Demography Representation Delimitation: The North - South Divide in India

The popular narrative around delimitation is that south India controlled its population growth through effective family planning, while the north did not. Therefore, the argument goes, delimitation—expected to take place after the Census is conducted in 2026—would penalise the south for performing well. In this compelling and data-driven analysis, Ravi K. Mishra, a scholar of modern Indian history and Joint Director of the Prime Ministers Museum and Library, questions this belief.
Drawing on 150 years of comprehensive data from decennial censuses, district gazetteers, boundary commission reports and state reorganisation legislations, Mishra reveals that all regions of India have experienced phases of peak population growth, though at different times. He argues that there is little causal connection between family planning and population control in India: when family planning assumed importance in the 1960s under the flawed Western notion of ‘population explosion’, most southern states had already grown rapidly for ninety years, and almost completed their demographic transition, leading to a gradual decline in growth thereafter. Meanwhile, trailing the south by decades, the north had only then entered the peak growth phase, and the north and west are currently underrepresented, disrupting the ‘one person, one vote, one value’ principle.
Tackling myths about demography and delimitation head-on, Demography, Representation, Delimitation is an essential read on a complex and widely misunderstood subject.