Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 10 (2nd edition).pdf/182

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.



170 NAGPUR DISTRICT. The Christians comprise-Europeans, 1446; Eurasians, 630 ; IndoPortuguese, 66; Natives of India, 2303 ; and unspecified, 405. Town and Rural Population.Nágpur District contains nine towns with a population exceeding five thousand inhabitants, namely, NAGPUR City, 98,299; KAMTHI (Kampti), 50,987; UMRER, 14,247 ; KHAPA, 8465; RAMTEK, 7814; NARKHER, 7061; MOHPA, 5515; KALMESHWAR, 5318; and SAONER, 5023. The total urban population thus disclosed amounts to 202,729, or over 29 per cent. of the total inhabitants, a ratio considerably higher than in any other District of the Central Provinces. The 1673 villages are thus classified :—889 contain less than two hundred inhabitants; 574 from two to five hundred; 149 from five hundred to a thousand; 33 from one to two thousand ; 15 from two to three thousand; and 13 from three to five thousand. Nagpur District contains 8 municipal towns, with a total population of 194,207 souls ; total municipal income in 1882–83, £27,089, of which £,23,847 was derived from taxation, mainly octroi duties ; average incidence of taxation, 28. 5}d. per head of the municipal population. As regards occupation, the Census divides the male population into the following six main classes :-(1) Professional, military, and official class, 13,513 ; (2) domestic class, including inn and lodging-house keepers, etc., 8135; (3) commercial class, including merchants, traders, carriers, etc., 9055; (4) agricultural and pastoral class, including gardeners, 126,353 ; (5) industrial and artisan class, 66,088; (6) indefinite, non-productive, and unspecified class, comprising general labourers and male children, 128,612. The material condition of both the agricultural and non-agricultural classes has greatly increased of late years, owing to the increased demand for cotton in the English market, the extension of cultivation, the opening out of railway and road communications, and a considerable rise in the prices of agricultural produce, as well as in the rate of wages. Agriculture. — Of the total area (3786 square miles), 1932 were returned in 1883-84 as cultivated, and of the portion lying waste, 789 square miles were returned as cultivable; and 1065 square miles as lincultivable waste. The total area assessed for Government revenue is 3005 square miles, of which 1783 squarc miles are under cultivation, 474 square miles cultivable, and 748 square miles uncultivated wastc. The agricultural produce consists of three classes --the rabi or spring crops, the kharif or rain crops, and the bughuit or garden crops. Wheat is the grand rabí crop, and was grown in 1883 on 343,226 acres. Other food - grains occupied 517,738 acres; while 198,561 acres were devoted to oil-seeds. Of thc kharif crops, by far the most important is cotton, which in 1883 was grown on 115,909 acres. Rice occupied 32,417 acres. The garden cultivation, which is confined to the best black soil, produced sugar.cane on 1288 acres, and