Memorandum on the Census of British India of 1871-72

The Memorandum on the Census of British India of 1871-72 was written by Henry Waterfield, a civil servant of that era. Waterfield worked for 44 years with the India Office, that is, the British government department that supervised the administration of the provinces directly under British governance. The Memorandum – which is an introduction to the Census – says that it was the first attempt to gather data related to “whole of India” – British India and the “native feudatory states.” But the information from the native or princely states was only “fairly accurate” and the numbers were “mostly estimates,” so the Census limited itself to what was then British India. Not all the provinces were represented in the Census and the information was gathered at different times, often using different methods. Some of the reports from the provinces were collected six years prior to 1871. The Census surveyed the population based on the categories of age, sex, caste, religion, education, occupation, dwelling, infirmity, nationality, language, and location (rural or urban). It mentioned the incidence of female infanticide, provided detailed information about various castes (from “superior” and “intermediate” to “agricultural” and “labouring”), and gave figures for revenue collected per acre of land and per adult male agriculturalist.      In the towns, the Census was conducted by the municipal authorities, but in other areas, paid enumerators, chieftans or common people were involved. However, many felt that the government would profit from this exercise and feared that they would be taxed in some way.   On the whole, the document has a colonialist tone – for instance, “the prolific nature of aborigines” (which is meant to explain the higher numbers of tribal children) or “the barbarous habit” of female infanticide.