The first set of final Primary Census Abstract of Assam 2011, which was released in Guwahati on May 23, has once again highlighted the problem of illegal immigration in Assam. According to the Census report, the decadal population growth rate in nine districts, which are allegedly dominated by illegal immigrants, is over 20 per cent. (See table) In fact, in six of them, the growth rate has shown a jump since 2001. Significantly, at 16.93 per cent, Assam's decadal population growth rate is less than the national average of 17.6 per cent.

District

Decadal growth rate in 2011 Decadal growth rate in 2001 Dhubri

24.40 22.97 Goalpara 22.74 23.03 Barpeta 21.40 19.62 Morigaon 23.39 21.35 Nagaon 22.09 22.26 Dhemaji 20.30 19.45 Cachar 20.17 18.89 Karimganj 20.74 21.87 Hailakandi 21.44 20.89

The most disputed district has been Dhubri which borders Bangladesh. At 24.40 per cent, the decadal growth rate in this district is the highest in the state. Interestingly, the decadal growth rate of children in the age group of 0-6 in Dhubri is 9.82 per cent while the state average is 0.29 per cent. In fact, the percentage of child population in all the districts with 20 per cent growth rate has gone down since 2001. (See table below)



District Percentage of population in age group 0-6 in 2011 Percentage of population in age group 0-6 in 2001 Dhubri 18.42 20.86 Goalpara 16.43 16.43 Barpeta 16.57 19.01 Morigaon 16.61 19.16 Nagaon 15.79 18.42 Dhemaji 14.49 17.40 Cachar 14.22 15.86 Karimganj 16.70 17.60 Hailakandi 16.62 18.60



According to the report, 13 districts have shown negative rate in the population growth of 0-6 age group and in four districts it's less than 3 per cent. At 22.34 per cent Hailakandi shows the highest growth in this category.



On the other hand, Kokrajhar, the district bordering Dhubri and dominated by Bodo tribes has shown the lowest population growth at 5.19 per cent. It may be mentioned, nearly 100 people were killed in Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Chirang and Bongaigaon when Bodos clashes with alleged illegal immigrants in July 2012.



While the government sources try to blame this abnormal growth on illiteracy in these areas, the Census report debunks this theory. Between 2001 and 2011, Dhubri registered the highest growth rate (11 per cent) in literacy from 48 per cent in 2001 to 59 per cent in 2011. Literacy rates in other districts which have shown 20 per cent population growth rate has also grown at over 4 per cent.



Four of these districts have registered literacy rates above the state average of 73.18 per cent. (See the table)

District Literacy 2011 Literacy 2001 Dhubri 59.36 48.17 Goalpara 68.67 58.03 Barpeta 65.03 64.23 Morigaon 69.37 65.15 Nagaon 73.78 68.27 Dhemaji 69.07 74.41 Cachar 80.36 75.73 Karimganj 79.72 74.69 Hailakandi 75.26 68.24

Though the state's overall literacy rate jumped from 63.25 per cent in 2001 to 73.18 per cent in 2011, five districts have shown negative literacy growth rates, including Jorhat, the second highest literate district in Assam. (See the table)

District Literacy 2011 Literacy 2001 Dhemaji 69.07 74.41 Kamrup 72.81 75.89 Dibrugarh 76.22 77.3 Nalbari 79.89 80.95 Jorhat 83.42 83.62 Sivasagar 81.36 81.53

The total population of Assam as on March 1, 2013 stands at 31,205,576.