A Demographic Study 0N Deori Population in the Village Kapahtali Deori Gaon, District Dhemaji, Assam, India

Milonjyoti Borgohain Assistant professor, Department of Anthropology Moridhal College, Dhemaji,Assam,India

ABSTRACT : This study deals with the demography of Deori community inhabiting in the Kapahtali Deori Gaon of Dhemaji District, Assam and discusses the socio-cultural aspects of the community through the demographic parameters. There are a total of 78 Deori households in the village. There are total 428 Deori populations in the village out of which 233 are male and 195 are females. The primary data for demographic parameters regarding household census, population characteristics, educational status, occupational status etc were collected. Demographic indicators like sex ratio, literacy rate etc were also collected.

Keywords: Demography, Deori, Dhemaji District, Households, Kapahtali, sex ratio.

______I. Introduction: The word demography has been deriving from Latin ‘demos’ means people and ‘graphy ‘means measurement. Demography is the statistical study of human population. It is like a mirror to a population. Demography is the backbone of planning and development for the people. Anthropological demography is a speciality within demography which uses anthropological theory and methods to provide a better understanding of demographic phenomena in the current and past populations.

II. Objectives of the Study: The main objectives of the present research under the broad objectives of ‘Demography of Deori Community’ were as follows:

1) To conduct a household census; 2) To record and analyses the population characteristics; 3) To know the educational status; 4) To record and analyses the occupational status;

III. Methodology: The data required for the present study were collected from Kapahtali Deori Gaon of Dhemaji District under Sissiborgaon Development Block, Assam. Various qualitative and www.ijirssc.in Page 272

International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture(IJIRSSC) Vol: 2, Issue:1, (June Issue), 2016 ISSN: (P) 2395-4345, (O) 2455-2909 © IJIRSSC quantitative tools and techniques of research methods in Anthropology like observation, schedules, interviews etc were employed for data collection for this study. Prior to fieldwork, intensive library work has been undertaken for the present work.

IV. Study Area: The present study was conducted in Kapahtali Deori Gaon of Dhemaji District, Assam. It falls under Sissiborgaon Development Block. There were total 428 individuals in the village out of which 233 males and 195 females. Primary occupation of these villagers is agriculture.

V. Results and Discussion: This study deals with the demography of Deori tribe inhabiting in Kapahtali Deori Gaon under Sissiborgaon Development Block ,District Dhemaji ,Assam .The Deories are one of the major tribal group in Assam .The Deories are found in the Districts of Dibrugarh , Sibasagar , Jorhat , N. Lakhimpur , Tinsukia , Sonitpur , Dhemaji and in some parts of Arunachal Pradesh .The Deores are one of the four divisions of Chutiyas and they represents the priestly section of the whole chutiya community . They have a unique cultural and traditional heritage. They are mongoloids, with very strong religious character and are known to be a brave, tradition loving and cultured people with deep agricultural roots.

They are hard-working people, and agriculture is the main source of their livelihood. Like other tribal communities of this region, rice is the staple food. The Deories also consume the meat of pigs, ducks, fowls, etc. Fish is eaten regularly and dry fish is also well liked. All the families in the Deori village produce rice beer, which is considered very healthy.

The Deori tribe comprises of four main subsections or khel (territorial group), namely the Dibongiya, the Tengapaniya, the Borgonya and the Patorgonya.The people who lived on the bank of the river Dibong , were called Dibongiya. The people who lived on the bank of the river Tengapani , were called Tengapaniya. They are animist and their chief deities are Kundimama or Burdha –Burdhi , Bolia – Baba ,Tamreshwari or Keshaikhati.

The Deoris are patrilineal tribe and their descent, inheritance, succession, authority and residence after marriage are traced in male line.

(a) Household census: The kapahtali Deori Gaon has a total number of 78 households with a population of 428, out of these 78, the households belonging to Deori community are 64 with a population of 356 individuals and the rest 14 are Ahom community. For further analysis, the 64 households belonging to Deori population have been taken into account.

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Sl. No Community No of Households 01 Deori 64 02 Ahom 14 Total Households 78

(b) Households by Infrastructure: Almost all the houses owned by the Deori community in the Kapahtali Deori Village are Pile house (Chang ghar) with a number of 28 houses. Now-a-days 20 houses are Kachha and only 16 houses are Pucca (having concrete roof, brick wall and cemented floor) in the village.

Table 02: Infrastructure of Houses in Kapahtali Deori Gaon;

Sl. No Types of Infrastructure No. of Houses 01 Kachha 20 02 Pucca 16 03 Pile 28 Total Households 64

Based on the analyses of 64 households belonging to the Deori community, the structure of Deori population as per the family size is as follows:

Table 03: Family size in Deori community:

Family size No. of families % 1-5 35 54.69% 6-10 27 42.19% 11-15 02 3.12% Total 64 100%

From the above table, it is clear that most of the Deori families (54.69%) consist of 1-5 members, followed by (42.19%) of Deori families that consist of 6-10 members. A few (3.12%) of Deori families consist 11-15 members. www.ijirssc.in Page 274

International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture(IJIRSSC) Vol: 2, Issue:1, (June Issue), 2016 ISSN: (P) 2395-4345, (O) 2455-2909 © IJIRSSC (c) Sex ratio: Sex ratio is the biological characteristic that divides the human race into males and females. It is observed that the sex ratio of Deori population in the study area is 825.64.

(d) Age sex Structure: Age composition reflects the dominance of a particular age group of the population in socio-cultural life and economic status of a community.

Table 04: Broad age groups in Kapahtali Deori

Age group in years male % Female % Total % 0-6 36 18.46% 18 11.18% 54 15.17% 07-14 18 9.23% 09 5.59% 27 7.58% 15-59 123 63.08% 114 70.81% 237 66.57% >60 18 9.23% 20 12.42% 38 10.67% Total 195 100% 161 100% 356 99.99%

From the above table, there is maximum number of Individuals (66.57%) in the age group of 15-59 years followed by 15.17% in the age group of 0-6 years. From the above table it is also clear that the age group more than 60 years (10.67%) and 0-6 years (15.17%) indicate the dependents.

(e) Literacy rate:

All individuals aged 7 and above i. e. 356 in number comprising of 195 males and 161 females has been taken into account to analyse status of educational among Deori population. According to the primary data collected, the literacy rate among the Deori population of Kapahtali Deori Gaon is 87.91%.

Table No 05: Percent distribution of Deori population by literacy level:

Category Mo. Of Male % No. of Female % Total %

Literate 152 92.68% 117 82.39% 269 87.91%

Illiterate 12 7.32% 25 17.61% 37 12.09%

Total 164 100% 142 100% 306 100%

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International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture(IJIRSSC) Vol: 2, Issue:1, (June Issue), 2016 ISSN: (P) 2395-4345, (O) 2455-2909 © IJIRSSC

The education level of the household members is an important characteristic as it directly affects other socio-economic aspects of life. Education level and occupation are highly interrelated. In India, the purpose of free and compulsory education with free mid day meal up to the age of 14 years in one of the various schemes formulated to increase the level of literacy. The literacy and educational level of the Deori population is presented in the table No-05. It is revealed from the table that the male literacy among the Deori population is 92.68% while the female literacy is 82.39%. This shows that the male literacy in Deori population is higher than the female literacy.

(f) Occupational status of Deori population in Kapahtali Deori Gaon:

Occupation is the major way for human survival and subsistence. Division of labour is one of the important features that characterises every occupation. In the simple hunting and gathering societies, division of labour was primarily based on sex and age. With settled agriculture it become more refined that surplus made a group of people to engage itself in activities not directly related with food production. Industrialization and modernization at present have lead to a highly complex division of labour.

Data on occupation were collected from those males and females who were engaged in different types of work other than household works and studies. In the present study the occupation of the different individuals are classified in various categories as follows:

1. Non-worker : Household workers, students and dependents, those who do not earn money; 2. Cultivator : Engaged in agricultural activities; 3. Govt. Service : School teachers, doctor; 4. Skilled worker: Carpenter, mechanic, driver, weaver; 5. Private service: Company jobs; 6. Petty Business: Shopkeeper and other petty business.

The table 06 shows the distribution of population by sex and occupation. The table clearly shows that of the working population the highest percentage of males (18.82%) are engaged in agriculture. It is also observed that about 2.81 percent of males are engaged in skilled works like Carpenter, driver, mechanic etc and 7.02 percent of females are engaged in weaving as a primary occupation. It is important to note here that about 5.89 percent of male and 1.97 percent of females are engaged in petty business particularly as shopkeeper, vegetable vendors, poultry and pig farming. It is also observed that a considerable amount of the male population (6.19%) and female population (2.53%) are engaged in Govt. services like school teacher, doctor, Defence, chowkiedar etc. Again in case of private services 1.97 percent of male population are found as primary occupation. www.ijirssc.in Page 276

International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture(IJIRSSC) Vol: 2, Issue:1, (June Issue), 2016 ISSN: (P) 2395-4345, (O) 2455-2909 © IJIRSSC

Table 06: Distribution of population according to the types of occupation:

Types of Primary Secondary occupation M % F % T % M % F % T %

Non- 63 17.69 130 36.52 193 54.21 - - - - - worker

Cultivator 67 18.82 - 67 18.82 28 17.83 67 42.68 95 60.51

Skilled 10 2.81 15 4.21 25 7.02 07 4.46 49 31.21 56 35.67 worker

Petty 21 5.89 07 1.97 28 7.87 06 3.82 - - 06 3.82 business

Govt. 22 6.19 09 2.53 31 8.71 ------Service

Private 07 1.97 - - 07 1.97 ------service

Wage 05 1.40 - - 05 1.40 ------labour

Total 195 54.78 161 45.22 356 100 40 25.48 116 73.89 157 100

On the other hand, it is also important to note here that about 1.40 percent of males are engaged in wage labour as primary occupation. Thus, no instances of child labour are noticed in the population.

Again from the above table it is seen that a total of 28(17.83%) male and 67(42.68%) female individuals practiced cultivation as their secondary occupation. In case of skilled work, it is evident that about 4.46 percent male and 31.21 percent females are engaged as secondary occupation.

There is another category of villager’s i. e. non-workers. They are the persons unable to work and the housewives. Out of the total populations 17.69 percent male and 36.52 percent females are found in this category. This includes children, students, unemployed youth, old persons and housewives respectively.

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International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture(IJIRSSC) Vol: 2, Issue:1, (June Issue), 2016 ISSN: (P) 2395-4345, (O) 2455-2909 © IJIRSSC

VI. Conclusion: The present study among the 64 Deori households in the village Kapahtali Deori Gaon reveals that the Deories are basically loves the nature. Agriculture is the primary occupation in the village. The most important areas of occupation in the village are agriculture, animal husbandry, weaving, poultry etc. Participation of females in the workforce is generally for household work while the males are engaged in economically productive activities outside.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

I would like to offer my humble gratitude to all the subjects of ‘Kapahtali Deori Gaon’ who gave the valuable time and information to improved the data.

References : [1] Bhende, A.and T.Kanitkar, 1991, Principles of Population Studies. New Delhi: Tata Mc Graw [2] Kothari, C.R. 2004, Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques, New Delhi: New Age International Pvt. Ltd. [3] Lawman Denise, 2004, Illustrated Dictionary of Anthropology, Lotus Press, New Delhi- 110002 [4] Sen, Sipra, 2009, Tribes and Castes of Assam, Gyan Publishing house, New Delhi- 110002