The Gazetteers Department

THE POPULATION OF RATNAGIRI DISTRICT (including the newly merged areas) [Ratnagiri district consisted, at the time of 1951 Census of the areas of the former Ratnagiri district of Bombay Province (except for two villages transferred to Kolaba district), with the addition of the former Sawantwadi State and two villages of the former Kolhapur State.] according to the census of 1951 is 1,711,964 (m. 769,635; f. 942,329). Spread over its area of 4982.8[This area "figure is obtained from the District Inspector of Land Records; the same as furnished by Surveyor General of India is 5,020.9 square miles. ] square miles, it works out at 343.6 to the square mile. Of this, 1,553,858 (m. 694,113; f. 859,745) or 98.8 per cent, is spread over the rural area of 4860.7 square miles, and the remaining 158,106 (m. 75,522; f. 82,584) or 9.2 per cent, over the urban area of 122.1 square miles. The population density per square mile for rural and urban areas works out at 319.6 and 1,294.8 respectively.

The tract-wise distribution of this population over the district is as follows:—

Rural Tracts: Total population 1,553,858 (m. 694,113; f. 859,745).-Sawantwadi and Vengurla, 162,573 (m. 75,632; f. 86,941); Kankavli and Kudal, 191,652 (m. 87,110; f. 104,542); Deogad and Malvan, 197,881 (m. 87,333; f. 110,548); Rajapur and Lanje, 206,010 (m. 91,691; f. 114,319); Ratnagiri and Sangameshwar, 274,156 (m. 121,218; f. 152,938); Khed and Chiplun, 255,639 (m. 115,029; f. 140,610); Dapoli, Mandangad and Guhagar, 265,947 (m. 116,100; f. 149,847).

Urban Tract: Total population 158,106 (m. 75,522; f. 82,584).-Rajapur, Ratnagiri and Sangameshwar, 52,004 (m. 25,574; f. 26,430); Chiplun and Khed, 22,324 (m, 11,094; f. 11,230), Sawantwadi, Vengurla and Malvan, 83,778 (m. 38,854; f. 44,924).

Communities.

The community-wise enumeration of the population given by the 1951 census reveals that in the district, Hindus (including Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) number 1,591,538 (m. 718,765; f. 872,773) or 87.1 per cent.; Jains 2,388 (m. 1,199; f. 1,189); Muslims, 103,351 (m. 43,083; f. 60,268) or 6.04 per cent.; and Christians 14,637 (m. 6,544; f. 8,093) or 0.8 per cent. There are 23 (m. 21; f. 2) Sikhs, 12 Buddhists, 14 (m. 11; f. 3) Zoroastrians, one Jew; and 43 (m. 21; f. 22) " Others " (non-Tribals). The census has also enumerated separately 128,849, (m. 59,257; f. 69,592) belonging to 'Scheduled Castes'; and 3,553 (m. 1,879; f. 1,674) belonging to 'Scheduled Tribes'; 2,274 (m, 1,110; f. 1,164) as 'Displaced Persons' from West Pakistan, and 122 (m. 96; f. 26) as non-Indian Nationals.

Sex-ratio.

From these details it appears that the percentage of males in the total population is 44.9, and of females 55.1; Hindu males (excluding Jains) 48.2 per cent., and Hindu females 51.8 per cent, of the Hindu population; Jain males 50.2 per cent., and Jain females 49.8 per cent, of the Jain population; Muslim males 41.6 and Muslim females 58.4 per cent, of the Muslim population; Christian males 44.7 per cent, and Christian females 55.3 per cent, of the Christian population. Similarly the male and female percentage ratio of the Scheduled Castes is 45.9: 54.1, Scheduled Tribes 52.9:47.1 and of 'Displaced Persons' 48.8:51.2. The sex-ratio of the rural population of the district is 44.6: 55.4 and that of the urban population is 47.7: 52.3.

Livelihood pattern.

The population has been split up by the census into eight livelihood classes. Of these, the four agricultural classes which make up a total of 69.4 per cent, include: (1) cultivators of owned land 39.1 per cent.; (2) cultivators of unowned land 26.4 per cent.; (3) cultivating labourers 2.46 per cent.; and (4) non-cultivating owners of land 1.5 per cent. The four non-agricultural classes total 30.6 per cent, and include: (5) production other than cultivation 10.1 per cent.; (6) commerce 3.6 per cent.; (7) transport 2.8 per cent.; and (8) other services and miscellaneous sources 14 per cent.

Towns and villages.

According to the 1951 census, of the 1928 inhabited places in the district, thirteen are towns,[ In general a town means a municipal area, cantonment area or a place which has a population of 5,000 or more persons and exhibits urban characteristics. ] and the rest 1,515 are villages. Of the towns three, i.e. Malvan, Ratnagiri and Vengurla have each a population between 20,000 and 50,000, and two, i.e. Chiplun and Sawant-wadi have each a population between 10,000 and 20,000. There are twenty places each with a population between 5,000 and 10,000. Of these, eight, i.e., Ajgaon, Deorukh, Khed, Kudal, Nate, Nerur, Rajapur and Sagwe are towns. Of the 1,515 villages, 445 have less than 500 people, 480 between 500 and 1,000, 427 between 1,000 and 2,000, 151 between 2,000 and 5,000 and 12 between 5,000 and 10,000.

None of the villages are walled or fenced. The people in South Konkan live in small tile-roofed houses, spread out in two or more hamlets which comprise the village. The hamlets or vadas are as a rule, situated according to availability of land for cultivation. Many of the villages are thus divided up into four or five hamlets, though there are a few instances of exceptionally big villages containing as many as 30 hamlets. Coastal villages are densely shaded by belts of cocoanut gardens, and the road between the long lines of houses are usually paved with cut laterite stones. These raised causeways are called pakhadis. The village sites of the inland parts are well, though less densely shaded with mango, jack and tamarind trees. The houses, mostly built of mud-walls and some of dressed laterite stone, are usually detached from one another each house having a small compound or court-yard of its own containing a few fruit and flower trees and some open space. During the fair weather, a part of the open space is often covered by a small pandal erected in front of the house. A noticeable feature found in the south except in Kankavli Mahal and the extreme south of Sawantwadi is that a number of houses have in their compounds a few cocoanut trees and in coastal villages almost every house except in the bazar areas is built in a cocoanut garden.

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