Author:
Publication: www.mns.co.in
Date: April 27, 2001
No definite mechanism has so far
been put in place to identify illegal immigrants from Bangladesh though
Assam and Tripura have registered a decline in the population growth since
the last decennial Census, Registrar General and Census Commissioner J
K Banthia has said.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines
of a seminar on '2001 Census Results: Implications for Research, Policies
and Programmes' recently, Banthia said Assam and Tripura are the only states
in the North-Eastern region which showed a decreasing rate of population
growth.
"This is because the Chakma tribals
from Bangladesh have gone back to the country. Besides, the fertility rate
in these two states has also registered a declining trend. But, for the
remaining five states in the North-East, the population growth has been
along the projected lines."
Population Foundation of India (PFI)
executive director K Srinivasan said a major finding of the 2001 Census
was that for the first time in the history of independent India, the absolute
number of illiterates has recorded a decline between two Census from 328.2
million in 1991 to 296.2 million in 2001.
The literacy rate among population
aged seven and above also significantly improved during the decade 1991-2001
- from 52.2 per cent to 66.4 per cent - an impressive increase of 13.2
percentage points.
"This jump is even more significant
among the females among whom the literacy rate increased from 39.3 per
cent in 1991 to 54.2 per cent in 2001. The male-female difference in literacy
rates declined from 28.8 per cent to 21.7 per cent during the period, narrowing
the long-existing gender gaps in literacy."
Srinivasan said a significant aspect
of improved literacy is that in every state, including the so-called BIMARU
(Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh) states, there has
been an increase in literacy rates during the decade.
Srinivasan said a frustrating fact
for family planners is that the Census population of 1,027.02 million is
substantially higher, by almost 15 million, than the official projections
made in 1996 by an expert committee of the Planning Commission.
While the annual growth rate of
population has declined from 2.14 per cent to 1.93 per cent, it is higher
than the assumed rate.
He said the results are particularly
disappointing for Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh where the growth
rate has actually increased.
Citing the instance of Uttar Pradesh,
he said the population in the state has been growing at a faster rate.
"This is particularly frustrating
since international assistance of a substantial order has been invested
in the state for promoting family planning, reproductive child health and
population stabilisation during the last 10 years."
Another important finding from the
provisional population totals is that the sex ratio (number of females
per 1,000 males) has increased to 933, compared to 927 in the 1991 Census.
But this may possibly be because
of the greater attention to the Census given by the feminist groups to
ensure that distaff are properly counted in the country, he added.
But a disappointing feature is a
decline in the sex ratio of the child population in the 0-6 age group from
945 to 927. "Significantly low sex ratio, below 900 among children, have
been observed in Delhi, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana and the Union Territory
of Chandigarh.
"The fact that there has been a
substantial rise in the sex ratio of the population aged 7-plus while there
is a decline in the sex ratio in the 0-6 age group raises the possibility
of sex-selected distortions in the reported ages of children," he said.
This issue must be investigated, he suggested. (UNI)
