the village people is seemed to be medium to high and the death at the infancy level is low where only 1 male child is found. 5. The age of marriage of the people in the surveyed village is above 20. At the earlier time the age of marriage was low which was below 18 years.

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International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture(IJIRSSC) Vol: 2, Issue:1, (June Issue), 2016 ISSN: (P) 2395-4345, (O) 2455-2909 © IJIRSSC

6. Most of the people in the surveyed village are at the age between 15-50 years, which is 55.11 percent. This is a good sign for the village because higher working force leads to the economic and social development. 7. The fertility rate in the surveyed village is negatively correlated with literacy. This is also a good sign for the demography of the region.

References : [1] Chandna, R.C. (2009). Geography of Population. Kalyani Publishers. [2] Census of India (2011): Assam Primary Census Abstract, Director of Census Operation. [3] Bhagabati, A.K., Bora, A.K., Kar, B.K. (2001). Geography of Assam, Rajesh Publications New Delhi. [4] Chatterjee, P. K. (1979). Aspects of Human Fertily: A Socio-Economic study, University of Kalyani, West Bengal. [5] garwala, S. . (1 ) ndia’s Population Problem, Mc Graw Hill, ew Delhi.

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