M. 1at-lO CENSUS OF PAKISTAN, 1951 VOLUME 3 EAST BENGAL REPORT & TABLES By H. H. NOMANI, M. A. PROVINC~L SUPERINTENDENT OF CENSUS, EAST BENGAL Published by the Manager of Publications. Government of Pakistan. KARACHI. Price Rs. 18/12/- General Table of Conteilts or two paru. Part J. b.,ters nm REPORT. "No. Preface I Introduction V I - The Province and its 0e0Jraphy. I II • Historical Survey. 21 [IT - Movement and distribution of population. 2!J IV • The Urban and Rural Population. 57 V • Birth-place. 75 VI • A •• Sell: and Marital Status. 8! I'll • Literacy and Education. ... 9'1 rm • I..aquap. 111 IX • Economic Activities. - 121 Part U. rabies EAST BENGAL TABLES. • Population. ..~ 1- 1 lA • Population of Urban Areas, t- 8 2- • T~ and Cities. ". 2-1 3 • Variation. 3-1 4 • Aae and Marital Status. 4-1 4A • Orphans. 4-!i2 S • Birth-place. $-1 6 • Religkln. 6-1 7 • Mother Tonpe. ... 7-1 7A • Speech. 1-11 8 • Liiemcy. 8-1 SA - I..aquqes ofLitetacy. 8-7 9 • Pupils and students. 9--1 9A - Years of Education. ~18 9B • Educatiooallewl.. ... '_;""I 10 - Natiollallty. 10-1 IDA - Arahan Powindas. 10-4 ii Tables Page No. 11 - Labour Force. 11- 1 llA - Occupations of Civilian l$bour Force. 11-13 11 D - Occupations of Non-Agricultural Labour Force. 11-17 110 - Sec. l-Occupations of Agricultural Labour Force. 11-21 llC - Sec. 2-Subsidiary occupations of Agricultural Labour Force. 11-24 12 • Economic Groups and Industrial Status of Non-Agricultural Labour Force. 12- 1 II - Economic Groups and Occupations of Civilian Labour Force. 13-1 13A - Industrial Status. 13- 3 13D • Economic Groups and Sub-Groups. 13- 8 14 • Agricultural Labour Force. 14- I IS • Landowners. 15- 1 19A - Muhnjirs orgin. 19- 1 19B - Muhajirs Educational level. 19-- 3 19C - Muhajirs in the Labour Force. 19- 6 19D - Economic Groups .i'Occupations of Muhajirs. 19""":'16 Supplementary Table I-Thana Statistics. SI-1 .. 2-Tribes in Chittagong Hill Tracts. S2-1 3-Tea Garden Population. S~-I 4-Cottage Industries. S4-1 .. 5-Cottage Industries. S5-1 N.D.-For Economic Tables See Volume 8. PREFACE (By tile CelSus CoIntllfssfGftel', GoveJ'Qllleot of Pakistan) this Census report tot the province of East tilt atliti$tical tables til .web the ditailed ,.. _gal is one of the series of volUrtles in which . suIts of the Census ~ prMttd.' It U- 'StrGllaIj the l'$l1ts of the 19S1 Census of "akistan are tuted that befilrt U6IDI or draWing Wl1dosicma ti!Corded. underlying aD the work and effort from the data in Part D, tit ddinWons, $", by which these figures have been produced, was in Part 1 shoUld be taken into ~utrt. It fs the o'\'erwhelmi'ng ~ for the taptd supply of proposed to isSue later a furthet volume. ~ fnrotmatton ~dlhg the new nation. But Will be No. 8 fu the serieS, in whiCh cer.tail Of dils Sense of urgency has had to contend with the the i?conomic ta~res W1ii be piellehted in &reattt lifeal difficulty of organizing the enwnetation geographical and qualitative detail. afid the· su~t abstraction of the results The lack of statistical data reprdina Pakistao, at' a time when the adinilli$trati.ve 0 sfl)lcture of and especially for the new Prov.iuce of East .Benaal. the GOV(!rnmeDt was itself in the formative stages. made it imperative to adhere to the traditional Most strenuous efforts by devoted officers, how~ Ceasus Date in Pebruaey 19S1 ,despite the un­ ever, met the demand for data despite the slender desirability of organi:rin. such an operation resources, •and the more essential figures were without long preparation. All existiDg infor­ made available with remarkable speed by the mation had been rendered obsolete by the tWo­ issue of four Interim Bulletins, the first of which way flow of migration resulting ftoIn Partition. pve the provisional results ~f the Census within In addition, the figures for 1941 Census Datu­ six weeks of the Enumeration. In addition, rally did not apply to the new areas in the divided in 19S2.· a booklet was issued for each district distriets. Moreover, they had not been tabu­ giving the population of Union Board areas lated in full owing to the War, and their acCu­ according to religious communities' and also racy had been prejudiced by the efforts of the a District Village List was published 'giving the different communities to inflate their figures 1I8Dle, population, and many local details of for political purposes. The figures for 1931 f!Yery viDa&e. Census were more accurate but ~ badly out of date. These considerations were not only This report now ~tlrers together all the final tea60ns for a speedy census but should be borne mults of the 19S1 Census in East Bengal and in mind when making comparisons of 1951 data is arranaed in two parts. Part I, blisides giving with previous figures and in particular with· such a brief -descril)tion of the historieaJ. and geogra­ 1941 figures as are available, which should be Used phical background of the province, explains with great caution. the definitions and methods used in the conec­ The Provincial SuJ)eiintendent of Cebsua ti(Ofi !lIld compilation of the census data, provides feels that the figlJres fOr 19S1 Census are rel9Oft.o certaui comparisons with past figures, and gives ably aCcurate as regar'ds the total po(JlllatiOft sOme of local details required in order to under­ of the various areas, and this opiBioit is Ibtti­ stand the dilterences between the figures fbr va­ fled by the tact that the preliminaty Ho*­ n9us parts of the province. Part II Wntaios 'istin, enquiry, conducted three or rour mofltb4 tn) hefore the. Census itself, gave figures very close carried into greater detail. A translation of indeed to thore which were attained by the final the enumerators questionnaire and instruction~ enumeration. In fact the enumeration itself , .sheet' is inserted in the back-cover of this volume was rather more complete, but the difference together with a copy of the Enumeration Slip is small. Accuracy in a Census, however, is a on which· t4e answers were recorded. Some relative matter and the same standard of accu~ of the enquiries included in the questionnaire racy ('annot obviously apply to all the detailed hii've proved unsuccessful and in particular the statistics. One must allow for doubts and un­ data on Unemployment and Fertility. But certainties in the minds of the public and this is these innovations were worth making and will particularly t(ue in the case of illiterate ~rsons probably result, provided the questions are te­ in Mg81'd to age., and the exact description. of designed in the light of our present experj.~ occupations, etc. The sorting and tabulation in the production of more reliable data on, th~ ,work wbicll was largely done by the traditional subjects at the next Census. In this cenSUs no band methods was most carefully checked, but question was, asked regarding Physical or menta.l here again the possibility ~f rnisclassification handicaps as experience had shown the p~cti~ cannot be entirely ruled out. ,These. !=OlliIidera­ impossibility of applying definitions, relJardiilJ ~ions have led t~ a departure from previous policy the degree of infirmity. An enquiry into cattle in the matter of presenting the Age data. In resources and land utilization was otiginaliy 1931 the age figures suffered from the usual suggested for inclusion in. the population ~D$US; troubles but the 5-year Age-groups were ad­ There is a great deal t9 be sa~d for collecting justed 'arithmetically in order' to smooth out sllcll' information while the enumerators . are the worst inequalities. In 1951 this was consi­ recording the other data of the rural population~ dered undesirable: The enumerators themselves but jn view of the short' time for organization had recorded most of the ages to the nearest and the complex nature of such an enquiry, which S years, but an analySis disclosed that even then would necessitate far more 'elaborate instruction ~ere WaS obvious heaping in certain groups. of. enumerators, nothing of this kind cOuld be Had the data been presented in this report in done in 1951. An enquiry into Cottage ,indus­ full detail, there would have ~ very grave tries was, however, included as a part of the danger of figures being used hurriedly to draw homelisting survey. It was not cOQtpteted fully Conclusions of administrative importance without everywhere but the results may be' usef\ll as far giving .due consider~tion to their relative reli­ as they go.' "', ahility~ . The age figures are therefore preSented The work of abstracting the statisticitI data onlY in broad groups which appear 'to be reason­ from the millions of slips has been l\ tremendous ably reliable. The full tabulation in' 5-year undertaking which strained our resources in all !JWups has been preserved and copies can be directions. Traditional hand-sorting method'i made available to students and statisticians on were largely used and the original enumeration application to the Government of Pakistan, but slips were foun~ quite suitable for this purpose. should only be used under ex~rt advice and The recruitment and Training of a lat~ tempo­ with caution. rary staff of sumcient education presented con­ The scope of the 1951 Census of Pakistan siderable problems. Owing to the departure covered more or less the same ground as pre­ of many Hindu clerks good cIerical workers vious .Censuses of India except that the detailed were at a premium and very few ~ns of sui­ analysis by Castes and Race ceased to be nece­ table ability were willing to take up $is arduous ssary and tribes were not recorded except in temporary work.