I Chapter-Ill Demographic Characteristics 111.1. INTRODUCTION ; The term "Demography" has been derived from two Greek words meaning 'Demos' or the people to draw or write. Thus literally speaking, demography is concerned about writings concerning the people. Peter R. Cox has said, "It is sometimes argued that certain branches of population analysis should be -dif?tinguished from others by a separate title. Philip M. Hauser and Dudly Duncan said "Demography is, the study of the size, territorial distribution and composit~on of population, changes therein, and components of such changes, which may be identified as naturally, mortality, territorial movement (migration) and social mobility (change of status). According to Donald J. Bogue, "Demography is t4e mathematical study of size, composition and social distribution of human populations. According to Frank Lorimer, "Demography is an elaborate study of population. S. N. Agarwala S(;lid, "Demography deals with analytical interpr~tation"of population dynamics and composition, which covers a wider area. In the words ofDonald J Bogue, "It is the study of the growth distribution, redistribution of the population within a community, state economic area or other local area. This includes both numerical and compositional .~spects and is performed by using meaningful sub divisions of conimunity or local areas ... " So, Demography is a scientific analysis to achieve knowledge of the size, organization and distribution of the population, to de~cribe the past evaluation of population to enquire into the trend of population and its relationship with different aspects of social organization and to prediyt the future demographic evaluation and its probable consequences of different field of study. ' In Koch BiharI district, now there are five sub- divisions viz. Cooch Behar Sadar,. Dinhata, Mathabhanga, Tufanganj and Mekhliganj covering eight police stations viz. Cooch Behar , Kotowali (Sadar), Dinhata and Sitai in Dinhata Subdivision, Mathabhanga and Sitalkuchi · in Mathabhanga Subdivision, Tufariganj in Tufanganj subdivision and Mekhliganj and Haldibari in Mekhliganj Subdivision. There are 15 development blocks covering these Police stations of the district. In this district there are six municipal towns viz. Cooch Behar (District Headquarter), Dinhata, Mathabhanga, Tufanganj, Mekhliganj and ' ' ' Haldibari. It is to be noted that except Mekhliganj, all subdivisions of this district have Municipal towns, Under Mekhliganj Subdivision, besides Mekhliganj, Haldib<l!i Police station has become another municipal town of this district. Not only that~ in this district there are four census towns viz. Khagrabari, Kharimala Khagrabari and Guriahati in Cooch Behar Urban Agglomeration an~ Bhangri Pratham Khanda (Dinhata Urban Agglomeration) 33 III. 2. URBAN: POPULATION OF DIFFERENT TOWNS In I-951 census the total population of the district was 6,68,949 whereas the urban population of this district was only 50,180 which was below the preportion of the State comprising 2,62,99,980 and 62,81,642 persons respectively. It is found that-there is a. positive increase of population of the district from 1951 to 2001. In the year 2001, the total urban population entered to 2, 25,506 persons. Among different towns of ~och · Bihar distri~t, the highest number of urban population is to be found in Cooch Behar municipality comprising 76,812 persons followed by Dinhata and Mathabhanga I municipal toWn accounting' 34,303 and 21,110 persons respectively. ;tll other towns have below 20,000)opulations. The lowest number of urban population is recorded in Bhangri Pratham Khanda census town accounting only 4113 persons. III. 3. CLASSIFICATION OF DIFFERENT TOWNS In India, definitions an4 attributes of urban area which provide basis of all analysis of urbanization have undergone several changes and modifications overtime. In 190i census, the definition adopted for an urban area was as follows: ~ Every municipality of whatever size; ~ All civil lines not included within municipal limits; ~ Every other continuous collection of houses permanently inhabited by not less than 5,000 persons who the Provincial superintendent may decide to treat as a town for census purposes. It is evident that the primary consideration for deciding the status of any settlement as urban or rural was its administrative setup and size and not necessarily the · economic characteristics. As a result 'many of the places which thus have been.treated as . towns are in reality nothing more than overgrown villages '(Census of~ndia, 1901,Vol-I). The same definition o~ town continued up to the 1951' Census. In order to ·avoid the anomalies of this definition for the first time in 1961, a more realistic and meaningful definition of urban area was adopted, which had taken into consideration economic characteristics in . addition to other administrative and demographic criteria. The definition adopted in 1961 was as follpws: A place should be either a municipal corporation, cantonment board or notified ' town area committee etc. ~ A minimum population of 5,000 I ~ A density of at least 400 people per sq. km and :,~ At least 75 percent pftheir male labour force in non agricultural occupatio11s. Therefore, any analysi~ of data relating tq various aspects of urbanization has to be understood with this limitation up to ~he year ·1991. By definition the Indian Census 34 URBAN POPULATION IN DIFFERENT TOWNS OF KOCH BIHAR DISTRICT 1 ......."'Tj s9•1oo E 89"130 90"10 qt1 z 0 D T R I T .I A I. p A (I R s r·, ." c u 26° ·,.... .. ..., ,. J' "' ~ 30 "',_' "'· -- .. _' --'·-:-· ~' ~.,, l ,_~ .. ~ ~·~l \ J .--· .,.J" ~. c ... •' ( ~r) ; " ."'· .r .J •,, ) / r"': ~~ I ) \ f'"'"\., ,- ro' c!' \·\ ' '•.J r \ \ ( ·,_j v' c:/ ' ·-.~ .. ' ., ... (_, .... , i) ·~ I' ) ./ "-•' I ,.,: . ··v: ·"" . \ (,' : l ":-­ v·· \II·.KIII.IUAI\.1 .:,,(" ·~-. -.:::- ,.' .. ./ ~"'- '"~- \1,\TIIAAII.·\'IC;,~ ' ( '• ,--l (~)' . i\ ..... ··.'l,·l. :\ \) """'''"\.: "<:" ""\ KOC II BIIIAR (,?..r' ....... <....._ ' ~ i \ : \' ~~ ( .. _ TL:fA'i(;A\.1 . \ ' \ '-) .., "" '>._ l. ... ...,. ... - ... r ( \ ,.., I": VJ .......... .:...... _-.'"""'···:· :J "" Vl \ '~---->---' \, ~) (; I r 'c- "" '-,......, flr 0- .... ) ·~·.... ) "<:" ·-<{ ,. I -~ r :-- ··v· \ -'V "') lN DE X -.......... _.., \':! r:·J l "ro ··.'-,,r,....-,./ .,'I International Boundary (_ ..., State Boundary L.·. -1 I.,. , , I)I'IIIATA J District Boundary .() ........ / : l Sub-Division Boundary ........ "' ... ._. ... - ·;. ' 2£ (,' ": ·f 00 J' "' .· I __ 76,8121 Total Urban Population /;~ ~~---'1,----- 34,303 SCALE Population, 5 0 5 IOkms. ..··o • Scale 89"100' E 89"130' 90"10' (2001 similar to 1991) treats those areas as urban which are either statutory town i.e. all places with a Municipal Corporation, Municipal Board, Cantonment Board, Town Committee or notified area or which have got minimum population: of 5,000 persons coupled with rthree-forth (7~%) of its male work force being engaged in a non­ agricultural economic activities and a density of at least 400 persons per sq. km. That is even those areas which are classified as rural administratively would be treated as urban in Census if they fulfill the above three criteria. Such urban areas are called 'Census ~town'." Besides, the concept of Urban Agglomeration ( U.A ) was adopted for- large Railway Colonies, University Campuses, Port areas, Military Camps etc. which very often sprang up outside the statutory .limit of city or town but adjoining it may not be themselves qualify to be treated as towns but form a continuous spread with the adjoining town . It would be only realistic to treat them as urban and are termed as Outgrowth (O.G.) and may cover a whole village or a part of village. Two or more towns may also . be continuous to each other. Such towns together with their outgrowth (O.G.) are treated as one urban unit and called "Urban Agglomeration" (U.A,.). ' CLASS-WISE CLASSIFICATION OF TOWNS: For the analysis of class-wise classification of urban centres or towns, six categories of urban centres or. to\\'11s· are used by the Census of India. The Indian C~nsus has adopted the population size as. the main basis for classifying the urban centres or towns. According to it, all urban settlements are grouped into six classes (Census of India 1991) which differ widely in their population size and characteristics and are recognized separately on the basis of their status. Such as Urban Agglomeration (U.A.), Municipal Corporation (M.C.), Municipal Board (M.B.), Cantonment (Cantt.), Town Area (T.A) and Notified Area (N.A) etc. Table-III.1 provides the distribution of all such centres of the region (Koch Bihar district) among the six classes and Table-III.2 comprises the number of urban centres of such class on a time scale. Table-ill.l· Classification ofTowns on the basis of Population Size (Koch Bihar District) Size of Class-wise Number , Class Population ofUrban Centres I > 1,00,000 NIL II 50,000-99,999 1 III 20,000-49,999 2 IV 10,000- 19,999 5 v 5,000-9,999 1 VI < 5,000 1 All Classes 10 Source: Census ofIndia, 1991. Table-III.2 gives aclear picture that in this district, there are 10 towns of which tpere is no I class town, one class II, two class III, five class IV, one elass V and one class VIto\vn. 36 Table-ill.2 Growth in the Number of Urban Centres or Towns by Class in the District ofKoch Bihar Since 1951 Size Class of the Towns Year Total I II III IV v VI 1951 ' - - 1 - 1 4 06 1961 - - 1 1 1 3 06 - 1971 - 1 - 1 2 3 07 1981 - 1 - 3 2 2 08 1991 - 1 1 4 3 - 09 2001 - 1 2 5 1 1 10 ' Calculated by the Author There were six urban centers in the district of Koch Bihar in the 1951 census., In - - the successive censuses of 1961, 1971, -1981, l991, and 2001, .the ~!umbers of urban centers wer~ increased to 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 respectively. It is also noted that there is no ' town under class-I and only one town viz.