In India, the period of steady population growth refers to the decade(s) of :
- (a)1981 – 2011
- (b)1951 – 1981
- (c)1921 – 1951
- (d)1911 – 1921
Correct — C, 1921 – 1951. Indian population history is taught in four phases, and the second of them carries this exact label. NCERT's wording is that the decades 1921 to 1951 are referred to as the period of steady population growth: an overall improvement in health and sanitation brought the death rate down while the birth rate stayed high, and better transport and communications improved food distribution, so growth ran faster than before without yet becoming explosive. That is impressive given that the same decades contained the Great Depression and the Second World War. The year 1921 is the hinge — the last census year in which India recorded a fall in population, and the reason demographers call it the Great Divide.
- (a)1981 – 2011 — 1981 to 2011 is Phase IV. Growth in these decades remained high but had begun to slow steadily, driven by a falling crude birth rate as the mean age at marriage rose and female education spread. Slowing high growth is not the same label as steady growth.
- (b)1951 – 1981 — 1951 to 1981 is Phase III, the period of population explosion. Mortality fell rapidly while fertility stayed high and the average annual growth rate touched about 2.2 per cent — the fastest India has recorded, and the opposite of steady.
- (d)1911 – 1921 — 1911 to 1921 sits inside Phase I, the stagnant or stationary phase, and is in fact the single worst decade in the record — high birth and death rates together, and an actual negative growth rate, with influenza, famine and poor medical services behind it.
India's demographic record since 1901 is divided into four phases. Phase I, 1901 to 1921, is the stagnant or stationary phase, with high birth and death rates and even a negative growth rate in 1911 to 1921. Phase II, 1921 to 1951, is steady growth. Phase III, 1951 to 1981, is population explosion, with average annual growth around 2.2 per cent. Phase IV, from 1981 onwards, keeps a high growth rate that has been slowing gradually.
Two anchors settle this item without any memorisation of the labels. The first is 1921, the Great Divide — before it deaths could still cancel births, after it they never did again, so any phase beginning at 1921 is the one where growth first became reliable. The second is that explosion and steady growth cannot be the same thing, which rules out 1951 to 1981. Option (d) is deliberately narrow, a single decade rather than a phase, and it happens to be the decade of decline. The mechanism behind Phase II is worth carrying into the answer: what changed first was mortality, through sanitation, epidemic control and better food movement, while fertility stayed where it was — the classic opening of a demographic transition.
- NCERT labels 1921 to 1951 the period of steady population growth in India.
- 1921 is called the Great Divide or the demographic divide, the last census year to record a decline in India's population.
- The decade 1911 to 1921 recorded a negative growth rate, the only such decade in the modern Indian record.
- 1951 to 1981 is the phase of population explosion, with an average annual growth rate of about 2.2 per cent.
- Since 1981 the growth rate has stayed high but has slowed, chiefly through a falling crude birth rate as the mean age at marriage rose and female education spread.
1921 is the hinge of the whole sequence — the Great Divide, after which India's population never fell again.
- Reading steady as slow — Phase II grew faster than Phase I, just not explosively.
- Picking the single decade 1911 to 1921 because it is the most memorable, when the question asks for a phase.
- Dating the Great Divide to 1951 because that is when Independence-era data begin.
Either as a phase-to-label match, or as a question on the Great Divide year, or by asking which decade recorded a negative growth rate.
Consider the following specific stages of demographic transition associated with economic development: 1. Low birthrate with low death rate 2. High birthrate with high death rate 3. High birthrate with low death rate Select the correct order of the above stages using the codes given below:
- (a) 1, 2, 3
- (b) 2, 1, 3
- (c) 2, 3, 1
- (d) 3, 2, 1
Answer(c) 2, 3, 1
The general model behind the Indian phases. Stage two of that sequence — a high birth rate meeting a falling death rate — is exactly what the decades 1921 to 1951 look like on the ground.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The year 1921 is described as the Great Divide in India's demographic history because
- (a)the first modern census of India was taken in that year
- (b)it is the last census year in which India's population recorded a decline
- (c)the birth rate crossed the death rate for the first time
- (d)the population of India first crossed 300 million
Answer(b) It is the last census year in which India's population recorded a decline — the decade 1911 to 1921 had a negative growth rate, and growth has been positive at every census since.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The decades 1951 to 1981 in India's population history are referred to as the period of
- (a)stationary growth
- (b)steady growth
- (c)population explosion
- (d)declining growth
Answer(c) Population explosion — a rapid fall in mortality against continued high fertility, with average annual growth of about 2.2 per cent.