East Bengal Tables , Vol-8, Pakistan
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M-Int 17 5r CENSlUJS Of PAIK~STAN, ~95~ VOLUME 6 REPORT & TABLES BY GUl HASSAN, M. I. ABBASI Provincial Superintendent of Census, SIND Published by the Man.ager of Publication. Price Rs. J 01-1- FIRST CENSUS OF PAKISTAN. 1951 CENSUS PUBLICATIONS Bulletins No. I--Provisional Tables of Population. No. 2--Population according to Religion. No.3-Urban and Rural Population and Area. No.4-Population according to Economic Categories. Village Lists The Village list shows the name of every Village in Pakistan in its place in the ltthniftistra tives organisation of Tehsils, Halquas, Talukas, Tapas, SUb-division's Thanas etc. The names are given in English and in the appropriate vernacular script, and against _each is shown the area, population as enumerated in the Census, tbe number of houses, and local details such as the existence of Railway Stations, Post Offices, Schools, Hospitals etc. The Village -list. is issued in separate booklets for each District or group of Districts. Census Reports Printed Vol. 2-Baluchistan and States Union Report and Tables. Vol. 3.-East Bengal Report and Tables. Vol. 4-N.-W. F. P. and Frontier Regions Report :md Tables. Vol. 6-Sind and Khairpur State Report and Tabla Vol 8-East Pakistan Tables of Economic CharacUi Census Reports (in course of preparation.) Vol. I-General Report and Tables for Pakistan, shcW)J:}g Provincial Totals. Vol. 5-Punjab and Bahawalpur State Report and Tables. Vol. 7-West Pakistan Tables ot Economic Characteristics.- PREF ACE, This Census Report for the province of Sind and Khairpur State is one of the series 'of volumes in which the results ofothe 1951 €ensus of Pakistan are recorded. Underlying all the work and effort by which these figures have been produced, was the over-whelming' need for the rapid supply of information regarding the new nation. But this sense of urgency has had to contend with the great difficulty of organizing the enumeration and the subsequent abstraction of the results at a time when the administrative structure of the Government was itself in the f~rmative stages. Most strenuous efforts by devoted officers, however, met the demand or data despite the slender ,resources, and the more essential figures were made avail~ able with remarkable speed by the issue of four Interim BulletIns. the first of which gave (he provisional results of the Census within six weeks of the Enumeration. In addition a district village list has been published giving the name, population and many local details of every village. This report now gathers together all the final results of the 1951 Census in Sind and Khair pur State and is arranged in two parts. Part I, besides, giving abrief description of the histori cal and geographical background of the province, explains the definitions and methods used in tne collection and the compilation of the census data, provides certain comparisons'with past figures, and gives some of the local details required in order to understand the differences between the figures for various parts ot the province. Part II contains the statistical tables in which the Qetailed results ot the Census are presented. It is strongly urged that before using or'drawing conclusions from the data in Part n, the definitions, etc. in Part I snoulCl be taken' into account. It is proposed to issue a further volume, which will be No.7 in the series; ih which certain of the economic tables for all provinces of West Pakistan will be ptesented in greater geographical and qualitative detail. The change in the structure of the population of Sind as in the other provinces of Pakistan', which had arisen from the departure of most of the Hindus and Sikhs and the arrival of a large number of Muslim Muhajirs created many administrative problems for which information was urgently required. Moreover, the 1941 Census had not' been fully tabulated owing'to' the War. This lack of statistical data'made it imperative not to postpone the Census beyond its normal date in Febr:uary 1951 despite the undesirability of organizing such an operation without long preparation. The Provincial Superintendent of Census, nevertheless, feels that the figures in the 1951 Census are reasonably accurate as regards the total population of the variotls areas. Accuracy in'a Census, however, is a relative matter and the samelltandard of accuracy'canrtot obviously apply to all the detailed statistics. One must allow for doubts and uncertainties in the minds of the public and this is particularly true in the case of illiterate persons in regard to age arid'the exact description of their occupations, etc. The sorting and'tabulation work which was largely done by the traditional hand methods was nibst carefully' checked, but here agajn the possibility of misclassification cannot be entirely ruled out. These considerations have PREFACE led to the decision to present the Age data in broad groups. Tn 1931 the age figures suffered from the same trouble but were arithmatically smoothed before being printed. This was con sidered undesirable. The enumerators themselves had recorded most of the ages to the nearest 5 years but analysis disclosed that even then there was obvious heaping in certain groups. Had the data been presented in this report in full detail, there would have been a danger of figures being used hurriedly to draw conclusions of administrative importance without giving due consideration to their relative reliability. In Sind the Age data contained fewer inconsis tencies than in some other provinces, a fact which reflects credit on the enumeration and abstraction work and it has been possible to present most of the figures in lO-year age-groups but the groups between 10 and 29 have had to be amalgamated. On this basis the tables would appear to be reasonably reliable. The full tabulation in 5 year groups has, however, been preserved and copies can be made available to students and statisticians on application to the Government of Pakistan, but should only be used under expert advice and with caution. The scope of the 1951 Census of Pakistan covered more or less the same ground as pre vious Censuses of India except that the detailed analysis by Castes and Race ceased to be ne cessary and tribes were not recorded except in special areas. The enquiries regarding language, literacy, education and Economic activities were carried into greater detail. A translation of the enumerators questionnaire and Instruction-sheet is inserted in the back-cover of this volume together with a copy of the Enumeration Slip on which the answers were recorded. Some of the new enquiries included in the questionnaire have proved unsuccessful and in particularly the data on Unemployment and Fertility. But these innovations were worth making and will probably result, provided the questions are re-designed in the light of our present experience, in the production of more reliable data on these subjects at the next Census. In this Census no question was asked regarding physical or mental handicaps as experience had shown the practical impossibility of applying definitions regarding the degree of infirmity. An enquiry into cattle resources and land utilization was originally suggested for inclusion in the popula tion Census. There is a great deal to be said for collecting such information while the enume rators are recording the other data of the rural population, but in view of the short time for organisation and the complex nature of such an enquiry, which would necessitate far more elaborate instruction of enumerators, nothing of this kind could be done in 1931. An inquiry into Cottage Industries was, however, included as a part of the home-listing survey. It was not completed fully everywhere but the results may be useful as far as they go. The Provincial Superintendent of Census in his "Introduction" has described the work of abstracting the statistical data from the mass of nearly 5 million enUmeration slips. This has been a long and exacting undertaking involving both the traditional Hand-sorting methods and punched-card machine procedures which were introduced for the first time to deal with the more complicated portions of the work. The use of.punched-card machinery enabled the classifications to be checked in detail and provided cross tabulations which would have been quite impossible by hand. But the necessary coding and punching caused considerable delay and it is of course impossible even by most modern precision methods to make the data more exact than the'. original classifications given by the enumerators which were often extermely indefinite, especially in regard to occupations and economic groups. iii PREFACE The Chapters of Part I of the report are the results of much thought and analytical work by M~. Gul Hassan M. I. Abbasi~ the Provincial Superintendent of Census and his deputy Mr. Mahboob Ali Khoja neither of whom claims to be a statistician. I have given editorial gui dance but the work is mainly theirs and is a valuable appreciation of the contents and meaning , ,- of the data bYmen who can view the figures in the light of an intimate knowledge of the pro- vince. Part r of the Report, however, does not claim to be an exhaustive study of the Census information, it is hoped that the tables and explanations will provide a basis for much further, and more technical, research. r take this opportunity of putting on record my thanks for the co-operation extended to the Census work by the public and the Government officials in Sind and Khairpur State. I visited the province during the pre-enumeration period and again shortly after the Census had been taken and found considerable keenness among the Census workers.