CENSUS OF INDIA' 1961 VOLUME IX MADRAS PART X-VIII DISTRICT CENSUS HANDBOOK MADURAI VOLUME I P. K. NAMBIAR of the Indian Administrative Service Superintendent of Census Operations, Madras PUBLISHED ~Y THE DJRfCTOR OF STATIONERY AND PRINTING, MADRAS AND PRINTED AT THE NATARAJAH PRINTERS, MADRAS-14 1966 Price: Rs. 12/- PREFACE It has been the policy of the Government of Madras to print and publish village statistics based on the information collected during each Census. In 1951, the Government of India offered to hand over to the State Government the Census Tables and abstracts prepared during Census and suggested that they might be printed and published along with any other useful information relating to each district. The form of the District Census Handbook was thus conceived. The State Government accepted the idea and a publication was brought out at the cost of the State Government. Each District Census Handbook consisted of two parts-Part I containing three sections, viz., General Population Tables, Economic Tables, Tables I. II and III of Small Scale Industries, Summary fig~res ~f district and taluks, rural and urban statistics, and Part II, containing C and D series~ viz., Household and Age Tables and Social and Cultural Tables and District Occupational Abstract. A District Census Handbook was published for each district. It has been considered an important achievement of the last Census. Sri A. Mitra, Registrar General, India, . decided not only to continue the series during 1961, but to improve definitely on its content, so that each District Census Handbook would contain basic economic data for the smallest administration unit in the district and be a useful reference book for scholars, Central and State Governments, Local Bodies and private institutions. The proposal of widening the scope of the Census Handbook was accepted by the State Government in their G. O. Ms. No. 154, Public (Elections II) dated the 31st January 1961. It was also'decided to publish it at the cost of the State Government. The first District Census Handbook which we published was on Coimbatore. The present volume which is the eighth in the series is on Madurai. The first volume contains an introductory essay on all important aspects of the district, physical features, history, people and their social c~ndition, agriculture, industries, public health, education, irrigation, electricity and other allied topics. It contains " A" Series Tables, " B ", Series" C" Series, SCT for each taluk, SC I, ST I and II and a list of fairs and festivals in the district. Seventy-two statements of administrative statistics classified under seven sections have been included in the second volume of this District Census Handbook. 1. Agriculture and Irrigation 2. Industry and Labour 3. Education 4. Public Health 5. Law and Order 6. Communications 7 . Miscellaneous . A new feature of the District Census Handbook is the Village Directory which replaced the rural statistics included in the previous Census series. An abstract giving a complete list of all villages and towns in each taluk in the district along with the distribution of population by sex and various categories of workers has been added. It also gives an account of the basic amenities available in each village such as educational, medical, irrigational, posts and telegraphs, communication and electrification. A village-wise list of industries classified according to the Indian Standard Industrial Classification Code and the total number of units in the different types of industry for each village, an alphabetical list of villages along with their corresponding Census location code number and a statement showing the type of soil and type of terrain, sources of irrigation, important wet and dry crops and value of such lands will also be found in the second volume. The second volume of this book contains maps of each taluk in the district and in addition the following interesting items :- ii 1. Gazetteer of place names 2. Calendar of outstanding occurrences that have influenced the district. It has been also my endeavour to include in this volume all items of informati<;m conected by the Census Organization in the course of special studies undertaken during 1961 Census. Though the publi~ cation will be issued by the Government of Madras, the views expressed in the volume are personal and do not bind the Government. This volume, containing a variety of information relating to Madurai district, will, I hope, be useful to the general public. In keeping with the policy of the Government to make Tamil the language of administration, the Government of Madras have decided to issue an abridged edition of the District Census Handbook in Tamil. This abridgement will be done by the State Government but they have kindly agreed to show it to me for comments before publication. In preparing this volume, I have been assisted by a large number of my staff. Special mention should me made of Sri K. C. Narayana Kurup, my Deputy Superintendent, who has assisted me in com~ piling and test-checking the material pieced together in this volume. I am also grateful to Sri. Asok Mitra, I.C.S., Census Commissioner of India, for having made it possible to conceive of a volume like this for publication in connection with the 1961 Census. P. K. NAMBIAR Superintendent of Census Operations. Madras. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to acknowledge the able assistance given by the following members of my staff in the preparation and presentation of statistics in this volume. Sri A. V. Val1inathan Tabulation Officer Sri C. K. Somasundaran Upper Division Clerk Sri K. Sambamoorthy Lower Division Clerk Sri A. Rajamani Draughtsman Sri N. Chandran I wish to place on record my appreciation of the good work done by the Natarajah Printers, Madras, in printing this volume. P. K. NAMBIAR MADURAI DISTRICT CONTENTS PART I PAGES PREFACE 1- 11 Chapter I Introduction 1- 5 ChapterH Characteristics of Population 6-18 Chapter III People 19-21 Chapter IV Housing 22-29 Chapter V Agriculture and Animal Husbandry 30-32 Chapter VI Irrigation 33-34 Chapter VII Education and Public Health 35-38 Chapter VIn Industries and Trade 39-41 Chapter IX Handloom Industry 42-44 Chapter X Local Administration and Elections 45-48 Chapter XI Achievements u,nder Five Year Plans 49-58 Chapter XII Temples 59-·60 PART II CENSUS TABLES 'A' SERIES GENERAL POPULATION TABLES A-I Area, Houses and PopUlation Fly leaf 65-66 Table 67-69 Appendix-I: 1951 Territorial units constituting the present set up of Madurai District ... 70 Appendix-II : Number of villages with a population of 5,000 and over, and towns with a population under 5,000 70 Appendix-III: Houseless and Institutional Population 71 A-II Variation in population during sixty years (1901-1961) Fly leaf 72 Table 72 A-III Villages classified by population Fly leaf 73-75 Table 76 A-IV Towns (and Town-Groups) classified by population in 1961 with variation since 1941 Fly leaf 77-79 Table 80-83 v PAGES 'B' SERIES GENERAL ECONOMIC TABLES (B I-B IX) Preliminary note on General Economic Tables 87 B·l Workers and non-workers classified by sex and broad age groups Fly leaf 88 Table 89-90 B·III Industrial classification of workers and non-workers by educational levels Parts A & B in urban and rural areas Fly leaf 91 Table 92-99 B·IV Industrial classification by sex and class of worker of persons at work at Part-A Household Industry Fly leaf (Parts A, B & C) 100 Table 101-105 B-IV Industrial classification by se" and class of worker of persons at work in Part-B non-household Industry, Trade, Business, Profession or Service Table 106-116 B-IV Industrial classification by Sex, Divisions, Major Groups and Minor Groups Part-C of persons at work other than cultivation Table 117-135 Appendix (Standard Industrial Classification) 136-146 B-V Occupational classification by sex of persons at work other than cultivation Fly leaf 147 Table 148~192 Appendix (National classification of occupations) 193-202 B-VI Occupational Divisions of Persons at work other than cultivation, classified by sex, Broad age groups and Educational levels in urban areas only Fly leaf 203 Table 204-211 B-VII Persons working Principally (i) as cultivators (ii) as Agricultural Labourers Part-A or (iii) at Household Industry classified by sex and secondary work (i) at household industry (ii) as cultivator or (iii) as Agricultural Labourer Fly leaf-(parts A & B) 212 Table 213-215 B-VII Industrial Classification by sex of persons working in non-household Part-B industry, Trade, Business, Profession or Service who are also engaged in household industry Table 216-218 B-VIII Persons unemployed aged 15 and above classified by sex, broad age groups Part A & B and educational levels in urban and rural areas Fly leaf Parts (A & B) 219 Table 220-222 vi PAGES B-IX Persons not at work classified by sex, broad age groups and type of activity Fly leaf 223 Table 224-227 HOUSEHOLD ECONOMIC TABLES (B X-B XVII) Notes on Household Economic Tables 231-237 Appendix: Selected Land rights in Madurai District 238-240 B-X Sample households (i) Engaged neither in cultivation nor household Industry (ii) Engaged either in cultivation or household industry but not in both and (iii) Engaged both in cultivation and household industry for all areas Fly leaf 241 Table 242 B-XI Sample households engaged in cultivation classified by interest III land and size of land cultivated in rural and urban areas separately Fly leaf 243 Table 244-245 B-XII Sample households engaged in cultivation only classified by size of land cultivated