|
1.
The area covered by the sixth general census
of India is approximately identical with that
covered by the census of 1921 and differs little
from the area of previous occasions from 1881
onwards; 2,308 sq. miles containing some 34,000
inhabitants have been added in Burma and in the
North of Assam, while on the other hand, six sq.
miles have been lost to Nepal. The statistics
therefore cover the whole empire of India with,
Burma and the
adjacent
|
Year
|
Sq. Miles
|
Increase
|
|
1881
|
1,382,164
|
--
|
|
1891
|
1,560,160
|
177,536
|
|
1901
|
1,766,597
|
206,437
|
|
1911
|
1,802,657
|
36,060
|
|
1921
|
1,802,332
|
2,675
|
|
1931
|
1,808,679
|
3,347
|
islands
and islets (Exclusive of Ceylon and the
Maldives) as well as Aden and Perim Island, but
not the Kuria Muria Islands* and Sokotra, which
is part of the Aden Protectorate, administered
from Aden on behalf of the Colonial Office, and
not part of British India. The statistics the
tables do not of course cover those parts of the
peninsula, which are not parts of the British
Empire, that is to say, Afghanistan, Nepal,
Bhutan and the French and Portuguese
possessions, the area and population of which,
together with the rate of increase since 1921
where available, are shown in the marginal
table. For the rest the scope of this census
extended to the whole of the peninsula of India,
forming what is commonly described as a sub
continent between long. 61 o and 101 o E. and
lat 6 o to 37 o N. Some information has also
been included with regard to natives of India
resident permanently or temporarily outside the
Indian Empire or serving on the High Seas at the
time the census was taken.
Obliviously within an area of such
|
Changes in external area since 1921
|
|
--
|
Sq. Miles.
|
Population
|
|
Assam
|
+908
|
+15,711
|
|
Burma
|
+1,400
|
+18,327
|
|
United
Provinces
|
- 6
|
-130
|
|
Total Net
Addition
|
+ 2,302
|
+ 33,908
|
size, part
of which is well within the temperate zone while
part is almost equatorial, the diversity of
condition both of the population and of its
environment must be very great indeed.
Geologically, while the peninsula is one of the
oldest of the world's formations, the Himalayas
are one of the most recent. Not unnaturally
therefore there is a great variety of physical
feature, varying not only from the loftiest
mountains of the world to flats salted by every
tide, but from sandy deserts with a rainfall of
five inches or less in a year in the north west
to thickly
wooded
|
---
|
Area in sq. miles
|
Population 1931
|
% of increase since 1921
|
|
Afghanistan
|
250,000
|
7,000,000
|
..
|
|
Bhutan
|
20,000
|
250,000
|
..
|
|
Nepal
|
54,000
|
5,600,000
|
..
|
|
French India
|
196
|
286,410
|
+6.24
|
|
Portuguese India
|
1,461
|
579,969
|
+5.79
|
evergreen hills
which have never less than 100 inches and here
and there get 500 inches of rain or even more in
the east and south. Again in northern India
there are extremes of temperature - 120 o of
heat dropping to cold below freezing point,
while in the south the temperature is almost
static in its heats and humidity. As might be
expected the physical features of the
inhabitants are no less variable than those of
their environments. Any haphazard collection of
Indians will afford types of very different
ethnic groups, though the
|
Note
: The population of these islands
remains conjectural, and the only
information that can be had about them
was obtained in 1920 from the senior
naval officers at Aden it is printed in
part III of this Report, since, although
out of date, it appears to be the latest
information available. The question of
the language of Sonora formerly perhaps
written, but now a spoken language only,
is of some interest, as are likewise
habits and customs of the populations of
these islands some of whom in Sonora are
cave dwellers; it is therefore
unfortunate from a scientific point of
view that no investigation has ever
apparently been made.
|
composition
would vary according to the locality. The number
of languages, as classifieds by sir George Grierson in his Linguistic Survey of India and
exclusive of dialects, is 225 by the returns of
1931. Creeds may be less numerous, but castes,
customs and sects must be no peoples to be
covered by this report present every aspect from
that of the latest phase of western civilization
to that of the most India, still exist by
hunting and collecting forest produce without
ever apparently of so large and diversified an
area must, if it is to be contained in a volume,
be of a superficial nature, leaving the closer
examination of the figures and facts revealed by
enumeration to the reports severally undertaken
for each of the provinces and larger States.
|
Serial No. Of
Volume
|
Parts contained
|
Province, etc,
treated
|
Author
|
|
Vol. I
|
(i)
Report (ii) Tables (iii) Appendix vol.
|
India
|
J.H.
Hutton
|
|
Vol. II
|
One
|
Andaman
and Nicobar
|
M.C.C
Bonington
|
|
Vol. III
|
(i)
Report (ii) Tables
|
Assam
|
C.S.
Mullan
|
|
Vol. IV
|
One
|
Baluchinstan
|
Gul
Mohhammad Khan
|
|
Vol. V
|
(i)
Report (ii) Tables
|
Bengal
|
A.E.
Poter
|
|
Vol. VI
|
One
|
City
of Calcutta
|
A.E.
Poter
|
|
Vol. VII
|
(i)
Report (ii) Tables
|
Bihar
and Orissa
|
W.G.Lacey
|
|
Vol. VIII
|
(i)
Report (ii) Tables (iii) Aden
|
Bombay
with Aden
|
A.H.
Dracup and H.T. Sorley. D.S.Johnston
|
|
Vol. IX
|
One
|
Cities
of Bombay
|
H.T.
Sorley
|
|
Vol. X
|
One
|
Western
India States Agency
|
A.H.
Dracup and H.T. Sorley
|
|
Vol. XI
|
(i)
Report (ii) Tables
|
Burma
|
J.J.
Beninson
|
|
Vol. XII
|
(i)
Report (ii) Tables
|
Central
Provinces and Berar
|
W.H.Shoobert
|
|
Vol. XIII
|
One
|
Coorg
|
M.S.
Mandanna
|
|
Vol. XIV
|
(i)
Report (ii) Tables
|
Madras
|
M.W.M.
Yeatts
|
|
Vol. XV
|
One
|
North
West Frontier provinces
|
G.L.Malam
and A.D.F. Dundas
|
|
Vol. XVI
|
One
|
Delhi
|
Ahmad
Hasan Khan
|
|
Vol. XVII
|
(i)
Report (ii) Tables
|
Punjab
|
Ahmad
Hasan Khan
|
|
Vol. XVII
|
(i)
Report (ii) Tables
|
United
Provinces of Agra and oudh
|
A.C.
Turner
|
|
Vol. XIX
|
(i)
Report (ii) Tables
|
Baroda
State
|
S.V.
Mukerjee
|
|
Vol. XX
|
(i)
Report (ii) Tables
|
Central
India agency
|
C.S.
Venkatachar
|
|
Vol. XXI
|
One
|
Cochin
State
|
T.K.
Sankar Menon
|
|
Vol. XXII
|
(i)
Report (ii) Tables
|
Gwalior
state
|
Rang
lal
|
|
Vol.
XXIII
|
(i)
Report (ii) Tables
|
Hyderabad
State
|
Ghulam
Ahmed Khan
|
|
Vol. XXIV
|
(i)
Report (ii) Tables
|
Jammu
and Kashmir state
|
Anant
Ram
|
|
Vol. XXV
|
(i)
Report (ii) Tables
|
Mysore
State
|
M.Venkatesa
Iyenger
|
|
Vol. XXVI
|
One
|
Ajmer
Merwara
|
B.L.
Cole
|
|
Vol. XXVII
|
One
|
Rajputana
Agency
|
B.L.
Cole
|
|
Vol. XXVIII
|
(i)
Report (ii) Tables
|
Travancore
State
|
Niranjan
Pillai
|
2. At the same time in spite
of this great variety the existence for the most
part of a uniform system of administration and
of a fairly general distribution of the
different racial types from which the population
is drawn, together with a similar, if perhaps
less even distribution of religious and social
systems, contribute to give a certain
uniformity, if not unity, to the whole, which in
spite of local differences is obviously capable
of national consciousness which increases with
the spread of education. For the difficulty
occasioned by great diversity in treating India
as a whole is experienced likewise to a more
limited extent in each in treating India as a
whole is experienced likewise to a more limited
extent in each Province and in most States,
since the political boundaries have generally
little relation to any other. The difficulty of
dealing with the population question by natural
divisions in thus greatly enhanced. Obviously
the density of the population is in immediate
relationship to the conformation of the soil, to
the rainfall and to crops, all of which are
inter dependent, but since the boundaries of
administrative units run counter to the
divisions of nature, any treatment of the
population according to natural divisions is
likely to involve the dissipation of figures
returned by administrative units into a set of
entirely different combinations. This has been
attempted for India as a whole on some previous
occasions, but the information obtained by such
a treatment, however interesting academically,
is of little or no administrative value.
Demography by natural divisions therefore has
been limited to the individual reports of
provinces, since in some of the provinces and
states the natural divisions are less diverse
from divisions political than they are when
India is treated as a whole, and within the
administrative unit may even be of some
practical application.
3.
In addition to the actual
population of India some attempt has been made
to give information as to Indian nationals in
other countries or on the High Seas. These
figures are necessarily incomplete, but perhaps
go further than they have done on previous
occasions by including returns of Indian crews
on ocean going vessels shipped during the eight
months or so that preceded the final
enumeration. Though not in India at the time of
the census, these crews form a permanent part of
the population visiting their homes from time to
time and in many cases returning agriculture as
a subsidiary occupation. Strictly speaking
therefore, although the census in intention is
one of the de facto population that is of the
numbers found in India on February 26 th , 1931
and not as in the case of the United States, for
instance, a de jure population, the terms of a
census of actual population have not been
observed with excessive punctuality. This indeed
would have been impossible, since the remoteness
of some parts of India, the difficulty of
communications and limitations imposed be water,
snow and wild animals make a completely
synchronous enumeration of the whole peninsula
an absolute impossibility
Section II: - Distribution and
Movement
4. The total area covered by
this census amounts to 18 hundred thousands sq.
Miles and the population inhabiting it to 353
millions giving a density for the whole area of
195 persons per sq. mile. This density however
is a very variable factor appearing at the
lowest as 6.5 persons per sq. mile in the mean
density of Baluchistan, Chigai district of which
has only one person to the square mile, and at
its highest at about 2,000 persons per sq. mile
in the most thickly
populated parts of the south
west coast, the general density of Cochin State,
including both the thickly populated coast lands
and the almost uninhabited highlands, being
814.2 persons per sq. mile and reaching in one
village the amazing maximum found in any purely
rural population of over 4,000 persons to the
sq. mile. There is, however, in Bengal an even
higher general level of density, since the Dacca
Division has a mean density of 935 persons for a
population of 13,864,104, and reaches a rural
density 3,228 per. Sq. mile for a Lohajang thana,
and a mean density of 2,413 for Munshiganj sub
division which has an area of 294 sq. miles. Of
the total population 256,859,787 represents the
population of British India proper, the area of
which is 862,679 sq. miles, and 81,310,845 that
of the States with an area of 712,508 sq. miles.
British India with Burma has a population of
271,526,933 and the proportion of the population
of the states to British India is 23 to 77 when
Burma is included. On the other hand if she be
excluded it is 24 to 76. It has been already
mentioned that the density of the population
varies largely according to the rainfall and it
may here be pointed out that in the densest
areas – those of Cochin, of eastern Bengal,
the north east of the united provinces and of
Bihar, the rainfall is heavier than in any other
part of India except Assam, where large tracts
of hills and forest reduce the population in
proportion to the area, and in southern Burma
where there is considerable room for the
increase of population and where also there are
considerable room for the increase of population
and where also there are considerable areas of
forest and hills. With India's present
population and area we may compare England and
Wales with an area of over 58,000 sq. miles and
a population of nearly 40,000,000 and a density
of 685 persons per. Sq. mile, or Europe as a
whole area 3,750,000 sq. miles, population
475,000,000 mean density 127 persons per sq.
mile, with the united states of America-area
3,027,000 sq. miles, population 123,000,000
persons per sq. miles 41, or China the area of
which including Tibet, Mongolia, Chinese, Turkestan and Manchuria is estimated at 4¼
million sq. miles and the population of which
according to the latest estimate, that of
professor Willcox, is 342,000,000 giving a
density of 80.5 persons per sq. mile, though in
the fertile areas of course much heavier than
this. Indeed a more useful comparison should be
with China proper, having an area of about 1.5
million sq. miles and a genera density of
probably 200 to 220 persons per. Sq. mile. It
may be added that the total population of the
world is now estimated at about 1,850,000,000
and if this be the fact, the population of India
forms almost one fifth part of that of the whole
world. It should be added, as regards area, that
the survey of India is now revising the official
figures of the area of districts and provinces
which will involves some modification of the
figures given in the census reports. Revised
figures were not ready in time to be utilized
generally at this census, but the necessary
changes in area and density are for the most
part small and unimportant.
5.
The actual increase since
1921 is 33,895,298 that is to say, 10.6
percent on the population at the last census
and 39 percent on the population of India
fifty years ago and an increase of 12 persons
per square mile in 50 years, during which time
the increase in area has been principally,
if not entirely,
confined
to comparatively
thinly
|
Census
of population
|
Period
|
Increase
|
Increase
due to
|
Total
increase percent.
|
|
Inclusion
of new area
|
Actual
increase of population
|
|
1881
|
253,896,330
|
1872-81
|
47,733,970
|
33,139,081
|
14,594,889
|
23.2
|
|
1891
|
287,314,671
|
1881-91
|
33,418,341
|
5,713,902
|
27,704,439
|
13.2
|
|
1901
|
294,361,05
|
1891-01
|
7,046,385
|
2,62,077
|
4,374,308
|
2.5
|
|
1911
|
315,156,396
|
1901-11
|
20,795,340
|
1,793,365
|
19,001,975
|
7.1
|
|
1921
|
318,942,480
|
1911-21
|
3,786,084
|
86,633
|
3,699,451
|
1.2
|
|
1931
|
352,837,778
|
1921-31
|
33,895,268
|
35,058
|
33,860,240
|
10.6
|
|
|
|
Total
|
|
1881-31
|
98,941,448
|
10,301,035
|
88,640,413
|
39.0
|
populated areas, and
amounts to 426,055 sq. miles. These figures
may be compared with an increase in England
and Wales since last census of only 5.4
percent, but of 53.8 percent, in the last 50
years, with an increase of nearly 18 percent
in Ceylon and with an increase in Java of 20
percent, since the last census and of as much
as 26 percent in the outer islands of the
Netherlands Indies. The population of java is
of course not comparable with that of India as
a whole on account of its small size and
limited area, but having (With Madura) the
very high density of 817 persons per square
mile it is comparable with the more densely
populated parts of India already mentioned.
This illustrates the fact that the density in
India is so variable that it is impossible to
consider the question of movement of the
population without going into the question of
movement of the population without going into
the question of the distribution and variation
of density, for density of population in India
depends not on industry, as in the United
Kingdom, but on agriculture, and is greatest
of course in the most fertile areas. At this
census, however the greatest increase is in
the states, where generally speaking the
density is lowest, and therefore the increase
in the population shown by the figures of this
census appears at first sight indicative of
pressure upon the margin of cultivation, but
while the greatest increase has been in Bikaner (41.9 percent) this must be put down
largely to the increase of irrigation and to
the consequent immigration from outside, and
one of next highest increases is that of Travancore in which the density was already
among the highest in India. The increase in
Hyderabad state again is partly to be
attributed to an increase of efficiency in the
taking of the census and cannot therefore be
safely used as a basis of any comparison of
the population as it is now and was then.
Obviously the greatest increase in population
is to be expected in areas such as that Burma
where the rainfall is above the mean and the
density of the population below it. Where the
rainfall and the density are at balance, that
is where the population is dense and the
rainfall is just adequate as in the southern
Punjab, eastern Rajputana, United Provinces,
Central India generally and H.E.H. the Nizam's
dominions, irrigation has abated the liability
to complete loss of crop, and improved
communications have made it possible to
prevent heavy loss of life in times of
scarcity, thus enabling the population to
increase on the margin of subsistence. How
high a population can be supported by
agriculture when conditions are favourable, is
shown by Cochin with areas here and there
carrying over 2,000 and in one rural unit
actually 4,090 persons to the sq. mile on land
producing rice and coconuts, but principally
the latter which leaves more room for the
erection of buildings and brings in a higher
return than rice in actual cash. In such
areas, e.g., Cochin and Travancore, the
increase in the population has been higher
than in the sparsely populated areas like Baluchistan or Jaisalmer State where there is
no general extension of irrigation, although
there would appear to be more scope for an
extension of cultivation. On the other hand
when these thickly population areas are
examined in detail it appears that the actual
rate of increase in population is greatest in
the less populated, and less fertile, areas.
Thus in Travancore, there are three natural
divisions the lowland – very fertile, the
midland – less so, and the highlands, where
the staple crop is tapioca and where
irrigation is not practiced. Now in these
three natural divisions the density in 1921
was 1,403 persons to the sq. mile, 700 persons
and 53 respectively, which increased during
the decade to 1,743,892 and 82 that is by
24.2, 27.4 and 54.7 % respectively, showing a
vastly higher rate of increase in the area of
least density which is also the area of least
fertility, though not as great a numerical
increase. Similarly in Bengal the greatest
rate of increase has been in the Chittagong
Hill Tracts, and in Madras in the Nilgiris.
Where, therefore, there is a population
already dense, there is a clearly perceptible
spread towards the less profitable land.
The increase of population has also been
dependent in some cases on migration, while,
on the other hand, the apparent increase may
have depended on the failure to migrate. Thus
the increase of 35% in Ahmadnagar district, a
rather barren upland in the Deccan which
suffers from recurring famines, is not due so
much to a series of good years or to an
extension of cultivation on the subsistence
margin, as to trade depression, resulting in
numbers of the population staying at home
instead of migrating to the ports of Bombay
and elsewhere where in normal years they are
employed during the census months of February
and March. Bombay shows a corresponding
decrease, probably due, in the particular case
of Bombay, largely to the same cause. Other
decreases there are which are not so easy to
explain.
6. Immigration, when India is taken as a
whole, influences the population very little.
Table VI shows 730,562 persons as born outside
India as against 603,526 in 1921, without
taking count in either case of persons born in
French or Portuguese possessions. The increase
is almost entirely in persons born in Asiatic
countries. Against this there must be set off
on account of emigration about one million
persons who are estimated as having emigrated
during the decade under reviews. Migration,
however, is of more importance as affecting
internal fluctuations of populations, varying
in British India from 1,244,249 (net)
immigrants into Assam o 15,536 (net)
immigrants into the North – West Frontier
Province. These figures however include all
those whose birth-place was outside the
province, and do not refer to the decade 1921
– 31 only. If we take the actual increase
due to immigration during the decade in Assam
it is found to be only 121,648* consequently
if a percentage be taken on the increase of
population Assam owes only 10.5 percent of its
increase to immigration, though its
immigration figure is the highest among all
provinces. Conversely Bihar and Orissa with
the greatest loss by emigration shows an
increase of 10.8 a little more than that for
all India, in spite of the fact that the total
loss by emigration is equivalent to almost a
third of the actual figure of increase.
Migration as between British India and the
states has tended in the past to be from the
latter to the former, but during the last
decade this position has been reversed and the
trend of generally lower. Bikaner, where the
immigrations total 161,303, i.e., 58%
of its increase in population, is a striking
instance ; the greater number of its
immigrants (about 54%) come from British
India, and while the natural increase of the
population of Bikaren State plus the normal
immigration as recorded in 1921 would have
resulted in a general increase of 28% and
thereby brought the population back to the
1891 level merely, the increase at this census
is much in excess may be put down entirely to
the extension of irrigation.
7.
Another factor to be considered is the
relation of the birth rate to the death rate
and this factor is far from being the same
different sections of the population. How far
the fecundity of different races and castes in
India is the result of environment and how far
it may have become an inherited racial trait
fixed at some period in the past history of
the people, and how far it depends on
prevailing social practices, is extremely
difficult to determine in the light of the
existing information, but it is to show that
there is marked variation in different parts
of India and this question will be reverted to
in the chapters on age and sex. Meanwhile it
is enough to point out that in India the birth
rate is everywhere much higher than in Europe,
largely on account of the university of
marriage, the Parsis being perhaps the only
Indian community in which late marriage and
small families are the rule instead of the
exception. The birth rate is lower among the
Hindus than in most of other communities
probably to some extent on account of the
general disapproval of widow remarriage,
resulting in larger numbers of women being unreproductive at the child bearing age, and
to some extent on that of the greater
prevalence of immature maternity. On the other
hand, the high birth rate of India is largely
discounted by a high death rate, particularly
among infants as also apparently among women
at child birth. Here again social factors have
to be reckoned with, the customs of purdah
perhaps exercising its worst effect among the
poorer class of Muslims who appear to be more
rigid in its observance than the corresponding
class of Hindus. This effect is particularly
noticeable in crowded urban areas, in which
the space available to a women in purdah and
poor circumstance is so small as seriously to
affect her health. In the matter of epidemics
and of deaths from famine or want, the decade
has been particularly favorable to an increase
in population. It is true that the influenza
epidemic at the end of the previous decade is
believed to have fallen most severally on the
most reproductive ages and should therefore
have had a much more lasting effect than the
reduction caused by famine which takes in the
decade under review, and every year sees
improved methods of fighting such epidemics as
cholera, plague or Kala azar. Indeed a
completely effective treatment for the latter
pest has been perfected since the last census,
and has made it possible to stamp out the
disease. The antimony treatment of kala azar
was discovered as early as 1931, but the
original treatment took three months to apply
and therefore did little to prevent the
epidemic. The treatment with organic antimony
compounds, introduced about 1917, reduced the
period of treatment o a month. The improved
treatment introduced during the 1921-31 decade
however cures the disease in ten days or even
less.
|
Province
(British Territory only)
|
Variation
1921-1930 according to vital statistics
(excess of births over deaths +,
deficiency -
|
Variation
1921-1930 according to census, (excess
of births over deaths +, deficiency -
|
Difference
excess of column 3 on column 2.
|
Population
under registration 1921.
|
Difference
percent of population under registration†
|
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
|
Assam
|
+450,854
|
+1,163,123
|
+712,269
|
6,852,242
|
+10.39
|
|
Bengal
|
+1,463,484
|
+3,411,695
|
+1,948,211
|
46,522,293
|
+4.19
|
|
Bihar
and Orissa
|
+3,254,095
|
+3,682,158
|
+428,063
|
34,004,546
|
+1.26
|
|
*Bombay
|
+1,728,161
|
+2,587,404
|
+859,243
|
19,165,614
|
+4.48
|
|
Burma
|
+715,458
|
+1,454,954
|
+739,496
|
10,822,618
|
+6.83
|
|
Central
province and Berar
|
+1,423,608
|
+1,594,963
|
+171,355
|
13,912,760
|
+1.23
|
|
Delhi
|
+53,132
|
+147,794
|
+94,662
|
500,539
|
+18.91
|
|
Madras
|
+4,398,902
|
+4,421,122
|
+22,220
|
41,002,696
|
+0.05
|
|
North
west Frontire Provinces
|
+94,759
|
+173,736
|
+78,977
|
2,135,573
|
+3.70
|
|
Punjab
|
+2,428,382
|
+2,895,374
|
+466,992
|
20,517,606
|
+2.28
|
|
United
provinces
|
+3,927,768
|
+3,033,694
|
-894,074
|
45,35,87
|
-1.97
|
|
|
|
Total
|
+19,938,603
|
+24,566,017
|
+4,627,414
|
240,812,24
|
+1.92
|
Excludes Aden
† The variation shown in this column
would of course be less in the case of
excesses or more in the case of excesses or
more in the case of deficiency had the
population under registration shown column 5
been annually adjusted by deducting reported
deaths and adding reported births.
A brief reference to vital
statistics will be found in Section 76
(Chapter IV) below. In view of the admitted
inaccuracy of these statistics in many
provinces, the discrepancy between the 1931
population as it should have been according to
those statistics and as it was found to be by
the census is no cause for surprise. The
figures are shown in the marginal table, and a
calculation of the intercensal population will
be found at the end of the chapter in
subsidiary Table III, while subsidiary Tables
VIII to XI contain additional material with
reference to vital statistics.
8.
As regards scarcity,
improvements in communications, and
consequently in case of distribution,
nowadays prevent anything like the famine
mortality of a century ago, while taking
India as a whole the decade ending in 1931
was a prosperous one in the matter of crops,
the general economic depression that has
supervened having been little apparent
outside one or two restricted areas until
1931 itself, so that for a population mainly
agricultural the conditions have been very favourable to an increase in population.
Nevertheless the decade opened, as it has
since closed, in gloom. The frontier was
disturbed ; the effects of influenza and the
bad monsoon of 1920 were still active; trade
was depressed; prices were high; finances
were embarrassed, and the non co-operation movement was rampant. From this
position there was a rapid recovery; a
series of good harvests followed almost all
over India
In Bengal
there were floods, it is true, and floods
proved to be the principle cause of local
distress and scarcity during the decade in
India generally, as no province completely
escaped the inundation of some portion in the
ten years under review. But taking India as a
whole the first five years were generally
above the average, or little below it. Famines
were local and not very serious, though one
unfortunate district in Madras had famine
declared in it officially in three seasons.
Almost to the end of the decade the prices of
cotton remained consistently remunerative. The
end of the decade showed the most
deterioration from this average of
agricultural prosperity. Scarcity in some
parts e.g., in the United Provinces,
and the heavy fall in prices of agricultural
produce recreated a position not unlike that
of the beginning of the decade, but with the
additional embarrassment of a population
greatly increased by the
intervening prosperity.
Wages however did not fall as rapidly as
prices, and up to the time of the census
agricultural prosperity on the whole was
greater than ten years before, though the
increase in population had diminished the size
of holdings. Trade and industry followed much
the same course, since the depression, though
severely felt by the tea industry as early as
1928, had only just become general by the time
of the census. On the other hand much
permanent improvement had been carried out in
communications everywhere, and a new port for
ocean going steamers had been constructed at
cochin and another begun at Vizagapatanam.
Above all a number of large
schemes of irrigation and hydroelectric power
development have been completed, particularly
in the northwest and south of India. Public.
Health has been exceptionally good during the
decade; cholera and plague took much less than
their usual toll of life, and kalazar was
suppressed by the perfection of an easy cure.
The comparative deposits in savings banks and
state of co-operative societies indicate the
general rise in prosperity throughout the
decade in 1921 and 1931, tables of which are
given in the statements below:
|
Post
office circle
|
Post office savings bank Deposits
|
|
No.
of banks
|
No.
of accounts
|
Amount
of Deposits in rupees
|
|
1920-21
|
1931-31
|
1920-21
|
1931-31
|
1920-21
|
1931-31
|
|
Bengal
and Assam
|
2,40
|
3,141
|
528,427
|
615,785
|
5,27,34,019
|
8,99,83,627
|
|
Bihar
and Orissa
|
895
|
1,037
|
124,361
|
158,943
|
1,26,42,858
|
2,55,71,070
|
|
Bombay*
|
1,627
|
1,823
|
375,170
|
333,793
|
4,85,15,721
|
5,66,65,593
|
|
Burma
|
362
|
511
|
70,017
|
87,246
|
72,84,237
|
1,26,25,298
|
|
Central
|
801
|
1,234
|
95,569
|
129,045
|
1,27,62,966
|
2,10,15,173
|
|
Madras
|
1,838
|
2,279
|
207,675
|
380,358
|
1,40,38,563
|
2,56,08,800
|
|
Punjab
and N.W. F.P.
†
|
997
|
1,076
|
241,494
|
358,563
|
4,48,87,062
|
6,76,83,111
|
|
United
Province
|
1,453
|
1,485
|
235,244
|
347,269
|
3,5,68,516
|
5,90,40,642
|
|
Sind
and Baluchistan
|
..
|
260
|
..
|
66,611
|
..
|
1,20,66,560
|
|
|
|
Total
|
10,713
|
12,846
|
1,877,957
|
2,477,613
|
22,86,33,942
|
37,02,59,874
|
* Included Sind in 1920-21 only
†Includes Baluchistan in 1921-21 only.
The number of Co operative
Societies has more than doubled during the
decade, which opened with 47,503 societies and
closed with over 100,000, while the number of
members of primary societies increased from
1,752,904 to 4,308,262 of whom more than two
thirds are agricultural. Five states which did
not appear at all in the statements of 1920-21
have
been added
to the returns of 1931-31, viz, Cochin, Gwalior, Indore,
Jammu and Kashmir and Travancor. It will be
seen therefore that inspite of the decline at
the end of the decade into a condition of low
prices, trade depression non co-operation and
rebellion, this time in Burma, similar to that
with which the decade opened if not worse,
there still remained at its close many of the
economic benefits accumulated during the
interval, though they are subject to the
greatly enhanced liability of the additional
population of approximately 34 millions to the
propagation of which the prosperous years had
so greatly contributed.
|
Province
or States
|
Total
No. Of Societies
|
No.
Of members (primary societies)
|
|
1920-21
|
1930-31
|
1920-21
|
1930-31
|
India
|
47,503
|
106,166
|
1,52,904
|
4,308,262
|
|
British
provinces
|
43,366
|
90,064
|
1,600,476
|
3,681,300
|
|
Ajmer
Merwara
|
522
|
654
|
17,296
|
18,608
|
|
Assam
|
560
|
1,413
|
28,084
|
69,569
|
|
Bengal
|
6,366
|
23,614
|
232,001
|
760,812
|
|
Bihar
& Orissa
|
3,580
|
9,404
|
107,514
|
254,462
|
|
Bombay
|
2,956
|
5,896
|
265,629
|
572,669
|
|
Burma
|
4,888
|
2,972
|
125,318
|
85,741
|
|
C.P.
& Berar
|
5,011
|
4,109
|
79,638
|
76,615
|
|
Coorg
|
142
|
253
|
6,565
|
14,037
|
|
Delhi
|
103
|
275
|
2,011
|
7,795
|
|
Hyderabad
(administrative area)
|
5
|
18
|
205
|
6,173
|
|
Madras
|
6,287
|
14,88
|
395,284
|
979,745
|
|
N.W.F.P
|
-- |
25
|
-- |
7,722
|
|
Punjab
|
8,453
|
20,698
|
230,311
|
679,616
|
|
United
Province
|
4,493
|
5,623
|
110,620
|
147,736
|
|
States:
|
4,137
|
16,102
|
152,428
|
626,962
|
|
Baroda
|
509
|
1,047
|
16,932
|
37,321
|
|
Bhopal
|
691
|
1,189
|
10,446
|
20,611
|
|
Cochin
|
-- |
210
|
-- |
24,328
|
|
Gwalior
|
-- |
4,01
|
-- |
70,307
|
|
Hyderabad
|
1,437
|
2,157
|
35,293
|
53,120
|
|
Indore
|
-- |
506
|
-- |
13,366
|
|
Kashmir
|
-- |
2,899
|
--
|
54,222
|
|
Mysore
|
1,500
|
2,213
|
89,757
|
134,428
|
|
Travancore
|
-- |
1,810
|
-- |
219,259
|
|
Province or States
|
Share capital paid up
|
Loans and deposits held at the end of the year(in
thousands of rupees)
|
Reserve and other funds
|
Total
|
|
1920-21
|
1930-31
|
1920-21
|
1930-31
|
1920-21
|
1930-31
|
1920-21
|
1930-31
|
India
|
4,05,25
|
12,40,83
|
20,23,02
|
69,18,27
|
2,14,66
|
10,32,12
|
26,42,93
|
91,91,22
|
|
British provinces
|
3,53,59
|
10,60,16
|
18,8,90
|
63,92,31
|
1,99,40
|
9,07,08
|
24,40,89
|
83,59,56
|
|
Ajmer Merwara
|
704
|
6,73
|
32,58
|
30,90
|
2,85
|
9,67
|
42,47
|
47,30
|
|
Assam
|
236
|
8,09
|
12,17
|
59,94
|
2,31
|
10,01
|
16,84
|
78,04
|
|
Bengal
|
4,228
|
1,98,92
|
2,64,63
|
12,04,27
|
26,37
|
1,59,32
|
3,33,28
|
15,62,51
|
|
Bihar & Orissa
|
10,57
|
56,42
|
1,02,10
|
4,77,60
|
10,27
|
54,88
|
1,22,94
|
5,88,90
|
|
Bombay
|
46,18
|
1,77,46
|
2,70,62
|
11,08,35
|
|
1,04,91
|
3,34,57
|
13,90,72
|
|
Burma
|
55,23
|
88,78
|
2,23,25
|
1,05,19
|
17,77
|
75,07
|
3,06,90
|
2,69,04
|
|
C.P. & Berar
|
26,49
|
34,57
|
2,56,87
|
4,30,99
|
28,42
|
66,17
|
2,99,50
|
5,31,73
|
|
Coorg
|
99
|
2,75
|
53
|
5,81
|
16,14
|
2,47
|
212
|
11,03
|
|
Delhi
|
13
|
2,59
|
82
|
20,37
|
60
|
2,11
|
95
|
25,07
|
|
Hyderabad (administrative area)
|
19
|
1,96
|
11
|
3,10
|
-- |
26
|
30
|
5,32
|
|
Madras
|
64,87
|
2,42,16
|
| |