Naxal-hit areas of Chhattisgarh see sharp decline in population

Growth of population in Chhattisgarh’s Naxalite-hit areas like Bijapur and Dantewada has seen a sharp decline and the number of people residing in Raipur, the capital of the state, has increased rapidly, according to the recently-released census figures of 2011 for the state.
  
According to a few experts, the trend can be attributed to decrease in livelihood opportunities (caused by deforestation) and counter-insurgency operations resulting in large-scale migration out of the Naxalite and tribal belt of Chhattisgarh.
 
The figures suggest that districts like Bijapur, Nanarayanpur, Kankar, Dhantar, Dantewada, Bastar, Koriya, Sarguja and Korbahave witnessed a sharp decrease in the growth rate of population in the last three decades. Out of these, population numbers in Bijapur, Koriya and Dhantar have seen maximum decline.

In Bijapur, the population growth rate in 1991 was 32.10 per cent which reduced to 19.30 per cent in 2001 and declined further to 8.78 per cent in 2011. The figures for Koriya stand at 30.15 per cent in 1991, 17.09 per cent in 2001 and 12.38 per cent in 2011. Check out the table below to see the decline in various districts in the belt:

District	Census year	Decreasing rate of population growth (in %)
Koriya	1991	30.15
	2001	17.09
	2011	12.38
Surguja	1991	26.68
	2001	24.67
	2011	19.66
Jahpur	1991	17.01
	2001	13.23
	2011	14.6
Korba	1991	34.86
	2001	22.51
	2011	19.25
Janjgir-Champa	1991	31.35
	2001	18.67
	2011	22.94
Dhantar	1991	24.15
	2001	20.23
	2011	13.19
Uttar Bastar Kanker	1991	23.67
	2001	18.68
	2011	15.06
Bastar	1991	23.36
	2001	18.18
	2011	17.96
Dakshin Bastar, Dantewada	1991	17.6
	2001	14.09
	2011	12.08
Narayanpur	1991	28.82
	2001	23.42
	2011	19.16
Bijapur	1991	32.1
	2001	19.3
	2011	8.78

While the tribal belt is witnessing a decline, inward migration may have led to an opposite trend in the capital and a few other towns. In Raipur, the growth rate of population has increased from 19.29 per cent in 2001 to 34.70 per cent in 2011. Kabeerdhan also showed similar trends with the rate increasing from 19.29 per cent in 2001 to 34.70 per cent in 2011.

The CAG report of 2013 had also pointed to loss of forestland, triggered by large-scale industrialisation, as a reason for outward migration of tribals.

“Citing the CAG report, J Marianus Kujur, head of department of tribal studies of Indian Social Institute, said: “The poverty-stricken tribals whose main habitat and livelihood, the forests, are being taken over for industrial development are left with no other option but to migrate to bigger towns and become cheap labour,” said Kujur.

Health in times of conflict

Migration, experts say, may not be the only reason for declining population trend. “Living in constant fear and turmoil can also negatively affect fertility of the people of the region,” says Binayak Sen, an activist who has worked on health issues among tribals in the state. He added that “factors like malnutrition and chronic hunger affect fertility and result in population decline in the long run.”

Academicians, however, attribute the declining rate to civilian militia Salwa Judum which was deployed by the state government for anti-Maoist operations in Chhattisgarh. It was started in 2006 but was termed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and rendered unoperational in 2011.

Read more

• Tribal governance, Salwa Judum and Maoists
• Salwa Judum

A study conducted by Nandini Sundar, a Delhi-based academician, showed that more than 47,000 people from villages of districts of Dantewada, Bijapur and Sukma were evacuated and forced to live in relief camps. “Around 644 villages were forcefully evacuated in harsher times,” added Sundar who also hinted at misuse of family planning programmes and forced sterilisation becoming a norm in those areas.

Another academician and human rights activist, Bela Bhatia, blamed the counter insurgency operations like Salwa Judum for displacement and large-scale migration from conflict-affected zones.

On the condition of anonymity, a health activist working for a decade among tribals said, “Laparoscopic sterilisation is being forced on poor population and reports of people dying in sterilisation camps are common.”
 
Anurag Modi, a Madhya Pradesh-based tribal activist, blamed the trend to human trafficking. “Disappearance of a large number of tribal girls, who are either abducted or sold in states like Haryana which has poor sex ratio, could be another kind of  forced migration, he said.
 

Report: Community MGNREGS programme for naxalite affected areas

Feature: On the Naxalite movement: A report with a difference

Report: Development challenges in extremist affected areas 

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