CENSUS OF INDIA 1981 Part - X B SERIES 22 UTTAR PRADESH TOWN SURVEY REPORT KOPAGANJ Drafted by DR. A.S. DWIVEDI Statistical Assistant Supervisad by R.S. PANDEY Assistant Director Edited by R.K. SINGH Deputy Director Guided by CHANDAN GOPAl of the Indian Administration Service DIRECTOR OF CENSUS OPERATIONS unAR PRADESH FOREWORD Apart from the decennial enumeration of population, the Indian Census is steeped in the tradition of undertaking a variety of studies of topical interest. In fact, the publications brought out in connection with the earlier censuses contained veritable mines of information on racial, cultural, linguistic and a number of other aspects of life of the people of this country. With the advent of freedom, however, the scope and dimension of these special studies had to be restructured in a manner that would provide the basic feedbacks on the processes of development taking place in different spheres of life of the people especially under planned development. Thus, in connection with the 1961 Census, a massive programme was launched inter-alia to conduct socio-economic survey of about 500 villages selected from different parts of the country. The main objective of this study was to know the way of life of the people living in Indian villages which accounted for 82 per cent of the total population as per the 1961 Census. There was, however, an imperative need to extend the area of the study to urban centres as well, to provide a complete coverage of the people living in diverse socio-economic conditions. It was with this objective in view ancillary studies on towns were launched as part of the social studies programme in connection with the 1971 Census. The programme of social studies taken up in conn~n with the 1971 Census, • was continued without any major change at the 1981 Census as well. A study on traditional rural based handicrafts was, however, added as a new item under the social study projects of the 1981 Census. For the conduct of urban study, 64 small and medium towns were selected from different parts of the country following the criteria such as (a) size, (b) demographic features, (c) functional characteristics, (d) specific industry of occupation dominating the economy, (e) location, (f) concentration of different castes and communities, and (g) other 'social and cultural phenomenon like temple town, health resort etc. The research design, tools for data collection and formats for data tabulation and report writing required for urban studies were originally formulated by Dr. B.K Roy Burman, the then Deputy Registrar General, Social Studies Division. His successor, Dr. N.G. Nag, took considerable pains to revise all the formats to make them more comprehensive. Dr. KP. Ittaman, the present Deputy Registrar General heading Social Studies Division, co-ordinated these studies at different levels as well as rendered necessary guidance to the Directorates of Census Operations, for their successful consummation. Shri M. K. Jain Senior Research Officer and Smt. Suman (iii) Prashar, Assistant Director of Census Operations with the able assistance of Investigators, Shri S.C Madan and Shri V.R. Khanna did a commendable job in scrutinising the reports and communicating the comments thereon to the Directorates. I am grateful to all of them. The present report is the out-come of a study on Kopagan; town undertaken by the Directorate of Census Operations, Uttar Pradesh. I am indebted to Shri Chandan Gopal, Director and his colleagues in the Census Directorate for their painstaking efforts in bringing out this report. New Delhi, V.S VERMA December, 1988 Registrar General, India (iv) PREFACE As an a ancillary to 1981 Census five towns were selected from the state of Uttar Pradesh with the objective of seeking demographic social, cultural and economic data at micro level to determine the process of modernisation and urbanisation. Kopaganj town is one of them. The present study aims to understand various dimensions of social economic forces operating in the process of urbanisation and its impact on neighbouring regions. These towns were selected for conducting special studies with the criteria laid down by the Registrar General India and Planning Commission such as the size, demographic feature, functional characteristics, location, caste!community and concentration of economic activity. Kopaganj is a small town with a population of 19,075 persons (9,793 males and 9,282 females). It lies 10 Kms :away from the newly carved out district, 'Mau' on Mau­ Gorakhpur national highway No. 29. The town distinguishe~ itself in the production of handloom and powerloom products. There is a dominence of Muslims accounting for approXlmately 60.00 per cent of the total population. This town was selected for the study on the basis of the factors such as industrialisation, location of trade centre for oil and other agricultural produce. For collecting emperical data, the town and household schedules were canvassed in 200 households selected on sample basis. The report is based on the results derived from the data collected through the above mentioned schedules. Apart from this, observations from local authorities and knowledgable persons have also been utilized to make the study more meaningful. The 1981 Census data have also been used to present a comperative pictures. - The field survey for the present study was being conducted under the guidance of Shri RK Singh, Deputy Director and Shri RS. Pandey, Assistant Director. They provided effective supervision at every stage of data collection, tabulation and drafting of report. Shri Jagdish Prakash, Investigator, Shri S.Z. Mehdi, V.K Srivastava, Mirza Khurram, S.K Banerjee, T.R Deorari and KG. Awasthi, Statistical Assistants and P.C. Tripathi, Computor, assisted in canducting the survey and thereafter in tabulation. The report was drafted by Dr. RS. Dwivedi, Statistical Assistant and edited by Shri RK Singh, Deputy Director. Maps and Charts added to the report have been prepared under the supervision of Shri ].C. Srivastava, Research Officer, Shri Dashrath Singh, Senior Geographer and Shri V.K. Jain, Senior Artist. Shri Sunil Kumar Srivastava, Lower Division Clerk, typed the manuscript. Shri RK. Saxena, Senior Technical Assistant (Printing) Shri KG. Awasthi S.A. & Shri RP. Srivastava, Computor, helped for expediting the printing work. I thank all of them for making all out efforts to complete the report in stipulated time. (v) I am also thankful to Dr. K.P.Ittaman, Deputy Registrar General India and Shri M.K. Jain, Senior Research Officer of the Social Studies Division who scrutinized the report and gave valuable suggestions for the improvement of this report. In the end, I am extremely grateful to Shri v.S. Verma, the Registrar General and Census - Commissioner India, for providing technical guidance and encouragement from time to time. CHANDAN GOPAL Lucknow: of the Indian Administrative Service Director of Census Operations, Dated : January 5, 1990 Uttar Pradesh (vi) CONfENTS Page No. Foreword (iii) Preface (v) CHAPTERS I. Introduction 1 II. History of growth of the town 9 III. Amenities and services history of growth 14 and present position IV. Economic life of the town 25 V. Ethnic and selected socio-demographic 58 characteristics of the population VI. Migration and settlement of families 86 VII. Neighbourhood pattern 105 VIII. Family life in the town 108 IX. Housing and material culture 117 X. Slums, blighted and other areas with 136 sub-standard living conditions XI. Organisation of power and prestige 137 XII. Leisure and recreation social participation 150 social awareness, religion and crime XIII. Linkages and continua 155 XIV. Conclusion 168 XV. Maps and Photographs (vii) USTOFPHOTOGRAPHS 1. An aerial view of Kopagan) town 2. Lord Shiva Temple 3. Shree Hanuman temple 4. Footpoint view in the temple 5. Shahi Masjid 6. Muslim graveyard 7. Pond in the town 8. Office of the Congress (I) Committee 9. Office of the Town Area Committee 10. Over head tank 11. Hand-pump and Well 12. Telephone Exchange 13. Block Development office 14: Police Station 15. Wholesale and retail trade of foodgrains 16. A Scene of the road connecting the town 17. Vegetation in the town 18. Taxi-stand 19. Railway station 20. Bapu Intermediate college 21. Primary School 22. Primary Health Centre 23. Family Welfare Centre 24. Fruit Vendors (ix) 25. Vegetable shop 26. Sweetmeat shop 27. Meat shop 28. Cloth merchant shop 29. Pottery shop 30. Grocery shop 31. State Bank of India 32. District Co-operative Bank Ltd. 33. A View of Handicraft yarn processing 34. Ameer Sizing Works 35. Colouring of Handloom yarn 36. Bailing of handloom sarees and lung is 37. Processing Machine of handloom products 38. Processing of pig hairs 39. An old locality of Kopaganj town 40. Cinema hall "Om Talkies" 41. Respected persons of the town (x) CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Location and Important characteristics Kopaganj is a small town located in Mau district Being a major production centre of handloom in eastern Uttar Pradesh. It acquired the status of and powerloom weaving, Kopaganj is frequently Town Area in 1914. The district headquarters, visited by the businessmen from different states Maunath Bhanjan, is the nearest developed urban dealing on wholesale/retail business of textile centre from Kopaganj located at a distance of 10 fabrics. Besides the town has also wholesale markets Kms. The town of Kopaganj falls in a region of oil seeds, gur and food grains. Local businessmen traditionally known for manufacturing of handloom purchase surplus of these items from the neighbour­ fabrics. In fact Maunath Bhanjan is a prominent ing villages and sell it in the markets of the town or in centre for the manufacturing of handloom and other marketing centres of the state or other states. powerloom products in the state. The economic life Most of the commission agents and businessmen of of Kopaganj town as well, by and large, revolves the town have established their branch offices at round the manufacturing of handloom and Maunath Bhanjan.