Is the gender population balanced in Manipur?
- Part 1 -

By S Birendra Singh *

In recent years there is a general apprehension among the demographers, social activists and research scholars on the aspects of the low proportion of female population vis-à-vis the male population and the decline over the decades in such proportions in the country and various States in India.

While in a natural population of a place the number of men and women tend to balance biologically, in actual practice, depending on a number of factors such as migration, war, employment, difference in mortality and fertility conditions, social preference of a child of a particular sex, etc. this natural balance is rarely maintained.

Going through and observing the trends from the Indian census figures of the most commonly used index for measuring the male-female proportion, namely, the sex ratio which is calculated by dividing the number of females by the number of males expressed into one thousand, it became evident that there is negative ..balance of the female population in all the censuses since 1901.

Not only this, the quantum of this gender imbalance is also proportionately on the increase from decade to decade. Beginning with a ratio of 972 females per 1000 males in 1901 the proportion was, on the whole, moving down consistently through the decades (except for slight increases in the years 1951 and 1981) and arrived the lowest figure of 927 females in 1991.

This means an additional loss of 45 female persons in every 2000 total population during these 90 years. India is on the whole a male preferred society and females are still considered a burden on the family on account of religious beliefs, marriage obligations and dowry compulsions. Cases of female baby infanticide and selective termination of female foetus in spite of the prevailing law at present against such practices are not new.

The position was however slightly better in 2001 census when the ratio improved by a margin of 6 points to 933 over that of the 1991 figures (2001 ratio excludes population figures of Mao-Maram, Paomata and Purul sub-divisions of Senapati district of Manipur).

Notwithstanding this minor gain in the ratio during the last decade of 1991-2001, the female population as per 2001 census still shows a deficit of about 35.7 million heads in India against the total male population of approximately 532.2 million persons.

The difference is more than the combined total population of the five States of Assam, Megha-laya, Tripura, Manipur (excluding that of Mao-Maram, Paomata and Purul sub-divisions of Senapati district) and Arunachal Pradesh of that census taken together.

The magnitude of this difference is very large such that an equilibrated gender balance sheet will be difficult to be maintained in the immediate following decades. The long term effect of such negative imbalance will be disastrous in the future population distribution and growth pattern of the country and may lead to economic and social problems in future.

The position is no better among most of the States and Union Territories in the country. Kerala is the only State in India which consistently had a sex ratio favourable to the females.

In 2001 census the State had the highest ratio of 1058 females. The other State/U.T. whose ratio was above parity in 2001 was Pondicherry. In the remaining States/U.Ts. the male population out-numbered the female population, the male-female ratio varying by different degrees from State to State.

The position of Manipur along with 10 other States that fall in the ratio range of 950 to 999 was much better off than the all India average.

There were 12 States in the range of 900-949 while five States including Uttar Pradesh, the biggest one in terms of population, fall in the group of 850-899. Five other States/U.Ts. including Delhi and Chandigarh were below the range of 850. Delhi and Chandigarh were areas of very rapid urbanization to which the number of male workers and job seekers migrating from other areas far exceeded that of the females.

Among the North-eastern States the sex ratio of Manipur (978 females per 1000 males) was the highest during the last decade followed by Meghalaya with 972. Mizoram occupied the third position with a figure of 935. The neighbouring State of Nagaland had a ratio of 900 only. The sex ratio in Sikkim was as low as 875.

The trend in Manipur was slightly different from other States. It is among the few States in India which had a history of sex ratios favourable to the females continually for more than sixty years from the census of 1901 to that of 1961. Beginning with a ratio of 1037 females per 1000 males in 1901 the proportion attained the highest figure of 1065 in 1931 after which a steady down-ward trend followed.

Notwithstanding the decline, the ratio was favourable to the females and they outnumbered the males till the census of 1961. It was humorously said at one time in this State that older bachelors past the marriageable age need no worry about finding their partners as each man is to seven women with one still left.

Although this humour might be on account of male domination over the weaker sex it might also suggest abundance of females during these periods. During 1891 many Manipuri noblemen and followers of the deposed king Surachandra Singh left the State along with the king. There were also a number of male causalities during the Anglo-Manipuri war of 1891, though the number was not large.

However the number of male prisoners forcibly taken to Burma as captives during the period of Seven Year Desertion (known as Chahi Taret Khuntakpa) of 1819-1825 and forcibly settled in that country was least likely to have an effect on the sex ratio of 1901 and the subsequent years as the female counterparts that stayed back in this State might not have survived by 1901.

Since 1971 the position changed and the male population became more numerous than the females and thus for the first time in the census history of Manipur the sex ratio dropped below parity. It is interesting how the females which outnumbered the males for a long time became a minority.

On examination it was found that this was the period when immigrants from other Indian States like Uttar Pradesh, Assam, etc. and foreign countries particularly from Nepal, Bangladesh (previously East Pakistan) and Myanmar (previously Burma) arrived into this State in numerically significant numbers considering the small size of the State's base population.

Migration for better opportunities and employment. is mainly male oriented and generally males are the first movers followed by the other family members after proper settlement. The number of security personnel, which were almost males, coming into the State for law and order purposes also gradually increased in subsequent years.

The declining ratio therefore moved further down and the ratio reached the lowest figure of 958 females in 1991. Though in 2001 there was a recovery of 20 points in the ratio to a figure of 978 females, in terms of absolute numbers the female population was short by 24,480 persons from the male population (the difference being 39,569 heads in 1991 ).

The gender composition in the urban was increasing in favour of the females since 1981. In 2001 the urban sex ratio was opposite to that of the State average in that there were more females than males giving a ratio of 1009 females per 1000 males.

Out of 33 urban areas in 2001 the sex ratios in as many as 20 urban places were higher than 1000. The State capital Imphal had a ratio of 1017 in that census.

In 1991 the urban sex ratio for the State was 975 while in 1981 it was 969. In Manipur most of the urban areas possessed mixed rural character and the basic urban infrastructures were largely absent there and cultivation and allied agricultural activities were the base of the economic activities in a majority of the towns.

Though the percentage of the urban population to the total population increased to 26.6 percent in 2001 (27.5 percent in 1991) from 8.7 percent in 1961 the change was mainly due to the notification of many rural areas as urban by the State Government.

In 2001 however no new urban areas were added nor any extension was made to the existing towns/municipalities of 1991.

Urban areas for census purposes in 2001 however were inclusive of five rural areas treated as urban that fulfilled certain demographic criteria on population, density and working male population (there were 2 such towns in 1991).

The decadal growth of the urban population during 1981 to 2001 also differed very much on account of addition of new areas or deletion of old areas; as such we find a growth of 165.4 percent during 1981-71 against 34.7 percent during 1991-1981 and 10.9 percent during 2001-1991.

to be continued ...

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