Nawanagar State Census, Report, Part I
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NAWANAGAR STATE CENStJS 1931 PART I CENSUS REPORT NAWANAGAR STATE CENSIJS 1931 PART I CENSUS REPORT By command of His Highness Maharaja Jam Saheb Sir DIOVIJA YSINHJI Bahadur, K. c. S. I. PREPARED By K. S. SURSINHJI B. A. (Cantab) M. Se. (California) CENSUS SUPERINTENDENT. NAWANAGAR STATE. JAMNAGAR Price:- 1934-35 RS.2-0-0. Printed by H. ]. VED & SON, At V.cd Printing Press opp. Ashapura Temple; ]amnagar. PREFACE. The first regular census of the Nawanagar State was taken in the year 1872 and the second in 1881; after which the census of the whole country of India IS taken regularly every ten years. The present is the seventh census of the State. All the census operations were carried out in co-operation with the Provincial Superintendent of the census operations Bombay Presidency. Until 1921, after the final census counts, the census department was obliged to send the general Schedule forms to Rajkot where the Abstraction Office for the Halar Prant was operating. Thus the work of sorting. compilation etc., was carried out under the supervision of the Agency Officer. This time, however, the said practice was not followed since it was decided to write a separate census report for the State. Thus all the work in' connection with the last census \Va'i carried out 1I1 Jamnagar where the Abstraction Office was for the first time opened. It writing a preface of the 1st census report of the Nawanagar State, I had never dreamt that I should have to refer to the tragic bereavement of His late Highness Mah Iraja Jam Saheb Shree Ranjitsinhji Bahadur, who pa'ised away on the 2nd April 1933, leaving behind him a monument of eternal fame in the form of progress, development and general prosperity of his people and the State. This sad event took place while the work of drafting the report wa'i in progress. But for this tragic occurrence the date of publication of this report should have been early by one year. Although, not only the Nawanagar State, not only the country of India, but the whole British Empire will for long deplore the loss of this great ruler, yet it is a great consolation that in hi., late Highness' illustrious Successor His Highness the Maharaja Jam Saheb Shree Digvijaysinhji Bahadur, the State has attained a ruler who i'i inspired by "our clear Bapu" in all his activities and hence it is nothing else but the continua' ion of a long thread which measur~s the progressive activity of the Nawanagar State. I duly acknowledge with thanks all the ac:;si'itan_ce rendered to me by Mr. Dracup, the Provincial Superintendent of cen'iUC;;, wh03e guidance was extremdy helpful to me in the compilation of data and actual drafting of this report. I have also to thank my ex-colleague Raj Kumar Shree IVladhavsinhji for rendering me very valuable help at all stages of the census operations. JAMNAGAR. SURSINHJI. Census Superintendent, Date 1-3-1934. } Nau:anagar State. REPORT ON THE CENSUS OF NAWANAGAR STATE 1931. PART I. ADMINISTRATIVE. CHAPTER I. I Introduction--This part of the report deals with the administrative side of the Census Operations carried out in Nawanagar State. There was considerable departure in the details of the actual work of Census from those which were adopted in 1921 Census and hence all the forms for the Standard Tables are based on the present Census. The entire work of the Census operations was carried out under the instructions of A. H. Dracup Esq., B. A. (Cantab) the Provincial Census Superintendent of the Bombay Presidency. Instructions received through the means of various circulars as wt'll as Census Code Bombay to my office were carefully studied and special care was devoted to see that from start to finish all the operations were carried out punctually and thoroughly. :2 Census Officer-The Government of His Highness the Maharaja Jam Saheb having orderell to appoint me as the Census Superintendent of the Nawanagar State, I took charge of the Census Office from 27-5-1930 under the order of the Political Secretary No. 2437 of 1930. There was no separate establishment for the Census Office. But the services of the staff of Agriculture Office (which is also in my charge) were requisitioned by giving them monthly allowances for the extra work of census whicn each of them was required to perform. This arrangement is found very economical. The office work of the Census office was carried out at the Agriculture Office which is situated in the building of the old Palace just above the present Panchkoshi Revenue Office. 3 Ex-Officio Census Officers-Under the Nawanagar State Census Act of Samwat 1986, the Municipal Secretary for Jamnagar City, and eleven Mamlatdars, for each of the eleven Talukas of the State, were entrusted to work as Charge Superintendents with full powers to carry out the census operations in their resp~ctive jurisdiction as desired by the Census 2 PART t.-INTRODUCTION Superintendent. From among the staff of the Revenue, Education, Forest, Police and Judicial Departments residing in the district, the services of Talatis, teachers, inteIIigent students, Forest Supervisors, Fozdars, Inspectors and clerks, School Masters and Taluka Doctors together with the literate tradesmen of the villages were requisitioned. Out of these the men of higher grade were appointed as Supervisors whereas those of lower grade were appointed as enumerators. Each of the Charge Superintendents was given a clerk on Rs. 15/ per mensem from 1st june 1930 to 31st March 1931. 4 Budget-In this Census the total budget sanctioned was Rs. 15,000/ which is exactly the same as was sanctioned in the previous Census. Special efforts were made to effect economy and reduce expenditure as much as possible. The total cost of Census operations upto 31st March 1931 is about Rs. 5,000/-. 5 Hazur Office Circulars-The Nawanagar State Census Act for 1931 which was passed and published in the State Gazette of the 1st June 1930 empo~ered me with full powers to organise and carry out the census operatic)!1s within the territory of Nawanagar State. Another Hazur Office circular was issued in the State Gazette of the 1st June 1930 announcing to the public the resolution of the Government to take a census of the population on the date fixed and asking them to cordially co-operate with the State Officials and furnish them with such information as may be required. 6 The Preliminary Work-The preparation of a complete list of villages constitutes the first step in clmnection with the census programme. Without a village register for each charge, arrangements for circles and blocks cannot be made satisfactorily. The prt>paration of a village register was a simple affair. The Mamlatdars of each of the eleven Talukas prepared a complete Jist of villages in his Taluka and this list was compared with the list kept for revenue purposes. The area demarcated for revenue purposes ac; a village was taken as the census village which was so designed as to include all hamlets within the boundary of the village lands. For the city of Jamnagar, a separate register was prepared In the same iorm by wards. 7 What constitutes an inhabited place-As per Circular No. E. M. o N. M. 1 of the 21st of June 1930 issued by the Provincial Superintendent of Census Operations, Bombay Presidency, the following supplementary instructions were issued in order to aid the Charge Superintendents:- (1) Each Municipal area 1S one and only one inhabited place. THE VILLAGE REGISTER 3 A vi11age with a Maharvada at a distance of a few yards from the village is only one inhabited place. \Vhere a village has one or more compact and well recognised hamlets situated at a distance from the village and from one another they are separate inhabited places. Where two small villages have village sites absolutely contiguous so that there is only one economic and social life for the two they are one inhabited place. Railway gatemen's huts, temples, Maths and Dharamshalas though situated far from the village should not be reckoned as separate inhabited places unless there is a regular colony of houses attached to them. Serial number was to be given to the village. F or the purposes of Census, each N es (an isolated hut or group of uated In the Barda Hills of the Bhanwad Taluka) of Rabaris was :1 as a separate village. The islands of Ajad, Kalubhar and Piram ,ch regarded as a separate village. he Village Register-The village register for the whole of the was made ready by the 15th June 1930. It should be noted that age Register, besides containing the complete list of viIJages of the also consisted of The estimated number of houses in each village. The estimated number of blocks in each Taluka. Name of enumerators and supervisors together with their occupations. Having received the Village Registers from all the Talukas of the ~neral village register abstract was prepared and despatched to the al Superintendent on the 2nd July 1930. lSUS Maps-While the work of preparing the village Register was ess, the Officer in charge of the Survey Department wac; requested ,re tracings of Taluka maps in which the serial number in the was marked against each village and the number of houses it was :1 to contain. These maps proved to be very useful in revising the tal circles in each charge. Each Charge Superintendent and Supervisor ~red to have a copy of the portion of the map relating to his charge 4 PART I.-INTRODUCTION 10 Monthly Progress Report-On the suggestion of the Provincial Superintendent of Census Operations Bombay Presidency a monthly report was obtained from all the 12 Charge Seperintendents at the end of the month and a consolidated report was forwarded to'the Provincial Superintendent of Census Operations by the 10th of the next following month.