Population Composition – India, People And Economy

Rural — Urban Composition

72 percent of the total population lives in villages. With reference to rural-urban migration, national policy on population and economic development as well as on health and family welfare of Government of India, stipulate for balanced regional distribution, more particularly the replacement of net out-migration by net in-migration of population.

Linguistic Classification

The Indian subcontinent is home to several hundred languages, most of which are unrelated to one another. Linguistic classification is a notoriously complex business. While the Indian subcontinent has seen many linguists attempt to classify its languages over the centuries, there is still no common consensus among them.

Religious Composition

Hindus are distributed as a major group in many states except the districts of states along Indo- Bangladesh border, Indo-Pak border, Jammu & Kashmir, Hill States of North-East and in scattered areas of Deccan Plateau and Ganga Plain.

Muslims, the largest religious minority, are concentrated in Jammu & Kashmir, certain districts of West Bengal and Kerala, many districts of Uttar Pradesh, in and around Delhi and in Lakshadweep. They form majority in Kashmir valley and Lakshadweep.

Composition of Working Population

The working population of India is divided into three classes: (1) main workers (2) marginal workers (3) non-workers.

The major group (main workers) contains two distinct categories; land-workers and non-land workers. Land workers are further subdivided into cultivators and agricultural laborers.

Marginal Worker is a person who works for less than 183 days in a year,the proportion of workers (both main and marginal) is only 39 per cent (2001) leaving a vast majority of 61 per cent as non-workers.