Burma: Census of India 1901 Vol. I - Khamkoo

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REPORT ON THE CENSUS OF BURMA. 139
the total population of the province. As in 189 1 the total of farm servants was
insignificant. The;, great bulk of the agricultural community returned itself as
cultivators pure and simple (le 16k) for which occupation No. 39 (Field labourers)
was thought' the '-nearest equivalent. The total returned under this head was
4,322,1 20. > It must be admitted that the classification of agricultural callings adopted
was not specially suited to the requirements of the Province. The term
*'
Rent payers " would properly cover the very large class of State land workers in
Upper Burma who pay rent for their holdings direct to Government, and if it had
been decided to require all agriculturists in Upper Burma to state whether the
land they worked was bobabaing or State it might have been possible to secure
fuller returns for occupation number 36 than were actually obtained. An instruction
of this nature would, however, have been directly opposed to the of
:
dissociating the- Census as far as possible in the minds of the people from
revenue, collection and it has thus been found necessary to sacrifice a certain
amount of detail to the susceptibilities of the enumerated. _ It is, moreover, a question
whether in a country like Burma the duty of differentiating nicely between the
various classes of agriculturists is one which need be thrown upon the -Census
^department. One thing seems, in the light of. the 1891 enumeration, clear enough,
that is,, that of the total of 286,182 actual workers returned under the head of
"Rent receivers " only a portion consisted of persons who worked no portion of
the land -they owned. The total of taungya or .jhum. cultivators and, dependents
In ,1891 the taungya cutters were classed with. market gardeners
was 1,416,65-1.;
or ^vegetable growers, and -their- precise total is not now ascertainable. ;It,rnustj
however, have been far below the 190-1 figure. I am led to hold this view because
an examination of the district -totals showed me that the abstraction staff had
classified as taungya cutters a number of agriculturists who must in reality have
cultivated- millet, sesamum and other ya or upland crops in the dry .districts of
Upper Burma.
210.. Inconsequence of the classification of taungya cutters adopted in
. _ , . , . i8qi, the total of growers of special products is far
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Growersof special -products.
,, ., *? * , .. ,
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smaller .now than ten years ago. 1 he items under
this head exhibit no features of special interest. The record of occupations in
the Shan States has resulted in a.large return of tea growers. In 1891 the total
of -tea planters,>&Ci, was shown with other totals under a head .the bulk of which
consisted of tobacco, growers, and it ;is impossible now. to gauge the extent of
the "increase, if,any, under tea cultivation. Sub-order 13 now comprises besides
agricultural training and supervision, the figures for Forests, so no profitable
:
comparison of the sub-order totals of the two enumerations is practicable. The
heading, '•' Directors of Agriculture and their, staff " included Superintendents and
Inspectors of Land Records. Who the .87 persons returned as agricultural
chemists and experts were is not quite clear. Class B shows a higher percentage
of dependents than actual workers. The figures are 42*4 for the latter and 57'.^
for .the former. In all 99*8 per cent, of the persons represented in this class yvere
country dwellers. and only o'2 per cent, were enumerated in the two cities of the
^Province.
-2i*i, The^total of persons' partially dependent upon agriculture for {their
living has been returned as 47,524^^ whom 31,648
Partially.a^r^Itunsts.
are mai es and :IS) 8 7
6 females. The majority of
thdse'partially agriculturists were enumerated in -rural areas, ithe:total for :the.;twp
cities df^RangooWand'Mahdalay being 3,507 malesandj^efemales.only,,,. Sub T
sldiary'TableNoilXBappendedto this chapter, indicates ;what:pro.portion-the.pecsons
erf this kind comprised in each of the -eight occupation classes bear -to the>tqtal
trfthe classv Their- distribution over the districts and townships of the rPrpyincft
can best be gathered from the Provincial Tables. The