Census of India 2001 data is available on line of Census of India website.
It gives population data according to the mother tongue. According Census
of India 2001 (COI 2001 there are 2,489,015 Konknni speakers all over India.
COI 2001 has included 10,192 Kudubi/Kudumbi mother tongue speakers, 46,851
Malwani mother tongue speakers and 11,832 other mother tongue speakers have
been grouped under Konknni language. According to 1971 census there were
1,508,432 Konknni mother tongue speakers, while in 1981 they increased to
1,570,108 and in 1991 they reached to 1,760,607. According COI 2001, Goa
has the highest number of Konknni mother tongue speakers, followed by
Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Kerala. Here below I have given the
descending order of Konknni mother tongue speakers in various parts of
India.
Goa 769,888; Karnataka 768,039; Maharashtra 658,259; Gujarat 190,557; Kerala
61,376; Dadra & Nagar Haveli 22,795; Tamil Nadu 4,657; Orissa 3,280; Andhra
Pradesh 3,129; Delhi 1,767; Madhya Pradesh 988; West Bengal 960; Rajasthan
716; Uttar Pradesh 323; Jarkhand 310; Lakshadweep 310; Daman & Diu 229;
Haryana 206; Chhattisgarh 182; Assam 156; Tripura 146; Jammu & Kashmir 90;
Bihar 78; Punjab 76; Chandigarh 74; Nagaland 74; Meghalaya 66; Pondichery
63; Uttaranchal 53; Andaman & Nicobar islands 44; Mizoram 43; Arunachal
Pradesh 25; Himachal Pradesh 25; Sikkim 17; Manipur 14.
In Goa the following 22 Scheduled languages spoken as the mother tongue in
the descending order:
Konknni 769,888; Marathi 304,208; Kannada 74,615; Hindi 76,775; Urdu
54,163; Malayalam 15,081; Telugu 11,926; Gujarati 9,273; Tamil 7903; Bengali
4111; Oriya 2681; Nepali 2135; Punjabi 1815; Sindhi 527; Kashmiri 472;
Assamese 195; Maithili 164; Dogri 93; Manipuri 49; Sanskrit 46; Santali 24;
Bodo 7.
The concept of mother tongue and what instructions were given to data
collectors is given below. It is important to understand the concept and
methodology of Census department to interpret the data related to mother
tongue.
GENERAL NOTE
1. Language is an important attribute of a population, and has great
relevance and significance in a pluri-lingual and pluri-ethnic land like
India. The Census of India has been the richest source of language data
collected and published at the successive decennial censuses for more than a
century. The language data is particularly useful in the country having
diverse people since no separate question is asked on their ethnicity except
in respect of the scheduled tribes. The language data having the ethnic and
linguistic characteristics of the population has thus been an indiscreet
source of information. The presentation of the language tables has been
progressively improved in terms of lucidity, detail to make it more
comprehensible besides being user-friendly. 2. In the 2001 census, as in the
previous censuses, the mother tongue as returned by each individual was
collected through question number 10 of Household Schedule, which was
canvassed for the
entire population of the country. 3.. The question on mother-tongue and the
relevant instructions to enumerators were as follows: - Q. 10 : Mother
tongue 3.1 Mother tongue is the language spoken in childhood by the person's
mother to the person. If the mother died in infancy, the language mainly
spoken in the person's home in childhood will be the mother tongue. In the
case of infants and deaf mutes, the language usually spoken by the mother
should be recorded. In case of doubt, the language mainly spoken in the
household may be recorded.. 3.2 Record mother tongue in full, whatever is
the name of the language returned by the respondent and do
not use abbreviations. Please note the following: (a) You are
not expected to determine if the language returned by a person is a dialect
of another language. (b) You should not try to establish
any relationship between religion and mother tongue.
(c) You are bound to record the language as returned by the person as
her/his mother tongue and you should not enter into any argument
with her/him and try to record any language other than what is
returned, and (d) If you have reasons to suspect that in any
area due to any organised movement, the mother tongue is not being
truthfully returned, you should record the mother tongue as actually
returned by the respondent and make a report to your supervisory officers
for verification. You are not authorised to make any correction on your
own. 3.3 The mother tongue as returned by the respondent should be recorded
in full under this question. 3.4 Since a household may consist of persons
related by blood or of unrelated persons or a mix of both, it is absolutely
necessary to ask of every person about her/his mother tongue because the
mother tongue of each member of a household need not necessarily be the
same - these may be different for different members in the household. 4. As
the above instructions to the enumerator would show, the respondent was made
to feel free to return the name of his mother tongue and the same was
recorded faithfully by the enumerator. This has led to the recording of a
very large number of mother- tongue names from all over the country. At the
2001 census, the number of such raw returns of mother tongues has totaled
6,661. Since mother- tongues as returned in the census are basically the
designations provided by the respondents of the linguistic mediums in which
the respondents think they communicate, they need not be identical with the
actual linguistic mediums. For assessing the correlation between the mother
tongue and designations of the census and for presenting the numerous raw
returns in terms of their linguistic affiliation to actual languages and
dialects, 6,661 raw returns were subjected to thorough linguistic
scrutiny, edit and rationalization. This resulted in 1635 rationalized
mother tongues and 1957 names which were treated as 'unclassified' and
relegated to 'other' mother tongue category. The 1635 rationalized mother
tongues were further classified following the usual linguistic methods for
rational grouping based on available linguistic information. Thus, an
inventory of classified mother tongues returned by 10,000 or more speakers
are grouped under appropriate languages at the all India level, wherever
possible, has been prepared for final presentation of the 2001 mother tongue
data. The total number of languages arrived at is 122. 5. The 122
languages are presented in two parts viz. Part A: Languages included in the
Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India (Scheduled Languages)
comprising of 22 languages; and Part B: Languages not included in the
Eighth Schedule (Non-Scheduled Languages) comprising of 100 languages plus
the
category "Total of other languages" which includes all other languages and
mother tongues falling under Part B and which returned less than 10,000
speakers each at the all India level or were not identifiable on the basis
of the linguistic information available. 6. Whereas the number of Scheduled
languages was 18 at the time of presentation of the 1991 census data, four
more languages viz. Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santali were added to the
Eighth Schedule with the passing of the 100th Amendment to the Constitution
of India in 2003, taking the total number of Scheduled languages to 22 in
2001. Bodo, Dogri and Santali were included in the list of Non Scheduled
languages unto 1991 Census and Maithili was a mother tongue grouped under
Hindi unto 1991 Census. 7. The Non Scheduled languages are 100 in Part B in
2001 against 96 in 1991. The increase in number is due to inclusion of
Balti, Ladakhi, Shina (which were not returned in sufficient number as
Census was not conducted in Jammu & Kashmir in 1991), Afghani/Kabuli/Pashto,
Rai and Simte (who have returned more than 10,000 speakers at the all India
level at 2001 Census), Tamang, Persian (which after a gap has qualified in
2001 for having returned more than 10,000 speakers at the all India level).
Mao language (which has been consistently appearing till 1991 Census), could
not be included in the Non Scheduled languages in 2001 Census due to
cancellation of census results in Mao Maram, Paomata and Purul subdivisions
of Senapati district of Manipur state.. 8. Of the total population of
India, 96.56 percent have one of the Scheduled languages as their mother
tongue, the remaining 3.44 per cent is accounted for by other languages. 9.
There are total 234 identifiable mother tongues which have returned 10,000
or more speakers each at the all-India level, comprising 93 mother tongues
grouped under the Scheduled Languages (Part A) and 141 mother tongues
grouped under the Non-Scheduled languages (Part B). Those mother tongues
which have returned less than 10,000 speakers each and which have been
classified under a particular language, are included in "others" under that
language. 10. The presentation of the 2001 language data is based on the
same principles as those adopted for the 1971, 1981 and 1991 censuses. In
addition, the speaker strength of all individual mother tongues returned by
10,000 or more speakers have also been given on the lines of 1991 census.
After a few days I will provide the date related to non-scheduled languages
spoken as mother tongue in Goa and other relevant data.
Compiled by
Pratap Naik, S.J.
Thomas Stephens Konknni Kendr
B.B.Borkar Road
Alto Porvorim Goa - 403 521
Cell Phone 9850658565
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
