Three Sources, One Village: Which Figure Goes in the Note?
A Patwari in a Punjab district must prepare a one-page village note for a preliminary land-acquisition file. The village, Chak Des Raj, lies near a canal minor. Three documents are on his table. (i) The 2011 Census abstract records population 2,340, 412 households and area 612 hectares. (ii) A 1972 district gazetteer records population 1,180 and area 640 hectares. (iii) A 1998 school plaque says “population 1,500”. The acquiring department’s consultant has used the gazetteer population with the 2011 area and reported a density of 1.93 persons per hectare. He has also written that the village “has grown by only 3 per cent since 1971”. The Patwari knows that a 2015 municipal notification added about 40 hectares of adjoining shamlat land to the village boundary, but no revised census figure exists. The acquisition file is due tomorrow, and the consultant’s figures are already in the covering note.
1. Identify the arithmetic error in the consultant’s density and growth statements. Show the correct calculation and the likely source of the mistake.
Read the worked answer
The consultant’s 1.93 is not a 2011 density. 1,180 ÷ 612 = 1.927, so he divided the 1972 population by the 2011 area. The same-year 2011 density is 2,340 ÷ 612 = 3.82 persons per hectare.
The growth sentence is also unsupported. From 1,180 to 2,340 is a rise of 1,160; 1,160 ÷ 1,180 = 0.983, i.e. 98.3%, not 3%. A 3% rise from 1,180 would give only about 1,215. The “3 per cent” may come from treating a short-period or annual figure as a long-period change, but these documents do not support it.
Lesson: a density must use population and area from the same date and the same boundary; a growth rate must name both endpoints.
2. Which population figure should the note cite, and what caveat about area should accompany it?
Read the worked answer
Cite the 2011 Census figure of 2,340, with the year and source. It is the only population count here with a defined date, coverage and method. The 1972 gazetteer is 39 years older, and the school plaque is unofficial and its method is unknown. Do not average 1,180, 1,500 and 2,340; an average of incompatible counts is not an estimate.
For area, state: “Population 2,340 (Census 2011). Census area 612 ha. A 2015 municipal notification added about 40 ha of adjoining shamlat; the current revenue area is therefore not the same as the census area, and density figures are indicative until the boundary and shajra are verified.”
For the acquisition file itself, use the current jamabandi and shajra kishtwar for the khasras being acquired, not the village’s census area. The census area is a village-level statistic, not a substitute for the revenue record of the acquired plots.
3. If the note must state a density for current planning, what range is defensible and what additional record would you obtain?
Read the worked answer
Two defensible figures can be shown. On the census area: 2,340 ÷ 612 = 3.82 persons/ha. If the 40 ha addition is accepted for planning: 2,340 ÷ 652 = 3.59 persons/ha. A defensible note therefore says “about 3.6–3.8 persons per hectare, subject to boundary verification”.
To narrow the range, obtain:
- the 2015 municipal notification and the revised shajra kishtwar, to confirm whether the 40 ha was actually added and whether it is inhabited;
- the current jamabandi for the acquired khasras, to separate village area from acquired area;
- a recent local count, such as the electoral roll or health register, clearly labelled as non-census and used only as a cross-check.
The range, with its assumptions stated, is more honest than a single figure that hides the boundary change.