CENSUS OF INDIA 1961 PUNJAB DISTRICT CENSUS HANDBOOK No.8 LAHAUL & SPITI DISTRICT R. L. ANAND Superintendent of Census Operations, Punjab, Haryana and Union Territory oj Chandigarh Published by the Government of Punjab 1968 -' ",""J' II) t-:"'; .( ..cc I- t-= OIl OJ "\, % OJ ::I I- ~ 0 ""., ::I ..J ,:- en ( , 0 " t.l !". " I 0 r~ \. .... ...._._., I .....: ,-- _A "_0,('; ( do I- 0 0 \ \ \ 7 L \ ,~ "\ '\. '-, Go Q. ( ~ ,..L_~j. ) en WI II) 0: "- .. I .) .. \ <I ) ~ 0 ) ... .s. ( -rl ~ _J "- ,. " ..) / 0..) 04." \ :;) ~ ,,z: « ~ ~~ I ...- (/' « e, 1./ _. (---V ~ ..... --' ,/./ + / - / <,"..I Co ~ ~ .@ .. oil ..a: ..a: l- I- >- 0 a: a: >- >- a: <I <I <I a: a: ..J ... 0 :> :::> <I <I 0 a: <I 0 0 C a z z 0 0 \ z z :::> 0 0 ::> :::> <I <I 0 .. OJ I IIJ ->- ..J .. 0 0 I-a: 01 ..J X X 0 OJ OJ \..7 <1<1 <I ..J Z %0 ..J l- cc I a: z .. ,.: ;.:; ... ..: UJ l- I- .. I- ::I .. ) 0: ~:> <I II) X > X zO I- - <I Z - ... '" ( UJ _01 II) 0 I- ::> a: I- 0 I u.. { :> UJ , 0: .., It "I" w' CENSUS OF INDIA 1961 A-CENTRAL GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS Tile r:!nlicatiolls relating to PUlljab b~ar Volume No. xnr, and arc bound Scp1ratcJy as follows Part I .. A General Report Part LV-A Report on Housing and Establish­ ments Part I-B Reporl on Vital Statistics Part TV-B Tables on Housing and Establish­ ments Part I-C (i) Subsidiary Tables Part V-A Special fables on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Part I-C (ii) Subsidiary Tables Part V-B Ethnographic Noles on Scheduled Caste~ and Scheduled Tribes Part II-A Gen eral Population Tables Part VI Village Survey Monographs :44 in number, each relating to an indiviuual village Part II-B 0) General Economic Tablef: Part VII-A Report On Se~ected Handicrafts (Tables B-1 to B-IV, B-VIII ;_;nd B-IX) Part II-B (ii) General Economic Tables Part VII-B Report and Tables on Fairs and (Tables B-V to B-VlI) Festivals Part H-C (i) Social and Cultural Tables Part VITT-A Administrative Report: Enumera­ tion (Not for sale) Paft H-C (ii) Migration Tables Part VlIl-B Administrative Report: Tabula­ tion (Not for sale) Part III .' Household Economic Tables Part IX Socio-Economic Atlas B-PUNJAB GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS 19 Volumes of District Census Handbooks:- DCH-I Hissar DCH-l1 Ludhiana DCH-2 Rohtak DCH-12 · . Ferozepur DCH-3 Gurga~ DCH-13 · . Amritsar DCH-4 Kar~ DCH-14 Gurdaspur DCH-5 AI~rt DCH-I5 Kapurthala DCH-6 SiM~,' DCH-I6 Bhatinda i' • DCH-7 Krt~f!ra DCH-I7 · . Sangrur DCH-8 Lah~¥:~~Spit:f- nCH-I8 Patiala DCH-9 Hoshiarpur DCH-19 Mahendragarh DCR-tO JuJlundur PREFACE The reports and st:ltistical volumes p~rtaining to tIl':: 196 I-census fall under three broad groups on the basis of territory cOVerage. The All-l nd.ia Reports and Tables compiled in the office of the Registrar-General, India, encompass the cntire cCJuntry. The reports compiled by the State Supcrintcndents relate to indiv:dual Slatcs and Centrally Administered Territories. The third group consists of Di~,trict Census Handbooh, the scope of w:lich i5 limited io individual Districts, and they give information fo;' c~lch town ulld village. The Handbooks were compiled by the Superintendent of Censlls Operations, Punja h, but the State Government has undertaken their publication. Th~ District Ce;lsus Handbooks were published for the fir~t time :\t tne J951-ccnsus. They proved v(;ry lIseful with the officers, working in Community Development Bhck<;. Tahsl]s :Jl1J Oi"tr;cls, <md Viera consult,~d in connection with election" as also by students of social sciences interested in local problems. This Handbook contains the essenliai census data for each village in (he District. Besides, ~;;'l1le nther useful information has been included in it. lhus making it ~l self-contained [}Q,)k of rcfci'cnce for the District. I 11 ~ book is divided in to four part s. Part 1 consi:,ts of four eha pters. Chapter I introd uces the Di~ trict, giving in formation Oil its location, physical features, eli mate, i'aunJ and nor:: :lnd pbces of i nteresC a brief history oftM District and its admini,trative machinery. In ChClptcr Hare di<;cllssed the usc of land, main. crops and irrigation, industries, trade and commerce. and communications. I n Chapter II[ the ~,alicnt features ofpopuhtion are discussed. Chapter IV deals with social ~lnd dcve!c'j)mcntal activities. and achievements during the First and Second Five-Year Plans. In Part If are presented the statistics secured fr0111 various Government Departments relating to r'linfall, temperature, and tltili~alion, irrigation, area and yield of principal crops, industry, co-opcr:ltion, education, medical and health, transport and communications, community development activities, bHnks and insurance, and justice. At the end appears a Table on the fairs and festivals in the District. The Tables relating to the 1961-census are presented in Part lII. Part IV contains a Directory of Kothis and Gaons showing which among them have educational institutions, hospitals and dispensaries, post and telegraph offices, electrification and protected water-supply; area; number of occupied residential houses and households living therein; population; persons belonging to SchedUled Castes and Scheduled Tribes; number of literate and educated pCrSlll1S; number of workers in nine broad industrial categories; and number of nOl1-wnrkers. The book contains three maps. There is a map of thc District showing the administratin boundaries, roads, rivers and location of Kothis. Another map shows the distribution of population of rural areas by dots. The third map shows location of schools, dispensaries and post officeS. These maps were prepared by Sarvshri Gurmit Singh Gill, Economic Investigator. and Mal kiat Singh, Draftsman. This publication is the outcom.: of the joint efforts of a large number of workers and Government Departments, and grateful acknowledgement is made of the help received from them. Within the Census Organisation mention needs to be made of Shri Jaswant Singh Dilawary, Office Superintendent, and Sarvshri Vishwa Mitter, COJ?1putor an~iJaswallt La), Assistant Compiler, for preparing the Tables appearing in Part If, under the superviSIon of Silri T.P. Garg. P.C S .. Deputy Superintendent of Census Ope 1'<1' ions; and of Shri G.D. Singla, Tabulation Oftkcr and Sarvshri Joginder Nath Suri and Dharam Paul Jain, Statistical Assistants, and Shri Ajab Lal Kakkar, Computor, for preparing the Tables appearing ill Parts III and IV, under the supervision of Shri Pawan Kumar, the t[len Tabulation Officer. Shri Madan Lal Sharma, Tabulation Officer, produced a cc)mprehensivc draft of this Handbook after paying a number of visits to the District, and after collecting valuable information by personal observations and contact with a large number of offiCials/non-officials in the District. Shri B.S. Tancja, Stenographer rendered valuable help in typing the manuscript. Shri Janak Raj Vashistha, Tabulation Officer, and Sarvshri Joginder Nath Suri and Daulat Ram, Statistical Assistants, and Shri Ajab Lal Kakkar, Computor, rendered valuable assistance in seeing 1he Report through the Press. The Organization .is indebted to Kanwar Sita Ram, P,C.S., Deputy Superintend~nt of Census Operations for editing the first draft of the report. The Orgar'lisation is also indebted to Shri R. L. Anand, Ex-Superintendent of Census Operations, Punjab, Haryana and Union Territory of Chandigarh, for his overall direction, guidance and editing of 1his Report. Our thanks are due also to Shri Pawittar Singh Walia, Deputy Controller, for his personal attention ill the printing of the book, H.S, KWATRA, P.C,S., J. L ARORA, H.C.S., CHANDIGARH: Deputy Superintendent of Census Deputy Superintendent of CenSllS December 7, 1968 Operations, Punjab, Chandigarh Operations, Haryana, Chandigarh CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE iii PART I-INTRODUCTION TO THE DISTRICT 1--33 Chapter 1- Introduction 3 Chapter If-Economy 15 Chapter Ill-Population 23 Chapter IV-Social and Developmental Activities 29 PART II-DEPARTMENTAL STATISTICS 35-58 Explanatory Note 39 Tables 41 PART Ill-CENSUS TABLES 59-167 Explanatory Note 65 Tables 93 PART IV-DIRECTORY OF VILLAGES (Kothis) 169-189 Explanatory Note 170 Directory 172 Alphabetical List of Gaons 185 MAPS Lahaul & Spiti District: Tahsil boundaries, Kotbis, Roads, Rivers and Canals Frontispiece Lahaul & Spiti District: Distribution of Population, 1961 facing page 23· Lahaul & Spiti District: Location of Schools, Dispensaries and Post Offices facing page 29 PART I INTRODUCTION TO THE DISTRICT CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Name.-The name of the District is a combination of the names, of its two sub-divisions, Lahaul and Spiti. In the Tibetan language, the word 'Lho-yul' means southern country. This name is said to have originated when Lahaul was under the sway of Ladakhi rulers who designated their territory in the south as 'Lho-yul'. This theory, propounded by Moorcraft, was universally accepted, but recent research repudiates it. Both the Tibetan and the local people call this area Garzha; it is the people of Kulu who call it Lahau!. Moreover it has been now proved that all through the ancient times, Lahaul remained more or less under Chamba 'and Kulu. Dr. Hazari Prasad Dwivedi has put forward another version, tracing the name Lahaul to the Lahaul-Pashupat sect which thrived in India during the middle ages. According to him, Lahaul is an abbreviation of the original word Lahaul-Pashupat. Spiti, the name of the other sub-division of the District, is pronounced locally as Piti, which is also a Tibetan word meaning 'middle province'. The name appears to have been given to the territory on account of its location between the then British India, Kashmir, Tibet and Bashahr.