GOVERNMENT OF BENGAL.
LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT.
Public Health.
CALCUTTA, THE 2ND FEBRUARY 1926.
RESOLUTION—No. 293 P.H.
READ—
The Report of the Director of Public Health, the Sanitary Board and the Chief
Engineer, Public Health Department, for the year 1924.
READ ALSO—
The annual statistical returns and short notes on vaccination in Bengal for the
year 1924-25.
1. Public Health.—(Statistical, Epidemiological and General Public
Health Administration).
Population.—For the purposes of this review the total population of
Bengal excluding the Chittagong Hill Tracts is taken as 46,522,293 (1921
Census).
2. Birth-rate and death-rate.—During the year 1924 the number of
recorded deaths in Bengal was 1,203,244 against 1,370,114 births. The
provincial birth-rate in 1924 was 29.5 per mille as compared with 29.9 in
1923 and the quinquennial average of 28.3. The North-West Frontier
Province and Burma returned lower birth-rates than Bengal. The aggregate
birth-rate of the towns of Bengal during 1924 was 19.6 per mille against 20.4
in 1923, showing a decrease of 3.9 per cent. In this connection the Director
of Public Health points out that " these low birth-rates indicate sheer
neglect on the part of the municipal authorities to administer the Births
and Deaths Registration Act. Although registration of births is compulsory
in towns, yet it is regrettable that in spite of serious efforts on the part of
the Public Health Department, repeated from year to year, the local bodies
with the exception of a few have failed to have any appreciation of their
responsibility in this matter—a factor so essential in estimating the effect of
measures undertaken to improve the public health."
The provincial death-rate in 1924 was 25.9 per mille as compared with
25.5 in 1923, the quinquennial average being 29.6 per mille. Madras and
Burma returned lower death-rates than Bengal. The death-rate of 1922 was
lower than that of any year since 1890. The death-rates of the triennium
preceding 1922, when compared with those of the last three years, show a
decided improvement, but there are nevertheless signs of a steady increase in
mortality. The Director of Public Health remarks as follows :—
" That there is a close connection between economic conditions and public health is
universally recognised, but the mechanism of relationship is not apparent. On the one
hand are ranged rainfall, the extent of cultivation, the class and variety of crop, the yield
per acre, the total harvest and the current prices of the commodities, and on the other
hand the prosperity of the individual, death-rates and birth-rates and mortality. Speaking
generally, prosperity results in a lowered death-rate, an increased birth-rate, and a natural
increase of numbers.
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" In Western and Central Bengal, the harvest is mainly rice, much of which is used
for local consumption. Speaking generally, a large harvest brings increased prosperity,
more food and better health. The amount of rice harvest is dependent on the amount
and the distribution of rainfall, which vary from year to year. In this part of Bengal
it is found—
(a) that over a period of 30 years the trend of natural increase of population
closely follows the rice production for the whole province ;
(b) that there is a close correspondence with the yield of rice per acre and the
birth-rate, and
(c) the mortality diminished with good rice harvests and increases with poor rice
harvests.