It is customary to bring out Census Reports and various compilations of statistical tables at the end of every census. In bulk and content they are quite heavy. They have to be, as long as they do justice to the great responsibility cast on census and cater for the multifarious demands made on them by the governments, scholars and research workers among other data users. But at the same time it will not do to forget the common man. The census data are of great value to him. If census deals with the live man and helps tackle various human problems, it is only natural that the people understand and appreciate the census and are served with the basic demographic data they would be needing ever so often.
The need for a popular version of the Census Report had been suggested by late Shri Govind Ballabh Pant, the former Home Minister in his address to the census authorities on the eve of 1961 Census. The same feeling and wish were echoed in shape of a clear directive by Shri Y. V. Chavan, the then Home Minister in his inaugural address on the occasion of the conference of the Directors of Census in May, 1969. The accent was on the manner of presentation which will readily attract the lay reader and hold his interest: it should be both educative and interesting.
With this end in view, the present venture was taken in hand under the able guidance of Shri A. Chandra Sekhar, Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India. He had not merely laid out the frame-work for the book, but had also worked out the guidelines for drafting each chapter.
Demography is now a developed science and Indian census has carved for itself a distinct niche in the international sphere. The census concepts, the manner of presentation of data and their interpretation have to conform to international standards. To present the complex problems of population shorn of their technicality and sophistication in a manner which will readily catch the imagination of the lay reader is no easy task.
Despite these limitations we have tried our hand at this unique exercise which is the firstever attempt in this direction in the history of Indian census. As the chapter-headings will show we have tried to cover certain basic characteristics with a view to giving the common reader a com-prehensive picture of our population of 1971. We have tried to avoid complications or deeper probes into demographic problems. Here the object is to put across the broad features of census concepts and results in as simple a manner as we could make it. The potential reader who has been kept in mind is a college student. The choice of material and the manner of presentation have been subjected to a simple test: will he enjoy reading this book? Will he gain anything by it? Will it make him better equipped as a citizen to understand and appreciate the common problems facing mankind, problems that have their root in the rapid growth of population? If this book succeeds in fulfilling these objectives even partially the author will feel amply rewarded.
What is Census?
IF SOMEONE asked you what is Census, promptly you would reply, why, it is just a counting of heads. And, you will be right, but only partly. Because census is no doubt a counting of persons, yet at the same time it is very much more than that. I shall ex-plain how. But before I do so let me tell you a story.
In the days of yore there lived a king. He took it into his head that he must have a census of stars. He put it to his learned courtiers. This was an impossible task. The courtiers pleaded their inability. The king was enraged: what use maintaining these useless lot of hangers-on if they could not fulfil a simple wish of his! He was about to dismiss the court when Gopal, the court jester came forward and volunteered to carry out the project. He would take 30 nights for the count, but no one would disturb him during this period. His prayer was granted.
Days rolled on. At last the appointed day arrived. The court was packed to capacity. Gopal, the jester was seen entering the court dragging along a cow by its tether.
"What is all this nonsense? Are you ready with the result?" thundered the king.
"Yes, Your Majesty! For 30 nights I did the counting without batting an eyelid. For each star I counted, I put aside one fur in the coat of this cow. Thus I continued night after night till the stars were exhausted. I had come up to this point in the tail of the animal when there were no more stars in the sky to be counted. I cut off the tail exactly at that point and put a tag which your Majesty may be pleased to see.
"Lest anybody should doubt the accuracy of the count", continued Gopal, "I have brought this live record.
The king was happy because he thought he got the wonderful solution to his problem. But none in the king's court or in the kingdom for that matter was any the wiser so far as the census of stars was concerned. They remained as ignorant of the mystery of stars as ever.
Even going a step further if I told you that there are 22 million persons in our state or for that matter 548 million souls in India, will it mean anything to you? Will it be any improvement over the court jester's live record of the animal with the severed tail? No, it will be only begging the question.
But if you ponder over this number which I just gave you, a host of questions will crop up in your mind. You will find yourself asking if we are 22 million in our state, how many are men and how many women? How many are in villages and towns and how are we distributed among the districts, tahsils and thanas? How many of us know how to read and write? What languages do we speak? What are we doing by way of earning our livelihood, how many are just sitting idle depending on others? These and several such questions will assail your mind.
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