[Reader-list] railway notes

[vandana swami]

Railway Notes from the Imperial Survey of 1881, Bombay
Presidency

A reading of The Imperial Census of 1881, Bombay
Presidency offers an interesting set of insights into
the possible effects of railway construction in this
region in the early 1880’s.

Before beginning to discuss the census, I would very
briefly like to refresh the argument I have been
making on this reader list about the railways. I have
stated that the coming of the railways had a deep
impact upon society and economy in Western Maharashtra
around the turn of the century. While the nature of
this impact is far from clear or is treated merely
one-dimensionally (as an economic phenomena), the
railways themselves have not figured as a historical
entity worthy of investigation in their own right.   

I chose to look at the Imperial Census of 1881 because
by this time, the railways have been around for almost
three decades and would or should thus figure in
census descriptions.

Table XIX lists all towns arranged according to ‘Civil
Population’ (which perhaps refers to urban population,
although I was not quite clear as to who was being
referred to by this term). In this table, one notes an
overall population increase in the region from 644,405
in the preceding census ten years ago to 773, 196 in
1881, ie, an increase of 1,28,791 persons. 
On average, most towns show an increase in population.
Some towns where railways have been introduced show a
marked increase in population. For instance, the town
of Sakkar in Shikarpur district shows an increase in
population from 13,318 to 27,389 during the census
period – an increase of 14,071 – which is more than
double its original habitation. Likewise, the town of
Bhusaval in Khandesh district registers an increase
from 6804 to 9613 – an increase of 2809 people. Again,
the town of Lonavla in Poona district shows an
increase from 1268 to 3334 – an increase of 2066
people, which is much more than double of its original
population during the Census period. 
Based on these numbers, it seems plausible to assume
that the railways acted as a spur or even a magnet,
drawing people into its systems of being. Be it as a
railway labor working in a railway shed, a cultivator
or peasant who wants to sell grain near a railway line
that would ensure that his grain will sell and perhaps
at a higher price.  If one continues to look at the
Detailed Occupation tables in these same districts,
interesting patterns emerge. For instance, in
Khandesh, one notices a large
number (762) of Cotton merchants and General dealers.
In Poona however there are only 2 cotton merchants. 
In Khandesh, 1573 people are registered as bricklayers
and 789 as stone masons and cutters – both of these
kinds of activities are required for railway
construction and the movement of this population is
probably the cause for the increase in population that
was discussed earlier. In Poona also, the number of
bricklayers, stonemasons and cutters is on the higher
side of 1349 and 800 respectively. In Khandesh, the
number of cotton weavers is 5210 and in Poona it
is1745 and in Shikarpur district it is 1761. My point
here is that the tables generally show s large number
of   people employed in railway-related occupations
that are equal to or comparable with other high volume
generating occupations.

The 1881 census also provides descriptions of the
impact of railways in different parts of Bombay
Presidency. In Gujarat, it notes that “the division
(Gujarat) is traversed through its whole length by a
main line of rail with either branches or feeder roads
to the chief outlying districts and it is to this
advantage that a great deal of the prosperity of the
country is due…..and that the density of the number of
large towns and villages is greater than in the rest
of the Presidency. (p.4, Imperial Census of Bombay,
1881). In Konkan, the Census note taker observes that
“the northern part of Konkan is well-off for
communication, as three lines of railway pass through
it” (p.4, ibid).  Khandesh’ situation is depicted as
follows, “the large tract of good virgin soil to the
south of this (forest) has attracted and is still
attracting, the
cultivators of a superior class from other parts of
Deccan and even from the more crowded Gujarat. Great
variety of crop is possible here, and the main line of
railway between Bombay, Calcutta and the Central
Provinces affords facilities for the export of Wheat
and Cotton. As may be expected, the Khandesh district
is progressing rapidly in population, and apparently,
in prosperity” (p.4) The statement clearly lays out
the importance of the railways in bringing prosperity
to the region, and makes the further observation that,
“it is true that the opening of the country by
railways is yet in its infancy, and that when the
projects now under survey or partly executed have been
completed, a greater mobility of people, if not of
capital may be expected,
but for some time yet, the peasant must continue to
exercise his home-loving instincts on the thankless
task which his want of enterprise and initiation have
accustomed him to accept uncomplainingly” (p.5).  

It is interesting to note here how this statement
rehearses colonial ideologies about India being a
static geographical location, marked with a population
that has no agency to act and it furthermore lacks any
initiatives. In this dismal and lack luster scenario,
the railways act not only as an agent of modernity,
but also hold the possibility of galvanizing the
entire social space towards goals of progress and
enterprise…For the Karnatic Division, a similar
observation has been made. It is stated that “the
districts of Kanara has been under the Bombay
Government for 20 years
only, and owing to delays of different kinds, has not
been fully surveyed. The population, both inland and
along the coast seems to be increasing, but the
country is not thickly populated, except in harvest
time, there is little immigration, as the damp climate
is considered very unhealthy to the residents ……unless
therefore, the opening of a line of rail to the
principal harbor brings an influx of traders from
other parts, the progress of the district will depend
upon the course of events amongst the indigenous
population as has been the case in the coast districts
of the north” (p.5).

Following the results enumerated in the Great
Trigonometrical Survey of India, the Census goes on to
make further projections about effects of railways in
Bombay Presidency. For Kaladgi, the most easterly
collectorate of Karnatic district, it is noted that
“it has been devastated by famine since the last
census, but the district is not sterile and when
opened out by the new railway, will probably show good
progress by the next enumeration” (p.7).  On the other
hand, lack of access or distance from a railway line
spelt doom for an area, even if it was topographically
or geologically rich. For instance,
Belgaum, the most blessed area with regard to
fertility and climate, the census notes that  “it is
cut off from centers of commerce by its distance from
the railways”. 
In other words, it is vividly clear in the colonial
imagination that railways are essential
to tap and harness the potential productivity of a
region, that would other wise make it a dormant place.
  



		
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