Vol. I · Fig. 1◇Regional Share of Population◇1881 → 2011
A fourteen-census study
The IndianCensusभारत की जनगणना
One hundred and thirty years of demographic gravity, traced across four
geographies — East, West, the Hindi belt, and the South — as a share
of the all-India total. Drag the year. Watch the balance shift.
§
No. 1
the year · वर्षthe first census
1881† figure reconstructed
total India—million souls
Fig. 1Share of the all-India total, by region— per cent —
drag the census yearवर्ष सरकाएँ
1881
1921
1951
1981
2011
Part the Second
ii.
The Consequence
परिणाम
Three figures follow. The first shows when each region's growth rate
peaked — and why the South and the North now point in different
directions. The next two show what that shift has done to political
weight: how many people each Lok Sabha seat now answers to, and how
far the seat count has drifted from the population it represents.
Fig. 2When each region's engine peaked— % growth per decade —
दर्ज़ दशकीय वृद्धि ·
Growth per decade, calculated against the previous census. South's S-curve
bends downward a full twenty years before North's does.
Fig. 3One seat, how many citizens— lakh of people per Lok Sabha seat, 2011 —
27.4L
One Rajasthan MP speaks for
27.4 lakh citizens.
✕
0.6L
One Lakshadweep MP speaks for
0.6 lakh.
A 43× gap without leaving the map.
Dashed vermilion line marks 14.25 lakh —
India's 2011 population divided by a hypothetical 850 seats, i.e. the
one-seat-one-size ideal.
Fig. 4The representation gap— share of population vs share of seats —
right axis ·
A line sloping down left-to-right means that state's share of
population exceeds its share of seats — the Hindi belt. Sloping up
means over-representation — the South, Kerala most of all. Toggle
Scenario 2 to pivot every line toward horizontal: a seat
allocation based purely on population would flatten the gap.
Fig. 5Winners & losers, were the freeze lifted— change in Lok Sabha seats under Scenario 2 —
Every state's seat count if allocation were pinned to 2011 population
(14,24,535 people per seat). Positive bars = under-represented today;
negative bars = over-represented. The Hindi belt's quietest political
fact is that it has been the loser of the 1976 freeze.
Fig. 6Three futures, one parliament— seats by region, three allocations —
Today543seats
+ 50% uplift824Scenario 1
Equal constituencies854Scenario 2
Under any rule that holds a constituency at a common size, the
Hindi belt crosses 46% of the house on its own. The current
composition holds its share near 42%.