CHAPTER
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ATTRIBUTES OF POPULATION
blend in India. But of late they have divided the people too. At the time of Independence, India was divided on religious lines. Pakistan was also divided on linguistic lines into Pakistan and Bangladesh. SOCIAL COMPOSITION Scheduled Castes The term Scheduled Caste appeared for the first time in the Government of India Act, 1935. The Scheduled Castes are specified in accordance with Article 341 of the Indian Constitution. At the time of independence, Scheduled Caste population in India was 51.7 million, it increased to 104.7 million in 1981 and 138.2 million in 1991, recording a growth of 32.0 per cent during 1981-91. According to 1991 census, Scheduled Caste population constitutes 16.48 per cent of total population of the country. Scheduled Caste is a heterogeneous group consisting of 542 Castes. As regards their social and economic status vis--vis the rest of the population, they are homogeneous to some extent. Majority of them are poor, live in rural areas (81.28 per cent) and are engaged in agriculture. Distributional Pattern (1991): Scheduled Castes are not confined to one or two states; they are distributed all over the country. Uttar Pradesh has 29.3 million of them, followed by West Bengal with 16 million. These two states account for nearly one-third (32.8 per cent) of the Scheduled Caste population of the country. Other states with large size of
Indias population comprises a variety of ethnic, religious and socio-economic groups. Division of population in four varnas in ancient times has now been highly distorted into a pernicious caste system. In order to ensure their due rights, communities forming the lowest social stratum of the society have been listed in the Indian constitution. They are referred to as Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST). Scheduled Castes are integral part of the Hindu society. The Scheduled Tribes constitute a mixed group racially, socially and economically. They are not necessarily non-Hindus. A variety of languages are spoken and even written in India through the ages. Apart from Hindi the official language of the country seventeen other Indian languages have been listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, as regional languages. Linguistic diversity does come in the way of smooth interregional communication but it has never been a source of weakness. There is a common thread of cultural unity that runs through them. Multiplicity of religious faiths is another characteristic of India. Hinduism is the main religion of the country. It is, however, so tolerant that it has always welcomed people of other religions to co-exist. Three other major religions that originated within the country are Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Islam and Christianity are also followed by a fairly large section of the population. There are other religions like Zoroastrians, Jews and Bahais. Religions and languages have played a major role in producing a unique cultural
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the Scheduled Caste population are Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Punjab and Orissa. (Fig. 3.1). In terms of the percentage of Scheduled Caste population to the total population, Punjab with 28.31 per cent tops the list. Other states with more than one-fifth of population being Scheduled Caste are Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and West Bengal. The percentage is low (5 to 10 per cent) in Kerala, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Sikkim and Assam. The Scheduled Caste population is negligible (less than 5 per cent) in northeastern states, Goa, and the union territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. There is no Scheduled Caste population in Nagaland and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Literacy: Literacy among the Scheduled Castes is relatively low. Nearly half of the males (49.91 per cent) and one-fourth of the females (23.76 per cent) of the Scheduled Castes are literate (Table 3.1). Literacy among Scheduled Castes is better than that among the Scheduled Tribes. In general, the states with high literacy rate also have high literacy among the Scheduled Castes. Literacy is very low in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar; medium in Haryana, Karnataka, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh and other states. Occupational Structure: About 39.25 per cent of total Scheduled Caste population is classed as worker. This is slightly higher than that of total population (37.5 per cent) but
much lower than that of Scheduled Tribe workers (49.30 per cent). Participation rate among males and females is 51.48 and 25.98 per cent, respectively. More than three-fourths of the Scheduled Caste main workers are engaged in primary economic activities, 9.83 per cent in secondary activities and 13.06 per cent in tertiary activities. Farming is the principal primary economic activity. Agricultural labourers constitute about half (49.06 per cent) of the main workers. The Scheduled Caste labourers constitute more than onethird (38.7 per cent) of total agricultural labourers of the country. Proportion of Scheduled Caste workers in the secondary activities is not only low but has also declined in the last decade. On the other hand, the percentage of main workers engaged in tertiary activities has increased from 10.78 per cent in 1981 to 13.06 per cent in 1991. This is because of the decline of traditional manufacturing goods like earthern pots, leather goods, etc. Tribal Population (Scheduled Tribes) Tribal communities of India display a profile of ethnic diversity. They belong to different ethnic, linguistic and religious groups. They also vary in terms of rituals, faiths, beliefs and economic pursuits. Most of the tribal people live in inaccessible areas and their life and livelihood are closely linked with their environment. A few of them are nomadic. India perhaps has the largest tribal population in the world. The Constitution Order 1950
Table 3.1: India: Comparison of Literacy Rates (%) among Total Population, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, 1991 Variables Total Literacy Male Literacy Female Literacy Literacy in Rural Population Literacy in Urban Population Total Population 52.21 64.2 39.19 44.54 73.01
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Scheduled Castes 37.41 49.91 23.76 33.25 55.09
Scheduled Tribes 29.60 40.65 18.19 27.38 56.60
Social and Cultural Attributes of Population
Based upon Survey of India map with the permission of Surveyor General of India. Government of India Copyright, 2003 The territorial water of India extends into the sea to a distance of twelve nautical miles measured from the appropriate baseline. The administrative headquarters of Chandigarh, Haryana and Punjab are at Chandigarh. The interstate boundaries between Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya shown on this map are as interpreted from the North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971, but have yet to be verified. The interstate boundaries between Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh and Bihar and Jharkhand have not been verified by the Governments concerned. The responsibility for the correctness of internal details rests with the publisher.
Fig. 3.1 Distribution of Scheduled Caste Population in India, 1991 25
India People and Economy
declared 212 tribes (living in fourteen states) as Scheduled Tribes. By the amendment of 1976, area restrictions for most of the Scheduled Tribes have been removed. Now this list includes some 550 Tribes living through out the country. In 1951, the population of Scheduled Tribes in India was 22.5 million i.e. 5.6 per cent of total population. It reached 67.7 million in 1991, accounting for 8.08 per cent of the total population. Growth rate of the Scheduled Tribe population is rather high. While the total population of the country grew only 2.3 times during 1951-91 (Table 3.2), the growth of tribal population was 2.6 times during the same period. High rate of growth of the Scheduled Tribe population during 1951-61 and 1971-81 was mainly due to the inclusion of more tribes in the list of the Scheduled Tribes. Distributional Pattern: Tribal communities tend to concentrate in hilly, dissected and forested areas. Therefore, their distribution is very uneven. They are concentrated in two belts, one extending from Rajasthan in the west to Orissa in the east, and the other comprising northeastern states. According to 1991 census Goa with just 376 tribal people is at the bottom and Madhya Pradesh with 15.4 million tribal people is at the top. Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Pondicherry had no Scheduled Tribes. As against this 94.75 per cent of Mizorams population is tribal. The proportion of tribal population is more than 50.0 per cent in most of the northeastern states, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Lakshadweep (Fig. 3.2). Four major states, namely, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Gujarat, and Rajasthan together share more than half of the tribal population of the
country. Sikkim, Assam, and Daman and Diu also have tribal population ranging from 10 to 25 per cent. In the northern plains and in the southern states, the percentage of tribal population is less then 10. Literacy: Literacy is still very low among tribes in comparison to other segments of population. In 1991, less than one-third (29.6 per cent) of the tribal population above 6 years of age was literate as against 52.2 per cent of total population and 37.4 per cent of Scheduled Caste population (Table 3.1). Malefemale difference in literacy is very wide. Only 18.2 per cent of tribal females were literate as against 40.7 per cent of males. Major causes of prevailing illiteracy among tribes are poverty, inaccessibility to education and socio-economic backwardness. The tribal literacy varies greatly from state to state; it is more than 40% in Kerala and in northeastern states of Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram. Literacy is low and very low in major tribal belts of central and western India. Low level of literacy is a major obstacle in development. Occupational Structure: The proportion of main workers to the total population is 42.0 per cent among tribes as against 34.1 per cent for the whole country. About 7.3 per cent of tribal population is categorised marginal workers. Thus nearly half (49.7 per cent) of tribals work to earn their livelihood. There is no social stigma attached to work among the females of the tribal communities and hence their participation is very high (43.7 per cent). The tribal community is an open society where male, female and children enjoy equal status and participate in work according to their capacity.
Table 3.2 : India: Growth of Population of Scheduled Tribes 1951-1991 Attributes Population (in millions) Share in countrys population (%) Growth during the decade (%) Growth of national population (%)
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1951 22.5 5.6 NA NA
1961 29.9 6.8 32.9 21.64
1971 38.0 7.2 27.1 24.80
1981 53.6 7.76 41.05 24.66
1991 67.7 8.08 26.31 23.86
Social and Cultural Attributes of Population
Based upon Survey of India map with the permission of Surveyor General of India. Government of India Copyright, 2003 The territorial water of India extends into the sea to a distance of twelve nautical miles measured from the appropriate baseline. The administrative headquarters of Chandigarh, Haryana and Punjab are at Chandigarh. The interstate boundaries between Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya shown on this map are as interpreted from the North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971, but have yet to be verified. The interstate boundaries between Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh and Bihar and Jharkhand have not been verified by the Governments concerned. The responsibility for the correctness of internal details rests with the publisher.
Fig. 3.2 India: Distribution of Scheduled Tribe Population, 1991 27
India People and Economy
Agriculture is the mainstay of tribal people. About 54.5 per cent of the main workers are cultivators and 32.7 per cent are agricultural labourers. Females work primarily as agricultural labourers. Only 1.0 per cent of the main workers are engaged in household industries and manufacturing. Majority of them work as semi-skilled and unskilled labourers in tertiary activities. Their participation in government and nongovernment services has increased in recent years. LINGUISTIC COMPOSITION Language is an important indicator of ethnic identity. At the same time, it is a strong integrating force in the society. The people of India display a high degree of diversity in their languages and dialects. Because of its unifying power, language was accepted as the basis of reorganisation of states after independence. In 1961 census, 1652 languages were listed as mother tongues in India. Out of them, speakers of 23 languages together accounted for 97 per cent of total population of the country. Of these, eighteen languages besides English are specified in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of the country. The Scheduled languages and the number of persons who use them as their mother tongues (in 1991) are presented in the Table 3.3.
As per 1991 census, Hindi along with its variations is the mother tongue of 337.27 million persons, who constitute 40.42 per cent of the total population of the country. Next to Hindi is Bengali, which is spoken by 8.30 per cent of the total population. Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, Punjabi and Assamese are other major languages spoken in the country. The Constitution has r ecognised Hindi in Devanagari script as the national language, and Hindi and English as the of ficial languages of the Indian Union. A threelanguage formula mother tongue, Hindi and English has been followed as a compromise for changing over to Hindi.
Table 3.3: India: Comparative Strength of Scheduled Languages in 1991 Languages specified in VIII Schedule 1. Hindi 2. Bengali 3. Telugu 4. Marathi 5. Tamil 6. Urdu 7. Gujarati 8. Kannada Persons speaking % of total as mother tongue popula(in millions) tion 337.27 69.60 66.02 62.48 53.00 43.41 40.67 32.75 30.38 28.06 23.38 13.08 2.12 2.08 1.76 1.27 0.06 0.05 40.42 8.30 7.87 7.45 6.32 5.18 4.85 3.91 3.62 3.35 2.79 1.56 0.25 0.25 0.21 0.15 0.01 0.01
Promotion of Languages Language being the most important medium of communication and education, its development occupies an important place in the National Policy on Education and Programme of Action. Financial assistance is given to voluntary organisations and individuals to bring out publications like encyclopedias, dictionaries, books of knowledge, original writings on linguistics, literacy, Indological, social anthropological and cultural themes for the development of modern Indian languages.
9. Malyalam 10. Oriya 11. Punjabi 12. Assamese 13. Sindhi 14. Nepali 15. Konkani 16. Manipuri 17. Kashmiri 18. Sanskrit
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Social and Cultural Attributes of Population
Classification of Languages and their Distribution Major languages of the Indian Union belong to two major families, namely, the Indo-Aryan and Dravidian. The former are spoken and written in north and central India, while the latter are spoken and written in south India. The IndoAryan languages are spoken by about 73 per cent, and the Dravidian languages by about 20 per cent of the total population of the country. Besides these, other languages and dialects spoken belong to the Austric (1.38 per cent) and Sino-Tibetan (0.85 per cent) families. Thus, the Indian languages belong to the following four families: 1. Indo-European (Aryan), 2. Dravidian, 3. Austric, and 4. Sino-Tibetan. Aryan Languages: Nearly three-fourths of the total population speaks one or the other form of the Aryan languages. Languages of this family are concentrated over the northern states including Gujarat and Maharashtra (Table 3.3). In ter ms of the number of speakers, Hindi occupies fourth place in the world. It consists of several dialects; Khadi Boli is one of them. Urdu is very akin to Hindi and is widely spoken in this belt. Other languages of this group are Punjabi, and Gujarati concentrated in the states of Punjab and Gujarat, respectively. Kachchi and Sindhi, belong to this family; they are spoken in Gujarat and Rajasthan. The concentration of Marathi is in Maharashtra. Oriya, Bengali and Assamese are languages of the eastern group and are spoken in eastern India, mainly in Orissa, West Bengal and Assam, respectively. Kashmiri, Kohistani, Shina and Dardi are spoken in different parts of Jammu and Kashmir. Dravidian Languages: About one-fifth of total population speaks in Dravidian languages. Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam languages are concentrated in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. Telugu is spoken in Andhra Pradesh. The Dravidian languages are
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less diverse than the other language families of India. The four languages mentioned above account for 96 per cent of the total Dravidian speaking population of India. The rest include minor speech communities. Austric Languages: These languages are spoken by the tribal groups of Meghalaya, Jharkhand and western Satpura. There are two branches of this family: Munda and MonKhmer. Of the two, Mon-Khmer (Khasi) is confined to Khasi and Jaintia hills and Nicobarese to the Nicobar Islands. On the other hand, Munda language is spoken by tribals of Jharkhand and the wester n Satpura region. Sino-Tibetan Languages: The languages of this family consist of several branches, groups and sub-groups, and are confined to certain small pockets in the north-eastern states, and in the Himalayan and sub-Himalayan regions of the north and the northwest. The speakers of the Sino-Tibetan family in India belong to three main branches: Tibeto-Himalayan, Arunachal Pradesh and Naga-Myanmari. The first branch consists of the Bhutia and the Kinnauri groups; the second branch of the Aka, Dafla, Miri and Abor groups; and the third of the Bodo, Naga and Kuku groups. As the states of India are language-based, the Scheduled languages are spoken by majority of the population in respective states. In Kerala, for instance, 96 per cent of the population speak Malayalam, and in Andhra Pradesh more than 85 per cent of the people speak Telugu. Thus, every Scheduled language has its specific region and core of these exists in specific state. The boundary of a linguistic region is, however, not a demarcated line but a transitional zone over which one language gradually loses its dominance and gives way to another. There is an intermingling of languages among the various linguistic groups. People are often bilingual or tri-lingual in several areas. Further, in many states, the major language of one of the adjacent states is the second most important language spoken by the second largest group of people in the state. For
India People and Economy
example, in Kerala, Tamil is the second most important language; in Tamil Nadu, it is Telugu; in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh it is Urdu. RELIGIOUS COMPOSITION
Table 3.4: India: Population by Religion in 1961 and 1991 Religious groups 1961 Million Persons 366.5 46.9 10.7 7.8 3.2 2.0 1.6 439.2 Per cent 83.5 10.7 2.4 1.8 0.7 0.5 0.4 100.0 Million Persons 687.6 101.6 19.6 16.3 6.4 3.4 3.3 838.6* 1991 Per cent 82.00 12.12 2.34 1.94 0.76 0.40 0.39 100.00*
Hindus
Religion plays a crucial role in socio-cultural life of people. Religious multiplicity is one of the important characteristics of India. As stated earlier, India is the birth-place of four major religions Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Hinduism is the oldest religion of the world. It evolved out of humans continuing interaction with nature and his search for the meaning of life. Hindustan, the land of the Hindus, is one of the names by which India came to be known to the outside world. The other Indian born religions are very close to Hinduism in philosophy and approach to life. Successive waves of people of other religious faiths came to India. Many of them adopted the prevailing Indian religion and enriched it. But some have maintained their identity. The Syrian Christians appeared on the west coast of India in the first century AD. They are still there in Kerala. The Arab traders brought Islam to the west coast of India in the seventh century. Muslim invaders from West Asia accelerated the spread of Islam in India. In terms of the number of followers, the four major religions are Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Buddhism. Jainism, Sikhism, and Zoroastrianism and numerous minor faiths continue to prosper in India. All of them are great religions and we should try to know as much about them as possible. Population of India by religion in 1961 and 1991 is given in Table 3.4. Distribution of Religious Groups More than 82.0 per cent of total population of India is Hindu. They are distributed throughout India, but in a few areas they are out-numbered by the people of other faiths. Muslims are second in terms of numbers. They constitute 12.12 per cent of total population excluding Jammu and Kashmir.
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Muslims Christians Sikhs Buddhists Jains Others Total
*Excludes Jammu & Kashmir.
Christians constitute 2.34 per cent, while Sikhs 1.94 per cent of the total population. Buddhists and Jains constitute 0.76 and 0.40 per cent of total population, respectively. Hindus and Muslims are widely distributed but other religious groups are localised in certain pockets only. Hindus: Among the states of the country, the proportion of Hindus in total population is highest in Himachal Pradesh (95.9 per cent) and lowest in Mizoram (5.0 per cent). It is higher than the national average in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Tripura, while it is much lower in northeastern states, Jammu and Kashmir, and Punjab. Muslims: The largest number of Muslim population is in Uttar Pradesh (24.1 million) followed by West Bengal (16.1 million) and Bihar (12.8 million). The proportion of Muslim population to total population ranges from 0.6 per cent in Mizoram to 68.3 per cent in Jammu and Kashmir (in 1981) and 94.3 per cent in Lakshadweep. The proportion is higher than the national average in Assam, Bihar (including Jharkhand), Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh (including Uttaranchal) and West Bengal. These states stretch over the northern Great Plains. Only Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala fall outside this belt.
Social and Cultural Attributes of Population
Christians: The largest concentration of the Christian population is in Kerala (5.6 million or 28.6 per cent of the total). Christians are more than one million each in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya and Nagaland. Sikhs: Out of 16.3 million Sikhs of the country, 12.8 million (78.5 per cent) are in Punjab alone. Besides Punjab, neighbouring districts of Haryana and Rajasthan also have concentration of Sikh population. They are also concentrated in the Tarai region of Uttaranchal and in Delhi. Buddhists and Jains: Of the total Buddhist population of the country, 79 per cent live in Maharashtra alone. Traditional pockets of Buddhism are Ladakh area of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura.
The largest concentration of Jain population is in Maharashtra (0.97 million or 28.8 per cent of total). About 75 per cent of the Jain population resides in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
Role of Religion in Indias Unity The Hindu shrines and holy places, the Islamic mosques and dargahs, the Jain teerthasthalas, the Buddhist monasteries and the Christian churches draw their devotees from many parts of India. Some of the shrines in Varanasi, Rameshwaram, Ajmer, Bodh Gaya, and old Goa are of national status and draw their devotees from all over India, even people of other religions.
EXERCISES
Review Questions 1. Answer briefly the following: (a) What is the percentage of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in total population of the country? (b) How do Scheduled Tribes differ from other communities? (c) Name two states which have very high proportion of Scheduled Caste population. (d) Why are Scheduled Castes concentrated in areas of good agricultural lands? (e) Name three states where tribal population is more than threefourths of the state population. ( f ) Why is work participation rate high among the Scheduled Tribes? (g) Name the four language families to which Indian languages belong to. (h) Which are the principal Dravidian languages and their area? ( i ) Name the language family to which the languages of the northeastern states belong to. ( j ) Which major religions originated in India? 2. Discuss the distribution of Scheduled Caste population in India. 3. Compare the occupational structure of the Scheduled Caste population with that of the Scheduled Tribe population. 4. Discuss the male-female difference and regional variation in tribal literacy. 5. Describe the distributional pattern of various religious groups in India. Project Work 6. (a) In the state and union territory map of India shade the states, which have more than 20 per cent of the Scheduled Caste population, and more than 50 per cent of the Scheduled Tribe population. (b) Prepare a brief write up on their distribution.
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