INDIA. 



307 



show increases comparable to those of the simi- 

 larly situated parts of British Jndia, the rate being 

 14.24 per cent, in Kashmir, 13.33 per cent, in the 

 states of Bengal, 13.23 per cent, in Madras, 12 per 

 cent, in Mysore, 4.12 per cent, in the Punjab, 

 and 0.91 per cent, in the Northwest Provinces. In 

 British India there was a decline of 12.17 per cent, 

 in Ajmere, 6.48 per cent, in Aden, 4.99 per cent. 

 in Berar, and 3.93 per cent, in Bombay, and an 

 increase of 1.63 per cent, in the Northwest Prov- 

 inces, 2.40 per cent, in Oudh, 4.28 per cent, in 

 Coorg, 4.72 per cent, in Bengal, 7.24 per cent, in 

 Madras, 7.58 per cent, in the Punjab, 12.67 per 

 cent, in Assam, 14.49 per cent, in Upper Burma, 

 and 21.84 per cent, in Lower Burma. The varia- 

 tions reflect the vicissitudes of the period, but 

 how far the decline in particular tracts is due to 

 enhanced mortality, impaired fertility of the soil, 

 or emigration induced by high prices and the pres- 

 sure of population on the land, has not been de- 

 termined. The most marked decrease in the 

 British districts and in the native states is found 

 where the famine was prolonged and severe, and 

 where the ravages of the plague were greatest. 

 The census of 1891 showed a general increase all 

 over India except in certain fever-stricken tracts. 

 The decade ending with 1881 was marked by a 

 Avide-spread famine which checked the normal in- 

 crease, while the period between 18,81 and 1891 

 was practically free from causes involving ab- 

 normal mortality. In the last decade there were 

 scanty harvests for several years in some parts, a 

 severe famine in 1896-97, and in 1899-1900 the 

 worst famine recorded, and furthermore the rav- 

 ages of the plague in the Bombay Presidency ex- 

 tended over four years, carrying off 700,000 people. 

 The native states, having the poorest soil and 

 natural resources and a less enlightened and effi- 

 cient administration, were affected much more 

 seriously than neighboring British provinces. In 

 some of them the decrease, due partly to emigra- 

 tion into British territory, was enormous. In 

 Rewa Kantha the population declined from 733,- 

 500 in 1891 to 478,000, in Cutch from 558,400 to 

 487.300, in Udaipur from 1,862,000 to 1,021,600, in 

 Bhopal from 2,006,800 to 1,198,300. 



The census of 1901 included the new territories 

 of the Shan States of Burma, the Chin hill tribes, 

 the Baluchistan Agency, Sikkim, and minor areas, 

 while some unimportant areas were omitted be- 

 cause the hostility of the people rendered them 

 unsafe for the enumerators. For the purposes of 

 the census the whole of India was divided into 

 blocks of from 30 to 50 houses, each in charge of 

 an enumerator, every 10 or 15 blocks under a 

 supervisor, and each group of these circles under 

 a superintendent. On the night of March 1 the 

 enumerators went through their blocks with 

 schedules of the population, from which they 

 struck out the individuals who had died or left 

 the block and to which they added those who had 

 arrived and the children newly born. In two 

 weeks the returns were all added together, and the 

 population of all the districts of India was known. 

 The Mussulmans of Bombay, who had a dread ex- 

 perience of the sanitary measures taken to stamp 

 out the plague, made trouble for the enumerators, 

 and the fear of catching the plague made some of 

 them quit their posts. In the Andamans, where 

 a new tribe was discovered which had killed off 

 all its members that were infected with a dis- 

 ease recently introduced, the enumerators were at- 

 tacked, and escaped by firing on the people they 

 had come to enumerate. The census schedules 

 have a column for defectives, the insane, deaf- 

 mutes, the blind, and lepers being specified; a cen- 

 sus of religions, divided into the caste of Hindus 



and Jains, tribes having no caste. Sikhs, Bud- 

 dhists, and others, which will show the extent 

 of the gradual Brahminizing <>i ilx- ca-4eless 

 tribes; a column showing the lan^iui^c ordinarily 

 used, the number who can read and write Kiig-- 

 lish, and the number able to read and v rile any 

 language; and a column showing the inoni.- of 

 subsistence, both the principal occupation und 

 any subsidiary occupation or source ot income, 

 distinguishing actual workers and the women, 

 children, and other dependents. Women are less 

 numerous than men in India as a whole, both in 

 British territory and in native states. In certain 

 provinces and states the proportions are differ- 

 ent. In Bengal the sexes are almost equal; in 

 Bombay Presidency, Burma, the Northwest Prov- 

 inces, and the Punjab the males largely predomi- 

 nate; in Madras and the Central Provinces the 

 females are greatly in excess; in the native states 

 of Burma and the Central Provinces there is a 

 smaller surplus of females, and in other native ter- 

 ritories the males preponderate. In Calcutta 732,000 

 males were enumerated and only 389,000 females ; 

 in Rangoon, 163,000 males and 69,000 females; in 

 Bombay, 475,000 males and 296,000 females. This 

 discrepancy is due in a great measure to the mi- 

 gration of men to find employment in the indus- 

 trial centers, and in Bombay to the withdrawal 

 of women from the town owing to the plague. 

 The returns of women everywhere, and espe- 

 cially in great towns, are less complete than those 

 of men on account of native reluctance to give in- 

 formation regarding their women. This is one 

 of the difficulties that make the Indian census 

 necessarily imperfect. The census of the sexes 

 compared with that of 1891 shows that the males 

 have succumbed to famine in a greater degree 

 than females. The returns of population for the 

 British provinces compared with those of the 

 previous decennial census are given in the follow- 

 ing table: 



The population of the native states at both 

 periods was as follows: 



