Jhabua State Census Report
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THE CENTRAL INDIA STATE CENSUS SERIES VOLUME XIlV JHABUA STATE CENSDS REPORT FOR ]911. -:0:-- CO~I:PILED BY Major C. E. LUARD, M. A. (Oxon), I. A" SCPl~l{\' I KTE;\,DEXT• ,,' OF CE~SUS, ' OPER:\TIO~S'. _ I~ CE:)Tl{ALJ 1:\0[:\. , Jaora:: l;>Hli\TE1) AT THE IFTIKH:\R PRIXTI~G PRESS. 1913. :PREFAOE. 1~hi8 is the fourth Census of the Jhabua State and the second in which the British lndia schedule was applied and the results incorporated in the Imperial Tables. Mr. B. Damodar Rao, then Secretary to His Highness the Raja, was appointed Census Officer. With other State Census Officers he received training in the 'Work of Enumeration at Indore and on his return to the State imparted instruction to the Charge Superintendents and Circle Supervisors who, in their turn, opened schoo.ls of instruction at convenient centres and instructed the Enumerators. The State was divided for Census purposes into 6 Charges, viz., Jhabua town, .Jhabua Tahsil, Ranapur Tahsil, Thandla Tahsil, Rambhapur Tahsil, and the area poss'essed by the Umraos and other Jagirdars. These Charges were further divided into 25 Circles composed gf 1,155 Blocks. The number of Charge Superintendents was 6, that of Supervisors 78 and of Enumerators 494. The average number of houses per Charge, Circle and Block was 3,750, 265, and 46 respectively. The work was done by employes of the State and no necessity arose for employing paid agcnr,y. Shopkeepers and traders in the district acted as Enumf'rators. The Chief Officers of the Revenue, Police, Judicial and Forest Departments acted as Inspecting Officers. Tn a country inhabited by the jungle tribes it was difficult to secure a sufficient number 0:£ literate persons to act as Enumera~ors, accordingly an Enumerator had to be given 2 or 3 small blocks. , The arrangement for Census Divisions made by the CEI1SUS Officer was judicious and the instruction given to the subordinate staff was most complete. I visited the State in December 1910 and January 1911 entering from Jobat at. Pangvla village and inspected the work in considerable detail as the rough nature of the tract makes it difficult to arrange matters ~atisfactorily. I rode in company \vith the Census Officer and Tahsildars and visited oVer one hundred villages. The Bhil population, which predominates here, was fully alive to the meaning of a Censlls a~ld even the women left in the huts were eagel' to shew the wooden plates with house numbers on them, coming out as I passed. It was clear that the Census Officer had gained the complete confidence of these aboriginals who were thoroughly obedient to orders. I visited the Kajli Dungri manganese mines where the arrange~ mpnts made were excellent. Each stage of the operation was in strict accordanre with the ('ensus Calendar. _" The special arrangements made for communicating Provisional Totals from the; Supervisors Centres to those 8f the Charge Superintendent and from there to the headquarters were all that could be desired. The excellence of the arrangement was shewn by the Provisional Totals which numbered 111,010 persons (55,333 males and 55,677 females) differing from the Actual~. arrived at after abstraction and tabulation, by only 17 or 1 in 10,000. The Jhabua territory being hilly it Was not possibJe to effect a complete night Census. Accordingly only 3 towns and 12 villages were enumerated at night on the lOth March, the remaining villages"'and paras having a non-synchronous Censug taken at daybreak on 11th March. The accuracy with which the Provisional totals were prepared and the excellent demeanour of the Bhi! population throughout the operations reflects greatest credit on the Darbar and on the Census Officer, Mr. Damodar Rao, who deserves a11 praise. The State supplied its own staff under Supervisor Pandit Someshwar Who worked very well and completed the sl,ip copying, sorting and tabulating under my direct supervision in the Central Office at Indore. This is the first time the Jhabua State has had a separate Census Report. It: consists of the text containing a discussion on salient points deduced from the statistics, all statistical tables likely to be of use and a complete village ,list of the State. The total expenqiture on account of Enumeration and Tabulation amounts to R~, 2,275 which works up to 4 pies per head of population in 1911. C. E. LUARD, MAJOR, Superintendent of Census Operation8 in Centro,l Ind;n. OONTENTS. PAGE An Account of the Census ... 1 TABLES- Table I.,Area, Houses and Population ... 8 n.-Variation in Population since 1881 ... 9 IlL-Towns and Villages classifi'ed by Population 10 VL-Towns and Parganas arranged territorially with Population by Religion ••• 11 VII.-Age, Sex and Civil Condition ... 13 " " VIII.-Education l.iy Religion and Age 15 X.-Language .. 16 " XI.-B:irthplace .. " J1 " XIII.-Caste, Tribe or Race 17 XV.-Occupations or Means of Livelihood ... 18 List of Villages in the State ... ... t .. 21 ApPENDlCES- Appendix I.-Census Division and Agency ... 1 II.-Numoer of forms supplied wnd used I " IlL-Expenditure for Enumeration period 1 CENSUS REPORT OP THB JHABUA STATE. I.--General.-Jhabua is one of the guaranteed chiefships in the Bhopa,war Political Charge of the Central India Agency lying between 22° 28' and 23 CJ 14' N. and 74° 20' and 75° 19' E, with an area of 1336'48 squQ.re miles and a population of 111,292. It is bounded on the north by Kushalgarh State of the Rajputana Agency and Sailana ; on the south by the Jobat, Ali-Rajpur and Dhar States; on the east by Dhar and GwaliGr; and on the west by the Panch Mahals District of the Bombay Presidency. The State lies wholly in the mountainous region of Malwa known as Rath which is formed by the arm of the Vindhyas that strikes northwards towards Udaipur and constitutes the western boundary of the Mahva plateau. A succession of forest clad ridges run generally north and south, traversed by numerous streams which flow into the Anas, a tributary of the Mahi. The climate throughout most of the State is subject to greater 'extremes than are met with on the more open land of the Malwa plateau. The annual rainfall during the last decade averaged about 30 inches. The highest fall recorded was 40 inches in 1910-11, the least 17'21 in 1907-1908. No alteration in the area of the State as a whole has taken place since 1901. II.--Administration Divisions.-The State is divided for adminis trative purposes into 4 Tahsils, viz., Jhabua, Ranapur, Thandla and Rambhapur. The estates of 21 Umraos and Jagirdars named below are included in these Tahsils :- (1) Bori with 69 villages; (2) Jha.knavada with 46, (3) Kaliyanpura with 39 ; (4) Jamli and (5) Khawasa with 23 each; (6) Badwel, (7) Raipura and (8) Bodayatawith 17 each; (9) Karwad with 16; (10) Umarkot with 15; (11) Sarangi with 13; (12) Bavdi and (13) Naugama with 3 each; (14) Dabdi, (15) Kesarpura and (16) Talaoli with 2 each; and (17) Bachchikhera, (18) Gehedi, (19) Ghugri, (20) Hadnlatiya and (21) KodIi having one village each. The Umraos hold a somewhat peculiar position being descendants of members of the Chief's own family from whom they received the Jagirs. The aggregate area occupied by the Umraos is about 944 square miles or 70 per cent. of the total area of the State with a population of 39,675. III.-Density.-The mean density of the population for the whole State gives 83 persons to the sqrare mile, which, with its large and sparsely distributed Bhil population, forming about 66 per cent. of the total, does not compare unfavourably with the other States, except Jobat, of the Bhopawar Agency, viz.~ Dhar 86 persons, Barwani 92 persons, Ali Rajpur 87 persons, and Jobat 111 persons. Compared with 1901 the tiensity has risen by 13 per cent due to the rebound after the famine of 1900 and the facilities offered to the BhiIs to return to their homes and recoup their resources, The Umraos' estates were excluded from their respective Tahsils for census purposes, which makes it difficult to give density of popUlation for the Tahsils proper. 2f JHABUA STATE. IV.-Towns and Villages.-There is no locality having the minimulll of 5,000 population required by a Town, Jhabua, however, the capital which has the greatest population, viz., 2,938, has been treated as such for local purposes and its figures have been shewn separately in the fii'st 6 Tables. Two other places Thandla and Ranapur, the headquarters of the Tahsils of the same name, claim similar notice1 they are the only other trade centres in the State. The population of these places is shewn in the inset statement. 1911 1901 Jhabua has fallen ;-------- --- _-. owing to bad com Jbabua •• I 2,938 3.,354 Thandla r- •• ,' 2,112 4,1E5 munications and Ranapur ... 1,417' l 2,447 Thandla and Rana- pur on account of a severe epidemic of plague. Including the three places mentioned above there are 758 viI1ages in the State of which 446 are Khalsa and 312 are held by Umraos and Jagirdars. Villages of "under 500" population~ as usual, predominate, those of ., 500-1,000" being eight, H 1,000-2.000" two and " 2,000-5,000" two. The average village population is 147, V.-Houses and Parnilies.-No proper comparison is possible with the figures of 1901 in dealing with the hou&es owing to the alteration in the definition of the" house" adopted on this cccasion.