CE~S~S, 1951 RAJASTHAN AND AJ~ER DISTRICT CENSUS HANDBOOK BIKANER PART I-GENERAL DESCRiPTION AND CEWSUS TABLES By Pt. YAMUNA LAl... l)ASHORA~ B.A.~ LL.B., Superintendent of Census Operations~ Rajasthan and Ajmer. JODHPUR.; P.R.INTED AT THE GOVERNMENT PRESS 1956 PRICE Rs. PREFACE The Census Reports in olden times were printed one for the whole Province of Raj. putana and another for Ajmer-Merwara. Some of the ~Frincipal ~tates now merged in Rajasthan published their own reports. This time the State Census Reports have been published in the following volumf"s: .- 1. Part I A Report. 2. l>art 1--B ~ubsidiary Tables and District Index of Non-Agricultural Occupations. :l. Part L -- U Appendices. 4. Part IL-A ('enera} Population Tables, Household and Age Sample Tables, Social and Cultural Tables, Table E Summary T igures by Administrative lTnits. an<l Local 'KA' Tnfu'mities. 5. Part II--B .. Economic TableR. They contain statistics down to the district level, The idea of preparing the District Census Handboo'{: separately for each district was put forward by Shri R. A. U-opalaswami. 1. C\ S., Registrar General, India, and ex-officio Census ('ommissioner of India. as part of a plan intended to secure an effective method of preserving the Cf'IlS11R records prepart:>d for areas below the district level. He proposed that all the district census tables and census abstracts prepared during tho process of sorting and compilation should be bound together in ::t single manuscript volume, called the District Census Handbook. and suggested to the State Governments that the Handbook (with or without the addition of other useful informat.ion relating to the district) should be printed and pub­ lished at their own cost in the Harne manner 'as t,he-, villag@ .J:5ta;tiKti9s in the past. In aocept­ ing. this sl1~gestion, the Governnwnt of I-taja:s-th-aR -'\':leoid.ed, t.o' print, and publish the more important portion of statistical data relating to ·the- district -and < to preserve the reRt of the records in H, manuscript volume for any futurE" use.-~to· "\vhich the:v may be put. This Handbook contains five Ueneral Population Tables of A Series, three Ecollonlie Tables of B Series fi e Household and Age Tables of U Series, seven Social and Cultural TableR of 0 :.:.!eries, one table r,~ givjng Kummary for the district and tehsils, a local table 'KA' showing infinnities by a e groups anll an Index of ~on-agricultu]'al Occupations. Each table contains an explanatory note necessnry for the proper understanding of the figures. The nurnberl'l given to the table.~ in this Handboo corr{'spond to those given in 8tate Census Reports. Village I irectories were published for tho first time in I P3l by a few States of l~aj­ putana. The exam.p1e was followed by all the States in '941. They contained for each village the populatbn figures by religion and also t orne other useful information. 'They were bound in a volume one for each :-itate. 'Phis time the Village ] }irectories are also incorporeted in this Handboo1z under the name of "Pl'iInary '-'ensus Abstract and Village Directory" which ~how the basic popuintioll figllrps Reparately for 8a('h \'i1Ia~e or town-ward classified by livelihood classC'R instparl of rpligion and also some information of general nature. Opportunit.y has bcpn t.aJ';_PlL to put in a short introductor5~ note detailing the salient pointi5 connected with the distl'l['t, sueh as the physical features. climate, rainfall, irrigation and drainage facilities, roads and other communicatiollf~, agriculture education, indu.... tries [nd other matters of general interest. The information contained in the introductory note is IHlsecl on the material furnished b~T ("ollcr'tors of cliRtl'icts and Departments of Government. In addition t.o the above some fi,gures of general int,erest and arrev-iew of population f'i"-!1lT'P'" llHn~ al~o hf'0n inr·(ll'porat('rl. - Tho fwheduled dat,e 101' the pubLication of the Handbooks as prescribed by the Regis­ trar <1eneral, India was "Not later than March 1952" but practical experience showed its publication hy that time all impracticability. Even the compilation of the tables together with its final touch could not be cOlupleted by that time. r_rhen came the qnestion of printing which proved to be a huge task. There 25 districts in Rajasthan and 1 in Ajmer. The t,ota 1 n umhp-r of printen pagp.~ tnrnen, out, to he neaTly 9,000. The Government Presses were already over-burdened with the printillg work of other departmellts and in the l'rintiIlg of Census Publications priority was given to Central Government Publications i. e. the State Census Reports. The rebult was that till March? 1954;o for 14 out of 26 districts the P. C. A. and Village Directory could not be printed especially because the press had no stock of small type which was essential for their printlDg. It was, therefoTe decided to publish tht-'l Handbooks in two volumes l'art T" consists of Introduction, h· brief review of population figures and; 1. General Population Tables (A-I to A -- V), '2. Economic Tables (B-1 to B-III), 3. Hf1usehold and Age (Sample) Tables (C-1 to C-V), . 4. Social and Cultural Tables (D-I to J)-VII), 5. E-Sumluury figures hy Adm.inistrative l-llits. 6. Local Table . KA' Infirmities, and 7. District 1ndex of Non-~\gricultural (JccupationR. Part II contains only Pr:in~ary ('ensus Abstract and Village ~·irectory. The Handbooks of the Ajn,er4 Sirohi and Jhala~yar Dist;ricts are however being published In one volume, because they have been completed h:~l this time. While every care has heen taken to ensure tlle correctn~ss of figures and yillage names, certain mista~~es lIj ight have crept in. I shall be grateful if thcy are br<Y ght to my notice. Y. L. Vashora LIST OF CONTENTS S . Y f). Particulars Pages L Introduction I-XXIX R'_lYiew of Popula-tion J5'igures 1-7 ., .-, RdceIne of C'~nsu8 Tables 8 Definiti'JIls and Key to Symbols 9-10 Distriut Cen'3HS Dat:l> n,t a Glauae, 1951 11-13 I'). A-General Population Tables- .\- I. Al'L'a, HOllses and Population 16 ~\_- II. VariC1tioll in Population during Fifty Years 15 A-Ill. Towns and Villages Cla.'4sified by Population 16-17 A -IV. 'l_'owns Chssified by Population with v.ariation f-IDeO 1901.. 18-19 A - V. Town"> arranged Torritol'iaHy with Population by Livelihood Clas;:;es .. 20 I. B -Ecunomic Table8- 21-23 B ~ 1. Livvlihood Cb.sr-;eH and Bub-Classes 24-25 B- II. SC:00ndary U1_O,),US of Livelihood 26-39 B ---III. EmpJoyo;_'s, Employees and IudepcllHlent Workers in Inun;..;tl'ieQ <IIld Servi('C'M by Divi8ioDR and Sub-divisions 40-62 " n -Hausehold and Age (Sample) 'l'ables- C- T. Household (Size and Cornposition) c- II. Livelihood Classes by Age Groups .. 64-67 C--IIL Age and Civil Condltion 68-69 c - IV. Age and Literacy 70-71 c -- y. Single Year Age Returns 72-75 !J. D -Social and CuJtu~'al TabZe8- D- 1. (i) Moth'3l' Tongue 76 (ii) Bilingualism 77 D - I I. Religion 78 D -III. Scheduled Castes ~nd Scheduled Tl·ihes 78 V - IV. Migra.nts 79 D- V. (ii) Displaced person" by Livelihood Chl,sses D-VI. Non-Indian Nationals 81 D-vn. Educational Standards 82-83 11). E --Sumrn lry Figures by Admini.strative unit" 84-86 11. Locct.l (~) Infirmities 87-89 e) I ~. District Index of Non-Agricultural Oocnpa.tions 91-103 BIKANER DISTRICT. INTRODUCTION. I. Physical Aspects. Bikaner district is situated in the south-west of the Bikaner Division. On the formation of Rajasthan, the territory of the former Bikaner State was 1. Position declared to be a division with the headquarters of the Divisional Commissioner at Bikaner. The present district of Bikaner has been made out of the four tehsils of Bikaner, Lunkaransar, Nokha and Kolayat ( Magra ) of the former Bikaner State. The district lies between tl1P parallolR 270 15' and 29° 5" north latitude and 72° 20' and 74° 20' ea&t longitude. Bikaner city which is built upon a rock formation is higher than the surrounding sandy tract. The height of the city is 736 feet above sea level. The area of the district according to the calculations of the Surveyor General for India is 8,446.6 square miles but according to the Director of Land Recordl:l 2. Area for Rajasthan it is 10,150 sq. miles. The greatest length from north to E'outh is 144 miles and the greatest breadth from cast to west is 114 miles. The district is bounded on the north by the Ganganagar district. on the west by Pakis­ tan and J aisalmor district, on the east by the Churu district and on 3. Boundaries the south-cast and sout,h by the Jodhpur and Nagaur districts. The Indo-Pakistan border on the ,\-yest of the distriot extends for nearly 37 miles. The distriot derives its name from its prinoipal city Bikaner. This city was founded in 1488 A. D. by Rao Bikaji, the founder of the Bikaner State. 4. Meaning of Name The general aspect of the district is a vast sandy plain interspersed with sand-dunes , and sand~hins. Most of the sand-dunes are found in the west 5. (:qnliguration of Bikaner tehsil, and rorth of Lunkaransar tehsil. Only a few of these sand-dunes are moving; most of them are fairly stabi-' lized with trees and shrubs already growing on them.