MPPSC 2026 Prelims Paper-I · Question 80 of 100

Correct — D, Indore, Jhabua, Bhopal. Census 2011 records the decadal growth of population for 2001-11 as 32.88% for Indore, 30.70% for Jhabua and 28.62% for Bhopal — against a state average of 20.30% for Madhya Pradesh and 17.7% for India. Those three are the state's top three districts by growth, and in that order, so the descending sequence is Indore > Jhabua > Bhopal. Notice that the causes differ: Indore and Bhopal, the state's two biggest urban districts, grow largely through in-migration into the cities, while Jhabua, a small tribal-majority district in the western hills, grows on a high birth rate rather than migration.

• (a)Bhopal, Jhabua, Indore — The right three districts in exactly the wrong order — it places Indore last when Indore in fact recorded the highest decadal growth of any district in Madhya Pradesh (32.88%), and Bhopal, at 28.62%, was the lowest of the three.
• (b)Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior — It puts Bhopal above Indore, which reverses the actual figures (Indore 32.88% against Bhopal 28.62%), and brings in Gwalior at 24.50% — well outside the state's top three.
• (c)Indore, Bhopal, Gwalior — The most tempting option, and the one worth understanding: 32.88% > 28.62% > 24.50% is itself a descending sequence, so the trio is internally consistent. It fails because the question wants the districts that actually top the state's growth table, and Jhabua at 30.70% grew faster than Bhopal — so Jhabua, not Gwalior, belongs in the list. Anyone who remembers only the two big cities lands here.

Decadal growth rate is the percentage change in a district's population between two censuses — here 2001 and 2011 — and it is driven by three things: natural increase (births minus deaths), net migration, and any change in boundaries. Madhya Pradesh in 2011 had a population of about 7.26 crore, a density of 236 persons per sq km and a sex ratio of 931, with decadal growth of 20.30%, which was above the national figure of 17.7%. Within the state the spread is wide: Indore at 32.88% at the top and Anuppur at 12.30% at the bottom, a difference explained by urban pull in the Indore–Bhopal corridor at one end and by out-migration plus a completed fertility decline in the eastern forest districts at the other.

Ordering questions are decided by the one pair you are unsure about, so find the discriminator instead of trying to recall four full lists. Here every option starts with Indore or Bhopal, and Indore is comfortably first — that alone kills options A and B. Between the two survivors, the whole question reduces to a single comparison: Jhabua (30.70%) or Gwalior (24.50%) in second place. Since Jhabua outgrew Bhopal, option D is the one that reproduces the state's real top three in order. The lesson to carry forward is that the fastest-growing districts of Madhya Pradesh are not only the metropolitan ones — tribal districts of the western belt such as Jhabua and Barwani sit high on the same list for an entirely different demographic reason.

• Census 2011 decadal growth (2001-11): Indore 32.88%, Jhabua 30.70%, Bhopal 28.62%, Gwalior 24.50%
• Indore recorded the highest decadal growth of any district in Madhya Pradesh and is also the state's most populous district
• Madhya Pradesh's decadal growth in 2001-11 was 20.30%, above India's 17.7%
• Madhya Pradesh in 2011: population about 7.26 crore, density 236 persons per sq km, sex ratio 931
• The slowest-growing districts of the decade were Anuppur (12.30%), Betul (12.92%) and Chhindwara (13.07%)

• Two options here (C and D) are each internally in descending order — checking the arithmetic is not enough, you must know which districts genuinely top the state list
• Assuming the biggest cities always grow fastest; Jhabua, a small tribal district, outgrew Bhopal
• Confusing growth rate with population size — Indore leads on both, but Jhabua is a small district with a high rate

MPPSC returns to Census 2011 district rankings almost every year — highest decadal growth, highest and lowest density, highest sex ratio, most urban district — sometimes as a single 'which district' and sometimes, as here, as an ordering. UPSC rarely asks district data; it asks the all-India picture and the concepts behind it, such as growth phases, density and sex ratio.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  According to Census 2011, which district of Madhya Pradesh recorded the highest decadal population growth during 2001-2011?

  • (a)Bhopal
  • (b)Indore
  • (c)Jhabua
  • (d)Gwalior

  Answer(b) Indore — 32.88%, the highest of any district in the state.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The decadal growth rate of India's population during 2001-2011, as per Census 2011, was approximately:

  • (a)14.2%
  • (b)17.7%
  • (c)21.5%
  • (d)24.8%

  Answer(b) 17.7% — down from 21.5% in the previous decade, the first decade since 1921 in which the absolute increase in population was smaller than in the decade before.