THE CENTRAL INDIA STATE CENSUS SERIES Volume XII RATLAM STATE CENSU-S REPO R11 FOR 1911 . TEXT AND TABLES COMPILED BY Major' C. E. LUARD, M.A. (Oxon), I. A., SUPERINTENDENT OF CENSUS OPERATIONS IN CENTRAL INDIA. 15omba1! : PRINTED AT THE BRITISH INDIA PRESS, MAZGAON. 1913 "PREFAOE. There have been in all four enumerations of the Ratlam State. The first W':\s taken On 17th February 1881~ the second on 26th February [891, the third on 1st March 1901 and the fourth or the present on 10th March 1911. All these were synchronous with those taken in British India; hut in the first two a modified schedule of 8 columns was employ.ed, information being collected on the following points~ viz" (1) Number. (2) Name, (3) Religion, (4) Sex, (5) Age, (6) Caste, (7) Birth-place, and (8) Occupation. In 1901 and on the present occasion the British India schedule of 16 columns was exactly applied and the results were incorporated in the Central India Imperial Tables. As soon as it was decided that a decennial Census should be taken. the prepa­ ration of a complete village list for the State was commenced, giving the number and names of villages and hamlets and the Agency available for enumeration. This was compiled and sent to the Central India Agency Office in February 1910 before the appointment of the Census Officer. In March 1910, Mr. Dorabji Fardunji Vakil, B. A., Member of1Jhe State Council, who had previous experience, was appointed Census Officer of, the State. In April the Census Officer with two selected supervisors attenaed the training class at Indore and received complete instruction with regard to house-num'" bering, forming of Census divisions and the actual entries to be made in the Census. schedule. The Census Code, the Manual of Instruction for Charge Superintendents and Supervisors and th:e Enumeration Book Cover containing inSltructions to Enume­ rators for filling up the 16 columns of the schedule and typical entries were read and thoroughly explained.. On returning to Ra-blam the Census Officer opened a class for the training of local officials; while Pandit Ramkishan Joshi wa's deputed to give theoretical and practical training in the district. This was done most efficiently as the results afterwards proved. The printed instructions in the Code, the Manual and the Cover were so full that no necessity was felt for supplementing them by circulars~ The next step taken was the division of the State into Charges, Circles and Blocks. These numbered respectively 4, 51 and 671. The Head Master of the Darbar High School was appointed Charge Superintendent for the City and the Sadal" Tahsildar (Chief Revenue Officer). the Bajna Tahsildar and the Munsarim Jagir­ daran were appointed Charge Superintendents in the'"districts for the Ratlam Tahsil, the B'ajna Tahsil and the Jagirs respectively. Subordinate Revenue and Police officials and school masters acted as Supervisors; and junior clerks" school masters, patwaris, senior students and literate shop~keepers worked as Enumerators. AU the Charge Superintendents and the Supervisors (except two supervisors in Charge No.1, the City), and 275 Enumorators were State officials,. others being non-officiab. Of the latter 10, who were deputed to Bajna, were given wages for 6 days and the usual travelling expenses, it being impossible to procure literate men to work in that hilly district without remuneration. Each stage of the operations was carried on exactly in accordance with the Census Calendar. Although plague appeared during the preliminary operations there was no difficulty in carrying out the Census Proper except in the village of Dantoria. In this village fresh numbers were given in the plague camps, Blocks were formed and fresh Block Lists were prepared. The attitude of the people, even the Bhils, was not unfavourable. No opposition was offered even in tJ'le areas infected with plague. There was no occasion for a Census Act. Special arrangements for the despatch of the Provisional Totals were not required, the remotest villages being not more than 3f} miles distant from the City. The Enu­ meration Books and the Summaries for the State as. a whole were all received in good time in the' Office of the Census Officer. The totals were despatched to the Censu;:;l Commissioner for India and to the Provincial Superintendent of Census on the 14th March 1911. These figures had been compiled very carefully and the Final Figure. arrived at! after abstraction and tabulation. differed by only 58 or 7 in 10,000, which was creditable to the L!ensus Officer and the Darbar. The State supplied its own staff for abstraction, tabulation and compilation under Supervisor Pandit Ghanshyamji, which worked most excellently throughout. The accounts have not )'let been finallY' adjusted, as printing is still going on, but the expenditure incurred up to date is Rs. 1,761 which works out to 4'5 pies per head of populat.ion. This is the second time the Darbar has had a separate Census Report. In conclusion~ I would express my indebtedness to Major His Highness Raja Sir Sajjan Singh. K.C.S.L, for the support given me throughout the operations to which the successful results owe so much. I would bring to the notice of His Highness the excellent services again rendered in this connection by Mr. Vakil. He has now co­ operated with me in Census and Gazetteer work for over 12 years. His intimate know­ ledge of the State and the people is of exceptional value in a work of this kind and I cannot too highly praise the industry and zeal with which he performed these duties" which deserve special rec()gnition. To Mr. K. K. Nanavati, M. A., Head Master, I am much indebted for the information he supplied on dialects, which added to the value of my Chapter on that subject in the Central India Provincial Report. C. E. LUARD, MAJOR~ Superintendent of Census Operation8 in Central India. CONTENTS. J\1ap of the Ratlam State 11'1'on tispiece. PAGE An Account of the Census 1 TABLES:- Table I.-Areat Houses and Population ... 9 H.-Variation in Population since 1881 " 10 " IlL-Towns and Villages c1assified by Population 11 IV,--Towns classified by Population with Variation since 18~n " 10 V.-Towns arranged territorially with Population by Religion " 12 " V I.-Parganas arranged with Population by Religion 12 " VII.-Age. Sex and Civil condition by Religion ... 13 " VIlL-Education by Religion and Age ... 17 " IX.-Education by selected Caste_, Tribe or Race 18 X.-Language ... " 19 XL-Birthplace ... 19 XII.-Infirmi ties 21 " XII I.-Caste, Tribe or Race ... 24 " XV.-Occupation or Means of Livelihood 27 Village List for the State 31 Appendices :- I.-Oensus Divisions and Agency 1 II.-Number of forms supplied and used i lII.-Expenditure of Enumeration period i IV.-Agricultural stock. wells, temples, &c. ii ,- CENSUS REPORT OF THE RATLAM STATE. I. General.-Ratlam is the chief Rajput State in the Malwa Politi­ cal Charge of the Central India Agency lying between latitude 23° 6' and 23") 33' N. and longitude 74° 31' and 75° 17' E. It has an area of about 643 square miles and a population of 82,497. This includes the figure for villages held by Sarwan and Shivgarh which are unguaran­ teed. As, however, these e3tates comprise guaranteed villages held from other Darbars, they have, for the convenience of the census only, been shewn under the head of "Guaranteed Estates" in the State Tables. The State returned an area of 902 square lniles up to the date of the present census, but as the whole State was not then surveyed (th9 hilly portions being left out) the area hitherto recorded appeared - doubtful. Consequently it was traced from the topographical survey sheets, which gave the present figure of 643 square miles, \vhich has been adopted in all the tables. The territories of the State are inextricably intermingled with those of Sailana and its boundaries are in consequence not very clearly defined; but generally speaking the State touches the territories of Jaora and Partabgarh (in Rajputana) on the north, Gwalior on the east, Dhar and Kushalgarh (in Rajputana) and portions of Indore in the south and Kushalgarh and Banswara (in Rajputana) on the west. II. Administrative and Natural Divisions.-For administrative purposes the State is divided into two Tahsils, 'Viz., Ratlam and Bajna. For census purposes all the J agirs in the State were formed into a separate charge and dealt with as an independent unit. The whole State lies on the Malwa plateau. It may, however, be divided internally into two sectionB, the plateau section, locally called Malwi land, and the hilly tract called Dungri. The eastern part compris­ ing the plateau division is in general an open and level plain sloping gently northward and highly cultivated, while the western portion of the State is wild and hilly. As the State lies on the Malwa plateau, its climate is mild and equable. Though· the diurnal range of the thermometer is considerable, the mean temperature during the year is comparatively low. In the hot season, moreover, the nights are invariably cool and refreshing. The average rainfall for the last ten years was 28 inches as recorded at the capital, the highest 39·52 inches fell in 1910, the lowest 17·75 inches in 1904. The normal rainfall in the previous decade was 34 inches. Since the great famine of 1899-1900, when the fall was only 14-5 inches, the average has been considerably lower. 2h RAT LAM STATE. III. DensUy.-The n1ean density of population for the whole State gives 117 persons to the square mile against 123 in 1901.