One billion people, five hundred and forty-three seats, and a
map drawn in 1971. A fourteen-census study of the
regional shift that made the current allocation indefensible —
and the state-level penalty the freeze now extracts.
§
No. I
the year · वर्षthe first census
1881' '† figure reconstructed
total India—million souls
Fig. 1Share of the all-India total, by region— per cent —
scroll the census yeardrag the census yearवर्ष सरकाएँ
1881
1921
1951
1981
2011
Part the Second
ii.
Why redraw
क्यों पुनर्रचना
Three figures follow. When each region's growth peaked, how many
people now answer to a single Lok Sabha seat, and how far each
state now sits from the population behind it.
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. 4The freeze penalty— share of population minus share of seats, by state, 2011 —
+ 1.77ppUttar Pradesh is the most under-seated state —
1.77 percentage points of the country's
population, missing from its share of the House.
◇
− 1.22ppTamil Nadu sits 1.22 pp
above its population share — a small-state bonus the 1971 freeze
has held in place.
ठहराव-दंड ·
Each bar shows how far a state's share of India's population exceeds
(right) or falls below (left) its share of the Lok Sabha.
Positive bars are the argument for redrawing; negative
bars are the bargain currently in place.
Fig. 5What is your vote worth?— in rupees, where ₹1 = the average Indian vote —