| Abstract: | The field of population geography was first introduced during the 1960s in India and advanced under the direction of Gosal at the Punjab University. Teaching and research in population geography were introduced by Chandigarh at Punjab University, which today is the main center of research activity. Population geography in India has followed the main tenets of geography in general and is based on spatial perspectives. Deficits are apparent in the paucity of research on socioeconomic implications of spatial distributions, but there is infrastructural feedback to support theory development. Theoretical advances moving from theory to fact or from empirical fact to theory are limited. Comprehensive training in methodology and quantitative techniques is needed for further development of population theory: multivariate analysis, factor analysis, principal component analysis, model building, hypothesis testing, and theory formulation. Methodological sophistication will also help in understanding and interpreting the diverse and complex Indian demographic situation. The analysis of population geography in the Indian spatial, cultural, political, and historical context may be applied to other less developed countries of similar sociocultural background. The Indian Census has contributed over the 100 years of its existence reliable and efficiently produced data on a wide variety of measures at assorted scales down to the village level. Field work among geographers has not achieved a level of development commensurate with population censuses. Recent doctoral research has focused on qualitative studies of local situations. Research topics range from the distribution and structure of population, mortality, fertility, and migration to peripheral issues of social segregation. Popular topics include urbanization, labor force, sex composition, literacy, and population growth. Distribution of population and density studies have amounted to only 2 in 30 years. Population texts are in abundance. The Punjab University is the headquarters of the Association of Population Geographers, which publishes the journal "Population Geography." Many advances are still needed in a timely fashion. |
