The Gazetteers Department

THE DISTRICT IS PREDOMINANTLY AGRICULTURAL. The total population of the district as per 1961 census is 1,001,466 spread over an area of 10,921.8 km2 (4,216.9 square miles). The density of population per square mile is 237. The following table gives the total population of the district from 1901 to 1961 with percentage variations through the decades: —

TABLE No. 1

Year	Persons	Percentage decade variation
(1)	(2)	(3)
1901	5,06,349	--
1911	6,37,861	+25.97
1921	4,77,623	-25.12
1931	6,48,986	+35.88
1941	7,28,201	+ 12.21
1951	8,26,046	+ 13.44
1961	10,01,466	+21.24

The district is divided into three natural zones—(1) Central mountainous tract, (2) Sindphana river valley towards the north and (3) Southern part comprising the Manjra river valley. The southern part of the district gets considerable rains as a result of which all kinds of crops are grown in the area, while the northern part of the district, which receives scanty rains, often suffers from scarcity conditions. The people living in 1,031 villlages scattered throughout the regions have agriculture as their main source of livelihood. Agriculture is still the mainstay of the rural economy of the district. Except goat-keeping allied occupations like poultry-keeping, etc. are undertaken on a small-scale. The following table gives, the livelihood pattern, of the people in the district in 1961:—

TABLE No. 2

OCCUPATIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION IN BHIR DISTRICT IN 1961

	As cultivators		As Agricultural labourers
(1)	(2)		(3)
	Male	Female	Male	Female
District Total	1,59,846	1,28,163	71,843	89,443
Rural	1,56,411	1,26,735	69,797	86,499
Urban	3,435	1,428	2,046	2,944

	In Mining, Quarrying, Livestock, Forestry, Fishing, Hunting and Plantations, Orchards and allied activities		At Household Industry
(1)	(4)		(5)
	Male	Female	Male	Female
District Total	19,922	1,208	17,010	4,523
Rural	19,151	1,143	15,571	3,705
Urban	771	65	1,439	818

	In Manufacturing other than Household Industry		In Construction
(1)	(6)		(7)
	Male	Female	Male	Female
District Total	4,304	571	3,195	705
Rural	1,796	327	2,196	543
Urban	2,508	244	999	162

In Trade and Commerce

In Transport, Storage and Communication

(1)

(8)

(9)

Male

Female

Male

Female

District Total

10,200

1,043

2,128

22

Rural

5,631

568

557

3

Urban

4,569

475

1,571

19

	In other Services		Non-Workers
(1)	(10)		(11)
	Male	Female	Male	Female
District Total	20,609	7,310	1,99,770	2,59,651
Rural	12,574	4,337	1,73,799	2,21,474
Urban	8,035	2,973	25,971	38,177

It will be seen from the Table No. 2 that of the total population, only 1.12 per cent were engaged in trade and commerce and 2.15 per cent in household industry for its livelihood. The agricultural labourers who worked on farms belonging to others for wages either in cash or in kind were 16.10 per cent of the total population, while the cultivators constituted 28.76 per cent. The non-workers formed 45.87 per cent of the total population of the district.

The following table gives the distribution of population in the rural and urban areas in the district in 1951 and 1961: —

TABLE No. 3

FLUCTUATIONS IN POPULATION IN BHIR DISTRICT FROM 1951 TO 1961

Tahsil	Rural		Urban
Tahsil	1951	1961	1951	1961
(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)
Georai	1,07,676	1,28,390	6,118	7,129
Manjlegaon	1,10,631	1,34,611	6,389	8,876
Ashti	80,399	1,03,143	5,823	4,980
Bhir	1,04,744	1,26,556	25,636	33,066
Patoda	83,536	90,849	--	--
Kaij	1,23,464	1,56,867	6,456	7,464
Ambejogai	1,29,090	1,62,401	36,084	37,134

The Table No. 3 reveals that the rural and urban population has undergone fluctuations during the period from 1951 to 1961. The rural members during the decade increased by 163,277.