Demography of Jammu and Kashmir in Historical Perspective

Abstract

At the time of the birth of India and Pakistan, the state of J&K with a population of four million people, most of it concentrated in the fertile valley of the Jhelum River of the Indus River system, was one of the least developed regions in the Indian sub-continent. The economy of the state was overwhelmingly rural and agricultural in character. Nearly 90 percent of people lived in villages and derived their livelihood from agricultural and related pursuits using traditional and low productivity techniques. The extreme backwardness of the state was reflected by the abysmal mass poverty, low literacy, high birth and death rate, low life expectancy, low population density etc. The size of population and its growth have a direct bearing on the economic development, social well being and political stability of a region. The history of population growth in the Jammu and Kashmir State is a record of constant impulses of immigration from the north-west, west-south and east directions. The main objective of the paper is to look the nature and trends of population change since the birth of Jammu and Kashmir and also examine thedemographic trends in view of historical perspectives of Jammu & Kashmir State. The State has great diversity in its terrain, climatic conditions and resource base which resulted uneven distribution of population.