news details |
|
|
| Srinagar data on official website fudged | | |
SANT KUMAR SHARMA
JAMMU, Sept 29: The creation of new districts during the tenure of Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad some years ago seems to have created some problems for the administration. It remains an ``unfinished agenda'' and the boundaries of the new districts, besides statistical data pertaining to them are all in a mess.
This becomes clear when one goes through the official websites of the various districts of Jammu & Kashmir. Leave aside other districts, even the data regarding the summer capital, Srinagar, given on the official website www.srinagar.nic.in, is inaccurate, incorrect and fudged.
Whether the statistics have been fudged deliberately, have resulted due to ignorance or due to careless collation is not clear but the facts definitely don't match with the census data of 2001.
According to the census data, the population of Srinagar district was recorded as a little over 12 lakh and 12,02,447 to be exact. The population of Ganderbal and Kangan tehsils was recorded as 1,17,025 and 94,874, respectively.
These two tehsils were carved out of Srinagar district to form the new district of Ganderbal. However, the population of the Srinagar district has been given as 10,94,000 on the official website. If we add to this figure the population of Ganderbal and Kangan tehsils, the population for Srinagar becomes 13,05,899, almost 1,03,452 more than what was recorded in the 2001 census.
If the population of Srinagar district, as given in the official website as 10,94,000 is correct, then the population of the newly-created Ganderbal district was only 1,08,447.
Somewhere the figures just don't match and seem to contradict one another.
The new districts were created vide Government order no 1345-GAD of 2006 dated 27-10-2006. The government had later issued SRO no 185 dated May 22, 2007, in this connection.
The truncated Srinagar district is spread over an area of only 294 square kilometers. It comprises two tehsils, Srinagar north and Srinagar south, one block Srinagar, besides 136 revenue villages, according to the census 2001 figures.
Another contradiction surfaces when we scrutinize the statistical figures for electrification. The website says that 162 villages have been covered under electrification. This is more than the total number of villages (136) in the district itself.
The district comprises eight Legislative Assembly constituencies and the average size of the constituencies is only 36.75 square kilometer per constituency. We get this figure by dividing the total area of Srinagar district i.e. 294 square kilometer by the number of constituencies i.e. eight (294/8=36.75).
This means that Srinagar is the smallest district in the state, and perhaps one of the smallest district in the country itself, after the carving out of Ganderbal district from it in 2006. The size of the assembly constituencies is also the smallest in the state as compared to other districts.
On the other hand, the sex ratio in Srinagar district is skewed and there were only 851 females for every 1,000 males, according to the census 2001 figures. The number of males was given as 5.95 lakh and that of females only 4.99 lakhs.
This is perhaps the widest disparity in the sex ratio, at the district level, in the state. The average for the state is much better at 894 females for every 1,000 males. This means that the capital city of the state has a marked bias against the female gender.
The reasons for this wide disparity in the numbers of males and females are not clear but they present a very stark and negative picture about the Srinagar district as far as gender equality is concerned.
Incidentally, the figures for Jammu district, where Jammu city acts as the winter capital, are just marginally better. The sex ratio for the district is 868 meaning thereby that there were 868 females for every 1,000 males in the district.
In an area of 294 square kilometers, the Srinagar district boasts of 976 km or blacktopped roads and no less than 194 kilometer was metalled, according to the 2001 census. These do not include shingled and fair weather roads.
It would be interesting to find out how much road length has been added in the last eight years or so ever since the compilation of the 2001 census data.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
