Jains in Rajasthan - A Study Through Census 2011 : Mr. Dheeraj Jain

Jains in Rajasthan - A Study Through Census 2011

Author  : Mr. Dheeraj Jain

 

1. Introduction: Rajasthan, India's largest state by area, always had a close and historical connection with Jainism. There are many famous Jain centres from history that includes Soniji Ki Nasiyan (Ajmer Jain Temple), Bhinmal, Sanganer, Rishabhdeo, Shri Mahaveerji temple, Padampura, Nakoda, Mount Abu, Jirawala, Ranakpur, Bijolia, Chittorgarh, Bhandasar etc.

As per Census 2011, the density of population per sq. km. is 365 which has increased a lot from 315 in 2001. The average household size has also gone down to 4.6 in 2011 from 4.9 in 2001.

2. Population as per Census 2011: Rajasthan has got the second highest number of Jains in the country. The total population of Rajasthan State as per Census 2011 is 68,548,437. Out of this, the population of Jains is 622,023 i.e. 0.91% of the total population of Jains in Rajasthan.


Religion Total Population % Male % Female %
Total 68,548,437 100.00 35,550,997 51.86 32,997,440 48.14
Hindu 60,657,103 88.49 31,485,832 51.91 29,171,271 48.09
Muslim 6,215,377 9.07 3,193,530 51.38 3,021,847 48.62
Christian 96,430 0.14 48,887 50.70 47,543 49.30
Sikh 872,930 1.27 459,406 52.63 413,524 47.37
Buddhist 12,185 0.02 6,382 52.38 5,803 47.62
Jain 622,023 0.91 317,614 51.06 304,409 48.94
Other Religions and Persuasions 4,676 0.01 2,399 51.30 2,277 48.70
Religion not stated 67,713 0.10 36,947 54.56 30,766 45.44


The Jains with 0.91% of the total population constitute fourth largest group after Hindu, Muslim and Sikh. In 2001, the number of Jains were 6,50,493.

 

3. Population of Jains in Rajasthan in last 50 years: During last 50 years i.e. from 1961 onwards, the population of Jains in Rajasthan has been fluctuating. It is evident from the table below:


Population 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2011
Total 4,09,417 5,13,548 6,24,317 5,62,806 6,50,493 6,22,023
Rural 2,38,658 2,74,978 3,15,011 2,20,718 2,15,172 1,66,322
Urban 1,70,759 2,38,570 3,09,306 3,42,088 4,35,321 4,55,701
Male 2,06,671 2,55,411 3,13,767 2,84,148 3,31,871 3,17,614
Female 2,02,746 2,58,137 3,10,550 2,78,658 3,18,622 3,04,409

 

 

The above graph clearly shows the movement of Jains to urban areas of Rajasthan. The proportion of Jains in Urban areas has increased to 73.3% in 2011 from 41.7% in 1961 while in Rural areas, it has gone down to 26.7% in 2011 from 58.3% in 1961.

4. Sex – Ratio: Of the 6,22,023 Jains in Rajasthan, 3,17,614 are males and 3,04,409 are females. The Sex-Ratio (no. of females per 1000 males) is 958, much better than State rate of 928. However, there is slight decline from 2001 wherein it was 960.


  Total Hindu Muslim Christian Sikh Buddhist Jain
Sex-Ratio 928 926 946 973 900 909 958
Sex-Ratio (0-6) 888 886 919 891 840 878 859


However, the situation is alarming in case of child sex ratio (i.e population of 0-6). It states that 141 girls are lesser compared to per thousand male children of age 0-6. If we see the district-wise figures than 26 districts are at less than 900. The situation is worst in districts of Jhunjhunun (740), Dhaulpur (872) and Karauli (874).

5. Literacy: Jains have the highest literacy rate amongst all communities in Rajasthan. This holds good for male as well as female. If one see the District level data, in all districts except Jalor and Jaisalmer, Jains have literacy rate of more than 90% and it is more than 95% in 18 districts.
 

Literacy (2011) Total Hindu Muslim Christian Sikh Buddhist Jain
Total 66.11 66.04 62.68 80.68 70.07 75.8 95.14
Male 79.19 79.37 75.38 86.79 78.2 86.41 97.97
Female 52.12 51.77 49.35 74.47 61.12 64.2 92.21

 

However, if we consider the total population there is a wide gap in literacy level between male and female.

 

 

6. Work Participation Rate (WPR): The Census 2011 has provided the following data in terms of the work participation rate (WPR) or percentage of workers to total population.


WPR (2011) Total Hindu Muslim Christian Sikh Buddhist Jain
Total 43.6 44.33 36.89 45.26 47.97 41.21 33.68
Male 51.47 51.56 49.16 52.75 58.56 49.97 56.10
Female 35.12 36.53 23.93 37.56 36.2 31.59 10.29

 

The WPR is 2nd highest among the Jain males (56.10%) after Sikhs (58.56%). However, the female WPR is at the lowest among Jains (10.29%) despite having highest literacy rate amongst all communities. This indicates that gender gap with respect to WPR is much wider. Apparently, the available talent/skill amongst Jain females are not being utilised in economic activities and they are mostly devoted to performing religious activities or household chores.

7. Occupation: The Census 2011 has also provided the data in terms of four broad work participation categories namely Cultivators, Agricultural Labourers, Household Industry Workers and Other Workers (the last category includes workers in tertiary sector such as service, manufacturing, trade & commerce and allied activities).


Occupation (%) Total Hindu Muslim Christian Sikh Buddhist Jain
Cultivators 45.57 47.30 31.09 28.29 37.09 34.65 3.14
Agricultural Labourers 16.53 16.82 12.90 10.86 25.83 17.62 1.18
Household Industry 2.41 2.23 4.45 1.60 1.36 1.83 5.85
Others 35.49 33.65 51.55 59.26 35.72 45.90 89.83

 

(The main and marginal worker have been added to have a broad picture of occupation)

In Rajasthan, only 3.14% of Jain population were engaged as cultivators, 1.18% as Agricultural labourers, and 5.85% as household industry workers. The majority of Jains are mainly in Others (89.83%), highest amongst all religious communities. This reinforces the trader/business characteristics of Jain community.

8. Fertility: Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is lowest amongst Jains at the rate of 1.6. It indicates that Jains are having less number of children.


  Total Hindu Muslim Christian Sikh Buddhist Jain
2011 2.8 2.8 3.4 2.1 2.1 2.6 1.6
2001 3.7 3.8 4.1 2.5 2.6 3.3 1.8

 

 

9. Age-group wise distribution of population: An attempt has been made to compare the population of Jains with other communities in broader age group. Census 2011 gives the following data in terms of proportion of population:

 

 

In contrast to other communities, Jains have the lowest population in the age group of 0-19 while maximum in the age group of 60+. On a positive note, we may say that Jains have the more longevity of life as compared to others due to Jain way of life. However, the current population in 20-59 age-group will be 60+ in a phased manner and as there are less numbers of Jains in younger age group, Jains will have more aged population to support vis-à-vis other communities.

10. Age at marriage: Census 2011 shows that Child marriage is still in practice in Rajasthan among Jains. Out of the 1,78,533 ever married males, 2.5% Male were less than 15 years of age. However, in case of female, the percentage is quite higher at 10.8% for female and it goes up to 12.6% in Rural areas. This is contrary to the high literacy rate amongst Jains. As the data is available only at State level, creating awareness may be the best solution to eradicate this problem.

11. District-wise Analysis: As per Census 2011, there are 33 districts in Rajasthan. The distribution of Jains population in a decreasing order in these districts is as under:


Sl. No. State/District 2011 2001 Decadal Growth Rate
  Total Male Female Total Male Female
  Rajasthan 6,22,023 3,17,614 3,04,409 6,50,493 3,31,871 3,18,622 -4.38
1 Jaipur 81,079 41,785 39,294 73,631 38,491 35,140 10.12
2 Udaipur 78,647 40,221 38,426 83,699 42,716 40,983 -6.04
3 Ajmer 45,614 23,231 22,383 47,812 24,498 23,314 -4.60
4 Jodhpur 36,697 18,555 18,142 36,694 18,718 17,976 0.01
5 Bhilwara 35,149 17,775 17,374 37,659 19,230 18,429 -6.67
6 Barmer 34,010 17,453 16,557 35,744 18,253 17,491 -4.85
7 Bikaner 30,850 15,500 15,350 31,235 15,711 15,524 -1.23
8 Chittaurgarh 25,843 13,139 12,704 35,026 17,949 17,077 -26.22
9 Kota 25,742 13,396 12,346 23,259 12,183 11,076 10.68
10 Banswara 22,613 11,579 11,034 18,406 9,448 8,958 22.86
11 Tonk 22,458 11,420 11,038 23,644 12,144 11,500 -5.02
12 Pali 18,974 9,550 9,424 25,599 12,808 12,791 -25.88
13 Dungarpur 16,141 8,303 7,838 12,542 6,350 6,192 28.70
14 Rajsamand 14,966 7,413 7,553 20,048 9,905 10,143 -25.35
15 Jalor 14,640 7,251 7,389 21,015 9,753 11,262 -30.34
16 Pratapgarh* 14,077 7,064 7,013 - - - -
17 Bundi 13,455 7,018 6,437 13,186 6,916 6,270 2.04
18 Alwar 13,221 6,906 6,315 12,859 6,747 6,112 2.82
19 Nagaur 12,940 6,594 6,346 17,478 8,942 8,536 -25.96
20 Jhalawar 12,488 6,438 6,050 11,759 6,136 5,623 6.20
21 Sawai Madhopur 9,991 5,246 4,745 10,660 5,614 5,046 -6.28
22 Churu 7,104 3,562 3,542 13,882 6,672 7,210 -48.83
23 Sirohi 6,829 3,331 3,498 12,427 5,891 6,536 -45.05
24 Bharatpur 5,758 2,983 2,775 6,760 3,540 3,220 -14.82
25 Sikar 4,050 2,037 2,013 4,957 2,470 2,487 -18.30
26 Dausa 3,737 1,968 1,769 3,908 2,081 1,827 -4.38
27 Karauli 3,424 1,827 1,597 3,760 1,951 1,809 -8.94
28 Baran 2,795 1,466 1,329 2,687 1,420 1,267 4.02
29 Dhaulpur 2,739 1,463 1,276 2,685 1,414 1,271 2.01
30 Ganganagar 1,988 1,041 947 2,696 1,415 1,281 -26.26
31 Hanumangarh 1,935 993 942 2,623 1,356 1,267 -26.23
32 Jaisalmer 1,521 791 730 1,670 896 774 -8.92
33 Jhunjhunun 548 315 233 483 253 230 13.46

 

 

Rajasthan has got a negative growth rate and population of Jains have decreased by substantive number of 28,470 though the State is considered to be a stronghold of Jains.

12. Negative growth in young population: The data on population by age group is vital as it unveils the characteristics of population composition and provides some insight about the future growth. A worrisome finding of Census 2011 is that growth rate in Jains among 0-24 year age group is negative. In this age group, Census 2011 has recorded 2,38,049 Jains, against 2,98,305 in 2001. This means a decline of 60,256 Jains i.e. a decadal growth rate of -20.2%. This is not a good sign.

 

 

13. A steep decline in number of future/prospective parents: A disturbing trend revealed by Census 2011 data is more than 20% decrease in the male and female population of age group 0-24 years in Rajasthan.


Age-Group Male Female
2011 2001 Difference % 2011 2001 Difference %
0-4 20,914 25,648 -4,734 -18.5 18,121 22,386 -4,265 -19.05
5-9 23,156 29,217 -6,061 -20.7 20,099 26,150 -6,051 -23.14
10-14 25,319 33,600 -8,281 -24.6 22,458 31,359 -8,901 -28.38
15-19 27,603 33,379 -5,776 -17.3 24,771 32,813 -8,042 -24.51
0-24 27,809 33,488 -5,679 -17.0 27,799 30,265 -2,466 -8.15
Total 124,801 155,332 -30,531 -19.7 113,248 142,973 -29,725 -20.8

 

It is clearly evident from the above that population of Jains have declined in the crucial age group. The young population is decreasing and is not replaced by equal/more numbers. This would result in having more aged persons and lesser young people to support them.

Further, Jains in Rajasthan have the fertility rate of 1.6, lowest amongst all communities. All over the world, a TFR of 2.1 is considered to be ideal for replacement of equal number of population. With less number of daughters/sons and lowest fertility, a proper population growth prospects are unlikely. All these factors may have adverse implications on Jain population, though these might be visible only after 20-30 years.

14. Way ahead: Creating awareness in the Jain community is the first and foremost requirement. With the availability of data at District/Tehsil level, the vulnerable areas may be identified and suitable action may be taken. The efforts must include the target of achieving cent percent literacy, improving the sex-ratio, creating awareness amongst young Jains about the Jain philosophy and doctrines based on facts, logic, scientific research using modern AV and social media etc.

 

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Author  : Mr. Dheeraj Jain
E-Mail : djain.rgi@gmail.com

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Mail to : Ahimsa Foundation
 www.jainsamaj.org
R260618