Slum population more than doubled in Karnataka in a decade

Bangalore district has 21.5 per cent of the total slum population

Bangalore 27/01/2011 : Yesvantpur Railway station on Tumkur Road in Bangalore. Free for all, A Big Slum almost touches the railway lines, throw all their garbage inside the railway premisis.. Commuters and public who want to take a short cut from Yesvantpur Tumkur Road side to Yesvantpur Market side and vise versa moving all over the tracks. There are many ways in and out other than the main gate. (for public eye coloumn)Photo: K_Gopinathan

The population living in urban slums in Karnataka has risen from 14.02 lakh to 32.91 lakh in a decade. This is a rise from 7.8 per cent of the total urban population of the State being slum-dwellers according to the 2001 Census to 13.9 per cent now.

Bangalore’s chunk

Bangalore district has 21.5 per cent of the total slum population, and every fifth person in the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) limits lives in a slum, said R. Vasudevan, Assistant Director, Directorate of Census Operations, Karnataka, at a workshop here on Friday.

An analysis of the 2011 Census data shows that Bangalore is followed by Bellary and Dharwad, which have 6.1 per cent and 6 per cent share of the total urban population in slums, respectively. Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Kodagu reported less than 1 per cent of the population in slums. Out of 220 statutory towns in Karnataka, 206 (94 per cent) reported slums.

There are some surprises when it comes to sex ratio (number of females per 1,000 males) in slums. When all age groups are considered, sex ratio in the slums of Karnataka is an impressive 1,015, against 973 in Karnataka on the whole.

While the overall child sex ratio (0 to 6 age group) in the State is 948, it is significantly higher in slums at 964. Udupi district, which has child sex ratio of over 1,000 when the whole district is taken into account, is at the bottom at 883 when only its slum population is considered.

The literacy rate in urban slums has risen from 67.5 per cent in 2001 to 75.6 per cent in 2011, with Gulbarga at the bottom (57.1 per cent) and Udupi at the top (81.1 per cent).

Making a presentation on specific data points based on the enumeration of 2011, D. Helen Premakumari, Deputy Director, said the overall population density in Karnataka (per square kilometre) was 319, up from 276 in 2001.

Among the neighbouring States, the density is 860 in Kerala, 555 in Tamil Nadu, 394 in Goa, 365 in Maharashtra and 308 in Andhra Pradesh.

New technology

T.K. Anil Kumar, Director, Census Operations in Karnataka, said the use of sophisticated technology had hastened the process of data analysis and dissemination. He said social and cultural tables that would present data on language and other aspects would be released in the next five months.