More literates, fewer cultivators in 10 years

BANGALORE: In one decade, Karnataka has seen its population rise by 82.44 lakh people, up from 5.28 crore to 6.1 crore. Census 2011 primary abstract shows that the decennial growth rate was 17.7 percent while the state remains the ninth contributor to the 1.21 billion population of the nation.
Thanks to the IT explosion, quality healthcare and educational institutions, there is huge influx of people into the state.Although Bangalore tops the chart for highest population and density, surprisingly, Yadgir district records the second highest decennial population growth at 22.81 percent with 11,74,271 people.
Bellary, Bijapur, Gulbarga and Bangalore rural come next in that order while Hassan, Mandya and Kodagu occupy the last three spots respectively. Kodagu has a population of only 5,54,519. Chikmagalur recorded a negative population growth of 0.26 percent in the last decade but houses 11,37,961 persons till 2011.
Karnataka ranks fifth in literacy rate despite the increase in number of schools, colleges and IT companies. However, the rate has shot up to 75.36 percent literates out of the total population aged seven years and above from 66.64 percent in the last 10 years. The female literacy rate in 2011 is 68.08 percent. Dakshina Kannada ranks first with an overall literacy rate of 88.57 percent followed by Bangalore with 87.67 percent and Udupi having 86.24 percent. Yadgir fares worst having 51.83 percent literates out of the 30 districts.
Karnataka's decennial population growth has, however, plunged from 17.66 percent in 1981-91 to 12.29 in 1991-01 and 7.40 in 2001-11. On the employment front, only 45,62 percent of the total population is employed as main and marginal workers. Main workers are categorized as those who are employed for six months or more during the reference period and marginal workers are employed for less than six months. As per 2011 census abstract, only 2,78,72,597 persons are working, of which 2,33,97,181 are main workers and 44,75,416 are marginal workers. The proportion of female main workers has increased from 65.8 percent to 73.39 percent in the last decade.
Significantly, the number of cultivators has decreased from 68,83,856 in 2001 to 65,80,649 in 2011. Decrease in male cultivators is 79,132 while that of female cultivators is a shocking 2,24,075. Bangalore rural district records the highest neglect in the number of cultivators with a negative growth of 9.55 percent.
However, the number of agricultural workers has also increased in state by 14.92 percent; proportion of male agricultural workers has gone up by a nominal 0.77 percent from female counterparts which recorded a decline of 3.12 percent. Household industry workers in Dakshina Kannada have topped the charts with an increase of 18.86 percent while Kodagu showed a mere 0.56 percent.
Sex ratio of Karnataka has increased to 973 in 2011 from 965 in 2001. It holds the third position along with Goa in this comparison after Kerala (1084) and Tamil Nadu (996). The child sex ratio (0-6 years group) has also improved slightly in the state to 948 girls per 1000 boys in 2011 from 946 in 2001.