PROFILE OF THE SELECTED DISTRICTS
It was indicated in the previous chapter that four districts were selected from each of the selected states for micro-level study these being an advanced district, an average district, a backward district and a predominantly tribal district. This chapter gives a brief description of some of the demographic characteristics of the selected district.*1
Andhra Pradesh In Andhra Pradesh, the four selected districts are Hyderabad, which is a developed district; Khammam,a medium developed district; Adilabad an under developed district; and Vishakhapatnam a predominantly tribal district.*2
Hyderabad: Having an area of 7707 sq. km. the district had a population of 27.9 lakhs in 1971. The density of population was 362 persons per sq. km. In terms of population size it was the fourth largest district of the state. It is a highly urbanized district with 65.8 per cent of the 1971 population living in urban areas. About 64 per cent of the workers in the district were either engaged in secondary or tertiary sector. Total literacy rate of the district was 40.4 per cent as against state's literacy rate of 24.6 per cent. Scheduled castes constituted 14.1 per cent of the total population of the district which compared favourably with the state's proportion of 13.3 per cent. The scheduled tribes were however, very insignificant, being only 0.17 per cent as against 3.8 per cent in the state's population. The districts' literacy rates for the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes population were 19.1 per cent and 19.5 per cent respectively as against 10.7 percent and 5.3 percent for the total scheduled castes and scheduled tribes population of the state.
1. The profile is based on the 1971 census data as, at the time of selection of the district, census data were not available.
2.The classification of districts into developed medium, underdeveloped is based on the development ranking given in the VI Five Year Plan Documents of Planning Department of Andhra Pradesh. (Vol. I,p.259).
16 Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Industrial Training Institutes
Khammam: Khammam has an area of 15,866 sq.km. Having a total population of 13.7 lakhs in 1971, populationwise it was one of the three smallest districts of the state. The density was only 86 persons per sq.km. The district's literacy rate was 18.5 per cent which was quite low as compared to state's average. It is highly rural district with about 86 per cent of its, population living in rural areas in 1971. Only 23 per cent of the workers were engaged in secondary and tertiary sectors. Whereas the scheduled castes constituted 12.3 per cent of the population of the district, the scheduled tribes accounted for 14.7 per cent of its population which is much higher than states proportion (3.8 per cent). Literacy rates for the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in 1971 were 7.9 per cent and 3.3 per cent respectively, much below the state's average for these groups.
Adilabad: Adilabad is the northern most district of the state. Having an area of 16,133 sq. km., the population of the district was only 12.9 lakhs in 1971. The population density was the lowest among the selected districts i.e. only 80 persons per sq. km. It is one of the backward districts of the state with a very high concentration of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes population which together account for a little over 30 per cent of its population. The literacy rate in the district in 1971 was only 14.1 per cent. For the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, the rate was 5.1 per cent and 3.3 per cent respectively. Like Khammam Adilabad is also highly rural district with about 85 per cent of its population living in the villages in 1971. Most of the workers were in the primary sector.
Vishakhapatnam: This district was particularly selected with a view to cover a Residential ITI specially started for the tribals. Having a total area of 13,739 sq. km, and a population of 31 lakhs in 1971, it was the third largest district of the state. The density was 204 persons per sq. km. The literacy rate of the total population was 21.3 per cent. Urban population of the district was 22.3 per cent which was little higher than the state's average. The proportion of workers outside agriculture formed 29.1 per cent of the total workers as compared to 29.9 per cent in the state. The scheduled castes and scheduled tribes constituted 7.9 per cent and 10.7 per cent of the total population respectively. Their literacy rates were 12.4 per cent and 4.4 per cent respectively.
Bihar The four districts selected for the study in Bihar were Patna, a developed district; Purnea, a medium district; Monghyr, a backward
Profile of the Selected Districts 17
district; and Ranchi,a predominantly tribal district. These districts apart from being at different levels of development are geographically scattered and exhibit different socioeconomic characteristics.
Patna: In 1971 the district had an area of 5,528 sq. km. and its population was 35.56 lakhs persons. The density of population was 543 persons per sq. km. which was much above the state's population density. About 40 per cent of the population of the district lived in urban area in 1971 and one-fourth of the workers were in secondary and tertiary sector. The percentage of the scheduled castes population in the district's population was 16.8 while that of the scheduled tribes was only 0.6 per cent. The literacy rates of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes were 10.4 per cent and 39.1 per cent trespectively as against a literacy rate of 30.1 percent for the total population of the district.
Ranchi: The district extended over an area of 18,221 sq. km. with a population of 21.39 lakh persons and a density of 304 persons per sq. kin. in 1971. About 14 per cent of its population lived in urban areas in 1971. Persons engaged outside agriculture constituted (20.1 per cent) of the total workers, slightly higher than the states proportion. The percentage of the scheduled castes population in the district was only 4.8 which was much below the state's average. In constrast the scheduled tribes constituted 58 percent of the district population, which was highestinth state in 1971. The district's literacy rate was 23.2 per cent with the rate for the scheduled castes being 10.8 per cent.
Monghyr: This district in 1971 had an area of 9,827 sq. km. and its population was 38.93 lakh persons; its population density being 396 persons per sq.km. Thirteen per cent of the population lived in urbanareas in 1971. More than 80 per cent of people were engaged in primary sector. The scheduled castes population of Monghyr in 1971 was 15.5 per cent, which was close to that of Patna district and little above the state's average. The scheduled tribes comprised only 1.41 per cent of Monghyr's population. The literacy rate of the district's population was 20.4 per cent in 1971. As against this scheduled castes and scheduled tribes literacy rate were only 6.3 per cent and 7.6 per cent respectively.
Purnea: This districts in 1971 had an area of 11,013 sq. km. and its population was 39.42 lakhs, the density of population being 358 persons per sq. km. It is primarily a rural district with 94 per cent of population
18 Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Industrial Training Institutes
in 1971 living in villages. The scheduled castes constituted 11.3 percent of the districts population and the scheduled tribes constituted 8.8 percent of its population. The literacy rate of the scheduled castes was only 4.8 percent while it was 6.0 percent for the scheduled tribes. These rates were much below the state's average for the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribe 6.5 and 11.6 per cent respectively.
Gujarat Ahmedabad, Surendranagar, Banaskantha and Dangs districts were selected in Gujarat for the present study. ITIs in all the four districts were located at the headquarters. In the Bansakantha district the ITI is located at Palanpur, and in the Dangs district, it is at Ahwa. The districts differ in terms of size, population, density, rural urban population and literacy rates etc.
Ahmedabad: Situated in Central Gujarat, Ahmedabad district covered an area of 8707 sq.km. in 1971 and had a population of 29.1 lakh persons. With 441 persons per sq. km. the district had the highest density in the state. The city accounted for the largest urban population in the state and provided employment to a vast working force in its numerous well known textile mills and other industrial establishment. The proportion of the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes population in the district's population was 10.9 per cent respectively. Ahmedabad district is a highly literate district. The literacy rate of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in 1971 were 37.4 per cent and 26.2 per cent respectively as against a literacy rate of 48.8 per cent for the district's total population.
Surendranagar: It is one of the districts of western Gujarat. With an area of 10,488 sq.km., it accounts for 5.35 percent of the State's population. The population density of the district was 99 persons per sq. km. The scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes formed 10.4 per cent and 0.56 per cent of district's population respectively. Thus, while the proportion of the scheduled castes in the district was much higher than the state's average of 6.8 per cent, the proportion of the scheduled tribes was negligible. The literacy rates for the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in 1971 were 18.7 per cent and 2.2 per cent respectively as against total literacy rate of 29.2 per cent.
Banaskantha: It is the northern most district of the state. With a population of 12.65 lakh persons in 1971, it was the state's third largest
Profile of the Selected Districts 19
district. The population density of the district was 131 persons per sq.km. The literacy rates was only 15.8 per cent in 1971. A predominantly rural district with about 90 per cent of the people living in villages, only onefifth of the workers were engaged outside agriculture in 1971. The scheduled castes formed 9.9 per cent of the total population while the scheduled tribes constituted 6.1 per cent of its population. The literacy rates for the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes were 11.6 per cent and 4.0 per cent respectively.
The Dangs: Situated in Southern Gujarat the Dangs district is the State's second smallest district. In common parlance `Dangs' means a hilly village and it also means bamboo, both are in abundance in this district. The district is essentially a region of hills for forest.
In 1971, Dangs was purely rural district. The density of population was only 65 persons per sq. km. The literacy rate was 14.1 per cent. Being predominantly tribal district, the scheduled tribes constituted 93.5 per cent of the district's population. The proportion of the scheduled castes in the district's population was just 0.36 per cent. The literacy rates among the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in the district in 1971 were 43.3 per cent and 11.3 per cent respectively.
Madhya Pradesh Four districts surveyed in Madhya Pradesh are Bhopal, Indore, Ujjain and Bastar. While Bhopal is the state's capital, Indore is culturally and educationally advanced district Ujjain is a medium district and Bastar is both backward as well as predominantly tribal district.
Bhopal: Bhopal was a part of Sehore district in 1971. The total area of the Sehore district was 9,015 sq. km. Its population was 10.8 lakh, the density of population being 120 persons per sq.km. The literacy rate of the district was 29.7 per cent which was substantially higher than the state's average of 22.0 per cent. A little more than 40 per cent of the total population of the district was urban. The scheduled castes constituted 15.4 per cent of the district's population while scheduled tribes formed 4.6 per cent of its population. The literacy rates of the two scheduled groups were 9.0 per cent and 4.8 per cent respectively.
The present Bhopal district carved out of Sehore district in 1981, has an area of only 2772 sq. km. Areawise, it is now one of the three smallest
20 Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Industrial Training Institutes
districts of the state. But the population of the district is about 9 lakh. It is now a predominantly urban district with more than 75 per cent of population living in the urban areas. Being the state capital functionally it is a service city.
Indore: In 1971 it had an area of 3,910 sq.km. and population of 10.3 lakh, giving population density of 262 person per sq.km. The literacy rate of 43.5 per cent was the highest in the state. Indore is an ideal city industrially developed, culturally advanced and academically well provided for. It has over eight textile mills, hundreds of small scale industrial complexes beside the prestigious BHEL. It has its own university, a good mandi, medical and dental college, and a number of other services. It is also a highly urbanized district with 62.7 per cent of its population living in cities and towns in 1971. The scheduled castes and scheduled tribes constituted 14.3 per cent and .09 per cent of its population respectively. The literacy rates for the two groups were 2.0 percent and 13.7 per cent respectively.
Ujjain: The district was spread over an area of 6,091 sq.km. in 1971 and had a population of 8.62 lakhs. Its population density worked to 142 persons per sq.km. Traditionally, it is a place of religious significance as every 12 years the Kumbh Mela is held there. It has the famous Maha Kaleshwar temple. It is the seat of Vikram University one of the eight universities in the state of Madhya Pradesh. It is a medium size district. Its urban population in 1971 was only 35.5 per cent. The scheduled castes constituted 25.0 per cent of its population while the scheduled tribes were just 15 per cent. The literacy rates for the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes were 10.9 per cent and 11.3 per cent respectively. As against these, the literacy rate of the total population was 30.6 per cent.
Bastar: Bastar has an area of 39,060 sq. km. Areawise it is the largest district in the state and the second largest in the country. Its population in 1971 was only 15.2 lakhs. Thus, it is a sparsely populated district; the population density being only 48 persons per sq.km. The district is educationally backward- its literacy rate in 1971, was 9.6 per cent as against the state's literacy rate of 22.0 per cent. Bastar is predominantly rural and tribal district with 68.2 per cent of its 1971 population being tribal. The literacy rate of the tribals in this district is only 4.2 as against total literacy rate of 9.6 per cent. The population of scheduled castes was only 3.2 per cent and its literacy rate of 10.3 per cent was higher than that of the total population.
Profile of the Selected Districts 21
Maharashtra In Maharashtra the ITIs were selected from the districts of Pune, Nagpur, Sangli and Osmanabad. While three ITIs were selected from Pune, one each was selected from the other three districts. Out of the three ITIs selected in Pune one at Manik Doho is predominantly a tribal ITI. While in Sangli and Nagpur districts, the ITIs are located in Sangli and Nagpur cities, the one in Osmanabad district is located at Latur.
Pune: It is one of the highly developed and urbanized district of the state the urban proportion in the district in 1971 being 41.8 per cent as against the state average of 31.2 per cent. The total population of the district in 1971 was 31.8 lakhs. With an area of only 15,640 sq. km., its density was 203 persons per sq. km. About 46 per cent of the total workers were engaged in secondary or tertiary occupations. The scheduled castes constituted 5.5 per cent of the total population, almost similar to the state's figure (6.0 per cent). The scheduled tribes constituted 3.4 per cent as against the state's share of 5.9 per cent. Among the selected districts, the Pune had the highest proportion of the scheduled tribes population, the other three districts having a insignificant proportions of tribals in their populations. The literary rates for the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in 1971 were 32.0 per cent and 17.4 per cent respectively as against a literacy rate of 44.6 per cent for the total population.
Nagpur: This is also one of the developed district of the state, its literacy rate in 1971 being 45.3 per cent as against state's literacy rate of 39.2 per cent. It was the most urbanized district among the selected districts having 54.3 per cent urban population. Its population density was 196 persons per sq.km. The scheduled castes constituted 4.1 per cent of district's population. There were no scheduled tribes in Nagpur. The literacy rate for the scheduled castes was very high (35.8 per cent) in comparison to 39.1 per cent for the state's scheduled castes population.
Sangli: This is one of the smaller districts of the state both areawise and populationwise. The total area of the district in 1971 was 6,563 sq. km. and its population was 15.40 lakhs. The density was 180 persons per sq. km. Literacy rate in the district was 37.5 per cent which was little lower than the state's literacy rate of 39.2 per cent. It is a predominantly rural district with more than 80 per cent of population living in the rural areas in 1971. One-fourth (25.4 percent) of the total workers were engaged
22 Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Industrial Training Institutes
in secondary and tertiary occupations. Scheduled castes accounted for 9.88 per cent of its population while scheduled tribes formed only 0. 16 per cent. The literacy rate for the scheduled castes was 26.8 per cent and for the scheduled tribes 25.5 per cent.
Osmanabad: This is one of the least developed district of the state both in terms of literacy rate which was just 27.9 per cent as well as the proportion of workers in the secondary and tertiary sectors which was just 14.7 per cent. The district is predominantly rural with 87 per cent of its population being in rural areas in 1971. The density was 134 persons per sq. km. A high proportion of district's population (15.1 per cent) belonged to the scheduled castes. Literacy rates were low both for the scheduled castes(15.0 per cent) and the scheduled tribes(5.5 per cent).
This chapter has described some of the population characteristics and literacy rates of total, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes population of the districts in which the selected ITIs are located. Based on an analysis of secondary data the following chapter describes the growth of technical and vocational education in the country.