Adam's Reports on Vernacular Education in Bengal and Behar/Report 3/Chapter 1/Section 14

Section XIV.

General Remarks on the Population Returns.

First.—The number of villages mentioned is the number of actual settlements of people or assemblages of houses inhabited by families at a greater or less distance from similar settlements or assemblages; and it is different from the number of mauzas or villages recorded in the Magistrate and Collector’s office as belonging to the respective thanas. It is probable that the latter were all originally inhabited villages, but through various causes some of them have ceased to be so, while in other instances the number of inhabited villages has increased without any increase in the official enumeration. The difference, therefore, between that enumeration and the ascertained number of inhabited villages occurs in the way both of excess and defect, as will appear from the following comparison:—

Thanas.		Number of villages recorded in the Magistrate and Collector’s Office.	Ascertained number of inhabited villages.
Daulatbazar	. . .	203	183
Nanglia	. . .	224	267
Culna	. . .	328	288
Jehanabad	. . .	859	803
Bhawara	. . .	340	402

The ascertained number of inhabited villages in thana Nanglia and Bhawara is greater, and in thanas Daulatbazar, Culna, and Jehanabad less, than the official number of villages. The excess in the two former may be attributed to the extension of cultivation in the Beerbhoom and Tirhoot districts, leading to the gradual formation of new villages. The causes of deficiency in the three latter I had not the means of satisfactorily investigating, but I have met with individual instances of the abandonment of villages which were popularly ascribed to pestilence, with others caused by the encroachments of the neighbouring river, with others that were attributed to disagreement with European settlers, and with others that were alleged to have arisen from the quarrels of adjoining zemindars leading to excessive exactions from the cultivators.

Second.—The average number of families in each village is an evidence and measure of a comparatively dense or sparse population. The following are the results in the different thanas:—

Daulatbazar	. . .	. . .	. . .	70·10
Nanglia	. . .	. . .	. . .	37·10
Culna	. . .	. . .	. . .	81·06
Jehanabad	. . .	. . .	. . .	18·60
Bhawara	. . .	. . .	. . .	32·60

The extremes are Culna and Jehanabad, the former a populous thana of a very populous district, and the latter a thana of a district not remarkable for the scantiness, but for the dispersion of its population. Intermediate degrees of social aggregation are found in the other three thanas. Compared with the other Bengal districts Beerbhoom is thinly peopled, but it will be observed that the average number of families in each village in thana Nanglia of that district, although the lowest of the Bengal averages, is greater than the highest of the Behar averages, tending to show the comparative sparseness of the population throughout Behar. The cause of this and of other effects will probably be found in the extreme sub-division of landed property in that province; but whatever the cause, the fact is necessary to be known in framing suitable measures for the promotion of general instruction.

Third.—For the purpose of comparison I subjoin in one view the number of persons in each family, taking the different classes of the population collectively and separately—

		Average number of persons in each family.	Average number of persons in each Hindu family.	Average number of persons in each Musalman family.	Average number of persons in each Santhal family.	Average number of persons in each Dhangar family.	Average number of persons in each Native Christian family.
City of Moorshedabad	. . .	3·591	3·488	3·823	. . .	. . .	3·461
Thana Daulatbazar	. . .	4·834	4·703	4·994
Thana Nanglia	. . .	5·091	5·066	4·864	5·421	5·647
Thana Culna	. . .	4·986	4·931	5·238	. . .	. . .	3·583
Thana Jehanabad	. . .	5·462	5·539	4·977
Thana Bhawara	. . .	5·007	5·008	4·992

The average number of persons in each family in the city of Moorshedabad is less than the corresponding results in the Mofussil thanas of the respective districts, and one cause of this will be found in the fact that the number of traders, shop-keepers, and day-laborers who resort to Moorshedabad from the surrounding or more distant districts without their families is great. There are also three classes of women who have no families, and who are found in considerable numbers within the limits of the city jurisdiction, viz., public women; aged women, who reside on the banks of the Bhagarathi on account of the holiness which its waters confer; and widows. The number of widows is alleged to be greater in the city than in the country, in consequence of the greater prevalence of epidemic diseases which are believed by the natives to be more fatal to the male than to the female sex. All these causes, affecting both the male and female population, combine to increase the number of families consisting of one or two individuals, and consequently to lessen the general average of persons in each family in the city. The five Mofussil thanas differ very little from each other,—the lowest average being less than a quarter of a unit below, and the highest less than a half above five persons in each family which may, therefore, be deemed the mean rate. The difference between the Hindu and Musalman averages is small, and is sometimes in favour of the Hindu and sometimes of the Mohammadan division of the population. The difference is greatest in the Jehanabad thana, where it is more than half a unit in favour of the Hindus. The Santhal and Dhangar averages in the Beerbhoom district are high compared with the Hindu and Musalman averages of the same district, which may be accounted for by the more peaceable habits of the former classes and the stronger disposition of relations to live together. The number of Native Christian families is so small that no conclusion can be founded on the results exhibited.

Fourth.—The proportion of Hindus to Musalmans and others in the different localities is subjoined—

In the city of Moorshedabad	there are	100	Hindus	to	48·4	Musalmans,	&c.
In thana Daulatbazar	there are„	100„	Hindus„	to	86·8	Musalmans,„
In thana Nanglia	there are„	100„	Hindus„	to	23·8	Musalmans,„
In thana Culna	there are„	100„	Hindus„	to	18·4	Musalmans,„
In thana Jehanabad	there are„	100„	Hindus„	to	23·6	Musalmans,„
In thana Bhawara	there are„	100„	Hindus„	to	25·5	Musalmans,„

These proportions must be considered as strictly limited to the localities mentioned, without extending them to the districts to which the respective thanas belong, because the proportions differ not only in different districts, but in different thanas of the same district. The variety of results shows the necessity of a more complete and general census; and the only positive conclusion possessing any value is that which respects the city of Moorshedabad because it embraces an entire and separate jurisdiction. Within that jurisdictifln the proportion is as two Hindus to nearly one Musalman, while in the Daulatbazar thana of the Moorshedabad district the proportion of Musalmans is greater.

Fifth.—The following are the proportions of males to females in the different localities:—

		Proportion of males of all ages to females of all ages is as 100 to	Proportion of males above 14 to females of the same age is as 100 to	Proportion of males between 14 and five to females of the same age is as 100 to	Proportion of males below five to females of the same age is as 100 to
City of Moorshedabad	. . .	99·6	109·5	58·2	88·40
Thana Daulatbazar	. . .	96·5	111·3	53·3	93·30
Thana„ Nanglia	. . .	97·5	110·9	62·7	96·80
Thana„ Culna	. . .	94·5	107·9	60·3	80·40
Thana„ Jehanabad	. . .	83·5	92·3	59·4	78·02
Thana„ Bhawara	. . .	83·0	91·2	60·2	82·80

The first remark which occurs here respects the obvious difference in the first and second columns between the proportions of the Bengal and those of the Behar thanas. I am wholly unable to offer any explanation of the difference. The second remark is the great excess of males between 14 and five above females of the same age both in the Bengal and Behar districts, as exhibited in the third column. This may, with some probability, be accounted for by supposing that, from doubt or suspicion of the object of the inquiry, the number of females of that age was often purposely diminished either by actual suppression or by transfer to the preceding column which, in the Bengal districts especially, contains an excessive proportion of females above 14. I am not, however, perfectly satisfied with this explanation, for the uniformity of the effect in all the districts as well as in the city of Moorshedabad seems to require a cause of more uniform operation than mere doubt or suspicion.

Sixth.—The proportion of the numbers above 14 and below five, i. e., of those who have not yet attained the age of school instruction, and who have passed beyond it, to the number between 14 and 5, i. e., of those who are of the teachable age, is subjoined—

In the city of Moorshedabad there are	100	above 14 and	below	5	to	13·7	between	14	and 5.
In thana Daulatbazar	100„		below„		to	20·2		14„
In thana Nanglia	100„		below„		to	23·8		14„
In thana Culna	100„		below„		to	18·4		14„
In thana Jehanabad	100„		below„		to	23·6		14„
In thana Bhawara	100„		below„		to	25·5		14„

If we could be sure of an approximation to truth in these results, the advantage of it would be that we should possess the means of comparing the ascertained amount of instruction with the ascertained number of those who are of an age to receive it, and of proportioning the supply to the wants of society without allowing excess in one place or deficiency in another.

Seventh.—I have not attempted to estimate the number of inhabitants to the square mile, because I had not the means of ascertaining the superficial extent of the localities in which a census of the population was taken.