The Population

The population of Nagpur district according to the census of 1961 is 1,512,807 (m. 784,161; ¦ . 728,646). Spread over its area* of 9,930 km. (3,834 sq. miles), it works out at 152 per km. (395 to the sq. mile). Of these 725,107 (m. 367,760; ¦ . 357,347) or 49.9 per cent is spread over the rural areas and the remaining 787,700 (m. 416,401 ¦ . 371,299) or 52.1 per cent over the urban areas. The urban-rural ratio of the district works out at 52:48.

Growth of Population

It appears that the first census of the district was taken along with that of the Central Provinces in 1866. However, population figures as they are available show that the district of Nagpur had a population of 631,109 in 1872 and it varied to 697,356; 757,862; and 751,844 at the censuses of 1881,1891 and 1901, respectively.

Census 1901

Commenting on these variations generally for the Province Mr. R.V. Russel remarks that between 1866 and 1872 there occurred the famine of 1869, when the two divisions – Nagpur and Jubbulpore – were found to have declined in population. In 1881 there was an increase of 25.2 per cent. On the population of 1872 there being a rapid recovery during the decade from the effects of the famine 1869. The only checks to the natural increment were epidemics of cholera and smallpox in the years 1872, 1878 and 1879. Prat of the increase in 1881 was, however, certainly to be attributed to better enumeration. Between 1881 and 1891 the condition of the people continued on the whole to be prosperous, though the latter part of the decade was marked by some seasons of scarcity and high prices, culminating in a very unhealthy year in 1889. When there were severe epidemics of cholera and smallpox. Combined with a visitation of malarial fever in the autumn. The increase of population during the decade was 12.1 per cent. During the last decennial period (1891-1901) the population had decreased by 8.3 percent and in four years, besides the tow great famines, there were partial failure of crops.

The following table illustrates the growth of population of the district during sixty years – 1901 – 1961: -

TABLE No. 1

GROWTH OF POPULATION IN NAGPUR DISTRICT, 1901 – 1961

Census 1911

The total increase in the population of the district during the sixty years 101,46 per cent. The mean decennial rates of increase or decrease since 1901 were 7.72, - 2.03, 18.62, 12.76, 16.47 and 22.54, respectively, for each decade; variations in density of the general population of the district for these years were 196;210; 206; 245; 276; 322 and 395, respectively.

"Plague dominates the figures of the Nagpur district and seems to have vitiated the registration of the vital statistics. With a recorded birth-rate of 48 and a death-rate of 44, of which 57,386 persons or 7 per cent., are due to plague, the excess of population according to the vital statistics stands at 4 per cent. To raise this to the census increase of 7.6 would require a balance in favor of immigration of about 28,000 persons, instead of this we find, after taking into consideration the migration figures of 1901, a balance of about 40,000 emigrants which would more than swamp the natural excess according to the deduced figures. It would thus appear that there has been an omission during the decade of something over 20,000 births. The registration in urban areas during plague outbreaks is notoriously defective and while some check is possible at the cemeteries and burning ghats of the number of deaths, it is practically impossible to check births in a population scattered over a wide area in temporary huts and shelters. Plague visited the Nagpur city in eight years during the decade and in Kamptee outbreaks occurred in six years, and it seems probable that the difference to which attention has been drawn is due to defective registration in the urban areas resulting in omission of births.

Apart from the decrease in the population of the towns which amounted to 21 in Nagpur and 56 per cent in kamptee, there has been a considerable increase in the tahsil population. A certain amount of this is fictitious and is due to the diffusion of the city population over the village of the district. As has already been explained in dealing with the population of the Nagpur city, it is unfortunately not possible to estimate with any accuracy the effect on the population of the rural areas of this dispersion of the city people. The headquarter tahsil which got the full benefit of the dispesion showed an increase of over 24 per cent, the opening of mines and the construction of a large irrigation reservoir in the Ramtek tahsil must have attracted immigrants, and the population of that tahsil shows a larger increase (21.50) than the others, the increase in which amount to 17.28 in Umrer, 14.68 in Katol and 13.31 in the new tahsil of Saoner."

Regarding the distribution and movement of the population of Nagpur district in 1921 Mr. N.C. Roughton observes –

"Owing to the presence of Nagpur city the density is 207 per square mile as against 211 at the last census, but the tahsil density is less, being as low as 137 per square mile in the Ramtek tahsil. The natural population decreased by about 24,000, the somewhat indefinite term ‘fever’ in 1921, and plague and cholera in 1916 being responsible for heavy mortality. In the influenza epidemic of 1981,69,000 persons died, or 36,000 more than the births, and in the following year the birth-rate was exceptionally low. The stands at 792,521, which is 25.6 per cent in excess of the figures of 1872. However, in spite of the fact that the district attracts labor from without to its industrial centers, there is a decrease of 4,000 during the decade with number of those born outside the district, which may partly be attributed to the fact that at those places the older immigrants are now beginning to die off, and are replaced by their children born in the district."

Census 1931

The following remarks regarding the distribution and movement of population of the district in 1931 were made by Mr. WHO. Shoobert –

"The density of population in Nagpur tahsil is greater than that anywhere else in the province. This is of course due to the presence of Nagpur City, the enormous rise of 48.19 per cent which greatly affects the tahsil figure. The increase in the rural population, excluding that of Nagpur City and Kamptee Municipality and Cantonment, is 16.94 per cent on the population of 1921. Owing to the commercial importance of the capital of the province the population has naturally tended to concentrate around it and the growth has been rapid, The increase in the figures of immigrants to the district since 1921 is over 36,000 according to the figures in Subsidiary Table IV. The deduced population calculated from vital statistics by the District Census Officer for the beginning of the year 1931 was 892,119. The census population was 940,049. As the increase in the number of immigrants is insufficient to make up the difference even if emigration was negligible, it must be assumed that the registration of vital statistics was again incomplete.

TABLE No.2

GROWTH OF POPULATIONS, NAGPUR DISTRICT (1931)

Census 1931-40

The decade 1931 was fairly normal except towards the end when there were partial failures of crop and the outbreak of the World War. The mean decennial growth-rate of the population of the district during the period was 11.9 per cent.