Statistics: Women outnumber men in Hassan district

Some believe that the number of women is much higher from the historical and mythological side too and women are given more importance here. Hasanamba, one of the saptamatrukas is said to be the presiding deity of Hassan and people believe that Hasanamba along with her two siblings made Hassan their place. The belief also goes that the other four matrukas have found their place at the other taluks of the district.

The utsavas are being held at all the places in a grand manner every year. Historically too, Hassan is said to be a land of Shantale, a popular dancer after whom the famous sculptures at Belur and Halebeedu have been designed. It is said that after several decades the number of ‘Bhagyalakshmis’ are on the rise here.

The statistics of the 2011 census has not been made public, but according to sources the population of the district is 17,76,221. Out of this, 8,85,807 are men and 8,90,414 are women. For every 1,000 men there are 1005 women, while the statistics says 940 in national and 968 in Karnataka.

When dug into details the records show that till 1911 the number of women were more and later the numbers began to decline and exactly after a century the women began to overpower men in numbers from 2001.

Earlier there were 1,010 women for 1,000 men in 1900 and it rose to 1019 in 1911 and later from 1969 the numbers came down till the year 2001 when the records showed 1004 women for 1000 men.

Now, the survey says there are 1005 for every 1000 men and coincidentally out of 40 posts 21 women have reigned power in the Zilla Panchayat polls held recently.

Apart from Hassan, Udupi has recorded 1093 women for every 1000 men for the year 2011.

Smile

Though these statistics bring smile on the faces of women, it is said more than 250 cases of women missing are registered every year. Even they categorise 50 per cent of them are love related cases, but details of other cases are available. Steps should be taken to bring down the rate of missing cases. But the only solace is that the literacy rate which was 68.63 per cent in 2001, has now  risen to 75.89 per cent.

Currently more than 34,000 families are the beneficiaries of Bhagyalakshmi scheme and by the time the results are announced the Hassan district may be announced as Bhagyalakshmi nadu, say the locals.