Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
12.3.2 SPATIAL GROWTH OF POPULATION IN WEST BENGAL
Spatial pattern of decadal absolute growth of population during 1981-2011
has been presented in table 2. During 1981-91, decadal absolute growth
of West Bengal was recorded by 13.5 million population. Highest decadal
growth rate was found for Midnapur district where nearly 1.6 million pop-
ulation increased in this decade and followed by Burdhaman (1.2 million),
Kolkata (1.1 million) and Murshidabad (1.0 million) districts. These four
districts collectively contribute almost 36 percent in the decadal absolute
growth of the state during 1981-1991. In the next decade (1991-2001) the
decadal absolute growth of population was 12.1 million which showed
a reduction of 1.4 million population since previous decade. During this
time the highest decadal absolute growth was fond for North-24 Pargonas
(1.6 million population) followed by Midnapur (1.3 million), South 24
Pargonas (1.2 million) and Musshidabad (1.1 million) districts. These four
districts together contribute 43 percent in the absolute decadal growth of
the state during 1991-01. Most amazingly, Kolkata's population showed
a stagnant absolute growth during 1991-2001, showing an additional in-
crease of only 1.8 lack population. During 2001-11, West Bengal was re-
corded with the absolute growth of 11.1 million population which showed
a farther reduction of one million population over the last decade. In this
period, highest absolute growth found for Midnapur distrct (1.4 million
population), followed by South 24 Pargonas (1.2 million), Murshidabad
(1.2 million) and North 24 Pargonas (1.1 million). These four districts
together contribute 45 percent in the decadal absolute growth of the state.
Figure 3 shows the districts wise variation of decadal growth rates dur-
ing 1991-01 and 2001-11 respectively. Three types of area may be demar-
cated: Districts with high growth rate (more than 20 percent); Districts
with moderate growth rate (10-20 percent); District with slow growth rate
(less than 10 percent). During 1991-2001, total eight district out of nine-
teen showed higher decadal growth rates, among them Uttar Dinazpur
(28.7 percent), Maldha (24.8 percent) and Murshidabad (23.7 percent) are
signifi cant. These districts are mainly located on the border of Bangla-
desh, Nepal and Bihar. Hence, regular in-migration from these surround-
ing states and countries contributed a lot to reach the higher population
growth rate of these districts. Nine districts showed a moderate growth
