CENSUS OF INDIA 1981 Part-X C - SERIES-31 MIZORAM SURVEY REPORT ON RESTUDY OF VILLAGE LAWNGTLAI Edited by : B. SATYANARAYANA Deputy Director. Census Operations, Mizoram Pages Foreword iii Preface . v Village at a glance vii NATIONAL MAP (Lawngtlai villa,e) ix CHAPTER I . -Introduction . 1 CHAPTER II -Social Demography and Vital Statistics 9 CHAPTER lll-::Bconomy 21 CHAPTER IV-Sqcial and Cultural Life 36 CHAPTER V-Conclusion 52 APPENDIX I-Glossary of Words used in the report 55 (1) I The Indian Ce~sus ha~ a long tTadition of providing population f!gures separateiy for; rur~i and yrban areas. There has been .!l JCOWlng ~d for such a dlchotomous _data especially after independence to formulate different pohcies and programmes for plaJmed development especially in regard to rural areas. There has been, however, a dearth for data relating to the way of life of the rural masses fQr ,makjng cross-cultural and cross­ tds!onat coinpari~ons ~o un<!etstand the imbalatlCC/s ,In the le'Vel of socio-economic deve- 19J)fue_rit ,~b._i~~¢ b,y !~e, ,_£'<'<W!~-!h?~:g '~,~ _!~_dia4' ,V,.iJtai~s ¥__ tutt~~"d in ~different g~ogri;tPhical ¥~as. , 'To; bl;lt1~ this' ga " a 'soclo~con(jIlll~ s~~'y of~1)out ~oo. vtll~ses from . dlfferC?nt parts of the ~tu'ltry «ras t~" .,11 up fO,r study by the /~I1SUS Qrgamsatlon I~- connection With the 196'1 census.' "'- , . 'The vitlages thus: studidd We~_ selected on J)urposivc sampling basis in order to give representation in the sample to villages with diverse socia-economic _characteristics. These included multi-ethnic 'villages, tribal villages, villages inhabited by potters, fishermen etc., viUa}lesi, situate4 near urban Qenltes all4 those ~ituated, ~n remote areas where people had been living in 'f3. state of isolation and conliJl,iie4 eQonomi~ ana educa,ti(mal backwar~ness. It was envisaged that this study would provide bench':mark data on the living conditions of the people hihabitins different geographical areas of the country under diverse socio­ economic conditions. After independence. the country pursued the path of planned development for improving the quality of life of her citizens and this transformation was sought to be achieved through the implementation of Five Year Plans. Economic emancipation, the main thrust of Five Year Plans was to be realised by increasing agricultural and industrial qqtp.lJtl'", ~s~ wqll as. by generating more employment opportunities. While enhan~d irr~ga­ t1'On Wltffes and Improved methods of farmmg were lntroduced to boost up. agHcultural producUOJl, . goneration of employment opportunities and increase in iadustrial output w~e to be iJ"ealised largely through industrialisation. Besides, a number of other social welfare programmes were implemented to provide additional facilities in the area of edu­ cation. health, transport and communication. drinking water and power supply. Of late. family welfare programme was also introduced to check population explosion which bad all along been nullifying the results of planned development. lJy the time of 1911 Census. it was envisaged that the socio-economic life of the people especially of villages would show perceptible changes under the imp-act of Five Year Plans. It was, therefore, decided to undertake a re-study of some of the VIllages which had been surveyed in connection with the 1961 Census to understand the manner and direction in which the Indian villages are changing under the influence of different developmental inputs. Tl?-e main f~us of. this study, apart from p'robing 4eep into the p3;tterns of change taking place tn the hfe cyete events and economic purSUitS, Was to question pene­ tratingly into matters relating to availability of amenities and sel"Vices in the villages co· vered under these studies. attitude and opinion of the villagers in regard' to education, he~th care activities and attitude, awareness and acceptance of family planning methods. In short, the study was aimed at to bring to relief the socio-economic processes taking place in the rural environment under the influence of planned development as well as industrialisa­ tion and urbanisation. The villages selected for the study were those which are situated either near to aft urban centre or away from any urban centre or those which are located in an already identified dry belt area or in areaS covered by Integrated Rural Development Programme and served by minor irrigation projects and rural electrification programme. Some of these c.t:iteria for th~ selection of villages for the study were adopted at the instance of the Plan­ nmg CommissIon. Although 78 villages were initially identified for tbe re-study, due to certain constraints this project could not make much headway. Therofore. it was decided to continue tbese .tudies as an adjunct to thb 1981 Census. , (iii) The research design, tools for data collection and formats for tabulation of data required for the conduct of the socio-economic survey of villages taken up in connection with the 1961 Census were framed by Dr. B. K. Roy Burman, who was then heading the Social Studies Division. as Deputy Registrar General. His successor Dr. N. G. Nag, assisted by Dr. K. P. Ittaman. the present Deputy Registrar General, extended technical guidance to the Directorates ·of Census Operations for undertaking the re-study of the villages. I take this opportunity to congratulate aU of them for organising these studies. The work relating to the scrutiny of the draft reports received from the Directorates of Census Operations and communication of comments thereon was undertaken by Shri M. K. Jain. Senior Research Officer. Social Studies' Division under the guidance of Dr. K. P. Ittaman. Shti Jain was assisted in this task by Smt. Suman Prashar. A.D.C.O. and Investigator. Shri S. C. Madan. I am thankful to aU of them. The present report is based on a re-study conducted on the village LAWNGTLAI by the Director of Census Operati(lns, MIZORAM. I take this opportunity to thank all my colleagues in the Directorate for the efforts taken by them for bringing out this p~blication. NEW DELHI; V. S. VERMA Dated the 1st of June, 1988 Registrar General, India. PREFACE Socio-economic Surveys of various villages selected all over the country were taken up as an ancillary to 1961 Census. These surveys were conducted by the Directorates of Censu~ Operatio?s with t~e technical advice of the Social Studies division of the Office of the Registrar General, IndIa. In Mlzoram whIch was part of Assam State during 1961 Census, two villages viz. Durtlang and Lawngtlai were selected for socio:economi.c survey. The restudy: of these villages has been taken up as part of 1981 Census. In the matter of selectIon of Villages for re-study, the following criteria was adopted: (i) one village near effective urban centre with a population of 50,000 and above (proximity to industrial towns and cities preferred). (ii) one village away from an effective urban centre which may, however, be~near a small town (within a distance of 5 to 10 lans.). (iii) one village at a distance of not less than 24 kms. from any urban centre. Lawngtlai village in Lawngtlai Community Development Block in Chhimtuipui district was selected under this category. Lawngtlai is situated in Chhimtuipui district. Village Schedules and Household Schedules were canvassed during the study covering 100 households. The restudy of Lawngtlai village was conducted by the Directorate of Census Operations, Mizoram. The field investigation was conducted by Shri Lalbuanga Sailo, Statistical Assistant and Shri Saithuama Sailo, Shri Lalrosanga, Shri Saithanthuama and Smt. K. Lal Dawngliani, all Computors during March-June 1987, under the guidance of the then Deputy Director of Census Operations, Shri Lalbiakthuama. The work of tabulation was undertaken by Shri Zothanthuama, Statistical Assistant and Shri Saithuama Sailo, Shri Lalrosanga, Shri Saithanthuama and Smt. K. Laldawngliani, all Computors. The first draft of this report, was attempted by Shri Zothanthuama and Shri Lalbuanga Sailo Statistical Assistants. The report was finalised by Shri B. Satyanarayana the then Deputy Director of Census Operations and was sent to the Social Studies Division of the Office of the Registrar General, India, after my taking over charge of this office on 21st November 1989. I would like to express my gratitude to Shri V. S. Verma, LA.S., the Registrar General, India whose encouragement has been responsible for the completion of this publication. I am also grate­ ful to 'Dr. K. P. Ittaman, Deputy Registrar General, India (S.S.) and Shri M. K. Jain, Senior Research Officer, Social Studies Division for their valuable guidance and comments. .1 wish to place on record my appreciation of the services of Shri Zothanthuama, Shri Lalbuanga Saito, StatIstIcal Assistants and Shri Saithuama SaUo, Shri Lalrosanga, Shri Saithanthuama, all computors who con­ duc~ed the survey and tabulated the data. I wish to acknowledge the hard work put in by Smt. R. Lalnghak~ bleb, U.D.C. and Shri P. C. Zirthangmawia, L.D.C. to neatly type the manuscripts with care. Sd./- Dated 14-2-1990 CR. G. MITRA.) (v) 1-211 R. O. lndia/ND/90 VILLAGE AT A GLANCE--1951 CENSUS 1. Population: Totai . 4352 Male .. 2295 Female • 2057 2. Decennial growth rate of population (1971-81) 55 ·87 per cent 3. Number of households • 734 4. Number of occupied residential houses 730 5. Area . N.A. \ 6. Density of population per sq. km. N.A. 7. Sex ratio (number of females per 1000 males) 896 8. Literacy rate (Percentage to total persons) • 61 ·69 9. Percentage of Scheduled Castes to total population • 0·05 10. Percentage of Scheduled Tribes to total population • 93 ·13 11.