Rajasthan Board RBSE Class 8 Social Science Notes Chapter 7 Population
Population is an important aspect of our study because the social and economic development of a place is closely related with its people and their resources to exploit the available natural resources. First population census in India was conducted in 1872, then in 1881 followed by a gap of every 10 years.
As per 2011 census 5.7% of the total population of India resides in Rajasthan, 75% of 6.9 crore population lives in villages. State’s urban population is about 25% which resides in large and small cities.
Distribution and Density of Population:
The spread of population on earth is called population distribution. Distribution of population is uneven. Some regions are sparsely populated while others are densely populated. The Thar Desert has sparse and the north-east plains of Rajasthan have dense population.
Density of population means number of people residing in a particular area e.g. Density of Rajasthan is 200 persons per sq. km. 10% of the total population of Rajasthan lives in Jaipur district and only 1% in the Jaisalmer district. Thus there is uneven distribution of population. The Western Desert region has least density of population i.e. 130 persons per sq. km. whereas the districts of the eastern plain regions have the maximum density i.e. 332 persons per sq. km. Density depends upon the geographical factors of a region. The Aravali mountain range and south-east plateau regions have medium density of population. However the Thar desert of Rajasthan is more densely populated than the other deserts of the world.
Population Growth:
Change (i.e. increase or decrease) in the population of a place during the specific period is known as the population change. Scale used to measure this change is known as the population growth rate. If population of a place shows increase during the particular period of one or ten years.it is called Positive growth, and if it decreases it is called Negative growth.
Three things necessary to know the growth of population:
- Population of a place during a particular period say 2011.
- Population during the prior period 2001.
- Difference in growth between (2001 and 2011).
Difference is divided by the population in 2001 and the quotient is multiplied by 100.
Example:
Population of Rajasthan in 2011- 68548437, in 2001-56507188, difference in duration of 10 years 12041249
Population Growth Rate \(=\frac{68548437-56507188}{56507188} \times 100=21.31 \%\)
Hence, growth rate of population in Rajasthan during 10 years is 21.31%.
Causes for increase in the population growth rate depends upon three factors – Births, deaths and migrations: It is Natural growth rate when change is due to birth and death rates. Exact change in the population growth rate is calculated by adding difference between the immigrants and the emigrants to the Natural growth rate.
Optimum population target can be achieved by controlling the population growth rate i.e. limiting the size of the families and by adopting the latest techniques to grow more foodgrains.
During the last decade (i.e. 2001-2011) growth rate of population in Rajasthan has declined with maximum in Barmer and Jaisalmer and minimum in Ganganagar. In the eight districts of Rajasthan the growth rate has been lower than the average rate of India.
Sex-Ratio:
It means female population in proportion to 1000 males. Except Kerala and Puducherry in all other states of India number of males is more than the number of females. As per 2011 census sex ratio is 928 in Rajasthan whereas it is 888 in the age group of six years which is very less.
Beti Bachao, Beti Padao:
This scheme was launched in India in January 2015 by the Government of India to promote women empowerment and to ensure their right and making them self depend in the social and economic fields by imparting them education. This scheme throws a challenge to various evil practices in our society such as dowry system, female infanticide, child-marriage, domestic-violence, patriarchal society, sex-discrimination,.
etc. Beti-Bachao-Beti Padao campaign is a boon to provide security to daughters and women.
Literacy
As per 2011 population census total literacy rate in Rajasthan is 66.10%, with 76.6% in Kota (the maximum) and 54.9% in Jalore. Male and female literacy rate is highest in Jhunjhunu and Kota and the lowest in Pratapgarh and Jalore respectively.
Religious composition:
Rajasthan is a land of various religions – Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists with their sects as Shaiv, Vaishnav, Shia, Sunni, Mev, Pathans etc. Pushkar, Dilwara and Ajmer Shariff are the religious places of the Hindus, the Jains and the Muslims respectively. As per 2011 census 88.5% population is of the Hindus, 9.1% of the Muslims and remaining of the Sikhs, the Jains and others.
Linguistic Panorama:
Official language of Rajasthan is Hindi. Rajasthani and its related dialects are used in literary works and day to day use. There are many local dialects such as Marwari, Mewari, Wagari, Shekhawati etc. besides Bheeli, Mevati, Gujarati, Urdu and Brij languages spoken by many people.
The Scheduled Tribes:
They reside mainly in villages, hills, plateaus and forests. Most of them depend for their livelihood on cultivation, manual labour and forest goods or products. They are found mostly in the region from Sirohi to Udaipur, Dungarpur, Chittaurgarh and Banswara districts. A few prominent of them are Bheel, Meena, Saharia and garasia. Meenas are the majority. Sharia is the only Scheduled Tribe added to the early primitive scheduled tribe by the government of India.
Bheel is the ancient scheduled tribe of Rajasthan. Their means of livelihood are mainly agriculture and forestry. Almost 50% of the Meenas live in Jaipur, Dausa, Sawaimadhopur, Karauli and Udaipur. Sharias live mainly in the forests of Kishanganj and Shahbad tehsils of Baran districts. Their livelihoods are mainly farming, labour, collection of wood and forest products etc.