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POPULATION OF INDIA

The earliest references of census taking in India can be traced back to the Mauryan period in Kautilaya’s "Arthshastra" (321-296 BC) and later during the Mughal period in ‘Aian-e-Akbari’. A systematic and modern Population census, in its present scientific from was conducted nonsynchronously between 1865 and 1872 in different parts of the country. This effort culminating in 1872 has been popularly labeled, as the first population census. However, the first synchronous census in India was held in 1881. Since then census have been undertaken uninterruptedly once every ten years. The census Of India 2001 is the fourteenth census in this continuous series as reckoned from 1872 and sixth since independence.

The estimated global population in 2000 was 6055 million. However in the past the growth of world population was not uniform. In 1830, the total population of the world was 1 billion which was doubled in 1930 with the time-gap of 100 years. By 1960, again the world population increased by 1 billion. The time span far increasing total population by 1 billion rapidly became shorter and shorter. The next addition of 1billion in total population was made within shorter period of time, i.e., 1960-71. In 1987 the world population crossed the mark of 5 billion and this time the addition of 1 billion was made only within 12 years.

The last child in the mob of 5 billion was born on 11th July 1987, in Yugoslavia. That is the reason why 11th July is known as World Population Day. In 2000 the world population touched the mark of 6 billion and It estimated that it will touch the levels or 7 billion and 8 billion by 2010 Ad and 2022 Ad respectively.

Indian population at 0.00 hours of 01st March, 2001, stood at 1,027,015,247 comprising 531,277,078 males and 495,731l.1 females. Thus India became only the Second country in the world after China to cross the one billion mark. India accounts for a mearge 2.4 percent of world surfaces area of 135.79 million square kms yet it supports and sustains whopping 16.7 percent of the World population. It is now estimated that by 2050 India will most likely overtake China to become the most populous country on the earth with 17.2 percent grew at an annual rate of 1.4 percent during 1990-2000. China registered a much lower annual growth rate of population (1 percent) during 1990-2000as compared to India (1.9 percent during 1991-2000).

Census of India 2001 was presented by the Registrar General & Census commissioner of India, Jayant Kumar Banthia. The 2001 census made an attempt to data on disabled persons. Census was postponed in the district of Kutch, Rajkot and Jamnagar as consequences of the devasting Earthquake.

POPULATION GROWTH
India’s population growth during the 20th century can be chartered and classified into four distinct phases as follows:

1901-1921————————– Stagnant population
1921-1951—————————Steady growth
1951-1981—————————Rapid high growth
1981-2001—————————High growth with definite signs of slowing down.

The story of population growth in India is fairly in tune with the classical theory of demographic transition. During most of the 19th century, India witnessed a fluctuating but ultimately more or less a stagnant growth of population, which drifted into the 20th century until 1921.there after, the country passed through successively all the phases of demographic transition and is now widely believed to have entered the fifth phase, usually characterized by rapidly declining fertility.

In absolute terms, the population of India has increased by a whopping 180.6 million during the decade 1991-2001. The absolute addition to the population in the decade 1991-2001 is more than the estimated population of Brazil, the fifth most populous country in the world. Although, the net addition in population during each decade has increased consistently, the change in net addition has shown a declining trend over the decades starting from 1961.

The percentage decadal growth during 1991-2001 has registered the sharpest decline since independence. It has declined from 23.86 percent for 1981-1991 to 21.34 percent for the period 1991-2001. The average exponential growth rate for the corresponding period declined from 2.14 percent per annum to 1.93 percent per annum. The annual exponential growth rate of food grain production during 1991-2000 was 1.9 per cent which was just about matched the population growth. It can be seen that Uttar Pradesh is by far the most populous State in the Country with more than 166 million people living here, which is more than the population of Pakistan, the sixth most populous country in the World. Nineteen states now have a population of over ten million. Almost half of the country’s population lives in five States, namely, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. While Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have held on to the first two positions in terms of their ranking in 2001 as compared to 1991, Bihar has moved on to take the third position from its fifth position pushing West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh now to the fourth and fifth spots respectively.

TOP 10 DISTRICTS BY POPULATION: 2001 CENSUS