Seek Out the Stories that Census Figures Tell

editorial of Sikkim Now

The Provisional Population Totals of Census 2011 have been released. Sikkim’s population as of March 2011 has been counted at 6,07,688 people, recording a 12.36% growth since 2001. Since 1911, when the first proper Census operation was undertaken in Sikkim, only three decades, the last being 1941-51, have population growths lower than this. With the release of more detailed Census 2011 findings in the days to come, the reasons why growth has been so slim in the last decade will be better understood from the clearer demographic patterns which subsequent Census data will illustrate. While one waits for these details to emerge and explain the present better, it would be worthwhile to go over the data thrown up by Census operations in Sikkim thus far. The first Census of Sikkim was conducted in 1891 by the Political Officer. A decade later, in 1901 the West Bengal Census authorities of British India were deputed to carry out the task and it was probably only in 1911 that the Directorate of Census Operations brought the detailed methodology by which India does a head-count of all its people. In the decade of 1901-11, Sikkim’s population grew by 48.98%, the second-largest population spurt of the century. In the next decade, 1911-21, the population fell by 7.05%, the only time it has done so since Census operations were initiated in Sikkim. Population growth in Sikkim has shown marked variations, growing by little over 34% in the decade of 1931-41 and then almost grinding to replacement fertility-rate figure of 10.67% in 1931-41, creeping only slightly higher to 13.34% in 1941-51 and reaching 17.76% in 1951-61.
It started rising from thereon, recording a nearly 30% population growth in 1961-71 and then hitting the record of 50.77% in 1971-81, dropping to nearly half this growth rate to 28.47% in 1981-91, rising five percentage points to 33.07% population growth in 1991-2001 and then scaling back to its mid-Twentieth Century average of 12.36% growth in 2001-11.
Census findings are important indicators of socioeconomic conditions of areas they cover. Populations obviously grow beyond the traditional average either due to influx or improvements in health services, both of which are indicative of the quality of life and opportunities. Of course, in the recent past, our country has been working towards containing its population through family planning schemes launched on mission-mode, but the population figures of the past slightly more than a century are untouched by such efforts and should attract closer academic scrutiny. From the pattern of these figures, one could understand the history of Sikkim from the point of view of the lay people, who, although they have lived through Sikkim and its transitions, rarely find mention in the few records of even contemporary events. The nearly 50% growth in population between 1901 to 1911 should make for interesting analysis, coming as it does in a decade when the palace and the Political Office were in direct confrontation and also the time when British India was most interested in Sikkim, using it as the route to open Tibet. The change in how the State was administered must have obviously created new opportunities triggering new arrivals. What can also not be ignored is that if this 1911 exercise was indeed the first head-count Census, then it would have also accounted for population segments not covered in the previous two Census operations carried out the Political Officer who would have relied on feedback from the landlords, which would not have been very scientific. The fall in population in 1911-21 should be even more fascinating for anyone interested in the people’s history of Sikkim. The population fell by 7.05% due to the Influenza pandemic which spread through the world in the wake of World War-I. Sikkim did not fight the Great War, but an epidemic which was born from it claimed lives here as well. The pandemic broke out in 1918 and is believed to have killed 50 million people across the world. One still does not know how many died of it in Sikkim. The numbers must have been huge because healthcare services were too rudimentary here to have been able to deal with an alien sickness. Most of these deaths would have taken place in the two years between the outbreak and when the Census was carried out. This 7% fall in population immediately after a 50% growth must have scarred an entire generation. It deserves to be researched because it could explain many things about how Sikkim lived in those times. As an aside, there are also references to how the Younghusband Mission of 1904-05 brought the Foot & Mouth disease to Sikkim. Agriculture and animal husbandry were the only occupations in Sikkim at that time. Isn’t it important to research into how Sikkim resuscitated itself from that calamity? These exercises are important for Sikkim to understand its past better and may be even understand issues which attract passionate opinions in a different light.