Available online at http://www.journalcra.com INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CURRENT RESEARCH International Journal of Current Research Vol. 4, Issue, 07, pp.104-110, July, 2012 ISSN: 0975-833X RESEARCH ARTICLE DYNAMICS OF DEMOGRAPHIC SURFACE OF HOWRAH DISTRICT IN INDIA: AN EXPERIENCE IN THE 20th CENTURY Abhik Dasgupta1,* and Sanat Kumar Guchhait2 1Department of Geography, Mankar College, Burdwan 2Department of Geography, The University of Burdwan ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article History: The mosaic of demographic surface experiences a continuous change over time, if the area is th Received 17 April, 2012 frequented by constant influx of population from outside. This phenomenon is very well-known in Received in revised form the developing countries wherein rural to urban migration is very prominent. Being a part of 24th May, 2012 developing world India bears such imprints as here the propensity of migration from the remote areas Accepted 25th June, 2012 Published online 30th July, 2012 to larger cities or metropolis is an evident phenomenon. After the independence, drastically reduced death rate and slightly reduced birth rate have instigated booming of population. The influx Key words: population from the west and East Pakistan added an extra momentum to the population growth due Demographic surface, to partition of India in 1947. All these events are continuously modified demographic relief of the Demographic relief, state and this is prominent in the province like West Bengal which is densest populated province in th Space saturation, India. In West Bengal, the district Howrah bears such imprints as since the beginning of the 20 Growth momentum. century it has received an influx population due to rapid pace of industrialisation as well as result of partition. These circumstances have widened the gap of demographic relief. The present investigation has been made to unfold the changing expression of demographic surface of the district and at the same time it will spot lights on the dynamics of demographic relief in inter-block level. Copy Right, IJCR, 2012, Academic Journals. All rights reserved. INTRODUCTION Area under Study Demographic change over a long period of time profoundly Howrah, most densely populated district of second densely influences physical set up of an area and more even social province of India has been considered for intricate spatial space within it. Change of absolute population occurs in two demography. The district has been formed by the process of ways; first one is internal growth i.e. natural increase of sedimentation by the Hooghly-Bhagirathi river system - the population expressed in terms of difference of birth rate and main branch flows along the eastern border of the district. death rate and second one is migration. A state or a region Located in the humid tropical climate entire geographical area experiencing high to moderate natural increase coupled with is characterized by fertile agricultural land as well as potential huge migration normally shows high growth of population. It storage of groundwater. Geographically the area extends from reaches an explosive situation if growth of population is being 22013’32” N latitude to 22048’20”N latitude, 87052’20”E continued over a fairly long period of time (Guchhait 2005). longitude to 88023’15”E longitude. The district is pronounced This explosive situation brings a change in demographic relief with industrialization and intense urbanization along the if the area is heterogeneous in respect to available resource. eastern part while rest of the area has an imprint of prosperous Such a wider variation in demographic relief and stupendous agriculture, mainly paddy and jute. In terms of railway growth has been critically accounted for West Bengal transport system, Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC) is (Guchhait 2005), India in which more viable reality can be the focal point of the Eastern and the south-eastern railway. observed for Howrah district and adjoining districts of Kolkata G.T. road, the main artery for road transport system is Metropolis. Present investigation has been dealt with Howrah extended from the main city to the western part of the district. district of West Bengal which bears such imprints of rapid growth since the beginning of the 20th century as it has Demographic Perspective: Some Glimpses received huge influx due to rapid pace of industrialisation and also to some extent due to partition. Above mentioned Howrah is the densest populated district of West Bengal in scenario has propelled the gap of demographic relief, because India. According to census 2001, it accounts for density of growth has been localized in some pockets mainly along the 2913 persons/ km2 against the West Bengal average of 903 north-eastern part of the district. However, over time and Indian average of 480. The district is reeling under relatively denser blocks have attained level of space saturation population pressure as it holds 5.33 % of population of West which subsequently exerts repulsive force leading to rapid Bengal occupying only 1.65 % of total area. After suburbanisation. Independence (1947), India experienced a declining death rate *Corresponding author: [email protected]; [email protected]; 105 International Journal of Current Research, Vol. 4, Issue, 07, pp.104-110, July, 2012 due to promotion of health facilities, especially in the rural are available under heads of ten block units; whereas 1991 areas. This considerable fall in the death rate encouraged census has enumerated fourteen blocks due to division of population growth which was jerked by the partition in 1947, Bagnan, Shyampur and Amta. To take uniformity, block especially for the boarder provinces of India. As a result huge division of 1981 Census has been taken into consideration. influx of population over a period of thirty years from the East Another most important consideration is the inclusion of HMC Pakistan (present Bangladesh) and Punjab (Pakistan part) almost as a block unit. On the other hand, Bally and Ulluberia propelled huge growth of population, especially in the four Municipalities are separate census units located respectively in provinces – West Bengal, Assam, Tripura (close to the boarder Bally Jagachha and Ulluberia blocks; however these two of East Pakistan) and Punjab (close to the boarder of West urban units have been included under the respective blocks. In Pakistan). After 1971 due to Independence of East Pakistan, addition to this, HMC has experienced change in area West Bengal once again received huge refugee population, coverage from one census year to another. Its area increased especially in the industrial parts (Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly significantly from 1961 to 1971 and keeps silence thereafter. and North 24 Parganas districts) of the province. On the In order to retain comparability we have settled for ward contrary, birth rate didn’t record any remarkable change up to division of 1971. It necessarily opts for modification of ward- 1991. This delayed response of reduced birth rate and rapid wise population of HMC in 1961. This enumeration is fall of death rate led to burgeoning population throughout the necessary for the calculation of intra-block density relief. country. Such a huge growth of population adjoin with poverty, unemployment and refugees influx from East In order to quantify the different aspects of population Pakistan initiated rapid rural-urban migration with the dynamics, univariate, bi-variate and multivariate techniques outcome of pocket based urban growth, especially around the have been adopted in different sections. For understanding of metropolis and large cities (Khullar 2006). Thus, after a period spatial process of population growth uni-variate statistic has of thirty to forty years these metropolis and cities reached the been used by employing coefficient of Variation (CV). Bi- level of saturation and subsequent spill over towards the variate curvilinear regression has been applied to glean out the peripheral part of cities (Panigrahi 2005). In sequel to this, growth of component in respect to system, wherein system saturation at core and suburbanisation at periphery has led to a represents whole district and blocks are considered as new spatial dynamics in the form diffusion of population components. In the penultimate stage of inquiry multivariate within the district. Howrha Municipal Corporation (HMC), the statistics have applied in the form of multiple regression to primate city of the district has experienced all mentioned predict the future tendency of demographic surface. scenario because, after Independence influx population increased population growth and subsequently it arrives at Growth Perspective in the 20TH Century: An Overview saturation. This saturation later on instigated suburbanisation process in the peripheral blocks (rural administrative unit in To take a bird’s eye view regarding relative growth, system- India) of the city leading to rapid growth of census town component technique has been employed in two time span – (urban unit as per criterion of Indian census 1991, but not 1901 to 1951 and 1951 to 2001. System-component growth is governed by Municipality). This is not verbal statement but an attempt to address population growth of individual blocks the ground reality as number of census towns have increased in respect to whole district. This entails the adoption of the from 22 in 1961 to 53 in 2001. It is interesting to note that the whole district as a system and each block as a component.