CENSUS 2001 & POPULATION POLICY

BACKGROUND OF CENSUS

The earliest references of census in India can be traced back to the Mauryan period in Kautilya's "Arthshastra" & later during the Mughal period in "Ain-e-Akbar". A systematic and modern population census, in its present scientific form was conducted non- synchronously between 1865 & 1872 in different parts of the country. Moreover, the first synchronous census in India was held in 1881. Since then census readings have been conducted uninterruptedly once every ten years. Census of India 2001 is the sixth since independence. It was presented by the Registrar General & Census Commission of India, Jayant Kumar Banthia.

DISTINCTIVE READINGS OF CENSUS 2001

• POPULATION GROWTH:-
  
  • National Level: Indian population at 00:00 hrs of 1 st March 2001 , stood at 1,027,015,247 India became the second largest country in the world after China to cross the one billion mark. It accounts for a meager 2.4% of world surface area, yet supporting a whopping 16.7% of the world population. Other figures for 1991-2001 are : Absolute Population Growth = 180.6 million Percentage Decadal Growth = 21.34% Average Exponential Growth = 1.98% per annum
  • State Level: Nineteen Indian states now have a population of over 10 million. Almost half of the country's population lives in five states viz. Bihar , West Bengal , Maharashtra , U.P. & Andhra Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state followed by Maharashtra & Bihar. Lowest Percentage decadal Growth = Kerela (9.42 %) Highest Percentage decadal Growth =Nagaland (64.42%) Most Populous District = Mednipur ( West Bengal ) Least Populous District = Yanam ( Pondicherry ) Least Populous State = Sikkim

• DENSITY OF POPULATION:-
  
  • National Level: In 2001 the population density of India was 324 persons per sq. Km as against 267 persons in 1991. Due to difference in climatic conditions, availability of resources etc., the population density varies from a low of 13 persons per km to a high of 9294 persons per sq. km, in the country
  • State Level: Among the states density is highest in West Bengal (904), followed by Bihar (880) and Kerela (819). The National Capital Territory of Delhi has the density of 9294 persons per sq. km. Among the Union Territories, Chandigarh has the highest density of 7903 persons per km. Lowest density of 13 persons per sq. km was recorded in Arunachal Pradesh.

• SEX COMPOSITION:-
  
  • National Level: the sex ratio, as recorded by 2001 census is 933 females per 1000 males showing a rise of 6 points from 927 per 1000 males in 1991. The exact male population as on March 1, 2001 was 531,277,078 & that of females was 495,738,169. The males outnumber females by over 35.5 million.
  • State Level: Highest Sex Ratio : Kerela (1058); Lowest Sex Ratio : Haryana (861); Highest Sex Ratio : Pondicherry (1001); Lowest Sex Ratio : Daman & Diu (709).
    
• LITERACY:
  
  • National Level : For the purpose of census, a person aged seven & above who can both read & write with understanding in any language, is treated as literate. The literacy rate has shows an increase of from 52.19% in 1991 to 65.38% in 2001. The male literacy figure stood at 75.85% & the female literacy figure was 54.16%. Accordingly the male-female gap literacy has deducted to 21.7%, the lowest since 1951.
  • State Level: Kerela topped the list among the states with 90.92% literacy rate, followed by Mizoram (88.49%). Aizwal in Mizoram is the most literate district in India . There has been a sharp increase in literacy rates in Chhatisgarh & Madhya Pradesh. Bihar recorded the lowest literacy rate of 47.53%. Female literacy rates were very low in Jharkhand, Bihar , J&K, U.P. and Arunachal Pradesh

• URBANISATION:

According to Census, a place becomes urban when:-

• It has a minimum population of 5000;
• More than 75% of its population is engaged in non- agricultural activities;
• Density of population exceeds 1000 per sq. km. In 2001, 72.22% of the total population was rural whereas 27.78% was urban. Uttar Pradesh & Uttaranchal have the largest number of towns.
• RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES:

The break-up of population according to religion is as follows:

• Hindu : 82.63%
• Muslims : 11.36%
• Christians : 2.43%
• Sikhs : 1.96%
• Buddhist : 0.71%
• Jain : 0.48%

POPULATION POLICY IN INDIA

The size of India 's population has already reached a high dimension. The entire economic development of the country is being eclipsed by the ever-growing population. The National Population policy was first formulated & announced in April 1976, & the policy was later modified in the subsequent years.

The New National population Policy was announced by the Central Government on Feb 1 st, 2000 after 24 years of painstaking consideration. Twelve "Strategic Themes" were identified by the Cabinet for the policy, which has set a long-term object of achieving stable population by 2045. The other objectives of New National Population Policy are:

• Freezing the proportional quota of Lok Sabha seats (on the basis of 1971 census), till 2026;
• Provision for introduction of rewards for couples below the poverty line who marry after 18 years of age & have first child after the mother is 21 years old.
• Panchayats& Zila Parishads would be awarded for exemplary performance in spreading small family norms, promoting literacy & reducing infant mortality;
• Achieve universal immunization of children against all vaccine preventable disease;
• Promote delayed marriage for girls, not earlier than 18 years of age & preferably after 20 years;
• Achieve 80% institutional deliveries & 100% deliveries by trained persons;
• Reduce infant mortality rate to 30 per 1000 live births & maternal mortality rate to below 100 per 1,00,000 live births;
• Strictly enforcing Child Marriage Act and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Act;
• Achieve 100% registration of births, death & marriages;
• Prevent & control communicable disease and take special steps to contain AIDS;
• Promote vigorously the small family norms to achieve replacement levels of total fertility rate by the year 2010.

In pursuance of National Population Policy 2000, the government constituted a National Commission on Population in the middle of the year 2000. The first meeting of this 127 member commission was held on 22 nd July 2000 & it was decided to set up an Empowered Action Group and a National Population Stabilization Fund with seed money of Rs.100 Crores to achieve the goals of the policy. Like the National Commission, State Level Commissions presided over by Chief Minister have also been set up. On May 1, 2001 , the population of India crossed the 1 billion mark.

On July 23, 2005 chairing the first meeting of the reconstituted National Commission on Population at New Delhi , Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asserted that any coercive measure to achieve population stabilization was unacceptable. He said that a task force should be set up for micro planning in the demographically weaker states like Bihar , Maharashtra , U.P., Rajasthan and Orissa, which constitute 40% of the population.

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