General Report, Part I-A, Series-22, West
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CENSUS OF INDIA 1971 SEalES 22 WIrB'I BENGAL Part I·A General Report BHASKAR GHOSE OF THE INDIAN ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE DIRECToR OF CENSUS OPERATIONS , WEST BENGAL CONTENTS PII,. No,. PREFACE I CHAPTBR.S I General R.eport 1-5 . II Size, Distribution and Density of Population 6-39 III Growth of Population 40-.55 IV Rural and Urban Population 56-160 V Sex Ratio and Age Structure 161-195 VI Literacy 196-232 VII Mother Tongue 233-255 VIII Religion 257-281 IX Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Population 182-333 PREFACE It is the tradition of Indian Census that a leneral report on each decennial cen'lls is published for every state. The present volume, Part I-A: General Report, follows the tradition and presents a very broa. analysis of the demographic trend in West Bengal as rerIected in the data thrown up by the census of 1971. Topics such as size, distribution and density of population, Ifowth of population, distribution of population in tbe rural and urban areas, urbanisation, sex ratio and age structure, etc. have beea discussed in this volume. In preparing the report I have followed the pideliaes set by the Regiltrar General of India. The conclusions and observations are of course mine and do not in any way reBect the views of the Government. The report is in very general terms and has no claim to orilin.lity. I am srateful to Shri B. Ohose. Director of Census Operations, West Bertpl for sivina me the opportunity to write out the report and also for allowing me to draw on the draft of one or two chapt.. which he himself prepared but could not finalise due to other pressing preoccupations. I am allO thankful to Shri R. B. Chari, Registrar General and Shri K.K. Chakraborty, Assistant Registrar General for tbrir kind guidance and help. The Registrar General took the trouble of going through the draft or • few chapters of the report personally and suggesting aome important changes. My Irateful thanka are also due to Shri P. Padmanabha, the present Registrar General for'1he valuable suggestions and guidance. The publication could not have been possibJe but for the wholehearted labour put in by the entire cen~us organisation. I am grateful to all member. of the stafC of the Census Directorate.. I would, however, like to place on record my thanks for the unfailing a9sistance which I had from Shri Manindra Nath Sarkar, Investigator, Shri Kamalesh Dhani, Computor, Smt. Nira Chakraborty, Smt. Mira Banerjee, Smt. Krishna Chowdhury, Smt. Dolly Roy and other Assistant Compilers of the Central Tabulation Unit. They worked hard for long periods in preparing the statements included in the report for ensuring accuracy of the data. Shri Kalyan Kumar Datta. Senior Technical Assistant, Smt. Dipti Rudra, Stenographer. Sm'. Shila Chakraborty and Smt. Suniti Sharma, Lower Division Assistants worked hard in finalising and typing the manuscript. Shri Sukumar Sinha, Oeputy Director helped me with valuable suggestions on varioul topics. Shri Dipanlcar Sen, Inve~tig.tor tOlk keen intere~t to ma.ke the mlnuscript ready for the press. The data on which the report is based were checked and rechocked in the office of the Directorate of Census Operations. West Bengal, and the Registrar General, India. The comments and oonclusions are or course mine and mistakes which may. have crept in the report are also my responsibility. I will conlider my efforts emply rewarded if the volume evokes some interest in tbe readers in the cenlus data Which are a unique wealth of information. CALCV1TA, M.e. DATTA 1, NOVEMBER. J977 Deputy Dlr~ctD' of C"'IIU OP~'llllo. Welt Be",o/ ChapterJ GENERAL· ·llEPORT I Dtrodaetory oen~us had to be taken. SiDee it bact ,to be to., tbe most opportune period' mthat dUBou1t: period Thi, rlCport presents the basic demographic, had to be chosen. The only coune wa. to 84val1ce . social and economic characteristics of the population the enumeration to a compar.tiv~r • .rer. period aiUS of the W~st Bengal as revealed by the census of this was done. The revisional touad· on,.... ,that 1971. It covers the following features : size, distribu the population nguaes were corrected' .:with reterence tion, density and growth rate of population; i~s rural to the same date all over the cOUIlUy.. It c.allot 'be and urban break-up, sex ratio and age structure; said tha t this was the best arran.cm.cnt•.. but· it ,·w•• literacy; mother tongues spoken in the state; religion; the only one possible. the demographic features of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes; and the distribution of The 1971 census set-up in West Ben.al 'Was population by main economic activity. Some other almost the same as in 1961. Eaeh District·Magi.tr.lte characteristics will be covered in the second palt of was appointed a district ·census ofBcer and· charged the report to be. publisl ed later. These are, age and with the respO'ftsibility of tui])S the cen_us in h.is marital status; educational levels; migration; detailed district. One of the officers ott seneral duty • the . classification of workers and non-workers. district headquarters who belonged to the West The census of West BengaJ was taken over a Bengal Civil Service or the West Bengal Junior Civil period which extended from 19 February to 28 Service was designated as offiter-in-charge of ceIl.US February, 1971. The figures were revised in the for the district It was the oflicel'"'in-charge who field from 1 to 3 April to ascertain the population orga.nised the entire census operations in the district as it was on 1 April, 1971. this rather disjoined under the over-all ,control and guidanoe of the programme became necessary owing to the elections District Magistrate. which were held on 10 March, 1971. In the rest of the country the enumeration period was commenced A similar organization was set up in the sub.. on 10 Ma.rch, ]971. In West Bengal, the enumera divisions with· the sub-divisional oftic~rs beins tion was advanced and was comple.ted well before appointed sub-divisional census officers and one of the ge.neral elections. The revisiona! round from 1 the officers on general duty being appointed officer to 3 April was, however, held along with the rest of in-charge of census of each sub-division. The vari the country so that the population figures were ous development blocks which go to make up the corrected to refer to the same date throughout sub-division were constituted into census charges, India. and each block development oBicer was desipated census charge superintendent for his charBe~ At It js necessary to record here why West Bengal's this point, tbe identity with revenue and admhds enumeration prqgramme differed from that of the tration bounda.ries ceased. Each charge was d,ivided rest..of the country. The reader will remember that into a· number of censUs circle. and a local official 1910 was a highly disturbed period in West Bengal such 'as an anchal pradban or a viUale social .and' the maintenance of public peace and security wOrker was appointed circle supervisor. Each \VIS the ,prj~ary concern of the authorities. The circle was made up of fiv·e or· more enumeration tAkiug 01\.a c~sus was, ~ethapa, the last thing ,they, .. ~lock$, which constituted ,the basic censu, .uni~ in ~I'ould ,.hav.e· att~mpted. For various re.sons it 'tdt.ms of ter~tory add pOl)uJation~ An enumeratJon .. ~o:uld ~t. ·be .pC)$tponed. : The: .,round work had .:," 't,l(tcic '. WSs co1:ermmolls·· with a f..even.ue villi" or Tti~ pl'9ared. ,A. {J~n,,,., is .an ,csacntially all-lnclia mc;;uza, provided the population was not Jready in i"~tati~ .'1l~. t(t a~~~hllc ...•..~ ~•• te·. fro·m· ~t wovld ixcess o·f 750 perIOn.. .If it was Ifluch. biqc:r. tb. "J~!*> ~d .;10 ',,;~ilution ,of :the.. .~.JltY· or· th~; cen.us tba.:t, .the mouza· ",,$ dh~ided into &. numb., Qt,lIlu"· Y'., a )\I~~~.~ : F:~Jhi8.. alld"iO,tt.e( 'y~Ud' r,edOl1S tb#· • meratlol1 bl'ocks ot.ui"~lc ··site1 .· The',pP"'lIm~fe •. 2 population of each block was ascertained at the filling up the schedules in a number of training time of houselisting, which was an operation classes as well as practical classes in the field. The conducted towards the end of 1970 and has been advancing of the census enumeration programme described in detail in the housing report. An meant that the training had in some places to be enumerator was appointed for each census block. necessarily hurried through and, while every effort They were usually primary school teachers but in was made to give the enumerators a clear idea of several places local young men had to be appointed the work to be done and the concepts involved, in since some primary school teachers refused to do some places there were deficiencies in this respect. the work. The enumerator was a voluntary worker After the enumeration and the revisional round, in the sense that he was persuaded to do the work popUlation totals were collected in abstracts and without any remuneration except an honorarium. communicated to the district offices by the lower In fact, all the census officers from the district level echelons on the basis of which provisional' district downwards did their work on an honorary basis. totals were sent to the Registrar General of India and the state census office. Paper No. 1 of 1971, The urban areas, Le., cities and towns (exclud Provisional Population Totals, was brought out a ing Calcutta city which is dealt with later on) and month after the enumeration so that a first glimpse those areas which were declared to be urban though of the characteristics of the population was available they did not have the status of a municipal town, to the public.